Chapter 521: Slaughtering the Qian and Sun Families First

When Cheng Feng returned to the mansion, the sun was just right.

The Rear Courtyard was very lively, with several children chasing and playing around an old locust tree. The eldest son held a wooden stick as a sword, teaching his two younger brothers the "chopping" motion.

Two little daughters squatted under the veranda, one playing string games, the other using a broken tile to draw little figures on the ground.

Cai'er and Xiaohua sat at a stone table not far away, doing needlework, looking up from time to time with smiles on their lips.

Zhao Wei was practicing boxing in the shade of the trees in the courtyard, each move and stance full of vigor.

Meiniang was holding a book, so absorbed in reading that she didn't even notice when Cheng Feng walked behind her.

The other women also had their own things to do, just not in this courtyard.

Cheng Feng didn't disturb them, just stood by the moon gate and watched for a while.

He had imagined such a scene countless times while away, but now that it was right before his eyes, it felt somewhat unreal.

He walked through the courtyard, played with the children for a while, and kept Xiaohua company for a bit. She asked about his food while away, and said that their daughter Chengjin had been talking about him lately, even calling out "Daddy" in her dreams at night.

Cheng Feng picked up little Chengjin and kissed her soft cheek.

The little girl giggled and reached out to tug at his ears.

Cheng Feng let her tug as he headed toward the study.

He had just sat down in the study and hadn't even finished a cup of tea when someone came to report from outside.

"Master, a brother from the Hong Sect's Water Transport Gang has come, saying he has an urgent matter to see you." The doorman lowered his voice, his expression somewhat strange.

Cheng Feng set down his teacup and asked, "Where is he?"

"Waiting outside the back door, he didn't dare come in. He said it wasn't convenient to use the front door."

Cheng Feng stood up, said a word to Zhao Wei, and left the courtyard. He went around to the back door, and as soon as it opened, he saw a Water Transport Gang man squatting at the corner of the alley.

The man was covered in dust, with a swollen palm print on his face and dried blood at the corner of his mouth. Seeing Cheng Feng come out, he scrambled to stand up, his eyes reddening: "Master Cheng, this one is useless, the invitation... the invitation wasn't delivered, and I was beaten."

Cheng Feng's smile faded slightly.

He looked the man up and down, seeing the five distinct fingers of the palm print, clearly the work of someone trained in martial arts.

"Explain clearly."

The man sniffled and said in a hushed voice: "This one took the invitation to the gate of the Qian Mansion.

At first, the doorman was polite, but as soon as I mentioned the name of the Water Transport Gang, the doorman's face changed and he told me to wait outside.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, a young master in a brocade robe came out; it was Qian Xiuming.

He took the invitation, didn't even look at it, tore it up on the spot, threw it in my face, and said... said that low-class trash like the Hong Sect's Water Transport Gang aren't worthy of delivering invitations to his house,

the Qian Family has no time, and told me to get lost.

Before I could even turn around, a man in green beside him came up and slapped me,

saying if I dared to come again, he'd break my legs."

Cheng Feng listened quietly, his face showing neither joy nor anger.

He turned, took a clean handkerchief from inside the door, and handed it to the man: "What is your name?"

"This one is Li Erzhu."

"Good. Go back and apply medicine first, you've worked hard. Tell Leng Feng I will come over this afternoon."

Li Erzhu took the handkerchief and left, bowing repeatedly in thanks.

Cheng Feng closed the door and stood at the alley entrance for a moment.

His gaze fell in the direction of the distant Qian residence, his expression indifferent, as if looking at an old matter that should have been dealt with long ago.

He had originally wanted to use courtesy before force, and hadn't expected the Qian Family to sit down and talk obediently just because the invitation was delivered.

But he hadn't expected the Qian Family to be too lazy to even go through the motions.

He wasn't actually very angry; he just felt it was utterly boring.

The current him just wants to be a boss returning to the newbie village.

Wouldn't that be a slaughter???

If you provoke me, consider yourself unlucky!!!

He turned back to the mansion to wait for the time.

When Leng Feng heard the invitation had been torn, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and he wanted to take his blade to the Qian Family on the spot to demand an explanation.

Li Erzhu raised a hand to stop him: "Master Cheng said he would come over this afternoon to discuss this matter with you, Brother Leng, don't be impulsive."

Leng Feng slashed his blade through the air a few times, venting his anger.

Seeing Li Erzhu was injured: "Alright, hurry and go get some medicine to treat yourself."

Li Erzhu understood and went off to obey.

The Hour of Shen (3:00 PM - 5:00 PM).

Cheng Feng appeared once again at the territory of the Hong Sect's Water Transport Gang.

As soon as they met, Leng Feng's chest heaved violently: "Master Cheng, that Qian Family—"

"What's the rush? If you take people there in broad daylight, how many heads do you have for the government to chop off?"

"We go at night." Cheng Feng pulled over a chair and sat down, his tone as if he were talking about going to the docks to eat fish tomorrow,

"The Qian Family and the Sun Family, we'll finish them both in one night. You find fifty brothers you can trust, ones with good skills.

Gather at the Hour of Zi (11:00 PM - 1:00 AM), bring your blades. Also, find two jars of kerosene and some rags soaked in oil."

Upon hearing the words "kerosene," Leng Feng's eyes widened sharply: "Brother Cheng, are we going to burn their mansions?"

"The temperature difference between day and night in Heimu Prefecture is large after winter begins; it's normal for a fire to break out at night," Cheng Feng said unhurriedly,

"The Qian Family suffers a fire in the middle of the night, the Sun Family hears the news and brings men to help, and they run into masked thieves halfway.

The two families have been on good terms for generations; they suffer heavy losses, and no matter how much the government investigates, they will only find remnants of the Red Lotus Sect.

There are eyes on the Water Transport Gang docks that can prove people from the Red Lotus Sect were scouting outside the Qian Mansion two days ago."

Leng Feng was stunned for quite a while before he slowly grasped the meaning. He licked his dry, cracked lips, and a smile that was half-excited and half-ferocious appeared on his face: "Understood, understood."

"Less nonsense, go make arrangements." Cheng Feng stood up, "When the time comes, I will enter the Qian Family first to deal with that Qian Xiu'e and those experts from the noble families. You all wait for my signal before acting."

Leng Feng nodded heavily, turned around, and strode away.

Cheng Feng returned home and continued to enjoy the time of family happiness.

Until he finished dinner.

He came to the study, closed the door, sat cross-legged on the couch, and began to circulate the Dragon Snake Nine Transformations.

The Blood Qi surged within his body for half an incense stick of time before gradually stabilizing. He sat quietly, waiting for nightfall.

After night fell, Cheng Feng changed into a set of black tight-fitting clothes and covered them with an old, dark gray cloak.

A moment before the Zi hour, he arrived at the back hall of the Canal Gang.

Leng Feng had already brought fifty men waiting there, each one sturdy, with short blades strapped to their waists and black cloths covering their faces.

Several other brothers had brought jars of fire oil, and a scent of tung oil permeated the hall.

Cheng Feng glanced over and nodded: "Let's go."

The group followed the river northward, choosing only small paths and narrow alleys to avoid the night watchmen and patrols.

The night wind was extremely cold, blowing against people's faces like knife scrapes, but it also scattered the sounds of footsteps and scents.

Cheng Feng walked at the very front, like a black snake that knew the way.

The Qian Mansion was in the northwest of the North City, a place not small, with four courtyards from front to back. Cheng Feng had previously let the people of Wei Zhuang scout it several times and had already memorized the general layout.

Arriving outside the east wall of the Qian Mansion, he signaled for everyone to stop, flipped onto the wall himself, and lay on the wall top to observe.

The current strength of the Hong Sect Canal Gang is still a bit lacking; the main force still has to be himself.

Most of the people in the mansion had already fallen asleep, with only two places in the northeast corner still having lights on.

That was Qian Xiuming's study and Qian Xiu'e's residence.

Cheng Feng jumped off the wall and landed lightly in the courtyard like a night owl; the Treading Void Step could be considered mastered by him.

He did not rush to act, first bypassing the main hall and slowly creeping along the veranda toward the northeast corner.

The Qian Family also had guards, but they were basically at the levels of Blood Refining and Bone Refining, which were like nothing to him.

Encountering two patrolling guards on the way, he closed in on them, delivering a hand-blade strike to each; they collapsed to the ground without even having time to make a sound.

Arriving outside the gate of Qian Xiu'e's courtyard, Cheng Feng stopped his steps. Inside, the lights were bright, and the faint sound of a sword blade breaking the wind could be heard.

Practicing the sword even this late. Cheng Feng tilted his head to listen for a while; the sword sound was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, fast like a sudden rain hitting leaves, slow like flowing water winding around stones.

Organ Refining Peak. This Qian Xiu'e indeed has some ability; her Sword Technique has at least entered the third-rate.

Cheng Feng did not dodge and directly reached out to push open the courtyard gate.

Inside the gate, a woman dressed in white was standing with her back to him, the Long Sword in her hand drawing an extremely narrow arc in mid-air.

Hearing the sound of the door, her figure did not move; she only flicked her wrist, and the sword tip turned back, pointing straight at the entrance.

"Who are you? Why have you come to my courtyard?" Qian Xiu'e's voice was cold and clear, like well water on a winter night.

Cheng Feng stepped into the courtyard and closed the gate behind him. He sized her up: in her early twenties, with a tall and slender figure,

her brows and eyes were cold and stern, possessing quite a bit of heroic spirit. It was a pity she was saddled with such an older brother.

"Hong Sect Canal Gang, here to collect a post," Cheng Feng said indifferently.

Qian Xiu'e's gaze paused on him for an instant, then she suddenly laughed, laughing extremely coldly: "People from the Canal Gang? You bunch of mud-legged fellows, breaking into my Qian Mansion in the middle of the night, are you trying to rebel?"

Fine, these siblings are exactly the same in looking down on others.

Cheng Feng no longer had the heart to reply, only walking toward her step by step.

"Trespassing in my Qian Mansion, seeking death!"

Qian Xiu'e's smile vanished, her Long Sword vibrated, and the sword body hummed.

Her footwork changed, her figure like a white butterfly circling flowers, stabbing diagonally toward Cheng Feng.

The sword momentum was fierce, the angle tricky.

Cheng Feng's eyes narrowed slightly; he did not retreat but advanced, lifting his left arm, actually using his arm to block her sword blade directly.

Dealing with this kind of opponent, Cheng Feng really could not muster any particularly great interest.

His threshold had already been raised to an extremely high level by the Great Zhou Martial Arts Tournament.

With a muffled sound, the sword blade struck his arm, actually like hitting raw iron, leaving only a white mark.

Qian Xiu'e's pupils shrank sharply; just as she wanted to withdraw the sword and change moves, Cheng Feng had already arrived before her, throwing a punch that went straight for the wrist holding the sword.

She hurriedly blocked horizontally with the sword, but was struck by that punch, causing the Long Sword to fly out of her hand; her whole body flew backward, crashing heavily into the stone table in the courtyard, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.

"I am at Organ Refining Peak; your physical body has been trained to such a degree, who exactly are you!" Qian Xiu'e struggled to prop herself up, a trace of fear finally appearing in her voice.

Cheng Feng did not answer. He stepped forward and slapped her shoulder with his palm, pressing her body, which had just tried to crawl up, back onto the ground.

This beautiful Qian Family young lady had half her body directly collapsed, her whole body bleeding profusely, and she just lay there.

Following that, he looked up at the night sky. After tonight, there would be no more Qian Family on the waterways of Heimu Prefecture.

Tonight, cut the weeds and dig up the roots.

He took out a fire starter, ignited it on a lantern in the courtyard, and threw it toward the window. The flames climbed rapidly along the wooden lattice window, and in a moment, it was burning.

"The fire has started!" Leng Feng's voice came from afar, followed by several whistles, and the Canal Gang brothers who had been waiting outside slipped into the Qian Mansion from all directions, killing everyone they encountered.