As the three corpses fell to the ground, the Blood-Devouring Demon Vine shrank and flew back into Su Hao's palm, making an affectionate gesture.
"It's becoming sentient," Su Hao thought, his eyes narrowing at the vine's behavior.
He mused, "Perhaps the more blood and flesh it consumes, the faster it evolves."
Just then, the vine transmitted a thought, indicating it had absorbed too much and needed time to digest.
"Hmm!" Su Hao realized that even in its early stage, the vine's devouring ability wasn't limitless. He retracted it into his palm and charged into the stronghold.
Along the way, he violently dispatched any bandits he encountered, quickly reaching the center of the stronghold.
Some bandits escaped, but Su Hao paid them no mind. His father hadn't come alone, and surely Su family members were intercepting the fleeing bandits at the foot of the mountain.
At the stronghold's center, Su Ming's face was gloomy. The stronghold leader, Du Gu Fan, was nowhere to be found.
"Where's your leader?" Su Ming grabbed a trembling bandit in the courtyard.
"The boss is often away. Even when he's here, he wears a mask. We've never seen his face!" the bandit stuttered.
"Hmm!" Su Ming frowned. He'd heard the Qingyu Stronghold leader was mysterious and rarely seen. He'd assumed Du Gu Fan stayed in the stronghold to cultivate, but now it seemed this leader was more cunning, likely maintaining another identity outside.
Crack! Su Ming snapped the bandit's neck and turned to the remaining bandits, ready to eliminate them.
"Dad, weren't those supposed to be left for me?" Su Hao strode in, exuding murderous intent. He approached a bandit and shattered his neck with one punch.
The other bandits tried to flee but found themselves pinned down by Su Ming's aura, making it easy for Su Hao to dispatch them.
"Dad, where's the Qingyu Stronghold leader?" Su Hao asked, knowing there should be one left after killing four of the five leaders.
"This Du Gu Fan is cunning. He's not here and likely has another identity below. We can't underestimate him," Su Ming replied.
"Dad, cowards never achieve greatness. Our Su family shouldn't fear such people. If he dares show his face, we'll eliminate him," Su Hao declared boldly.
"Haha, I didn't expect you to have such ambition, Hao'er. There's a hidden mechanism on the back wall leading to the stronghold's treasury. You can pick a few items; I'll arrange for the rest to be moved to the Su family," Su Ming said.
"Understood!" Su Hao opened the treasury, finding over a dozen wooden chests filled with gold, silver, jewels, bank notes, and other treasures.
In an adjacent secret room, he found a pearl emanating a cold aura. "This cold pearl is nice. It could be useful for cooling in summer," Su Hao thought, pocketing it along with several bank notes totaling about 200,000 taels of silver.
"You kid!" Su Ming's mouth twitched, surprised at Su Hao's greed. But having given his word, he could only watch painfully as Su Hao took the money.
"He'll need money out there. I won't support him financially for a while," Su Ming rationalized to himself.
"Dad, I'm heading out. I'll leave the rest to you," Su Hao waved, leaving with the money. He had no interest in the bones and corpses left behind.
It took Su Hao an hour to return to Qingyu Gorge, much slower than his father's initial journey.
By then, Su Yuan and Su Neng had recovered and reorganized the carriage, burying the bones in the valley.
"Young Master, you're back!" they bowed as Su Hao arrived.
"I'll change clothes, then we'll head to Qingyuan County immediately," Su Hao said, changing out of his bloodied clothes in the carriage and asking Su Yuan to dispose of them.
They continued towards Qingyuan County, arriving as night fell.
"Young Master, shall we go to the constabulary today?" Su Yuan asked quietly.
"It's late. Let's find an inn for the night. Tomorrow, have Su Neng buy a nice residence. I'll stay there when I have time," Su Hao instructed.
Although he was now the constabulary chief, he needed a quiet place away from prying eyes for cultivation.
"Yes, Young Master!" Su Yuan nodded, driving the carriage to a nearby inn.
Soon, they were settled in. Su Hao sat cross-legged on the bed, checking his system points and draw cards.
[Character]: Su Hao [Check-in Points]: 4,010
"4,010 check-in points... Let's see, I started with 730, got 1,000 for destroying Qingyu Stronghold, leaving 2,280. Each three common bandits give 20 points, so I killed 342 common bandits."
"Damn, 342 bandits? I've become a killing machine today!" Su Hao was shocked at the realization.
"I should probably tone down the killing," he muttered after reviewing his system points.
"4,010 points can be exchanged for 401 skill points. I can upgrade my techniques, and with the Blood-Devouring Demon Vine's blood essence feedback, who knows how strong I'll become."
Su Hao opened his inventory: 12 Bronze Draw Cards, 1 Silver Draw Card.
"Let's combine 10 Bronze Cards into a Silver Card."
[Consumed 10 Bronze Draw Cards, created 1 Silver Draw Card, stored in inventory]
"I'll use the two remaining Bronze Cards first."
[Host consumed two Bronze Draw Cards, drawing...] [Thank you for playing, Thank you for playing!]
"What?" Su Hao's eyes widened in disbelief. He'd drawn nothing, completely wasting the two cards.
"They used to give at least bank notes. Now not even that!"
"I still have Silver Draw Cards. Let's keep going. I refuse to believe I won't get anything."
[Consumed two Silver Draw Cards, drawing...] [Obtained one Hundred Benefits Fruit, stored in inventory] [Obtained one Death Worm, larval stage, stored in inventory]
"Hundred Benefits Fruit? Death Worm?" Su Hao quickly opened his inventory to check the descriptions of these new items.