Fang Wen held Cao Jiuyin's severed head by the hair, quietly inspecting the blade scars upon it.
Bai Liuxian had mentioned earlier that Cao Jiuyin had been wounded by people from Jinghua Pavilion; these were likely the marks left behind by their experts.
Swift footsteps approached from behind. Looking back, he saw the masters of the Seven Sects.
Each of them bore injuries, though none had fallen. Earlier, seeing Fang Wen set off alone to hunt down Cao Jiuyin, they had been astounded once more by his martial arts, yet they still could not rest easy letting a young man like him face a monstrous demon entirely alone.
And so, dragging their injured bodies, they had rushed over...
Leaving aside how much help they could offer, they still had enough strength for one last desperate fight.
Yet the sight greeting them in the courtyard made them suck in a cold breath.
A landscape of grim white bones drenched in bloody carnage. Fang Wen held Cao Jiuyin's massive head, yet not a drop of blood stained his own clothes.
His distant gaze softened considerably when it fell upon the Seven Sects' masters.
"Everyone, the chief evil has been eradicated."
The Seven Sects' masters exchanged bewildered glances. Fang Wen had charged in after Cao Jiuyin, and they had followed on his heels.
Hardly any time had passed between his arrival and theirs.
In such a brief moment, the two could have exchanged two or three blows at most...
Yet within those few exchanges, Fang Wen had already slain Cao Jiuyin?
Little did they know that Fang Wen had uncharacteristically exchanged a couple of words with Cao Jiuyin, wasting a little time...
In truth, it had not even taken two or three exchanges—a single palm strike had finished him off.
The only reason he had held back in the front courtyard was that he had wanted to pry some information about Jinghua Pavilion and Feixue City from Cao Jiuyin's mouth.
But once he reached the backyard and beheld this gruesome scene, he lost all desire to question him.
He felt only that, as a human being, delaying this monster's death by even a single second would be a desecration of human life.
He did not even care to take the man's internal force.
"Young Hero Fang, how are you? Are you hurt?"
Recovering their wits, everyone hurried forward with concern.
Fang Wen smiled and shook his head.
"The demon wasn't capable of harming me... You may put your minds at ease.
"However, the martial arts he practiced were bizarre and treacherous... In my view, this place cannot be left standing. It would be best to burn it to the ground, lest this fiend of the demonic path left behind some hidden contingency unknown to us."
He had thought the Seven Sects' masters might raise objections.
To his surprise, everyone nodded in agreement the moment he spoke.
"Young Hero Fang speaks with good reason."
"Those of the demonic path possess myriad devious methods; one can never be too cautious."
"Indeed."
After all, as the righteous Seven Sects, who clashed with the demonic path on a daily basis, their understanding of demonic practitioners ran deep.
The demonic arts cultivated by such people were immensely powerful and full of bizarre tricks. Though lacking the stable, deep foundation of orthodox Daoist sects, most demonic practitioners were exceedingly difficult to kill.
Flesh King Cao Jiuyin was just such a case... Otherwise, Taixu Dao might have put an end to him three years ago, rather than letting him plague the jianghu for three more years.
Immediately, the crowd split up to search Autumn Moon Nunnery for any living souls—to see if any of those abducted had survived.
Fang Wen, meanwhile, headed to the front courtyard.
There he found Zhou Qingmei, Lu Guiyan, Mo Beidou, and the others already assembled.
Zhou Qingmei was crouched before Zuo Qingshuang, her face fraught with worry.
The master and servant were administering acupuncture to Zuo Qingshuang... A sight that made Lu Guiyan's expression sour even further.
She found the two utterly detestable.
To protect them, she had been struck by a poisoned dart. Even if her abilities were limited, she had done her duty with absolute dedication. Yet despite possessing superb medical skills, they had simply watched her die with cold indifference.
How could such conduct not chill one to the bone?
"Xiao... Wen, are you all right?"
Mo Beidou rushed over the moment he saw Fang Wen emerge. Seeing him intact and completely unharmed, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Turning his head, he only then noticed the massive severed head dangling from Fang Wen's hand.
He froze in shock.
"What is this?"
"Oh, forgot about that..."
Fang Wen casually tossed the head away and followed up with a flying palm strike.
His palm force struck across the empty air, shattering the head into pieces.
Only when that was done did he say to the horrified Mo Beidou, "This man was Cao Jiuyin, the chief villain of Autumn Moon Nunnery."
At that moment, Zuo Qingshuang let out a low groan and slowly opened her eyes.
"Young Hero Fang, you killed Cao Jiuyin?"
"Yes."
"Wonderful."
Zuo Qingshuang let out a long breath.
"This man committed countless atrocities, earning the wrath of gods and men alike. In ridding the jianghu of this great scourge, Young Hero Fang has performed a deed of boundless merit. It is truly cause for celebration."
"How are Senior Zuo's injuries?"
Fang Wen brushed aside the praise, turning to ask after her condition instead.
Zuo Qingshuang smiled.
"Thanks to Young Hero Fang's internal force, my heart meridian was preserved. These two possess remarkable medical skills, so I am out of danger now... Though I suspect I won't be able to exchange blows with anyone for a while."
"Junior Sister Zuo need not worry,"
the beautiful woman from Yuqing Pavilion stepped forward and said. "I will take the people of Yuqing Pavilion and escort you back to Zhujige Pavilion."
"It has been a long time since I last visited Zhujige Pavilion; I truly miss the scenery of Jiuning Mountain."
A voice called out. Everyone turned to look as several other figures from the Eastern Domain's Seven Great Sects emerged from the inner courtyard. The speaker was a master of the Cangwu Sword Sect:
"This time, we will escort the Pristine Moon Fairy back alongside Yuqing Pavilion, so we can watch over each other on the road."
Hearing this, several others offered to help escort her as well, but Zuo Qingshuang graciously declined.
Too many people would only draw unwanted attention, and there was truly no need.
Yuqing Pavilion and Cangwu Sword Sect were more than enough.
The search of Autumn Moon Nunnery was mostly complete, but no one dared disturb the grim piles of white bones... Cao Jiuyin's martial arts pertained to flesh and skin, so logically, keeping these bones here served no purpose.
Yet they had not actually been thrown away...
Everyone suspected he might have laid some trap upon the bones, making it unwise to move them rashly.
They chose instead to leave them inside Autumn Moon Nunnery and consign everything to the flames, avoiding any lingering danger.
A raging fire blazed. The righteous Seven Sects and the righteous jianghu figures who had rushed over stood watch around the perimeter to keep the flames from spreading.
With nothing to do during the wait, the crowd began to converse.
Fang Wen's origins were naturally what piqued their curiosity most, yet his background was utterly unremarkable—merely an apprentice of Four Seas Martial Hall, hardly worth mentioning.
Thus, everyone understood that for him to possess such martial arts, he must have encountered some extraordinary fortuitous opportunity.
Yet because this touched upon Fang Wen's private affairs, they tacitly refrained from prying.
And when discussion turned to the relationship between Zhujige Pavilion and Fang Wen, the people of Taixu Dao learned only then that Qingyangzi, the traitor their sect had hunted for years, had died at Fang Wen's hands.
All at once, their gratitude toward Fang Wen knew no bounds, and they repeatedly invited him to visit Taixu Dao, promising to treat him as an honored guest.
Fang Wen merely excused himself, saying he had other matters to attend to and could not go for now, but would certainly visit in the future...
And so, as the raging fire slowly died down, the affair of Autumn Moon Nunnery drew to a close.
In the early stages of this battle, thanks to careful preparations, they had not suffered any casualties.
Only when Cao Jiuyin appeared later on did injuries occur.
Yet with Fang Wen stepping forth to slay the demon, everything settled, resulting in what could truly be called a resounding victory.
And because of this, every sect other than Wentian Mansion now owed Fang Wen a considerable debt of gratitude.
Chapter 76