Wang Yuan drove his speed to the absolute limit, anxiety blazing in his heart, and finally reached the Zhang Family estate in the Inner City.
Yet what met his eyes was a field of shattered walls and broken ruins.
Charred wooden beams lay mixed with shattered tiles and rubble, while the air was thick with smoke and the lingering stench of blood.
The once respectable estate had now become a heap of ruins.
The surroundings were deathly silent. Not even a human shadow could be seen; only stray dogs prowled warily through the distant wreckage.
"Big Sister..."
Wang Yuan's heart sank sharply, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
With things like this, how could his sister, a lone and vulnerable woman, possibly have escaped unscathed?
He forced himself to calm down, his sharp gaze sweeping over the area.
He had to find someone and get the truth!
Just then.
A faint sound of fighting and muffled groans, carrying fluctuations of qi and blood, came from a narrow alley on the other side of the ruins.
Wang Yuan's gaze sharpened, and his body flitted over soundlessly like a civet cat.
Deep within the alley, the sight was gruesome.
Several corpses lay strewn across the ground. Some wore the standardized leather armor of the City Guard, while others wore the garb of Zhang Family servants or guards.
Blood stained the ground red. A brief but vicious battle had clearly taken place here.
The only person in the scene still breathing was a blood-soaked middle-aged man leaning against the base of a wall.
Wang Yuan recognized him. He was Zhang Mingyuan's Second Uncle.
A martial artist of the Second Blood Change, Wang Yuan had met him a few times at the Zhang Family. He had seemed like a rather amiable man.
At that moment, a savage blade wound in Second Uncle's chest had nearly pierced straight through him, and his breaths came rapid and weak.
Yet when he saw Wang Yuan suddenly appear, the murky eyes of the dying man burst forth with one final flicker of light. Struggling, he raised a hand as though trying to grasp something.
Because he had recognized Wang Yuan.
"Please... please..."
A rasping sound came from Second Uncle's throat. With the last of his strength, he stared fixedly at Wang Yuan.
"Go... go save Mingyuan... He... he's west of the city... being... being hunted by people from the Three Great Families..."
He panted laboriously, his eyes filled with pleading and unwillingness.
"My Zhang Family... is willing to offer... fifty... fifty thousand taels of silver... as a reward..."
As though afraid that the price was not enough.
He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of Black Blood, gritted his teeth, and used his last scrap of strength to rasp out:
"My Zhang Family... was... was framed!"
"The Three Great Families want to divide up... the Black Tai Sui... discovered by my Zhang Family.
"Colluding with the Incense God Cult was merely... an excuse they found at random!"
Black Tai Sui?
Wang Yuan's heart jolted.
What was that?
For it to be worth the Three Great Families fighting over it together?
He still wanted to ask about the whereabouts of the Zhang Family servants, especially news of his sister, Wang Yu.
But when he looked again, Second Uncle's eyes were wide open. With endless resentment and concern in them, he had already breathed his last.
Wang Yuan stood where he was, looking at the corpse on the ground, his heart a tangled mess of emotions.
Zhang Mingyuan had shown him kindness. Not only had he ensured that Wang Yu received extra care while working for the Zhang Family.
Earlier, he had even specifically sent word to warn Wang Yuan of the Black Tiger Gang's threat.
Now that the Zhang Family had suffered such a catastrophe and Zhang Mingyuan was being hunted, whether by sentiment or reason, Wang Yuan could not stand idly by.
"Fifty thousand taels... Black Tai Sui..."
Wang Yuan repeated softly, a glint of resolve flashing through his eyes.
He hesitated no longer. Quickly tearing a clean strip of cloth from his clothes, he wrapped it tightly over his nose and mouth, leaving only a pair of eyes cold as stars exposed.
After determining the direction, he used Chasing Wind Leg once more, shooting like lightning toward the area west of the city.
Carried on the wind came his muttered words:
"Zhang Mingyuan, I'll do my best to save you."
"But if a Force Martial Master gets involved..."
"Then don't blame me... for being ruthless and disloyal."
Meanwhile, within a desolate forest west of the city.
Zhang Mingyuan was supporting each other with a similarly battered middle-aged man—his Paternal Uncle—as they fled for their lives.
Their clothes were tattered, their bodies covered in wounds, blood soaking through their garments.
Zhang Mingyuan's face was pale as paper. One arm hung limply at his side, clearly broken.
His Paternal Uncle, also at the Second Blood Change, was likewise weak of breath and stumbling with every step.
Beyond the physical pain on Zhang Mingyuan's face was an even greater chill in his heart and despair.
All his life, he had enjoyed making friends. He considered himself generous and righteous, with friends spread throughout Gaoye City and beyond. The proud title of "Little Mengchang" still seemed to ring in his ears.
Yet now the Zhang Family had fallen into calamity and been saddled with the monstrous charge of colluding with an evil cult.
Not one of those so-called friends who had once called him brother and drunk merrily with him, not one of those heroes who had received his favors, stepped forward to say a single fair word for the Zhang Family.
Much less offer help. Some had even immediately severed ties and kicked them when they were down.
When the tree fell, the monkeys scattered; when the wall collapsed, everyone pushed it over.
Nothing was colder than the ways of the world!
"Mingyuan, leave me behind!"
His Paternal Uncle suddenly shoved him away. The excessive force tugged at his wounds again, and he coughed up blood foam, his face full of grim resolve.
"Go! I'll stay behind and hold them off!"
"Remember, you must survive and leave a bloodline for my Zhang Family."
"You must never tell them where the Black Tai Sui is!"
"Paternal Uncle!"
Zhang Mingyuan's eyes nearly split apart.
"Haha! Run?"
"Zhang Mingyuan, even if you sprout wings today, you won't escape!"
Amid an arrogant, icy sneer.
Two figures shot out from the forest behind them and blocked their path.
One wore a brocade robe and carried a longsword. He was a member of the Gao Family.
The other wore close-fitting martial clothes and wielded a long saber. He was a Ye Family Member.
Both were at the Second Blood Change, and though their auras were somewhat disordered as well.
Their condition was far better than that of Zhang Mingyuan and his Paternal Uncle.
The Gao Family member pointed his sword at Zhang Mingyuan and said mockingly, "Zhang Mingyuan, stop struggling like a trapped beast."
"Hand over the Black Tai Sui obediently, along with your Zhang Family's inherited secret manuals and all your hidden assets."
"Then perhaps we'll consider giving you a quick death and leaving you an intact corpse!"
The Ye Family Member sneered darkly as well.
"Exactly. Why make things so difficult?"
"For the sake of a few worldly possessions, you're dragging your Paternal Uncle down to suffer with you."
"Hand them over sooner, and everyone saves themselves the trouble."
Zhang Mingyuan looked at these two men, who had once clinked cups and laughed with him at banquets.
Now they wore savage faces as they hunted him down, filling his heart with icy grief and sorrow.
He clenched his fists. A piercing pain shot from his broken arm, but the pain in his heart was even worse.
Could it be that my Zhang Family will truly perish here today?
Zhang Mingyuan's Paternal Uncle gritted his teeth, suppressed his internal injuries, raised his longsword, and thrust it at the two men.
But his injuries were too severe, and he faced two opponents of the same level. After only a few exchanges, he was sent flying heavily.
"Pfft, truly unable to withstand a single blow!"
The Gao Family member sneered, seized the moment, and thrust his sword toward Zhang Mingyuan's Paternal Uncle's chest.
"No!"
"I'll tell you where everything is! Don't kill him!"
Zhang Mingyuan's eyes turned bloodshot as he roared.
But the Gao Family member merely spat out two words coldly.
"Too late!"
A blinding flash of sword light streaked forth.
Zhang Mingyuan's Paternal Uncle had already closed his eyes and awaited death.
Just as the Gao Family member's vicious sword was about to pierce through his chest.
Clang!
At that moment, another change arose.
Everyone heard a piercing clash of metal suddenly explode through the wilderness.
A pitch-black spear, ferocious and domineering, struck after yet arrived first, blocking the sword tip with perfect precision.
Sparks immediately flew in all directions!
That sure-kill strike was forcibly knocked aside by an irresistible surge of power.
The Gao Family member's arm shook violently. His longsword nearly flew from his grasp, and he staggered back two steps in horror.
"Who is it?!"
Everyone was startled.
A figure had somehow silently appeared in the clearing.
The person wore black clothes and a mask, revealing only a pair of eyes cold as frigid stars.
The Black Dragon Spear coiled with a black dragon in his hand pointed diagonally at the ground, exuding a baleful aura that made hearts tremble.
It was Wang Yuan, who had arrived just in time!
"Who are you?"
The Gao Family member was both shocked and enraged as he shouted sternly.
He had not sensed at all how this person had approached.
The Ye Family Member also tightened his grip on his long saber. Watching Wang Yuan and the Black Dragon Spear in his hand vigilantly, he said in a low voice:
"Who might you be, sir?"
"Could it be that you do not know the person you wish to protect is a traitor who colluded with the Incense God Cult?"
"Do you have a death wish, daring to oppose my Gao and Ye Families?"
Wang Yuan ignored their questions.
He merely tilted his head slightly and met the gaze of Zhang Mingyuan, who was struggling to rise, his face full of shock and disbelief.
Zhang Mingyuan looked into those cold eyes, then at that unforgettable Black Dragon Spear.
In an instant, he recognized the newcomer's identity—Wang Yuan.
An indescribably complicated emotion surged up in his heart.
Wang Yuan, someone he had only met once, had actually risked his life to save him.
This...
But Wang Yuan felt even more helpless at that moment.
A miscalculation...
This Black Dragon Spear was too conspicuous, too recognizable.
He had intended to save them while masked and keep a low profile.
But now, the weapon's characteristics were far too obvious.
As long as these two did not die, a little investigation would let them guess that Wang Yuan was the one who acted.
Since that was the case...
A flash of bone-piercing Killing Intent crossed Wang Yuan's eyes.
Then... kill them and silence them!
Before you continue