Exposed!

Tang Fei pushed Phoenix away as if afraid she might get pregnant if he held her any longer.

Phoenix felt a pain in her chest again, this time from being pushed by Tang Fei.

He had pressed the wrong spot.

Tang Fei jumped down from the rattan chair and ran to the courtyard gate, peering outside through the tiny gap between the two door panels.

As expected, crowds of people were surging, and a large number of Gray Robes were gathering in this direction.

"Have we been exposed?"

Tang Fei looked at the Old Man, who shook his head.

"If we haven't been exposed, why are so many people here all of a sudden?" Tang Fei asked.

"My shaking my head doesn't mean we haven't been exposed; it means I don't know what's going on either."

"You need to speak more clearly next time and not let people misunderstand," Tang Fei said grumpily.

Little Fatty also woke up, rubbed his eyes, and walked out, asking, "Did something happen? Why is it so noisy outside?"

Tang Fei made a shushing gesture and said to Little Fatty and Phoenix, "Get ready to run at any moment."

"What about you?" Phoenix blurted out.

Tang Fei glanced at her and said, "Someone has to stay behind to cover the retreat. Otherwise, you won't be able to get far."

"We go together," Phoenix said with determination. "This all started because of me, how can I leave you alone? I'm also in the Qi Control Realm, I can fight alongside you."

She looked at Little Fatty and the Old Man and said, "You two go first. We'll find you after Tang Fei and I break through the encirclement."

She hadn't seen the Old Man kill Shan He with one hand, but since he could eliminate Shan He, it proved his strength was not weak.

Therefore, Phoenix thought it was a good choice to have him take the ignorant Little Fatty to escape first.

The Old Man chuckled, "Loyal and righteous, not like those people from New Star. I find you, little girl, more and more pleasing to the eye."

"Thank you," Phoenix replied.

She thought to herself, it would be even better if he didn't accompany his compliments with such a strange laugh and that meaningful gaze.

The Old Man looked at Tang Fei and said, "The outside is already completely surrounded by the Gray Robes of the Flame Shrine. It won't be easy to leave. We should figure out what's going on first. If they're really after us..."

The Old Man's eyes turned fierce, and he said coldly, "Worst case scenario, we kill them all. The Flame Shrine doesn't have any good people anyway."

"Mm," Tang Fei nodded. "I'll go gather some information first."

He peeked out the door for a while and spotted Wang Tianlong, the "good brother" who had barbecued at their house yesterday.

Tang Fei immediately opened the courtyard gate and greeted Wang Tianlong warmly, "Brother Long."

Seeing Tang Fei, Wang Tianlong waved his hand and said, "Quick, go inside, go inside and close the door, don't come out."

"Brother Long, what's happening?" Tang Fei asked.

"We don't know yet," Wang Tianlong said. "We received orders to surround this village. Why are you worrying about this? Go back quickly. There's a Flame Talisman posted on your door. As long as you don't come out voluntarily, you'll be fine."

"Okay, okay, thank you, Brother Long," Tang Fei said gratefully. "Brother Long, are you looking for someone? Do you need my help?"

Wang Tianlong waved his hand. "No, no need. Your family has old people and young children, what help could you provide?"

He lowered his voice and whispered to Tang Fei, "We're trying to catch a Qi Control Realm expert this time. I heard they've even dispatched quite a few experts from the Lingyang area to catch him. The Flame Army is here too..."

"The Flame Army?" Tang Fei asked.

He hadn't interacted with the Flame Army before and didn't know their strength. Of course, the Flame Army usually wouldn't come to remote human settlements like Hate Mountain.

If the person who died this time wasn't a Black Robe, and that Black Robe happened to be the son of Bian Feng, the boss of the Lingyang Great Area, how could the Flame Army possibly come to a place like this?

"Haven't seen them before? Heh heh, this is my first time dealing with them too. They used to operate in the Lingyang Great Area. Their weapons and equipment are top-notch, and they have quite a few guns. They're much more imposing than us Gray Robes," Wang Tianlong said with a chuckle.

"Never mind, why am I telling you all this? Go back quickly, go back quickly. It would be bad if you got accidentally injured by our Flame Society brothers."

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Long. You should also take care of yourself. After you're done here, come to my place for barbecue," Tang Fei invited warmly. "I'll go hunting in the mountains later and see if I can catch a wild boar for you. Roasted wild boar meat is delicious."

Wang Tianlong nodded. "Don't go into the mountains. The entire village is completely surrounded; you can't go even if you want to. How about this? When I'm done here, I'll have someone get some wild boar meat for you. You just be responsible for roasting it."

The Flame Shrine and the Predators organization also have many similarities. We don't hunt, but we can be carriers of food.

It's just that the Flame Shrine does it a bit more discreetly, and not very often. The Predators organization lives by this, robbing whenever they see something.

"Alright, I'll do as you say, Brother Long," Tang Fei agreed obediently.

Wang Tianlong waved goodbye to Tang Fei and then went back to his work.

Tang Fei closed the courtyard gate. The Old Man and Little Fatty gathered around, and Phoenix also came out from the room where she had been hiding.

"What's the situation?" the Old Man asked.

"They must have found a suspicious target, otherwise, they wouldn't have sealed off the entire village," Tang Fei said.

Through the brief exchange with Wang Tianlong, he had a general understanding of the situation.

"However, they haven't pinpointed specific households yet. That means they don't know that we did those things. Otherwise, Wang Tianlong wouldn't have been so polite to us."

"Is it possible that Wang Tianlong also has limited information?" Phoenix asked.

"That possibility cannot be ruled out," Tang Fei said. "However, the situation this time is very dangerous. Not only have they mobilized all the Gray Robes in the Hate Mountain District, but I also heard that they've dispatched a large number of experts and the Flame Army from the Lingyang Great Area for support. I don't know the strength and realm of those experts, but if the Flame Army is equipped with sophisticated firearms as Wang Tianlong said, they pose a significant threat to us."

"When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, dam it," the Old Man said, stretching. "Let's prepare for the worst and then see what happens."

Tang Fei nodded and said, "I'll go sharpen my blade."

Tang Fei's cleaver had blocked a bullet for him, shattering into pieces.

He needed to forge a new cleaver; after all, he was used to that kind of blade.

Surrounded by countless Gray Robes and the Flame Army, Bian Feng rode his horse to the center of the village. To his left was Chen Hu, the former deputy of the Hate Mountain District, and to his right was Blood Hand, the leader of the Predators' Blood Hand Society.

Bian Feng looked around and asked, "Is it all surrounded?"

"It's surrounded," Chen Hu reported urgently. He was primarily responsible for this matter. "We've formed large and small circles, pushing inward from the perimeter. Not a single fly can escape."

Bian Feng glanced at Chen Hu and said, "If you do this well, it will be a great contribution. If you do poorly, you can go raise spirit beasts in the Lingyang Grand District."

"Yes," Chen Hu bowed in agreement.

He turned and said to a Gray Robe captain, "Cheng Gang, bring the person over here."

Soon, the Gray Robes brought a young man who was thin and walked with a light, unsteady gait.

Bian Feng's gaze fell on the young man's face. After observing him for a while, he asked, "You say you saw others looking for cultivators?"

"Yes, sir." The young man dared not meet Bian Feng's gaze, lowering his head and bowing. "It was yesterday afternoon, while I was working at home, two outsiders walked in and asked if I had seen an injured woman..."

"Outsiders? An injured woman?" Bian Feng looked down at the young man's dry, straw-like messy hair, knowing he was getting closer to the truth.

The locals in the Hate Mountain District wouldn't dare provoke the Flame Shrine lightly. If they were from higher up, like the New Star, it would be a different story.

"Did you see that woman?"

"Yes, many of us saw her," the young man replied.

"Where is that woman?" Bian Feng asked.

"At Tang Fei's house," the young man answered. "A few days ago, we saw Tang Fei carrying a woman home with our own eyes."

"Tang Fei? Who is he?"

"He's a hunter," the young man said.

He paused and added, "He's a very skilled hunter. He always brings back game every time he goes into the mountains. So, everyone secretly watches to see what he brings back when he descends from the mountain. I didn't expect him to bring back a person that day."

The young man with yellow hair thought for a moment and said, "That woman was clearly an outsider. Her skin was fair and tender, and her clothes were different from ours. She wore very strange clothes..."

"Tang Fei," Bian Feng said, tasting the name in his mouth. He then said to Chen Hu, "Bring Tang Fei here."

"Yes, sir," Chen Hu replied.