"What a pity, we return empty-handed. It’s truly regrettable."
A group stood outside ng Mansion, with Zhang Rongfang at the forefront, wearing a mask, and the torch in his hand crackling softly.
"Go." He tossed it forward.
The torch spun, tracing a yellow-red streak as it flew over the wall and into ng Mansion.
"Make a move!!"
Suddenly, a shadowy figure in black leaped into the air, slashing the handle of the torch with a knife, sending it flying back over the wall, and landing outside the mansion.
After slashing the torch away, the figure tapped the top of the wall with his toes, using the montum to swiftly charge toward Zhang Rongfang.
The speed of this body technique was astonishing, even Duan Valley couldn’t react.
"Interesting." Zhang Rongfang tilted his head up, lunging forward suddenly, his right palm bounced up, muscles tensed in the palm, fingers like an eagle’s claw, reaching forward to grab.
Clang!!
The eagle claw heavily gripped the side of the curved knife and bent it.
Thump!
The blade spun like a wheel, forcibly torn from the person’s grasp.
Zhang Rongfang’s other hand drove inward, slamming into the person’s outstretched left fist.
The two collided with a boom, the person who had just landed was hit by a powerful force, flying back into the air, and soaring several ters high.
At this mont, he was forced into the air, becoming a live target for those around him.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!
In an instant, all the Golden Wing Pavilion death warriors raised their hands, launching poisoned darts.
A dense swarm of black poisoned darts flew toward the person, covering the sky.
Caught off guard, he shed his outer robe and rolled it around, sweeping away most of the poisoned darts.
Yet a few darts, launched by experts, broke through the robe’s barrier, piercing his back and arms.
"I’ll handle this!" Xiang Ling shouted fiercely, rushing in to engage the person in close combat.
The two exchanged fast blows, rapidly clashing in over ten moves. The surrounding death warriors hesitated to throw darts as Xiang Ling was now involved.
Suddenly, Xiang Ling grunted, retreating several steps, allowing the person to leap alongside the wall and disappear into the poplar tree canopy.
In a blink of an eye, two Golden Wing Pavilion death warriors under the tree were struck down as the person landed, knocking them to the ground.
The figure twisted, quickly running toward the distance to escape.
Xiang Ling exhaled in relief.
She had spent a huge cost to control an eighth-grade expert like Xiao Chenyi, and couldn’t afford to lose him here.
That’s why she had to take a risk and pretend to fight him, actually looking for a chance to let him leave.
Returning to Zhang Rongfang’s side, she was full of guilt, blood on her lips, she cupped her fists and bowed deeply to him.
"My lord! I did my utmost to stop him, but failed, please punish !"
"Punish?" Zhang Rongfang smiled lightly.
Bang!
Suddenly, he slapped Xiang Ling’s face.
The imnse power, combined with ninth-grade speed, left her unable to dodge.
Xiang Ling was struck sideways, rolling on the ground several tis.
Her head spun, dizzy and disoriented, trying to get up, but everything around seed to sway and spin.
A nauseous feeling welled up inside her.
Finally coming to, she realized she had been hit!
"My lord... I.... I..." The severe pain spread from her cheek throughout her body.
Rage surged within Xiang Ling.
But it was quickly interrupted by intense fear.
"My lord, next ti I will risk my life to stop the opponent! I won’t make this mistake again! Please give one more chance!"
She suppressed the hatred and fear in her eyes.
Just get through tonight, once she was away from the emissary, she would use all her resources to kill him!
She was already afraid.
Zhang Rongfang was capricious, capable of unpredictable actions at any mont.
From tonight’s actions, he might already suspect her and Tongxin.
If she didn’t act first, she would eventually die at his hands!
Xiang Ling quickly crawled to Zhang Rongfang’s feet, kowtowing repeatedly, apologizing and begging for forgiveness.
"Boring." Zhang Rongfang took another torch, tossing it forward.
The torch spun as it fell into the mansion.
The flas spread quickly, illuminating the entire ng Mansion.
"Let’s end it here for tonight." Zhang Rongfang raised his hand, clenching it.
Duan Valley and the rest of the death squad captains lowered their heads, silently passing the order to retreat.
All of them withdrew silently in groups.
Xiang Ling looked up at the growing flas consuming the ng Mansion, her heart cold.
Her losses were smaller than Tongxin’s, but everything being destroyed would inevitably reveal the hidden entrance.
The Dream Boat Association wasn’t without enemies, and the Huang family and Sea Dragon could not dominate the entire Wushan Prefecture.
Such a flaw, the Zhengming Association would certainly not overlook.
And then there was Zhang Rongfang!
An uncontrollable wariness rose in Xiang Ling’s heart.
His character was erratic; no one knew what he was thinking.
Just wanting to play around resulted in so many deaths. Just enforcing his rules brought down the entire Tianxiang Gorges Pavilion.
This person cannot be left alive!
Xiang Ling planned; after tonight, she’d go to the Huang family and Sea Dragon, inviting experts to ambush the emissary Zhang Rongfang.
But a Ninth-Grade expert’s strength was terrifying, they must plan perfectly or risk eternal troubles if he escaped.
Huang Yuzhen once caused many atrocities, and the Huang family still harbors deep hatred for him, a testant to his strength.
’Everything must be carefully considered and planned.
Perhaps, starting with his sister Zhang Rongyu....’ Poof!!
Suddenly, a short sword pierced straight into her chest from behind.
The blade’s sting abruptly shattered all of Xiang Ling’s thoughts and sches.
Her mind went blank, staring in a daze at Zhang Rongfang before her.
It’s not him.
He wore the sa look of incredulity.
Thud.
The short sword was pulled out, and Xiang Ling fell forward, crashing onto the ground.
She struggled to turn her head, looking behind her.
In her gradually blurring vision, she saw Duan Valley shake off the blood from the wounded short sword, not even glancing at her, but instead kneeling and bowing his head to Zhang Rongfang with a mournful expression.
"Master! It’s not our fault! It’s all Xiang Ling’s doing! She is the owner who founded the Dream Boat Association. We were all deceived and coerced by her, which is why we were drawn into this!"
Duan Valley’s expression was convincing, his feelings veering between hatred and desolation, chilling the hearts of Tongxin and Qingsu watching on the side.
They always thought this guy was genuinely honest and simple, but unexpectedly, he had a separate deal with Xiang Ling!
Zhang Rongfang could also see the theatrical aspect of Duan Valley’s performance.
Clearly, this guy realized things weren’t looking good and decisively took action, trying to make ands for his earlier mistakes.
That’s why he acted against Xiang Ling.
"Dream Boat Association? She founded it?"
Zhang Rongfang was slightly surprised, looking at the immobilized Xiang Ling on the ground, feeling slightly regretful.
However, the matter of the Dream Boat Association was inconsequential; with or without it, he would find another excuse to dispose of these two.
It’s just that he intended to play further, but these few surrendered so quickly, making it rather dull.
Thud!
Tongxin beside him also knelt heavily on the ground, desperately bowing his head.
One bow after another, Tongxin, a sixth-grade expert, surprisingly showed no intention of resistance, only frantically kowtowing to plead for forgiveness.
"Master, spare my life! Spare my life!! Please give another chance! Please!"
"Indeed, I heard so astounding insider information." Zhang Rongfang chuckled, squatting down and pressing a few points on Xiang Ling, forcibly stopping her blood flow using a vascular interception thod.
"Duan Valley, take her to get treated, make sure she doesn’t die, I’ve got big plans."
"Yes." Duan Valley was suddenly delighted, knowing he was temporarily safe, and quickly stood up to respond.
Then he called two female death warriors forward to carry Xiang Ling away for treatnt, awaiting sentencing.
However, with such a severe chest injury, recovery wouldn’t be possible within a few months.
"Let’s go, let’s leave here first." Zhang Rongfang glanced at the increasingly ablaze ng Mansion. He turned around and was the first to walk away.
Both Tongxin and Xiang Ling were sixth-grade experts, valuable talents.
Letting them die so easily would be too much of a waste.
The group quickly followed, disappearing rapidly into the night.
Only then did the nurous death warriors from the Golden Wing Pavilion withdraw, calmly and promptly following the few as they departed.
The night was hazy.
The fire spewed thick smoke, and shortly after, groups of governnt personnel ca to extinguish the blaze.
Nearby residential mansions also dispatched household servants to help contain the fire.
But unfortunately, the blaze fueled by oil had fully ignited, far beyond what a re splash of water could extinguish.
The fire grew more intense, illuminating half of the night sky in Xicheng District.
On the third floor of a distant inn.
In front of a window stood two robust figures.
"Master, do you think that person really knows, or doesn’t know?" the young figure asked quietly.
"Whether he knows or not doesn’t matter to that person." Another silhouette, with white hair and beard, was clearly an elder at least seventy years old.
The elder paused, gazing at the blaze at ng Mansion.
"This person is ruthless and cruel by nature, having just arrived in Wushan Prefecture, all his subordinates are new. So he needs to use so new thods to establish authority and win hearts."
"But the Dream Boat Association is Xiang Ling’s; how can he win hearts acting this way?" The young man was puzzled.
"Actually, he doesn’t care who owns the Dream Boat Association. Whether it’s Xiang Ling, Tongxin, what they’ve done, what stance they take towards him, he genuinely doesn’t care." The elder replied coldly.
"Why?" The young man frowned.
"Because, for this person, regardless of what they’ve done, the outco was set from the day he arrived here."
"Just because he set new rules?"
"No." The elder glanced aningfully at the young man. "Rules are secondary.
The key is, in this world, there’s never been a situation where subordinates own more than their superior....."
"Whether it’s money or power."
*
*
*
Wushan Golden Wing Pavilion Headquarters—Ten Thousand Miles Manor.
Zhang Rongfang turned and sat on the black leather chair representing the spirit envoy, behind him a fully mounted golden eagle specin.
The golden eagle extended its wings, closely adherent to the wall, resembling soaring high in the sky.
Its wingspan was fully three ters, feathers a golden brown, exceptionally robust.
Looking at the respectfully standing Tongxin, Duan Valley, and Qingsu Weili below.
A smile appeared on his face.
"Speaking of which, this is my first ti at the headquarters here; I never had the ti before. Can any of you give an introduction?"
"Master... please don’t tease us anymore, how are we to handle Tongxin and Xiang Ling? These two have corrupted the na of our Golden Wing Pavilion, their cris grave!" Weili asked solemnly.
Just ten minutes ago, Duan Valley had already fully disclosed every detail about Xiang Ling and Tongxin.
Especially concerning the human trafficking with Sea Dragon, making Qingsu Weili look icy cold.
"Our Golden Wing Pavilion stems from the Eastern Sect, Sea Dragon originally from the Western Sect, now these two are collaborating with traitors, using our resources and personnel to work with Sea Dragon, capturing and selling decent won! It’s utterly heinous! Certainly deserving of capital punishnt!" Qingsu declared sternly.
"There’s no rush." Zhang Rongfang smiled, "First, let Xiang Ling transfer all the personnel and structure of the Dream Boat to us, then save those previously captured individuals. Otherwise, finding them on our own is too troubleso and inefficient.
Besides, I’m very interested in that Dream Liquid.
Doesn’t she have a paramour? Heard he’s quite powerful..... What if I can’t defeat him?"
The few exchanged looks, unsure of what to say.
"Wonder how the relationship between Xiang Ling and that person is.... If we use Xiang Ling as bait and poison him, can we gain sothing...."
Zhang Rongfang lightly tapped the armrest, appearing troubled.
"But I’m a good person, a kind-hearted person, how could I do sothing so unkind?"
Their hearts skipped a beat, temporarily unable to discern Zhang Rongfang’s true character.
But this statent was almost explicit; if they failed to grasp the implication, they’d be truly dim-witted.
Spurred into action, Duan Valley stepped forward. Through clenched teeth, he declared, "Subordinate! Subordinate is willing to serve diligently!"
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