The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

"You want to escape now?"

"Isn't it a bit too late!"

A hint of disdain flashed in Nie Kuangren's eyes. He raised his long sword and slashed out!

With this slash, three terrifying blade energies appeared, each attacking Zhang Xiao and his two companions.

Each of these three sword energies was several miles long, as if they were about to shatter the heavens and the earth!

boom! boom! boom!

A series of deafening roars echoed through the sky!

Zhang Xiao and Zuo Yan were instantly cleaved in two by Nie Kuangren's murderous blade aura!

After killing Zhang Xiao, the two killing blade energies fell down, one of them landing on Black Mountain.

The entire Black Mountain exploded into pieces!

Another blade of energy slashed down towards the mountain opposite Black Mountain, also cleaving it in two!

What was originally a valley formed by two large mountains has instantly become a flat plain!

The other blade of energy that slashed down at Li Niujiao only managed to cut him down, causing his hands to explode into a bloody mist and leaving a terrifying blade mark on his body, as if it were about to completely disembowel him.

just.

Li Niujiao eventually reached the peak of the fifth level of the Immortal Ascension Realm through his external martial arts training.

Thanks to its incredibly strong defense, it ultimately survived.

However, it had already begun to fall downwards.

This killing blade of energy slashed down, carving out a ravine several miles long.

The power of Nie Kuangren's strike was far greater than when he fought Zhang Xiao and the other two.

Clearly, Nie Kuangren hadn't shown his true strength before, and was just using Zhang Xiao and the other two as whetstones.

Thanks to the battle just now, Nie Kuangren's killing sword technique has improved even further.

Nie Kuangren sheathed his longsword, and with a swift movement, he shot towards Li Niujiao.

In a blink of an eye.

Swish!

Nie Kuangren grabbed the heavily injured Li Niujiao and brought him to Chu Xiu, threw him to the ground, and bowed respectfully, saying, "Reporting to Your Excellency, the Black Mountain bandits have all been killed."

My subordinates deliberately kept Li Niujiao, the third leader of the Black Mountain bandits.

"good."

Chu Xiu nodded slightly, a look of appreciation on his face, and said.

Using his Qi Observation Technique, he could tell at a glance that Nie Kuangren's internal energy cultivation had reached the peak of the third level of the Dharma Aspect Realm after killing Zhang Xiao and Zuo Yan in succession.

All three thousand Black Wind Stronghold bandits have reached the Grandmaster level.

It even produced some Grandmasters and even experts at the Nascent Soul stage.

"Sir, should we interrogate Li Niujiao to find out if there is someone behind these Black Mountain bandits?"

Nie Kuangren glanced at Li Niujiao, then clasped his hands in a fist salute to Chu Xiu.

This is why he didn't kill Li Niujiao with a single blow.

Otherwise, Li Niujiao would have already died by his blade.

"Hmph, don't even think about getting anything out of me. Even if we Black Mountain Bandits had someone backing us, I wouldn't tell you!"

"Kill me!"

"Madman Nie, if you're a real man, give me a quick death!"

Li Niujiao, who had been silent all along, glared at Nie Kuangren with resentment and cursed at him.

Having lost both arms, he had become a complete cripple.

His hatred for Nie Kuangren is unimaginable.

"wanna die?"

"It's not that easy!"

"Sir, hand him over to our Black Wind Stronghold brothers. I want to see just how stubborn he really is!"

Nie Kuangren snorted coldly at Li Niujiao and then spoke to Chu Xiu.

"No need."

Chu Xiu smiled calmly, looked into Li Niujiao's eyes, and said in a deep and powerful voice, "Soul-Capturing Technique!"

A surge of spiritual energy erupted from Chu Xiu.

This spiritual power seemed to contain the power to seize one's soul.

This was the first time he had used the Soul-Seizing Technique to control someone since he acquired it.

Chu Xiu had used it during the previous battle.

But that was a battle.

If Li Niujiao were at his peak, it might not be easy for Chu Xiu to control him.

However, Li Niujiao is now in a half-dead state, making him extremely easy to control.

Li Niujiao's eyes instantly became vacant.

"..."

Nie Kuangren was stunned for a moment. Looking at Li Niujiao, his gaze towards Chu Xiu became even more awe-inspiring.

My lord, you actually know this kind of soul-capturing technique?

terrible!

"Li Niujiao, you have been burning, killing, and looting all over Jizhou. Is someone behind you?"

Chu Xiu looked at Li Niujiao with a calm expression and said.

"Have……"

“We are from the Wang family of Taiyuan. The Wang family of Taiyuan has asked us to seize wealth for them.”

Li Niujiao said with a blank expression, "All the wealth we acquire through burning, killing, and looting is sent to the border area with Bingzhou."

The Wang family of Taiyuan will come to take over.

"The Wang family of Taiyuan?"

A glint of light flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes as he said, "Are you sure it's the Wang family of Taiyuan?"

Do you have any evidence?

Nie Kuangren's expression changed drastically, and he stared at Li Niujiao with a look of shock.

Although Chu Xiu had previously said that if the Black Mountain bandits had someone behind them, it was very likely that it was Wang Mang, the governor of Bingzhou.

But I actually heard this answer.

He still couldn't believe it was real!

This is the Wang family of Taiyuan!

The Wang clan of Taiyuan, one of the five prominent clans and seven noble families, probably possessed wealth that rivaled that of a nation.

Even the wealth in the treasury of Empress Murong Si of the Great Zhou Dynasty might not be as great as that of the Wang family of Taiyuan.

Given their immense wealth, why would the Wang family of Taiyuan support the Black Mountain bandits and allow them to commit arson, murder, and looting?

What were the Wang family of Taiyuan planning to do by plundering wealth like this?

Are they planning a rebellion?

"No, I have no evidence."

"What we saw was just one of the retainers of the Wang family of Taiyuan."

"Moreover, even this Wang family retainer from Taiyuan, only the three of us brothers have ever seen him."

"However, this Wang family retainer from Taiyuan always wore black clothes and even a bamboo hat whenever he came out."

"None of the three of us brothers have ever seen his true face."

"We only delivered the wealth we had looted and burned to the Wang family of Taiyuan to the border with Bingzhou, and then we left immediately."

“We didn’t even meet with anyone from the Wang family in Taiyuan.”

Li Niujiao still spoke with a blank expression.

"killed."

Chu Xiu shook his head and said.

It seems that finding leverage against the Taiyuan Wang family through these Black Mountain bandits will not be an easy task at all.

However, this was within Chu Xiu's expectations.

Even if a top-tier family like the Wang family of Taiyuan did something like this, no one would find out.

Even if they captured the Wang family of Taiyuan, the Wang family of Taiyuan, they were still able to distance themselves from the matter.

"Yes."

Nie Kuangren responded and killed Li Niujiao, who was still under the control of the Soul-Seizing Technique, with a single slash.

Because he no longer uses the Killing Blade Formation.

After Li Niujiao was killed with a single blow, Nie Kuangren's external martial arts cultivation level broke through from the first level of the Immortal Ascension Realm to the second level of the Immortal Ascension Realm.

This is because Li Niujiao practiced external martial arts, not internal martial arts. Killing Li Niujiao would also enhance his external martial arts skills.

"My lord, are we truly powerless against the Wang family of Taiyuan?"

Despite the improvement in his external martial arts cultivation level, Nie Kuangren felt no joy. He gritted his teeth and looked at Chu Xiu with resentment, asking him a question.