Hua Feiyun Dies!

All around, flames leapt and darted, sparks bursting open like falling feathers, scattering onto the ridges of pavilions, wooden corridors, window lattices, and draperies.

The fire oil used in Lanyue Garden was naturally of excellent quality. The moment it touched wood or silk, flames sprang up in the blink of an eye, swiftly turning into streaks of fire-snakes.

Then, whipped by the cool wind carried in from where the Yudai River and Longji River met, they suddenly flared into a roaring blaze.

The temperature in the courtyard soared.

This sudden upheaval had come far too fast.

Many of the powerful nobles and great-clan figures in the courtyard were almost all still holding on to their bearing, priding themselves on calm composure.

Therefore, even though Hong Yuan had knocked down Young Master Hua and slain He Xiaofeng the moment he appeared, these people, though startled, had not immediately left.

After all, experts were gathered in this inner courtyard, and every noble had guards at their side. If they were frightened off by a mere martial man, would that not make them a laughingstock?

Who could have expected that this martial man was actually an unparalleled fiend, killing several armored soldiers and blasting more than ten martial artists to death in a short dozen breaths, as easily as eating and drinking?

Most vicious of all, this martial man had struck copper basins filled with fire oil into the sky and let the sparks scatter everywhere.

He was simply a beast—worse than a beast!

Cries for fathers and mothers rang out from the surrounding pavilions and side rooms. Many nobles in splendid brocade robes rushed out in panic, every one of them pale with terror, clothes in disarray, without the slightest trace of graceful bearing left.

Originally, with how spacious the garden was, the nobles from twenty or thirty side rooms, even counting guards, maids, and attendants, numbered only one or two hundred at most. They could have withdrawn with ease.

But now, with all four sides rushing out at once, they were jammed together in an instant. Worse, exploding sparks shot everywhere and fell into the crowd, and shrieks of agony immediately rang out.

People grew even more terrified. Those whose bodies caught fire slapped and beat at themselves again and again, but the flames clung to them like a festering sore burrowed into the bone. Not only could they not be put out, they burned ever larger. Those on fire could not endure the pain and rammed wildly in every direction, bringing even greater chaos.

The others were gripped by nameless dread. The flames rising from the surrounding pavilions made them feel as if they had been thrown into a furnace.

Many people's eyes turned bloodshot. They punched and kicked, blasting aside anyone blocking their way, and the repeated clang, clang of swords and sabers being drawn rang out one after another.

"How lively!"

Hong Yuan stood on the terrace, looking down from above at the chaos, and sighed.

The pavilion above his head and the side rooms beside him were also on fire. Boiling heat surged around him, but Hong Yuan did not care in the slightest. Ignoring Hua Feiyun and Young Master Hua struggling and cursing beneath his feet, he looked toward Yang Erhu.

Yang Erhu had already stood up.

Though he still could not use True Force, and the blood and qi throughout his body remained somewhat disordered, his ability to move was no longer hindered. He looked down below, then turned to Hong Yuan, the shock in his eyes impossible to hide.

Just what kind of monster was this little disciple he had taken in?

Was this someone Yang Erhu could have taught?

"Master Qin fell into the hands of the Dragon King Society..." Taking a deep breath, Yang Erhu steadied his shaken mind, his gaze fixing on Young Master Hua beneath Hong Yuan's feet.

That one sentence was already enough.

Hong Yuan understood.

Whoosh!

As he lifted his foot, the Life-Taking Throat-Locking Spear in his hand flicked upward. Amid floorboards tearing apart inch by inch, Hua Feiyun flipped through the air. Before he could land, a flash of silver had already pierced through his right arm.

Hua Feiyun screamed. His whole body was lifted into the air like a roast chicken skewered on a spit, his face split and torn, covered in blood and filth.

"Where is Master Qin?"

Hong Yuan asked calmly. There was not much shock or fury in him; Master Qin was only Yang Erhu's friend, not his.

The two of them had not even exchanged more than a few words.

Young Master Hua felt both humiliated and terrified. The intense tearing pain made his whole body tremble, and his voice was hoarse. "Let me go... Only, only if I live will your friend be all right..."

Pfft!

The spear tip trembled. A huge ripping force surged in, violently tearing Hua Feiyun's right arm from the shoulder. Blood sprayed everywhere. As the arm fell toward the building below, Hua Feiyun let out another shrill howl and fell backward onto the floor.

"My hand... my hand..." Hua Feiyun's voice was heart-rending, but in this courtyard that was already a mass of panic, it did not seem out of place.

"Is Master Qin still alive?" Hong Yuan continued asking.

Hua Feiyun curled into a ball, his body shaking uncontrollably as he wailed again and again, as if he had not heard Hong Yuan's question.

Crack!

Amid the sound of shattering bone, Hua Feiyun's right calf suddenly bent and folded. The broken bone pierced through flesh. Hong Yuan withdrew the spear and looked at Hua Feiyun, who seemed to no longer even have the strength to scream, then said flatly, "You still have one hand and one leg..."

Hua Feiyun panted "hoh, hoh," despair filling his heart. He knew he was finished; even if he survived, he would be a cripple.

His eyes were filled with dead ash, and he laughed miserably. "Kill me! The Dragon King Society won't let you go, and my Hua Family will let you go even less. Do you know my Hua Family is—"

"I don't want to know." Hong Yuan glanced at Hua Feiyun, shook his head, and turned to Yang Erhu. "It seems Master Qin is already dead."

Yang Erhu closed his eyes, forcibly suppressing his grief and anger. After one breath, he opened them and said in a deep voice, "I already expected as much... Apart from this Hua bastard, there is one more person who must die."

Yang Erhu's eyes suddenly shifted. His eyes widened in rage as he looked down into the crowd. Under his glare, one person hurriedly retreated.

Everyone else wanted to rush outside. Only this person lingered where he was, hesitant and wavering—it was Old Man Jia of the Dragon King Society.

Old Man Jia was frightened to the extreme. He wanted to slip away too, but if something happened to Young Master Hua, he would also die without a place to bury his body.

So he had been looking for a chance to rescue him all along. Not until that murderous god fixed his eyes on Young Master Hua again did Old Man Jia give up any thoughts of luck. But now that he wanted to flee, it already seemed a little late.

Yang Erhu leapt up, pressed a palm against the floorboards, and had already dropped into the courtyard below, striding toward Old Man Jia.

"Kill me, kill me..." Hua Feiyun murmured, over and over, with only those words on his lips.

Hong Yuan met his deathly still eyes. The other man's gaze was hollow, empty—so empty he almost seemed unable to see even this enemy before him.

With a soft laugh, Hong Yuan said, "Kill you? How could it be that simple? You seem very proud of your Hua Family, as if it's something you can rely on. Then I just have to let you live and watch the Hua Family be destroyed by my hand."

"Living is the punishment I grant you. This mortal world is the hell I give you!"

Hua Feiyun's eyes brightened, and within his ash-dead pupils, a glimmer of life gradually returned.

Live?

That was right! He had to live!

So what if one of his hands and one of his feet were crippled? From ancient times to now, among those who had accomplished great things, there had never been any lack of people with crippled limbs. If others could do it, then he, Hua Feiyun, could do it too.

Besides, he still had his elder sister. His elder sister would definitely be able to restore him.

He would take revenge. He would make the person before him taste ten times, a hundred times the pain and humiliation, to repay the hatred of today!

Just as anticipation surged through Hua Feiyun's mind, there was a puchi, and his chest suddenly went cold. His pupils stiffened as his gaze dropped.

A silver spear had pierced through his heart.

On Hua Feiyun's blood-smeared face, there even seemed to appear a trace of disbelief.

"You actually believed that!"

"How did someone this naive live to this age?"

Hong Yuan smiled leisurely, unhurriedly pulling out the spear, then wiped the blood staining its tip clean on Hua Feiyun's robe.

"I have a habit. As long as someone is my enemy, even if he's already lingering at his last breath like a dog, I will never leave him for later."

"Farewell. Don't expect me to see you off!"

Hua Feiyun's eyes dimmed. In the last remnant of his vision, he only saw the other man raise his hand and strike. The long spear swept past, and great chunks of flaming wood came crashing down, while the other man rose lightly and drifted into the courtyard.