Three miles outside the East Gate of Taihua Prefecture, there was a manor called Juyi Manor.
It was common knowledge in Taihua Prefecture that this was the Brotherhood's main headquarters.
This manor, covering nearly a hundred acres, originally belonged to an old wealthy man. Not only was it seized by the Brotherhood through trickery and force, but its original owner was also framed and thrown into prison.
Although it was late at night and the gates of Taihua Prefecture were closed, Juyi Manor was brightly lit.
Within the vast Juyi Manor, there were usually one or two hundred small-time thugs gathered. Most of these were idlers and hooligans from Taihua Prefecture, with a small portion being Jianghu wanderers.
Under the cover of night, Chen Yunhao stepped onto his flying disk, soared over the tall city walls, and hovered above Juyi Manor.
At this moment, Juyi Manor was bustling with noise. One or two hundred Brotherhood thugs were either drinking and playing finger-guessing games in groups of three to five, or gambling with dice in groups of five or six.
A perfectly good manor had been turned into a chaotic mess by these people.
Although Chen Yunhao was seething with anger, he did not lose his composure.
It was harmless if one or two of these small-time thugs escaped; the key was to find the high-ranking members of the Brotherhood and capture them all in one go.
Although there was an unwritten rule in the Cultivation World that Cultivators were not allowed to casually attack Mortals.
If too many Mortals were killed, causing widespread anger and resentment, nearby Cultivation Schools would naturally issue a pursuit order.
Of course, this was not absolute; if it was merely to eliminate a menace to the people, and the killed person had no backing in the Cultivation World, the matter would usually pass.
Chen Yunhao's face was grim as he repeatedly scanned downwards with his gaze.
Although he was only at the Refining Qi (Middle Stage), his Divine Sense could already cover a range of over ten zhang, giving him a clear view of the situation in the manor below.
In an elegant room, a burly man with a full beard, eyes like brass bells, and a bare torso, was drinking and carousing with two common harlots.
This burly man was touching them inappropriately, while drinking and uttering obscenities.
Of all the people in the manor, this powerful burly man was the most unrestrained. Clearly, this was the Brotherhood's visible leader, Little Tai Sui.
Chen Yunhao retracted the flying disk beneath his feet and descended from the air like a heavy weight, piercing through the roof and landing in the elegant room amidst a cloud of dust.
With such a loud commotion, the two women who were serving drinks had already screamed and hidden in the corner.
The burly man, however, reacted quickly, grabbing the stool from under his buttocks with both hands and staring at Chen Yunhao with a wary expression.
"Where did this rat come from, disturbing Grandpa's elegant drinking pleasure..."
No sooner had the burly man's angry curses fallen than Chen Yunhao pointed with two fingers.
A cold light flashed and arrived, piercing directly through the burly man's glabella and exiting from the back of his head.
With a clang, the stool the burly man held high fell to the ground, followed by the man himself falling straight backward, collapsing to the ground like a broken sack.
"Ah...!"
Two screams rang out, as the women nearby saw this scene and were even more terrified, their faces turning pale.
Chen Yunhao snorted coldly, glared at the two women, and then directly opened the door and left.
He was not a bloodthirsty person; he would not easily attack irrelevant people.
The commotion caused by Chen Yunhao's landing earlier was quite loud, but it still did not attract the attention of the small-time thugs in the front courtyard.
As for these small-time thugs in the front courtyard, they usually oppressed men and women, committing all sorts of evil deeds, and their deaths were not to be regretted!
Chen Yunhao had no intention of letting them go; there were certainly people among them who had been present two years ago, and he was too lazy to distinguish them one by one, deciding to kill them all and be done with it.
He kicked open the corridor door between the front and back courtyards, and with a leap, he plunged into them like a wolf entering a flock of sheep.
The Flying Sword in his hand flashed like a star, and screams echoed ceaselessly as one corpse after another fell.
Before a Cultivator, these small-time thugs were like chickens and dogs, utterly unable to retaliate.
Even if some were further away and reacted faster, they would at most run a dozen steps before suddenly falling to the ground like broken sacks, twitching a few times, and then becoming still.
This was Chen Yunhao's first time killing, and although he was somewhat nervous and unaccustomed, thinking of his parents and his beloved Second Brother, he wished he could slaughter all these people.
The more he killed, the calmer his heart became. At this moment, Chen Yunhao's mindset matured and became ruthless!
His master had often advised him, saying that the Cultivation World was full of deceit and the strong preyed on the weak, and that one could not become an Immortal without a ruthless heart.
This single day had made him mature and ruthless, but the price was too great, so great that the thought of it pained his heart!
Looking around, after the last small-time thug fell, Chen Yunhao, his eyes bloodshot from killing, waved his hand and shot out several fireballs, igniting the manor.
This was the Brotherhood's main headquarters, but it was not Little Tai Sui's residence.
Within the precious land of Taihua Prefecture City, besides the Prefectural Yamen, Little Tai Sui's family had the largest private residence.
This was a large three-courtyard garden, with servants living in the front, Little Tai Sui's parents living in the middle courtyard, and Little Tai Sui himself living alone in the back courtyard.
Since it was within the Prefecture City, Chen Yunhao did not want to cause a public spectacle; he only wanted to secretly infiltrate and end Little Tai Sui's life with a single sword strike.
However, he did not expect that as soon as he flew into the back courtyard, his Divine Sense detected two people living there.
One was a young Mortal, and the other, like him, was a Cultivator, though of lower cultivation, only at the Qi Refinement Third Layer.
When Chen Yunhao's Divine Sense swept over, the Middle-aged Cultivator meditating in a quiet room suddenly opened his eyes, and his expression instantly became extremely grim.
Chen Yunhao stood in the courtyard, saying nothing, his eyes simply fixed on the quiet room.
The Middle-aged Cultivator in the quiet room gave a bitter smile, shook his head, stood up, and pushed the door open.
"May I ask, Fellow Daoist, what brings you here?"
"I've come to take Little Tai Sui's dog life. Does Fellow Daoist intend to stop me...?"
In the Cultivation World, while cultivation level generally indicated strength, it was not absolute.
Some with lower cultivation had endless means, and there were cases of counter-kills.
Chen Yunhao's two Senior Brothers, after Foundation Establishment, often traveled in the Cultivation World and would share their experiences with him.
Therefore, Chen Yunhao dared not underestimate Cultivators who were two or three cultivation levels below him, especially since his actual combat experience was almost nil.
He often sparred with his Senior Brothers in the School, but as the master's closed-door Disciple, his Senior Brothers often went easy on him during spars, which Chen Yunhao knew.
So, in true combat with Fellow Daoists, he dared not be careless in the slightest.
Chen Yonghao's conversation with the Middle-aged Cultivator was not deliberately concealed, and coupled with the quiet of the night, it had already woken Little Tai Sui.
This fellow was born with a good appearance, but his courage was lacking; clutching a short dagger, he had long since crawled under the bed.
Upon hearing this, the Middle-aged Cultivator secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they weren't seeking revenge on him, there was still a chance to turn things around.