Feng Shuhu's death!

"Senior, that should be enough."

Song Qu stood partly in Xia Yi's path, blocking him from approaching Feng Shuhu, who was buried beneath broken stones, bricks, and tiles.

Xia Yi stopped.

"Your eye isn't quite sharp enough, Lord Xiyuan Marquis. He doesn't think it's enough."

[You have discovered the Four-Star Saint Soul: Uprooting the Willow. Current exploration progress: 10%]

Boom!!

The rubble exploded outward. Feng Shuhu stood ramrod straight, his general's armor shattered, his whole body drenched in blood. His expression was savage, his muscles bulged, and his imposing aura surged even higher than before!

"That's enough, Feng Jiedushi!"

Song Qu turned and barked, "Stop inviting further humiliation! Senior has already shown you mercy!"

Feng Shuhu narrowed his fierce eyes slightly and snorted. "My son's death has been avenged. Today's business is finished. I won't strike again! But you old bastard, this isn't over between us! Once I break through to Kaiyang, I'll kill you!"

His son's death has been avenged? Song Qu froze, then his expression changed drastically. He looked back and dashed away.

Xia Yi sighed. "You'll kill me once you break through to Kaiyang? After shouting that, what makes you think I'd let you go? Besides, do you insist on taking a second beating?"

A second? Feng Shuhu frowned.

Everything before him turned illusory and reversed, racing back to the moment the drums had first sounded. Faced with the sharp halberd tip spinning toward him in an instant, Xia Yi leaped aside and looked at Feng Shuhu charging toward him, his armor largely intact and his body shrouded in red light!

He had long since learned from Chen Guang that beneath Feng Shuhu's outwardly forthright manner lay a sinister, cunning nature.

How could he not take precautions?

With Shi Lai protecting him, Chen Guang was, in a certain sense, absolutely safe! Of course, Xia Yi would not pin all his hopes on Shi Lai. He had kept a sliver of his attention on them throughout, but at least for now, Shi Lai had done an excellent job.

He had died first, before Chen Guang could be assassinated!

Rewinding to the start of his battle with Feng Shuhu, who had just received the Drumming to Battle at Golden Mountain buff, Xia Yi did not use his "foreknowledge" to defeat him early. Instead, he strictly followed the sequence of their previous exchange!

Right up until he buried him in the rubble!

[You have discovered the Four-Star Saint Soul: Uprooting the Willow. Current exploration progress: 20%]

The rubble exploded outward just as before!

Song Qu intervened just as before!

Feng Shuhu again narrowed his fierce eyes slightly and said, "My son's death has been avenged. Today's business is finished. I won't strike again! But you old bastard, this isn't over between us! Once I break through to Kaiyang, I'll kill you!"

His expression changing drastically, Song Qu turned and rushed away.

Xia Yi's reaction, however, was completely different!

His fury blazed, his face flushed red, and his white hair and beard streamed in the air. A phantom appeared behind him, someone smashing cauldrons and breaking boats. Every strand of his beard and hair turned blood-red. Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats activated!

"How dare you?!"

Both the wording and the tone were just like what Feng Shuhu had shouted when Lin Gong died, when he used Shooting the Halberd at the Camp Gate against Xia Yi-or rather, they were identical!

But Feng Shuhu had no time to notice this uncanny coincidence. Alarmed, he shouted, "Beat the drums!!"

The drums sounded again. Yet although he too was cloaked in bloody light, at their very first clash, Xia Yi easily knocked his swinging halberd aside. Countless fist shadows exploded against his body, blasting him into his soldiers!

The soldiers hurried to catch him. Those on the outside stopped listening to Ma Chen's orders. Their own Jiedushi had been beaten like this-how could they not intervene?!

But Xia Yi, seemingly lost in bloodlust, charged straight in. These soldiers had not formed ranks, and the strongest among them were only Three-Star. A wave of his hand sent them flying!

Feng Shuhu spat blood and forced himself to his feet, only for Xia Yi's fist to thunder toward him!

Just then, a blade flashed!

Seeing things go wrong, Xu Zhou stopped guarding Feng Shuhu's drum-beating Personal Guard and charged over, saber in hand!

Xia Yi roared, "Anyone who stands in my way dies!"

His fingers flicked, sending bursts of Saint Soul force shooting in every direction. They knocked aside Xu Zhou's saber and blasted him away. Feng Shuhu seized the opportunity to steady his breathing, then thrust his halberd fiercely, murderous intent surging!

Xia Yi caught the halberd's tip in one hand, paying no heed to the bloody gash it cut into his palm. His Saint Soul power erupted, again and again! No one could cultivate every one of their Saint Souls to Six-Star mastery as he had!

Take the forty-nine-year-old Feng Shuhu. His energy was limited. Having Five-Star mastery of Drumming to Battle at Golden Mountain and Shooting the Halberd at the Camp Gate, and Four-Star mastery of the Halberd Scripture and Uprooting the Willow, already made him exceptionally gifted! It was not that he refused to use his other Saint Souls, but that Two- or Three-Star mastery was useless against Xia Yi!

Xia Yi's 8,671 units of Saint Soul power already rivaled a King's! With him unleashing it regardless of consumption, apart from Feng Shuhu and Xu Zhou, even the powerful Four-Star close guards could not approach the battle!

Even working together, Feng Shuhu and Xu Zhou were like fluff in the wind, duckweed in the rain!

In moments, both had suffered multiple wounds!

In the distance, Song Qu had already rushed into Wangjiang Tower and swiftly climbed the stairs. His icy-blue eyes swept the area, and he seized a Three-Star close guard in soldier's armor who had slipped over at some point. "Where are they?!" he demanded.

"Lord Xiyuan Marquis!"

"I'm asking you! Where is Chen Guang? And that boy named Shi Lai, and Zhou Xiaoxian!"

"...I couldn't find them."

Couldn't find them? Song Qu frowned. From the guard's minute changes in expression, he could tell he was not lying. Scanning the surroundings, he spotted a private room with its window wide open and clear footprints on it.

They moved away in advance? Clever. Song Qu relaxed slightly. With a cold snort, he flung the guard aside. Feng Shuhu pulling this trick right under his nose left him deeply displeased!

He looked back toward the battlefield, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

Once again, he turned and dashed back.

Yet throughout this grand performance, Xiyuan Marquis Song Qu had run back and forth without managing to stop anything.

By the time he returned to the battlefield, Xu Zhou's burly body lay twisted in the rubble like a rag doll, utterly lifeless!

Feng Shuhu lay slumped on the ground, a massive hole blasted through his chest by Xia Yi, just like Zhou Lizhu before him. As he clung to his last breaths, disbelief still lingered in his eyes.

He was no child. Naturally, he understood that if he killed others, others would kill him. But he was, after all, the Jiedushi of Zhi Prefecture. Anyone who killed him would find no place in Great Zheng, or even the Seven Kingdoms!

That was why he had forbidden his subordinates from harming a hair on Zhou Xiaoxian's head, and had even instructed them not to hurt Shi Lai unless necessary. They were to kill only Chen Guang.

This old man would actually risk his life for Chen Guang?!

And once he went all out, even Xu Zhou and I together couldn't last ten exchanges against him?!

"Senior! Show mercy! Chen Guang isn't dead! They hid themselves in advance!"

The Xiyuan Marquis's shout made Feng Shuhu's fierce eyes widen. He happened to see Xia Yi beside him, looking somewhat drained after deactivating Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats, reveal a faint smile.

A smile?

Scene after scene from his encounters with Xia Yi replayed in his mind.

Their first meeting, when he had realized Xia Yi had not killed Lin Gong, yet still shouted "How dare you?!" and attacked to test him.

The ambush at the Tea Garden, when Xia Yi had clearly seen through the trap, yet doubled back to defeat Ma Chen without killing him, causing Ma Chen to switch sides on the battlefield.

And earlier, upon hearing that he had sent men to kill Chen Guang, Xia Yi had shouted the very same "How dare you?!" that he had.

He... did it on purpose?!

"He isn't dead?" Xia Yi's pleasantly surprised voice echoed in his ears. Then Xia Yi looked back at him and murmured as though utterly distraught, "He isn't dead, isn't dead, but Feng Shuhu... I'm afraid he's going to die."

He... was acting!

He was making Song Qu help clear him of guilt!!

He... knew about the Xia Family's inheritance!!!

He deliberately killed Xu Zhou and me!!!!

But when did he signal that brat to move Chen Guang? And why wasn't he worried Chen Guang would die?!

A final furious roar rose in his heart. Feng Shuhu was no Zhou Lizhu. The wound through his chest burst, blood poured from his mouth, and with his eyes wide open, he died in utter fury and bitter unwillingness!