23 This Venerable One Couldn’t Stop Him....

The youngest son quivered uncontrollably, both legs shaking as he looked up at his father.

Landlord Chen's eyes darted left and right; after a while, he insisted, "D…don't know it. D-don't recognize it!"

Chu Wanning's face was cold like frost. He spoke in a low voice, "Liar."

He had a severe appearance to begin with; now, with his eyebrows lowered and an aura of fury, he looked even more murderous, even scarier than a malicious ghost.

Landlord Chen unconsciously took two steps back. Suddenly, Chu Wanning struck the ground with Tianwen, and sparks danced from the vine as leaves flew into the air. Landlord Chen promptly fell on his ass.

"Was the Hundred Butterfly Fragrance really made by your family? Was that your eldest son's first marriage? Does Luo Xianxian ring a bell? Just how shameless are you, at this ripe old age?!"

Landlord Chen's mouth opened, closed, then opened again, but couldn't manage a single word in the end as his face turned from ashen to scarlet.

The young daughter of the Chen family, who had been cowering off to the side this whole time, heard the name "Luo Xianxian" and immediately started crying.

She stumbled over to kneel before her mother, shaking that unconscious body. "Luo-jiejie! Luo-jiejie, was it all you? I know you were wronged, that you can't accept it, but please I beg you, if only for me, please spare my family…Luo-jiejie…"

Chu Wanning leaned over, Tianwen glowing golden in his hand, and used its hilt to lift Landlord Chen's face.

He had a phobia of touching people he found disgusting; it gave him goosebumps.

"Do you really think I can't tell when someone's lying to me?" He spoke coldly, staring into Landlord Chen's face and seeing his own reflected in those frightened eyes.

It is indeed an unlikeable face, cold and harsh, like a blade covered in frost.

But so what.

Yuheng of the Night Sky never needed affection from other people.

"Daozhang, Daozhang, Sisheng Peak sent you, and I'm the client, how could you pry into my private business like this, I——"

Chu Wanning said, "Fine, I'll get out of your business then. You can die."

"Wait! Waitwaitwait! You can't——"

"I can't?" Danger flickered in Chu Wanning's narrowed eyes. "I can't what?"

"I'm…you're…you…"

"If someone like you were a disciple of my sect," Chu Wanning said as he stroked Tianwen. "I'd whip you bloody and snap your bones right here."

Hearing that, Landlord Chen finally gave up on trying to play dumb. Seeing Chu Wanning's vicious demeanor, without a hint of the compassion one would expect from a cultivator, his legs began to shake involuntarily and he knelt down, throwing all self-respect out the window to wail, "Daozhang, w-we had no other choice, we couldn't afford to offend the governor's daughter! We, we were so worried we could hardly eat, Daozhang——"

He reached out to hug Chu Wanning's thighs while wailing.

Chu Wanning's phobia flared up. Seeing that Landlord Chen was about to touch himself, he brought the willow vine down without a second thought, exclaiming in disgust, "Don't touch me!"

"Aah!" The back of his hand got lashed by Tianwen, and even though there was no spiritual energy behind the strike, Landlord Chen still howled in pain, shouting, "Unbelievable! Sisheng Peak's cultivator beats up common folk!"

"You——!"

When Mo Ran, supporting the two invalids, stepped into the Chen Manor, the sight that greeted him was that of Landlord Chen crying snottily where he was kneeling on the ground, pointing at Chu Wanning with a shaky finger, yelling, "Which other sect does that? Your Sisheng Peak took the fee, and, and not only did you not protect the client, y-you attacked me instead! It's so, it's so——very shameless! I-I'm gonna tell everyone! I'll announce it to the world! I-I'll make sure everyone knows about your sect's…your sect's attitude! I'll destroy your sect's reputation, and make sure you never get paid another copper!"

Chu Wanning snarled, "So what if you have money? Does money allow you to flip right and wrong, to repay kindness with cruelty? Does money let you do whatever you want, break all your promises?"

The Chen family's youngest son spoke up timidly from the side, "It's not like we killed that Luo Xianxian, we just knocked her around a bit and chased her out, she's the one that didn't want to live, it's not our fault she didn't look for shelter from the snow, can you blame us for that? We didn't kill anyone, you can't just point fingers as you please just because you're some mighty cultivator."

His words were extremely crafty. Technically, the Chens hadn't broken any laws; even if Chu Wanning were to drag them to court, at most the official might rebuke them for being heartless and dishonest, but none of them would be convicted of anything.

"'I didn't kill uncle, but uncle died because of me'[9]. Well you've certainly cleaned up after yourselves."

Chu Wanning's hand, clenched around the willow vine, shook with anger.

Landlord Chen, that old weasel, had already picked up his wits from where they had been scattered by the initial scare. He had been afraid that Chu Wanning would ditch them without taking care of the ghost before, but thinking about it again, this barbarous Daozhang was still sent by Sisheng Peak. As the foremost sect of the lower cultivation realm, since they'd already collected the fee, they would definitely finish the job, that was common knowledge.

Once he came to this realization, he stopped being quite so afraid.

He held onto his own hoof with a tiny cut on it, all tears and snot as he cried, "Cleaned up? Us Chens, we've never done anything heinous, no murder and no arson. If Luo Xianxian didn't want to live, how was that any of our fault? I-if you don't properly exorcise this ghost today, I'll go to Sisheng Peak and file a complaint about you immediately! Who does things like you people? If you take someone's money you gotta take care of their problems, how do you not understand something that basic, and you——"

Before he'd even finished, Chu Wanning took his own wallet and threw it on the ground before him without blinking. "Your payment to the sect, I've returned in full. As for complaining, feel free!"

Tianwen glowed brightly, willow leaves sharp as knives.

Caught off guard, Landlord Chen yelped and squealed, covering his head and scurrying about like a rat, even dragging his own daughter over to block the lashes in his frenzy.

Luckily, Chu Wanning was a practiced hand at whipping people, and Tianwen was one with his mind, the willow vine pulling back immediately to avoid hitting the Chen daughter before circling around and heading directly for Landlord Chen's face. Immediately, there was a loud shriek, and blood splattered instantly.

Landlord Chen hadn't expected Chu Wanning to be so completely unfazed by his posturing, and his air of arrogance melted instantly into a puddle of mud, leaving him scared shitless as he fled and wailed, "Wait wait wait hold the whip! Hold the whip! Daozhang! Daozhang I was just talking nonsense! Just nonsense! Ah! Daozhang spare me! Aiyo please I'm begging you, I'm getting on in years, I can't bear this! Daozhang have mercy, it was our fault! It was our fault!"

Chu Wanning wasn't even listening to him. His chest was stuffy with anger, phoenix eyes harshly narrowed as Tianwen danced in the air and Landlord Chen rolled around on the ground in pain, crying snottily.

Mo Ran stood at the gate, stunned: "..."

He had never seen Chu Wanning whip a commoner with Tianwen before, and so ruthlessly too, as if he was whipping a beast, the willow vine moving so fast it was barely visible.

What kinda mess was this? The contractor beating up the client, whether in the upper or lower cultivation realm, would definitely destroy that cultivator's reputation for good. No matter how bad Chu Wanning's temper was, or how much he let his heart rule his head, how could he have gone so far as to commit this big of a blunder?

This was way more serious than his "thieving and debauchery".

Shi Mei's face was pale from shock. He pulled at Mo Ran in a panic. "H-hurry and stop Shizun!"

Mo Ran handed the still unconscious Chen-Yao—that is, the treasured daughter of the Yao family—over to Shi Mei, and stepped forward to grab Chu Wanning's wrist, alarmed and apprehensive. "Shizun——you——what are you doing?"

Chu Wanning was in a terrible mood, brows furrowed. He bellowed, "Let go."

"Shizun, this is against the rules——"

"As if I need you to tell me? Which of Sisheng Peak's seven hundred and fifty rules do I not know better than you? Let go!"

Mo Ran raised his voice. "Then why aren't you stopping?"

Chu Wanning didn't feel like wasting his breath with him, abruptly ripping his hand away instead, and another lash landed ruthlessly on Landlord Chen.

"Shizun!!"

Chu Wanning growled, eyes frosty, "Get lost!"

Landlord Chen saw that Mo Ran looked handsome and amiable, definitely a good person, and so hurriedly crawled over, cowering behind Mo Ran and tugging at the corner of his clothing. "Daozhang, please talk to your Shizun, I, my old bones, even if I was wrong, even if I was wrong, my old bones can't take this kind of beating…"

But, contrary to his expectations, when Mo Ran turned around and saw his snot and tears- covered face, he felt not pity but disgust, moving quickly away with an "Ah" and muttering in disdain, "Don't touch me."

"..." Landlord Chen saw that this one could not be relied upon, and his gaze moved on to Shi Mei, who was helping Chen-Yao into a chair not too far away. Holding onto his last bit of hope, he crawled toward Shi Mei, wailing and crying.

"Daozhang, Daozhang, please show some kindness, show some mercy, I know I was wrong, it was my bad, all my bad, please I beg you please talk to your Shizun, I was wrong, I admit my fault…I…I…I'll do whatever you say, just please don't hit me anymore, I'm old, my body can't bear it…can't bear it…"

He cried pitifully, genuinely begging for his life as he crawled to Shi Mei's side and tugged at his clothes.

"..." Shi Mei was filled with pity, and turned to implore Chu Wanning. "Shizun, since the old man already knows he's wrong, please show some mercy and spar——"

Chu Wanning: "Out of the way."

Shi Mei: "..."

Chu Wanning said harshly, "Did you not hear me!?"

Shi Mei shuddered in fear and moved out of the way.

Tianwen ripped through the air with a whoosh, headed directly for Landlord Chen, who covered his head with both arms and let out a frightened cry. The sound was really too pitiful, and Shi Mei couldn't help but step back in front, blocking the hit for him.

The lash landed resoundingly.

Shi Mei moved too fast; Chu Wanning tried to pull back, but it was too late.

Droplets of blood flew. In his weakened state, Shi Mei promptly fell to his knees from the strike. He covered his delicate cheek, but couldn't stop the blood trickling out from between his fingers…