Chapter 703: The Power of Hooliganism
“Oh, c.r.a.p! If we don’t spread the word about this matter, those people won’t allow Xia Fei to continue living, not even if he defeats Yu Hua!” Zanian Feng suddenly thought of something and made this grim statement.
The others were all stunned, especially Mu Fuping. Extreme anxiety was etched all over her pretty face, and she appeared to have aged in an instant.
“Who are those people? Zanian, just what are you talking about? Don’t you dare to try and scare me; isn’t the truth of this matter out already? How could Xia Fei still be in trouble?” Wolf Shunye had always been a straight shooter, and he was demanding for an answer right away.
Zanian quietly pulled Shunye and Mu Fuping over to a quiet room nearby, took a look around them to see if there was anyone else here, and answered, “This matter appears to be much more complicated than what we first believed.”
Mu Fuping was nervous. Her eyebrows knitted together as she urgently asked, “Just tell us: What exactly did you realize?”
Zanian let out a light sigh and whispered, “Xia Fei is a smart man. Since he already has enough evidence in hand to prove his innocence, why did he only show this at this time?”
Shunye smirked. “Isn’t that simple? He wants Yu Hua to be severely inconvenienced. If he revealed all this any earlier, the effect wouldn’t be as tremendous as what he achieved by doing so now.”
Zanian shook his head lightly. “That’s but one of the reasons. I suspect that Xia Fei has been secretly conducting his own investigations during all this time, having had plenty of doubts in his mind. Later, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to survive if he didn’t make a last stand, so he chose today as that day to make all this evidence known, making his decision to put all his eggs into this basket and letting the world know about what had truly transpired back then. As for Yu Hua, this was nothing more than an incidental lesson for the man, not Xia Fei’s main goal.
“You guys also saw that the footage before had been edited, keeping the ident.i.ties of the key murderers hidden. There’s only one person whose face was revealed from start to finish and that’s Yu Hua! Back then, Xia Fei, Yu Jiang, Yu Guding, and the Divine Beast Green Dawn were fighting alongside one another on Snake Isle! You all saw how Xia Fei performed with your two eyes, and though his level isn’t high, his actual combat strength is above that of the Law Emperor, Yu Guding! For an enemy that the four of them couldn’t take down despite working together, that’s not something Yu Hua was capable of!”
Mu Fuping was a smart woman. As Shunye’s eyes slowly widened, she gleaned plenty from what Zanian had just said.
“Do you mean to say that those men in black were not hired by Yu Hua but rather a strong force supporting him?!” Mu Fuping blurted out, extremely surprised.
Zanian nodded his head somberly, his expression turning severe.
“If Yu Hua did indeed hire people to slay Yu Jiang, at best, it would just be some internal clan conflict, but if there’s actually some major figure in the background pulling the strings, then this would be an astonis.h.i.+ngly huge conspiracy! In other words, if Yu Hua was acting on his own, there’s no need for Xia Fei to hide himself. He simply could just directly show the proof to the Law Enforcement Board; there’s no way the dignified members of the Law Enforcement Board would attempt to cover up for Yu Hua. Even if he did not approach the Law Enforcement Board, all he had to do was find any one of us here and we could very easily extricate him from this situation,” Zanian quietly said.
Shunye’s expression was stern. “That’s true. The Cruelwolf Clan would hardly have any problems taking care of a small fry like Yu Hua, no different from an elephant stomping on an ant. This matter would have long been settled if he had shown me the proof earlier, too.”
Zanian let out a sigh. “That is why it’s strange that he sought none of us and opted to hide away, instead. The fact that he’s shown such forbearance until now, it can only mean that there’s a problem.”
“What’s the problem?” Mu Fuping’s voice was already slightly hoa.r.s.e. It was clear to anyone that this lady was feeling very anxious, deep down.
“It proves that someone is pulling the strings behind Yu Hua, and this person is very powerful, someone that even the Law Enforcement Board doesn’t dare to touch!”
Wolf Shunye quickly waved his hand dismissively. “That’s ridiculous. There are but a handful of people in the circle whom the Law Enforcement Board doesn’t dare touch, and they are all old monsters. Take that one in my clan; the Law Enforcement Board will of course hardly register in the eyes of our grand ancestor. Still, why would anyone at my grand ancestor’s level be backing Yu Hua? It’s not that I underestimate him, but that pest Yu Hua is simply unqualified!”
Zanian did not answer, softly asking with an uncertain gaze, “What if the ent.i.ty backing Yu Hua is really one such old monster? What then?”
A brief silence permeated among the three, all of them mulling over the question.
Mu Fuping’s expression turned ashen as she said gravely, “If it’s truly as you’ve said, then that will explain everything. Xia Fei was there, and he would know the ins and outs of the enemies better than anyone else. Because he’s up against a major figure who wields unprecedented power, what Xia Fei first did after escaping with his life wasn’t to take revenge but to hide, instead. Since he’s dealing with a major figure, the video Xia Fei showed us only revealed Yu Hua; he didn’t get anyone else involved, giving the others some face, thereby giving himself a chance of survival.”
Zanian offered a cupped fist. “Miss Fuping is truly wise. It is just as you said; knocking down Yu Hua isn’t hard, and if Xia Fei plans to stay alive, the key still lies with the approach this major figure behind the curtains chooses to take.”
“That’s a difficult matter altogether. There are indeed only a handful of such individuals in the circle whom not anyone will dare poke, and if any of those old monsters say the word, I’m afraid that Brother Xia Fei may just…” Wolf Shunye said through knitted eyebrows, finally realizing the severity of this situation.
Mu Fuping was very crestfallen as she looked at Zanian with pleading eyes.
Zanian’s expression suddenly steeled as he hurriedly blurted out, “It’s still not too late. Mu Qianling is an elder of the Withered Mu Clan, and he came here as the representative of the Law Enforcement Board. Miss Fuping, please exert a bit of pressure on him to compel the board to intervene in this matter completely. Get them not to display any partisans.h.i.+p.”
Mu Fuping nodded. “I can do that.”
“Just that alone won’t be enough.” Zanian locked eyes with Mu Fuping. “Would your clan’s grand ancestor make a move?”
Mu Fuping was taken aback at first, but she soon hardened her resolve and replied, “Okay. I’ll personally seek my grandfather’s help. He ought to be willing to help me.”
“If Old Patriarch Mu Qiyun is willing to take action, then I’m about 20% confident that we can settle this matter. Miss Fuping, please have your patriarch personally put pressure on the Law Enforcement Board, and it’s best if you spread the word, too, stating that Xia Fei is a person under the Withered Mu Clan’s protection. The point is to make as much of a fuss as possible!”
“I’ll head home right away and ask my father to come forward as well. I do believe that with the Withered Mu Clan and my Feng family working together to spread the word, we will at least be able to make a dent,” Zanian said as he contemplated further.
“Then what about me?!” Shunye asked in a hurry.
“Don’t you have that pack of brothers? These scions of White Horse Constellation usually spend their days pursuing frivolous hobbies, and now it’s time for them to do some good. Just let them continue stirring up a storm over this, make it so that everyone knows about what happened here in the Yu family. If possible, they can even tell their own patriarchs about the matter, so even if they’re unwilling to speak out on it, they’ll at least be aware of it.”
“Plus, you should look for your seventh uncle. He’s one of the vice presidents of the Law Enforcement Board, and we need to have him on our side. You must pay a visit to others in the Law Enforcement Board whom you’re familiar with, too. Finally, put in the effort to try and loop in your grand ancestor on this.”
Wolf Shunye’s expression turned a little green. In the Cruelwolf Clan, though Shunye was a direct descendant, he was not the most obedient and promising individual. His grand ancestor would often call him over and give him a good thras.h.i.+ng whenever he was bored, so just the mention of reaching out to his grand ancestor caused his heart to shudder.
“Fine. At most, I’ll just take a few more paddles. I’ll go and reach out to my grand ancestor, and if he refuses, I’ll just hang around him till he does!”
…
Without tarrying for any longer, Zanian gave everyone their instructions and they swiftly departed to get to their respective tasks.
Those troublemakers, who had gathered together to cause mischief, had just started when Yu Hua slipped away, leaving them all feeling dissatisfied. These troublemaking scions became even more interested upon hearing Shunye’s instructions, all of them speculating that there must be some scheme brewing within that caused their two seniors, Wolf Shunye and Zanian Feng, to be so excited.
These troublemakers were all more than happy to act in accordance with Shunye’s words; the leaders of the pack discussed and decided to conduct a campaign of protest against the unfairness of the Law Enforcement Board. There was nothing bigger than this when it came to creating unrest.
As such, the hundreds of scions returned to White Horse Constellation, unfurling their banners as they made a din while going on the streets. A gang of hooligans protesting against injustice? Just what sort of scene was this?
The onlookers gathering increased, while those who were interested in currying favor with these scions joined in the entourage, following their lead to make a big brouhaha out of the matter. Then there were also those who knew nothing of the actual facts; upon hearing about the injustice that the Yu family had experienced, they took the initiative to join this campaign of protest.
In less than an hour’s time, this gathering now numbered in the tens of thousands, and the mob continued their way down the streets in this ‘parade’, playing the footage as they handed out fliers, airing Xia Fei’s grievances by proxy.
Actually, none of these people knew who Xia Fei was. They had not even met him at all!
However, that did not stop these troublemakers from creating this huge upheaval. None of them even thought of laxing, for the purpose of them all banding together was to have a jolly good time.
…
Feng family, the headquarters of Dragon Ascension Martial Hall.
Zanian Feng paced quickly into the martial hall as he knocked on his father’s office door.
“Come in!”
Zanian lowered his head and respectfully entered the room. He did not appear like a son visiting his father but more like a subordinate seeking an audience with a superior. He had no choice about this. The Feng family followed strict rules, and their father-son pair rarely ever spoke intimately with each other.
“Father, Uncle Busey,” Zanian bowed as he entered. He had not expected to find the latter in his father’s office.
A cold laugh sounded. Kuzan Feng did not invite his son to sit but, instead, chided him in a fairly critical tone, “You must be the one who has mobilized those rascals in White Horse Constellation, huh? I thought that you’d learned to be better in these last few years, but I guess that you’re still a hooligan at heart!”
These words weighed heavily on Zanian, but he did not refute them and merely calmly answered, “This is a situation orchestrated by me, Wolf Shunye, and the Withered Mu Clan’s Miss Fuping. It’s our last resort.”
Busey and Kuzan both furrowed their brows as the latter skeptically asked, “Wolf Shunye’s a comrade of yours who’s always been up to mischief ever since you two were children, but how did Mu Fuping end up joining you both on this as well?”
Zanian softly replied, “For the sake of justice! A future elite of the Dragon Ascension Martial Hall has been treated unjustly, and so I of course wish to speak up for him. As for Wolf Shunye and Mu Fuping, they are friends of Xia Fei’s so they of course can’t just stand by the sidelines, either.”
Zanian had spoken very cleverly, directly addressing the crux of the matter by framing the tragedy of the Yu family as an issue of principle.
Kuzan was slightly surprised upon hearing all this. If Zanian caused the disturbance because of his personal relations.h.i.+p with Xia Fei, he would be very displeased, perhaps even giving Zanian a scolding for good measure. However, since Zanian stated that it was due to the unfair treatment that a future student was receiving, then it would become an issue of the Dragon Ascension Martial Hall’s prestige. As the hallmaster of Dragon Ascension, he could not afford to be careless.
“Xia Fei again?” Kuzan knitted his eyebrows together as he mumbled to himself. “Is there a need for you all to go to such an extent?”