Everyone was shocked when they first heard the voice.
They meant to spend the night at a pleasant and relaxing house party, but the appearance of the golden light had turned the Third Lord Chen into an idiot and terrified everyone. The development scared a few females in the room as they screamed their way out of the room. Even as everyone looked around apprehensively, they heard the eerie words drifting into the room through the entrance.
Everyone turned around and saw a young man in a casual outfit standing by the door with his hands linked behind his back. His eyes were dark and incandescent at the same time.
Who was he?
Everyone asked themselves the same question.
The son of the Third Lord Song jumped out of his seat and was going to question Chen Fan. Despite their hatred for Chen Fan, most people in the Song Family had never met Chen Fan in person.
The Song Family lord, Song Shunhua and his son, Song Duanmin were the only two who recognized Chen Fan. They gaped at the young man at the entrance in great trepidation as if they had seen a ghost.
“Who are you? You are transpassing! Did you hurt my family?”
Song Shunhua’s wife He Xiuli asked with a cold grimace.
She lived up to the status as the madam of the house and questioned the intruder directly as she gazed at Chen Fan with a cold glare.
“Yes, I did it, so what?”
Chen Fan linked his hands behind his back and took a step forward.
“Young man! Don’t you think that you can bully my family because you have learned some pathetic tricks? I knew too many people like you who know a thing or two about Martial arts. I don’t care who you are and what you want, you must know that you will have to pay for whatever you do tonight.”
He Xiuli said firmly.
Her upbringing at the He family of Zhong Hai and given her broad and deep experience in the world. She was not at all scared by Chen Fan, instead, she confronted him directly.
Martial Artists’ deadly skills wouldn’t make them above the law since there were people such as Red Sparrow whose job was to bring powerful Martial Artist to justice. Although He Xiuli didn’t know Red Sparrow and her colleague in person, her experience told her that such an organization should have existed.
“Oh? What do you think it would cost me?”
Chen Fan said lightheartedly with a grin.
By then, life and color had completely drained from the faces of Song Duanmin and Song Shunhua. They stood like frozen statues, scarcely daring to breathe, as cold sweat streaked across their cheeks. Their trepidation had dumbfounded the people around them. What would have turned the usually unflappable Lord Song into a bundle of nerves?
“Humph! You have no idea who you are messing with. The Song Family is the most influential family clan in the Jin City, if not the entire Jiang Nan Province. The Han Family of Yan Jin is our benefactor. If you dare to harm my family, the Special Case Departments would bring you to justice regardless of where you hide.”
He Xiuli said proudly. However, from the corner of her eyes, she registered the grimaces on her husband and son’s faces as they gestured her to stop. She realized something was amiss, so she turned down her voice until it was barely audible.
“Nice to meet you, Master Chen.”
Song Shunhua managed to gather himself and came up to Chen Fan and bowed.
Master Chen? What Master Chen?
Confusion flooded the listeners’ minds.
They looked to Chen Fan again and noticed that the image of the young man and their imagination of the nightmare somehow reconciled.
Younger than twenty, of ordinary looks, the last name was Chen, rule and ruthless…
“You are Master Chen of Jiang Bei! Chen Beixuan from the Chen family!”
Someone let out an exclamation.
“What?”
A swell of surprised murmurs rose in the room. Many Song Family members rose to their feet and looked at Chen Fan in utter disbelief.
“Aren’t you… dead in Siberia?”
Fear had contorted He Xiuli’s face and robbed her of her calm demeanor. Her teeth chattered as she gave Chen Fan a quick apprehensive glance.
“Almost. The Russians used bombs and missiles on me, but they still couldn’t kill me. I am very much alive and well.”
Chen Fan walked into the room slowly, pulled out a chair and sat in it. He wore a warm and friendly smile as if he was chatting with his long lost friends.
“Sit, everyone. Don’t mind me. I didn’t mean to crash your party.”
People looked at each other in fear and sat down unwillingly.
Despite Chen Fan’s friendly appearance, the Third Lord Song’s body was only a few paces away from him. Adding in the rumors about Chen Fan’s ruthless methods, the mood in the room was dark and dreary.
“That lady spoke the truth. The Song Family is the number one family clan in Jin City. It would be such a shame to see a great mighty clan fall from grace, wouldn’t it?”
Chen Fan heaved a sigh and found himself a cup of wine.
“Master Chen, don’t listen to Xiuli, she has no idea what she is talking about.”
Song Shunhua squeezed a smile onto his face and said differently.
Underneath the cordial demeanor of the young man was a ruthless tyrant that had destroyed the Sheng family and killed Tang Jianfen in broad daylight. Worse, if he was able to survive the Russian attack, no one could have rein in his power.
The thought of what the Song family had done to the Chen family over the year filled Song Shunhua with despair and regret. He shouldn’t have acted in such a rush before he could confirm Chen Fan’s death.
He Xiuli’s face darkened and she started to tremble uncontrollably.
“If you know who I am, you must also know that I am a man of my word. Didn’t I tell you that I don’t want to see you in Jin City?”
Chen Fan brought the wine cup to his mouth and gave Song Shunhua an ugly grin.
The words turned Song Shunhua into a statue. His cold sweat trickled down along his nose ridge and got into his eyes, but he was too afraid to wipe it.
“Chen… Master Chen… P… p…please… I …i ….ca… can… exp… p…plain.”
“Oh right. You must think I am dead, so you don’t have to follow my orders.” Chen Fan cracked a smile. “It’s only been a year, yet people had already forgotten who I am and what I do. A reminder to everyone in Jiang Nan Province is overdue, don’t you think.”
No one in the room dared to speak a word.
When Chen Fan spoke the word “reminder,” those who were squeamish collapsed to the floor in fear. Song Shunhua dropped to his knees and begged.
“Master Chen, this is all my fault. We will get out of the Jin City now and never, ever come back. Please spare our lives. PLEASE!”
“Dad, why are you so afraid of him? I doubt he would have the guts to actually kill any of us. The Han Family and the Chinese government would never allow him to!”
The sight of his dad’s pathetic pleading drove Song Duanmin’s blood to rush to his head.
The Young Lord Song rose to his feet defiantly and gave Chen Fan a cold glare.
“Just so! The Han Family will not stand by and watch you do this!” He Xiuli said in a shaky voice.
“The Han Family?”
Chen Fan chuckled as a cold light flashed in his eyes. “Just five days ago, I killed the General of Russia’s North Division. Don’t you think the Han Family would not have known it? Yet, they didn’t even tell you anything about it. I don’t have to tell you what that means, do I?”
“What?”
Song Shunhua was stupefied by the revelation.
The other members of the Song Family also caught the drift and the thought of losing their most powerful benefactor took the wind out of their sails immediately.
Song Duanmin was in utter disbelief. He kept on murmuring: “Impossible… impossible…”
“I have only left for a year, and you have already broken the promise and rose against the Chen family. You nearly stressed my grandfather to death. What do you think I should do to you?”
Chen Fan swilled the wine down his throat and locked his eyes with Song Shunhua.
Words of regret and excuses flooded into Song Shunhua’s mind, but he failed to make a complete sentence out of them. He gaped at Chen Fan stupidly and helplessly.
“I have shown mercy and spared your life last time. I am not going to make the same mistake again.”
Chen Fan put down the wine cup and stabbed the Blade Strengthing Gourd.
“Blade Arise!”
Golden energy flew out of the Blade Strengthing Gourd. Within its blinding brilliance was a tiny sword of ten centimeters long that danced about like a small minnow in a pool of molten gold. Song Duanmin stood closest to the otherworldly sight and he could even make out the two small words engraved on the blade.
“Essense Restoring”
“The sword was called Essense Restoring Sword.” That was the last thought that came into Song Duanmin’s mind before it went completely dark.
The golden energy made a full circle in the room and returned to Chen Fan’s hand. Fear and disbelief froze on the Song Family members’ faces. He Xiuli rounded her eyes as she couldn’t believe what Chen Fan was going to do.
“Puhh!”
Blood seeped out from a thin line on each Song family member’s heads.
Such was the terrifying power of flying sword that it had robbed the Song Family of their mental capacities; a worse punishment than death.
Song Shunhua was the only one who was unaffected by the attack since he was kneeling down on the ground. The sight had terrified him and he pointed a shaky accusatory finger at Chen Fan.
“How dare you? How dare you do such a thing to my family!”
“Why not?”
Chen Fan cracked a smile and rose to his feet. Before he started off, he flicked a finger at Song Shunhua’s head and killed the Song family lord in an instant.
Although Chen Fan had spared his family’s life, he would never allow the real culprit to live.
March 10, 2010. Chen Beixuan had returned home and killed Lord Song while turning every other Song Family members into vegetables.
The news had taken the Jiang Nan Province by storm.
Chen Fan had barely lifted a finger, yet, the Song Family was already history.