“Speak,” said ‘Wun Fan’. He knew what the elder had on his mind, but he didn’t reveal it.
“If anything happens, could we ask you to bring Siu Lan with you, Mr. Lei?” asked the great elder hesitantly. He didn’t know what Old Lei thought of Siu Lan. He was only asking just in case.
Old Lei might have taught Siu Lan the mantra she was using, but there was no guarantee he would protect her.
“Very well,” replied Old Lei quickly. He never had any intention of leaving Siu Lan behind, which was why he let the great elder speak.
Wun Fan took back control of his body after that. He rubbed his index finger. He could barely move it. He looked more relaxed as he said, “Come on guys, there’s no need to be so worried. Why is everyone assuming the worst-case scenario already? After all…”
“Well, that’s just what I like to do. Do you have an opinion about that?” rebutted the great elder immediately, interrupting Wun Fan in the middle of his speech and not letting him continue to talk.
“Alright, we will leave at that for today,” said Wun Ching Yeung. He really couldn’t get used to the situation. He looked at his son. How did this kid’s ability to cause trouble get stronger along with his power? Wun Ching Yeung stared at Wun Fan for a few more seconds and felt a little annoyed. He shouted at him, “Watch yourself, kid. Cause any more trouble for me and I’ll break your legs!”
“Hehe, I’m sure you wouldn’t bear doing that to me,” said Wun Fan snarkily. He continued, “That said, I really have no idea why that girl…”
Wun Ching Yeung immediately got angry at the mention of Hung Yu Fei. He picked up his teacup and threw it at Wun Fan.
Cling.
“Right. I’ll take my leave now,” said Wun Fan as he tilted his head and dodged the cup. He was much stronger now and his reflexes were faster than before. The cup shattered against the ground and Wun Fan quickly fled. He didn’t know where he was going, but it was probably safer not to stay in the Wun Mansion for now.
He had a sudden idea and asked in his mind, “Old Lei, why don’t we take a trip to the market?”
“What for?”
“Don’t you want to buy some herbs to make some pills?”
“Bugger off!” said Old Lei angrily. The kid was getting more daring and was treating him like a goddamned pill-making machine.
“But I don’t know where else to go!” said Wun Fan in response. The whole situation was quite frustrating for him.75Please respect copyright.PENANAa5ylj1FnGQ
The gates to the Hung Mansion of Green Sea Town.
Hung Yun Zak looked upset after reading a piece of parchment paper. His face was as cold as air. It was always like this. So what if he was the bigger brother? What gave him the right to decide everything? He wrote a letter to warn him, even when he was so far away from the capital already.
Hung Yun Zak was not a good person, but even he would keep his own niece safe.
Hung Yun Zak couldn’t get rid of the bad taste in his mouth no matter how much he strolled about inside the mansion, so he decided to take a trip outside. He walked out of the gates and went to the market. He had planned to buy some skincare products, but he couldn’t find anything suitable even after walking around for an hour. He happened to turn into a small alleyway. Some of the small shops here were in operation, while others were closed.
There was also a thug in the alleyway, harassing a poor young girl.
The girl was no older than fifteen years old and was naturally pretty. Her skin was smooth as jade even though she barely used any makeup at all. Her simple but elegant silk dress also revealed her status as the daughter of a well-off family who was probably separated from her guards.
“My, what a pretty girl. You must be a virgin, aren’t you?” said the thug as he grabbed the girl’s arm. He could feel her soft skin even through the cloth of her dress. He got excited and slowly moved his hand toward her breasts.
“Sir, please show some respect,” said the girl after mustering all of her courage. She covered her chest with her hands, hoping to get this thug to behave.
However, she was simply too naive.
“Idiot,” said the thug as he grabbed her breaths with both hands. He let out a disgusting laugh and said, “How unexpected. To think you would be hiding such a big package when you’re so small.”
“Ah!” cried the girl, drawing attention from some of the shop owners in the alleyway. However, the thug immediately shouted at them, “Mind your own business!”
Many of the shop owners recognized this man. He was a martial artist in the Martial Mortal realm who liked to pick on young girls and women who were alone and then sexually assault them. He often resorted to violence at the first sight of a disagreement. All the shop owners were furious, but none of them dared to say anything. They stuck their necks back in their shops to avoid trouble. They could only pray for the girl now.
Hung Yun Zak was simply too distracted to notice all the commotion. He walked forward in a daze until he ran in between the thug and the girl.
“Sir, please save me,” said the girl as she held on to Hung Yun Zak’s arm.
Hung Yun Zak snapped back to his senses. He only saw the thug now. He glanced at the man and immediately understood the situation. However, he was really not in the mood to deal with something like this. However, he was still the damned mayor of this town. He had no choice but to get involved. He said, “Let go of her, or else.”
“You will die!” said Hung Yun Zak coldly. His eyes were filled with disdain and killing intent as if he was announcing the man’s fate.
However, the thug was used to getting his way in the town. He only picked on weak young girls and women. He was not that easily spooked. However, he had managed to survive so long and live so well because he had a good eye for people. This man actually dared to threaten him, which probably meant that he actually had the skills to back it up.
The thug was just a Martial Mortal. He knew he was far from the most powerful person in town.
He took a good look at Hung Yun Zak, only to sense no soul energy coming from him at all. He felt like he had just been tricked and immediately flew into a rage. He shouted, “You dare to threaten me when you’re just an ordinary person? You’re asking for it!”
Hung Yun Zak might be the mayor of the town, but he usually kept to himself. Not every citizen of the town recognized him. It was normal for the thug to not know who he was.
“I will decide for myself what my life will be,” said Hung Yun Zak coldly. The thug’s words had unintentionally set off something in him. Killing intent filled his eyes, sharp as a blade. He shouted angrily, “No one will get to decide whether I live or die!”
Bang!
He conjured his soul energy and flicked his fist at the thug, hitting him in the chest. The tremendous force of the punch created a loud sound. The man’s ribs were instantly shattered and all of his organs were crushed. His spines poked out of his back as the force of the punch penetrated his body.
This was the terrifying power of a Martial General!
The thug crumpled to the ground, dead.
“Let’s go. It’s over,” said Hung Yun Zak as he held the woman by the hand and walked away, leaving the corpse on the ground.
There was a small shop nearby with a couplet hanging on either side of the doors—faint ink brushes ethereal, lone string rests in liminal.
The door of the shop opened slightly as a pair of black eyes looked out from behind them. The owner of the eyes asked in his own mind, “Old Lei, how strong is he?”
“If he had hidden himself properly, it would have been hard for me to figure it out. However, he had a moment of anger there and revealed his soul energy’s fluctuation. He’s an intermediate Martial General!” said Old Lei with confidence.
“He’s an intermediate Martial General?” said Wun Fan with a gasp. He never expected the mayor to be so much stronger than the great elder, who was a peak Martial Colonel!
“That said…” added Old Lei.
“That said what?” said Wun Fan. He hated people who never finished their sentences. It annoyed him to no end.
“I sensed killing intent in that one instant when he took that girl’s hand. It was very slight but very conspicuous. I am certain I was right,” said Old Lei. His words were simple, but the implications behind them were tremendous.
Wun Fan suddenly felt very motivated to find out more. He didn’t if he was motivated because he wanted to prove Old Lei wrong, or if he wanted to protect the girl.
“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” said Wun Fan as he summoned his martial soul. He put his palms together and said, “Lethality: Dragon’s Visage, Impenetrable Guise.”
Even though Wun Fan had perfectly concealed his aura, Old Lei was still concerned. He said, “Hung Yun Zak is an intermediate Martial Colonel. His five senses are much more sensitive than the average person's. Moreover, the Hung Clan’s martial souls are related to plants. That means that he has wood-attribute soul energy, which makes him even more sensitive to auras.”
“Let me do it,” said Old Lei. Wun Fan’s eyes turned green and his soul energy fluctuation was suppressed to a minimum. The Spiritstartler Ring also hummed and helped him conceal his presence even further. Not even Hung Yuk Huen could detect Wun Fan while he was in this condition.
Old Lei would never approve of this if Wun Fan was taking this risk just to save someone. However, Hung Yun Zak was the mayor of this town. Finding out more about him would help the Wun Clan greatly.
‘Wun Fan’ hopped and crossed a distance of a dozen meters instantly. He moved like a dragon and quickly vanished without a trace. He followed after the faint aura left in the air and just barely managed to reach Hung Yun Zak’s location.
He was hiding in an abandoned house!
‘Wun Fan’ suppressed his breathing and made it as soft as possible. He only took a small breath every half a minute and used aether to replace the need for oxygen. Every martial artist was capable of this, but doing so consumed a lot of aether. Only the aether reserves of the Spiritstartler Ring could support using such a method of breathing.
Most other martial artists did not have enough aether in them to do this.
‘Wun Fan’ approached the abandoned house. He could sense the presence of a young girl on the ground, but she was no longer breathing. She was probably dead.
“An accident is about to happen,” said Old Lei, even matching Wun Fan’s tone perfectly. That was Wun Fan’s catchphrase, though he was not using it in quite the same way.
Hung Yun Zak seemed to be moving about the house, muttering to himself, “Oh man, this is a lot of trouble I have to deal with. Why did it have to be a girl?”
He took out a piece of linen cloth from his storage ring and laid it down on the ground in a practiced fashion. He then took the clothes off of the girl’s body and wrapped the body with oil paper. He continued talking to himself, “The smell of a fresh girl is always the richest. This is the best way to extract the fragrance.”
“Everyone loves fragrant things, both men and women alike,” said Hung Yun Zak. Suddenly, he smiled in a certain direction and said, “Am I right, Young Master Wun?”75Please respect copyright.PENANATZRDDtnxUK