Chapter 26

This saber technique was something he had learned from Subduing Tiger Mountain. To be noticed by such an ancient great sect as Subduing Tiger Mountain and accepted as a disciple, Yuan Meng's talent and comprehension needed no mention. Coupled with his inborn divine strength, wielding such a heavy saber, the technique he unleashed was truly terrifying.

Ning Chang'an's eyes flashed sharply as he sneered. "Yuan Meng, your saber technique is incomplete!"

He had already spotted five flaws. If he followed up exquisitely at one of them, it would be fatal.

Yuan Meng gave a strange laugh and hacked down fiercely with his saber, intending to split Ning Chang'an into two.

The Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword in Ning Chang'an's hand trembled. With the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger, he stepped forward and thrust his sword.

Clang!

Ning Chang'an's shoulder sank as his longsword shuddered with a soft cry. A notch appeared on Yuan Meng's saber blade, while Yuan Meng himself was blasted three steps backward.

Those three steps had long been within Ning Chang'an's calculations. Everything was only natural.

Ning Chang'an's motionless body suddenly pounced forward, his figure like a fierce tiger descending the mountain. Cold light flickered from the tip of the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword.

Fast! Fierce! Ruthless!

That thrust perfectly embodied those three words.

Yuan Meng's face drained of color. He tried to draw back his saber to block, but it was already too late.

He could not believe that Ning Chang'an was not the slightest bit weaker than him in strength.

The cold gleam vanished, and blood flashed.

The Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword pierced through Yuan Meng's Adam's apple and emerged from the back of his neck. Yuan Meng's eyes bulged wide, and the heavy saber in his hand fell to the ground with a clang. His cervical spine had already snapped. Ning Chang'an flicked his sword upward, spraying blood into the air as Yuan Meng's corpse flew off the arena like a torn sack.

Still shouldering his sword, Chang'an sneered. "How could a scoundrel like this appear in Green Willow Manor and spoil this place's tranquility? Old Manor Lord, you were truly too careless. How could you let such a person in? But now that he is dead, it counts as me, Ning Family's Chang'an, helping Green Willow Manor mend the fold after the sheep have been lost."

Ning Chang'an said this only to mock Lu Family Manor.

Lu Feixin slowly opened his eyes. "You are a great devil, while trash like Yuan Meng are wicked thugs. This move of mine is called driving the tiger to devour the wolf. In my old age, idly watching dogs bite dogs is not bad either!"

Everyone's expressions turned strange. No one had expected Lu Feixin to speak so openly of his sinister intentions, and in such an even, placid tone. Yet no one thought it improper. Even those vicious men with bloodstained hands only dared curse the old bastard and old dog in their hearts, angry but not daring to speak.

Lu Family Manor's sinister intentions were immediately laid bare.

Ning Chang'an's gaze shifted, and he suddenly saw a smiling face in a secluded corner upstairs.

Cao Jing's smiling face.

At this moment, Cao Jing's smile was gloomy, his face full of sly amusement.

Ning Chang'an sneered. "The hungry wolves lead the way, and the hyenas bring up the rear! Lu Sheng, Lu Feixin, not bad. You are very good!" He abruptly raised the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword in his hand and pointed it directly at Lu Feixin. His face darkened completely as he shouted coldly, "Which dog wants to come up next?"

The entire venue fell silent.

Those who knew Ning Family's Chang'an all understood that this was Ning Family's Chang'an's desperate stance.

Sword raised in challenge—whoever came would die!

Money was certainly tempting, but one needed the ability to take it. Money not yet in hand was no different from toilet paper.

Old Man Mu suddenly climbed onto the arena. He truly climbed up. No one knew how he had squeezed his way to the edge of the arena. Everyone stared wide-eyed, then burst into laughter. Anyone who saw Old Man Mu's appearance would only think he was a fool, not quite right in the head. His hair was gray and disheveled, truly a head like flying tumbleweed. His clothes made him look exactly like an old farmer who tilled the fields, and with his severe hunchback, he looked like a shrimp tossed onto shore as he climbed onto the arena.

Ning Chang'an shouted, "Old Man Mu, what are you doing up here?"

Old Man Mu's eyes rolled wildly, as if he were somewhat frightened. He buzzed, "I want to say something."

Ning Chang'an said, "What do you want to say?"

Old Man Mu suddenly spun around in place once. Only then did he find the right direction. Raising his hand, he pointed at Lu Feixin and said, "He is the dog, and you are dragon and tiger! The dog said it wrong just now. I truly could not stand listening to that old dog bark!"

Ning Chang'an froze. Everyone else froze as well. The atmosphere turned bizarre.

Old Man Mu wanted to speak, and the words he spoke should have been no more than the buzzing of flies. But this time, his buzzing had come at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Lu Feixin abruptly rose to his feet, glaring furiously at Old Man Mu.

Old Man Mu slowly made his way down from the arena, buzzing, "I've said what I wanted to say. My heart feels better now!"

Perhaps his heart truly did feel better, but Lu Feixin, having been pointed at and called a dog to his face, felt extremely uncomfortable. Even if Old Man Mu truly were a fool, an idiot, or a senile old man, he was now no different from a dead man.

Four figures swept down from upstairs, darting straight toward Old Man Mu.

The four landed lightly. With the tips of their feet touching the ground, they sprang up like swallows and landed three feet before Old Man Mu. Old Man Mu muttered, "A good dog does not block the road!"

The four experts from Lu Family Manor fell in unison to either side. Their eyes remained wide open, still bearing their furious stares, yet they lay on the ground without moving.

The people around them recoiled again and again, frightened by this bizarre sight.

Old Man Mu mumbled, "There truly are not many young people this obedient these days!" He thought the four had genuinely made way for him, not knowing that they were already dead.

No one knew how those four people had died.

Lu Feixin's expression became ugly. The wrinkles on his old face twisted one by one, his eyes deep and cold. He had spent his life escorting shipments; what kind of ghosts and strange occurrences had he not seen? Yet he had never even imagined such a strange event. Lu Feixin immediately felt that things had slipped beyond his control. With a wave of his hand, another four people flew down.

Yet these four fell before they even reached the ground.

This scene cast a bizarre shadow over all of Green Willow Manor.

A man upstairs suddenly rose to his feet and said, "Elder Lu, allow me to give it a try!"

Lu Feixin looked toward the man who had spoken and nodded. "Dongyue, if you are willing to act, I can finally breathe easier! Let me see clearly and catch the culprit."

To silently kill eight members of the Lu family right before Lu Feixin was no less than viciously slapping him across the face.

If he still could not see through it, his old face would have nowhere to hide.

The man called Dongyue bore the surname Mao. In his youth, he had trained his external arts to their peak. Rumor had it that he had encountered a stroke of fortune and found a secret manual of peerless Qi Gong cultivation amid barren mountains and treacherous waters. When he activated his Qi Gong, it circulated through his entire body like a golden bell covering him. Blades and swords could not penetrate it, nor could hidden weapons break it.

Thus, the moment Lu Feixin heard that Mao Dongyue wanted to go downstairs and test the matter, he immediately felt relieved. He was determined to seize this chance to see through whose methods these were.

Mao Dongyue leaped down from the upper floor and headed straight for Old Man Mu. At this moment, Old Man Mu was naturally the greatest suspect. To investigate, Old Man Mu was naturally his first choice.

Everyone saw Mao Dongyue sweeping over, his imposing aura pressing against the sky, as though a great bell constantly shrouded his body. As he passed through the crowd, people on both sides were knocked down and sent rolling.

Mao Dongyue seemed unharmed, but when he was still a full zhang away from Old Man Mu, he suddenly coughed. Mao Dongyue had not truly coughed in nearly ten years. That cough would have been nothing, but he suddenly felt something sticky in his mouth as a surge of blood rushed into his nasal cavity.

He had actually coughed up blood.

Mao Dongyue took another two steps, swayed, and fell.

He had died again.

Yet Lu Feixin had seen nothing.

The little girl eating pine nuts stopped eating them. Those whispering among themselves stopped speaking. Even a chill rose in Ning Chang'an's heart.

Who was Mao Dongyue?! Mao Dongyue was Mao Santong's son. Mao Santong's nickname was King Mao. Someone who dared call himself King Mao and still lived perfectly well could no longer be described merely as highly skilled in martial arts.

Those King Mao wanted dead, and those who wanted King Mao dead, had all become ghosts. Some said that if not for the heavy burden of his slaughter and the evil consequences that had entangled him, driving him into madness, he might have become a great hero. Mao Santong had not become a great hero, but he had been King Mao for more than ten years.

Now his son had died in such a bizarre fashion. King Mao would likely go mad and turn into a Demon King!

Everyone present felt a nightmare descending upon them.

No one could afford to provoke King Mao. Not even Lu Feixin could.

Seeing this, Lu Feixin slumped back into his chair and muttered, "The great calamity of my Lu family has arrived!"

After the suffocating silence came agitation, terror, and chaos.

King Mao's son had died at Green Willow Manor. Not a single person in Green Willow Manor's martial arts arena could hope to escape involvement. Given King Mao's bloodthirst, he would not lightly spare a single one of them.

Everyone knew this clearly, and no one doubted it in the slightest.

Ning Chang'an had once exchanged blows with Mao Dongyue, though the two had stopped at the right point and had not harmed their friendship. Mao Dongyue was a forthright man. He possessed his father's fearless savagery, but also his own smoothness in dealing with the world. His martial arts were naturally first-rate, while his protective Qi Gong was as impregnable as a fortress. His fighting style was deeply influenced by his father, King Mao—explosive and vicious, rough yet meticulous.

No matter what, Ning Chang'an could not believe Mao Dongyue would simply kick the bucket and die from one cough.

Who had struck and harmed him?! No one had seen it, and no one could imagine it.

But one person was the greatest suspect. That person was Old Man Mu.

Old Man Mu could not bear the sight of blood. Thus, even when he climbed onto the arena to speak, he had not looked at Ning Chang'an once, because he smelled blood on Ning Chang'an. Ning Chang'an had known this long ago.

But Mao Dongyue had now collapsed right before him. Blood gushed from his mouth, forming a glaring crimson pool on the ground. It was already too late for Old Man Mu to avoid looking.

The moment Old Man Mu saw the blood, his face turned pale and bluish. In an instant, he looked like a dead man dug out from beneath a coffin board after being buried for days. He cried out, then vomited everything in his stomach.

"Blood! Blood..."

Old Man Mu screamed madly, panicked like a fly trapped in a glass bottle, buzzing as he crashed about everywhere. Wherever he ran, people retreated as though fleeing from the plague.

Old Man Mu had gone mad.

Ning Chang'an did not understand why Liu Ruyan had arranged for such an abnormal person to drive his carriage.

Lu Feixin's two white brows nearly twisted together as he suddenly shouted sternly, "Capture that mad old man! Everyone move to the side. Not one of you is allowed to leave!"

The crowd surged toward the western side of the martial arts arena like a flock of ducks. Disciples of Lu Family Manor and escorts from Yangwei Escort Agency sprang into action, guarding every exit against anyone attempting to flee. At this point, no one dared leave either. Trying to leave meant a guilty conscience, a guilty conscience meant suspicion, and suspicion meant certain death.