Feng Qi Had to Die

"Hall Master Han, how is my father?" Seeing Han Zuo gallop toward him, Qiu Feipeng hurriedly pulled on the reins and asked anxiously.

"Feng Qi held a public trial outside Luyang City. The Eldest Young Master tried to save the old Gang Leader, but Feng Qi beat him so badly he was seriously injured..." Han Zuo reined in his horse as well and briefly told the two of them what had happened to the Iron Palm Sect.

After hearing this, Qiu Feipeng's eyes blazed with fury. He clenched his fist and hammered it against his chest. "This is outrageous! I swear I won't rest until I tear him limb from limb!"

Inside the carriage.

The regret in Feng Shiyi's eyes deepened as he heard about the Iron Palm Sect's upheaval. He let out a long sigh and murmured, "The Peacekeeping Gang, the Peacekeeping Vanguard... Feng Qi really did go through with it. He really did. He wasn't lying. I wonder if he'll still remember the kindness of the Feng Family."

"He came from the Demon Realm and was reborn through Soul Possession. What kindness could he possibly owe the Feng Family? Even if he really were the original Feng Qi, you beat him half to death and left him to fend for himself. And now you expect him to be grateful?" Feng Jiu glanced at Feng Shiyi and sneered.

He picked up a waterskin and washed the meat down, then burped. He paused his eating for the moment and continued to mock them. "You should think about who brought you to this sorry state. Feng Qi sweet-talked you a little, and every one of you got carried away. A tiny mouse dreaming of swallowing the whole world—did you ever stop to wonder whether you had the stomach for it? You brought this on yourselves. At the end of the day, the Feng Family was nothing but a stepping-stone for Feng Qi."

"Feng Jiu, don't talk nonsense," Feng Shiyi snapped. "I saw Feng Qi risk his life to protect the Feng Family with my own eyes. Feng Zhong is the one responsible for our current predicament. I believe Feng Qi will save us..."

Feng Shiren glanced at them without saying a word.

"Heh." Feng Jiu gave a scornful laugh, no longer bothering with the fools before him. He popped a digestive pill into his mouth, listened to the conversation outside for a moment, then reached out and pulled aside the carriage curtain. Raising his voice, he called, "Hall Masters, you've got the wrong approach. Feng Qi has already built up his power, and who knows how high his attributes are now? Gang Leader Qiu is in his hands, too. Your plan won't take him down."

"Who is he?" Han Zuo asked.

"He's another Heavenly Demon from the Feng Family, called Feng Jiu. His attribute is Taotie." Yan Wu glanced back at Feng Jiu. "We've already tested it. Give him enough food, and his strength will keep growing without limit. He's been eating nonstop since morning—eating, relieving himself, then eating again. His stomach has burst several times, but he's come through without a scratch, and his strength has at least doubled. If it weren't for him, we could've gotten back half an hour earlier. We brought him along to deal with Feng Qi. Back at the Feng Family, Feng Qi tricked him once."

Taotie?

Han Zuo looked at Feng Jiu, whose white clothes were stained with grease, and frowned instinctively. But he quickly hid his distaste, clasped his hands, and asked, "May I ask, Mr. Jiu, what's wrong with our approach?"

Feng Jiu had been betrayed and had tormented himself to the brink of madness. His resolve was already ironclad, and he couldn't care less what others thought. He smiled. "We Heavenly Demons grow stronger through our own attributes. Feng Qi is making a big show of himself in Luyang City. His words and actions align with his attribute, and the greater the impact he makes, the faster his strength grows. You could say his strength is increasing every moment.

"By the time you've figured out a plan and brought in reinforcements, who knows how powerful he'll have become? He might not even need to use Qiu Yuanlang to threaten you then. He could simply beat every one of you into the ground by force."

Back at the Feng Family, he had tried to disprove the Heavenly Demon theory and reject Feng Qi at the root. But his theory about the virtual world had failed to convince Feng Shiyi and the others. The Heavenly Demon theory had taken hold first, and it was already deeply rooted in their minds.

So he had simply gone along with the Heavenly Demon theory, planning to use it to trip Feng Qi up at a crucial moment.

"Mr. Jiu, then how should we deal with him?" Han Zuo asked, his expression changing as he recalled what had happened afterward.

"Disrupt his attribute. That's the only way to truly weaken him, just as stopping me from eating would." Feng Jiu's secret couldn't be kept any longer, so he decided to lay it all out. "He wants to maintain order? Then sabotage what he's accomplished. Make people realize that his efforts are useless, or even harmful, and his attribute will naturally weaken.

"He gave silver to those victims, didn't he? You could put on Peacekeeping Gang clothes and rob it back from them. While you're at it, threaten the victims and tell them to keep quiet. It won't take many times before Luyang City is seething with resentment, and no one will believe in the peace and justice he claims to uphold..."

"Mr. Jiu, are you certain?" Qiu Feipeng asked, his eyes lighting up.

"You've already tested it on me," Feng Jiu said with a smile. "We're the same kind of people. There's no reason an attribute that works on me wouldn't work on him."

"We can try it," Han Zuo said, looking at the others beside him. "Feng Qi doesn't have enough people to cover all of Luyang City. It shouldn't be difficult to pull off, either."

"Good," Qiu Feipeng said.

"But you should be prepared for it to fail," Feng Jiu warned.

"Why?" Han Zuo asked.

"Because I strongly suspect Feng Qi's Keyword isn't really maintenance at all. Maintenance is just a false front he's put up." Feng Jiu's smile faded, and he spoke gravely. "Heavenly Demons are good at disguising themselves. If they reveal their Keyword, it's like announcing their weakness to the world.

"At the Feng Family, Feng Qi betrayed me without a second thought, then betrayed the Feng Family he supposedly wanted to protect. Yet his attributes didn't weaken at all. They only kept growing. That's not normal. Maintenance could just be his disguise, meant to conceal his real Keyword."

The others exchanged glances. Han Zuo asked, "What do you think his attribute is, Mr. Jiu?"

"Most likely Fraud," Feng Jiu replied. "He uses maintenance as a pretext to deceive me, the Feng Family, and the people of Luyang City. That could help him grow quickly, too." He glanced at Feng Shiyi. "As long as anyone is still being deceived by him and believes his lies, his attribute won't weaken."

"Even if his attribute really is Fraud, Mr. Jiu's plan would still work," Han Zuo said. "If we take back the goods he handed out, people will naturally stop trusting him."

If only it were that simple. Feng Jiu sighed inwardly. Maintaining peace and all that is trivial. The real trick is the Heavenly Demon theory he's spread—that's the greatest fraud of all!

Rumors were easy to spread and hard to dispel. It would be incredibly difficult to undo the damage caused by the Heavenly Demon theory.

"You gentlemen can certainly give it a try. It won't cost us anything, either way," Feng Jiu said with a smile. "But only Heavenly Demons can fight Heavenly Demons. The best approach is to find more Heavenly Demons, help them grow by acting in line with their attributes, then use them to deal with Feng Qi. He's revealed the secrets of the Heavenly Demons, making him a traitor to the Demon Realm. Who knows how many Heavenly Demons hate him to the point of wanting him dead?"

Feng Jiu had never believed Du Ge's Keyword was maintenance, and he didn't believe these people could deal with the shrewd Feng Qi, either.

He needed to make more preparations. There was no way he could discredit the Heavenly Demon theory by himself. But if he joined forces with enough other candidates, then once they all grew stronger, it would be much easier to come forward and refute it.

Of course, by then, they might not need to refute it. They might be able to kill him outright.

Feng Jiu had been tricked by Du Ge from the very beginning. Just when he had finally shown a little goodwill, he was betrayed again, while Feng Qi continued to thrive. His jealousy had surged all the way from his heels to the crown of his head.

At that moment, Feng Jiu had only one thought left: they could lose the Simulation Field, but Feng Qi had to die.