Death… and me

Sun Zhang Fa's face was sad and mournful, "I was about to notify the others about this when I saw Li Hei Zi and Peng Hui Hui's terrified faces as they ran to find me. They notified me that Liu Xiao San, Deng Xiao Wu, and Zhang Nang's heads were being hung at the citadel's wall in public display. However, they didn't see Li Shun's head. Immediately after, there was news that all of Li Shun's subordinates were taken away from top to bottom! Sir… more than forty people perished because of just one mistake!"

Sun Zhang Fa's entire body trembled in fear, "This morning, Li Hei Zi also vanished. Peng Hui Hui went around for about half a day before emerging. When he did, he discovered that Li Hei Zi had died in the woods. Peng Hui Hui immediately returned and notified me. However, a short while later, I was surrounded by people from Bu Tian Pavilion. It was lucky that I managed to escape through using a secret passageway. But I'm afraid, Peng Hui Hui wasn't so fortunate…"

"In other words, all of your people, who totaled to be more than ninety are dead? Moreover, you are the only one left?" Initially, Yin Wu Fa was enraged. However, the more he listened, the more somber he became.

Bu Tian Pavilion was moving extremely fast! The moment they found a clue, they would immediately make a move to act on it which usually resulted in someone being eliminated. Sun Zhang Fa commanded almost a hundred people. It was considered as a rather large external spy organization for the Golden Horse Riders Department.

Moreover, they acted very carefully. Up till now, all three branches only had a single contact. This was the safest method. Everything was as it should have been until two days ago… Yin Wu Fa had already thought about it the moment Sun Zhang Fa started to mention everything that had happened!

In just two days, they had managed to sweep up everyone!

"I am the only left…!" Sun Zhang Fa said in a dejected voice, "Since I have established myself here, there was only a one-communication. I am not even sure if there were any other divisions here. All I knew was that during this time of bloodshed, other than seizing the properties of officials, they executed close to four hundred people. By my estimates, four hundred was the number of people that we had wanted to develop here in Iron Cloud Citadel…"

Sun Zhang Fa shuddered in fear, "According to my calculations, four hundred people… amounts to about five divisions; all of which have been annihilated! Sir… I… I walked by the execution grounds every day to count heads… The number increases significantly with each passing day…!"

Sun Zhang Fa was an experienced and capable individual. His estimate was almost in line with that of the truth.

Moreover, because of this, he didn't dare to even show himself or reply to their signals. He entire disguised himself such that he ran into a wall just to alter the appearance of his face entirely…

Yin Wu Fa was extremely somber at this point. The more severe the situation seemed, the more composed he was! He had all of the information on the different contacts at Iron Cloud and remembered them by heart with great clarity.

In Iron Cloud Citadel, there were three Silver Horse Riders and five Iron Horse Riders! Silver Horse Riders could not be mobilized and as such there were only Iron Horse Riders left.

Among the five Iron Horse Riders, one of them was the leader, while the other four Iron Horse Riders each had two spy forces under them. When Golden Horse Riders Department was founded, Diwu Qing Rou intentionally used this method. Both spy forces were also separated and each side was unaware of the other.

Not only did the four Iron Horse Riders not know each other, each of them were responsible for their own divisions.

Sun Zhang Fa was subordinate to one of those people and a leader of one of two spy forces! He was also the first person that Yin Wu Fa had found since entering Iron Cloud Citadel.

If there were eight spy forces in total, then according to Sun Zhang Fa's analysis, at least five had been wiped out!

There were still three left!

That King of Hell Chu moved really fast!

There was a soft knock from outside. Yin Wu Fa grunted softly and the door cracked open. A person in black squeezed through, and asked, "May I ask… which one is the senior?"

Yin Wu Fa quietly looked at the man in black for a brief moment and before he moved his hand and tapped the jade amulet on the table. Five gems combined together forming a meticulously carved amulet with the word "Three" in the middle.

"Ah, it is the Third King level master who has come all the way here; please forgive my late welcoming!" The person in black was surprised and immediately knelt down.

"Stand up and tell me about your situation!" The man in black was brought in by two Revered level masters. The two Revered level masters left in search of other Iron Horse Riders.

It is fine if you refuse to tell too! Yin Wu Fa's face became crooked.

Two of the spy forces under the Iron Horse Rider had been reduced by more than half. However, there were still many of those remaining who had turned themselves in. Overall, there were less than ten people who could still be used…

"Very good… very good! You have done well!" Yin Wu Fa ground his teeth, his right hand relaxing on the table as he slowly pressed down. He silently made a hole the size of his palm on the table.

That Iron Horse Rider stood at the side, afraid to even breathe.

The entire atmosphere was heavy.

Not long after, two more Iron Horse Riders arrived. Immediately after, the leader arrived as well. No one else arrived after that. A little while later, the two Revered level masters hurriedly returned with grave expressions, "Sir, the last Iron Horse Rider… had been caught! The entire spy network under him has been decimated…!"

"Good! Great for King of Hell Chu! He really is ruthless!' Yin Wu Fa's anger turned into a smile. Before coming here, all the higher ups of Golden Horse Riders Department had anticipated that their spy network in Iron Cloud Citadel would inevitably suffer a major blow, but none of them had expected such an upheaval!

More than half of their spy network has been directly destroyed!

"Who is in charge of contacting Official Tang?" Yin Wu Fa asked.

"Official Tang did not let us initiate contact. Moreover, his current whereabouts are unclear… We have been searching everywhere, but have yet to find anything!" The leader of the Iron Horse Riders said respectfully.

"Oh? It seems that the odds are against Official Tang…!" Yin Wu Fa took a deep breath and said, "Find all of the documents you have collected on King of Hell Chu and bring them to me!"

The four of them looked at one another and smiled wryly, "Sir, we are aware that you have come to deal with King of Hell Chu… But this is extremely confusing… cough, cough…"

The leader of the Iron Horse Riders looked extremely gloomy.

"What's the matter?"

"This King of Hell Chu… cough, cough… there are many documents about him…!"

The four immediately took out thick stacks of documents and placed them on the table, perfectly covering the hole which had been made earlier by Yin Wu Fa.

"So much information…?" Yin Wu Fa looked the meter-tall pile of documents. His countenance was usually gloomy and rarely excited, but now, his eyes rolled in annoyance.

"Is there really this much?" Yin Wu Fa asked in disbelief.

"Yes…! Sir, we still feel that there is not enough…!" The four faces looked ashamed.

"Not enough…?" Yin Wu Fa silently looked at the pile of documents that probably contained more than one hundred thousand words… and this and it is still… still not enough? Is the King of Hell Chu some sort of creature who has lived for over thousands of years? How and why is there so much information on him?

"You may sit; I will look at the documents for a bit!" Yin Wu Fa was filled with anger but had no reason to let it out, thus kept it within himself.

The four individuals sat down in submission.

Sun Zhang Fa also wanted to sit down, but the moment his rear touched the seat, he heard Yin Wu Fa snap his finger. A Revered Martial Artist immediately advanced and grabbed him. Everything suddenly turned dark before of his eyes. He wasn't even aware of what had just happened.

"Crack", his neck was broken.

That Revered Martial Artist looked as if he had completed a menial task as he carried out the corpse with ease.

The four Iron Horse Riders felt their heads buzz and immediately after, they began to relax. Lower ranking spies would usually never had a chance to see their faces. Therefore, because Sun Zhang Fa had seen all four of them at once, even if Yin Wu Fa had not dealt with him immediately, he would not have let him live either way.

No matter how loyal and dedicated one was, it would still be no match for the loyalty and dedication to oneself…

"Bam!" Yin Wu Fa slammed the table and turned toward them. He looked as if he wanted to eat them up, "This is all the information you collected on King of Hell Chu?"

Cold sweat poured out from their foreheads.

"Damn! This is a huge mess and shouldn't even be considered as information!" Yin Wu Fa rarely got angry, but this time, he could no longer control himself.

The documents on King of Hell Chu were all over the place and not informative at all!

"King of Hell Chu! Unknown face; normally wears a fierce mask and a black cloak. There are rumors that Chu Yang is sixteen years and eight months old. It is said that he came from Beyond the Heavens Sect and is the disciple of the master of Purple Bamboo Garden, Meng Chao Ran. However, he was expelled from the sect for accidentally killing his elder martial brother over a girl. He went to Iron Cloud…"

This was a small section in the pile of documents.

"King of Hell Chu! Unknown face; normally wears a fierce mask and a black cloak. There are rumors that Chu Yang is twenty-two years old. It is said that he is a student of the great Hong He Scholar – Qi Cheng Xin; well-learned, talented, and resourceful. Not a type of person to use force. Appointed by Tie Bu Tian to be the minister of Bu Tian Pavilion…"

Another section.

"King of Hell Chu! Unknown face; normally wears a fierce mask and a black cloak. There are rumors that Chu Yang is twenty-one years old. It is said that he is a disciple of a reclusive Emperor level expert. Even though he is still young, his cultivation is already Martial Great Master. According to the words of his fellow disciples, he is a ferocious character who likes to eat people's hearts…!"

Another section.

"King of Hell Chu! Unknown face; normally wears a fierce mask and a black cloak. There are rumors that Chu Yang is nineteen years old. He is the godson of the number one general in the continent, Tie Long Cheng. Since his youth, he has been well versed in literature and martial arts. Tie Long Cheng hid him for more than a decade before he finally took over Bu Tian Pavilion. He is Prince Tie Bu Tian's left arm…"

Yet another section.

"King of Hell Chu! Unknown face; normally wears a fierce mask and a black cloak. There are rumors that Chu Yang is a descendant of the Chu clan from Middle Three Heavens. Went out to train and became Minister of Bu Tian Pavilion…"

There were many different things each set of information conflicting with another. If all of this information gathered on him was accurate, this King of Hell Chu had over twenty origins! Moreover, each document had witnesses and some sort of evidence…

With so much conflicting information, how could the King level master not go nuts?

How could there be so many Kings of Hell Chu? Which one was the real one? In other words, which one of the documents in this entire pile was accurate? After all, there was only one King of Hell Chu!

"This is all the information on King of Hell Chu that you people found?" Yin Wu Fa pounded the thick stack of documents on the table and said with an icy voice.

All four people were soaked in sweat. Their legs shook as they unanimously nodded. It seemed that they really wanted to say something but didn't dare to. The dead Iron Horse Rider had actually collected the most articulate information on King of Hell Chu. While half the information that he had collected was already sent here, there was still much more…