Upon hearing Yang Zhenshan’s order to have them killed, Cheng Wuji and Han Changshun began struggling fiercely.
Deng Yuehe’s already anxious heart became even more restless.
"What are you waiting for? Help drag them away to be butchered!" Seeing their violent struggling, Luo Jingsong hurriedly said to Li Chang standing beside him.
Li Chang and a few personal followers stepped forward and dragged Cheng Wuji and Han Changshun away.
Yang Zhenshan looked toward Deng Yuehe, an elderly woman who looked to be in her forties with crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, but it was still apparent that she must have been a great beauty in her youth.
Of course, Yang Zhenshan was not concerned with her appearance but with how she might be useful.
"What is your cultivation level?"
"Replying to Marquis, this old body gathered Innate True Qi twenty years ago, but in the past ten years, my cultivation has made little progress!" Deng Yuehe said with utmost respect.
Yang Zhenshan calculated in his mind. Twenty years ago, this Ms. Deng was not even forty years old and had cultivated to Half-step Innate. It showed how high her cultivation talent was.
However, she was now nearly sixty, and her cultivation had not reached the Innate Realm, indicating just how elusive the opportunity to reach Innate truly was.
Yang Zhenshan thought for a moment, then flipped his sleeve and took out a Jade Box.
"Three Yellow Plums can aid in condensing Innate True Qi and penetrating meridians. While I cannot guarantee it will enable you to break through to the Innate Realm, it should still be of some help to you!"
"Since you are willing to join Da Rong, I present this Three Yellow Plum to you!"
Deng Yuehe was first stunned, then overjoyed, kneeling to the ground in thanks: "This old woman thanks the Marquis for his generous gift! From today onwards, I am willing to serve the Marquis wholeheartedly, ready to toil like a horse or dog in your service."
What made her happy was not the Three Yellow Plum, but Yang Zhenshan’s attitude.
By giving her the Three Yellow Plum, it also meant that Yang Zhenshan would not break his word, meaning that the Lv family could indeed join Da Rong without being exploited and discarded.
This was also the reason Yang Zhenshan gave her the Three Yellow Plum; it wasn’t just a Spirit Fruit but a Soothing Fruit.
"Rise!" Yang Zhenshan said indifferently.
"Thank you, Marquis!" Deng Yuehe stood up.
Yang Zhenshan then looked toward Luo Jingsong and said, "Tomorrow you will head to Star Moon Island, take Wang Mingjian and Li Chengzhang with you. Um, have Yu Tonghai lead the Tenglong Advanced Guard to accompany you."
The top echelon of the Star Moon Sect had been completely wiped out; all that remained were some minor followers. There was no need for Yang Zhenshan to go personally as the Tenglong Advanced Guard would suffice.
"What should be done with the people on the island?" asked Luo Jingsong.
"Handle them as you see fit. Ms. Deng, you discuss with Wang Mingjian and Li Chengzhang when the time comes!" said Yang Zhenshan.
"Yes, this old woman will follow the Marquis’s orders to the letter!" Deng Yuehe said.
Since they were allowed to discuss matters, it naturally meant that they should eliminate any future threats while ensuring their own safety.
The residents of Star Moon Island were mostly from fifteen clans of the Star Moon Sect. Now that the Wang family of Wang Mingjian and the Li family of Li Chengzhang were out of the picture, it was likely that the remaining thirteen clans could not be spared.
Deng Yuehe was no saint; she was already preparing to embark on a massacre on Star Moon Island.
On an uninhabited island to the northeast of Full Moon Island.
A small boat slowly approached the shore, and several martial artists in black robes moved several pirates with weak breaths onto the island.
The island wasn’t large, made up of some rocks cobbled together, not more than a hundred paces long and only twenty or thirty paces wide. However, there was a small valley in the center of the island.
An old man shrouded in a black robe stood in front of many pirates, among whom were a few soldiers from Da Rong.
The pirates were laid on the ground, each with a feeble breath, not yet dead but not far from it.
"Lord Lie, this is the last batch. Da Rong is cleaning up the battlefield too quickly, it’s become difficult for us to find the injured!" a martial artist in black robes said softly.
The old man in the black robe nodded slightly, "First, bring everyone over."
Moments later, more than a dozen severely injured and dying individuals were carried to a lower place.
The old man in the black robe went over to inspect them one by one. According to their cultivation levels, he sorted the injured into different areas.
Roughly it was Postnatal Third Layer and below in one group, Postnatal Fourth to Sixth Layer in another, and those above Postnatal Seventh Layer were put together.
In total, there were about a hundred people, with only seven or eight above Postnatal Seventh Layer.
Suddenly, the old man in the black robe let out a soft exclamation, "Oh? What’s this!"
He looked at a somewhat familiar face and a mysterious smile crept across his lips.
"Wake up, wake up, are you dead yet!"
The old man in the black robe slapped the other’s face.
The eyes flickered open, and Yue Hongyi struggled to see clearly the person in front of him.
"Save me, whatever you want, I’ll give it to you!"
At this moment, Yue Hongyi was severely injured and near death. An Yuxing’s wine gourd had smashed into his chest, shattering the gourd and severely damaging his internal organs.
However, with proper medical treatment and a calm two to three years of recuperation, he could still recover.
The vitality of Innate Martial Artists was indeed tenacious.
"You are Yue Hongyi!" asked the old man in the black robe.
"Do you know me, who are you?" Yue Hongyi, seeing the old man in the black robe distinctly, became more wary.
The old man in the black robe smiled, "Ling Bufu, I wonder if Master Yue still remembers me?"
"It’s you!" Yue Hongyi remembered a frail figure.
Ling Bufu, the son of the great pirate Ling Bo from the East South Sea Domain, was weak and sickly as a youth; to cure him, Ling Bo collected various Treasure Medicines from all over and even went to Star Moon Island to seek medicine personally.