Lanyue Garden, Gathering in Full

A sharp wind swept in, whipping Hong Yuan's robes until they snapped and rustled.

His long hair hung loose at random, left to the fierce wind to toss into disarray.

In his palm he held a green-skinned wine gourd. He slowly drained the last mouthful, tossed the gourd away, and turned his gaze into the distance.

By now, he had already left Black Iron Town and stood atop a high ridge where the mountain wind cut like knives.

Where his eyes looked, roughly three or four li away, was the place where Lanyue Garden stood.

Lanyue Garden lay thirty li east of Linjiang Prefecture's outskirts, backed by Cuiping Mountain and beside the estuary where the Yudai River met the Longji River.

Unfortunately, dense woods clustered around the courtyards, their crowns towering into the sky and shading most of the garden beneath them. Only faint outlines could be seen—flying eaves and interlocking brackets, pavilions rising at uneven heights.

Only the clamor of voices drifted over on the wind, letting one know that within that vast garden, it must be extraordinarily lively right now.

Hong Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked to his side.

On a great slab of blue stone stood a long spear, silver-white from end to end, flashing with a clear, cold gleam under the reflected light.

The spearhead had sunk straight into the blue stone, yet not a single chip of rock had sprayed out around it, as though it had pierced through rotten soil.

Hong Yuan reached out. The moment his five fingers touched the shaft, he felt a fine, frosted texture.

Looking closely, one could see the spear's shaft was covered in layer upon layer of undulating cloudlike patterns.

Hong Yuan suddenly pulled. As force passed through it, a sound of stone splitting rang out, like a piece of silk being torn apart. A long gash ripped open across the surface of the great blue stone.

The long spear was in his hand!

It weighed more than fifty jin, yet in Hong Yuan's hands it was as light as nothing. With a casual turn of his wrist, blossoms of spear flowers burst open one after another.

Compared to the silver-white body of the spear, the spearpoint was a deep, dark color, gloomy as blood.

Perhaps it was because an unfilial son had appeared.

Although Hong Yuan had said the matter was settled.

Xu Jingren and Ou Zhenyun, however, feared that his anger had not yet faded and that he was only temporarily holding it in, so they forgot food and sleep, making the master craftsmen in the workshop work day and night. This "Life-Taking Throat-Locking Spear" was actually forged several days earlier than expected.

From start to finish, it had taken nine days.

The time had indeed been moved up, yet there was not the slightest roughness on the spear's body. Every inch showed traces of careful polishing.

Hong Yuan's fingers stroked over the spear's body. This spear was divided into two parts and could be dismantled into a short staff and a short spear!

The joint in the middle used a threaded connector and a spring latch.

Hong Yuan's fingertips swept over it and felt a slight protrusion in the middle. He then pressed lightly. With a crisp "ding," the latch instantly sank into the spear shaft.

The hand with which Hong Yuan gripped the spear moved, and a tremoring force surged. The lower half of the spear shaft did not move, while the upper half spun rapidly and abruptly separated. Just as it was about to shoot out, Hong Yuan caught it in his other hand.

Hong Yuan's comprehension and development of Spiral Force had only taken on an initial shape. It was somewhat forced to use it in combat, but using it to dismantle and assemble the spear was perfectly suited, fast to an unbelievable degree.

Of course, doing this would also wear it down very quickly. This "precious weapon" forged from Cloud Pattern Iron would probably be played to ruin sooner or later.

Only, Hong Yuan did not much care. Using a spear right now was merely a transitional stage!

Wrapping the short staff and short spear in a piece of cloth, Hong Yuan carried them in one hand. With a leap of his body, he faced the howling cold wind and jumped down from the ridge.

On the steep mountain wall, his figure was like a nimble ape, bounding up and down as if walking on flat ground. In the span of a few breaths, he had already reached the foot of the mountain.

Amid rumbling thunderous sounds, surging waves rolled with force. The Yudai River, seven or eight zhang wide, blocked his path.

Whether upstream or downstream, there were narrower stretches of river, but Hong Yuan did not stop at all. He darted swiftly as the wind, sprang up, and landed on a thick, sturdy tree by the bank.

Bang!

A thick section of branch was shaken loose by the force of Hong Yuan's palm, then driven onward by that same palm force, shooting with a "whoosh" toward the center of the river.

Hong Yuan's foot paused, and a surge of powerful force immediately stirred beneath him, sending his entire body flying out. From the branches of a great tree three or four zhang high, he soared into the air.

In an instant, he landed on the tree trunk in the river.

The trunk suddenly sank downward. River water surged back from all sides, but Hong Yuan had already crouched again, leapt up, and landed on the bank.

His figure flickered and swept straight toward Lanyue Garden.

In these nine days, Hong Yuan truly had not idled for even a moment. Aside from carrying out one major affair after another within Linjiang Prefecture City, he had also come to observe this Lanyue Garden twice.

It was just that on those two occasions, he had not entered it.

Originally, Hong Yuan's earliest thought had been to figure out Wei Zhenzhu's movements. He did not necessarily have to personally enter Lanyue Garden; he could also wait until the so-called "Hero Arena" dispersed, then ambush and kill Wei Zhenzhu halfway when she left.

But times changed.

At that time, he had just slaughtered his way through Huang Mansion and did not have a clear grasp of where he himself stood.

Now, after exchanging blows with many martial artists and drawing in the essence of so many martial artists' skills, how could his techniques, physique, and spirit have risen by only a single level?

He had already killed his way through Linjiang Prefecture until corpses lay strewn across the land. Now it was only killing one Wei Zhenzhu. Did he, Hong, need to avoid the edge of her blade?

If so, would he not have cultivated in vain for the past half month or so?

The next course of action was very simple.

Enter Lanyue Garden and determine where Wei Zhenzhu was.

If she had not come, keep digging for information.

If she had, kill her!

Whoever dared stand in his way would be killed along with her.

So what if the Hero Arena in Lanyue Garden had been launched by a dozen or so mighty, prestigious clans of Linjiang Prefecture, and every year when the arena opened, it drew the participation of countless gentry households, wealthy magnates, and powerful noble families, with martial men gathered in droves and experts thick as clouds?

Was Wei Zhenzhu not from a powerful clan?

Leaving aside her husband, who held the post of salt and iron judge, Wei Zhenzhu was also a member of the Wei Family.

And the Wei Family was one of the top noble houses in the prefectural city!

Though everyone said Wei Zhenzhu was the Wei Family's shame, and the Wei Family even forbade her from setting foot in the prefectural city, for a great clan, they could curse their own all they liked—but if an outsider killed "one of theirs," was that not stepping on their face?

Hong Yuan no longer cared even about the Wei Family, much less the others.

Before long, Hong Yuan's figure moved like a snake, slipping through the forest, and Lanyue Garden's vast courtyard district loomed ahead.

At the same time.

Inside Lanyue Garden, everything was in full swing, the clamor boiling over.

Lanyue Garden was divided into an inner and outer ring. Within the many pavilions and towers that encircled the outermost area was an expansive martial field, with seven arenas arranged inside, yet it still seemed spacious.

Around these seven arenas, wooden viewing sheds had been built one after another. Each shed was decorated rather exquisitely, and at a glance there were probably a hundred or so.

There were already people in every viewing shed, all of them figures of standing from the twelve counties under Linjiang Prefecture—gentry households, local tyrants, gang overlords of one territory or another, all sorts gathered together. Adding in the guards and attendants each had brought, there were probably a thousand people.

Naturally, the viewing sheds lacked neither tea nor snacks, and there were young maids arranged by Lanyue Garden serving attentively. If these people of status took an interest, they could even toy with them at will, indulging in broad daylight.

But at this moment, how could these people have such thoughts? All of them stared with burning eyes at several arenas on the martial field, shouting again and again.

On the martial field, martial artists faced off atop every arena.

Some were still probing each other, some had already begun trading fists and kicks, and from some arenas came the fierce clangor of metal striking metal.

All of a sudden, a piercing scream rang out from one arena.

One martial artist had an arm torn off. His opponent was a large man with slightly graying temples, a broad square face, and a curly beard. He panted heavily, his palms hooked like claws as he gripped the severed arm, then lashed out with another sweeping kick and sent his enemy flying off the arena.

Cheers and curses erupted from all around at the same time.

"Good!"

"Excellent skill! Reward him!"

"Haha, this round puts at least three thousand taels into this old man's account!"

"Dogshit bastard, useless trash! And he dared call himself some 'Mountain-Splitting Hand'? Couldn't even beat an old man. Mountain-Splitting Hand my ass—he might as well change his name to Nanny Hand!"

"Can't change it now. He doesn't even have a hand anymore!"

"That dogshit made me lose eight hundred taels!"

"Heh, a mere eight hundred taels and you dare howl? You think you're worthy of sitting at the same table as this old man? This old man lost a shop in the county center!"

"What's that old fellow's name?"

"Seems to be Yang Erhu, a martial hall owner. I think he's already won three matches, hasn't he? Doesn't that mean he can enter the inner field to compete?"

"More than that. He's already won four! The inner field—who knows when I, Li, will ever be able to enter and watch."

"Heh! The inner field is for the true great figures. The size of their gambling stakes is beyond your imagination. With your family fortune, you're not qualified to take part in those wagers."

Inside the viewing sheds, the powerful men—some dressed in radiant brocade that flaunted their splendor, others in low-key luxury—seemed to have cast off their usual masks. Some laughed madly, others cursed at the top of their lungs, spittle flying everywhere!

Yang Erhu's chest rose and fell. He leapt down from the arena and silently looked at the opponent whose arm he had torn off, blood pouring as the man passed out from the pain.

This "Mountain-Splitting Hand" had martial arts about equal to his own and was more than ten years younger. When Yang Erhu struck, he had left no room to hold back. With the slightest carelessness, the one lying on the ground would have been him.

He could not help sighing.

Only when a smiling, withered old man sidled up to him and cupped his hands did he speak: "Congratulations, congratulations. Hall Master Yang is truly hale and hearty in old age. You have opened this little old man's eyes."

Yang Erhu turned his gaze to the scrawny old man, his face extremely hard and cold. "Old Jia, where is the person I want to see?"

"Hall Master Yang, do not worry. That Master Qin is being looked after very well by us." Old Jia still wore that smiling expression.

But Yang Erhu only wanted to smash a fist into the other man's face and smash that old face to pulp.

This old Jia was naturally a subordinate of the Dragon King Society.

Not long after Hong Yuan had left the martial hall that day, old Jia had come knocking again. The other side had actually captured Master Qin and used Master Qin to coerce Yang Erhu into fighting in the arena for the Dragon King Society.

Out of concern for Master Qin, Yang Erhu had no choice but to comply.

However, Yang Erhu was not a pedantic man. He agreed verbally, but in his heart he harbored the thought of secretly rescuing him.

Yet the Dragon King Society had once funded Yang Erhu's attack on the "Jade Wutong Immortal Realm," so naturally they guarded against him deeply. At every moment, someone was watching him, making the gloom in his chest grow heavier and heavier. Coupled with one life-and-death battle after another, the double drain on heart and strength had turned much of his originally black hair white.

"You promised that as long as I won four matches, you would let me see Master Qin?" Yang Erhu said in a deep voice.

"Heh! Merely winning in the outer field—how could that show Hall Master Yang's true ability? Young Master Hua has spoken. Hall Master Yang should enter the inner field. This time, as long as you win one match, not only will we let you see Master Qin, you can even take him away!"

Old Jia smiled.

When Yang Erhu heard this, not only was there no joy on his face, his heart instead sank. After a moment of silence, he said coldly, "Let me see him first!"

Old Jia shook his head, his wrinkled old face utterly resolute. "Master Yang, if you don't trust me, could it be you don't even trust Young Master Hua's words? What kind of person is Young Master Hua? How could he deceive a mere roughneck of the jianghu like you?"

Then he laughed mockingly. "Of course, if Master Yang is dissatisfied, you may kill this old man to vent your anger. In any case, for this past half month, this old man has enjoyed more than enough. It was worth it!"

Yang Erhu paid Old Jia no more attention. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had already grown much calmer. In a deep voice, he said, "I hope Young Master Hua keeps his promise."

"This young master will naturally keep his promise. Whether Yang Erhu wins or not, he will be sent away together with that friend of his."

Compared to the clamor and racket outside, the inner grounds were undoubtedly far more exquisite and elegant. Four pavilions stood tall, each two stories high, encircling a massive arena.

Around the arena, the lamps burned bright. Two men were currently roaring and fighting fiercely amid the candlelight, wind whistling, sleeves snapping. Whether in aura, speed, or strength, they were clearly a cut above those outside.

Inside the four pavilions, every floor had several private rooms. Altogether, the forty or fifty private rooms were not yet fully occupied; only twenty or so had figures moving within. Curtains were lifted, and many great personages sipped fine wine, leisurely and at ease as they watched this battle of life and death.

A young master with fair skin and handsome, delicate features stood inside one private room. Looking at the "colossal thing" seated at the head, the corner of his eye twitched, and he felt that even this enormous private room had become extremely cramped.

The smile on his face was also very forced.

"In that case, Madam Wei should have calmed down, yes?"

Seated at the head was shockingly a gigantic meatball. This meatball continuously shoved wine and food into her mouth, grease and broth splattering everywhere, making her hideous face look just like that of a fiend.

It was none other than Wei Zhenzhu!

And beside Wei Zhenzhu, two people were attending her.

One was a tall man dressed in gaudy finery, constantly kneading and soothing Wei Zhenzhu for her, extremely obedient and perceptive. He was none other than Wang Ai.

The other had her face covered with a heavy veil and stood silently to the side. She was a petite woman, with only a pair of rather cold eyes showing.

The young master looked at this heavily veiled woman, who seemed like a maidservant, and the corner of his mouth twitched again.

Originally, seeing this woman was close to Wei Zhenzhu, he had even thought of using his charm to hook up with her so he could plant a nail at Wei Zhenzhu's side. Who would have thought that after the other party pulled off her veil, the face revealed had nearly frightened him into crying out?

"Calmed down? How could it be that easy? You people made me suffer so miserably, and now you want to let it pass so easily!" Wei Zhenzhu finally stopped eating. "Huh, huh" sounds came from her throat, and it was impossible to tell whether she was laughing or gasping for breath. On that face riddled with punctured holes, the wounds had yet to heal, and as she spoke, remnants of food and liquid seeped out.

The young master felt an urge to retch.

Wei Zhenzhu's man, that salt and iron judge Zhou Wenjie, had come directly under the province's jurisdiction, specifically to investigate the salt, iron, and tea taxes of Linjiang Prefecture.

Although Ming Province was a land of tangled powers, with the great aristocratic families and nobles checking one another, collecting taxes was something those true great figures of the provincial administration all had as a shared goal.

The Hua Family, to which the young master belonged, was a major household in the salt, iron, and tea businesses. They did not dare oppose them openly, so they joined with more than a dozen other families to form the Dragon King Society and oppose Zhou Wenjie.

Later, after learning that Yang Erhu, Wu Duxiong, and the others were investigating news about Qin Ziyue, the Dragon King Society pushed the boat with the current and decided to place a casual piece on the board, giving Wei Zhenzhu's side a bit of trouble as well.

If they had not been discovered, then so be it. But as it happened, no one knew where they had shown their horse's hoof, allowing Wei Zhenzhu to learn that behind the actions of Yang Erhu, Wu Duxiong, and the others was the handiwork of their Dragon King Society.

With a turn of thought, this Young Master Hua simply forced Yang Erhu to fight in the Hero Arena, and even arranged Yang Erhu's ending for him—to die miserably before Wei Zhenzhu so the other party could vent her anger.

"Then what else does Madam Wei want?" Young Master Hua's face was stiff. Before this Wei Zhenzhu, he truly could not maintain the bearing of a great family's scion, nor could he laugh.

Greedy light flickered in Wei Zhenzhu's blood-red pupils. She licked her lips and stared at Young Master Hua. "This Lanyue Garden Hero Arena—I, Wei Zhenzhu, also want a share in it."

Young Master Hua's expression turned cold, and he could no longer be bothered to smile. He said flatly, "Madam Wei, you're thinking too much. If you still haven't woken up, you may continue sleeping."

Among the dozen or so powerful clans who had first masterminded this Hero Arena, the Hua Family had likewise had a share. It was just that the one managing the matter at that time had been Young Master Hua's father.

Over the past dozen years, it was not that none of those initial dozen or so powerful clans had been replaced, but the Hua Family had remained as steady as Mount Tai the entire time, showing just how powerful its influence was.

"You want to tear all pretense of cordiality with me?" Wei Zhenzhu snapped.

"Heh! Madam Wei, I, Hua Feiyun, am willing to apologize out of respect for the Wei Family, not because I'm afraid of you! I've said all I have to say. I'll take my leave first!"

Hua Feiyun turned to leave, and just happened to see Old Jia hurrying over. He reported, "Young Master, Commandant Guo has arrived!"

Hua Feiyun's spirits lifted. "Commandant Guo? Come, let us go welcome him!"

Linjiang Prefecture had three prefectural armies: the White Scale Guard, the Iron Wall Guard, and the Jintang Battalion! Each prefectural army was headed by three people: the commander and the left and right commandants!

And this Commandant Guo was the left commandant of the Jintang Battalion, named Guo Zhen.

The reason he was able to sit in this position was naturally because the Guo Family was one of the truly great clans in Linjiang City.

Outside Lanyue Garden, Hong Yuan casually tossed an old man dressed like a gentry scholar into the dense woods, took the name card from his person, and swaggered toward the entrance.

In truth, although Lanyue Garden was tightly guarded, it was not difficult to get inside, because too many people were coming.

Even without a name card, as long as one's assets were sufficient, one could enter.

He tossed the name card to the guard on duty at the entrance. The other party merely glanced at it and did not carefully verify his identity or whether his appearance matched. He did not even pay attention to the cloth on his hand that was obviously wrapped around a weapon, and respectfully welcomed Hong Yuan inside.

Hong Yuan had only taken a few steps when his figure abruptly paused. Amid the trembling of the ground, the sound of horse hooves swiftly approached.

He looked back and saw that, escorted by over a hundred armored soldiers, a middle-aged man of ordinary appearance, fair skin, and an extremely long beard was riding over on horseback.

That man's gaze was arrogant. Outside Lanyue Garden, there had originally still been quite a few carriages and horses entering, but this party of over a hundred armored soldiers showed no intention of stopping. Four riders even charged out first, waving the horsewhips in their hands to drive people aside.

Hong Yuan heard quite a few richly dressed people calling out "Commandant Guo." He could not help but frown slightly, glanced at the middle-aged man on horseback, then turned and walked into the garden.

Whoosh!

A figure hurried over, just happening to brush past him. It was a fair-skinned, handsome young man.

"Mm?!"