Joy of Life: Invincible Starting from Basic Swordsmanship

Chapter 86: Ye Chengfeng emerges from seclusion, the Ming family is wiped out?

The ship sailed until it approached Jiangnan, where the plot of Fan Xian's assassination began, and Ye Chengfeng finally emerged from seclusion.

Feeling his current cultivation level, Ye Chengfeng sighed deeply, "Alas, I was just a little short. How could I have been so close?"

He did indeed convert all the true energy in his body into sword energy.

He even discovered that his sword energy could nourish the Xuanhun Sword.

The Xuanhun Sword was originally a replica of a peerless sword, made of extremely high-quality Xuan Iron.

Inside, there is also the Sword Demon sealed by Ye Chengfeng, according to the level of the Joy of Life world.

The Xuanhun Sword cannot awaken a sword spirit, even with the presence of a sword heart demon.

But now that he has the power of sword energy, and after being refined by it, Ye Chengfeng can clearly feel that the spirituality of the Xuanhun Sword is getting higher and higher.

This should have been a happy occasion. However, he had hoped that he could break through to the Grandmaster level in one fell swoop during this seclusion.

Or reach a level comparable to a grandmaster.

However, things didn't go as planned, and Ye Chengfeng's cultivation level got stuck at an extremely awkward point.

The realm between the ninth rank and the grandmaster, if we had to give this realm a name, perhaps we could call it "half-step grandmaster"!

Ye Chengfeng remembered that in the original novel, Wang Xi and Fan Xian ultimately reached this state.

"Although I haven't fully broken through, my current strength is sufficient to face Ye Liuyun this time."

Ye Chengfeng was preparing to visit Fan Xian. Several days had passed, and he wanted to see how much Fan Xian's cultivation had recovered.

When he arrived on the deck, he saw Fan Xian squatting down, handing a bowl of thin porridge to an old man.

There were also more than a dozen such elderly people beside the small boat below the ship.

Ye Chengfeng knew that this was the first difficult problem the Ming family had presented to Fan Xian.

"What? You can't bear to do it?"

"Hmph, I thought you were dead inside!"

Ye Chengfeng has been in seclusion for several days, and he hasn't eaten anything during this time. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was cultivating immortality!

"Those in positions of power should fulfill their responsibilities. If we want to change these things, I think Lao Li's approach is more appropriate."

Fan Xian frowned; he knew perfectly well who Ye Chengfeng was referring to.

"Did you already know him?"

It's no wonder Fan Xian thought that way. Even though Ye Chengfeng tried his best to hide it, Fan Xian could still sense that Ye Chengfeng and Li Chengzhu's relationship was extraordinary.

"I really don't know him. I'm even more surprised than you are by his appearance."

Ye Chengfeng wasn't lying to Fan Xian; he was indeed very surprised by Li Chengzhu's existence.

"What are you going to do with these old men?"

"What else can we do but send someone to take them back?"

Fan Xian said helplessly.

Ye Chengfeng didn't believe Fan Xian was unaware that even if he let these old people go, the Ming family wouldn't let them go.

There may be no obvious problems, but it wouldn't be difficult for something unexpected to happen.

Ye Chengfeng shook his head; he wouldn't be overwhelmed with sympathy.

However, when Ye Chengfeng turned around to go find Fan Ruoruo

Wang Qinian suddenly walked over with a letter in his hand.

Fan Xian's expression turned cold instantly after reading the letter.

Ye Chengfeng, seeing Wang Qinian approaching, wanted to see what had happened.

Just then, they saw Fan Xian's expression change drastically.

"What happened?"

Fan Xian didn't intend to hide it from Ye Chengfeng and handed the letter to him.

After reading the letter, Ye Chengfeng finally understood why Fan Xian had such a cold expression.

"The Ming family was wiped out? Not a single one survived?"

Ye Chengfeng was also somewhat incredulous. The Ming family was no ordinary family; they had managed the three major workshops for over a decade.

This made the Ming family the local tyrants of Jiangnan.

It's no exaggeration to say that the people of Jiangnan only knew the Ming family and not the Southern Qing court; the Ming family was practically local tyrants.

"Who do you think did it?"

Fan Xian gently rubbed his temples. He naturally had someone he suspected, but he wanted to see if Ye Chengfeng shared the same suspicion.

"Li Chengze? Impossible. Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu are already dead. He only has a few eighth-rank officials left. He doesn't have that kind of strength."

The deaths of Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu were naturally orchestrated by the Northern Qi.

Ye Chengfeng sent the Eight Swordsmen with Zhan Pianpian and Ye Ling'er to Northern Qi, and also had the Eight Swordsmen deliver a letter to Zhan Doudou.

The idea was to have her kill Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu.

Although Zhan Doudou didn't send him any messages, Ye Chengfeng believed that Zhan Doudou wasn't so stupid as to not be able to kill these two people.

If that's the case, he really needs to reconsider whether he should continue cooperating with Zhan Doudou.

"Then it can only be Li Yunrui. But why would Li Yunrui want to eliminate the Ming family? The Ming family is her people. With the Ming family around, they can prevent me from taking over the three major workshops."

Logically, these two shouldn't target the Ming family.

"Could it be him?"

"I also think it was him, because the Ming family's demise would be beneficial to me, but isn't what he did too cruel?"

Ye Chengfeng rubbed his forehead and said, "Don't think about it. I know the Ming family quite well. Let me just say this: not even the dogs in the Ming family are innocent."

Seeing that Fan Xian wanted to say something more, Ye Chengfeng interrupted him directly, saying, "Alright, it's just the Ming family, why are you acting so saintly? Don't tell me you don't know what happened to those old people?"

Ye Chengfeng flicked his sleeve and pointed to the group of elderly people being escorted off the ship by the guards.

The old lady in Danzhou was right: Fan Xian just wasn't ruthless enough.

Don't think that Fan Xian is a good person just because he said it was cruel. He has never been a good person. At most, he was just expressing his feelings.

Simply put, it's like being a prostitute and then trying to maintain a virtuous image.

In modern terms, Fan Xian just wanted some emotional value.

However, after Ye Chengfeng said that, Fan Xian could no longer simply ignore these old people.

He said to Wang Qinian beside him, "Old Wang, send some people to protect these old people."

"Yes, sir, I'll take care of it right away."

After giving Wang Qinian his instructions, Fan Xian quickened his pace and caught up with Ye Chengfeng.

"Wait for me, Old Ye."

"What's wrong now?"

"Of course I want to discuss countermeasures with you. Now that the Ming family has been wiped out, even more people will suspect me!"

Fan Xian said with a sense of helplessness.

What he said was true. The destruction of the Ming family would naturally lead people to suspect Fan Xian, the beneficiary.

"Let's shift the blame. Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu have disappeared, so let's just put the blame on them."

Upon hearing Ye Chengfeng's words, Fan Xian's eyes lit up, and he gave Ye Chengfeng a thumbs up.

"If we're talking about cunning, it has to be you. That's why everyone will probably suspect Li Chengze."

"Not only that, even those officials who were loyal to him in the past have to think about whether they will be silenced by him after their crimes are exposed."

"While this method cannot eliminate all suspicion against me, it at least diverted most of the attention."

"That's right, you can even subtly mention the relationship between Li Chengze and Li Yunrui."

"That way, we have one more person to provide firepower!"

The two of them quickly finalized the plan.

Of course, although the problem was solved, Fan Xian became even more wary of Li Chengzhu.

However, Fan Xian also knew that the immediate priority was to address the impact of the Ming family's massacre.

The first step is to collect evidence of the Ming family's crimes. Sometimes, death is not the end of the matter.