Chapter 150: Encountering an Old Acquaintance on the Road

"What?! Tong stole your tally and then ordered the Black Hawk Elite Death Squad to do it?!" Inside the Fan residence, Fan Kun bellowed in fury and shock.

Originally, Fan De had wanted to keep the old man in the dark, but now that matters had developed to this point, concealment was no longer possible. The Left Prime Minister, Fan De, had just returned from the imperial court straight to the Fan residence to confess the entire sequence of events to the patriarch!

"That's right! It was all because Tong was muddle-headed for a moment..." Fan De sighed helplessly, shaking his head.

"How did I instruct you just a few days ago?! Did you not warn that brat that during this critical period, he must on no account stir up trouble for our grand plan?!" Fan Kun roared, his anger unabated.

"Father! Things have reached this stage. Pursuing why Tong refused to heed warnings and still went ahead to stir up this hornet's nest is completely meaningless now. Besides, I have already ordered him to go to the Royal Academy for self-reflection! Our most urgent task right now is to figure out a way to resolve the current predicament and try our best not to let this affect our grand plan!" Fan De calmly advised.

"Sigh! So be it!" Fan Kun had no choice but to accept the outcome with resignation. With a cold expression, he asked, "Have all the relevant personnel who participated in this assassination event been thoroughly eliminated?"

"I have already dispatched the Black Hawk Law Enforcement Team. Every single person involved has been completely eliminated, and not a single one escaped!" Fan De replied in a chilling tone.

"Good!" Only then did Fan Kun recover his composure. "Splendid! Our priority now is to sever all ties with the Min brothers. As long as the Privy Council cannot trace down this clue, there shouldn't be any problems!"

"That is precisely what I was thinking! Therefore, the moment I received the news that Du Long and Princess Huofeng had suddenly appeared within the territory of Fengli County, I immediately sent out the Black Hawk Law Enforcement Team to wipe out everyone associated with this affair!"

Fan Kun nodded. "Since things have come to this, we can only order that all subsequent plans be executed with a lower profile, making sure the Privy Council doesn't catch even the slightest trace of evidence—that is the most important thing! Also, make haste to investigate which spiritual-tier expert secretly assisted the Du family brat in escaping with his life! We must find out, lest that fellow jumps out again to ruin our plans when the uprising takes place in the future!"

"This son understands!" Fan De replied in a deep voice.

"I do not wish to see anyone commit the same mistake twice. Give Tong a warning for me: if he pulls another foolish stunt, I will strip him of his status as the primary grandson! Hmph, I, Fan Kun, do not have only one biological grandson! Tell him to look after himself!" Fan Kun's face was contorted with anger.

"Yes! I will issue a strict warning to this unfilial son!"

***

Inside the Beastly Forest, Du Long and his two companions had no idea that the capital was in utter chaos because of the assassination attempt. The three of them rode upon the back of the great lion, making their way in a leisurely fashion toward the direction of the Black Mysterious Iron Mountain.

As they traveled while admiring the primitive charm of the Beastly Forest, cries for help drifted over from afar. Judging by the sounds, it seemed to be a group of young men and women.

"Husband! It sounds like someone is calling for help. Shall we go over and take a look?!" Huofeng was worrying about having nothing to do; upon hearing the cries for help, she immediately spoke up with pleasant surprise.

"Very well! Since we've run into it, let's go check it out!" Du Long agreed casually with a nod.

"Yay! Xiaolie, hurry to where the cries for help are coming from!" Huofeng cried out delightfully. Naturally, the great lion Xiaolie obediently accelerated and surged toward that direction.

Before long, Du Long and the others spotted three young men and two women standing back-to-back, brandishing their weapons as they fought against a pack of razor-toothed demonic boars. Eight razor-toothed demonic boars were surrounding the five of them, launching a fierce assault.

"The largest one has reached the early third-tier realm, and the other seven are all at the second-tier! They're just some low-level razor-toothed demonic boars," the spirit ring beauty habitually informed Du Long of the targets' strengths.

"Alright! We cannot expose Xiaolie's true strength; if we want to save them, we'll have to rely on ourselves! Ling'er, remember to remove the weight constraints from the three of us later!" Du Long reminded. Princess Huofeng had been with him for such a long time that she was already equipped with a weighted vest.

"No problem!" the spirit ring beauty responded sweetly.

In a brief moment, the great lion approached the battle site, only to discover that these five youths were actually familiar faces—they were none other than fourth-year students from the Martial Cultivation Department of Haotian Royal Academy!

"Du Long?! It's Du Long and Princess Huofeng! We're saved, we're saved!" Among the trapped youths, a young girl happened to face the direction from which the great lion had appeared. Upon recognizing their identities, she cried out in ecstatic relief.

"Oh? Brother Yiran, Brother Yuntian! Why are you all here?!" Upon recognizing the trapped individuals, Du Long asked in a loud voice laced with bewilderment.

"Haha, Brother Du Long has arrived at just the right time! Quickly help us chase these annoying demonic boars away! Now is not the time for idle chit-chat!" Yang Yuntian, the second young master of the Yang family, had previously shared drinks with Du Long and considered him an acquaintance. Without standing on ceremony, he shouted directly.

"Indeed! Brother Du Long, now is definitely not the time for chatting!" Wei Yiran chimed in with a laugh.

"Fine! Then let's slaughter these demonic boars first. Just in time, it's about time for lunch; we can roast them and eat meat later!" Du Long replied with a hearty laugh. He then lowered his voice to give instructions to the great lion: "Xiaolie! Suppress your aura as much as possible, and don't make a move later! Let's avoid giving away our secret!"

"And Huofeng, you and Qinglian take care of yourselves!" With his instructions given, Du Long leaped gracefully off the lion's back. With a flick of his wrist, the Scarlet Flame Slash materialized in his hand. Wielding the blade mid-air, he charged straight toward the third-tier razor-toothed demonic boar!

He did not yet wish to expose the true offensive power of the Scarlet Flame Slash in front of outsiders, so this strike merely utilized the profound Yang Double-Surging Wave technique. A single slash landed on the third-tier boar's back, surprisingly carving only a small nick into its thick hide!

This completely stirred up a hornet's nest. When injured, razor-toothed demonic boars went berserk—they were entities that even demonic beasts a tier higher would fear by three parts. The boar's eyes turned crimson as it spun around to face the Du Long who had slashed it. Its four hooves pounded the earth successively, and with an angry roar, it charged right at him.

Its two pearly-white, razor-sharp tusks were at least a foot long; had anyone been struck by them, they would either be dead or severely crippled!

Having already discarded his weighted gear, Du Long naturally would not go head-to-head with such a demonic beast. Relying on the wondrous and nimble Wind-Walking Footwork, he began playing a game of guerrilla warfare with the boar!

As Du Long successfully lured away the most powerful razor-toothed demonic boar, the pressure on the five trapped youths instantly plummeted, and they actually found the composure to chat while fighting.

The young girl who had first spotted Du Long's group cried out in admiring awe, "Wow! As expected of the top scorer in the Royal Academy's annual practical examination! He actually left a wound on that most powerful boar with a single strike!"

"Truly worthy of being the most freakish existence in the academy's history! Sigh, I tried my absolute best and couldn't even break that big guy's hide!" Wei Yiran conceded with a tone of admiration.

"Precisely! Let alone that big guy's hide, even these smaller boars are so tough that I struggle immensely just to pierce their skin..." Yang Yuntian lamented with helplessness.

At that exact moment, an even more shocking spectacle unfolded before the trapped group!

Following Du Long, Princess Huofeng was the second to leap forward eagerly. With a flip of her hand, she produced the Profound Yang saber Du Long had given her, and with a sweep of her arm, unleashed a Profound Yang Double-Surging Wave!

After acquiring the Scarlet Flame Slash, Du Long had immediately handed the Profound Yang saber to Huofeng. Since this young lady possessed a postnatal Profound Yang constitution, she was exceptionally well-suited for cultivating the Profound Yang Double-Surging Wave attack style. Over the past year, she had already mastered the exertion method of the Profound Yang Double-Surging Wave to perfection.

*Thwack!*

The Profound Yang saber fiercely cleaved into a second-tier boar, instantly opening a bloody gash. Being merely a second-tier demonic beast, its hide was not excessively thick and simply could not withstand the doubled impact of the Profound Yang Double-Surging Wave.

*Awooo!*

Injured by the blow, the wild demonic boar let out a cry of pain and immediately whipped around to launch a fierce counterattack against Huofeng. Huofeng imitated Du Long by setting her Wind-Walking Footwork into motion, engaging the razor-toothed boar in battle.

Before the trapped group could recover from the shock of Princess Huofeng's formidable assault, Xiaolian, dressed in flowing snow-white robes, struck next. With a flick of her wrist, she drew a soft sword from her waist, her figure flashing as she closed in on another second-tier wild boar.

The treasured sword, flexible as a spirit snake, coiled instantaneously around the neck of a wild boar. The moment the blade's razor-sharp edge flashed, the head of the second-tier wild boar was sent flying into the air. Blood spurted wildly from the severed neck as the beast collapsed with a heavy thud!

Dressed in her immaculate white robes, Xiaolian fluttered away like a white butterfly, evading the scattering splashes of wild boar blood. She drifted backward effortlessly into a safe zone, her entire movement supremely fluid and elegant.

*Hiss...*

The five youths collectively drew in sharp breaths of cold air. These three junior students who had suddenly appeared were more freakish than the last, leaving them, the senior students, utterly ashamed and wishing they could find a hole to hide in!

Having effortlessly dispatched one second-tier wild boar, Xiaolian did not immediately move on to the others. Instead, she floated gracefully back onto the great lion's back, sitting there with tranquil composure to watch the ongoing battle unfold.

At this point, among the eight wild boars, the strongest was being kept at bay by Du Long, another had been decapitated by Xiaolian, and the remaining six were neatly matched against the six fighters!

Following Xiaolian's lead, Princess Huofeng used her speed and footwork advantages to dodge the mindless charges of her razor-toothed opponent, repeatedly unleashing the Profound Yang Double-Surging Wave blade strike. Blow after blow landed on the exact same spot on the boar's neck.

First strike: pierced the hide! Second strike: cracked the bone! Third strike: severed the neck!

With merely three heavy strikes, another second-tier razor-toothed demonic boar was cleanly and efficiently decapitated. She then swiftly sheathed her blade, leaped back onto the great lion, and joined Xiaolian in calmly appreciating the ongoing combat.

The young lady's technique in slaying the razor-toothed boar was exceptionally seasoned—nothing like those senior students who had fussed about for ages without managing to kill a single beast!

The clean and decisive performance of the two junior female students made the faces of the five senior students burn down to the roots of their necks, leaving them wishing for a crack in the ground to crawl into!