Wu Yankun's Fury! The Fang Family Patriarch's Stunning Feat!

Wu Yankun smiled as he raised his wine cup in a toast to the torrential rain outside, intending to drain it in one swallow while he was in high spirits!

"N-No..."

The messenger knelt on the ground, his face pale and his forehead beaded with cold sweat.

He feared Wu Yankun, in his coming rage, would slap him to death!

"What are you panicking for? Speak!"

Wu Yankun barked, sensing that something was wrong. The hand holding his wine cup paused slightly.

"Young Master... Young Master is gone."

The messenger said in a trembling voice.

"Gone, then... What!?"

Bzzzz!!!

Wu Yankun was instantly stunned. His head buzzed, and for a long while, he could not react.

Gone...

What was gone!?

Young Master... his... his son was gone?

Wu Yankun felt the world spin around him.

Though he was crazed and violent by nature, willing even to stake his own life as a bargaining chip, he still cared about the continuation of his bloodline! Even his illegitimate son had been placed under great expectations. He had hoped the boy would grow into a grandmaster through repeated tempering in real combat, becoming his legitimate son's most capable right-hand man!

And yet...

He had only been dealing with a mere Intent Harmony—besieging an Intent Harmony alongside a whole crowd, something that could not even count as tempering—and he had actually died!?

"Who? Who killed him!? What was that Martial Guild man doing!?"

Wu Yankun's voice was icy.

His first thought was that one of his enemies had secretly acted and murdered his illegitimate son!

"It was Huo Yuanhong. He broke out. Not only is Young Master gone, but the Martial Guild enforcer is gone too. They were both beaten to death by Huo Yuanhong!"

The messenger's words struck like a bolt from a clear sky, leaving Wu Yankun utterly frozen.

Huo Yuanhong...

His son, a Strength Harmony practitioner, had been counter-killed by a mere Intent Harmony?

In a sense, had he been personally led to his death by Wu Yankun himself?

After a long stretch of dead silence, Wu Yankun seized his wine cup with trembling hands.

Thinking of how the son he had secretly raised for so long had died—and had been killed because of his own doing—his heart bled.

"Get out."

The messenger hurriedly withdrew with respectful haste. The moment he had shut the door, a series of crashing sounds erupted inside, followed by the thunderous crash of overturned tables and chairs, along with heavy, ragged breathing!

Only after a long bout of venting did it finally fall quiet inside. Then Wu Yankun's voice rang out again.

"Come in."

The subordinate cautiously pushed open the door and entered. He saw Wu Yankun sitting expressionlessly in a grand chair, his gaze dark and unfathomable, as though he were contemplating something.

"When is the Autumn Hunt?"

"It has been moved up to the evening of the day after tomorrow."

The subordinate answered respectfully.

Under normal circumstances, the Autumn Hunt was held in September. But a dispute had recently arisen over the ownership of a batch of medicinal herbs produced somewhere, among which was a top-tier Great Medicine capable of extending one's lifespan and preserving one's life. It had stirred the interest of quite a few Peak Experts.

Not only were the great families and the Martial Prosperity Alliance locked in constant conflict, but the major families themselves were also embroiled in fierce internal arguments!

Since the upper echelons on both sides were unwilling to step in too early, they decided to move the Autumn Hunt forward, holding it the day after tomorrow!

The Martial Prosperity Alliance and the younger generation of certain great families, all below Dark Force, would compete for supremacy, with their respective results determining each faction's rights to resource allocation!

"Never mind the rest. That life-extending Great Medicine absolutely cannot fall into the hands of the Martial Prosperity Alliance. If they give it to Xu and let him live a while longer, that would be a troublesome headache..."

"The old family head has already noticed that Xu's condition is even worse than expected. Forget half a year—without a Great Medicine to extend his lifespan and preserve his life, he may not even last half a month..."

"Huo Yuanhong is nothing worth mentioning. Once that old bastard dies, there will be plenty of ways to handle him..."

After a brief moment of thought, Wu Yankun temporarily suppressed his fury over losing his son and turned his attention to preparing for the Autumn Hunt.

"How is Jinghao's preparation going?"

"Eldest Young Master has already mastered that formidable Combat Method. Even when a Transformation Strength master suppresses himself to the same realm, he still has to put in some effort to keep Eldest Young Master down. Last night, Eldest Young Master even sparred with a Dark Force Martial Arts Grandmaster. With that grandmaster not using Dark Force, Eldest Young Master lasted a full thirty exchanges. With such astonishing strength, he will surely sweep through the entire Autumn Hunt!"

"Good. Tell Jinghao to prepare properly. Whatever he needs, he can come directly to me."

Wu Jinghao was the legitimate son Wu Yankun valued most, and also his only promising legitimate son! Wu Yankun had truly placed immense hopes upon him!

Though still young, he had already reached Strength Harmony and was close to the peak. He had also come close to the peak during the Intent Harmony stage. While he had not reached the Pseudo-Peak like Wu Yuanchu, the two near-peak stages combined could still be considered one minor realm above other peak Strength Harmony practitioners!

Combined with the top-tier Combat Method he had mastered not long ago, he could be said to have no rival below Dark Force!

In the upcoming Autumn Hunt, the rules permitted only young members below the Dark Force stage to participate. Wu Jinghao was the Wu Family's trump card, bound to crush his peers and win enormous benefits for the Wu Family!

His illegitimate son was dead. Fortunately, his most highly anticipated legitimate son was still alive—nothing could happen to him now. He needed to prepare more contingencies, just in case!

"Great-Grandfather?"

Fang Shiyu looked on in confusion. His family's Mystic Ancestor had only been out for a short while, yet he had already returned.

"It's over. Huo Yuanhong fought his way out on his own..."

There was a note of astonishment in the Peak Expert of the Fang Family's voice.

When he arrived, he happened to see Huo Yuanhong swallow a packet of some unknown medicine, then charge out with a Great Spear across his back. He had also witnessed the swift, ruthless, and decisive slaughter that followed!

"This young man is good. Extremely good!"

The Peak Expert of the Fang Family praised him sincerely.

Judging by the state Huo Yuanhong had been in then, with the blood throughout his body nearly boiling, he had either used Heavenly Demon Dismantling or taken something akin to Boiling Blood Powder...

No, it could not have been Heavenly Demon Dismantling, that forbidden art that left one either dead or crippled. It must have been the medicine from that packet—a forbidden drug similar to Boiling Blood Powder, perhaps even the top-grade Boiling Blood forbidden medicine said to be a heavenly treasure!

Of course, even with the aid of medicine, being able to single-handedly crush and kill so many experts of higher stages was still immensely astonishing!

Especially that combat method of lifting heavy as if it were light, of returning to simplicity—it truly allowed him to glimpse the bearing of a Peak Expert. Huo Yuanhong was practically like a Peak Expert who had suppressed his strength to the peak of Intent Harmony!

To be precise, he should have been a Peak Expert whose Intent Harmony was nearly at its limit! From the strength Huo Yuanhong had displayed, not only had he been merely a hair's breadth from true perfection in the Manifest Strength stage before, but he was also only a hair's breadth away in the Intent Harmony stage!

That sort of talent was indeed extraordinarily dazzling. No wonder his great-grandson had rated Huo Yuanhong so highly!

The old man did the math. Huo Yuanhong was nineteen this year. Even if he had secretly received Li Shuxing's tutelage since childhood, he could have trained in martial arts for little more than a decade, yet he had nearly reached the limit in two stages already...

Though compared to Wu Yuanchu, who had reached the Pseudo-Peak in two stages and entered the Dark Force stage at nineteen, there was still a certain gap.

But considering how formidable his combat method was, perhaps he had devoted most of his energy to honing it. His true talent might be slightly higher still—perhaps he was already close to catching up to Wu Yuanchu, whom the old man had cultivated with all his strength.

However, to the old man, no matter how outstanding one's martial talent was, it could not compare to Wu Yuanchu's, so it meant little. He was merely impressed by how formidable Huo Yuanhong's combat method was.

"He fought his way out?"

Fang Shiyu looked astonished.

From the intelligence he had received, there had been at least fifteen Intent Harmony and six Qi Harmony experts lying in wait this time. Even if the Strength Harmony experts had begun cherishing their lives and refused to get involved, just those Intent Harmony and Qi Harmony experts joining forces should have been more than a single Intent Harmony expert could withstand!

Forget Intent Harmony—even a Qi Harmony peak expert skilled in combat methods would have been certain to die if caught in such a siege!

Yet Huo Yuanhong had actually carved a path to survival by himself through the encirclement of so many Intent Harmony and Qi Harmony experts?

The report from below had not yet reached him, so he still did not know the exact circumstances of the battle. Nor was it convenient for him to directly trouble this pillar of the family with questions...

But no matter what, Huo Yuanhong's actual combat ability was probably not much weaker than that of a Strength Harmony expert!

Strength at this level already qualified him to participate in the Autumn Hunt!

"Mystic Ancestor, why not have Huo Yuanhong join our Fang Family's team for the Autumn Hunt the day after tomorrow?"

Fang Shiyu cautiously suggested.