Chapter 119: Chapter 117: The Emperor’s Summons

A sense of foreboding suddenly washed over Leng Ping.

"What’s wrong, Master Leng?" The woman beneath him was the first to sense the change in him. Her voice was delicate and soft, with a cloyingly sweet tone.

"Something’s happened!" Leng Ping’s powerful heart calmed in an instant. He pulled away from the woman and quickly dressed.

The woman on the bed had never seen Leng Ping like this, but she knew what she should and shouldn’t ask. Though she felt a sense of empty dissatisfaction, she still smiled sweetly and said softly, "Master Leng, be careful. I’ll be waiting for you to come back."

Her saccharine voice made Leng Ping’s heart skip a beat, and his agitation lessened slightly. Seeing the woman sitting there on the bed, he reached out and gave her ample bosom a squeeze, then laughed heartily. "You little temptress, just lie here and wait obediently. I’ll be back to dote on you in a bit!"

With that, he grabbed the Treasure Sword that never left his side, rushed out the door like a gust of wind, and went to the courtyard entrance. Opening the gate, his face was now wiped clean of any anger. He looked at the trusted subordinate waiting there and cursed jokingly, "Son of a bitch, interrupting my fun. If this is for nothing, I’m going to whip you!"

"Master Leng, something terrible has happened!" The subordinate’s face was stricken with grief. "Sixth Master and the brothers from the Battle Blade Hall... they’re all gone. The Battle Blade Hall... is finished!"

"What?" Leng Ping grabbed the collar of the subordinate who had been with him for at least ten years and roared in fury, "What did you say?"

"Master Leng, Master Sun Liu and the brothers of the Battle Blade Hall... they’ve all been killed. *Sob*... Forty-six men, and not a single one came back. The scene... it was horrific..."

"For real?" Leng Ping had lost all composure. Though he knew his trusted subordinate would never joke about such a thing, he still asked out of reflex. Then, tears suddenly streamed down his face as he muttered to himself, ’How could this be? Lao Liu... how could he be dead? This... how the fuck is this possible? Lao Liu was an Earth Level Martial Artist! Not some fucking Yellow Level trash!’

His eyes bore into his subordinate as he gritted his teeth and demanded, "Tell me, were other powers involved tonight?"

"No. Just that young man, with a single sword. They say... even Sixth Master couldn’t survive a single move against him!"

The subordinate’s words plunged Leng Ping into an icy abyss. He kept repeating, ’How is that possible? How could it be? That boy is no older than twenty. How could he have killed Lao Liu...’

Leng Ping’s trusted subordinate stood there, silent for a long time.

When he had first heard the news, he hadn’t been able to believe it either—that Lightning Saber Sun Liu could be killed by a mere youth. And that the forty-six Profound Level Martial Artists of the Battle Blade Hall, the absolute elite of the Daqing Gang, had been wiped out to the last man. If the messenger hadn’t sworn on his life, he wouldn’t have believed it.

Moreover, he knew better than anyone the relationship between Master Leng and Sixth Master. The two were childhood friends who had grown up together! They had founded the Daqing Gang together!

If not for Sixth Master’s lazy nature and his unwillingness to manage affairs, how could the position of Vice Gang Leader of the Daqing Gang have gone to someone else? Sun Liu loved to fight, so he took command of the Daqing Gang’s most elite hall, named Battle Blade. Everyone in it was an expert with the saber. With the addition of some retired soldiers, the Battle Blade Hall’s strength had become even more formidable!

The entire Battle Blade Hall had only forty-six members, the smallest of the Daqing Gang’s twelve halls. But not a single Hall Master from the other eleven dared to provoke Sun Liu. His relationship with the Gang Leader was one reason; the other was that Sun Liu’s own power was simply too immense!

For such a powerhouse to meet his end one day—it was unbelievable to almost everyone who knew Sun Liu.

And the one in the most pain, undoubtedly, was Leng Ping.

After a long while, Leng Ping finally let out a long breath. His voice, suddenly sounding decades older, rasped, "Let’s go. Back to the gang headquarters! We’ll handle the funeral arrangements first. The rest... we’ll deal with later."

Leng Ping’s subordinate followed behind, letting out a sigh of relief. His greatest fear was that his master, consumed by rage, would immediately rush off to seek revenge. They were the Crown Prince’s men. The lower ranks might not know, but that didn’t mean the higher-ups were ignorant!

Once you reach a certain status, evidence often ceases to matter. It simply comes down to who is more powerful.

But if Leng Ping couldn’t control his anger and led his men to take revenge, he could easily be used by someone with ulterior motives, implicating the Crown Prince in the process... As Leng Ping’s absolute confidant, he knew all of his master’s secrets, so naturally, he had such worries.

...

The next morning, the weather was a bit gloomy. Watermelon came alone, carrying some Elixirs refined by Leng Yao, and snuck in through the back door. It wasn’t that they were being overly cautious; Qin Li simply wasn’t ready to expose that particular residence. Leng Yao’s existence could not be known by any other power.

Their division of labor was simple: Hu was in charge of procuring all sorts of medicinal herbs, Leng Yao refined them, and the cleverest of them, Watermelon, was responsible for delivering the Elixirs each day. He would wear different clothes each time and slip in quietly through the back door.

Behind the shop was a very quiet little alley, which saw few people even during the day. This early in the morning, it was naturally deserted.

As soon as Watermelon entered, he handed the medicine to the shop’s manager, Duoduo, and immediately went up to the third floor. Seeing Qin Li, Watermelon wore a serious expression, but his eyes were filled with excitement.

"Uncle-Master, the major event from last night has already shaken the entire city! All the gangs know about it. You’re incredible! It’s a shame I didn’t get to see it."

"What good would seeing it have done you?" Qin Li said faintly. "Watermelon, you need to be careful for the next few days. There will definitely be a lot of people watching us now."

Watermelon nodded. "Uncle-Master, don’t worry. I know what to do." He then looked up, his gaze full of hope as he looked at Qin Li. "Uncle-Master, when will I be able to reach the level of the Daqing Gang’s Leader?"

Qin Li smiled and patted Watermelon’s shoulder. "When you reach the Celestial Level, I’ll make you the Dragon Head of all the gangs in the Cyan Dragon Kingdom!"

"’Celestial Level... I’d better get going then.’" Watermelon left quietly, a dejected look on his face.

The slaughter, which was enough to reshape the underground powers of Cyan Dragon City, didn’t have much of an impact on the lives of ordinary people. Business at Qin’s Elixir Shop was still booming, and the girls who had initially been frightened were gradually returning to normal.

For six days straight, everything was calm and peaceful. The furor from that brutal slaughter seemed to be gradually dying down. The Second Prince’s advisor, Wang Chao, didn’t show up again. The men from the Daqing Gang seemed to have vanished overnight, and the aggrieved Little General Du Ziteng also didn’t come looking for trouble.

As for their peers on the commercial street, their instincts were sharper than most. They no longer had the guts to come and cause trouble.

However, both Qin Li and Bu Yunyan knew in their hearts that this matter was by no means over.

Therefore, Qin Li was quietly waiting for the other party to come to him.

There was a custom in the Cyan Dragon Kingdom. The seventh day after a person’s death was called the "Night of the Soul’s Return." It was said that the soul of the deceased would return on this day to take one last look before departing completely, returning to the Underworld to be reincarnated.

And if one wanted to avenge someone, the best time to do it was precisely on this Night of the Soul’s Return—to place the enemy’s head before the coffin, allowing the deceased to see with their own eyes that their death has been avenged.

When Bu Yunyan explained this to Qin Li, she felt somewhat anxious. The Daqing Gang, after all, was a behemoth. And Qin Li was all alone.

Every day for the past few days, Watermelon had been relaying the latest news he’d gathered. All evidence indicated that the Daqing Gang’s Leader, Leng Ping, would choose the night of the seventh day to avenge his brother.

Because the Daqing Gang had already issued a summons to all the gangs in Cyan Dragon City, ordering the leaders of all medium-sized and larger gangs to come and pay their respects on the Night of the Soul’s Return for Lightning Saber Sun Liu.

Because Watermelon controlled a small to medium-sized gang, he also received a summons from the Cyan Dragon Gang. On the surface, it was to pay respects to Sun Liu, but everyone knew the Daqing Gang intended to kill Sun Liu’s murderer and make a statement to all the gangs in Cyan Dragon City: ’We are still powerful!’

This was also the best way to regain face. After this battle, the Daqing Gang’s position as the Dragon Head of Cyan Dragon City was already in jeopardy. They were not the only major power in the city. The gangs they had suppressed for so long could lash out at any moment and take a vicious bite out of them.

Things seemed to be moving irreversibly in that direction.

But on the morning of the seventh day, the situation took a stunning, jaw-dropping turn.

Someone... had come from the palace!

And the person who had come to deliver the decree was an acquaintance of Qin Li’s! It was none other than the one-eyed Eunuch Li!

Eunuch Li’s facial injuries had long since healed. The imperial physicians in the palace were quite skilled. Now, apart from his prosthetic eye, there was no trace of his once-ghastly appearance.

Bu Yunyan did not come out. Although she was in disguise and Eunuch Li didn’t know her name, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t investigate her later.

Qin Li was also slightly taken aback when he saw Eunuch Li. ’This man must have some tricks up his sleeve,’ he thought, ’to be able to remain in the palace after losing an eye.’ But Qin Li didn’t know that Eunuch Li was at least an Earth Level Martial Artist who had served the emperor for many years. The current emperor was a rather sentimental man, which was why he hadn’t been replaced.

"You are Qin Li?" Eunuch Li’s single eye scanned Qin Li’s face, his tone dripping with malice. To him, that name was a pain that gnawed at his very bones. He wished he could eat Qin Li’s flesh and sleep on his skin.

"Yes, I am Qin Li, a noble of the Great Qi Kingdom. And you are?" Qin Li’s pronounced Great Qi accent instantly dispelled Eunuch Li’s doubts.

"A noble, so you don’t need to kneel to receive the decree. I have come on the emperor’s verbal orders to escort you to the palace for an audience with His Majesty!" Eunuch Li said, sounding rather gloomy. He really didn’t like the name Qin Li. He hated it. Hated it with a passion!