The three Guozhao Hunters didn't know the exact location where the children were locked. So, Guo Baiyu assigned each of them, and their companions, a section of the school to search. An hour later, Guo Baiyu reached the study room, where Yang Bao had already begun searching. He stepped inside, joining his disciple in the meticulous search. After they had both thoroughly scoured the room, Yang Bao frowned, his expression troubled.
"What's the matter?" Guo Baiyu asked, noticing his apprentice's distress.
"Master, how can anyone be born so vicious?" Yang Bao said, the horror of the village weighing on him.
"Everyone is born innocent," Guo Baiyu replied, his voice calm. "It depends on how greedy each of them is. The greedier you are, the more you will be willing to do bad things."
"I want to help innocent people, so I decided to become a hunter," Yang Bao declared, reaffirming his purpose.
"Remember, no matter what kind of person you choose to be," Guo Baiyu advised, "as long as your conscience is clear and you don't hurt others, it's always good."
Standing in the backyard, Fang Yaoting and Ping'an looked at everything, but did not find any hidden rooms. There were trees and flower pots surrounding a small pavilion in the backyard. There was a small table and two seats in the pavilion, near the water lily pond.
"I didn't find anything in this backyard to indicate that there is a hidden room here," Fang Yaoting sighed, frustrated.
"The school is not big, and this is the only backyard," Ping'an mused, agreeing with his observation.
"Let's take a break," Fang Yaoting suggested. Fang Yaoting and Ping'an sat inside the small pavilion.
"When we were in school, there was no negative energy," Ping'an recalled, the contrast stark.
"Maybe the school has some protection talismans," Fang Yaoting suggested, thinking aloud.
"Renshu is right," Ping'an said, feeling the oppressive atmosphere. "We don't want to be here at night. If we have to... it's better to stay in school, despite everything."
"This place is very beautiful," Fang Yaoting observed, trying to lighten the mood. "Dachin will like it here."
"Yes, Dachin loves yellow flowers," Ping'an agreed, smiling softly.
"He surely does," Fang Yaoting smiled, looking around at all the beautiful flowerpots in the backyard. He then saw a flowerpot with a red flower on it, standing out from the rest. "Ping'an..."
"What's the matter?" Ping'an asked, noticing his sudden focus.
"I think I may have found the hidden switch," Fang Yaoting said excitedly.
"Where?" Ping'an looked around their surroundings, eager.
Fang Yaoting pointed. "Look over there. All of the flowers in this backyard are of different colors except red, but that one over there is the only pot with red flowers."
"Miss Tam mentioned that the secret door can only be closed and opened from the outside," Ping'an recalled, connecting it to the children's predicament.
Fang Yaoting and Ping'an walked to the unique flowerpot. Fang Yaoting moved it to the left, and the passage from the study room to the pavilion descended, forming a staircase leading to the underground. The two friends looked at each other, triumphant. Ping'an immediately sent out the signal, alerting the others.
Just as Lim Peizhi and the Huang sisters walked in, a teenager, about sixteen years old, slowly crawled out of the secret room, blinking, trying to adjust his vision to the afternoon sun. The boy was shocked when he saw Ping'an and Fang Yaoting, strangers standing there.
"You two are not Teacher Tam and Teacher Ying," the teen boy stammered, his voice filled with fear. "Where are they?"
"How many of you are down there?" Fang Yaoting asked, trying to ascertain the situation.
"I'm the only person down there," the teen boy replied.
"Are you sure?" Ping'an asked, her eyes searching the darkness behind him.
"I'm sure," the boy insisted, but then he slowly stretched his hand behind his back and took out a knife. The boy suddenly grabbed Ping'an's hand and placed the knife next to Ping'an's throat, taking her hostage. "Don't get close, or I will kill her!" he threatened, his voice trembling.
Zhao Renshu, having heard the commotion, walked into the backyard and shouted, "Boy, let go of my wife!"
The boy's hand shook fiercely, his fear palpable. "You want to save your wife, then you... you help me take my classmates out!"
Zhao Renshu smirked with a smile, unimpressed by the boy's threat. "If I refuse?"
The boy trembled. "I will...I will...kill your wife!" he stammered, his threat hollow.
"Look, kid," Zhao Renshu said, his voice mocking, "your hand is shaking too much; be careful of that knife."
"Come out!" the boy shouted, ordering the others still hidden.
One student after another slowly crawled out of the underground secret room, blinking in the light. Twenty-three students, twelve female and eleven males, stood behind the teenager in fright, their faces pale.
"Let go of my Shimu," Guozhao Zhiqiang said coldly, his voice devoid of emotion, a dangerous glint in his eye.
"Get away! Get away!" the young boy, Tam Liang, shouted, his trembling voice trying desperately to scare the hunters away. "When we get to the front door, I will let her go!"
"Okay, kiddo, let's leave here slowly," Ping'an said calmly, trying to de-escalate, walking with him and the other children.
Ping'an and the students slowly retreated from the backyard to the front of the school. At this time, one of the female students stumbled into Tam Lin's body, which was still on the steps. One of the boys, out of curiosity or fear, pulled down the robe covering her, and the students cried out in horror, seeing their mutilated teacher. The boy holding Ping'an hostage glanced at his teacher's gruesome body, momentarily distracted, and then Ping'an grabbed his hand and twisted his arm around to his back, disarming him quickly.
"Everyone run!" the boy, Tam Liang, shouted, his plan foiled.
The students rushed down the stairs, but backed back quickly, seeing something in their path.
Ping'an took the knife from his hand. "Stop, if you don't stop, I will let you kneel here," she warned calmly, implying she could subdue him without further effort. Ping'an released his hand and pushed him away, letting him go.
A male student said, pointing, "Brother Liang, there are thirty people out there. They must be the bad guys mentioned by Teacher Tam!"
Guo Baiyu stepped forward and said, "Let's go see if they are the men Miss Tam mentioned."
"Aren't you guys the bad people Teacher Tam mentioned?" Tam Liang asked suspiciously, still untrusting.
"Hmph... If we are bad guys, do you think you could still stand here?" Huang Hongse scoffed, rolling her eyes at the students' naivety.
"Ah Kun, let's follow them," Tam Liang said to another student. "They called Teacher Tam 'Miss Tam,' so they might not be bad people."
The group of friends walked down the short steps and faced thirty men, the culprits. The men were dressed in dirty clothes, looking like hardened thugs.
"You killed these people?" Zhao Renshu stared at the men, his voice cold.
The group leader laughed, arrogant. "Just eliminating eyewitnesses. Who the hell are you guys anyway?"
"Your exterminators," Zhao Renshu replied, his smirk widening.
The group leader laughed, a harsh, dismissive sound. "Talking big, huh..."
"If you don't want others to know, why did you do it in the first place?" Guo Baiyu questioned, his voice calm but accusatory.
"We were paid to kill some very special people," the Group Leader explained, confident in his impunity. "These people happened to live in the wrong place."
Zhao Renshu laughed wildly, a dangerous edge to his mirth. "You also happened to be in the wrong place on the wrong day." He glanced back at his comrades. "Baiyu, you protect Ping'an."
Zhao Renshu drew his sword and went straight to the team leader, engaging him directly. The bandits attacked the group, drawing their own weapons.
Fang Yaoting and Guozhao Zhiqiang unsheathed their swords at the same time, their movements synchronized. The sword master and his disciple attacked together, a formidable duo.
Suddenly, countless arrows flew directly towards them. Huang Hongse tossed one of her flags up, and the flag created a magical shield, blocking the incoming arrows.
Within ten minutes, Fang Yaoting and Guozhao Zhiqiang killed twenty-two men, a testament to their overwhelming skill. The rest of the bandits were seriously injured, lying on the ground.
Just when Zhao Renshu stabbed the team leader's right chest, a new group of young men wearing different colored clothes surrounded him, appearing from nowhere.
"Let him go!" Yi Guozhi shouted loudly at Zhao Renshu.
Zhao Renshu gave Yi Guozhi a cold look. He said, "Let him go?" He then pierced his sword deeply into the chest of the team leader, finishing him off.
Yi Guozhi said again, his voice strained, "Let him go, or I am going to kill you!"
Zhao Renshu smirked at the young men, ignoring their threat. He thrust the sword deeper into the chest of the bandit leader, twisting it. The bandit leader fell to the ground, dead. Zhao Renshu then stood in front of the group of friends and students. He conjured hundreds of icicles, aiming them at the new group of young men. As a result, the seriously injured bandits, still lying on the ground, were also shot dead by the collateral icicles.
When some of the young men from the new group were injured by Zhao Renshu's icicles, Guozhao Zhiqiang flew over and blocked his master's attack from hitting a young man in white.
"Zhiqiang!" Fang Yaoting shouted angrily, shocked by his disciple's defiance.