Chen Tianren was immediately thrown into a tizzy. But with Jiang Ling senior in both age and standing, and his strength unfathomable, Chen Tianren didn't dare say much...
The old man probably had his reasons for staying calm. Still, that didn't change the fact that the Chen Family's two precious darlings were surrounded.
"Wendi, gather some men. Have the dozen or so brothers who made it back alive from the Li River bring their gear and come with me to the Moon Mantle Nightclub."
Chen Tianren's brows furrowed as he looked at Jiang Ling. "Elder Jiang, I'm entrusting the women and children of the Chen Family to you."
With that, Luo Wendi and Chen Tianren charged out of the Chen Residence. One car after another sped out of the garage, dark gun barrels faintly visible through the windows.
Just then, Chen Manqing came downstairs in a velvet knit sweater, still bleary-eyed with sleep. She glanced out the window near the foot of the stairs and saw one jeep after another carrying passengers drive past the Chen Family's gates.
"Father?" Chen Manqing's heart lurched, an indescribable sense of foreboding rising within her.
She turned to look at the hall downstairs.
The white-haired old man, who almost never set foot inside the Chen Residence, was sitting alone on the sofa, eyes closed, as if resting with his eyes shut...
Chen Manqing hurried back upstairs and found her younger sister playing piano. "Mansheng, how can you still be playing that lousy piano at a time like this? You don't even know something's happened at home..."
Chen Mansheng didn't seem bothered. "Sister, even if something's happened at home, what can a delicate girl like me, who can't even truss a chicken, do about it?
"I've never studied abroad, I don't know how to do business, and all I can do is eat, drink, and have fun. Isn't Father just raising me so he can marry me off when the time comes?
"Don't panic, don't panic. Come listen to how your little sister plays."
Chen Manqing was so exasperated she could hardly stand it. She all but ground her teeth as she went over, grabbed Chen Mansheng by her chestnut hair, and hauled the pretty girl in the Yellowstone-style jacket to her feet.
The younger girl grimaced in pain.
"Boys are raised to be ambitious, girls to be virtuous. Chen Jing is only fourteen, yet he's already so dependable, while you squander the family fortune and live in such decadence all day!
"Pack your things. We're going to the estate outside the city through the side gate. Otherwise, you'll die here!" Chen Manqing didn't loosen her grip on Mansheng's hair as she spoke through gritted teeth.
"Sister, there are monsters outside the city. I don't dare go..."
"People's hearts are scarier than monsters. Hurry up. We'll talk it over with Uncle Jiang..."
The fifth floor of the Moon Mantle Nightclub.
Luo Bin's suit was already in tatters from the fight. The muscles swelling as he circulated the Primordial Stance and the White Ape Through-Arm Fist had burst through the shirt beneath it.
Chen Jing beside him was still fairly calm. As soon as the Strange Entity appeared, it had gone straight for Luo Bin, completely ignoring the youth holding a silver revolver, with a long-barreled rifle slung at his waist.
The Strange Entity rode the rustle of the wind, revealing pale, bluish hands. Its five-centimeter-long nails slashed at Luo Bin from time to time. When its attacks were blocked, it would slip back into the darkness.
For Luo Bin, these attacks were barely more than a scratch, so none of the three panicked...
"Second Young Master, Brother Luo, this Strange Entity won't fight us head-on. It's only sneaking attacks, which is a bit of a pain," Zhang Huai said with a cheeky grin.
A faint smile appeared on Chen Jing's youthful face. "It's fine. I still have my rifle, and plenty of bullets..."
Luo Bin didn't reply. His gaze was icy as he reached out with his right hand, fingers curled like hooks. A wave of warm air rose from his arm, its scorching heat so intense that Chen Jing had to step back several paces.
Luo Bin took a steady step forward. Dust on the floor shivered a centimeter into the air, then settled softly back down.
His arms rose like long whips, accelerating as he moved. Like a white ape with decades of battle experience, he darted toward the Strange Entity, which had reappeared ten paces away.
The Strange Entity in the distance revealed its full form. At a glance, it looked like a woman, wearing a qipao slit to her upper thigh and exposing large swathes of snowy skin that shimmered with a bluish glow...
"A ghost?"
Seeing Luo Bin charge forward, Zhang Huai let out a roar, roused the blood and qi in his entire body, and followed him, throwing a punch at the Strange Entity.
"Through-Arm Wind Splitting!"
The second level of the White Ape Through-Arm Fist had become second nature to Luo Bin. His arms swept up gusts of air that cut like blades, making Zhang Huai squint against the wind.
Chen Jing struggled to calm his nerves. Through the dust filling the corridor, he took aim at the female ghost with his revolver.
Bang!
He fired. Just as he'd said, the bullet couldn't hurt her; instead, it veered away from the female ghost at a bizarre angle.
The female ghost attacked as well. A ball of Red Mist gathered in the palm of her hand, and she sent it flying at them like a snake spitting venom.
The pale golden blood and qi contained in Luo Bin's fists and arms burst out under the pull of the Primordial Stance's energy, clinging to his skin.
His fist came down with immense force, smashing into the Red Mist.
Hiss, hiss, hiss—
The Red Mist evaporated rapidly, like droplets of water thrown into a hot pan. More and more pale golden blood and qi spilled from Luo Bin's fists and arms.
Expressionless, he swung his fists, grinding the remaining Red Mist around him into vapor.
According to Zhang Huai, the demons and ghosts in Ping City—and across Great Xin—were divided into two kinds: Demon Specters and Strange Specters.
The thing before them was probably a Strange Specter.
Luo Bin threw one last punch, but it seemed to hit something that briefly held it back. He quickly drew his hand in and looked closely.
A patch of rotten, stinking flesh on the red-qipao ghost's cheek had caved in, but it soon swelled back up and returned to normal. Then she lunged at them again...
Bang!
Another fist, wrapped in pale golden blood and qi, shot forward.
After making a feint, the female ghost abruptly vanished into the darkness.
Luo Bin was starting to get annoyed. After the Red Mist weakened his heavy punch, it had struck the female ghost's face with barely half its force and failed to inflict a fatal wound.
The unique blood and qi produced by the Primordial Stance was the key to countering this Strange Entity.
A thought suddenly occurred to Luo Bin. He turned and asked, "Second Young Master, if I smash this whole fifth floor to rubble, will you make me pay for it?"
Chen Jing scratched his head, unsure what Luo Bin meant, but answered anyway:
"You helped me get rid of the female ghost. I can't thank you enough. If word gets out that the Moon Mantle is haunted, its reputation will suffer.
"My income will be cut in half, and the Chen Family will be dragged down with me. And that's not even counting the attacks from our rivals, who are all watching us like tigers waiting to pounce."
A chilling smile tugged at Luo Bin's lips. "Then I can stop worrying."
After all that time, he'd only used the blood and qi produced by the first level of the Primordial Stance. Last night, he had exhausted all his Spirit Charm and advanced to the second level.
Luo Bin slammed his fist into the shadow-draped wall along the corridor.
In an instant, cracks spread wildly from the imprint of his fist, branching like a spiderweb. The entire fifth-floor slab groaned as if it could no longer bear the strain.
Luo Bin held nothing back. The force of the White Ape Through-Arm Fist began at his waist and spine, thundered through each vertebra, and surged all the way to his shoulder, elbow, wrist, and palm. His entire right arm seemed to turn into a long whip of solid iron.
Where his fists landed, the solid-wood partitions of the private rooms shattered, sending splinters flying.
One punch knocked the concrete off a pillar. The entire Western-style floor-to-ceiling window, carved with ornate patterns, exploded beneath the force of his blow.
For a moment, the rumbling from upstairs rolled down floor by floor. The ground-floor hall, which had been kept under control, instantly went from "keep the music playing, keep dancing" to sheer panic.
The decadent jazz that had been flowing through the air came to an abrupt stop. The forced smiles over raised glasses, the dancers' soft Suzhou accents, and the merchants' lively chatter peppered with foreign words—
The earth-shaking commotion snuffed it all out in an instant.
Fear rose in everyone's eyes as they stared at the narrow stairwell, their minds fixed on one question:
"What on earth is happening upstairs?"
On another stage, Su Yunong, a celebrated Kunqu opera performer, had been pinching the edge of her long silk sleeve as she bowed. Now the handkerchief in her hand slipped to the floor, and her legs gave way. One of her fellow actresses caught her.
Her voice trembled, almost breaking into tears. "W-what... what are they doing? Is the Chen Family's second young master clearing the place out—or killing us?"
Before you continue