Honghuo looked down at Lo Gang’s body, which had fallen to the ground. He watched in silence as the blood formed a pool around him.
“I’ve finally achieved something.”
Though Honghuo had killed quite a few members of the Zhu Clan, he was never sure whether they were involved in the massacre of his clan or not.
This time, with Hei’s confirmation, he knew that he had taken revenge for his fallen family.
He didn’t know what methods Hei was using, but along the way, Hei had told him that those who were lit with red flames were his enemy.
Lo Gang was the first instance of this he had seen, so he wanted to make sure that he was involved before he took action.
Like Hei, he had no personal grudge against the kidnappers. He didn’t really care what happened to them, but for those who had played a hand in the destruction of his family, he would show no mercy.
“This is only the first of many. Don’t get hung up on this one.”
Seeing Honghuo lost in thought, Hei decided to speak up.
After having gone through quite a few people, this was the first one who he had identified as someone who was involved in the massacre of Honghuo’s family.
But they didn’t really have time for this.
The plan wasn’t so delicate that a few moments to reflect would affect it, but there were likely to be many more people who fit this criterion, and if Honghuo pondered over every one of them, the time would add up.
“Right.”
Honghuo also knew that this was a time sensitive matter. While his sister’s status was made clearer, they still didn’t know where exactly she was being held, and every second was still quite precious.
That being the case, he still wouldn’t let go of perfectly fine loot.
After having decapitated Lo Gang, he had already spread his Qi to prevent the blood from staining the items that were on the floor and had taken his spatial ring.
“These things aren’t bad. This Lo Gang fellow was quite wealthy.”
“Okay…”
“Not all of us are filthy rich, you know? Just because these things don’t tickle your fancy, doesn’t mean they aren’t any good.”
“I just feel like your atmosphere contrasts too much with the scenery.”
“I suppose.”
“Now, the clean-up.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask. You’re putting both the offenders and the women you rescue in the same place, right? Won’t that be a problem?”
Over the course of the operation, Hei had taken several prisoners and had rescued quite a few young women, who were in this unfortunate situation.
The reason he was doing this, was because he was trying to locate the family members of the nine missing disciples, but so far, he hadn’t found any of them.
“They’re in the same place, but they’re separated.”
“I see. What do you plan to do with the offenders?”
“What would you do with them?”
Honghuo shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m not quite sure. I don’t really care about the kidnappings, to be honest. I wouldn’t have paid attention to them.”
Other the situation with his sister, he usually wouldn’t involve himself in things like this. After all, as an assassin, it was hard to say he was a better person than them.
“It’s the same for me.”
“Then why did you capture them?”
“Since I’m here, I might as well clean up a little.”
“…”
“I’ll let the victims decide what happens to the offenders since they have personal grievances with these people.”
Every time he came across a similar situation to Lo Gang’s, he would capture the offenders and take the women who wanted refuge into his storage space.
He would let the women decide how they wished to seek justice if they did. Otherwise, he would let the offenders go.
He wasn’t out here to punish evildoers, nor was he outraged at their actions. It just so happened that their actions were hindrances to his own, so they had to be removed.
After he dissolved Jingfei’s marriage and rescued the sect leader, and possibly the families of the missing disciples, he would wash his hands of this entire situation.
Whether they continued to kidnap young women, or if they turned a new leaf, it had nothing to do with him.
“I suppose that’s the only real solution.”
Honghuo agreed with Hei’s way of doing things. He didn’t like the idea of murdering people when there was no personal grievance. That seemed a bit too frivolous.
Even though, as an assassin, there wouldn’t always be a grievance between him and his targets, there was always an incentive. That being the payment he was to receive.
And the missions he accepted were always grievance fueled, rather than to remove thorns in people’s sides. As such, he wasn’t one who would kill all witnesses.
If there were witnesses to his activities, it only meant he was lacking in ability.
After taking all of the things on the floor into the spatial ring, their business was done.
It was at this moment that the woman and the young lady stepped through the open door into Lo Gang’s room.
They both let out shrieks and took a few steps back as they looked at the scene in front of them.
The woman spoke.
“You, what have you done?”
Honghuo responded.
“We took care of some trash.”
“You had a grievance with Lo Gang?”
“That’s right.”
“And now?”
“We’ll be on our way.”
As he looked at the young lady who was standing next to this woman, Honghuo’s eyebrows twitched and his body stilled.
“You…”
Seeing this, the woman came to a realisation.
She turned to the young lady beside her.
“Is this your brother?”
The young lady was dazed for a moment, not having expected things to turn out this way.
The contrast between what she expected and what she saw was too big. She had thought she was walking into a life of despair, but when she got there, the source of that despair had been dealt with.
Upon hearing the woman’s words, her body twitched, and she moved her gaze from Lo Gang’s body over to the young man standing in front of them. Her eyes were already welling up with tears from what she had assumed was going to happen.
After seeing his face, she was lost for words.
“Brother?”
Hei was surprised to hear this.
“Is this your sister? Didn’t you say she was…”
At this point, both Honghuo and the young lady spoke at the same time.
“Brother? How could this be my brother? My brother’s way cooler and more handsome.”
“Sister? No, no. I just think she’s very pretty.”
Hei and the woman turned to each other, both left speechless by the scene that was appearing before them.
The atmosphere really didn’t suit the scenery.
Hei spoke.
“Okay, we don’t have time for this.”
Hearing this, Honghuo stopped admiring the appearance of the young lady.
“Right, right.”
He began walking towards the exit, but he was stopped by the woman, who had grabbed his sleeve.
“You’re just going to leave like this?”
After having seen the interaction between Honghuo and the young lady, she felt that this person wasn’t exactly dangerous.
While this assumption may not have been the wisest, there was just something about him that seemed far too relaxed to lash out at her over stopping him.
Honghuo stopped and turned to the woman with a raised brow.
She continued.
“Do you realise what you’ve done?”
She pointed at Lo Gang’s body.
“That man was backed by a second-grade sect!”
“And?”
The woman was shocked that the mention of a second-grade sect didn’t cause any fluctuations in Honghuo.
Either he had strong backing, or he was a fool.
“And? What about you going to do about us?”
“What do you mean?”
“Now that you’ve disrupted the situation here, where will we go? A lot of us have lost our support, either through them being killed, or we were betrayed and sold for money. You’ve changed the situation here, but have you considered how that will impact us?”
Part of her knew that saying all of this was pointless. These powerful experts never cared about the consequences of their actions or how they inconvenienced other people. They just moved on with their lives, leaving the victims to fend for themselves.
The woman’s concerns were based on the fact that most of the women here had lost their cultivations to Lo Gang and were now essentially defenceless.
If they were to be thrust into the world at this time, they would likely end up in a similar situation, or even worse.
Even though Lo Gang chained them up and kept them underground in the cellar, he took care of them in a general sense.
They were well fed, their health wasn’t an issue, and they didn’t suffer through physical torture, aside from the dual cultivation techniques he would perform on them.
From her understanding, the cultivation technique Lo Gang had used worked best if both parties were in good physical condition. The only negative trait that he promoted was fear.
On top of that, he seemed to have a strange obsession with collecting women and looking at them every now and then. So, he usually didn’t cause them any more physical pain than necessary for his cultivation.
Now that he was gone, there was no way they could stay in this residence, and if they were to land in the hands of someone else, who’s to say their situation wouldn’t become much worse?
Honghuo was interested in this.
After going through a few of the names on Hei’s list, they had come across women like this quite frequently.
Instead of being overjoyed at the fact that they were now free, they were more concerned about what would happen to them in the future.
It was only those who are brand-new to this, such as the young lady standing next to the woman, who could easily move on from the situation.
This was because they had yet to lose any of their cultivation and could go about their lives as usual once they were free.
“Don’t worry. For those kinds of concerns, you can look to my companion over there.”
He pointed at Hei.
The woman turned her head to Hei and waited for an answer.
This time, she didn’t dare to speak too much. While Honghuo gave her the feeling of a casual wondering expert, Hei was a complete mystery, it wasn’t worth it to offend people like this.
“For those of you have no place to return to, I can guarantee your safety. It’s just…”
Upon hearing Hei pause at the end, the woman understood what he was trying to say.
She unhesitatingly shifted her shoulders, letting her robe fall from her frame. This was a move she had practised in order to assure her own safety in these kinds of situations.
“Uh…”
Hei walked up to the woman, caught her robe before it fell too far and raised it back over her shoulders.
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Then…”
She was surprised. Had she interpreted his meaning incorrectly?
“It’s just that I’ll have to keep you in a place that isn’t very accommodating for a while.”
Hei’s storage space was just a black space. He tried to make it more hospitable by adding a few tables with food, for the women he had taken into his custody, and a few lights so that they wouldn’t be left in utter darkness.
Other than that, it was pretty empty.
“Isn’t accommodating?”
“Indeed. You’ll find it’s quite simplistic. When I have the time, I’ll take you over to a safe place.”
“That’s fine.”
She then bowed deeply.
“Thank you for rescuing us.”
“There’s no need for thanks. Is it just the six of you, or are there more?”
Hei’s spiritual perception was blocked in certain areas of the residence, which was a situation he had come across quite frequently during this operation.
He had taken a sample of the materials that were blocking it and would study them later. He didn’t want to be defenceless against such things that could reduce his awareness.
“There are others. I’ll lead you to them.”
The woman turned and started leading the way to the underground cellar.
Honghuo tried to strike up a conversation with the young woman, but she didn’t seem to be very fond of him, which was understandable given the situation.
When they reached their destination, the woman used some method to open the cellar, and upon seeing what was inside, Hei and Honghuo were surprised.
“This…”
Honghuo looked over to Hei before he spoke.
“There are all sorts of eccentrics.”