“Everybody calm down!”

At the critical moment, Xie Siyu stepped forward.

Wen Kangsheng said furiously, “Siyu, these few sold us out. Half Moon Manor is surrounded by the court’s army so tight that not a drop could leak out. If we take them as hostages we may still have a road out.”

“You are taking the outsiders’ side at a moment like this. What are you about?”

“Has Ning Chen bought you?”

Xie Siyu frowned and said with a cold face, “Uncle, this is not clear yet. Do not create a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Wen Kangsheng laughed coldly. “The facts are in front of your eyes. What is there to misunderstand?”

“Xie Siyu, get out of the way.”

Xie Siyu frowned. “Uncle, calm down.”

“Outside that gate is the court’s army. They may charge in at any moment and kill every one of us and leave a hundred years of the Ghost-Shadow Sect’s foundation destroyed in a day… If we take them as hostages, we may still have a road out.”

“Xie Siyu, I am telling you to get out of the way… Do you mean to defy my order?”

Wen Kangsheng shouted the words at him.

Xie Siyu’s brows drew tight.

But Wen Kangsheng went straight at Feng Qizheng.

“Uncle, no!”

Xie Siyu put out a hand to stop him.

Wen Kangsheng did not slow. He swept a whipping kick at Xie Siyu.

Xie Siyu did not dare raise a hand against an elder, and could only fend it off.

Bang!!!

The kick swept Xie Siyu off his feet and sent him flying.

Wen Kangsheng went at Feng Qizheng like lightning.

Feng Qizheng said angrily, “You old thing. I have wanted a piece of you for a long time.”

As he spoke, the rebar in his hand came at Wen Kangsheng with the wind whistling behind it.

Wen Kangsheng turned sideways and got clear of it easily.

Bang!!!

The rebar smashed the paving slab underfoot to powder.

The blow had missed, and the rebar in Feng Qizheng’s hand stabbed like lightning at Wen Kangsheng’s thigh.

Wen Kangsheng fell back fast.

Feng Qizheng closed on him and swept the rebar across.

The two of them were locked together in a moment.

Feng Qizheng was not Xie Siyu. Where Xie Siyu had not dared raise a hand against Wen Kangsheng, he cared nothing for any of that, and the rebar in his hand was light as nothing, swung with a tiger’s force behind it.

Truly, the fist fears the young and strong.

Wen Kangsheng was driven back in disarray.

He had not expected Feng Qizheng to be so hard to handle either.

Wen Kangsheng was the Ghost-Shadow Sect’s Grand Elder and no weakling, but assassination was his real trade, and he had years on him. Meeting a man face to face, he was beaten steadily backward by Feng Qizheng.

Bang!!!

Wen Kangsheng got clear of the rebar, but he did not get clear of Feng Qizheng’s left fist, which landed square in his chest.

There was something of a god’s strength born in Feng Qizheng. His power was extraordinary.

It was only his left fist, but the one blow knocked Wen Kangsheng flying several meters.

Pfft!!!

That fist had not been light.

Wen Kangsheng brought up a great mouthful of blood on the spot.

The disciples of the Ghost-Shadow Sect were greatly startled. They had never imagined the Grand Elder would be no match for Feng Qizheng.

Feng Qizheng gave a savage grin, rushed up in front of Wen Kangsheng, swung the rebar up and brought it down at his head.

“Brother Feng, hold your hand!”

Xie Siyu cried out.

The rebar in Feng Qizheng’s hand stopped dead, less than five centimeters from Wen Kangsheng’s head.

Wen Kangsheng’s old face went white with terror, without a trace of blood in it, and his eyes were full of fear.

Feng Qizheng was thinking it over. Would killing Wen Kangsheng make trouble for Ning Chen?

But just then Wen Kangsheng’s eyes turned treacherous. He sat up all at once, seized Feng Qizheng’s rebar with one hand, and out of the sleeve of the other slid a dagger, stabbing out like lightning.

Feng Qizheng grabbed the blade without thinking, but the point still went into his belly.

His blow landed, Wen Kangsheng pulled back fast.

The blade had cut Feng Qizheng’s palm open, and his belly was wounded. He staggered backward, the blood welling out between his fingers.

“Brother Feng—”

“Old Feng—”

The first cry was Xie Siyu’s.

The second was Ning Chen’s, arriving.

Bang!!!

The paving slab under Ning Chen’s foot cracked straight through. He went across the flat ground in a level rush, several meters at a stride, and was at Feng Qizheng’s side in the blink of an eye.

Tao Xiuwu and Gu Su looked at the shattered slab on the ground, astonished past all describing.

Gu Su swallowed, and said in astonishment, “That force. That speed…”

“He has refined out that breath.”

Tao Xiuwu took the words up, and his voice was full of shock.

How was it possible?

Two months. How could anybody refine out that breath in two months?

They turned to look at Ning Chen, and could not take it in.

“Old Feng, how are you?”

Ning Chen was so anxious that his fingertips shook.

Feng Qizheng swayed on his feet and said, “Ning Chen, I… I’m done for. I won’t be able to protect you anymore. You take care of yourself…”

Something roared in Ning Chen’s head, and his face turned chalk white.

Feng Qizheng went down limply.

Ning Chen caught him in a panic and laid him gently flat on the ground.

“Old Feng, hold on… Zisu, Zisu… help, somebody help…”

Ning Chen was genuinely in a panic.

Feng Qizheng shook his head weakly. “Ning Chen, stop shouting… I know how I am. I’m done for… I’m sorry. I won’t be going to the courtesans’ quarter with you anymore.”

Ning Chen’s eyes were ready to split. “What the hell are you talking about? You are going to live, damn you. Zisu, Zisu—”

Feng Qizheng’s breath was as thin as a floating thread. He got the words out with difficulty. “Ning Chen, before I die, can you promise me one thing?”

“Say it, say it… I’ll promise you anything.”

“Could you call me Father?”

“Mm?”

Ning Chen looked at him. What kind of strange request is that?

Then his eyes narrowed slightly, because he had seen the corner of Feng Qizheng’s mouth twitch.

Ning Chen caught his wrist and forced the hand away… and the dagger stuck in his belly toppled off him.

He understood at once. The little bastard is faking.

“Feng Qizheng—”

Ning Chen could not hold back the roar.

He had been truly terrified a moment ago.

Feng Qizheng saw he could not keep it up any longer, scrambled to his feet and ran.

Ning Chen was so angry that his face went black.

“Are you sick in the head? Is that a thing to joke about?”

Feng Qizheng grinned foolishly at him.

Ning Chen was angrier still.

He picked the rebar up off the ground and charged after him. “Want to die, do you? There’s no need to fake it. I can arrange it.”

“Look, I really am hurt.”

Feng Qizheng hurriedly put out his hand for Ning Chen to see.

He had grabbed the blade in the emergency, and the flesh of his palm was turned back and there were deep cuts on his fingers, streaming blood.

Ning Chen could not stay angry.

He turned his head sharply toward Wen Kangsheng, his cold eyes like lightning, the killing intent rolling in his brows.

“You contemptible snake, you deserve to die.”

The words were barely out before he shot forward like a sword loosed.

Pfft!!!

Wen Kangsheng’s pupils dilated. His face was full of disbelief as he looked down at the rebar driven into his own chest.

Too fast.

So fast he had not had the chance to react.

Every man there was stunned.

It was Ning Chen’s speed that had shocked them.

Like something out of a nightmare, and one stroke was enough to kill.

“You, you—”

Wen Kangsheng’s face was full of terror as he stared at Ning Chen in disbelief.

Ning Chen pulled the rebar out, drawing a spray of blood with it.

He looked at Wen Kangsheng, his eyes ice, and said it a word at a time. “Ning here came into this world alone. There are not many people who mean well by me. Anyone who dares touch them, I wipe out his whole family.”

“Walk slowly on the road to the Yellow Springs. You may still have time to wait for your family there.”

Wen Kangsheng’s pupils dilated, his eyes full of dread, and he got the words out with difficulty. “I beg you, do not touch them. This old man was wrong, I beg you…”

Ning Chen’s eyes were ice. Two cold words. “Too late.”

Wen Kangsheng could no longer speak. His eyes fixed, and he went down.

At that same moment, with a crash, the bar broke, and the great vermilion-lacquered gate of Half Moon Manor was forced open… and horsemen in armor came pouring in without number.

(End of Chapter 395)