Eighteen li outside the city.
Lu Zheng descended from the sky and saw two men pushing a cart on a small path, walking step by step towards the east.
One of the men wore black clothes, he was tall and sturdy, obviously a martial artist, though not yet entered the martial path, but in a real fight, twelve or thirteen people would probably not get close.
The other man wore coarse hemp clothes, he was of average build, but his eyes flickered, his expression vigilant, he should be someone who uses his brain, but at this moment with his bruised and swollen face, matched with that vigilant expression, it inexplicably looked a bit funny.
Lu Zheng shook his head and manifested his figure in front of the two, standing indifferently in the middle of the road.
“Hm?”
The two did not notice how Lu Zheng appeared, they just looked up and saw a young scholar in green clothes standing ahead, blocking the road.
The hemp-clothed man paused, then shrank back a bit, “What’s the situation?”
The black-clothed burly man narrowed his eyes, his steps did not stop, he said in a low voice, “It’s broad daylight here, not far from the official road, what is there to fear?”
The two naturally approached Lu Zheng, the hemp-clothed man even smiled and nodded at Lu Zheng, then the two pushed the cart aside, preparing to pass by Lu Zheng’s side.
However…
Lu Zheng shifted his foot and blocked in front of the two.
The hemp-clothed man’s pupils shrank, the black-clothed burly man suddenly reached out and drew a dagger from under the cart, stabbing towards Lu Zheng’s heart.
“Ding!”
With a light sound, Lu Zheng’s fingers flicked on the side of the dagger.
“Swish!”
In the next moment, the black-clothed burly man felt his palm jolt violently, then the dagger flew out of his hand.
Expert! Martial path expert!
Without a word, the black-clothed burly man and the hemp-clothed man immediately knelt down.
“Hero, spare our lives!”
“This villain has elders above and children below, please show mercy, hero!”
Silent, immediately attack.
Upon discovering they were no match, decisively beg for mercy.
As expected of old foxes mixing in the jianghu, Lu Zheng shook his head, but damn, there was no sense of accomplishment at all…
With a wave of his hand, the straw covering the cart flew off, revealing two little girls sleeping unconscious below.
The hemp-clothed man and the black-clothed burly man could not help but feel a huge shock in their hearts, thinking indeed so.
“Speak for yourselves.” Lu Zheng said indifferently.
“In reply to the hero, we are just small fries in the Jin Jue Hall, completely acting on orders, we were forced into helplessness, no choice!” The hemp-clothed man’s voice was sorrowful, enough to make listeners weep.
“Jin Jue Hall?” Lu Zheng blinked, this name was so familiar, “The Jin Jue Hall in Yao Prefecture?”
“Yes… exactly… hero has heard of our Jin Jue Hall?” The black-clothed burly man looked up, a hint of hope in his eyes.
Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes, “I only knew before that you did some tomb-robbing business, did not expect you would also do child trafficking.”
Jin Jue Hall, what a long-forgotten name, Lu Zheng had almost forgotten it.
Back then, when he first entered the martial path, he encountered three men coveting Liu Qingyan, they had just come out of tomb-robbing, he even got a Condensing Chill Incantation from them, which helped him a lot in early fights.
Later, he destroyed the bodies and traces, never encountered them seeking revenge again, after that Lu Zheng’s cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, the people he interacted with were either great southern border demons or Dragon Palace princesses, how would he lower his head to see Jin Jue Hall?
So, he had no more dealings with Jin Jue Hall.
Speaking of which, at that time he did not even know Liu Qingyan was a fox spirit.
Thinking of this, Lu Zheng inexplicably felt a bit nostalgic, but actually… it seemed only three or four years…
“Tomb-robbing, child trafficking.”
Lu Zheng said coldly, “I heard your Jin Jue Hall’s three hall masters are still otherworldly people, yet doing such low-class deeds?”
“No… that, that we did not do child trafficking before, only…” The black-clothed burly man hesitated.
The hemp-clothed man immediately followed up, “Only recently the chief hall master gave the order, to abduct some little girls back to the main hall.”
Next, the hemp-clothed man told everything he knew, confessing it all cleanly.
Jin Jue Hall’s main hall was located in Qingyao County of Yao Prefecture, in the county town they opened brothels and casinos, in the local area they did not commit any overly heinous crimes.
But besides that, they also did some shady businesses, like collecting protection fees from merchants, occasionally impersonating bandits to go tomb-robbing elsewhere, and so on.
Plus their three leaders were otherworldly people, so their sphere of influence was quite large, their reputation quite resounding, so even Old Man Liu in Wanfu County had heard of Jin Jue Hall’s name.
…
Actually speaking, Tonglin County also had such forces, but without otherworldly leaders, not as large-scale as Jin Jue Hall, and their actions had some bottom line, rarely causing deaths.
Plus Lu Zheng did not go to casinos or brothels, and soon had relations with the county magistrate, Constable Liu and other officials, so early on he was on these forces’ white lists, no interactions with these people.
After all, even small modern cities cannot avoid dark sides, how could ancient county towns lack such black and grey forces?
It is just that being in an immortal hero world, forces with backing like Jin Jue Hall are few, they all have some scruples.
…
“So that is it, then why start child trafficking recently, what, not enough money?” Lu Zheng asked indifferently.
“No… do not know…”
Lu Zheng shifted his gaze from the black-clothed burly man, looking towards the hemp-clothed man.
“H… Hero…” The hemp-clothed man said tremblingly, “If, if you promise to spare our lives, I, I will…”
Lu Zheng smiled slightly, “I just find soul-searching a bit troublesome.”
The two felt a huge shock in their hearts, before they thought Lu Zheng was just a martial path expert, did not expect he even knew soul-searching evil arts!
“Hero spare our lives! Hero spare our lives! It is the chief hall master who obtained a scripture, seems to need pure yin little girls, so he ordered us to capture girls from various places and send them back to the main hall.” The hemp-clothed man was so scared he kowtowed repeatedly.
Lu Zheng understood upon hearing, probably like when he obtained the Condensing Chill Incantation back then, that chief hall master likely also got an evil scripture, needing pure yin little girls for it.
“Hmph, no way forward, so wanting to tomb-rob for luck?” Lu Zheng thought to himself, “Or he was originally a tomb-robber, got lucky with a cultivation method, then continued?”
But no matter what, abducting children to Lu Zheng’s head, his luck was used up.
Jin Jue Hall? Three otherworldly people?
Got backing? Can fly? How many magic treasures? How many great sect techniques?
“H… Hero…” The hemp-clothed man said pitifully, “For the sake of our obedience, please spare our lives!”
“Want to live?”
“Yes yes yes!”
Lu Zheng reached out, patted twice on each of their shoulders.
“Return to Tonglin County, help Constable Liu send these two little girls home, then confess your crimes and accept punishment, can you do that?”
The hemp-clothed man and the black-clothed burly man could not help but look at each other.
Lu Zheng raised his eyebrow, “Any objections?”
The hemp-clothed man hurriedly said, “Confessing is fine, but once we point out Jin Jue Hall…”
Lu Zheng said indifferently, “Rest assured, soon there will be no Jin Jue Hall.”
