Night falls, and the moon and stars are shimmering.

Woo!

Woohoo!

The cold wind in winter is howling, blowing through thousands of households, so cold that people just want to hide under the covers as soon as possible.

The street was already empty, and no one was outside.

Gradually, the lights of thousands of houses went out...

Xun Xie put on a black coat, covered his head and face, and quickly walked through the streets in the dark.

Dust Broken Fang Square, Diao Manor.

The big mansion is too dazzling, there are many lanterns hanging, bright as day, and you can see it clearly from a distance.

Xun Xie climbed over the wall and entered and looked around.

He lives in the Song Mansion, and he knows the layout of the big mansion very well.

They are also typically all templates of each other, he was familiar with the Hu manor as well. So, it is clear at a glance which side is the main hall, which side is the living room, and which side is the dining room, bedroom, and kitchen.

"Bedroom, the lights are on."

"There are lights on in the study too."

Xun Xie pondered for a while and quietly approached the bedroom. Martial artists with blood strength in this town at least were not common cabbages, as such sneaking around was easy as long as he didn’t bump into Western Phoenix event then he had a high chance of not being found as he was stronger then her.

In the bedroom, Diao Mao sat on the bed on his knees, his face still as black as the bottom of a pot, and wisps of white smoke rose from above his head.

Unlucky...

Unprepared, he was bitten by the snake bone sword, and Diao Mao was severely poisoned, the poison of a strange beast was no laughing matter.

Although he took the antidote in time, not dying immediately and detoxified with his blood energy and secret arts, saving his life, there are still residual poisons entangled in his body and it would take a long while to get rid of all of them.

At this moment, Diao Mao's breathing was irregular and extremely weak, and it was difficult for his body to even move.

"Gentleman’s revenge can wait several years but I’m not a gentleman." Xun Xie pushed in the door and rushed towards Diao Mao.

Although Diao Mao was seriously injured, the powerful perception of his five senses was still there. He suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, "Who?"

Xun Xie swung over with a punch.

Special Move, courtesy of Ten Thousand Critical Xie.

Xie Xie Punch.

Thank you punch.

This increased his strength by 300% with pure technique alone. A real trump card and a killer move.

The real range was actually 375% but that extra 75 would cause self-injury.

In an instant, Diao Mao was horrified.

The tiger falls from grace and is bullied by the dog! In normal times, this punch couldn't penetrate his body’s protective measures of both blood and tendon strength, but at this time it could kill him.

Diao Mao immediately turned backward, jumping away.

However, that punch was just a feint, the masked man suddenly turned his fist into a palm, his body accelerated into Diao Mao's arms, and a palm was printed on his chest.

Suddenly, a wave of blood force penetrated into his body through the skin!

"Exploding Heart Palm..."

Diao Mao was shocked, his mouth opened slightly uttering those words, and black blood gurgled out.

"Teacher Diao is poisoned with strange venom in his head not thinking clearly and also inside body making you very weak, which is horrible to watch. This junior can't bear it, so he's here to help you get rid of it." Xun Xie withdrew his hand and said lightly. Tsk although this was also the thank you punch, changing to a palm reduced the power by 50%. Fortunately, it seemed to do the job.

"It turned out to be you, you are so ruthless ..."

Diao Mao vomited out a mouthful of black blood again, fell on the bed, stared up at the ceiling, and died.

Xun Xie looked at Diao Mao carefully. On the surface, he died of a severe poisonous attack. As long as the autopsy was not performed, he would not be able to tell that he had suffered from heartbreak and died from a shattered heart.

"I killed your three apprentices, but I don't want to wait for you to recover from your injuries to seek revenge from me if you pick up all the clues. After all my strength has been exposed now." Xun Xie glanced at him and found the snake bone sword placed by the bedside, and a good idea came to his mind.

He picked up the snake bone sword, picked down a lantern, and lit the curtains, the fire burst out, and thick smoke billowed.

"Fire! Fire!!"

"Quickly draw water to put out the fire..."

Not long after, there was a loud shout from outside.

Xun Xie deliberately magnified the fire in front of the door, and no one dared to break in for a while.

"Why is there a fire, Master?" Western Phoenix finally arrived and asked loudly.

Just now, she was writing a letter in the study.

I wrote two letters.

She knew a doctor who was good at detoxification. One of the letters was to invite the doctor over.

Another letter was to invite a young master to come, kill Xun Xie, and avenge their hatred.

Who would have thought that just after the letter was written, there was a sudden fire here.

Western Phoenix was shocked, put the letter in her arms, and hurried over.

"Teacher Diao didn't come out of the room." Someone shouted.

When Western Phoenix heard these words, the blackish blood energy burst out of her body to protect her from the flames, while she stepped over into the raging fire, and broke into the room.

"Master..." The thick smoke billowed in the room, making people unable to breathe, unable to see clearly.

Western Phoenix ran directly to the bed.

Suddenly, she saw Diao Mao, sitting on the edge of the bed with his head lowered, motionless.

"Passed out?"

Western Phoenix's expression changed, and she stepped forward in three steps. Then she saw that the corners of Diao Mao's mouth were covered in black blood, and an ominous premonition lingered in her heart.

The next moment, poof!

A figure haunts and stabs Western Phoenix in the back.

The snake bone sword pierced through her chest!

Western Phoenix was in severe pain, looked down at the blood-stained snake bone sword, and turned to look behind him, only to see a masked man in black slowly retreating into the thick smoke and disappearing.

She spat out a mouthful of blood and fell on the bed.

The snake-bone sword was ferociously exposed to the air waving about and madly sucking Western Phoenix's blood, and in a short while, the bald but slightly delicate flower withered.

At this time, Xun Xie had already left in the chaos.

He didn't take the snake bone sword with him.

One, this thing was a bloodthirsty sword, he didn't want to use it, nor was it suitable for him;

Two, Diao Mao is the teacher of the Hei Yun family after all. If a teacher dies, it is impossible for people to not ask about it. Naturally, a treasure as important as the snake bone sword cannot be moved.

The next day!

The incident of the fire in Diao Manor last night quickly spread throughout the town, and the fire was finally contained. Then people found the bodies of Diao Mao and Western Phoenix. They were all scorched, and it was impossible to tell who was who with normal vision.

When Diao Mao died, the other four instructors were immediately alarmed.

Fang Lu, Feng Ming, Lin Qingyu, Hu Piao, and Mr. Song all came to Diao Manor.

Xun Xie also followed Old Man Hu.

In the ruins, two charred corpses were next to each other, one of which still had a snake bone sword inserted into it.

After Old Man Hu and the others asked the servants, they probably knew what happened last night.

First, there was a fire, Western Phoenix broke into the room, and then never came out.

Feng Ming looked at the corpse with the snake bone sword inserted in his body, and said in confusion: "Everyone, look, what exactly is the cause of this?"

Old Man Hu: "This is Diao Mao’s snake bone sword. It's a magic sword. It's very poisonous and unruly with some intelligence and a lust for blood. This man was clearly killed by the snake bone sword seeing his weakness as an opportunity it struck and felled its master."

Mr. Song: "Judging from the size of the bones, the person killed by the snake bone sword was a woman, it should be Western Phoenix."

Old Man Hu was stunned and said, "You mean that Western Phoenix was killed by Diao Mao?"

Mr. Qin pondered: "It's possible that Diao Mao was poisoned by snake venom from the sword and he may have lost his mind and gone crazy. Well, there is another possibility. Western Phoenix wanted to take the snake bone sword, deliberately set fire to the house, and tried to kill her master but was killed by Diao Mao instead, but then Diao Mao also died of poison."

Feng Ming looked at Fang Lu and Lin Qingyu, nodded and said, "As expected of Mr. Song, he is very discerning."

Lin Qingyu: "In this way, let's not complicate the case and report back to the Hei Yun family. How about Diao Mao's death from poisoning?"

Fang Lu nodded: "I see. In this way, Diao Mao died with a bit of face."

Mr. Song squinted at Xun Xie, "Xiao Xun, prepare a pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and write the case into a letter."

Xun Xie said ok, asked where the servant's study was, and went to take care of it himself.

Not long after, he brought pen, ink, paper and inkstone to write the case.

Afterward, Mr. Song and Old Man Hu all signed their names.

In less than half an hour, Diao Mao's death was concluded.

In the end, Mr. Song sent someone to Cloud City for this letter, so they won't mention it anymore.

The two bodies were sent to the cemetery outside the town for burial.

On the way back, Old Man Hu smiled and said, "Xiao Xun, how do you say Diao Mao and his apprentice died?"

Xun Xie raised his eyebrows: "Didn't you say they were poisoned and died of his madness?"

Old Man Hu shook his head and said, "Although Diao Mao's body was charred, the bones are still there." He pointed to his chest, "There are several tiny cracks in the sternum. Diao Mao must have been attacked before he died."

Xun Xie's heart froze: "Mr. Song and the others, did they see it too?"

Old Man Hu said with a smile: "I can see it, so they must see it, but they didn't say it, and they didn't want to go through too much trouble. In the end, Diao Mao is not worth the effort, and it is a fitting end.

Letting his disciples run amok since they were better is not only rubbing it in our faces lording his superiority but belittling us for not being able to do anything due to the rules of rivers and lakes as I’ve explained to you before. Naturally, none of us think kindly of him."

Xun Xie suddenly realized.

He could see that Mr. Song and the others all disliked Diao Mao, and they didn't care about how this evildoer died. Thus the case was settled hastily and no one wanted to get to the bottom of anything.