Reversal

After Wang San woke up, the situation reversed in an instant.

The hall master fighting Feng Shiyi was utterly baffled, while Feng Shiyi was overjoyed. At last, he understood Dug's painstaking intention in risking his life to bring Wang San along. Sure enough, the Heavenly Demons were even more terrifying than he had imagined. This was in the bag.

"Giegiegiegie, is this what the blood of a lover tastes like? So sweet..." Wang San leaped out of the water vat, reached out to smear some blood from a corpse, and blissfully sniffed it beneath his nose. Then he looked toward the people besieging Feng Yunjie and slowly rubbed the blood across his face. "My lovers, am I frightening? Why are you running away? I'll break your legs, so you can never run away again. I'll kill you, so you'll never change your hearts again. Aren't I smart? Hurry up and praise me..."

This time, Wang San had targeted the two men attacking Feng Yunjie. Affected by fear, Feng Yunjie's moves had become a mess, and he could no longer hold them off.

"No!"

The three of them, Feng Yunjie included, let out piercing screams in unison. They threw down their weapons without prior agreement and scrambled about like headless flies, frantically searching for somewhere to hide.

"To kill is to protect life. I'll help you free yourselves from your sinful lives." Dug found himself a high-sounding excuse. His figure flickered unpredictably; whenever they exposed their backs, he would stick to them like a ghost and drive his sword through their hearts.

After backstabbing several people, his personal attributes rose a little more, and his use of Backstab grew increasingly proficient.

One shook their minds, while the other protected Wang San and launched attacks from behind whenever he could. The two worked together with flawless coordination.

The remaining Iron Palm Gang members had no idea what was happening, but their companions' inexplicable deaths dealt them a massive psychological blow. They looked at Wang San and Dug in terror, unable to muster even a shred of fighting spirit.

"Heavenly Demons! They're demons, not people!" one of them cried in panic. "Hall Master, retreat! If we don't leave now, all the brothers will die here..."

The Iron Palm Gang's hall master had never seen such a fighting style before. This had already ventured into a blind spot in his knowledge.

He wanted to retreat, but abandoning seven or eight brothers and leaving like this was somewhat hard to accept. He had also seen that these so-called Heavenly Demons had no real Martial Arts. They fought entirely with their physical prowess and demonic techniques.

Gritting his teeth, he forced Feng Shiyi back with one palm strike, then lunged at Wang San. In his eyes, once he killed Wang San, who disturbed people's minds, the remaining Feng Qi would be nothing to fear. Capturing one Heavenly Demon and taking him back would be enough to complete his mission.

He was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, Wang San found him already before him. Looking at the hall master so close at hand, Wang San's heart jolted, and he was so frightened that he forgot to speak. By the time he tried to open his mouth, it was already too late.

Fortunately, Dug's Third Eye kept watch over the entire battlefield. The instant the hall master moved, he spun around and blocked Wang San, holding his longsword level as he waited for the hall master to crash into it himself.

Wang San stared blankly at Dug standing in front of him.

As though he had not seen Dug's raised sword at all, the hall master struck with both palms in a crossing blow, snapping Dug's sword into three pieces.

Dug had not expected the sword to break and froze for a moment. In that instant, the hall master's palm landed on his chest. However, he had held back seventy percent of his strength. He had come for the Heavenly Demons, after all; he could not simply beat them all to death.

Dug was hurled up by the tremendous force and crashed into Wang San. The two rolled together across the floor like tumbling gourds.

The pain jolted Wang San awake. He rattled off, "I love you. How could you treat me like this..."

In an instant, inexplicable terror flooded the hall master's heart. Yet his willpower was stronger than that of ordinary gang members. Enduring the horror in his heart, he raised his foot and viciously stomped toward Wang San's lower abdomen.

At that critical moment—

Dug threw himself over Wang San again, becoming a human cushion.

Agonizing pain struck.

Pfft! A mouthful of blood sprayed from Dug's mouth. Immediately afterward, because he had risked his life to protect Wang San, his injuries began healing at a rapid pace. "If you want to kill him, kill me first."

Wang San's pupils trembled. "...How could you treat me like this? How could you treat me like this? I'm going to cut open your body and look at your heart—look and see whether there's really me inside it..."

The more Wang San spoke, the stronger the fear in the hall master's heart grew. Gritting his teeth, trembling, he raised his foot again—but before he could bring it down—

Bang! A dull thud rang out.

His body suddenly flew into the air. Feng Shiyi, who had rushed over, had struck him squarely in the back with a palm.

A battle with such a vast disparity in strength had been overturned in an instant by Dug and Wang San. How could he fail to understand the Heavenly Demons' importance now? Naturally, he would spare no effort to save the two of them.

Especially Feng Qi. He had proven through his actions that he would truly protect others with his life! He was still weak now, but once he grew stronger, when he protected the Feng Family in the future, the family would surely enjoy peace and prosperity. Therefore, Feng Qi absolutely could not die. Only he could keep the other Heavenly Demons in check.

At that moment, Dug had already surpassed Feng Yunjie in Feng Shiyi's estimation.

If Feng Yunjie died, his eldest brother could always have another son. But if Feng Qi died, then he would truly be gone.

Without the Iron Palm Gang hall master's continued attacks, Dug finally got to his feet. Because his actions and words matched the Keyword of protection, the injuries the hall master had caused healed completely the moment he stood up.

It had to be said—

He had truly gained an enormous advantage from protection.

With any other Keyword, after suffering such severe injuries and being unable to move, what awaited him would probably have been death.

After being sent flying, the hall master used the momentum to charge toward the stairway. Fear and grave injuries had left him with no desire to fight. All he wanted was to flee this haunted place as quickly as possible.

With even the hall master fleeing, the remaining Iron Palm Gang members dared not continue fighting. They abandoned their respective opponents and rushed outside in a single flood.

Dug's longsword had broken, leaving him without a suitable weapon. He simply yanked every Flying Dagger from his knife pouch and fired them in rapid succession with both hands, flinging them all out.

Backstab granted an agility boost whenever the conditions for attacking from behind were met. It did not care what weapon was used.

In the briefest instant, Dug threw out more than a dozen Flying Daggers. Both arms swung so quickly they left afterimages.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! The narrow corridor offered almost no room to evade the Flying Daggers.

Amid a string of miserable screams, the Iron Palm Gang members fell one after another.

The hall master was struck by a knife as well. It entered through his back and pierced his right lung, sinking to the hilt. He collapsed to the floor and convulsed, bloody foam spilling from his mouth. He clearly was not going to survive.

Those lucky enough to avoid the knives were chased down by Feng Shiyi, who sent them on their way with several palm strikes. Those on the ground who had been hit by Flying Daggers but had not died had their necks snapped by him as well.

The noisy corridor, thick with the stench of blood, fell silent again. Feng Yunjie curled up in a corner against the wall, his teeth clattering nonstop. He was also someone Wang San liked, and Yandere's Fear targeted everyone Wang San liked. He had been caught up in it and was already scared out of his wits.

Of the five direct disciples, three had died, while the remaining two were injured. Looking over the horrific battle scene, Feng Shiyi spat out a mouthful of blood. "Seventh Master, we can't leave any survivors. This is Iron Palm Gang territory. Once they go back and spread word, not one of us will be able to leave."

Though the Heavenly Demons' way of fighting was strange—even somewhat Demonic Evil—Feng Shiyi, who had seen plenty of Feng Qi's oddities, was not overly surprised. Instead, this made him completely acknowledge Dug's leading position within the group.

"Leave? Where to?" Dug asked.

"Seventh Master, the Iron Palm Gang's raid on Xingyu Tower was so precise in its target. It's obvious there's a traitor within the Feng Family. We can't remain at Xingyu Tower—we need to return to Feng Manor and take temporary shelter, then think of another strategy," Feng Shiyi said.

"Second Master, who do you think the traitor is?" Dug asked.

"..." Feng Shiyi fell silent for a moment, then spoke a name. "Feng Zhong. But I can't understand why he would do this. He's an old servant of the Feng Family. His wife, children, and entire household are all with the Feng Family..."

"Unless he's no longer himself." Dug chuckled softly. "Find a servant and ask whether anything happened to Feng Zhong in the past couple of days, and we'll know." He glanced at the two uneasy direct disciples and reassured them, "Don't be afraid. If he was possessed by a Heavenly Demon, then when you went to him for information, he certainly wouldn't expose himself!"

He turned back to Feng Shiyi and smiled. "Second Master, perhaps your Feng Family really has answered Heaven's mandate. Such a small family, yet four Heavenly Demons have descended upon it."

"You jest, Seventh Master." Feng Shiyi gave a bitter laugh. "There's no meaning in pursuing Feng Zhong now. The most urgent matter is leaving this place at once. Otherwise, once the Iron Palm Gang comes to its senses, it'll be difficult for us to leave."

"Second Master, do you think Feng Zhong betrayed his master merely to sell out the few of us?" Dug smiled. "Don't forget—there's still a Heavenly Demon at Feng Manor!"

Feng Shiyi looked toward the two direct disciples.

One of them said in panic, "Second Master, Shopkeeper Feng did indeed ask us about matters at home."

"You told him?" Feng Shiyi asked bitterly.

"Please punish me, Second Master." The man dropped to his knees with a thud, awkwardly defending himself. "At the time, this disciple didn't know Feng Zhong had been possessed by a Heavenly Demon. I thought that matters in Luyang City still required Shopkeeper Feng's cooperation, so I told him everything about the manor."

In an instant.

All color drained from Feng Shiyi's face.

Wang San glanced at Dug, lingering fear rising in his heart. Feng Zhong knew his situation inside out. If Dug had not suddenly intervened, Feng Zhong would have plotted against him sooner or later. That fellow had used a borrowed knife to kill without the slightest hesitation—there was a ninety percent chance he would not have shown Wang San any mercy.