Chapter 254 Master, your disciples have finally avenged you!

The two officers beside him also drew their long swords, their faces full of ferocity.

But then, several figures climbed over the wall of the alley, landed steadily, and stood behind Li He.

The three officers were slightly flustered.

Although these boys were all twelve or thirteen years old, their murderous looks were a bit frightening.

However, the three officers remained relatively calm.

The man with the large black mole sneered, "Quite a few escaped. I know, you deliberately set up obstacles to block the carriage, didn't you? Trying to rob the magistrate? With just a few of you?"

Li He said, "Of course there are more than a few. Why don't you take a look at the back?"

The man with the large black mole paused for a moment, then turned around and saw several other boys dressed similarly standing behind him.

There were fifteen people in total, in both groups.

The other two officers quickly stood back-to-back with the man with the large black mole, holding their long swords horizontally in front of them.

The man with the large black mole had a cold expression. "You killed those four constables?"

Li He's lips curled into a smile. "Don't you believe me?"

The man with the large black mole frowned, looking surprised and uncertain.

He really didn't quite believe it.

Those were four properly trained constables.

Let alone a group of kids, even a dozen or so adults would have a hard time taking them down easily, especially without anyone noticing. You can imagine how difficult that would be.

Therefore, besides these kids, there must be a few adult masters as well.

The man with the large black mole arrogantly said, "I don't play with kids. Tell the adults to come out. You have the guts to kill a constable, but not the guts to show yourselves? What are you hiding for!"

Li He sneered and raised his arm to make a gesture.

The boys on both sides then simultaneously approached the three officials.

The group moved in unison, wielding their knives, and their pace was slow, gradually putting pressure on the three officers.

"Stop! Don't come any closer!" Cold sweat beaded on the large black mole's forehead as he gripped his longsword tightly and shouted fiercely, "We're all government officials! Don't you want your lives?!"

Li He said, "Weren't those four constables also from the yamen? Let me tell you, I'm going to kill people from the yamen!"

The man with the large black mole finally lost his composure, gritting his teeth and growling, "Charge out!"

He and two other officers acted simultaneously.

The boys swarmed forward.

The blades clashed, making a clanging sound.

The man with the large mole was soon shocked to discover that, despite his great advantage in size and strength, his knife could not cut through the strange clothes worn by the boys.

Looking at his bronze official knife, he discovered that it had several large nicks.

The knives the boys were holding were completely undamaged.

As the fight intensified, the three officers grew increasingly insecure and eventually developed a sense of fear.

The official's sword couldn't break through the boys' defenses; instead, it was cleaved into scrap metal by the boys' swords.

This huge difference in equipment, coupled with the difference in numbers, was enough to erase the gap in physical strength and martial arts skills between the two sides.

These dozen or so teenagers weren't just attacking blindly; they were taking turns attacking in waves. Although their moves and teamwork were still somewhat immature and clumsy, they were still powerful enough to unleash their full potential.

Bang!

With a muffled thud.

Exhausted, Da Heizhi revealed a weakness and was kicked over by Fang Hui.

The other two officers, also wounded all over, collapsed to the ground with their legs giving way.

The boys then tied the three men's hands and feet.

The man with the large black mole had no choice but to admit defeat and reluctantly forced a smirk as he said to Li He:

"Young man, you're the boss, right? You've really opened my eyes today, I'm impressed. But we have no past grudges or recent feuds, you really don't need to kill us... You can't be impulsive when you're young. Here's the deal: everything in the carriage is yours, and if you let us go, we'll pretend we didn't see the deaths of those four constables, how about it?"

Big Black Mole was somewhat afraid, but upon reflection, he realized that these kids had actually had many opportunities to kill the three of them outright, yet they didn't.

Judging from this, these young men must have already killed the constables and dared not kill any more.

Li He squatted down and patted the face with the back of his knife on the man with the large mole. "You really think we came here to steal things? You really think we have no grudge against each other?"

The man with the large black mole paused for a moment, racked his brains, and said, "I have no recollection of you or any of your people. I've probably never even met them before. How could I possibly have a grudge against you?"

"Do you know this young man? Do you know these people?" Big Black Mole kicked one of the officers next to him.

Both men's clothes were stained red with blood. Their injuries weren't serious, but they were in considerable discomfort in this weather. They were both in pain from being kicked.

"No...I don't know him..."

"I've never seen this before either, buddy. You...you must have mistaken me for someone else?"

"..."

Li He said, "Just a reminder, several days ago, outside the south of the city, there was a dilapidated temple."

The three men's expressions changed slightly as they instantly thought of the schoolteacher they had murdered.

However, the three of them denied it, either saying they didn't know what it meant or that they had never been to the dilapidated temple.

Li He grinned, "Still being stubborn?"

The man with the large mole twitched his cheek and forced a smile. "This...we really don't know what you're talking about. You must have misunderstood something."

"Fine, you asked for this." Li He's face instantly turned cold as she stood up and waved her hand.

The boys around them had been patiently waiting, and now that they had finally received their instructions, they all raised their knives.

The three officers were terrified and trembled with fear.

The man with the large mole shouted, "What are you doing? What...what do you want to do?!"

Pfft!

A boy approached, stared intently into his eyes, and plunged the tip of a knife into his thigh.

"Ah!" the big black mole cried out.

But as soon as he cried out, Fang Hui tied a hemp rope around his mouth.

In this way, the large black mole could not make a loud sound, but could still barely speak.

The other two officers received the same treatment.

After the first boy stabbed each of the three boys once, he stepped aside so that the other boys could take turns attacking.

After more than a dozen people had taken turns stabbing him, the three officers' thighs were covered in blood, with some areas so deep that bone was visible, and blood was flowing all over the ground.

The three of them convulsed, but were unable to break free. They were in so much pain that they bit down hard on the rope in their mouths, until their lips were bleeding.

"Now, do you remember?" Li He asked coldly.

The man with the large black mole could no longer hold on and said weakly, "I remember now...you...you wanted to avenge...Liu Juren...right?...I understand now, you must all be...his students. But his death has nothing to do with me, I didn't kill him..."

The two officers standing nearby, nearly dead, hurriedly defended themselves upon hearing his words:

"It has nothing to do with us! It was all his fault, he was the one who told us to do it!"

"Yes, yes, yes! We didn't mean to kill anyone!"

Upon hearing this, the man with the large mole angrily cursed, "Don't you dare spout such nonsense! I told you to stop him, but you two idiots killed him! And now you're turning around and accusing me?!"

For a moment, the two sides started hurling insults at each other, each blaming the other for the blame.

When they got really into the argument, they wanted nothing more than to kill the other person.

"Shut up!" Li He snapped.

The three then stopped hurling insults at each other and rushed to Li He to explain and beg for forgiveness.

Li He coldly glanced at the three of them, "In the end, the master was killed by you. Whether you used a knife or just talked, you are all murderers. None of you can escape."

The three of them felt a chill run down their spines instantly.

The chill that comes from inner fear is a thousand times more intense than the cold winter wind blowing on a wound.

“It’s time to send you on your way,” Li He said as he slowly backed away. “Everyone, let these three murderers pay with their lives.”

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen boys pounced on the three officers like wild wolves.

The sound of a knife piercing flesh echoed continuously.

The boys stopped when the three men were so badly stabbed that their faces were unrecognizable. Then, they knelt down, tears streaming down their faces, and looked up at the sky.

"gentlemen……"

"Your disciples... have finally avenged you!"

"..."

Before long, the group left the alley and headed to the magistrate's house.

In the alley, seven cold corpses remained, including three of the officers, who had been stripped of their clothes and hung by ropes against the wall.

The wind and snow intensified, and the sky grew increasingly gloomy.

The magistrate's residence was brightly lit with lanterns for illumination.

The magistrate's wife was in the accounting room counting the hard-earned money that had been extorted from the people under the pretext of suppressing bandits.

She had already counted them several times, but she still wasn't satisfied, and was still planning what other jewelry she could buy for herself.

The magistrate sat in his room with a large, warm stove, surrounded by a table laden with delicious food, served by two concubines.

When he was in high spirits, he even poured wine for his concubine, making her laugh and sway.

One of the concubines said coquettishly, "Master, you're so annoying. You always bully us."

The magistrate, his eyes glazed over, hooked her chin and said, "Aren't you just meant to be bullied by me? Not only am I going to bully you now, but I'll continue to bully you tonight."

"Master..." another concubine smiled even more charmingly, throwing herself into the magistrate's arms and stroking his chest, "Didn't you say you would reward us with some silver today? Why hasn't the silver appeared yet? Are you lying to us, Master?"

The magistrate laughed, "When have I ever lied to you? Wait a little longer, the carriage from the county government should be arriving soon. I really care about you all; even in this terrible weather, I haven't forgotten to have people bring silver from the county treasury. The county government has made quite a haul this time. I really didn't expect it. The people of this county are all complaining about being poor, but even after some serious searching, we can still squeeze out quite a bit of profit... Hahahaha!"

The two concubines immediately flattered, "Our master is truly amazing!"

"What makes me so great, sir?" the magistrate asked, his face full of lewdness, as he held the concubines' delicate hands.

The two concubines smiled obsequiously and continued to flatter him.

"Of course, it's amazing in every way..."

"Especially the master's virility in bed, it was so powerful it exhausted the two of us..."

After some teasing, the magistrate felt hot all over and his interest was piqued.

There was no time to wait until dark; he grabbed the two of them and pounced on the bed.

Bang!

The door was suddenly kicked open, and a servant stumbled in.

The magistrate roared, "You scoundrel! Don't you know I'm busy with important matters here? Who gave you permission to barge in? Get out!"

The servant collapsed to the ground with a thud, clutching his chest, blood bubbling from his mouth. "Master...no...it's terrible...a group of people have...they've broken in..."

The two concubines were terrified, their faces turning pale, and they screamed as they shrank into a corner.

The magistrate then noticed that the servant had also been wounded in the chest, and blood was seeping from between his fingers, leaving a pool of blood on the ground.

"Who goes there!" The magistrate rushed to his servant, grabbing his shoulder. "Who dares to come to my house and kill someone!"

The servant, vomiting blood, said, "It looks like... a group of... a group of teenagers... Master, you... you must run away..."

After saying this, the servant breathed his last.

The magistrate was terrified, for he could already hear the sounds of fighting approaching.

Just as he was about to rush out the door, before his foot had even crossed the threshold, a sharp knife was thrust in from outside and pressed against his neck.

The magistrate, trembling, slowly backed away. "Who are you people! I am the magistrate of this county! You are such big dogs—"

Before he could even utter the word "courage," he was kicked to the ground.

Li He entered the room, followed by Fang Hui and three teenagers.

Fang Hui looked around, his jaw nearly dropping in astonishment at the dazzling array of gold and rare treasures. "Good heavens, is the magistrate's room really this luxurious?"

The three young masters beside them were also dumbfounded.

Having lived for over ten years, I've only ever heard of such lavish room scenes from storytellers.

The four of them then looked at the table laden with all sorts of delicacies, their mouths watering.

However, they would never act rashly without Li He's instructions.

Li He's eyelids trembled, her eyes surging with anger. "Just one plate or one wine pot here, if sold, could provide enough for an ordinary family to live on for several years! You corrupt official! You deserve to die!"

"You brat...you..." The magistrate scrambled to his feet, pointing at Li He's nose and cursing, "Who do you think you are! How dare you be so insolent before me! You've gone too far! You've defied the heavens! I'll have you skinned alive and your corpses displayed to the public!"

The county magistrate was used to acting arrogantly and was far from the capital, so he was practically a local tyrant. Even with danger looming, he still habitually put on airs.

"You corrupt official, do you seem to have forgotten your current predicament?" Li He took half a step forward and brandished the sharp knife in his hand.

The magistrate, as if waking from a dream, shuddered and backed away again. "Are you all crazy?! I am the magistrate! The official in charge of the people of this county!"

Li He's eyes were filled with mockery and coldness. "Local official... what a local official he is. Fang Hui, kill him. He's disgusting to look at."

Fang Hui glared angrily, holding a knife in both hands as he stepped forward. "You corrupt official! If you hadn't protected those thugs, my family wouldn't have died! You'd better give me your life!"

His family's ruin was directly caused by the one-eyed man, but the real culprit was the magistrate of Ting County.

Only by killing this corrupt official can he truly avenge himself. Now that the corrupt official is right in front of him, how can he not be furious?

The overwhelming hatred terrified the county magistrate so much that he almost wet his pants.

In his panic, the magistrate grabbed two of his concubines and shoved them violently at Fang Hui, then turned and rushed toward the window.

The two concubines were already terrified. With that push, they fell straight onto Fang Hui.

puff--

Two sharp knives pierced their stomachs precisely.

Fang Hui was stunned for a moment.

Just as the magistrate was about to climb out of the window with his backside sticking out, Li He said, "From the magistrate down to his concubines and servants, everyone here is a scumbag who sucks the blood of us common people along with the magistrate. Not one of them is innocent."

Fang Hui snapped out of his daze, decisively drew his twin swords, pushed aside the concubine, and rushed to the window in three quick steps. He raised his hands high and stabbed the magistrate hard in the back!