As it happened, he was the last one to be subdued, making him the person who knew the most besides the mouse-whiskered man.
Lian Li’s expression was already souring as he watched Small-eyes describe the moment he mentioned the stick being stained with feces.
Small-eyes didn’t notice and continued speaking.
When he mentioned poking the shit-stained stick into someone’s mouth, Lian Li’s face turned a faint shade of black.
By the time he recounted the insults he and the mouse-whiskered man had hurled at each other, Lian Li’s face had turned completely dark.
He tugged on Yun Huizhou’s sleeve and said, “Quick, knock him out. Don’t let him say any more.”
Yun Huizhou, however, was listening with great interest. His face, which had been dark all night, finally carried a few hints of a smile.
Small-eyes quickly finished recounting the entire process.
The martial artists present had varying expressions on their faces.
Finally, a man skilled in the art of conversation stepped forward and said, “Young Hero Lian, what a fine method. We are truly impressed. Subduing such a villain serves as an example for all of us who act in the name of chivalry and justice.”
Lian Li: “…”
He gave a weary and exhausted smile, remaining silent.
He had been mistaken—Zhao Honglan was also a bad person!
However, just as he finished that thought, Zhao Honglan spoke again. “This scoundrel Ma Tie is incredibly cunning. We have been searching for his tracks for over a year but could never find him.”
“Now that Young Hero Lian has captured him, it is a great service, and there should be a reward.”
Lian Li: !!!
He took back what he just thought. Zhao Honglan truly lived up to his role as the Male Lead; he was a very good person.
He was much more reliable than that spectator of chaos, Yun Huizhou!
The crowd chimed in: “It is only right,” “It is only right.”
At that moment, the unreliable spectator Yun Huizhou also spoke up.
“My Junior Brother has always had a weak constitution. After tonight’s ordeal, his face is completely devoid of color. When we went to find him, he fainted before he could even say a word.”
He looked directly at the people from the Five Seas Sect, extending one hand with his palm open, and continued, “It seems he will need to recuperate at the Alliance Leader’s Manor for a while. Shouldn’t your Five Seas Sect provide some compensation? The costs for the physician and the medicine should be borne by you.”
Lian Li: !!!
Once again, he took back his previous thought. Yun Huizhou, this spectator of chaos, was actually very reliable.
The others were like human parrots.
“It is only right, it is only right.”
The faces of the Five Seas Sect members darkened, but amidst the chorus of “it is only right” from the crowd, they had no choice but to pull out money for compensation, no matter how unwilling they were.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, they were in the wrong.
A small pouch was torn from the waist of Zhang Xin of the Five Seas Sect and tossed toward Yun Huizhou.
She was angry, and the pouch she threw was infused with a bit of internal energy.
Yun Huizhou caught it nonchalantly, then opened the pouch and poured all the silver into his palm to count it.
“Ten taels,” Qu Tingquan noted with a glance, then nodded to Lian Li.
Yun Huizhou’s face remained expressionless; one couldn’t tell if he was satisfied or not.
He used his internal energy to turn each piece of silver.
Seeing this action, Zhang Xin was fuming with rage. She said, “What is the meaning of this? I, Zhang Xin, have been in the martial world for thirty years; I would not stoop to using such despicable tricks.”
Yun Huizhou ignored her. He simply pulled a small bag from his own waist and put the silver inside.
Then, using his internal force, he tossed Zhang Xin’s empty pouch back and said, “Manage your disciples well. Otherwise, even if you spend another thirty years in this world, your reputation will still be dragged down by them.”
Zhang Xin opened her mouth to say something, but when she saw the disciple who had bribed Ma Tie to kidnap people, she couldn’t say a word.
Yun Huizhou’s meaning was clear: he was only blaming this incident on that specific disciple and not escalating it to the Five Seas Sect or its other members.
In the end, Zhang Xin turned around and left immediately.
Staying there would only make her a laughingstock. Once she returned, she would definitely report this to the Sect Leader and properly discipline the character of all the disciples.
Otherwise, if another incident like this occurred, the Five Seas Sect would truly lose all face.
Yun Huizhou tossed the small bag of silver to Lian Li and said, “Yours.”
Lian Li was very happy as he caught the small bag, but he couldn’t let it show too clearly, so he had to suppress it.
As a result, his already pale face turned even whiter, making him look even more pitiful.
To others, it truly looked as Yun Huizhou had described—that he had suffered quite a lot because of this ordeal.
At that moment, the Purple-clothed woman stepped out from the crowd. Once some people recognized her, their gazes fell upon Ma Tie.
This was the lady who had been injured a year ago and was targeted by Ma Tie, only to fight him off.
The purple-clothed woman first cupped her fists toward Lian Li in a salute, then looked at Zhao Rong and said, “Since Ma Tie has been captured, he should be executed as soon as possible. This man is full of schemes; leaving him alive would cause many sisters to have long nights and many dreams.”
Zhao Rong gave a slight nod.
Just as Lian Li realized what the lady meant, he was grabbed by Yun Huizhou and leaped to a distance.
By the time he hurriedly looked back at Ma Tie, he could only see the purple-clothed woman’s longsword piercing through Ma Tie’s heart.
If Yun Huizhou hadn’t pulled him away, the blood would likely have splattered onto his feet.
The longsword was withdrawn, and Ma Tie slowly collapsed to the ground.
To be honest, seeing the scene in person was quite a shock for Lian Li.
Although he had seen such scenes many times in TV shows and movies, seeing it through a screen was not life-sized, so it naturally lacked such a strong sense of reality.
Furthermore, he couldn’t smell the pungent scent of blood through a screen.
However, he had lived in a hospital for so many years after all, and he was long accustomed to seeing death.
Back at the ruined temple, he had already prepared himself: if he was to follow Yun Huizhou to learn martial arts and travel the martial world, it was impossible for his hands to remain unstained by blood.
Therefore, although it was a shock, he endured it well.
He pursed his lips, took one last look at Ma Tie’s corpse, and then looked away, letting out a long breath at the same time.
Seeing Ma Tie dead, the recently awakened mouse-whiskered man was so terrified that he began foaming at the mouth. Small-eyes and Strawberry-nose also started screaming in fear.
The disciples of the Qinghong Sword Sect knocked the two of them unconscious and took them away.
As for how the mouse-whiskered man and his group would be dealt with, they would have to wait until the Qinghong Sword Sect disciples brought everyone back.
If there were truly people among them who had been forced by the mouse-whiskered man’s group, then these men would not have a good end.
If they were all bought through legitimate means, then there wasn’t much they could say.
But looking at the mouse-whiskered man, there were certainly people they had obtained through improper means.
After Yun Huizhou and Lian Li expressed their gratitude to Zhao Honglan, they returned to the courtyard arranged for them.
As soon as they entered the room, Lian Li lunged toward the bed.
It was already noon, and a servant brought lunch.
Lian Li hurriedly scrambled off the bed, and after eating with Yun Huizhou, he shooed him to the room next door.
“You should go rest too. You spent the whole night searching for people and then interrogating them.”
After sending him away, Lian Li lay happily on the large bed, rolled around twice, and then closed his eyes.
In the afternoon, the disciples of the Qinghong Sword Sect brought back all the people the mouse-whiskered man had bought. There were both males and females, and none were lacking in appearance.
Among them, the males were generally younger than the females.
The youngest was six years old, and the oldest was only twelve.
