Chapter 1961: Elder Lu Arrives

The recording continued.

This group of guards, dressed as bandits, quietly infiltrated Shan Xiaotian's mansion along the street.

"This recording looks like the one he just showed..."

"Yes... I thought they were real bandits, but it turns out they were guards from the City Lord's Mansion..."

"Guards from the City Lord's Mansion disguised as bandits, deliberately committing murder..."

Soon, someone recognized the scene recorded in the footage; it was identical to what the previous witness had described.

They had assumed they were bandits, but after seeing the full content, they realized... they were actually guards disguised from the City Lord's Mansion!

As the guards entered the mansion, the recording stopped. Cao Chengli held the recording jade crystal in his hand and looked at Xue Chen, asking, "Do you have anything else to say?"

"You... this is fabricated!"

Xue Chen's face went pale.

Evidently, he had never dreamed that such an incident would be tracked and recorded.

"Fabricated? Try fabricating it yourself!"

Shan Xiaotian stepped forward.

The content recorded by the jade crystal was real events and could not be faked, which is why it was considered impartial.

"I..." Xue Chen took a step back. "You have an engagement with the Third Miss, and you are strong, which is naturally ideal. Why would we kill you? Wouldn't doing so tarnish the City Lord's Mansion's reputation...?"

"That's true..."

Everyone paused, looking over in unison.

If the engagement wasn't suitable, they could just break it off. Why hire bandits to commit murder?

Why would they bring such discredit upon themselves?

"Why did they want to kill me? If you've forgotten, you can look at this!"

With a light chuckle, Shan Xiaotian also took out a recording jade crystal from his pocket, touched it with his finger, and the images within were projected.

"What? You clearly know why I'm here, but you don't come out yourself, thinking you can send a servant with the engagement contract and simply brush me off?" In the recording, Xue Qin's face was cold and arrogant, as noble as a princess.

"It's not complicated, it's very simple. I want you to announce throughout the city that you are unworthy of me, that you actively requested to annul the engagement, and that my City Lord's Mansion reluctantly agreed after repeated persuasion, only then ending the contract... Otherwise, if you just take out the contract directly, do you want to tell everyone that I, Xue Qin, don't want to marry you? Do you want everyone to condemn the City Lord's Mansion?"

"Refusing is also simple! The Shan family has offended many people over the years. Without the alliance with the City Lord's Mansion, and given that you are a good-for-nothing yourself, your family should have been wiped out long ago... If those people decide to make a move, do you really think you, a master and a servant, can stop them?"

Xue Chen sneered repeatedly.

"Public opinion? After you die, the City Lord will be heartbroken and personally send people to avenge you, and the Young Miss will cry for days, eventually leaving this place sorrowfully to enter the Lingyun Sword Sect..."

The jade crystal clearly recorded the scene of the two coming to Shan's mansion and showing off their power, with no detail missed!

"This..."

"So she wanted to break off the engagement, but wasn't satisfied even after the other party agreed, and still wanted to protect her reputation, even resorting to murder..."

"She's utterly wicked!"

"The City Lord's Mansion has had an excellent reputation all these years; I can't believe they would do something like this..."

"Disgraceful. I'm ashamed to be associated with them..."

After watching this scene, everyone understood what had happened and looked at Xue Chen and Xue Qin with hostility.

"You, you..."

Her pretty face went pale, and Xue Qin felt her body go weak, collapsing to the ground.

She had planned not only to break off the engagement and get rid of this good-for-nothing but also to gain a good reputation. She never dreamed... that she would be exposed so blatantly in front of so many people.

From that moment on, her reputation was completely ruined!

Unwilling to marry, she didn't hesitate to collude with bandits and brutally murder her fiancé...

If such a reputation spread, who would dare marry her?

If someone actually married her, and bandits came knocking... wouldn't that be terrible?

"Nonsense! I'll teach you a lesson for spouting such rubbish today..."

Gritting his teeth, Xue Chen lunged forward, immediately charging towards Shan Xiaotian.

The wind whistled, and his palm strike was powerful.

In this situation, he was completely on the defensive. The only way out was to kill Shan Xiaotian and Cao Chengli, leaving no witnesses.

With his strength as an Ancient Saint Triple Realm expert, as soon as he made a move, the room seemed to be instantly sealed, and the two men felt their bodies go cold, unable to move.

"How dare you!"

Huo Jianghe's eyes narrowed, not expecting the other party to dare to commit murder right in front of him.

This was practically disrespecting him, a disciple of the Lingyun Sword Sect.

With a flick of his wrist, his longsword left its sheath. Just as he was about to stop the assailant, he felt his arm grow heavy. Xue Qian, the City Lord sitting to his side, looked over with a smile. "Nephew Jianghe, don't be hasty. Xue Chen is just trying to scare them; he won't go too far. As a disciple of the Sword Sect, it would be beneath your status to interfere in the affairs of my city!"

Huo Jianghe's eyes narrowed.

Xue Chen's murderous intent was pervasive; he certainly wasn't just bluffing. If he didn't intervene and allowed the palm strike to land, the two people in front would undoubtedly be killed simultaneously!

Then... City Lord Xue Qian could feign incompetence in managing his subordinates, at most imprisoning Xue Chen as a warning to others...

At that point, with Shan Xiaotian and Cao Chengli both dead, wouldn't the City Lord's Mansion be free to say whatever they wanted?

Before long, he would surely be released, and nothing would come of it...

"No..."

With Huo Jianghe restrained, and seeing the incredibly powerful palm strike, Cao Chengli's face turned pale, and he was so terrified he nearly fell.

He had come to help Shan Xiaotian seek justice under the orders of the Book, but that didn't mean he wanted to die...

Just as he felt he could no longer escape and was surely doomed, the palm force before him vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye. He hastily looked up and saw that the chief sword instructor of the City Lord's Mansion, a super expert of the Ancient Saint Triple Realm, had fallen to the ground at some point, his breathing ceased, with a verdant green blade of grass piercing his forehead.

"Dead?"

His body stiffened, and he quickly looked closer, then saw the blade of grass had pierced through the man's eye, exited his ear, completely penetrated his brain, and instantly extinguished his life force, killing him on the spot!

Such a soft blade of grass, piercing through an eye and a head... killing an Ancient Saint Triple Realm expert...

What kind of power was this?

His entire body was cold, and Cao Chengli dared not move.

Huo Jianghe, on the other side, also shot up, filled with disbelief.

His cultivation was at the early stage of the Ancient Saint Fourth Realm, the same as City Lord Xue Qian, but... he also couldn't accomplish such a feat.

A blade of grass is soft, cannot be wielded with force, nor can it contain true qi, yet it instantly broke through an Ancient Saint Triple Realm expert's protective true qi and pierced his head...

The most crucial thing was...

With his eyesight, he hadn't seen who made the move from beginning to end, or from which direction the blade of grass had appeared!

It was as if the object had appeared out of thin air.

Not only was he shocked, but City Lord Xue Qian, who had stopped him, also felt a chill run through him.

Clearly, he also hadn't seen where the blade of grass came from.

After carefully recalling, he realized that if it had been him, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist either!

"Teacher... so strong!"

Shan Xiaotian breathed a sigh of relief.

His teacher had told him not to worry, but the previous scene still made him break a sweat.

He had long known his teacher wasn't simple, but he never expected him to be so powerful!

Suppressing his shock and excitement, Shan Xiaotian was about to continue speaking when he saw City Lord Xue Qian abruptly stand up, his face filled with righteous indignation. "As my chief sword instructor, Xue Chen actually committed such an act! It is due to my negligence in discipline, and I am ashamed to be a City Lord... Such a scoundrel must be killed to serve as a warning to others!"

Shan Xiaotian was stunned.

From his tone... did he kill Xue Chen?

How shameless!

"Nephew Xiaotian, I was completely unaware of this matter. Fortunately, you are clever and astute enough to expose this fellow's tactics! This allowed my City Lord's Mansion to preserve its reputation!"

Xue Qian took two steps towards Shan Xiaotian, adopting the appearance of a benevolent elder. "The engagement between you and my daughter was personally set by your father and others. Now that our ancestors have passed away, how can their descendants go against their wishes? Furthermore, it's highly likely that Xiao Qin made that decision because she was misled by Xue Chen; that fellow is a master at manipulating people..."

Seeing his quick reaction and words, Shan Xiaotian sneered.

No wonder he could be the City Lord; he truly was an old fox.

His teacher was discreet and unwilling to reveal himself.

And now, with Xue Chen dead and the City Lord being the strongest present, everyone would certainly assume he was the one who acted.

With the man dead, all the blame could be shifted onto him. Then, with an excuse, it would have little to do with the City Lord's Mansion... At that point, if he found a way to bestow favors, the public opinion within the city wouldn't last long either!

To be able to achieve this so quickly under such a disadvantage, this Xue Qian was truly ruthless.

"City Lord, you jest..."

Unable to hold back any longer, Shan Xiaotian snorted, "The City Lord's Mansion dispatched fifty elites, all of whom died overnight. Do you think anyone will believe that your subordinate acted on his own initiative?"

Fifty elites were not a small number for the City Lord's Mansion. How could he not know if they all died at once?

By stating it directly, Shan Xiaotian effectively ripped off the veil of pretense.

"Hmph!"

Unexpectedly, after saying all that, the other party didn't appreciate it and even spoke like this. Xue Qian's face darkened, his eyes narrowed, and he transmitted his voice: "What, Xue Chen's death isn't enough? You want to bring me down too? Do you have any evidence to prove my involvement in this matter?"

Shan Xiaotian was speechless.

Xue Qin was only trying to annul the engagement; everything else was done by Xue Chen. There was no evidence to show any connection to the City Lord. In fact... Xue Qin could even shift the blame, as her involvement was limited to merely breaking off the engagement!

Breaking off an unsuitable engagement for one's happiness would at most incur moral condemnation, not a breach of law!

"If you have no evidence, you'd best keep quiet and stop spouting nonsense! I know you have a powerful backer, which is why you could easily kill Xue Chen, but... I, as City Lord, was appointed by the Lingyun Sword Sect! Only their elders have the authority to deal with me... If the expert behind you dares to lay a hand on me... it would be an insult to the Sword Sect. Do you think they would let someone who challenges the authority of the six great sects go unpunished? Or do you think the person behind you can withstand the pressure from the six great sects?"

Xue Qian sneered and continued transmitting his voice: "If you don't want your backer to be implicated because of your actions, then obediently listen to me. Let's drop this matter today! Everyone will be happy! Your engagement will also proceed as planned, without any changes..."

Shan Xiaotian's eyes were red, and his fists clenched, cracking audibly. He was utterly speechless.

In truth, he also knew that the deaths of his parents and others were greatly related to City Lord Xue, and he had long wished for revenge!

Unfortunately... the other party was right!

The City Lord's Mansion, with this person being the strongest, if pushed too far, he might truly deploy soldiers for a massacre, and neither he nor his teacher could stop it!

If his teacher were to truly act and kill the opponent, it would mean offending the Lingyun Sword Sect...

Although his teacher's strength was great, he didn't believe he could contend against one of the six great sects of the continent!

"Alright, I don't need to say more; you should understand what to say now, right?"

Seeing his hesitation, Xue Qian snorted, "If you want to move against me, unless an elder of the Sword Sect can hear your prayers and appear before me, otherwise, don't overestimate yourself..."

Before his words had even finished, a holy beast's cry echoed in the air, followed by several figures descending from its back.

"Elder Lu!"

Seeing these people, Huo Jianghe's eyes lit up. He quickly stepped forward, bowing with clasped fists.

Elder Lu Yun had arrived from Starlight City!

His body stiffened, and Xue Qian's ongoing words immediately caught in his throat.