"Young master, please don't tease me." Leader Ye said with a compelling expression on his face and eyes as sharp as blades.
If Xie Yang hadn't noticed his red ears, he would have mistaken him for a monk who not only doesn't indulge in eating meat or think about eating the meat in bed but also doesn't like hearing about such stuff.
Xie Yang smiled as he raised his hands in surrender and laughingly said, "Okay, okay, today, I won't tease brother anymore."
Doesn't that mean he will poke fun at him tomorrow?
Leader Ye's eyes squinted, a helpless feeling arising in his heart, making him feel like doing something to instill some senses into his careless and carefree young master.
Xie Yang had the habit of not holding back and speaking his heart out when interacting with people who have likable characters.
After promising that he wouldn't tease him until tomorrow, Xie Yang moved his attention away from Leader Ye and squatted deeply, bringing himself close to the corpse of Merchant Jin.
He rummaged through Merchant Jin's corpse, picking up everything valuable. From his corpse, he found an inter-spatial pouch and a small dagger with a golden hilt.
Without scrutinizing them, he stored them both in his magic pouch and stood up.
Then, Xie Yang started walking away from Leader Ye and heading towards a big pathway on the left side of the hall. Leader Ye curiously followed after him.
"Young master, where are you going?" Leader Ye asked.
"Can't you hear the cries coming out of that place?" Xie Yang said, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes, "I believe the captives are there, and I want to earn some good karma by setting them free."
"Oh, I see."
The way Leader Ye looked at Xie Yang became a lot more respectful.
At first, he thought that his young master was naturally talented and coldblooded. According to him, Xie Yang was talented because, while holding a sword, he was able to sharpen his spiritual energy and release seven sword rays without much trouble, which meant that he was at the seventh level of sword intent and only a few steps away from sword heart. A sword cultivator with a sword heart can release sword arcs without using a "weapon in which one can imbue spiritual energy, like Xie Yang's sword." They can also contact and make a contract with sword-type spirits after reaching the spirit master realm! And Leader Ye thought that his young master was coldblooded because he had killed so many humans without batting an eye or feeling disgusted. However, all of them deserved to die, even according to him.
But now, after seeing his young master rushing to save the innocent captives, Leader Ye realized that there was also compassion in his heart.
He realized that his young master was ruthless to evil but kind, considerate, and gentle to the innocent.
They walked for a while, and, after taking some turns, they reached the place where all of the captives were sitting behind locked steel bars. Xie Yang was in front of Leader Ye, behind who the black dragon followed. On his back rested Zhang Xiu. She was still fast asleep. She was so exhausted that there was very little chance of waking up anytime soon.
"Tap, Tap!"
The sound of their footsteps echoed in the dim, dark prison. There were many cells here, Xie Yang noticed. Two of them held only good-looking people. In contrast, the rest had sturdy burly, average-looking men, women, and children. All of them had a price tag. The beauties, both men and women, were worth some too many gold coins. The rest were worth some silvers. Xie Yang wasn't a fool as to not know what was going on. He could tell that Merchant Jin sold both, but the buyers used the latter to do Labour and dirty work for them and used the beauties to satisfy their evil desires!
Merchant Jin was evil, but the buyers weren't good samaritans either.
Who were the buyers, though?
Xie Yang didn't know, but he believed that Merchant Jin's hideout or magic pouch might have records about them, a ledger that contains their name and information!
If he finds that out, he will stop at nothing to execute justice and deal with the buyers according to the Law of the Glorious Sun Kingdom.
The Cloud City was a part of Glorious Sun Kingdom.
When Leader Ye saw this scene, his pale increased, his heart rate, headaches attacked him, past memory surged out of the bottom of his subconscious to remind him of the days when the entire world had abandoned him, causing him to feel breathless, causing him to suffer from migraine.
"Cough, cough!"
Suddenly, Leader Ye started coughing wildly.
Xie Yang turned around and saw that he was trying hard to puke, but nothing seemed to be coming out of his mouth. The rim of his eyes was red, and his face was even redder than a steamed crab. Bulging veins appeared on his face and neck, his body shivering subconsciously. It was as if he was having a seizure.
"Brother, are you alright?" Xie Yang asked in a worried voice as he patted his back, helping him puke.
After a while, Leader Ye recovered from his nausea.
"Sorry for making you worry, but I am feeling fine now." Leader Ye said after calming down.
Xie Yang asked what happened to him, and Leader Ye looked at him in silence. Without saying a word, he expressed with his silence that he didn't want to talk about it. Xie Yang knew that his stepbrother wasn't ready to open up to him or talk about this matter, so he acted like a considerate gentleman and didn't ask him about this thing again.
"Tap, Tap."
"Shiver, shiver!"
The prisoners heard the sound of their footsteps and started shivering in fright.
They had mistaken them for evildoers who were here to torment him and were wishing that they would not be the ones sold to them.
But what they feared didn't happen.
They saw the young man taking out his sword and bringing it down towards the thick lock on the steel bar.
"Clang, Clang!"
His sword clashed on the lock, shattering it.
Then, he opened the steel door for the captive.
The captives raised their head to look at him in bewilderment.
He beamed at them.
"I, Xie Yang, the youngest son of Federal Lord Xie Yong, have punished the evildoers who have kept you all captives in the name of the Emperor and according to the rules of the Glorious Sun Empire. All of you from this day forth are free men! You do not need to fear for your life anymore. The criminals tormenting thee are no longer in this world."
"Really?"
"I can go back to my family, to my village?"
He gave them a nod.
Their eyes brightened, endless joy vivid in them, making the onlookers feel like the captives were seeing a night sky full of stars and not a dim, dark place. Some started crying, tears streaming down their eyes. They were tears of joy. They were depressed, true, but hearing that they would regain their freedom pulled them a step out of their deep, dark depression.
'With time, they will heal,' thought Xie Yang as under his careful watch, one after another, young ones and old ones left cell number 3.