We're practicing all martial arts, so why did you switch to easy mode?

Chapter 158, remember it: the higher-ups are all defeated.
Xuan Shui Sect, Council Hall.

"Clan leader, three Jade Bone Warriors and five Bone Forging Warriors died last night, all of whom were members of our Hong Clan. The murderer is far too rampant and has no regard for the Xuan Shui Sect. I urge the clan leader to send people to arrest the murderer and bring him to justice!"

Hong Rongfang broke the silence first, her grief and indignation evident in her voice, almost roaring.

During this period, the Hong family shrank their territory and tried to compromise, but instead of staying out of trouble, they provoked other forces to intensify their actions.

For three consecutive nights, members of the Hong family have been inexplicably assassinated, their deaths gruesome, which has seriously damaged the Hong family's prestige.

Now, both the Hong family members and the Xuan Shui Sect disciples are in a state of panic because of this matter.

"record!"

However, facing the furious Hong Rongfang, the new gang leader sitting in front didn't even open his eyes. He simply opened his mouth and said something casually.

"Write it down?" Hong Rongfang scoffed upon hearing this.

What's the point of writing this down!
I had long heard of Hong Jingda's unassuming and uncompetitive nature, but I never expected him to resort to such methods.

This is a murder case, and it's the murder case of a member of the Hong family, yet the other party just casually said they'd noted it down and brushed it off.

He took a deep breath and said indignantly, "Clan leader, if we continue to only remember the crimes but not punish the guilty, the people's hearts will be scattered, and who will still obey our Hong clan then?"

"Have you found out who it is?" Perhaps Hong Rongfang's words had an effect, because Hong Jingda asked casually.

Upon hearing this, Hong Rongfang shook her head slightly: "Not for the time being."

“Then write it down,” Hong Jingda said again.

“If the clan leader insists on this, I will report the truth when the clan elders return,” Hong Rongfang said indifferently without refuting.

Hong Jingda opened his eyes and asked with a hint of anticipation, "When will the clan leader return?"

Around the end of the year.

Seeing how eagerly Hong Jingda looked for the clan elders to return, Hong Rongfang's lips twitched, and she managed to utter a single sentence.

Tapping.

"Clan leader, something terrible has happened! Seven more disciples have died..."

Suddenly, a voice broke the silence of the room, and a disciple rushed over and said.

Swish!
Upon hearing this, everyone stood up. Hong Jingda sighed, waved his hand, and said, "Bring the body over."

Everyone was stunned, abruptly pulling back their steps, staring at Hong Jingda in disbelief.

They were all ready to go to the scene, and then you said something like that. If the body is brought here, how can we find any clues?
No one spoke; everyone wore different expressions at that moment.

Before long, the bodies were brought in. They had all been killed with a single blow, and each of them looked completely natural. It was clear that they had no idea how they had died.

"Elder Rongfang, look."

At this moment, Xuan Yuan Hong Lang pointed to one of the corpses and said, his fist clenched as if he had grabbed something.

Upon hearing this, Hong Rongfang quickly pried open the other person's hand and looked closely: "Ying?"

On the corpse's palm, the character '影' (shadow) was carved in blood, with only 90% of the strokes completed.

"Could it be someone from Shadow Assassins?"

Hong Rongfang's eyelids twitched, and she suddenly realized something, letting out a gasp.

"Why would the Shadow Assassins target our Hong family? We've always kept to ourselves and never interfered with each other," Hong Tao of Hongyuan muttered to himself, frowning.

"This character 'Shadow' doesn't look like it was carved by someone else. It must be a clue that Hong Mu deliberately left for me. In addition, all of these people were killed with a single blow, which means that the other party is skilled in assassination..."

Hong Sha, the head of the Xuan Sha Academy who had remained silent until now, analyzed the matter logically, saying, "Even if it wasn't Ying Sha, they are still closely related to this matter."

"What a Shadow Assassin! Does he really think the Hong family is easy to bully?" Hong Rongfang said angrily after hearing this.

"But why is Shadow Killer targeting our Hong Clan?" Xuan Yuan Hong Lang asked in confusion.

Everyone fell silent; no one knew why.

At this moment, Hong Jingda spoke up: "Write it down."

Everyone: “……!”

and then?
Are you just making a note of it, not planning to deal with Shadow Assassin?
Although no one spoke, their expressions were constantly questioning Hong Jingda, but unfortunately, they did not attract Hong Jingda's attention.

Left with no other choice, Hong Rongfang could only sigh and say, "Let's find a scapegoat first, then tell everyone that the criminals have accomplices, and then increase our vigilance."

He was helpless to have such a clan leader!

The Hong family's tight security measures were effective almost immediately.

With guards every five steps and sentries every ten steps, the Xuan Shui Sect was well-protected, leaving Su Chen with no opportunity to make a move.

What puzzled Su Chen was that even though he had deliberately left evidence, the Hong family had not reacted at all.

Could it be that the Hong family thought someone deliberately left it there?
The problem is that he killed so many members of the Hong family, yet he only chose one person to leave evidence, and he deliberately hid it.

The purpose was to convince the Hong family of the evidence that even the murderer was unaware of it, thereby enhancing its credibility.

But now it seems that it hasn't caused much of a stir.

"I thought that such half-true and half-false information would easily mislead the Hong family, but it seems I was overthinking it."

If this point of doubt was still acceptable, then the next point of doubt was something Su Chen really couldn't understand.

His purpose in taking action against the Hong family members was to lure out the Hong family's higher-ups.

Despite staking out the site for several days, no high-ranking members of the Hong Group ever appeared, not even at the scene.

This puzzled him. Did the higher-ups of the Hong family really disregard the lower-level disciples?

Those who have reached the Bone Forging Realm should be considered the backbone of the Hong Clan, right? Are they not even worthy of being looked at by the higher-ups of the Hong Clan?

This completely disrupted his plans.

Puff puff.

Just then, Su Chen suddenly heard the sound of birds flapping their wings overhead. Looking up, he saw a carrier pigeon taking flight.

Upon seeing the carrier pigeon, Su Chen's eyes lit up. He leaped into the air, chased after it, and then caught it.

"Both the Liang and Yun families have entered Qinzhou territory."

I opened the letter, and there was this sentence written on it.

The Liang family is a prominent family in Liangzhou, and the Yun family is a prominent family in Xiazhou. It seems that the Hong family is paying close attention to these two families, even reporting their whereabouts.

However, this news had no effect on Su Chen. He rolled up the letter, put it back into the mailbox, and released the carrier pigeon.

Over the next few hours, Su Chen focused primarily on the carrier pigeons that traveled to and from the Hong family. Most of the intercepted intelligence consisted of messages from various factions, a small portion was about the withdrawal of the remaining forces of the Hong family, and there were some other messages as well.

"Gold Medal Bodyguard No. 10 went missing while pursuing the Moon Worship Thief, and is suspected to be dead."

"A mysterious man in Ping'an City jumped off a cliff and had a fortuitous encounter. He swallowed the Crimson Blood Toad and his strength leaped to the Bone Forging stage. He is also suspected of mastering the Transformation of Strength technique."

"The three elders will arrive in Sifang City in seven days. Please send someone to welcome them."

As night deepened, Su Chen was preparing to leave when, unexpectedly, three carrier pigeons flew in from the night sky.

Seeing this, Su Chen decisively intercepted the three carrier pigeons and opened the letters inside.

Su Chen ignored the first message, but the second message surprised him slightly. He became more interested in this mysterious man. He had a strange encounter after jumping off the cliff and even mastered the Hua Jin Gong. His luck was really strong.

When he saw the third message, Su Chen's gaze suddenly sharpened, and his eyes gleamed with a strange light.

"I was thinking about how to force you out, but it seems I don't need to now. I don't believe you can stay hidden in the Xuan Shui Sect forever."

Su Chen smiled faintly, then released the other two carrier pigeons and left with the remaining pigeons.

He found an inn, asked for pen, ink, paper and inkstone, copied the other person's handwriting, rewrote a letter, placed the letter on the mailbox, and released the carrier pigeon.

three days later.

Funiu Mountain.

A group of more than fifty people arrived at the Funiu Mountain area and stood silently at the entrance to the foot of the mountain.

The two people in charge were none other than Hong Jingda and Hong Rongfang.

"Old Su, are you really going to make a move?"

From the bushes not far away, Qiao Qiliang gazed at Hong Jingda and his group with shining eyes, but he still hesitated.

He finally understood why Su Chen had disappeared these past few days; it turned out he had been secretly dealing with the Hong family.

Yesterday, Su Chen approached Qiao Qiliang and asked if he wanted to join forces. Upon learning that it was to deal with the Hong family, Qiao Qiliang naturally agreed without hesitation.

When they arrived, they realized that there seemed to be quite a lot of people on the other side.

This is unlike the last ambush on Hong Shan and Hong Hai, where other forces helped. This time, it's just the two of them. Putting everything else aside, just the fact that Hong Jingda and Hong Rongfang are both at the Blood Transformation Realm might be enough to give them a run for their money.

He really didn't have confidence in himself, that he could take down so many people from the Hong family.

Su Chen nodded and said, "Wait a moment, it will be ready soon."

He had already secretly poisoned it, and now he was just waiting for the poison to take effect. Although it would not have much effect on those at the Blood Transformation Realm, it would be very effective on those below the Blood Transformation Realm.

However, he didn't administer the fourth-generation hypnotic powder that caused burping and farting; instead, he used a low-end version.

Of course, the effect is similar, but there is less of a commotion, making it the best method for group attacks.

"A large number of them have fallen, leaving only three people. What do we do now?"

The medicine took effect quickly, and a large number of Hong family members fell down, making Hong Jingda and his two companions realize that there was an ambush. However, Su Chen and Qiao Qiliang did not show up for a long time.

"You wait here."

After leaving a message, Su Chen dashed into the bushes, startling Qiao Qiliang.

He hadn't expected that Su Chen would actually plan to take on three Blood-Moving Warriors by himself.

"Who are you?"

Upon seeing Su Chen suddenly appear, all three sensed that the visitor was up to no good. Hong Rongfang looked at him with a gloomy expression and demanded an explanation.

Without wasting words, Su Chen took action immediately, his gaze locking onto a man to Hong Rongfang's left.

Of the three, he was the weakest; one should pick on the weakest.

"Hong Xiao, come with me to capture and kill him."

Hong Rongfang's eyes darkened as she saw through Su Chen's intentions. She shouted and rushed out first, with Hong Xiao following closely behind.

To their surprise, Hong Jingda also rushed out immediately.

The three attacked together, engaging Su Chen in a chaotic battle. Four afterimages flashed repeatedly in Qiao Qiliang's eyes. Even with his eyesight, he couldn't keep up with their movements. Their speed was simply too fast; he could only hear the crackling sounds coming from not far away.

"If I'm not mistaken, Hong Jingda is at the second level of the Blood Refining Realm, Hong Rongfang and that Hong Xiao are at the first level of the Blood Refining Realm, and Su Chen has only recently entered the Blood Refining Realm and is also at the first level of the Blood Refining Realm. But why does it feel like the three of them combined are no match for Su Chen?"

Qiao Qiliang watched with a pounding heart. When Su Chen fought against the three, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat for him.

Unexpectedly, Su Chen actually surprised him by taking on three opponents single-handedly.

"What a strange force!"

The three who fought against Su Chen were all shocked by his strength. Su Chen's strength was not only powerful but also very strange. While suppressing their strength, it could also enhance his own strength. There were even two completely different sensations, burning and icy cold, coming at him.

boom!
Ignoring the three people's surprise, Su Chen suddenly accelerated, aimed at Hong Xiao, and struck out with a palm. The force was compressed to the extreme, and then it was like a beam of light that directly hit Hong Xiao's body. The moment it touched him, blood splattered out instantly.

Dengdengdeng.

Hong Xiao coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground, no longer able to fight.

"Hong Xiao!"

Upon seeing this, Hong Rongfang's pupils contracted, and a look of horror flashed in her eyes.

Just then, Su Chen reacted swiftly and struck out with another palm, unleashing a torrent of violent force that slammed into Hong Rongfang's body.

puff!
The surging force rushed into his body, instantly disrupting his balance and causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood.

Just as Su Chen was about to make a move to deal with Hong Rongfang, Hong Jingda, who was standing to the side, saw this and made a lightning-fast attack, with moves that were much more ferocious than before.

His expression was solemn, and he unleashed a series of deadly moves, forcing Su Chen to retreat. Then, he leaped to Hong Rongfang's side, grabbed his waist, and prepared to take him away.

However, at that moment, Su Chen, who had just been forced back, seemed to know Hong Jingda's intention. As Hong Jingda reached out to grab Hong Rongfang, Su Chen suddenly darted out and arrived behind the two of them in the blink of an eye, delivering a powerful palm strike.

Hong Jingda did not expect Su Chen to react so quickly. Caught off guard, he stretched out his other hand, turned around, and struck out with a palm.

The two palms collided, and the force burst out like sparks, creating gusts of wind that swept around them.

After just one breath, Hong Jingda could no longer bear it, released Hong Rongfang, and staggered back several steps.

Su Chen stared coldly at Hong Jingda. During the fight with the three of them, he clearly noticed that this guy had never used his full strength. He didn't know why, and he seemed to be just there for show.

Su Chen originally planned to deal with Hong Xiao and then Hong Rongfang, but Hong Rongfang evaded him repeatedly. In desperation, he turned his attention to Hong Rongfang and lured her into a direct confrontation with him.

Hong Jingda was indeed fooled, but the problem was that he didn't fight Su Chen for long and always kept his distance. Once he noticed something was wrong, he tended to run away.

If he really wanted to escape, Su Chen might not be able to stop him.

So he deliberately created an opening to lure the other party into making a move. Sure enough, after seeing that Hung Wing-fong was injured and about to die, Hung King-tat chose to make his move.

Now, injured Hong Jingda can't even leave!

Su Chen smiled indifferently and walked up to Hong Jingda as if the wind was blowing.

Hong Jingda wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, stared at Su Chen, and said softly, "You are Su Chen, right?"

Su Chen didn't say anything.

"You were the one who attacked the Hong family before, weren't you?"

They wanted to frame Ying Sha, incite a conflict between Ying Sha and the Hong family, and then eliminate the Hong family.

If I'm not mistaken, you were the one who wiped out the Shadow Assassins branch, right?

Oh, and there are also Hong Jinfeng, Hong Jinnian, and Hong Jingrui. I was wondering before where the leader of the Rebirth Sect got the power to eliminate them. Now it seems they must have died at your hands as well.

I'm very curious, how did the Hong family offend you?

After saying that, Hong Jingda stared intently at Su Chen, his eyes clear and unfathomable.

As Hong Jingda revealed his guess word by word, Su Chen's usually calm expression finally showed a slight ripple.

"What a pity," Su Chen said calmly.

"What's a pity?"

"It's a pity you found out too late."

Upon hearing Su Chen's reply, Hong Jingda laughed heartily and nodded, saying, "Haha, I just realized that too."

After a pause, Hong Jingda asked again, "Was today's meeting also part of your plan?"

Su Chen still did not answer, but Hong Jingda knew the answer from his silence.

"Alas, the Hong family has truly provoked a formidable enemy!"

Hong Jingda sighed deeply, his face showing dejection, but then his expression changed, becoming solemn, and his sharp eyes stared directly at Su Chen.

Knowing he couldn't escape, he launched an attack.

Faced with Hong Jingda's deadly move, Su Chen switched from offense to defense, dodging slowly and deliberately.

Click!

After an incense stick had burned, Su Chen gave Hong Jingda a quick death. His strength was far inferior to that of Hong Jinnian and Hong Jingrui; he seemed to be just there to make up the numbers.

If Su Chen wanted to kill him, it would be effortless.

The moment Hong Jingda collapsed, a figure slipped out of the bushes and quickly dealt with Hong Rongfang, Hong Xiao, and the other unconscious people.

Then, with great enthusiasm, they moved around and took everything off these people.

"Money, money, money again! Is there nothing else besides money?"

Looking at the silver coins scattered on the ground, Qiao Qiliang couldn't help but complain, then looked at Su Chen and said, "Do you want these?"

"want!"

Su Chen nodded without hesitation. Of course he would take it if he could buy pills in the future; even a small amount is still something.

Qiao Qiliang was taken aback when he heard this. He thought Su Chen didn't care about such a small amount of money.

"Let's go."

After packing up the money, Su Chen said, and left with Qiao Qiliang.

A gentle breeze swept by, leaving behind only the corpses of Hong Jingda and his men scattered on the ground, along with barely perceptible 'evidence'.

After returning to Fengbei City, Su Chen began his seclusion.

After eliminating most of the Hong family's top executives, there's no point in taking further action in the short term.

It would be better to take this opportunity to improve his strength so that he can better deal with the three elders of the Hong family in the future. He had learned from Qiao Renzhou that the three elders of the Hong family were all at the Meridian Opening Realm.

With his current strength, at best he can only deal with the fourth level of the Blood Transformation Realm. To think he could deal with the three people at the Meridian Opening Realm is nothing short of a pipe dream.

On this day, Su Chen finally gathered enough for the fourth Hunyuan Force, which allowed him to fuse the five different types of force together.

(End of this chapter)