"As you wish."

Chen Yang said, slowly retracting his fist and squatting down to wipe it clean on Xiong Pi's clothes.

Xiong Pi's eyes widened, his body trembling uncontrollably, a long-lost fear resurfacing in his heart.

Not far from him, the two record officials were clearly unable to move, yet their bodies were shaking like sieves. They never imagined that Chen Yang, who usually greeted them with a smile, had such a ruthless side.

"I, I... am willing to follow Captain Chen Yang... no, City Lord Chen Yang!" The round-faced record official was the first to shout.

"I am also willing to follow City Lord Chen Yang..." The square-faced record official followed closely.

"I am willing..."

"I am also willing..."

A satisfied smile appeared in Chen Yang's eyes as he strolled over to Mou Lin, bent down, and asked with a smile:

"Fellow Daoist Mou, what do you say?"

"I, I am willing..." Mou Lin sighed and said.

"Haha, you're willing, but I'm not." A murderous intent flashed in Chen Yang's eyes, and without warning, he raised his fist and smashed it into Mou Lin's head.

A muffled "thump" was heard.

Mou Lin's head cracked open, exploding like an overripe watermelon.

Silence returned to the hall once more, the fear of everyone amplified to the extreme at this moment.

Even those who had surrendered could not escape death.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, if you want to kill, then kill. Why play with us like this?" At this moment, the one-horned man suddenly spoke.

"Hehe, it seems there are still those who aren't afraid of death." Chen Yang turned his gaze to the man and said.

"Death is certainly frightening, but to die being toyed with like this is not worth it," the one-horned man said frankly.

"If I remember correctly, your name is Xuan Yuanxing, right?" Chen Yang looked at the man, raising an eyebrow, and asked.

"It's rare that Fellow Daoist Chen knows my crude name," the one-horned man said calmly.

"Very good, in the future, the patrolling of Qingyang City, which Mou Lin was in charge of, will be your responsibility." Chen Yang nodded and said.

The one-horned man couldn't help but be stunned.

The others in the hall also thought they had misheard, and were all puzzled.

"Mou Lin's heart is sinister, and he just called on everyone to kill me. He truly has the face of a wolf. Naturally, I cannot keep him. As for the others, as long as they are willing to pledge allegiance to me, they can all live," Chen Yang said loudly.

"We are willing to pledge allegiance to City Lord Chen Yang," the round-faced record official shouted first.

Following closely behind, the others also shouted, and for a time, the sound was like a tidal wave.

...

In the adjacent side hall.

"Chen Yang's use of both kindness and power is just right. In this way, even if these people still have ulterior motives, I'm afraid they won't dare to act rashly," Han Li said thoughtfully.

"It's not over yet..." Gu Qianxun said with a smile.

"Oh?" Han Li was taken aback.

...

Inside the main hall, the sound of oaths of allegiance gradually subsided as Chen Yang himself raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.

He walked over to Xiong Pi, bent down to look at him, and asked with a smile:

"Having survived a great disaster, do you have anything to say?"

"Fellow Daoist Chen... no, City Lord Chen. You know me, I'm different from that Mou Lin. I have no ambitions and am sincerely surrendering to you," Xiong Pi said, trembling like a frightened bird.

"Well, that's heartfelt," Chen Yang nodded and said.

Xiong Pi felt a little relieved when he heard this, and was about to speak when he heard Chen Yang continue: "However, just to be on the safe side, it's best to use some means. After all, restrictive measures are more reliable than words and oaths."

With that, he took out a black stone bottle from his sleeve, placed it on Xiong Pi's chest, and opened the stopper.

A three-inch-long black centipede slowly crawled out, climbed along his collar, easily pierced their skin, and burrowed in.

"Black Tribulation Insect..."

Xiong Pi cried out in his heart, but dared not complain in the slightest, and could only close his eyes powerlessly.

The others were no different from fish on a chopping board, and naturally dared not resist in the slightest.

Chen Yang waved his hand, and the tattooed youth and others took out a black stone bottle from their sleeves and planted the Black Tribulation Insect into everyone lying on the ground.

"I believe everyone is familiar with the Black Tribulation Insect. I don't need to say more about its effects, right? Now that Du Qingyang is dead, I am the only one who can解 (jie - remove/dispel/untie) this Black Tribulation Insect. In the future, if anyone makes great contributions, I will naturally help them remove this insect." Chen Yang scanned the crowd and said.

Those people were still paralyzed on the ground at the moment, and naturally could only allow the Black Tribulation Insect to occupy their hearts, and they all said "yes."

A battle for the throne finally came to an end, and Chen Yang successfully ascended to the position of city lord as he wished.

However, since several hunting teams that had gone out had not yet returned, Chen Yang kept the changes in the city a secret, intending to wait until he had cleaned them all up before holding the ascension ceremony.

After that, all that was needed was to take a generous gift from Du Qingyang's treasure trove and send it to Xuan City, and Chen Yang would become a genuine and legitimate City Lord of Qingyang City.

Han Li was not interested in all of this and returned to his residence at the Xuandou Arena that night.

In the entire upheaval, although he was at the center of the storm, he, like Gu Qianxun, hid behind Chen Yang, so except for Chen Yang and Xie Daoren, everyone else did not know what role they played in this battle for the throne.

Originally, Chen Yang intended to take Han Li and the others out of the Xuandou Arena and let them stay in Qingyang City as secret guest elders, but they both refused.

Gu Qianxun, like Han Li, chose to stay in the Xuandou Arena under his original identity for the time being.

After confirming again from Chen Yang's mouth, Han Li discovered that Zi Ling had indeed not appeared in Qingyang City, so he planned to leave after staying for a while.

However, before leaving, he still had some things about Xie Daoren that needed to be confirmed.

At night, the lights in Han Li's room were brightly lit. He was sitting cross-legged in a corner of the stone bed, holding the three-headed, six-armed demon god statue in his hands, looking it over and over again.

A flash of crystal light shot out from the center of his eyebrows and entered the relief.

The black relief immediately moved its hands and feet as before, posing in those twelve strange postures, and behind it, there would also be those strange characters that he did not recognize.

After watching for a while, Han Li frowned deeper and deeper, and his expression became a little dignified.

Just then, there was a knock on the stone door.

Han Li raised an eyebrow, got up and opened the heavy stone door, and the figure outside the door immediately flashed in.

"Fellow Daoist Xie, what exactly are you up to?" Han Li closed the stone door, looked at the familiar figure, and asked.

"I don't have much time, let's get down to business first." Xie Daoren turned around, looked at Han Li, and said with a solemn expression.

Han Li looked at Xie Daoren in front of him. For some reason, his heart suddenly jumped slightly, and he felt that the person in front of him had suddenly become a little unfamiliar, not quite the same as the Xie Daoren he had known before, and not quite the same as the Xie Daoren he had seen during the day today.

"You've probed the statue with your divine sense, right?" Xie Daoren's gaze fell on the statue in Han Li's hand and asked.

Han Li nodded, without speaking.

"Your divine sense power far exceeds Du Qingyang's. He can only vaguely see the changes in the statue's movements, but you should be able to see the characters that appear inside?" Xie Daoren continued.

"The statue has a total of twelve postures, corresponding to twelve paragraphs of text, but I don't recognize any of them," Han Li said.

"This statue is called 'Heavenly Fiend God Statue'. It is an ancient deity that has been worshipped for a long time in the Demon Realm, but it has long been lost. The characters recorded in the statue are also an ancient script that has been lost, 'Mystic Script'," Xie Daoren nodded and said quickly.

"Mystic Script..." Han Li frowned slightly upon hearing this, and pondered to himself.

"The Xuanwen content recorded in the statue is a profound body refining technique called Heavenly Fiend Suppressing Prison Skill. This technique has a total of twelve levels, and all the techniques for the first three levels are in this statue." Xie Daoren continued.

"Since you let me choose this statue, then this Heavenly Fiend Suppressing Prison Skill must have something unique about it, right?" Han Li's heart moved and he asked.

"Those seemingly gorgeous cultivation manuals can only open up to three hundred Xuan Apertures at most, but the Heavenly Fiend Suppressing Prison Skill is different. It can open up four hundred and fifty Xuan Apertures," Xie Daoren said.

"Four hundred and fifty Xuan Apertures?" Han Li raised an eyebrow, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes.

"Yes, cultivating the three levels of the skills in one statue can open up four hundred and fifty Xuan Apertures. If you can find the other three statues and cultivate all twelve levels of the skill, you can open up one thousand eight hundred Xuan Apertures," Xie Daoren said calmly, his expression unchanged.

Han Li's heart was shaken upon hearing this, and he was speechless for a long time.

"The reason I let you choose this skill is because there is an even more important benefit. That is, when you cultivate this skill, you need to refine a True Spirit bloodline power for each level to help connect the Xuan Apertures. If others cultivate this skill, they will most likely bear great risks due to the mixed conflict of True Spirit bloodlines in their bodies. But you are different. You have already preliminarily refined many True Spirit bloodlines through the Twelve Transformations of Awakening Insects and can make them coexist harmoniously, so the risk of cultivating this skill will be much smaller," Xie Daoren continued.

"True Spirit bloodline power... preliminary refinement? What does that mean?" Han Li frowned, seeming to think of something, and asked.

"It means exactly what it says. Your refinement of the True Spirit bloodline is still just a superficial method from when you were in the Spirit World. This Heavenly Fiend Suppressing Prison Skill has higher-level refinement methods that can allow you to completely refine the original True Spirit bloodline power in your body. At that time, it will not only help you connect the Xuan Apertures, but also make your bloodline power stronger," Xie Daoren explained.

"I see," Han Li nodded and said after listening.

"Now, I will start teaching you how to identify the Xuanwen. I don't have much time, let's start now," Xie Daoren stepped closer and said.

Without waiting for Han Li to agree, he began to tell him with his divine sense.