The girl had extraordinary beauty. Her glowing skin was smooth and her body was lean but energetic. Adding the sword she carried on her back, she looked like a heroine in Wu Xia Novels.
Qiu Zhenqin and Qian Lulu both shot a surprised look at Yukishiro Sa.
They had seen this girl with Chen Fan, but what did she mean by “her master”, and “get out of Lin City or die?”
“You are a tough guy, aren’t you. No one dares to speak to me like that.”
The middle-aged man wearing the gaudy Patek Philippe shot a cold glare at the girl and scoffed.
Liu Jinhong had made his first bucket of gold as a construction site foreman. As his construction crew grew, so too did his wealth. By now, he owned over billions of assets and was a reputable tycoon in Lin City.
Meanwhile, his burly son, whose name was Liu Biao guffawed and said: “Master my ass, I think you have spent too many spirit stones on Qidian novels!”
To Liu Biao’s surprise, Lu Tianqiao was suddenly overtaken by fear and he hurried to stop Liu Biao. “Xiao Biao, shut up already!”
However, it was already too lake.
A cold light glinted in Yukishiro Sa’s eyes as she unsheathed the sword on her back.
“You make fun of my master, you die.”
A brilliant azure blade aura shot out from the tip of the blade and sliced Liu Biao in half from the middle. Even as Liu Biao’s body thudded onto the ground, he still wore a shocked expression on his face. He couldn’t believe that such a gorgeous girl could have been so deadly.
“Mur… murder?”
Words got stuck in everyone’s mouth. Lady Qiu and Qian Lulu managed to let one world out of their tightly clenched jaws.
“Oh my god…”
The young man was dead, but there was not a single drop of blood on the sword. By then, no one dared to overlook this seemingly meek and docile girl.
Who was she?
She was a devil reincarnate!
“You killed my SON!”
Liu Jinhong pointed an accusatory finger at Yukishiro Sa and shouted at the top of his lungs, nearly losing his voice.
However, he watched in utter disbelief as Lu Tianqiao came over to the girl and kowtowed to her. With a great measure of deference, he apologized: “I am sorry for this. Please let Immortal Master know that we will follow his orders to the letter.”
“Humph!!”
Yukishiro Sa snorted at him and sheathed the blade. She turned around and started off without offering a reply.
“Brother in law, she killed my son. Are you going to let her go just like that?” Liu Jinhong shouted incredulously.
“Pa!”
To his surprise and dismay, Lu Tianqiao replied to him with a heavy slap to the face. Half of Liu Jinhong’s face swollen up immediately.
“Brother In-law… you…”
Liu Jinhong was dumbfounded.
He looked to Lu Tianqiao in disbelief and heard Lu Tianqiao refuting him hotly: “Don’t call me that! I am not your brother-in-law if you don’t apologize to Young Lord Qiu and get the heck out of the city! Do that and you might live another day!”
The sudden turn of events had pulled the rug from under everyone, including the Qiu family. They, too, were clueless as to how the table was turned in a blink.
“Who is Xiao Qiu’s classmate? The Lu family clearly had a change of heart because they are afraid of the servant girl.”
Qiu Zhenqin tried to make sense of the shocking development in his mind.
It was obvious that Liu Jinhong was related to Lu Tianqiao since they called each other “inlaw.” But Lu Tianqiao was so afraid of the power behind Yukishiro Sa that he had turned against his own family.
“Are… are you sure?”
By now, even Liu Jinhong noticed that the tide had turned.
“Kneel or die. Choose one.” Lu Tianqiao hissed. “Don’t you think you can get away with this. Our Lord has spoken and his decision is final. No one in the entire Tian Nan province would dare to stand up for you.”
Liu Jinhong shivered after he heard the resoluteness in Lu Tianqiao’s voice.
He knew that his brother-in-law would not lie to him, so he must have messed up real bad this time. Having lost his last shred of hope, Liu Jinhong finally gave in.
“Pada.”
Liu Jinhong dropped both knees and gritted his teeth. “I am sorry, please forgive me, Young Lord Qiu.”
A range of emotions flashed across Qiu Yilun’s face, but in the end, he said: “I forgive you, please take it as a lesson learned.”
Liu Jinhong rose to his feet and started off immediately, trailing behind his cronies.
A silence fell over the room as the Qiu family members looked at each other with complicated emotions in their eyes. After a while, Qiu Zhenqin finally breaks the spell. “Yilun, who is THAT young man?”
Qiu Zhenqin’s question was vague, but Qiu Yilun knew exactly what he was asking. Even as he was about to answer, they heard a wave of commotion rise from the center of the hall.
Flanked by Lu Yanwu, Old Man Lu was making his way down the stairs to the main hall.
“Finally!”
Many people’s eyes were lit up with excitement.
They had come to the banquet despite the short notice not for the food, but out of curiosity.
They knew under the Lu family’s prosperous facade, things were worse than it seemed. Already, vultures circled above the Lu family whose fate seemed to be hanging in balance. They would swarm in and rip the family into pieces as soon as they registered a sure sign of their weakness.
“I must apologize for the short notice. I invite you all here because we have an honorable guest among us today and I wish to share his blessing with all of you.”
Lu Yanwu announced.
“Share his blessing?”
Someone guffawed.
It was as if they were going to meet the emperor of China. Who would use such an over the top and archaic expression anyways?
“The Lu family is on its last leg now. We have been keeping the pressure on them for months and I wager that they have found another benefactor hoping he would scare us away. But even if they still had Lu Tianfen, they still have to cough up their wealth. Times have changed, and so has the world.”
A few men sat in a circle on the second floor.
The mood in the circle was heavy and slightly sinister. One of the men with a big scar on his face was the one who spoke up.
Tycoons from Tian Nan province would have recognized these unsavory characters. They dabbled in both the world of law and order and the world of criminals. Liu Jinhong would seem like a joke compared to these men.
“Scarface, don’t underestimate the Lu family. I have heard that they had a benefactor who was much more deadly than Lu Tianfen.”
The middle-aged man sat at the head of the circle and put in calmly. He was wearing a traditional Chinese shirt and a pair of traditional cotton shoes.
“Hehe, Chief. If that is true, then sure I will kneel before the Lu family and repent. But it has been a year, and we have never seen any sign of such a benefactor. I think the Lu family is bluffing.”
Scarface said with a smirk.
Even as Scarface was going to say more, he watched as Lu Yanwu made her way to a young man and whispered something into his ear.
“That’s it? That’s their honorable guest? A fucking kid? Haha! The Lu family is really desperate!”
Scarface guffawed loudly with the many tycoons sitting with him.
However, their leader’s face changed a little as he suddenly clenched his fist.
“That is…”
“I would like to introduce our most honorable guest, Mr. Chen Fan from the Chen family of Jin City!”
Once Lu Yanwu had gotten Chen Fan’s permission, she announced Chen Fan’s name to the speaker.
“Chen Fan from the Chen Fan of Jin City?”
The middle-aged man was so stunned by the announcement that he didn’t even notice that he had dropped his wine cup. His body froze and turned into a statue.
“Who is that?”
Qiu Zhenqin had never heard of that name before.
Then he turned around and saw the young man. He, just like everyone else in the room, was confused.
“The Chen family of Jin City? Yes, I have heard of them. But what’s the point of having a benefactor who does not preside in Tian Nan Province? Plus, he must be a third-generation member of the Chen family, what good is that?”
Many people furrowed their brows and felt the formality was uncalled for.
A few other people even sneered at the Lu family for the increasingly obvious signs of falling from grace ever since Lu Tianfen’s downfall.
Even as someone was about to take a jab at the Lu family, someone else let out a surprised cry.
“Isn’t that Chen Beixuan, General Chen?”
The announcement stirred up the crowd. Those who were well connected with forces in Zhong Hai their eyes widened in surprise and gasped: “What? Chen Beixuan?”
“I’ll be damned! That is General Chen in person. I have seen his picture before, looks exactly like him.”
“OMG! General Chen has come to Lin City? How did the Lu family manage to pull that off?”
Even as most people were still trying to wrap their heads around the development, some had rushed forward to kowtow to Chen Fan.
A few top dogs who had occupied the seats on the second floor suddenly lost their calm. They rushed down the stairs, pushing others out of their way and murmured: “Hurry! I need to pay tribute to Immortal Master Chen!”
Suddenly, the tycoons and government officials formed a current that flowed toward Chen Fan.
Qiu Zhenqin was an insignificant player, so he was still clueless as to what had happened or who that young man was.
“Boss Min, can you tell me who General Chen is? Is he powerful?”
“Calling him powerful is an understatement. He is… invincible!” Boss Min was about to break free from Qiu Zhenqin’s hold and rush to Chen Fan, but he suddenly remembered something.
“Zhenqin, don’t you know him?”
“Yes, he is my son’s classmate.” Qiu Zhenqin nodded.
“Holy shit!” Boss Min slapped his thigh and shouted: “Why don’t you say that earlier? You have just hit the jackpot! With your connection with General Chen, no one in the entire Tian Nan would dare to mess with you”
“What?”
The Qiu family was shocked beyond belief.
Qiu Yilun alone knew Chen Fan’s identity, but he had kept his silence. However, as he watched the young man surrounded by powerful tycoons, he felt extremely inadequate and was convinced that he would never catch up with Chen Fan.
The leader of the group of middle-aged men on the second floor also rose to his feet and heaved a sigh.”Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go meet this Immortal Master Chen. It’s only a matter of time now until the Lu family claims the entire Tian Nan.”
Scarface and the others looked at each other in confusion and asked: “Chief, who is this Immortal Master Chen?”
“Hehe, it’s better if you don’t know.” The middle-aged man said as fear flickered in his eyes. “I don’t think any of us can even comprehend his prowess.”
His words didn’t answer any questions, instead, it stoked fear inside of his listeners.