Chapter 244: Chapter 244 Old Rival

To be fair, executing a suspected spy in front of everyone is a bit overboard.

If it turns out that the person wasn’t a spy, the killer, even if they were powerful and had great status, would still face some consequences.

What’s crucial is that Feng Jun chose this person from the crowd and struck without hesitation.

Yu Zhengqing of course knew that, thanks to the lighting fixtures, the light outside the courtyard was bright, but night could not compare to day.

Who would dare to kill so boldly without utmost confidence?

Of course, what was more critical to him was that Feng Jun had not killed the wrong person and that the victim was an elite from the Wonderful Hand Pavilion’s Dark Hall.

Although the action was a bit too violent—the corpse was a ghastly sight—moving through the martial world, it seems that ruthlessness is, indeed, the righteous path.

As he was pondering this, he suddenly heard Feng Jun sigh, “Alas, I was still a bit too soft-hearted.”

Yu Zhengqing couldn’t help but turn his head to look: if this is considered soft-hearted, what then constitutes cruelty? Would one have to be torn to pieces?

However, when he looked, he was startled; it turned out Feng Jun was stitching up Lang Zhen’s wound, his face filled with apology.

Feng Jun was educated in literature, not medicine, and hadn’t learned how to suture wounds, but even the clumsiest stitch was better than no treatment at all.

Lang Zhen appeared indifferent, with only the corner of his mouth twitching occasionally from pain, but his expression remained quite ordinary. “The Divine Doctor must first investigate whether these people are merely passersby. It is merciful of him, and I was careless to have encountered an ambush.”

Only then did Yu Zhengqing realize, had Lang Zhen just gone out to investigate the situation three miles away?

Feng Jun did indeed feel some guilt; it was Lang Zhen who had asked him to take action before leaving.

If it weren’t for their conversation, Feng Jun might not have cared, but the fact proved that Lone Wolf was right.

It seems that one cannot afford to be too tender-hearted when navigating the martial world. Today, thanks to Lone Wolf’s vigilance, he received only a minor injury. Had he actually lost his life, Feng Jun would certainly have blamed himself for a long time.

After bandaging Lone Wolf’s wound and having him take a healing pill, Feng Jun finally spoke up, “Interrogate the one who’s still alive.”

The three who attacked Lone Wolf, the Innate Expert, was dead, with half his head blown off.

The one who ambushed Lone Wolf was dead too; he indeed was an Intermediate Level martial master who had cleverly hidden underground. Upon detecting Lone Wolf, he was silent for a long while before erupting in attack.

Although Lang Zhen was vigilant enough and had strong combat strength, he was disabled, and being ambushed like that, he was lucky to escape with only a light injury.

This Intermediate Level martial master had the opportunity to continue the pursuit, but he hadn’t emerged at first and instead hid underground as a hidden guard, precisely to protect the safety of those two.

When Lang Zhen approached from the direction of the night market, although he took some detours, the general direction did not change much, and he was caught right on target.

To protect the two, the man gave up the chase and had his leg broken by Feng Jun—completely severed at the root.

Suffering such an injury, it was too easy to die from blood loss, and in the Earth Realm, it would have been very difficult to save him.

Yet precisely because of his intent to save his masters, he ran right into the blast radius of the explosives. After his leg was severed, he took two direct hits and instantly died, not even having the chance to await his death.

Only the one who was with the Innate Expert, despite also taking two blasts, with the first one hitting him squarely, did not die but was just a bit concussed. When Tian Yangni and others arrived, he was still unconscious.

This man was a High-Rank martial master, and upon discovery by the Tian Family members, they didn’t hesitate to snap the tendons in his limbs—a style of action typical of the major clans of this plane.

In fact, the internal injuries he suffered were much more severe than the damage to his tendons. He seemed to realize that his situation was dire, so he sneered, “You’ve offended the Wonderful Hand Pavilion, what luck do you expect? Just wait for death.”

“Wonderful Hand Pavilion? What’s that supposed to be?” Yu Zhengqing snorted coldly upon hearing this. “Do you really think everyone is ignorant of your dirty secrets?”

He was always more moderate in his dealings, imposing yet amiable, not as aggressive as the young master of the Yu Family. That he could make such a comment was definitely pointed.

But the injured High-Rank martial master was surprisingly defiant, sneering in response, “The small Yu Family really doesn’t know what’s good for them. If you’re brave enough, let me escape, and I’ll consider leaving a trace of bloodline for your Yu Family.”

“Is that so?” A flicker of murderous intent crossed Yu Zhengqing’s eyes as he spoke indifferently, “Whether I spare you or not isn’t up to me. Tell me, whose orders from the Wonderful Hand Pavilion are you under?”

“Who I follow is irrelevant,” the man’s expression was fierce, but his voice lacked strength due to his serious injuries, “What matters is that you’ve killed a patron of the Wonderful Hand Pavilion… Ha-ha, you’re courting death.”

At that moment, Feng Jun spoke coldly, “I’m not very clear about the Wonderful Hand Pavilion, but do you, the Yangshan Gu Family, really want to sever your lineage?”

The man was severely injured, with all the large tendons in his limbs severed and blood spewing from his mouth; his state was utterly wretched, yet his face bore an expression of defiance. This visual impact could, in fact, exert considerable pressure on the onlookers—why on Earth was he so fearlessly composed?

However, once Feng Jun spoke, the man’s complexion changed drastically, though this shift was only for an instanteous moment, still, a good number of people caught it.

Suddenly, the courtyard fell silent, entering an extremely eerie state.

The man quickly regained his composure, and after a wait, he let out a cold laugh, “Yangshan Gu Family? Your words couldn’t be more absurd… Why not claim it’s the Dang Yuanyue Family instead?”

Feng Jun coldly retorted, “I’m not familiar with the Dang Yuanyue Family, but you are certainly from the Yangshan Gu Family. Rest assured, I won’t let you die too quickly… The Gu Family must give me an explanation.”

While speaking, he turned his head to look at Tian Yangni and smiled, “Is facing the Yangshan Gu Family a bit too much pressure?”

“The Gu Family is indeed somewhat stronger than the Tian Family,” Tian Yangni replied with a solemn face. Ever since the “four words of ‘Yangshan Gu Family'” were mentioned, the faces of Tian Family members didn’t look too good. Both were major clans of Qingning Prefecture and knew a lot about each other.

It wasn’t a matter of the “Gu Family being slightly stronger”; rather, the Tian Family was simply no match for the Gu Family.

It was only because the Tian Family had deep roots in Dongmu Province and had made connections with Luo Wendao, the Innate Expert, that the Gu Family did not want to suddenly stir up trouble, allowing both families to coexist peacefully.

That was exactly why, upon confirming the identity of this man, the Tian Family members fell silent.

The Gu Family was already more than the Tian Family could handle; coupled with the death of the patron of the Wonderful Hand Pavilion, the possible upheaval this incident could cause was simply too massive.

However, Tian Yangni still held some confidence in Feng Jun and thus took the initiative to explain, “What makes the Gu Family difficult to deal with is that they have many family members and plenty of money, with around four or five thousand direct descendants, among whom there are quite a number of martial masters, just the high-rank martial masters amount to seven or eight…”

Feng Jun couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this, “Then you might as well straight out say that the Tian Family is no match, no matter what… You are being completely crushed in every aspect.”

This relaxed demeanor instantly boosted Tian Yangni’s confidence, and even the other Tian Family members showed a trace of embarrassment on their faces instead of resigned helplessness.

So Tian Laoqi continued to explain, “The Gu Family has a peculiar aspect; they excel in the cultivation of martial artists, from low level to intermediate level, from intermediate level to high-rank, it’s all very easy for them, with an extremely high success rate, and they definitely have their own secret methods… the Tian Family is far inferior.”

Feng Jun nodded in response to these words, “Based on what you’ve said, does the Gu Family have an especially large number of intermediate and low-level martial artists?”

“Not really,” Tian Yangni nodded, speaking earnestly, “There are only twenty or thirty low-level martial masters, and for intermediate ones… about a dozen or so. Compared to the total number of clan members, the Tian Family doesn’t fall short.”

With a helpless roll of his eyes, Feng thought that the Tian Family had only about a dozen martial masters in total; he really didn’t know what they were so proud of.

Of course, this was merely his internal complaint. In reality, when it came to the rate of success in cultivating talents, the Tian Family truly had reason to be proud.

But then Tian Yangni’s face darkened slightly again, “What’s most formidable about the Gu Family is that they occasionally produce Innate Experts… With so many high-rank martial masters, a bit of luck might yield one or two, right?”

In fact, the chances of someone from the Gu Family breaking through to Innate were not low at all, but Innate Experts weren’t cabbages that just sprung up overnight; breakthroughs couldn’t just happen on a whim.

Yet among martial cultivators, Innate Experts were regarded as the ultimate combat strength, strategic resources for a clan. The societal status of a family with an Innate Expert as opposed to without one differed greatly.

To say that an Innate Expert could defeat more than ten thousand on their own was nonsense; ants can nibble an elephant to death, and they, too, feared being surrounded. Not to mention anything else, a dozen high-rank martial masters rushing in together would force an Innate to turn tail and flee.

But fleeing is not the same across the board; Innate Experts were capable of brief flights and were highly agile, making it difficult for most people to trap them. Once an Innate managed to escape, the nightmare for the pursuers would begin.

Who could escape the retaliation that followed from an Innate Expert? No one could!

It would be easy to find a dozen or so high-rank martial masters to gang up on an Innate; it simply required money.

But should they fail, these dozen people would have to go to the bathroom together for fear of ambush, an ordeal no one could withstand.

The multitude of high-rank martial masters in the Gu Family was daunting enough, but the most terrifying aspect was that the family regularly had Innate members.

Currently, the Gu Family had one Innate, and rumor had it another was on the threshold of Innate, having left to seek his opportunity; that trip had already lasted seven or eight years. Whether he had advanced to Innate was still uncertain.

However, one thing was certain, even if this individual had advanced to Innate, he wouldn’t be coming home with great pomp and circumstance. The reason was simple: the Gu Family couldn’t afford the disturbance that came with having two Innate members!

Having one Innate in the family was enough to attract the attention of all the major forces. There would inevitably be some unavoidable courtesy interactions. If there were two Innate Experts, certainly the great powers would extend an invitation. Then what do you do, go or not go?

Innate might be mighty, but don’t forget, there are Immortals above Innate!

To speak from the heart, even Mortals could potentially provoke an Innate.

(Update to, summoning the minimum monthly pass for March.)