Chapter 73: Heavenly King Hongwu, 200 Years Ago

“Well done.”

Cui Heng nodded lightly at Hui Shi. Then, he looked at Sun Panshi, He Chengmao, and Monk Jingcong and chuckled. “What do the three of you have to say?”

At this moment, the three of them were already kneeling in front of Cui Heng.

They no longer looked as arrogant as before.

At this point, they were already in complete despair.

They couldn’t even think about escaping.

After all, with a terrifying expert like Hui Shi around, it was impossible for them to escape.

Now, the most important thing was how to survive.

Only by surviving could they have hope.

Otherwise, everything would be for naught.

Sun Panshi’s mind raced. What should he do?

Threats definitely wouldn’t do.

If the other party was really afraid of his identity, he would not have attacked at all.

In that case, he had to show his value.

But where was his value?

Wang Jinsheng!

Sun Panshi’s eyes suddenly lit up. He hurriedly lay on the ground and said to Cui Heng, “Lord! I have an important intel to report. It’s something that only I know!”

As soon as he said this, He Chengmao and Monk Jing Cong’s expressions changed and they started cursing.

“Bullsh*t! You want to talk about Wang Jinsheng’s news, right? I know it too. What do you mean by only you know?”

“I know the intel too! Lord, Wang Jinsheng is from Yanzhou. He’s from the Wang Clan of Langya!”

The former was He Chengmao, who only retorted and scolded Sun Panshi. The latter was Monk Jing Cong, who directly told him what he knew.

The Wang Clan of Langya in Yanzhou!

Other than Cui Heng and Hui Shi, the expressions of everyone present changed slightly, revealing shock.

“What do you all know?!” Sun Panshi flew into a rage when he heard the two of them. He pointed at them and scolded, “I’ve been with Wang Jinsheng for a long time and know more than you. I’ll definitely be able to assist this Lord!”

Then, he said to Cui Heng with a flattering expression, “Lord, don’t listen to their nonsense. These two people have only eaten a few meals with Wang Jinsheng. The information they know is superficial. Only I have a deep understanding of Wang Jinsheng.”

“Lord, why don’t you listen to him first?” Xu Feng’an used his True Qi to send a voice transmission and said to Cui Heng, “The Wang family of Langya is one of the Seven Distinguished Families in the world after all. Their background is extraordinary.”

“There’s no hurry.” Cui Heng shook his head lightly and said to Hui Shi, “Bring the three of them away first. We’ll continue to raid the businesses tomorrow. After we clean up those merchants, we’ll hold a public trial together.”

“Yes, my Lord!” Hui Shi bowed, then grabbed the three of them with both hands.

“Lord! No, don’t!” Sun Panshi panicked when he saw this situation. He shouted, “Lord, the information I know is really critical!”

“Yes, I know.” Cui Heng nodded and reminded Hui Shi, “Be careful during the public trial. Don’t let the people beat them to death. Just leave them alive.”

Sun Panshi and the other two were the culprits who exploited the people of Lu County. Putting them on a public trial with those merchants was more conducive to the spread of the truth.

At the same time, it could mobilize the emotions of the people.

To Cui Heng, this was a chance for his cultivation to improve greatly.

Naturally, he could not let it go.

Moreover, questioning the culprits after the public trial would better confirm the comprehensivity and authenticity of the information.

After Sun Panshi and the other two were detained by Hui Shi, the County Governor’s Mansion finally regained its calm.

Only the lingering smell of blood in the air and the dismembered limbs on the street ahead showed that an extremely tragic one-sided massacre had just happened here.

“Lieutenant Chen, clean up the streets with your men so as not to disturb the people tomorrow,” Cui Heng said to Chen Tong. “If there are any surviving soldiers, arrest them as well to await punishment.”

“Yes, my Lord!” Chen Tong bowed respectfully before leaving in a hurry. He immediately gave an order to have people clean the streets overnight.

After seeing Hui Shi break through three realms in a row and go on a killing spree, he became obedient to Cui Heng’s decisions and had no other thoughts.

“The two of you, follow me,” Cui Heng said to Xu Feng’an and Liu Litao before turning around and returning to the inner hall.

… .

In the inner hall of the county magistrate’s office.

Cui Heng took a sip of hot tea and asked Xu Feng’an and Liu Litao, “I’ve heard of the Seven Distinguished Families families before, but I don’t know much about it. Tell me more.”

In the past period of time, he had asked Xu Feng’an and Liu Litao to better understand the overall situation of this world.

In name, the Great Jin Imperial Family was the leader. But in actuality, there were independent factions everywhere. Even the various State Overseers who relied on the Great Jin’s regime had begun to govern themselves.

The entire Great Jin Dynasty was basically a scattered and split force.

Therefore, apart from the Central Continent, the ten State Overseers were the most powerful people in the world.

But this was only on the surface.

In this world, sects and aristocratic families were the main players.

Although the Imperial Court and the State Overseers controlled a large amount of military power, the sects and aristocratic families had relied on their deep foundations to infiltrate into various industries.

They were involved in hundreds of industries regarding the people’s livelihood, and the transportation of military supplies, ores, metals, and other industries.

If anything were to happen to these industries, not to mention a county or a state, even the citizens of the entire world would be provoked into rebellion, and the Imperial Court would immediately collapse.

Moreover, sects and aristocratic families also had the highest individual martial strength in the world.

Even if a single person’s martial strength could not compete with an army, he could still execute an assassination.

As long as the Imperial Court dared to attack the aristocratic families of the sect, they would dare to let the current high-ranking officials and even the Imperial Family die suddenly. Many dynasties had also been destroyed like this.

Therefore, there had never been a thousand-year-old dynasty in this world, but thousand-year-old sects and aristocratic families were everywhere.

The three Holy Lands of the Dao Sect, the six Holy Lands of the Buddhist Sect, the 13 Evil Sects, the Nine Swords of the World, the 12 Gangs of the world, and the 16 Families of the world were all outstanding forces.

The Seven Distinguished Families was among the famed 16 Families.

But in reality, the Seven Distinguished Families was already a top faction with more than 3,000 years of history and lineage. It was an existence on the same level as the head of the Dao Sect, Dao Yi Palace, and the head of the Buddhist Sect, the Baolin Buddhist Hall.

The other nine Families were not on the same level as the Seven Distinguished Families.

“It’s said that the Seven Distinguished Families was the main supporter of the establishment of the Great Jin.” Liu Litao knew more about the Imperial Court. “More than 200 years ago, at the end of the Da Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos and countless heroes rose up.

At that time, the founding ancestor of the Great Jin was actually just from an inconspicuous small faction. By chance, he married a noble daughter of the Wang Clan of Langya. That was how he obtained support and quickly rose to prominence. Then, he obtained the support of the other six Wang Families and finally swept through the world to establish the Great Jin.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of this before.” Xu Feng’an nodded. Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something and smiled. “Speaking of which, there’s another rumor that I don’t know if it’s true.”

“Oh?” Cui Heng asked with interest, “What rumor?”

“I’ll explain, my Lord,” Xu Feng’an replied respectfully. “It’s said that the Seven Distinguished Families had suffered heavy losses in order to support the rise of the founding ancestor of the Great Jin Dynasty, especially the Wang family of Langya. They were almost wiped out.

Moreover, it triggered the martial world calamity more than 200 years ago—Heavenly King Hongwu killed all the Deity Realm experts in the world.”

“Who?” Cui Heng could not help but raise his eyebrows.