“Lord Blood Shadow wants to act personally?” The black-clothed man looked at Blood Shadow with some shock. He had always assumed Blood Shadow came here today simply to watch Zhu Yuanyang assassinate Hu Yuanyuan, but he had never expected the man to intend taking matters into his own hands.
Wasn’t Blood Shadow planning to kill Hu Yuanyuan using Zhu Yuanyang as a proxy? Why had he suddenly changed his mind? Though the black-clothed man did not know Blood Shadow’s true strength, he was certain that if Blood Shadow struck himself, everyone over there could be slaughtered in a matter of seconds.
“Me?”
Blood Shadow gave a cold laugh. “A small fry like this doesn’t require my personal attention at all. Didn’t I tell you to arrange some men? Tonight is the night we use them. As long as Li Feng does not appear, killing Hu Yuanyuan and the subordinates around Li Feng will be more than enough with them in play.”
“Those men?” The black-clothed man’s expression changed. He said gravely, “Lord Blood Shadow, you truly want them to move? This is the city proper. If the commotion becomes too large, the Chinese government will not sit idly by.”
“What is there to fear? What can the Chinese government do? Anyone who tries to block my plans, I will destroy them.” Blood Shadow spoke coldly.
The black-clothed man’s face paled dramatically. He had not expected Blood Shadow to be so audacious that he would not even place the Chinese government in his eyes. At this moment, worry filled his heart. Having spent so long in China, he had a clear understanding of the government’s power. China was not America; it was not a place where one could run amok.
He wanted to persuade Blood Shadow, yet he did not know where to begin. After all, Blood Shadow was someone close to Chen Junyi. Though he himself was Chen Junyi’s trusted subordinate, he knew exactly what kind of existence Blood Shadow represented. Even if he spoke, Blood Shadow might not listen, and he could very well bring disaster upon himself for no reason.
“How long until Li Feng’s men from Tianya Pavilion arrive here?” Blood Shadow paid no attention to the black-clothed man’s expression. He lifted a pair of binoculars, glanced at the assault scene, then asked.
“At least five minutes,” the black-clothed man hurriedly replied.
“Five minutes?” A glint flashed in Blood Shadow’s eyes. He sneered and said, “Five minutes. Zhu Yuanyang, oh Zhu Yuanyang, so you never truly intended to kill Hu Yuanyuan.”
With Blood Shadow’s eyesight, he could easily discern the strength of the attackers at the scene. If the people Zhu Yuanyang had sent were just a little stronger, five minutes would have been more than enough to kill Hu Yuanyuan. Yet most of the men Zhu Yuanyang dispatched were only at the second level of the Postnatal realm, with a small portion at the early third level. With Zhong Shuhui, who was at the peak of the third level, present, even if all Hu Yuanyuan’s other bodyguards died, Zhong Shuhui alone might be able to hold out for five minutes.
Therefore, Blood Shadow was now certain that Zhu Yuanyang had no real intention of killing Hu Yuanyuan.
This realisation ignited a furious rage in Blood Shadow’s heart. He had long suspected that Chen Haotian’s death was inextricably linked to Zhu Yuanyang. Over the past few days, his investigations had revealed that when Chen Haotian died, Zhu Yuanyang had been openly intimate with Li Feng, which made him even more convinced that Chen Haotian had probably been killed jointly by Li Feng and Zhu Yuanyang. Even if Zhu Yuanyang had not personally acted, she still bore the majority of the responsibility. Had she not been flirting and carrying on with others, how could Chen Haotian have been killed by Li Feng?
Chen Haotian was someone Blood Shadow had watched grow up. Therefore, he would never let anyone connected to Chen Haotian’s death off the hook. Although there was no proof that Chen Haotian’s death was tied to Zhu Yuanyang, Blood Shadow believed that even if it were not, simply because Zhu Yuanyang had been Chen Haotian’s fiancée, she ought to accompany Chen Haotian in death and marry him in the underworld.
Originally, he had planned to use Zhu Yuanyang to kill Hu Yuanyuan, then use Hu Yuanyuan’s death to torment Li Feng, letting him slowly drown in pain and despair. However, after discovering that Zhu Yuanyang might be involved in Chen Haotian’s death, Blood Shadow altered his plan.
Because Zhu Yuanyang was the eldest daughter of the Zhu family, and the entire Zhu family stood behind her, Blood Shadow had not reported his suspicions to Chen Junyi. He knew that although Chen Junyi was the leader of the Hongmen, his position within the organisation was far from secure, and he needed the Zhu family as an ally.
Moreover, Blood Shadow believed he could resolve the matter himself. Zhu Yuanyang might be the Zhu family’s eldest daughter, but she probably had no idea that he was already scheming against her. His plan therefore had a high chance of success.
At this thought, a cold smile curved the corners of Blood Shadow’s mouth. So you, Zhu Yuanyang, enjoy parading around with Li Feng, do you? Then I will make you and Li Feng mortal enemies. You want to pretend to kill Hu Yuanyuan? Very well, I will help you kill her for real. I rather look forward to seeing whether Li Feng, once he believes you, Zhu Yuanyang, are the one who killed Hu Yuanyuan, will come to take your life.
The black-clothed man was stunned. He looked at Blood Shadow in confusion, completely unaware of what was going through the man’s mind or how it connected to killing Hu Yuanyuan.
“Immediately order our people to stand by and do nothing. Wait until Li Feng’s men from Tianya Pavilion arrive,” Blood Shadow said in a low voice.
“Lord Blood Shadow, didn’t you just say you wanted Hu Yuanyuan dead? If we wait for Tianya Pavilion’s people to get here, killing her will only become more difficult,” the black-clothed man asked, puzzled.
“More difficult? Difficult how? I intend to catch them all in one net.” Blood Shadow laughed coldly, a sinister gleam flashing in his eyes. “Today, not only will Hu Yuanyuan die, I will also slaughter every single one of Li Feng’s Tianya Pavilion subordinates.”
“Lord Blood Shadow, rest assured, I will make the arrangements at once.” The black-clothed man hurriedly left the room.
Blood Shadow glanced once more at the assault scene and sneered. “This is only the first step, Li Feng. I wonder whether you possess the ability to force me into the second phase of my plan.”
Tianya Pavilion.
“What? You say the Young Madam has come under attack?” Xu Jie shot to her feet, staring in disbelief at the young man who had come to report.
Because the rest of the Inner Guard had not yet arrived, Xu Jie, apart from cultivating, had been helping Zhong Shuhui handle Eagle Eye matters. Today, after the theft at Fengyuan Group, Zhong Shuhui had gone there, leaving Xu Jie in charge of Tianya Pavilion.
She had never imagined that Hu Yuanyuan and the others would be attacked. How could this not shock her?
In future, she, Xu Jie, would become the commander of the Inner Guard. The Inner Guard’s primary duty was to protect Hu Yuanyuan and those close to her. If anything happened to Hu Yuanyuan now, would there even be any point in forming the Inner Guard?
“Yes, I just received the news,” the young man, a minor leader within Eagle Eye, hurriedly replied. “President Hu and the others were attacked on their way back to Tianya Pavilion. Commander Zhong is right beside President Hu. Members of Tianya Pavilion’s Black Eagle squad have already headed out.”
“What about the Eagle Eye Elites? How many Eagle Eye Elites are currently at Tianya Pavilion?” Xu Jie asked gravely.
“Most of the Eagle Eye Elites have been dispatched elsewhere. Only fifteen remain at Tianya Pavilion,” the young man answered.
“Then send all of them to rescue the Young Madam and Commander Zhong,” Xu Jie said quickly.
“That’s not possible. Only the Young Master and Commander Zhong can mobilise the Eagle Eye Elites. Without their direct orders, the Eagle Eye Elites at Tianya Pavilion will not leave the premises,” the young man shook his head.
Xu Jie was merely assisting Zhong Shuhui with Eagle Eye intelligence; she had no authority to command the Eagle Eye Elites or regular Eagle Eye personnel. The young man himself was only a minor leader within Eagle Eye, so he certainly could not mobilise them either.
As for the Black Eagle squad members who had just left Tianya Pavilion, they had done so only after receiving a direct call from Grey Eagle. Without Grey Eagle’s call, they would not have moved.
Xu Jie’s expression shifted slightly. Having served in the military, she naturally understood what these regulations meant at such a critical moment.
“Have we managed to contact the Young Master?” Xu Jie asked in a low voice. At present, the only person who could mobilise Tianya Pavilion’s Eagle Eye Elites was Li Feng.
“We have already tried calling, but the Young Master’s phone has been switched off the entire time. We can’t get through,” the young man replied.
Xu Jie’s expression changed again. She stood up abruptly and said, “Keep calling until the Young Master answers. I’m going to the scene.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Imperial Hotel.
Because of Qin Keqing’s sudden appearance, Li Feng had been forced to stop eavesdropping on Situ Qiang and Song Zhiyuan’s conversation. To avoid detection, he could only leave through the window. The room was on the eighteenth floor; even with his current strength, jumping from the eighteenth floor would leave him nothing but a corpse.
Fortunately, that posed no problem for Li Feng. Inside his spatial pouch were all kinds of tools. After returning from the Hundred Thousand Mountains, he had prepared numerous items precisely to deal with unexpected situations. Thus, escaping now was simple; he took out a long rope from the pouch and used it to descend easily from the eighteenth floor.
Luckily, it was night, and the room’s windows faced the rear of the Imperial Hotel where few lights shone. He reached the ground without difficulty.
When his feet touched solid ground, Li Feng let out a sigh of relief. It was fortunate that the person in the room had been Qin Keqing. Had it been Caidie, his departure might well have been noticed.
Although he had failed to question Situ Qiang about Blood Shadow’s whereabouts today, the harvest was still considerable. In particular, Caidie’s appearance was enough to put him on high alert. The Blood Sand organisation had tried to kill him time and again, and now Caidie had shown up. Did this mean Blood Sand was targeting him once more?
At this thought, Li Feng quickly took out his phone from the spatial pouch, intending to call Zhong Shuhui and have her monitor Caidie. If Blood Sand’s target this time was indeed him, he would have to strike first. Last time, Shura’s scheme had nearly cost him a lifetime of regret; he had no intention of repeating that mistake.
However, the moment Li Feng turned the phone on, it rang.
Li Feng froze. What an uncanny sense of timing. He answered the call, and after hearing just one sentence, his expression changed dramatically. “What? Hu Yuanyuan and Zhong Shuhui were attacked on their way back to Tianya Pavilion? Damn it, understood.”
He hung up. A trace of icy killing intent flashed through Li Feng’s eyes. “No matter who it is, anyone who dares lay a hand on Hu Yuanyuan and the others must die today.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Li Feng’s figure vanished from the spot.
