Li Feng left Tianya Pavilion and drove towards the Imperial Hotel.
The group he suspected had entered Tianhai City under the guise of a commercial inspection. Unlike the other two suspicious parties, they had not tried to hide after arriving. Instead, they openly checked into the Imperial Hotel.
Zhong Shuhui’s subordinates had already been monitoring them and confirmed that the delegation had not left the hotel since checking in.
Still, to be absolutely certain, Li Feng had hacked into the Imperial Hotel’s network before leaving Tianya Pavilion. He checked the surveillance feeds and verified that the inspection group had stayed on the eighteenth floor the entire time, with no sign of leaving.
He soon reached the hotel, parked a few hundred metres away in a public car park, then put on a cap and sunglasses. After altering his appearance as much as possible, he got out and walked towards the entrance.
It was night-time, so his outfit looked rather odd, but he had no choice if he wanted to avoid being recognised. The Imperial Hotel was connected to Tianhai City’s four great families. If any of them learned he was here, they might send people to surround and kill him. He had already slain several Houtian ninth-layer experts like Zhao Xiu, but the power of the four families was still not to be underestimated.
Moreover, by killing Zhao Xiu and the others, he had thoroughly provoked the four families. If he killed a few more of their experts, the hidden force backing the four families would definitely take action.
With his current strength he could handle the four families themselves, but he was still no match for the power behind them. To oppose that force, he needed at least to reach the Xiantian realm first.
Besides, the King of Fighters Championship was drawing ever closer. Once he dealt with Blood Shadow’s revenge from the Hongmen, the tournament would soon begin. He needed to seize the Nine Dragons Jade there. At the same time, Li Feng had a strong feeling that he would clash with the force behind the four families during the championship. Until then, he did not want any unnecessary complications.
After getting out of the car, his gaze locked onto the windows of the luxury suites on the eighteenth floor where the delegation was staying. A sharp glint flashed across his eyes.
Ever since Situ Ming had left Tianhai City, all contact had been handled through one of Situ Ming’s trusted subordinates, and it had always been one-way communication to avoid exposing their relationship. Now, at this exact moment, someone from the Situ family had appeared in Tianhai City, and so openly at that. What did it mean?
Could this Situ family member be connected to Blood Shadow? Even if not, might he know Blood Shadow’s whereabouts?
Blood Shadow’s presence in Tianhai City was an absolute threat to Li Feng.
He possessed the information on Chen Junyi that Xu Jie and Jin Songyang had given him, but Xu Jie’s files contained nothing about Blood Shadow, and Jin Songyang’s only mentioned him in passing. Clearly, Blood Shadow was someone Chen Junyi kept deeply hidden, just like Su Yangjian had been for Li Feng. Anyone hidden that carefully would not be weak.
What was more, word from the family said that Li Chuanwei and Mu Chunfeng had strongly defended him at the family council. In other words, the Li family had not abandoned him. Although Chen Junyi sending Blood Shadow to kill him did not equate to declaring war on the Li family, Chen Junyi would surely guard against the Li family sending experts to protect him. That meant Blood Shadow very likely possessed the strength to kill high-level Li family experts.
A person like that was a walking time bomb. Every extra minute he existed was another minute of danger. What Li Feng had to do was strike first and eliminate the threat before it fully materialised.
Although Li Feng was confident that no ancient martial artist below Xiantian was his match, what if Blood Shadow was Xiantian? Furthermore, the Hongmen was a global underground organisation. Unlike China’s domestic underworld groups, they possessed terrifying firepower. Against heavy modern weapons, even the greatest martial skill was limited.
No matter how high your kung fu, one bullet brings you down. Even a Xiantian expert, if unprepared, could not withstand gunfire, and Li Feng was not yet Xiantian. Faced with serious firepower, all he could rely on was his superior agility to evade. There was no other way.
Fortunately, he possessed extraordinary marksmanship. In a fair fight he had nothing to fear, but underhanded attacks were different. For example, if he were staying at Tianya Pavilion and the enemy fired a rocket launcher at it, there would be no defence.
Moreover, in Tianhai City he had many people he needed to protect. What if Blood Shadow kidnapped them to force him into a corner?
That was exactly why Li Feng was determined to find Blood Shadow. On the way to the hotel he had already made up his mind: once he located Blood Shadow, no matter how strong the assassin was, even if he had to ask Old Lu to intervene, he would kill him. To Li Feng, Blood Shadow posed a lethal threat.
The few hundred metres from the car park to the hotel took him only a couple of minutes, yet his eyes never left the eighteenth-floor windows.
It was night, and the curtains were drawn, but bright light shone from within the rooms. Even with Li Feng’s eyesight, he could not see what the occupants were doing.
He entered the Imperial Hotel and took the lift straight to the eighteenth floor.
Every corridor and lift in the hotel was monitored, but that posed no problem for Li Feng. The moment he had stepped out of the car, he had already shut down the hotel’s entire surveillance system for fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes was more than enough for him to reach the eighteenth floor.
The delegation occupied five rooms on that floor, but since other guests had already been there when they arrived, the five rooms were not adjacent.
This time Li Feng had come for the person he believed belonged to the Situ family. However, although the man was very likely from the Situ family, whether he was friend or foe remained unknown. Naturally, Li Feng would not rashly walk into the man’s room and reveal himself.
So, after reaching the eighteenth floor, he headed for the room next door to his target.
The door was closed and required a key card, but that was no obstacle. Using tools he had prepared in advance, Li Feng fiddled gently for a few seconds and the door clicked open.
Before coming, he had already confirmed through the hotel system that the occupant of this room had checked out, so he did not worry about being discovered.
It was a presidential suite, spacious and lavishly decorated, but Li Feng only spared it a brief glance before walking to the wall that adjoined the target room. At the same time, he brushed his spatial pouch, and a thin metal wire appeared in his hand.
Standing before the wall, he channelled true qi into the wire and stabbed it into the plaster. Under the infusion of true qi, the wire sank in as easily as if the wall were tofu. Li Feng carefully manoeuvred it, then inserted a tiny listening device into the small hole he had made.
The bug was one he had personally modified; no equipment of this era could detect it. Once it was in place, he put on an earpiece and prepared to eavesdrop on the neighbouring room.
At that very moment, in the room next door, the man Li Feng suspected to be from the Situ family was listening to a report from an elderly man.
The young man was none other than Situ Ming’s son, Situ Qiang. The older man standing before him was the Situ family’s chief representative in Tianhai City, Situ Lei.
“…Young Master, that is everything we have on Li Feng.”
“So Li Feng really is unusual. No wonder Grandfather sent me to Tianhai City.” Although Situ Qiang was only eighteen and the Situ family’s young master, he had been groomed by Situ Kuang from childhood and excelled in every area.
“When does the Young Master plan to meet Li Feng?” Situ Lei asked. Long before Situ Qiang arrived, Situ Kuang had explained the purpose of the visit, worried that his impulsive grandson might ruin his plans.
“Meet Li Feng? When did I ever say I was going to meet Li Feng?” Situ Qiang shook his head.
“Young Master, this is the Patriarch’s direct order. He needs you to hand that item to Li Feng. If you do not meet him, I’m afraid it will be difficult to explain to the Patriarch,” Situ Lei said gravely.
“Uncle Lei, Li Feng is merely the Li family’s eldest young master, not their chosen heir. If he wants to cooperate fully with our Situ family, he must first prove his strength. You know the current situation within the Li family as well as I do.” Situ Qiang shook his head again. He knew Situ Kuang wanted him to strengthen ties with Li Feng, but in Situ Qiang’s view, although Li Feng was exceptional, he had not yet earned the right to a full alliance with the Situ family.
In Situ Qiang’s opinion, if Li Feng truly had ability, he needed to deal with Blood Shadow himself. If he could not even handle Blood Shadow, how could he help the Situ family against the Chen family?
“But the Patriarch…” Situ Lei began, concern in his voice.
“I will explain things to Grandfather myself. Uncle Lei, Blood Shadow has already arrived in Tianhai City, hasn’t he?” Situ Qiang asked.
“He has been here several days and has already made contact with the Zhu family,” Situ Lei confirmed with a nod.
“The Zhu family? It seems Blood Shadow is no fool.” A glint far too mature for his age flashed in Situ Qiang’s eyes. “Uncle Lei, we cannot just sit here and wait. It is time to prepare certain things.”
“Young Master intends to…” Situ Lei asked, puzzled.
“We…”
Before Situ Qiang could finish, a knock sounded at the door.
Situ Qiang shot Situ Lei a look. Situ Lei walked over, opened the door, and saw a young man standing outside.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” The youth glanced at Situ Lei, then fixed his gaze on Situ Qiang. “You must be Young Master Situ Qiang?”
Situ Qiang rose to his feet, looked at the youth in the doorway, and said in a low voice, “You are Song Zhiyuan?”
