With his words falling quiet, Cheng Xiaofan exerted a slight force with his foot, causing Mu Yisheng to spew a mouthful of blood, leaving him barely clinging to life.
"Despicable?"
Cheng Xiaofan retrieved the crystal pill and, recalling the other's words, couldn't help but shake his head.
He said, "Mu Yisheng, to hear the word 'despicable' come from your mouth is truly enough to make one laugh until their head itches and their jaw dislocates."
"Judging by your aura, in this region of the Great Northwest, it's safe to say you've committed countless despicable and vile acts, your hands practically stained with the blood of innocents."
"You share a common trait with Yin Tiejiu: relying on your ancient martial arts and your ability to conceal yourself, you've committed so many wrongdoings, yet the Jianghu Affairs Bureau can't find any loopholes."
"And you feel wronged by me taking your crystal pill?"
Pfft!
Upon hearing this, Mu Yisheng coughed up another mouthful of blood.
His eyes stared at Cheng Xiaofan in despair, a look of utter speechlessness on his face.
He wanted to say something more, but his lips moved a few times, his limbs convulsed violently, and he coughed up several more mouthfuls of blood.
He gasped his last breath!
Thus!
Cheng Xiaofan, with his hands behind his back, walked out of the grove.
"Chirp—"
At this moment, the Sky-Breaking Eagle landed directly in front of him.
He immediately sat on its back and soared into the air.
Upon arriving at Lion Village, Cheng Xiaofan looked down from above and immediately sensed something was amiss.
He then had the Sky-Breaking Eagle carry him downwards.
When he was still more than twenty meters from the ground, Cheng Xiaofan leaped from the air.
As he landed on the ground, he found the village as silent as a tomb. Not a soul could be seen, not even a dog.
Cheng Xiaofan didn't bother checking where the villagers had gone. He rushed directly towards the collapsed wooden building.
Not long after, he arrived in the backyard of the collapsed wooden building.
Reaching the cellar, Cheng Xiaofan bent down and moved aside the large millstone covering it, then descended the stone steps of the entrance.
This cellar was usually used for storing food or as a hiding place in emergencies. It was quite spacious inside.
Clearly, this had been built by Yin Tiejiu in his early years.
Upon reaching the bottom, Cheng Xiaofan immediately saw Tang Guoxing and Luo Cheng lying on the ground. Their faces were greenish, and both were in a coma.
Both had been poisoned.
As soon as Cheng Xiaofan had arrived at the wooden building, he had discovered this situation through his Dragon Eye clairvoyance.
Even from a considerable distance, he had noticed they had been poisoned.
Fortunately, Cheng Xiaofan found that both were unharmed.
It was precisely because of this that he had the time to deal with Mu Yisheng.
At that time, if Cheng Xiaofan had discovered Tang Guoxing and Luo Cheng in a dangerous situation, he would have disregarded dealing with Mu Yisheng and prioritized their rescue.
At this moment, Cheng Xiaofan carried Tang Guoxing on his back, with Luo Cheng held in his arms, and climbed out of the cellar.
Afterwards, he laid Tang Guoxing and Luo Cheng flat on the ground, took out two Snake Saliva Fruits from his spatial storage and placed them in their mouths, then gave them a few mouthfuls of mineral water.
In less than two minutes, both Tang Guoxing and Luo Cheng opened their eyes.
"Ah, Mr. Cheng, you're here!" The two exclaimed in unison, their faces filled with joy upon seeing Cheng Xiaofan.
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "I arrived this afternoon. Mu Yisheng and that Yin Ruhua have both been eliminated by me. Everything is fine now!"
Tang Guoxing sighed, "Mr. Cheng, I never imagined that my return this time to pay respects to my ancestors would attract the attention of that woman Yin Ruhua. Not only did she implicate young Luo, but she also caused you trouble!"
Hearing this, Mr. Cheng laughed heartily and said, "Old Mr. Tang, what are you saying? You are working for me, so it is my responsibility to protect you."
Considering that the two had just woken up and the toxins had not been completely expelled from their bodies, he added, "It's getting late, let's head down the mountain immediately. We'll find a place to stay in Lion Town for the night, and then head back tomorrow!"
Tang Guoxing nodded and said, "Alright, Mr. Cheng, we'll listen to you and stay in Lion Town for the night!"
He also considered that Luo Cheng was still weak and not suitable for traveling at night.
The three of them tidied up and began to leave the village.
"Mr. Cheng, look, what is that?" Not long after they walked, Luo Cheng pointed towards a corner of the village and shouted.
Cheng Xiaofan followed the direction of his finger.
He saw a patch of woods there, with a large pile of wooden puppets.
These puppets included adults and children, men and women, white-haired elders and hunchbacked old women.
When he went over, he discovered that many of the wooden puppets were the villagers he had encountered when he first entered the village.
However, those villagers he met at the time were flesh and blood, full of life, but each of them carried too much resentment.
He never expected that now, those people would be displayed before him in the form of wooden puppets.
For a moment, Cheng Xiaofan was dumbfounded.
What level had Mu Yisheng reached in his wood element cultivation?
He could control wooden puppets, making them move freely within the village like real people!
When Cheng Xiaofan entered the village, he was in a vehicle and was solely focused on rescuing Tang Guoxing and Luo Cheng, so he didn't have the chance to carefully observe the people moving around.
With his Dragon Eye clairvoyance, if he had looked closely, the people moving about in the village would have revealed their true forms to his eyes.
Luo Cheng asked Cheng Xiaofan, "Mr. Cheng, why are there so many wooden puppets piled up here?"
Cheng Xiaofan narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a smile, "The people in the village were actually these puppets. Normally, they were all controlled by Mu Yisheng and appeared to be living people."
"But with Mu Yisheng's death, they lost their control and reverted to their original forms."
Tang Guoxing, being a craftsman, had a slight understanding of the principles behind wooden puppets moving freely in the village.
However, he asked with some confusion, "Mr. Cheng, why would Mu Yisheng do this?"
Cheng Xiaofan sighed slightly and said, "It's very simple. This village was originally the territory of the Black Lion Gang, and the villagers naturally belonged to the Black Lion Gang."
"Yin Ruhua defected to Mu Yisheng and even brought trouble upon them, handing over the entire Lion Village to the new leader. Naturally, the villagers were not convinced."
"Because of this, Mu Yisheng slaughtered all the villagers and used his wood element cultivation techniques to create a large number of wooden puppets to replace them!"
Tang Guoxing was utterly shocked upon hearing this.
"I never imagined that such a thing would happen in this era. If some of the martial arts organizations in the Jianghu are not thoroughly rectified, they will bring endless trouble!" he exclaimed with emotion.
Cheng Xiaofan said, "I believe the Jianghu Affairs Bureau will take action to rectify them when the conditions are right!"
While he said that, whether the Jianghu Affairs Bureau had the capability to rectify these hidden cultivation organizations among the populace was indeed a question mark.