The sword that Long Feiye had been aiming at Qi Yaotian abruptly changed directions to slash towards Qi Zonglin instead. This time, everyone could see his movements, as well as the sword awn that crept in its wake. It was a chilly blue hue that rushed forward with the blade to accurately swipe above Qi Zonglin’s head and smash into the brothel doors. Like splitting bamboo, its incandescent smash was unblockable.
In an instant, the building rumbled as a large, long scar was left across its center. The three floors of the brothel sway dangerously as if it would collapse at any second. As more people came out to see the fuss, the remaining occupants of the brothel fled out of the building for their lives. Qi Zonglin was left unscathed, but that very fact left him stunned. He looked down at the ground and saw that a section of the ground had been carved into a jagged fissure as well! He couldn’t believe how he could still be uninjured under these circ.u.mstances, but reality was right before his eyes.
Just how much had Long Feiye’s sword skills progressed? How vast were his internal reserves now? How could he control his strike with such finesse? Rumors had it that Long Feiye was already a match for the sword sect master back on Celestial Mountain, but what about now? Was he already Cloud Realm Continent’s number one fight and the unsurpa.s.sed supreme of the martial arts world?
And why hadn’t the man hurt him with that slash?
But there was no more time to think. Qi Zonglin quickly fell on his knees before Long Feiye and repeated the same lines as Qi Yaotian. He wanted to surrender, to pledge allegiance, to work in his service! It wasn’t that he lacked backbone as a city lord, but that Long Feiye was too strong. Skills like his meant it was simple work for the man to destroy Carefree City on his own. Meanwhile, they’d lost all face for their city by kneeling to ask for mercy in public.
Still, that wasn’t enough to satisfy Long Feiye. Even killing them wouldn’t vent his anger! Moreover, death was too cheap for either of them! With a gloomy face, he pointed his sword at Qi Zonglin, who panicked and asked, “Long Feiye, why are you going to kill me? I won’t accept it without a reason!”
Long Feiye hadn’t spoke a single word yet, so he wasn’t planning to start now. It was clear that Qi Zonglin was trying to find a way out, so he soon tried again. “If it’s for the sake of revenge against Han Yunxi, what right do you have as Esat Qin’s crown prince? Or are you two still lovers despite all that?”
As he spoke, he quickly directed his words to the crowd to build up support. “Everyone, could the East Qin crown prince and West Qin princess be hiding some unspeakable secret? If Han Yunxi wants revenge against this old man, let her find me in person!”
The fury emanating from Long Feiye’s form kept the crowd at a healthy distance, much less Qi Zonglin’s appeals for support. Even if they were dissatisfied by this all, they only kept it to themselves. Xu Donglin only gaped at Qi Zonglin in disbelief. It had been a long time since he ever witnessed someone so resolutely seeking death!
“An unspeakable secret” was already grating enough, but Qi Zonglin still had face to ask the princess to seek vengeance in person? After a bunch of men ganged up on a single girl, they wanted her to settle accounts on her own? What did that count for?
Xu Donglin couldn’t help but break his logic to pieces. “City Lord Qi, no one bullies women like you do!”
Long Feiye didn’t waste his time on words. He abruptly raised his hand and slashed sideways with his sword. It was a das.h.i.+ng move and not very deadly, but it left Qi Zonglin’s clothing in tatters in an instant. Next to him, Qi Yaotian’s outer robes were torn to shreds by the force of the blow, leaving him in nothing but his under robes. The crowd fell silent, as still as Long Feiye’s deathly cold face. On his knees, Qi Zonglin trembled as he knelt stark naked. His aged form attracted the attention of all eyes from his son, Qi Yaotian’s, well-built form.
“Ahh...ahhhh! AHHHHHHHHH!”
It wasn’t until screams rose from the women in the crowd that everyone gradually realized what had happened. A frightened Qi Zonglin strove to cover his private parts, his old face flushed with shame. Even his eyes had grown red in rage. Xu Donglin took in the sight at a glance and determined that the wrinkles on Qi Zonglin’s face were far uglier than the rest of his old muscles.
“Long Feiye! This old man will kill you!” As Qi Zonglin charged forwards, Long Feiye raised his sword and pointed the end of the blade at him.
Humiliation coupled with rage had truly made Qi Zonglin lose his mind. He forgot all about his own sword, cast to one side, and raised his hand to block Long Feiye’s weapon. Because Long Feiye was so angry, his sword qi had only grown fiercer so that even close proximity to the blade would incur injuries from the sword awn! Qi Yaotian finally noticed and rushed to stop his father, but without any arms, he could only knock the old man aside. As Qi Zonglin crashed to the ground, Qi Yaotian cried out, “Father, go!”
Qi Zonglin could tell that Long Feiye didn’t intend to kill them, but disgrace them. If they didn’t leave now, they would soon become the laughingstock of Great Central Garrison Post. With all of Cloud Realm Continent’s eyes on this down, here was the liveliest part of the continent. Anything that happened here would be spread around the world. The showdown with Hundred Poisons Sect hadn’t even begun yet, but Carefree City was already poised to become the b.u.t.t of everyone’s jokes.
Moreover, what if Long Feiye suddenly changed his mind? His current strength was enough to kill them both with an afterthought. Finally recovering his wits, Qi Zonglin threw himself at the crowd, intending to steal a man’s clothes. The man in question hastily backed away, so Qi Zonglin went to target an older man instead. The poor man was just an ordinary citizen and was rooted to the spot in fear, not daring to move. Fortunately, Xu Donglin pulled him aside in time. After that, the crowds scattered in fear. Qi Zonglin was more repulsive than a rat in the streets now. As he prepared to flee, Long Feiye stopped him with a cry.
“Qi Zonglin!”
Both Qi Zonglin and Qi Yaotian were frightened out of their wits and didn’t look back.
Long Feiye declared icily, “This crown prince is avenging none other than the West Qin princess. This is...an expression of sincerity for our alliance!”
As soon as he finished, he turned tail and left. How could this father and son die? He needed them to survive so they could be shamed by the ma.s.ses! This was also a perfect chance to tell the world that no matter what happened between him and Han Yunxi in the future, or what status and positions they held, anyone who bullied her would have a bad end!
Qi Zonglin could be considered one of the most ambitious, formidable a.s.sa.s.sins in the world, but his name had been reduced to rags and tatters today. Who would be willing to ask Carefree City for mercenary work now? Who else would ever want to alliance with Qi Zonglin ever again? Even Long Feiye and Han Yunxi’s enemies might disdain them. No one in Cloud Realm Continent history had ever been so thoroughly disgraced. This was a pre-show warmup for the faceoff at Hundred Poisons Sect!
Long Feiye shook off his pursuers and returned to the residence in the north. By then, the joke had spread to Great Central County Seat, where Emperor Kangcheng was receiving his guests. It would soon reach all corners of the continent like a peal of thunder. What a satisfying revenge! What a ma.s.sive joke! Unfortunately, Han Yunxi was deaf and dumb to it all. Currently, she was still lying quietly in bed, her face pale yet still startlingly beautiful. It was a visage that one could never tire of, and a pa.s.serby might simply think she was only sleeping, or that Long Feiye could wake her with one call. Who knew how many times he’d tried over the course of the past few nights?
Long Feiye didn’t speak a single word on his trip back. Unless Han Yunxi woke, no amount of venting could brighten his mood. Gu Beiyue wasn’t interested in Carefree City either, so he didn’t ask Long Feiye or Xu Donglin any details when they returned. Meanwhile, the skies outside grew dim as night approached. Great Central Garrison Post, Great Central County Seat, Western Zhou, and all of Cloud Realm Continent had worked themselves into a fervor, but here all was still and quiet. The silence here was deep enough to affect an entire continent.
Currently, Hundred Poisons Sect had gotten wind of the latest developments as well. In place of Jun Yixie and Bai Yuqiao was a senior founding member of the sect and part of its Council of Elders, the outstanding talent of the poison world s.h.i.+ Jiuxia (石九丅)[1]
“Elder s.h.i.+, we’ve gotten the details. It really was Long Feiye behind that incident in Great Central Garrison Post today. All of our agents in the town lost his trail, so we’re uncertain if he came alone or with Han Yunxi,” the scout reported.
“Didn’t they say the Baili Army’s young general was staying at Great Central County Seat? Is Long Feiye not there?” s.h.i.+ Jiuxia asked. He didn’t blame the scout for losing the trail, since few could track Long Feiye.
“No. Cloud Realm Trade Consortium has people there too. This subordinate sent people to check, but Han Yunxi wasn’t with them, either,” the scout replied.
s.h.i.+ Jiuxia began to mutter to himself. “Could it be that the two of them are really together now?”
Great Central County Seat had its share of honored guests, but Hundred Poisons Sect wasn’t planning to move against them. After all, they weren’t their targets and it was pointless to invite trouble now. Moreover, s.h.i.+ Jiuxia still couldn’t fathom the true motives of such a high figure like Emperor Kangcheng. He was worried that this was all a big act put on between the emperor and Long Feiye. If they struck, they might fall into some trap instead.
Of course, the most important thing was that s.h.i.+ Jiuxia didn’t have the rights to call the shots for something so important!
Long Feiye and Han Yunxi were targeting their old leader, but there hadn’t been any news from him yet. No one in the sect knew of his movements. s.h.i.+ Jiuxia had written at least ten emergency missives to their current leader, Jun Yixie, but he hadn’t responded to any of them either. Then he tried to contact Bai Yuqiao, but failed. It was already night. Tomorrow at noon, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi were set to challenge their gates. What were they supposed to do?
Would the old leader show up at all? Judging by Long Feiye’s actions today, it was very likely he and Han Yunxi would join hands to destroy Hundred Poisons Sect tomorrow if Bai Yanqing didn’t show up!
s.h.i.+ Jiuxia grew anxious at the thought. Although he had already ordered the sect to organize defenses all over the grounds, he was still afraid to face the number one fighter in the martial arts world and an outstanding talent of the poisons community. It was guaranteed that few people would sleep tonight.
Faraway in Great Central County Seat, Long Tianmo had just finished meeting with Emperor Kangcheng and returned to his rooms. Ever since breaking relations with the Ning Clan troops, Tianan and Western Zhou had both lowered their banners and m.u.f.fled their drums, doing nothing in response to events across the continent. However, this time’s events had been instigated by Long Tianmo first, who’d gotten in contact secretly with the emperor.
Emperor Kangcheng agreed to use the position of host to invite various important factions and figured into Western Zhou. In turn, Long Tianmo had agreed to join hands with Western Zhou in the future should East and West Qin start fighting with Northern Li next. Emperor Kangcheng’s current actions were liable to offend East and West Qin, but he’d agreed because Long Tianmo had given him sweet, sweet benefits.
They were related to…
1. s.h.i.+ Jiuxia (石九丅) - s.h.i.+ is “rock,” Jiu is “nine,” Xia is not the letter T but actually a word that means “down, below, lower, later, second (of two parts).”