A Formidable Enemy Approaches

A Great Enemy at the Gates

In the Qi Mansion's Airship Courtyard, an airship of distinctive design was already prepared to set sail.

Airships were an extremely fast mode of transportation, and of course, their construction cost was exceedingly high as well.

In all of Hengshan Prefecture, the only ones who could afford to use airships were the eight great families.

And the airship before them now was a top-three grade among airships, first-rate in quality. If one insisted on making a comparison, it was like a Bugatti among cars.

Even among the eight great families, such airships were in very limited supply.

At this moment, two people were already waiting beneath the airship. They were Baili Tu and Gusu Fu.

Baili Tu was a towering man nine chi tall. Judging by his attire, he likely was not from the Lieshan Marquisdom. His upper body was bare at all times, exposing a body of iron-hard, solid muscles. Tattoos stretched from his neck up to his face, shaped like demons. On his back he carried an enormous ruler, its material somewhat resembling stone. It had no edge or blade, and its surface was covered in patterns like the tattoos on his body.

Baili Tu's cultivation had already reached the seventh level of the Earth Martial Realm. He was not born in the Lieshan Marquisdom yet could serve here as a guest minister, which showed he was also someone who received an imperial stipend. Only such people, holding an inscribed tablet, could move freely without being restricted by the territories of marquisdoms or dynasties.

Gusu Fu was an exceedingly handsome person, dressed in flawless white, long hair tied behind the head, with a fair and beautiful face. Only upon closer inspection would one discover that this was a woman disguised as a man. Her aura was hidden without showing, restrained without leaking, giving others a feeling that she was extremely deep and calculating. The folding fan in her hand also seemed to conceal some other mystery.

Gusu Fu's cultivation had reached the eighth level of the Earth Martial Realm, and she likewise held an extremely high position in the Qi Mansion's Senior Guest Pavilion.

The two stood together, one tall and one short, exchanging a few simple words.

Just then, Qi Hao's aide brought Ouyang Ke over.

"Mr. Ouyang." Baili Tu and Gusu Fu went forward at the same time, greeting him with smiles.

"Sorry to have kept you two waiting," Ouyang Ke replied faintly.

"Not at all, not at all." Gusu Fu hurriedly welcomed him with a smile. "To have the opportunity to travel with Mr. Ouyang this time, the two of us are truly excited. Just now, we were still discussing that with Mr. Ouyang's strength, this journey is really beneath your station."

Ouyang Ke was greatly pleased by Gusu Fu's flattery and spoke expansively. "No matter. Just think of it as going out for a stroll to empty the mind. This time, when we go to take that yellow-mouthed brat's head, I may still have to trouble you two to act."

The meaning behind his words was obvious as well: he disdained to bully a junior himself. Only if Baili Tu and Gusu Fu failed to kill that youngster would he make a move.

"Haha, please rest assured, sir. He is merely a brat still reeking of milk. There is no need to trouble you to act." Gusu Fu's words struck exactly where Ouyang Ke liked to hear them. By comparison, Baili Tu off to the side was much more clumsy with words.

"My three honored senior guest ministers, please board early. When you return to the mansion tomorrow morning, the young master will prepare generous gifts to receive you," the aide urged at the right time.

Ouyang Ke nodded, stepped forward, and boarded the airship. Baili Tu and Gusu Fu immediately followed, with the aide close behind.

After the airship rose into the air, it swiftly turned into a streak of flowing light and vanished into the horizon.

That evening, the airship arrived above Zhushan Town and floated in the sky.

"My three honored senior guest ministers, we have arrived at our destination," the aide reminded them.

Ouyang Ke walked to the edge of the airship and looked down through the mist at the small town below.

Inside the town, the lights were sparse and dim, like scattered stars, and faintly, the sound of clamor rose up into the sky.

"What a quiet, beautiful little place," Ouyang Ke sighed. "I never imagined such a small place could produce a youth with such outstanding talent."

"Indeed. To possess cultivation in the Earth Martial Realm at fourteen years old—when it comes to aptitude, we are all far inferior to him. I imagine that if he were allowed to grow, in the future there would also be a place for him on the Earth Ranking," Baili Tu sighed as well.

"So what?" Gusu Fu immediately said. "Isn't he still going to die by our hands today?"

"Enough. Let us go down," Ouyang Ke instructed. "In a moment, I will have to trouble you two to act."

The airship began to descend, and both Gusu Fu and Baili Tu were eager to try. To let a heaven-bestowed genius die by one's own hand could also be considered a different sort of achievement.

The enormous airship descended to hover ten meters above the Jiang Mansion. The servants inside the Jiang Mansion had long since noticed this giant object dropping from the sky, and one after another, they panicked in terror.

At this moment, Jiang Feng was cultivating with full focus when he suddenly sensed three powerful auras intrude into the range of his divine sense.

Although he was in seclusion cultivating, he knew the Qi Family would definitely come knocking over the next few days, so he had always left a strand of divine sense to monitor the surrounding heaven and earth while dividing his attention. For him, whose soul strength was extremely powerful, this was not difficult and had no effect whatsoever on his cultivation.

"Oh!" Seeing the cultivation of those who had come, Jiang Feng was somewhat surprised. "They really think highly of me. They actually dispatched an expert at the perfected Earth Martial Realm."

With Jiang Feng's divine sense, he naturally saw through the three people's cultivation at a glance. The one who drew his attention the most was naturally Ouyang Ke. He did not know that Ouyang Ke was the eighth-ranked expert on the Earth Ranking, but from the strength of the energy within his body and the robustness of his meridians, he could easily determine that this person was absolutely no ordinary man.

As for the other two, they were not weak either. Relatively speaking, however, they were quite a bit inferior.

"Young Master, this is bad! The Qi Family's people have come to attack us!" The steward rushed into the room where Jiang Feng was in seclusion.

Just now, when the airship descended, that aide had already announced their purpose—

"Jiang Feng, you brat, you dared defy the laws of the marquisdom, openly raid the execution ground, and kill officials of the marquisdom. According to the law, you deserve execution. Come out at once and accept death. Otherwise, my Qi Family's airship will flatten your Jiang Mansion and implicate the innocent servants."

It was precisely because of this that every servant in the Jiang Mansion was now terrified.

They did not want to be implicated by the Qi Family's wrath. Moreover, almost all of them had come from the Nie Mansion and the Wei Mansion, and among them were some who had once gone to Prefecture City to handle matters and knew that the three people at the head of that airship possessed heaven-toppling strength.

"Heavens, this time the Qi Family is determined to decisively eliminate future trouble in one stroke. They actually sent out three senior guest ministers."

"Exactly. I once had the fortune to see the man at the head from afar. He is the chief seat of the Qi Family's Senior Guest Pavilion, Ouyang Ke, the eighth-ranked super expert on Hengshan Prefecture's Earth Ranking. This time, he actually came in person."

"With such an expert personally coming here, in my view, Jiang Feng is dead for certain this time. We must not be implicated by him. Hurry and run."

"Right, run! As long as we keep our lives, even scraping by in this world is better!"

For a time, every servant in the Jiang Mansion ran about, fighting to flee. Only an extremely small number remained.

Naturally, Jiang Feng understood all of this clearly through his divine sense.

As the saying went, when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. This tree had not even fallen yet, and these people had already scattered. It really was realistic.

Jiang Feng rose, shook the dust from his robes, and glanced at the steward. "Let's go. Take me over to have a look."

The steward had originally been a servant of the Jiang Mansion. After Jiang Yunhai was demoted, he was seized and taken to the Wei Mansion to serve as a bitter labor slave. Now that Jiang Feng had returned in force, his loyalty to the Jiang Family had earned him promotion to steward of the Jiang Mansion. Toward Jiang Feng, he was naturally utterly devoted, ready to follow him through life and death.

Thus, in the face of the Qi Family's threat, he did not run for his life.

Coming out together with Jiang Feng was Xiang Pang.

Xiang Pang had also been in secluded cultivation in the Jiang Mansion these past few days, and now he too had heard the clamor outside.

The moment they left the room, they could look up and see that enormous flying vessel hovering in the sky, blotting out the star-dappled night, its presence overbearing.

"Ah Feng, what happened?" Xiang Pang asked.

"The Qi Family's people are here," Jiang Feng replied only faintly.

"So soon!" Xiang Pang exclaimed, somewhat surprised, but his expression immediately steadied. "Good that they're here. Saves us from long nights breeding many dreams."

Calm and composed, Jiang Feng lifted his head and looked toward the flying vessel, staring directly at the three people aboard.

At that moment, the three people on the flying vessel also spotted Jiang Feng at a glance.

Jiang Feng now also possessed cultivation at the Earth Martial Realm, and the aura around him was far from ordinary. If he did not restrain his presence, he would easily stand out in a crowd. Ouyang Ke and the other two were all experts of the Earth Martial Realm, so they very easily sensed Jiang Feng's aura.

"He truly is no ordinary one!" Ouyang Ke stared straight at Jiang Feng. "At first I still didn't believe it, but seeing him with my own eyes now, he is indeed extraordinary. If this boy does not die, his future accomplishments will certainly surpass yours and mine. What a pity, what a pity..."

"This kid is actually quite handsome and refined," Gusu Fu said with a light laugh.

"The boy beside him isn't bad either. Judging by his age, he's only around seventeen, yet he's already reached the first level of the Black Martial Realm." Baili Tu noticed Xiang Pang. "For him not to flee at a time like this, he should also be someone of the Jiang Mansion. Once Jiang Feng is killed, I want to capture this boy and take him back as a servant."

"Gentlemen, let us end the battle early. Though this place is secluded and beautiful, it is still a small place in the end. After the battle is over, we will return at once," Ouyang Ke said.

Gusu Fu and Baili Tu exchanged a glance, then smiled at each other.