At night on the 12th day of the tenth lunar month, inside the study room of the Zhu Clan Head at the Zhu Residence in Guang’en County, Yulin Prefecture of Yin Province…
“What to do…? What to do…?” The Zhu Clan Head, Zhu Changyun, paced around in his study room anxiously with beads of sweat on his forehead. In his trembling hands was a letter. “Qiyun Protectorate General Yan Liqiang has sent us an ultimatum. Second Brother, didn’t you say that this would be properly done and be untraceable? What should we do now? Yan Liqiang openly wrote a letter and had the manager of Yulin Prefecture’s Datong Monetary House deliver it to us today. He’s only giving us three days to send the perpetrator and Xue Cao to Qiyun Prefecture. What should we do…?!”
Zhu Changyun was a cheerful and chubby man in his fifties. As the clan head who was not only extremely influential in the Zhu Clan but also in Guang’en County, it was rare to see him anxious. He was sweating profusely and flustered. Ever since the manager of Yulin Prefecture’s Datong Monetary House came to visit this afternoon and personally delivered the letter to him, Zhu Changyun had been terrified and restless.
Apart from Zhu Changyun, there was another person in the study room. He was Zhu Changhong, the second-in-command in the Zhu Clan. Both of them were the decision-makers in the clan. Compared to Zhu Changyun, Zhu Changhong was slightly slimmer and more sinister-looking. One would be able to tell that he was a ruthless person with one glance.
In the Zhu Clan, everyone knew that the Old Master handled the internal affairs while the Second Old Master handled the external affairs of the clan. Therefore, most affairs that involved external parties were handled by Zhi Changhong — he was a man with wide social connections and could settle many things through money and power. This made him an extremely important individual in the Zhu Clan. Every matter in the clan was discussed by the two masters.
“We’ve kept this incident quite hidden. I wonder, how did Yan Liqiang find out? Zhu Guicheng left our home for so many years since he’s a pawn we placed outside. Because of this incident, he didn’t stay any longer in Qiyun Prefecture and came back instead. How did news about this get leaked…?” Zhu Changhong tried to act unperturbed and stayed cool. He reached out for his teacup while speaking. As soon as he touched the teacup, he got scalded and instantly retracted his hand, exposing his inner turmoil.
The letter that the Zhong Clan delivered from Yan Liqiang had caught the Zhu Clan unprepared.
“What’s the use of harping on about that at a time like this? We can slowly investigate how the news got leaked next time. Right now, he has only given us a limit of three days. We won’t know what will happen by then. We must make a decision tonight…” Zhu Changyun paced in the study room for another round, before slumping down heavily into the chair beside Zhu Changhong. The expensive sandalwood creaked under his weight of several hundred jin.
“Yan Liqiang only sent a letter. What gives him the idea that it was the Zhu Clan’s doing?!” Zhu Changhong’s expression slowly darkened. A cold, malicious glint flashed across his eyes as he pushed the next sentence through the gaps between his teeth.
“Aside from you and I, only Zhu Guicheng knows about this incident. The kidnapper is someone from the Divine Sword Sect as they are the ones who wanted to kidnap someone. The Zhu Clan is merely cooperating with them. We only have to finish off Zhu Guicheng and Xue Cao and dispose of their bodies so Yan Liqiang won’t be able to assert that this incident is the Zhu Clan’s doing. Not only that, but we can also bite him back and tell the Provincial Governor that he is blackmailing us. This is Yin Province, not Gan Province. We, the Zhu Clan, fear no one in Yin Province!”
“Second Brother, your idea will definitely work on an ordinary person. But this is Yan Liqiang we are talking about, the newly appointed Qiyun Protectorate General. Do you think it’s that simple to make him leave?” Zhu Changyun’s eyebrows were tightly knitted together as he no longer could conceal the heaviness and terror in his voice.
“This is the same fearless man who dared to fight with Lin Qingtian and his men in the Imperial Capital when he was still a nobody back then. When he returned to Gan Province a few years ago with some authoritative power, he didn’t even put the Transportation Office in his eyes and even skinned their Vice Transport Commissioner alive. He’s a truly vicious individual. Do you think he’d be intimidated by us?
“I heard when he visited White Stone Pass two months ago, he boldly took his men to eliminate the Shatu’s Tuli Tribe, then hung the severed heads of those people on White Stone Pass. Look at what happened to the Soaring Heaven Sect too. Do you think we can afford to provoke someone like him? Even the vicious Shatu Seven Tribes had to lower their heads and sell their wool at a lower price because of him. Don’t forget about his terrifying archery skills. Do you think anyone in our Zhu Clan can stop him if he were to seek revenge? Someone like him is capable of destroying the Zhu Clan without even showing up!”
“Brother, do you mean to say that we should hand the person back to him?”
“What else can we do? Are we going to really risk our clan to fight that demon because of a child?” Zhu Changyun said bitterly as he hammered his palms. “I truly regret blindly agreeing to do such a thing for the Divine Sword Sect. Now we’re losing more than we can gain!”
Zhu Changhong pondered for a moment. “I’m afraid that Yan Liqiang won’t be satisfied even if we hand the person back to him. Besides, this is the Divine Sword Sect’s doing and the child is with them. It’s not like we can tell them to just hand him over.”
A determined expression flashed across Zhu Changyun’s face. “We’ll have to sacrifice Zhu Guicheng and tell him that we will take good care of his family. We only have to fork out some money as compensation, so just treat it as paying it forward to avert calamity and give Yan Liqiang a way out. He had the Zhong Clan deliver the letter this time probably because he didn’t want to go to the extremes with us. I believe we still have room to salvage the situation. The Zhu Clan is doing this because we hope the Divine Sword Sect can help us prosper, yet we ended up becoming a stepping stone for them!” Zhu Changyun paused slightly as his gaze deepened.
“Second Brother, did you realize that the Divine Sword Sect might be unaware of this incident up until now? The ones who wanted to kidnap Xue Cao are those Divine Sword Sect disciples who came to the northwest to train. Their leader is Luo Tianyu, the one nicknamed Meteor Sword. As one of the seven heroes in the Divine Sword Sect, he is an extremely famous individual. He used his master and sect’s name for his personal agenda and got us involved. That Xue Cao might be hiding some kind of secret, and Luo Tianyu wanted to get to the bottom of it so that he could take it and get recognition from his sect…”
“So you have the same feeling too, Brother!” Zhu Changhong’s eyebrows were also tightly knitted together. “I’ve been wondering over the past few days. If the Divine Sword Sect wanted to make a move against Yan Liqiang, they would have planned it well. Instead of sending a few disciples to us all of a sudden, they would have sent at least an elder over. Although Luo Tianyu is a well-known figure in the sect, he shouldn’t be Yan Liqiang’s match. After Xue Cao was kidnapped, Luo Tianyu never wanted us to get involved any further. All he’s been doing is interrogating him alone after throwing him into a dungeon in the rear courtyard. Even the meals were taken to him by their people. I do think it’s fishy!”
“Our top priority now is to pull the Zhu Clan out from this mess!”
“Does Luo Tianyu know about the letter you received today, Brother?”
“How could I let him know about this first? You are the first I came to discuss with!”
“In that case, why don’t we call Luo Tianyu over and show him the letter to hear his opinion? If everything is as he claims, he will have his master and sect settle the matter with Yan Liqiang, and the Zhu Clan can stay out of it. If he stammers and can’t settle this matter, then it’s evident that he has tricked us. No matter how you look at it, the Divine Sword Sect owes us this time. We’ll settle things with Yan Liqiang your way if needed. Even if the Divine Sword Sect and the elders find out about this in the end, they can’t say we are in the wrong!”
“Alright, sounds like a plan. Luo Tianyu should still be in the rear courtyard right now. Second Brother, go and personally tell him to come over…”
“Right!” Zhu Changhong nodded, then left the study immediately.
In just a flash, he returned to the study with an extremely handsome man dressed in long purple robes. He was tall and had a pair of long, narrow eyes.
The man was none other than one of the seven heroes from the Divine Sword Sect, Luo Tianyu, the Meteor Sword.
Three of them greeted each other, then took a seat. Luo Tianyu crossed his legs and immediately asked, “I heard that you have an important matter to discuss with me, Clan Head Zhu. What is it?” Despite being a guest, his tone was filled with arrogance, while Zhu Changyun and Zhu Changhong were being polite with him.
Zhu Changhong and Zhu Changyun exchanged glances with each other before Zhu Changyun pushed the letter toward Luo Tianyu. “Lord Luo, this letter is from Yan Liqiang. It was delivered to us today by the manager of Yulin Prefecture’s Datong Monetary House.”
“Oh?” Luo Tianyu immediately lifted his eyebrows and looked at both of them. He then picked up the letter.
There were only three sentences in the letter, so Luo Tianyu could finish reading it by just scanning over the words. He placed the letter on the table expressionlessly, then narrowed his eyes at Zhu Changyun. “Did Yan Liqiang really send someone to deliver this letter?”
“Absolutely. This was personally handed to us by the manager from the Datong Monetary House. The Zhong Clan is acting as the middleman for Yan Liqiang.”
“How did Yan Liqiang know that Xue Cao is here?”
“Well… I was just talking about it with my second brother. There must have been a slip-up somewhere!”
“Oh, so why did you call me here, Clan Head Zhu?” Luo Tianyu smiled at Zhu Changyun. “Did you want me to tie me up and send me to Yan Liqiang?”
“No, no, that’s not what we mean, Lord Luo!” Zhu Changhong smiled. “The Zhu Clan has always been loyal to the Divine Sword Sect. In fact, we are as close as family. When my brother received the letter, he instantly asked me to bring you over so we could discuss it. In this manor, Lord Luo is the Divine Sword Sect’s representative. We wish to get your opinion on how to deal with the situation at hand. Since Yan Liqiang knows about this incident, we can’t afford to drag this out.”
“Haha, what do you mean by ‘we’? This incident is unrelated to all of you. We captured Xue Cao because he had offended the Divine Sword Sect. If Yan Liqiang wants Xue Cao, he can just go to the Divine Sword Sect. I’ll leave the manor with Xue Cao tomorrow. If Yan Liqiang sends anyone else over, just feign ignorance.” Luo Tianyu commented indifferently.
“This…!” Zhu Changyun was boiling inside. How dare Luo Tianyu just get up and leave after telling the Zhu Clan to explain the situation to Yan Liqiang themselves? Making the Zhu Clan his scapegoat, did he really think this was the Divine Sword Sect? Even at this moment, he could only suppress the anger inside him and project it as a troubled expression on his own face. “Yan Liqiang sent someone to deliver his letter here. I’m afraid it’s not that nice for Lord Luo to bring Xue Cao away…”
“What’s wrong with that? Xue Cao is only a nobody who offended our sect. We do not intend to kill him. We are only going to bring him back to the sect to punish him. What more can Yan Liqiang ask for?”
“Well… What should we say if Yan Liqiang asks what Xue Cao did to offend the Divine Sword Sect?”
Luo Tianyu smiled, then nonchalantly replied, “One of my junior martial brothers heard Xue Cao insulting the Divine Sword Sect when he was training in Gan Province. He came forward to argue with him, but instead of apologizing, Xue Cao was going to kill him. My junior martial brother was so angry that he decided to capture him and brought him back to the sect to punish him. How’s that for a reason?”
Zhu Changyun and Zhu Changhong exchanged glances. This reason was simply too dumb. He wasn’t even taking Yan Liqiang seriously.
“Hahaha, he’s just a lowly Qiyun Protectorate General. I heard he’s only a child. How powerful can he be? Why are you all so worried? The Divine Sword Sect has disciples all over the place. We’re not afraid of a child.” Luo Tianyu smiled disdainfully. “If he really dares to come, I’ll show him our ultimate sword technique and beat him until he grovels for forgiveness!”
Before Zhu Changyun and Zhu Changhong could say anything, a voice suddenly rang out in the room.
“Is that so?”
The expression on their faces immediately contorted as soon as they heard the voice. Luo Tianyu immediately reached for the longsword at his waist but before he could even unsheathe it, a figure that was as fast as lightning appeared inside the room…
SLAAAAP…!
Luo Tianyu’s pearly white teeth flew out of his mouth, stained by red blood. He was thrown into the air where he spun a few times before he collided hard against the wall and fell down, breaking one of the bookcases in the room.
“Who’s there?” Zhu Changyun grabbed a machete on the table. Unbeknownst to anyone, a soft sword had also found its way into Zhu Changhong’s hand. Then, the two brothers launched an attack at the black shadow at the same time.
A terrifying gust of wind generated by fists instantly conjured up a tornado in the study room. During mid-attack, Zhu Changyun and Zhu Changhong felt as though their attacks were met by a flying iron mountain.
Blood spewed from their mouths — their weapons were knocked out of their grips and they were thrown heavily against the wall…
