"You're saying my father is still alive?" Qiao Feng asked, his face lighting up with joy.
"Most likely. But Qiao Feng, you need to think this through. Your birth father may well be the one who killed your adoptive parents and your master. If you meet him, what will you do?"
Chen Feng's words left Qiao Feng silent. He asked, puzzled, "If it really was him, why would he kill my adoptive parents and my master?"
"Because you're a Khitan, yet you were raised as a Han Chinese. Doesn't that strike you as strange? According to Master Zhiguang, at the massacre at Yanmen Pass thirty years ago, your father single-handedly slaughtered all twenty-one of them. How could he have failed to notice a Little Monk peeking through the window? The whole thing was meant to frame you."
"The Liao Country is short on supplies. Sooner or later, it'll launch a massive invasion south. By then, you'll be a disgraced outcast, despised by everyone in the Central Plains martial world, with nowhere to go. The Liao Country will be your only refuge."
"How could this be..." After hearing Chen Feng's analysis, Qiao Feng was already half convinced. He turned to look at the various experts gathered for the martial arts gathering and said solemnly, "I, Qiao Feng, swore in the Apricot Forest that whether I am Han or Khitan, I will never take the life of a single Han Chinese as long as I live. A true man's word is worth its weight in gold. How could I ever break my promise?!"
(Tan Qing would like to point out: Are people from Dali not Han Chinese?!)
"Hmph!" As soon as Qiao Feng finished speaking, a faint snort came from a nearby rooftop. Though quiet, it was clearly heard by everyone present, all of them martial arts experts.
"Who's there?" Chen Feng shouted. He leaped up and charged toward the sound.
He just needed the man to make a sound. Chen Feng knew Xiao Yuanshan resented the fact that his son had taken his enemy as a master and been raised as a Han Chinese by that enemy. That was why he had framed Qiao Feng.
Chen Feng had deliberately pushed Qiao Feng to make his position clear. If he could draw Xiao Yuanshan out, all the better. If not, he had nothing to lose; he could just keep revealing the plot.
As soon as Chen Feng landed on the rooftop, a rope lashed straight at him.
Chen Feng easily dodged it with Lingbo Weibu, then charged at the masked man across from him, who was holding the rope, and struck with his palm.
Xiao Yuanshan had been secretly following Qiao Feng, so he had also seen Chen Feng and Qiao Feng fight earlier. Knowing Chen Feng was no weakling and that he couldn't defeat him quickly, he made a feint and turned to flee.
But once Chen Feng had him entangled, how could he let him get away so easily? Lingbo Weibu might not be suited to long-distance pursuits, but for dodging and maneuvering over short distances, it was unrivaled in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.
Xiao Yuanshan had only just started to turn when Chen Feng was already in front of him. Chen Feng struck straight at his face with Yangguan Sandie.
Faced with the fierce Tianshan Six Yang Palm, Xiao Yuanshan could no longer hide his strength. In haste, he met it with a palm of his own. A faint crackling sound came from his palm as it cut through the air.
"Bang!" Their palms collided, and Chen Feng and Xiao Yuanshan each staggered back several steps.
"Prajna Palm!" Seeing the masked man's technique, Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji were both shocked. The words slipped from their mouths.
Prajna Palm was one of Shaolin Temple's secret arts, one of its Seventy-two Ultimate Skills, and a superior palm technique. Few at Shaolin Temple had mastered it. The masked man's identity had suddenly become rather suspicious.
Chen Feng charged back in and continued to keep Xiao Yuanshan occupied. This time, he focused only on holding him back, avoiding a direct clash.
As they fought, Chen Feng shouted, "Qiao Feng, what I said earlier was only speculation. There's another possibility: that The Leader disguised himself as you and killed your adoptive parents and Master Xuanku to ruin your reputation, drive you out of the martial world, and keep you from ever discovering his identity."
"Back then, The Leader was able to order a Shaolin monk to teach you martial arts, so he must have close ties to Shaolin Temple. And now this man is skulking around here, using Shaolin kung fu. He may well be the one who killed your adoptive parents!"
"Benefactor Xiaoyao, do not speak such nonsense! How could anyone from Shaolin kill Qiao Sanyuan and his wife, or my senior brother Xuanku?" Hearing Chen Feng slander Shaolin Temple, Xuan Ji was furious and shouted back.
At Chen Feng's words, Qiao Feng's eyes lit up. He had been searching desperately for The Leader, and this might be an important clue. He naturally wasn't about to let it slip by.
He leaped up, and while still in midair, sent a Roaring Dragon Regret at the masked man.
Xiao Yuanshan no longer had any intention of fighting. He first blocked Qiao Feng's Roaring Dragon Regret, then planned to withstand Chen Feng's next attack with his Internal energy and escape.
But when Chen Feng's palm touched his back, the force he expected never came. Instead, he felt his Internal energy suddenly pouring out of him at a frightening rate, vanishing without a trace.
"Great Skill of Dissolving Power!" Xiao Yuanshan was shocked. Before he could figure out how to break free, the suction vanished at once, as if it had never been there.
But that brief delay was enough for Qiao Feng to rush up to Xiao Yuanshan. He reached out and grabbed at the air. Dragon Catching Skill activated, and the masked man's face covering was ripped away.
In an instant, a face almost identical to Qiao Feng's, but several years older, appeared before him.
At the sight of that face, Qiao Feng's next move faltered, and he stopped.
The others had also leaped onto the rooftop. Seeing a face almost exactly like Qiao Feng's, they all froze.
"It's you! It was you! Have you come to kill me? Come on, then! Come on! I should have died thirty years ago! Come on!!" Zhao Qiansun suddenly shouted in a frenzy and charged at Xiao Yuanshan, but Tan Po clung to him and held him back.
"Are you... my father?" Qiao Feng asked cautiously.
"Ah." With his identity exposed, Xiao Yuanshan sighed helplessly, then glared viciously at Chen Feng.
He turned to Qiao Feng and called softly, "Feng'er."
"Are you really my father?"
In answer, Xiao Yuanshan pulled open his robes at the chest. A wolf-head tattoo came into view.
"Father!" Seeing the same wolf-head tattoo on Xiao Yuanshan's chest as on his own, Qiao Feng knew without a doubt who he was. He started to step forward, but then suddenly stopped.
"Father, were my adoptive parents, Qiao Sanyuan and his wife, and my master, Master Xuanku, killed by you?"
"That's right. I killed them with my own hands." Now that his identity was exposed, there was no reason not to admit it.
"My adoptive parents treated me with the greatest kindness. They were truly good people. Father, why would you..."
Before Qiao Feng could finish, Xiao Yuanshan interrupted him. "You are my own son. We should have been reunited as a family—your mother, you, and me. How happy we would have been!"
"But those Southern Song martial artists treated us Khitans worse than pigs and dogs, killing us at a whim. They took my child and handed him over to others to raise as their own."
"The Qiao couple pretended to be your parents, robbing me of the joy of having my family together. They also failed to tell you the truth. They deserved to die."
Before you continue