Who Let Whom Down?

In the silent night, Dug's keen five senses were magnified severalfold, and the conversation among Feng Shiyi and the other two reached his ears with perfect clarity.

What the hell! He had not even Backstabbed them yet, and these guys had gone and Backstabbed him first!

Who had he been fighting tooth and nail for? No sense of jianghu honor at all.

Of course, Dug understood them too. Five people launching a frontal assault on a gang packed with experts sounded like a fantasy no matter how one looked at it. It was only natural that they did not want to make meaningless sacrifices.

But Dug had his own difficulties. His Keywords were Maintenance and Backstab. If he retreated to the Feng Family, not only would he fail to maintain the Feng Family's interests, he would even lose the chance to Backstab them. Who knew how far his attributes would drop? If they harbored malicious intentions afterward, he might not even be able to protect himself.

After all, whether or not Feng Zhong had meddled in the matter, someone in Feng Manor would inevitably blame him for it. That old fox Feng Shiren might even sell him out to the Iron Palm Gang in exchange for the Feng Family's safety.

It was not about right or wrong. It was human nature.

Returning to the Feng Family meant losing everything. So even if he had to force his way through the Iron Palm Gang's gates, he had to do it.

Only then could he hold the initiative in his own hands—maintain when he wanted to maintain, Backstab when he wanted to Backstab, and maximize his gains.

Once bound to Keywords, normal people's way of thinking no longer suited people like them. Take Wang San, for instance—did he really want to collect a dead man's hand?

Had he not been forced into it...

Feng Shiyi and the other two could not leave either. Setting aside the fact that Feng Shiyi was their main fighting force, if they left, whom would he maintain? Whom would he Backstab? "Second Master Feng, I never expected you to be such a coward afraid of death! You've already killed a hall master of the Iron Palm Gang. If you don't kill Qiu Yuanlang, are you going to wait for him to wipe out the Feng Family?" Standing before the last guard's corpse, Dug let out a grief-stricken roar. "Run? Where can you possibly run to? You killed a hall master of the Iron Palm Gang!"

Everything around them was deathly still. The guards' screams at the gate had already alerted the gang members inside the compound, and Dug's shout threw the entire Iron Palm Gang into complete chaos.

Feng Shiyi's mind buzzed. He froze in place, the world spinning around him as he nearly fainted. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he screamed hysterically, "Feng Qi, I'll fuck your mother—"

"Second Master Feng, you can't keep making mistake after mistake." Dug cut him off and continued shouting for all to hear. "That's right, we two outsiders can risk our lives to hold back the Iron Palm Gang for you. But what about the Feng Family? Fleeing at the critical moment, selling friends to save yourselves—the Feng Family's reputation will be ruined! A home can be rebuilt after it is destroyed, but once one's reputation is gone, a martial artist's backbone is broken.

Heads may be severed, blood may be spilled, but reputation cannot be lost! Second Master Feng, we must use our blood and lives to maintain the Feng Family's honor!"

Fuck!

Maintaining the Feng Family's honor? This was forcing Feng Shiyi onto a dead-end road!

Too ruthless! Looking at the indignant, righteous Dug, Wang San was completely stunned numb. He understood why Feng Qi was doing this, but to make such an accurate decision in so little time—his mind was unbelievably sharp. It was impossible not to admire him.

He had forcibly turned Maintenance into an offensive skill. In that instant, Wang San grasped the true meaning of a persona. A great door slowly opened in his mind, and he seemed to see a brand-new world.

Forcibly maintain, forcibly Backstab! Dug's attributes rose rapidly. Seeing Feng Shiyi stop in his tracks, he was overjoyed. The Iron Palm Gang had already been alerted; Feng Shiyi could no longer run even if he wanted to. If he dared lead the Iron Palm Gang back to the Feng Family, he would be saying the Feng Family was not being destroyed quickly enough.

Torches flared to life within the Iron Palm Gang.

In no time, the courtyard was brightly lit. More than two hundred gang members wielding sabers and swords glared menacingly at Dug and Wang San outside the gate, fire blazing in their eyes.

They had come knocking in the middle of the night and acted this arrogantly. If the Iron Palm Gang did not wipe them out, where would it put its face? Even a clay figurine had three parts anger, let alone people who had been woken from sleep...

And from the sound of it, these two had killed an Iron Palm Gang hall master and come to assassinate their gang leader, cutting weeds at the root. They really had the gall of a bear and the guts of a leopard. What did they take the Iron Palm Gang for?

"I never expected the little Feng Family to produce several men of such spirit. Qiu has gained a higher opinion of you." Accompanied by a voice like muffled thunder, a gray-haired old man in his fifties arrived at the gate in several leaps. He stood there and looked at Dug and Wang San, imposing without needing anger. "Just the two of you have come to kill this old man?"

"And Second Master Feng Shiyi." Dug straightened his back and announced Feng Shiyi's name.

In the small grove, Feng Shiyi's eyes nearly spat blood. This bastard, this bastard! He truly was a devil. He had not come to maintain the Feng Family—he had come to cut off the Feng Family's roots!

Seeing that Feng Shiyi had no intention of coming out, Dug looked again at Qiu Yuanlang and the people behind him. He gave a soft laugh. "Gang Leader Qiu, the Iron Palm Gang sent men to launch a night attack on Xingyu Tower for no reason. You are allowed to kill people, but we are not allowed to fight back? Jianghu honor and the spirit of the martial world have been ruined by people like you, who rely on their bigger fists to do whatever they please. Today, the Feng Family will take the lead in setting this crooked wind of the jianghu right, using iron and blood to uphold the jianghu's honor."

"Uphold the jianghu's honor?" Qiu Yuanlang waited until Dug had finished before laughing. He looked at Dug as though looking at an idiot, then his expression suddenly turned cold. "Did you kill Peng Chong?"

More and more people gathered behind Qiu Yuanlang, but Dug showed no fear, meeting him needle for needle. "Those who kill will themselves be killed..."

"Gang Leader Qiu, do not listen to the Demonic Son's lies!" Feng Shiyi shouted as he emerged from the shadows. He shot Dug a vicious glare, then dropped to his knees from afar. "Gang Leader Qiu, the Feng Family was bewitched by the Demonic Son and only then committed such a foolish act. Otherwise, even if the Feng Family had ten times the courage, we would not dare make an enemy of the Iron Palm Gang! How could I possibly be Hall Master Peng's match? It was these two who used Demonic Evil methods to harm Hall Master Peng..."

"Second Master Feng?" Dug looked at Feng Shiyi in surprise.

"Shut your mouth!" Feng Shiyi roared. "You thief! If not for your bewitching words, how could the Feng Family have fallen to such a state? Had I known this would happen, I should have split you, you devil, apart with one palm strike when you seized a body!"

"A devil?" Qiu Yuanlang looked at Dug with interest.

"Yes, Gang Leader. They are the heavenly demons you have been looking for." Feng Shiyi said. "Heavenly demons differ from ordinary people. Their words and actions must conform to their attributes for them to grow. Feng Qi's attribute is Maintenance. With his glib tongue, he constantly spoke of maintaining the Feng Family's interests, using the Feng Family to grow, yet he brought disaster upon the Feng Family.

Gang Leader, from this moment on, the Feng Family cuts all ties with him. We will have nothing more to do with him. Without the Feng Family's protection, his strength will surely diminish greatly. You may capture him as you please—kill him or flay him, use him or keep him—it will have nothing to do with the Feng Family. I, Feng Shiyi, was blinded by evil. I am willing to repay Hall Master Peng's life with my own, but I beg you to spare the old and young of the Feng Family. They are innocent. They knew nothing!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Feng Shiyi slammed his head heavily against the ground, and before long, his forehead was stained red.

The Iron Palm Gang members erupted into an uproar. All eyes focused on Dug and Wang San as murmurs rose around them.

Heavenly demons?

Qiu Yuanlang ignored Feng Shiyi. Instead, he studied Dug with great interest, then glanced at Wang San, who held the severed hand with an infatuated expression. He muttered, "So heavenly demons truly exist in this world? He says you grow through attributes, and your attribute is Maintenance. Is that why you came here to uphold the jianghu's honor?"

"Yes."

Dug nodded.

When Feng Shiyi said he was cutting ties with him, Dug finally experienced what Wang San had meant by a drop in attributes. Every one of his attributes had fallen by roughly a third. It seemed that counted as a failed Maintenance. Yet his attributes had not fallen to rock bottom, probably because his successful Backstab of the Feng Family, along with his continued effort to maintain peace in the jianghu, was supporting them.

He looked at Qiu Yuanlang. If his effort to maintain peace in the jianghu failed again this time, his attributes would probably fall even further.

However.

Though the Feng Family had abandoned him, Dug still decided to squeeze the last bit of value from them. He looked mournfully at Feng Shiyi. "Second Master Feng, though you have abandoned me, my principles will not change. Maintain for one day, maintain for life. I said it, and I will carry it through to the end."

As he spoke, he turned to Qiu Yuanlang and placed his sword against his own neck. "Gang Leader Qiu, I am willing to join the Iron Palm Gang and submit myself to your disposal. I ask only that you spare the old and young of the Feng Family, so that I may fulfill this sentiment of Maintenance. Otherwise, I will die here. All you will gain is the worthless corpse of a heavenly demon."

Feng Shiyi shuddered violently and abruptly raised his head to look at Dug. In that instant, the hatred in his heart vanished without a trace. Only then did he feel that perhaps he had truly been wrong.

Qiu Yuanlang looked at Dug in surprise. "He sold you out, yet you are still willing to protect him?"

Dug said, "Maintain for one day, maintain for life. That is my mission."

"Fine, I accept." Qiu Yuanlang looked approvingly at Dug and clapped his hands. "Those fools cannot recognize a precious jade. From now on, you will protect my Iron Palm Gang, and my Iron Palm Gang can protect you as well..."

Before Qiu Yuanlang had finished speaking, the attributes Dug had lost instantly surged back—and increased by quite a bit.