Certain Death

The man was dressed in brocade, nine feet tall, his back and waist ramrod straight, his body wrapped in fine clothes. He had a square face, a full beard, inch-long hair and whiskers, brows all silver-white, eyes that held their own authority, and a broad, high forehead.

The newcomer was none other than Qi Gongfu, a collateral powerhouse of the Qi Family stationed in Qinghe Prefecture, with cultivation at the Heaven Martial Realm.

Strictly speaking, the whole of Qinghe Prefecture was his fief.

Of course, within the Qi Family itself, Qinghe Prefecture belonged to the Qi Family's Qi Xingyun.

The moment Qi Gongfu stepped through the door, he raised his hand and slapped through the air. Qi Hao, kneeling five meters away from him, was sent flying by that slap, smashing through three Ironwood tables and chairs before he finally steadied himself.

Qi Hao discovered in terror that with just that one slap, the qi force in his body had already been locked fast inside his dantian.

"You good-for-nothing thing, more than useless at success and perfect at ruining everything!" Qi Gongfu sat down heavily in the seat of honor. The adviser was so frightened he knelt on the floor, trembling all over. How could Qi Gongfu's imposing aura be something he could withstand?

"For ten years, you are not allowed to take even half a step out of this little courtyard!"

Qi Gongfu seemed beside himself with rage, and the first thing he did was punish Qi Hao with ten years of house arrest, but in truth, this was to protect Qi Hao.

Early that morning, he had heard about the change in the Earth Ranking and discovered that the new name on the list was actually Jiang Feng, whom Qi Hao had mentioned yesterday. After obtaining the battle footage of Jiang Feng and Ouyang Ke, Qi Gongfu's anger had nowhere to go—

That wretched son had actually offended such a heaven-gifted talent!

That was why he had come straight to Qi Hao's courtyard without any announcement and confined Qi Hao.

Qi Hao had already told him the full details of what had happened yesterday. To be honest, at the time, he had not taken it seriously.

So after calming down, Qi Gongfu also felt that the matter had not been handled cleanly, but he could not blame Qi Hao entirely.

Who asked that Jiang Feng to be so monstrous?

Before this, Qi Gongfu had also believed that once Ouyang Ke made a move, he would definitely bring Jiang Feng's head back. In fact, he had even thought sending Ouyang Ke to kill Jiang Feng was using an ox-cleaver to slaughter a chicken.

"M-Master..." the adviser asked, trembling, "Then Jiang Feng... do we still kill him?"

Qi Gongfu rose from the reclining chair, his brows and eyes tightening.

"I would very much like to recruit him. With his aptitude, he will surely accomplish extraordinary things in the future. If I could recruit such a heaven-gifted talent for the Qi Family, my status within the Qi Family would also rise greatly one day."

"Unfortunately, the Qi Family has harmed him too deeply. He definitely will not be used by the Qi Family."

Before coming here, he had already investigated everything clearly. Jiang Feng's parents had been demoted to slaves. He originally had no intention of concerning himself with this matter, but after yesterday, he had specifically ordered his subordinates to inquire into the current state of Jiang Feng's parents.

Jiang Feng's father could be considered a talented man as well. To think that under such terrible conditions, he could still break through to the Earth Martial Realm. However, that also marked the arrival of his misfortune.

Just a few days ago, Jiang Feng's father, Jiang Yunhai, had already been taken away from the beast-hunting slave camp by the Qi Family.

The one who took Jiang Yunhai away was a hidden old ancestor of the Qi Family. In his pursuit of becoming a transcendent life, this old ancestor would stop at nothing. Who knew where he had found a method that could use external force to assist him? This method was to borrow another person's strength to remold his own body, thereby extending his lifespan, strengthening his fleshly body, and possessing abilities close to that of a transcendent life. The person whose strength was borrowed was the medicinal primer, and would gradually lose vitality, flesh, and blood, ultimately turning into a dried corpse.

Jiang Yunhai had been taken by that old ancestor to serve as the medicinal primer!

Wanting that old ancestor to hand the man over was absolutely impossible!

Even the family head, Qi Xingyun, could not do it!

"Kill him. Of course we kill him!" After weighing the matter, Qi Gongfu made his decision.

The adviser immediately answered, "Very well, I'll go arrange it at once."

Qi Gongfu stopped him. "You'll arrange it? Do you have the ability to arrange it?"

That adviser had only answered immediately because he was terrified for the moment; he truly had not thought carefully about how to do it. Jiang Feng's strength placed him fifth on the Earth Ranking. Was he someone they could casually arrange for a person to kill?

Could he hire a Heaven Martial Realm expert?

Nor could he hire any of the top five experts on the Earth Ranking!

Previously, the greatest killer force on the Qi Residence's side had been Ouyang Ke. Now Ouyang Ke's life or death was unknown. Who else in the Qi Residence could be brought out?

"I..." The adviser's mind spun rapidly. "I'll put out a bounty. A bounty on Jiang Feng's head. Anyone can bring Jiang Feng's head to the Qi Residence and claim a reward of ten thousand gold coins."

Qi Gongfu snorted coldly. "Ten thousand gold coins to bounty the head of the fifth on the Earth Ranking? Did your brain get squeezed by a door?"

Yes, ten thousand gold coins was indeed an astronomical figure to ordinary people, but to those on the Earth Ranking and even those in the Heaven Martial Realm, it was nothing more than a scrap of fly meat.

"Then..." The adviser's thoughts moved quickly, and he knew Qi Gongfu already had a plan. "Please make it clear, Master."

Qi Gongfu sighed. Now that things had come to this, it would be impossible not to bleed.

It was true that he possessed cultivation at the Heaven Martial Realm, but he could hardly throw away his dignity and personally make a move to kill a junior in the Earth Martial Realm!

So this matter still had to be handed to someone else.

"Go take a trip to the Bounty Alliance..."

"The B-Bounty Alliance?" The adviser was afraid he had misheard.

"That's right." Qi Gongfu nodded. "Now that things have reached this point, only the people of the Bounty Alliance are of use to me."

The adviser felt a pang in his flesh just hearing it. "That Bounty Alliance, they're all masters who eat people without spitting out the bones!"

The Bounty Alliance claimed that as long as one was willing to spend money, they could solve any trouble.

In fact, that was exactly the case. Never had there been anyone who spent the money yet failed to get the matter done.

It was precisely because of this that to ask the Bounty Alliance to handle a matter, the reward that needed to be paid was extremely expensive. Even someone like Qi Gongfu did not dare casually ask the Bounty Alliance to do things.

To release a mission in the Bounty Alliance to take someone's life—unless that person absolutely had to die, and the hatred was as irreconcilable as not sharing the same sky.

To the Qi Family, though Jiang Feng was not quite a sworn enemy they could not live beneath the same sky with, he absolutely had to die! Otherwise, once Jiang Feng grew stronger in the future, he would surely become a disaster for the Qi Family. The Qi Family perhaps did not fear Jiang Feng alone; after all, its foundations ran deep, and even if Jiang Feng grew into the Heaven Martial Realm, he still could not shake the Qi Family's roots in the slightest. He was nothing worth worrying about.

However, if this matter became known to the Qi Family's core, then it would be difficult for Qi Gongfu's status in the Qi Family to rise another step! Although he was from a collateral branch and could never become the family head, he still had hope of entering the family council of elders.

Qi Gongfu would not allow anyone to affect the rise of his status within the Qi Family. Once the matter of Jiang Feng became known to the family core, he, Qi Gongfu, would never again have any chance of entering the council of elders.

Therefore, in his view, Jiang Feng had to die!

Just as outsiders knew, the Bounty Alliance's asking prices were terrifying—simply eating people without spitting out the bones.

"What!?" After hearing the Bounty Alliance's quoted price, the aide was so shocked his jaw nearly failed to return to its place.

"Five hundred thousand?!" the aide repeated the price the other party had named.

"You're saying that to kill Jiang Feng, we need to pay five hundred thousand gold coins?"

The masked man receiving the aide nodded and said flatly, "Five hundred thousand. Not a coin less."

"Please look over the intelligence more carefully. Could there be some mistake?" the aide asked, forcefully suppressing his anger.

After all, this price was far too outrageous. It was only killing a junior of the Earth Martial Realm, yet they were asking five hundred thousand gold coins. The Bounty Alliance's price was truly too expensive.

"That's right. It's five hundred thousand," the masked man said without the slightest change in expression.

He hesitated for a moment, then gave a certain explanation. "An expert in the top ten of the Earth Ranking is not someone an ordinary Earth Martial Realm cultivator can compare with. To kill an expert in the top ten of the Earth Ranking, the only ones with absolute confidence would be the top two on the Earth Ranking, or experts of the Heaven Martial Realm. People like that—how many gold coins do you think it would take to move them?"

The aide frowned after hearing this. Those words were indeed not false.

"Fine!" The aide felt a wave of pain in his flesh, but what Qi Gongfu had instructed, he had to handle properly.

The Bounty Alliance's quoted prices did not allow bargaining.

Were it not for the fact that he was someone from the Qi Family, with the haggling he had just done, they would certainly have thrown him out.

"Five hundred thousand. Jiang Feng, you have enough to be proud of!"