I Can Devour Spirits

Li Man also told Xiao Zongting that after the death of the old shopkeeper, it wasn’t long before Ruan Fengshan used slow-acting poison to kill the lady, who was his own mother, as well.

Ruan Fengshan was sixteen years old when he discovered his true identity.

That day, the old shopkeeper went out to escort goods; he went to the backyard to find his mother and accidentally caught his mother and his cousin in the act.

At that time, Ruan Fengshan had already learned some martial arts. He was instantly furious and drew his knife, intending to kill the treacherous man.

The man, though handsome and versed in some poetry, did not know martial arts at all and was almost killed by Ruan Fengshan. It was only his mother holding onto his leg that allowed the man to escape.

Ruan Fengshan was relentless, vowing to kill that man and, when the old shopkeeper returned, to expose his mother.

His mother had no choice but to reveal his true lineage.

Ruan Fengshan naturally refused to believe her, saying his mother was wrong.

His mother called Li Man over, and Li Man told Ruan Fengshan they had calculated the dates. When his mother gave birth, it was a full-term pregnancy. It was Li Man who bribed the midwife and doctor to tell the old shopkeeper that it was a premature birth by a month, thus concealing the truth.

Ruan Fengshan returned from his mother’s place with a somber expression and immediately began to investigate the doctor who took care of his mother during pregnancy and the midwife who delivered him.

Ruan Fengshan personally interrogated them with torture and naturally extracted the truth!

He really was an illegitimate child!

At sixteen, Ruan Fengshan was not enraged but filled with fear and disgust! From that point on, his personality changed drastically! Moreover, he often had nightmares, dreaming of his father hanging him and his mother on a withered blood tree!

Listening to Li Man, Xiao Zongting felt the doubts that had weighed on his heart for many years suddenly collapse in an instant!

Now he understood why those people were so familiar with their movements and could ambush them in advance.

Even though over the past decade of investigation, many doubts had sometimes pointed to Ruan Fengshan, he had harbored suspicions, but those suspicions quickly disappeared like smoke.

How could a son kill his father?!

But now, the truth was clear. The mastermind behind everything back then was Ruan Fengshan.

”Young Master, it was you all along!”

Xiao Zongting immediately tied up Li Man, found a carriage, took her to a village outside the city, and bound her inside an abandoned house.

Then Xiao Zongting found an honest villager in the village, gave him an ounce of silver, handed him his tobacco pipe, and sent him to the county town to find the leader of the Fifth Escort Team, Li Gu.

This Li Gu was also an old member of the escort agency, personally trained by Xiao Zongting, and Li Gu’s brother, Li Yuan, had also died in that night’s ambush, his body dismembered in a horrifying manner!

Li Gu arrived at the village that afternoon and met Xiao Zongting.

Xiao Zongting took Li Gu to see Li Man and explained the entire series of events to Li Gu.

Li Gu’s face turned beet red, and his eyes blazed with fury. He had always thought his brother died while escorting goods, never imagining he was a victim of Ruan Fengshan’s schemes. Recalling the painful task of piecing together his brother’s dismembered body in a desolate wilderness, he was instantly filled with rage.

Li Gu immediately wanted to confront Ruan Fengshan for revenge, but Xiao Zongting stopped him.

Xiao Zongting told him that Ruan Fengshan was already the shopkeeper of the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, and this concerned events from over a decade ago; they couldn’t act rashly but had to plan carefully and act cautiously.

Xiao Zongting instructed Li Gu to find two trustworthy confidants to guard Li Man while they returned to the escort agency to gather their old comrades.

Ruan Fengshan happened to be out of the escort agency in these few days, and they planned to act as soon as he returned.

Since Zhao Mu often interacted with the Xiao family, he was also counted in when the plan unfolded.

Three days later, Ruan Fengshan had just returned to the escort agency and was having dinner in the backyard.

Xiao Zongting led a group of escort masters and surrounded the backyard of the escort agency.

These escort masters drew their long knives, raised torches, illuminating the entire backyard as bright as day.

Xiao Zongting dragged Li Man out from the crowd, limping as he pushed Li Man in front of Ruan Fengshan.

Xiao Zongting’s martial arts had been ruined, and with Ruan Fengshan holding considerable power, avenging the grave hatred could only be achieved through the strength of the masses.

Xiao Zongting wanted Li Man to confront Ruan Fengshan before everyone, to reveal the truth of the bloody feud from years ago to the world!

The letter Xiao Zongting left for Xiao Yu simply stated that he wanted to reveal the truth to the world, and it abruptly ended there...

Before acting that night, Xiao Zongting finished writing the letter, handed it to Zhu Xiaoqi, instructing Zhu Xiaoqi to find a way to deliver it to Xiao Yu if he died.

Although the letter ended there, Xiao Yu could already imagine what happened next. Undoubtedly, her father was killed by Ruan Fengshan that night.

Xiao Yu was already in tears, her body trembling slightly, intertwined with anger and sorrow.

Standing beside her, Duan Rong was much calmer. Duan Rong looked at Yang Zhen and Zhu Xiaoqi and asked, ”What exactly happened the night Elder Xiao orchestrated the escort masters to confront Ruan Fengshan?”

Duan Rong’s question pertained precisely to what was not mentioned in the letter Xiao Zongting left for Xiao Yu.

Yang Zhen said, ”That night, a fierce battle broke out between the two sides. Ruan Fengshan had been in operation for many years, naturally having quite a few trusted subordinates.”

”But more importantly...” Yang Zhen paused abruptly at this point. ”Soon after the clash began, many martial arts experts suddenly entered the escort agency.”