Chapter 168: A Scheme to Win Hearts!

The morning sun had just risen, scattering its rosy light.

Another new day.

Wulong Fucheng.

The news that the Fang family's branch lines had been utterly wiped out, and that the main line had suffered an attack the previous night, sprouted wings and instantly spread through every street and alley.

Teahouses, taverns, market streets… wherever martial artists gathered, people were heatedly discussing this earth-shattering news.

"Have you heard? The Fang family has really run into terrible luck this time!"

"In a single night, three branch lines were uprooted; within another day, three more branch lines were destroyed; even the main line lost quite a few guards. My heavens, what a grudge this must be!"

"The Black Dragon Society! It was the Black Dragon Society's assassins! They left their mark on the wall!"

"Just what kind of fiend has the Fang family offended? To think they could hire killers as vicious as the Black Dragon Society!"

"Tsk, tsk. The Fang family has always behaved overbearingly and ruthlessly these past years—how many people have died at their hands? Serves them right—retribution has come!"

"…"

In a bustling teahouse in Chengxi, two martial artists in tight-fitting clothes were chatting themselves hoarse, spittle flying.

They failed to notice that at the next table, a middle-aged man in an ordinary long robe with an unremarkable face was quietly sipping his tea, as if the surrounding hubbub had nothing to do with him.

It was Chen Mu, his appearance altered.

Listening to the various descriptions and speculations about the Fang family's plight, his gaze was calm and unruffled, his heart indifferent.

The Fang family's tension and panic were precisely the first effect Chen Mu had wanted.

Panic robs a person of their judgment.

He left money for the tea, rose quietly, and vanished into the bustling crowd.

……

When nightfall once again cloaked Wulong Fucheng, Chen Mu, like a phantom of the dark, soundlessly drew near the Fang residence.

Looking from afar, the core area of the Fang residence's inner court was actually enveloped by a faint, semi-transparent light barrier, its energy fluctuations subtle yet solid.

"A formation?" Chen Mu's gaze sharpened slightly.

The Fang family indeed had some foundation—they had actually activated their protective grand formation.

Forcing an attack on the formation would cause too much commotion; it was no act of a wise man.

After a brief thought, he changed his strategy.

His figure flickered; he avoided the main gate and the obvious sentries, and vaulted over a secluded corner of the wall into the Fang residence's outer court.

The outer court's security was clearly several times stricter than last night—the patrol guard squads had increased, and hidden sentries had grown considerably.

But under Chen Mu's "Wind-Listening" skill and his consummate lightness skill and movement technique, these defenses were as good as nothing.

He darted through the shadows like the Grim Reaper, and the two short spikes in his hands drank blood once again.

Hiss! Hiss!

A patrol guard squad collapsed without a sound.

A hidden sentry hiding behind a rockery was muffled from behind, and a short spike easily slit his throat.

A steward hurrying to the inner court to report was dealt with at a corner of the covered corridor.

【Corpse discovered. Loot?】

"Yes!"

……

Chen Mu was not killing randomly.

He specifically targeted those guards and stewards who held weapons and clearly carried a martial artist's aura.

As for the panicked, unarmed servants—coachmen, cooks, maids, and the like—Chen Mu did not kill them outright. Instead, he revealed his figure and growled in a hoarse voice.

"If you don't want to die, get out of the residence this instant!"

Silence.

The terrified, dumbstruck servants froze on the spot for a moment, forgetting everything else.

"What? You all want to die?"

Chen Mu's cold gaze swept across the crowd.

"…Run!"

"Run! Run!"

"Th-thank you, my lord!"

"…"

The stunned crowd suddenly snapped awake.

The servants, nearly scared out of their wits, saw that the killing god had actually spared their lives—how would they dare linger?

At once they wailed for their fathers and mothers, scrambling and crawling as they fled toward the outside of the residence.

A few who were too scared to move stood dumbly in place; Chen Mu unhesitatingly finished each off with a stab, killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.

Instantly, the fleeing servants ran even faster.

Loyalty, money—at this moment, all of it was thrown to the back of their minds.

……

In the inner court, Fang Hongyi and the others soon received news of the chaos in the outer court.

"What? The servants… almost all of the servants have fled?!"

Fang Hongtu heard the report, his vision went black, and he nearly fainted from rage.

Without servants, who would cook?

Who would handle the chores?

How is this residence supposed to function?

Fang Hongyi's face was equally black as the bottom of a wok, fists clenched tight, yet not a single word could he speak.

This method of dull-blade flesh-cutting, attacking the mind first, is even more suffocating and helpless than outright slaughter!

Fang Hongdao's countenance turned solemn as he raised the matter once more. "We can't keep turtling up like this. That assassin is forcing our hand! We must take the offensive. A few of us Innate-stage cultivators will lead the way, splitting into several groups to cross-patrol and flush him out!"

"Impossible! This is plainly a ploy to lure the tiger from the mountain!"

Immediately, a conservative guest-elder objected. "The inner court is protected by formations and is still relatively safe. Once we go out, we play right into the enemy's hands!"

"Not go out? Nobody's delivering food — you going to cook?"

"What does that have to do with who cooks! The Black Dragon Society assassin is lurking in the shadows. Why hasn't he come to attack us? Isn't it precisely because he fears us joining forces?"

"But hiding like this really isn't going to work."

"I'm for charging out! Once we force him out, I refuse to believe we can't kill him!"

"..."

Just as the group argued to no conclusion, Fang Ronghe, who had been silent all along, suddenly opened his eyes. A cold glint shot from his gaze, and a powerful oppressive aura spread out, shutting everyone's mouth.

"Enough!"

Fang Ronghe barked, his voice icy. "Defense will only make us more passive, our morale ever lower! This assassin is cunning, but our Fang family is not a soft persimmon to be pinched at will!"

He rose to his feet and decided, "Hongyi, immediately in my name, summon the heads of the Sun family, Han family, Whirlwind Martial Hall, and every other notable power — to our Fang family's council hall! After daybreak, I want to see every one of them in person! Whoever doesn't come, we'll wipe out their entire clan first!"

"Third Uncle, what do you mean?" Fang Hongyi seemed to have guessed something.

"Hmph!"

Fang Ronghe snorted coldly. "Since he hides in the shadows, we'll turn the entire Changlong Prefecture upside down! Mobilize every force in the city, contribute men and effort, to search the whole city for any suspicious unfamiliar martial artists!"

"I, this old man, want to see whether in this Changlong Prefecture, it's our Fang family that calls the shots, or some head-hiding, tail-tucking assassin!"

Hearing this, Fang Hongyi's spirit lifted, and he immediately replied, "Yes! Third Uncle!"

……

Day broke.

At the Fang family's council hall, people arrived one after another.

The Sun family head, the Han family head, the Whirlwind Martial Hall master, and other prominent figures of Changlong Prefecture had all been "invited" over.

"Gentlemen."

Fang Ronghe sat upright in the seat of honor. Though he did not deliberately release his oppressive aura, that deep, sea-like presence already made everyone present feel their breathing grow labored, as if sitting on a bed of needles.

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet carrying an unquestionable force.

"The Black Dragon Society assassin runs rampant, slaughtering six branch lines of our Fang family in a single night, and has now even infiltrated Changlong Prefecture, treating us as nothing!"

"This fiend is cruel by nature. Today he can kill our Fang family's children; tomorrow he can threaten every one of your clans!"

"If this calamity is not removed, Changlong Prefecture will never know peace!"