The night deepened, yet the streets outside Immortal's Abode remained brightly lit.
Chen Chen put his bamboo hat back on, its wide brim concealing most of his face and leaving only a cold, hard-lined chin exposed.
He blended into the crowd, his pace neither hurried nor slow, as though the mysterious expert who had stirred up a storm on the second floor of the gambling house and won the Azure Cloud Token had nothing to do with him.
Yet his powerful Spiritual Power spread out like invisible tentacles, vigilantly sensing every movement around him.
He knew that the trouble had only just begun.
Liang Feng might have been a good-for-nothing, but behind him stood the deeply entrenched Liang Family of Tianfeng City.
Liang Hu, the Liang Family Head, was a Qi Condensation Ninth Layer Peak expert, a figure who ranked among the very best in all of Tianfeng City.
Before so many people, Chen Chen had won the Azure Cloud Token that the Liang Family treasured as dearly as their lives, and had even directly knocked that fool Liang Feng unconscious. It was no different from delivering a vicious slap across the Liang Family's face.
With the temperament of someone like Liang Hu, he would never let the matter rest.
"I must leave Tianfeng City as soon as possible."
Chen Chen made his decision.
No, that was not right.
He quickly rejected that thought.
"I can't leave. At least not before Wang Teng dies."
He had come to Tianfeng City for two reasons.
First, to obtain the Azure Cloud Token.
Second, to kill Wang Teng.
Now, the first objective had been accomplished, but the second had not.
Shadow Tower's intelligence stated that Wang Teng would arrive in Tianfeng City in less than two days.
Moreover, that Blood Fiend Tower assassin, whose cultivation was at least at the Qi Condensation Fourth Layer, was lurking in the shadows and watching him like a fly.
If he left the city now, he would inevitably be hunted down by that assassin.
Outside the city, there were no rules to restrain anyone. A Qi Condensation Fourth Layer assassin posed far too great a threat to him.
Besides, he still had an agreement with Lin Yueru.
He needed to borrow Lin Yueru's strength to keep that assassin in check.
Therefore, he could not leave.
Not only could he not leave, he had to complete the absolute kill of Wang Teng under the double pressure of the Liang Family and Blood Fiend Tower!
"This really is... getting more and more exciting."
A cold curve lifted at the corner of Chen Chen's mouth.
The greater the pressure, the more fiercely the battle intent in his heart surged.
As he considered his next move, he inconspicuously wound through the city's narrow alleys, turning this way and that.
The intelligence from Shadow Tower, worth a thousand spirit stones, contained not only information on Liang Feng. It also came with the most detailed map of Tianfeng City, even marking the locations of several of the city's most hidden safe houses.
This was the professionalism of Shadow Tower.
They did not merely sell intelligence; they also provided their clients with thoughtful "after-sales service."
Before long, Chen Chen arrived outside an utterly inconspicuous courtyard in the slums of South City.
After confirming that no one was following him, he knocked on the door using the special method recorded in the jade slip.
The door silently opened a crack.
Chen Chen slipped inside, and the gate silently closed behind him.
This would be his hiding place for the next few days.
At the same time, at the Liang Family residence in Tianfeng City.
Inside the study.
Bang!
With a sharp, thunderous crash, a desk made from premium nanmu wood was smashed into powder by a large hand covered in bulging veins.
"Useless! Absolutely useless!"
A stern-looking middle-aged man in embroidered robes pointed at Liang Feng, who was kneeling on the floor and trembling all over, and roared in fury.
He was none other than the Liang Family Head, Liang Hu!
At that moment, not a trace of his usual composure remained. He was like an enraged lion, blazing fury burning in his eyes.
Several broken lengths of whip lay scattered by his feet, along with two unconscious guards.
Clearly, not long after Chen Chen left the gambling house, a round of family discipline had already taken place here.
A bright-red handprint was swollen high on Liang Feng's face, blood still clinging to the corner of his mouth. Kneeling on the ground, he did not even dare raise his head, his body shaking like chaff in a sieve.
"Father... I was wrong... I truly know I was wrong..." he begged through sobs.
"Wrong?" Liang Hu laughed in extreme anger. "Where were you wrong? Were you wrong to gamble, or wrong to take the Azure Cloud Token out to gamble?"
"I... I..." Liang Feng stammered incoherently.
"I told you long ago that the Azure Cloud Token was your only chance in this life! Your only hope of joining the Azure Cloud Sect and bringing honor to our ancestors!" Liang Hu roared in grief and fury. "But what did you treat it as? You actually treated it as a stake to win your money back at the gambling table!"
"Do you know how great a price I paid to beg the sect for that token for you?!"
"Now, it is all over! All ruined by you, this worthless good-for-nothing!"
The more Liang Hu spoke, the angrier he became. Raising his foot, he prepared to kick Liang Feng.
"Family Head, please calm your anger!"
An elderly steward beside him hurriedly stepped forward to stop him. "Young Master... he knows his mistake as well. If you keep beating him, you will beat him to death."
"Beat him to death? I wish I could strangle this unfilial son with my own hands right now!" Although Liang Hu said so, he ultimately did not bring his foot down.
He panted heavily and paced back and forth through the study, forcing himself to calm down.
After a long while, he finally stopped and stared coldly at Liang Feng kneeling on the floor.
"Speak. Who exactly was the person who won the Azure Cloud Token?"
Liang Feng shuddered and hurriedly described everything that had happened in the gambling house from beginning to end, embellishing it as he went.
Naturally, he concealed how he had provoked the other party and how arrogant he had been, focusing only on how sinister and cunning the other party was, and how he had used Spiritual Power to ambush him.
"A gray-robed man who looked to be only at the Fifth Level of Body Tempering?"
After hearing Liang Feng's account, Liang Hu furrowed his brows deeply.
"His Spiritual Power was exceptionally strong. He could easily force back two Third Level of Qi Condensation guards and even... directly knock you unconscious?"
He glanced at his son, who might have been worthless but was still at the Qi Condensation First Layer, and the doubt in his heart deepened.
To accomplish that, the other party's Spiritual Cultivation had likely reached an unimaginable level.
At the very least, it was at the level of Late Qi Condensation Stage!
An expert with such terrifying Spiritual Cultivation had concealed his own cultivation as merely the Fifth Level of Body Tempering?
What was his purpose in coming to Tianfeng City?
Why had he chosen to target the Liang Family of all people?
Question after question surfaced in Liang Hu's heart.
"Investigate!"
Killing intent flashed violently in Liang Hu's eyes as he growled toward the doorway.
"Pass down my order. Seal off the entire city! Have every hidden guard of the Liang Family turn Tianfeng City upside down for me!"
"Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, you must find that bastard in gray robes and a bamboo hat!"
"I will make him understand the consequences of stealing from the Liang Family!"
"Yes!"
A respectful reply came from outside the door.
Very soon, an invisible net spread outward from the Liang Family, rapidly shrouding all of Tianfeng City.
Countless black shadows belonging to the Liang Family melted into the night of Tianfeng City.
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