Chapter 327: Mentality Collapsed

"How is it? Do you have any news on your end?"

"Not yet."

"What about you?"

"Nothing either."

Three hours had passed since Li Shizheng, Han Bailing, and Zhou Xiangyun had officially issued the order to act.

These three hours had been completely silent; no news had come back, and even when the three of them called their respective children, none of the calls went through.

This was highly abnormal!

"Stay calm."

Han Bailing took a drag of his cigarette, "I've already sent people to investigate; they should be back very soon."

Zhou Xiangyun was still somewhat uneasy: "Logically speaking, Chen Che is just an ordinary person now. Even with Xie Wanning protecting him, it shouldn't be possible for this much time to pass without a single piece of news."

"We made preparations for both scenarios just in case, let's wait a little longer; perhaps there will be news in a moment."

Li Shizheng said, rubbing his phone screen.

"No, I need to make another call to confirm."

Zhou Xiangyun dialed the number again, and after a series of annoying beeps, it went unanswered, as expected.

A bad premonition rose in the hearts of the three, yet Zhou Xiangyun still would not give up and continued to dial.

"Patriarch! Patriarch!"

At this moment, a Han Family Follower ran in in a panic, tripped by accident, and sprawled onto the floor.

Han Bailing frowned and shouted angrily: "What are you panicking about?!"

The Follower scrambled up, face full of terror, and stammered: "The... the... the..."

Han Bailing sensed something and his expression changed: "Speak quickly!"

"The National Lord is here!"

The Follower used all his strength to finally shout it out.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Li Shizheng, Han Bailing, and Zhou Xiangyun changed drastically, and they stood up abruptly.

"What did you say?!"

Li Shizheng could not believe his ears and asked again.

"Three Patriarchs, it really is the National Lord who has come!"

The Follower said it again.

"Is there anyone else?" Han Bailing grabbed the Follower's arm and asked.

"There... there is also General Tang Yu'e!"

The Follower had never seen such big figures, let alone experienced such a scene; he was already having trouble breathing and could not even speak.

Han Bailing released the Follower, his brain spinning rapidly; he exchanged glances with Li Shizheng and Zhou Xinda, and their hearts all sank.

"Let's go welcome her quickly!"

Li Shizheng was the first to snap out of it and shouted.

"No need!"

A cold voice came, and Wu Qingkui and Tang Yu'e appeared outside the door.

The moment the Follower saw Wu Qingkui, he fainted; the three of them, Han Bailing included, subconsciously trembled, immediately stepped forward, and said respectfully: "National Lord!"

Wu Qingkui walked into the room and sat straight down in the main seat, with Tang Yu'e standing at her side; even though Han Bailing was in his own home, he did not dare to sit without Wu Qingkui's word, only standing in the center of the room with his back hunched.

Li Shizheng and Zhou Xiangyun were in the same submissive posture.

Wu Qingkui scanned the three of them and said: "Sit down, all of you, no need to be formal. I'm just here to look around today, and incidentally visit some old friends."

The three of them nodded with forced smiles and sat in the secondary seats.

Han Bailing immediately signaled for servants to carry the fainted Follower out, then personally served tea to Wu Qingkui.

Wu Qingkui sipped the tea with dignified manners, saying nothing.

The three of them exchanged glances; the less Wu Qingkui spoke, the more uneasy they felt.

As for Wu Qingkui saying she was just looking around and visiting old friends, only a ghost would believe that!

Not to mention that their relationship was not good, the National Lord had arrived in person, and these three had not received a single bit of news; they only knew when she was already at the door.

What this meant was self-evident.

Furthermore, she was accompanied by Tang Yu'e, a war god of the Great Xia Military Department, a figure who could mobilize the army at any time.

The weight of these two people, just by sitting there, was enough to make the three of them unable to breathe.

Wu Qingkui finally finished her tea and set the cup down; Han Bailing stepped forward to replace it, but was refused by a wave of Wu Qingkui's hand.

"The tea is finished, it's time to talk business."

Wu Qingkui looked at the three of them, and wherever her gaze fell, that invisible majesty hung over their heads like a sharp blade, making them afraid to make the slightest move.

"Li Ziming and Zhou Xinda are currently at the Inspection Department undergoing investigation; if there are no issues, they can be released tonight, but Han Qingfang is dead."

Wu Qingkui's flat words sounded as if she were speaking of a trivial matter, yet as the sound entered the ears of the three, it exploded like a thunderclap.

The three of them were petrified on the spot, their faces full of shock, and their trembling lips betrayed the fear in their hearts.

Tang Yu'e let out a cold, composed scoff.

Wu Qingkui seemed quite satisfied with their reaction, curled her lips, and continued: "Chen Che is the orphan of the Chen Family, as you all know. The three of them invited Chen Che to the Night Market, and I know that was your intention as well, wanting to build a closer relationship.

I actually understand; you had good intentions, but I just didn't expect the remnants of the Martial Arts Alliance to be so rampant. If it weren't for the fact that Chen Che's Martial Dao Cultivation was still there, there really might have been a big problem tonight.

But fortunately, Chen Che was cautious; even I didn't know his cultivation was still there. This kid hides too deep!"

Crack!

The three of them were struck by lightning once again!

"Remnants of the Martial Arts Alliance"—this was originally the rhetoric and excuse they had prepared, but now that Wu Qingkui had said it directly, it proved she already knew of the three's plan.

This was a warning, and also a threat!

Furthermore, Chen Che's Martial Dao Cultivation was still there?!

This piece of information shocked the three of them no less than Wu Qingkui's threat.

Not to mention Chen Che's act of killing those assassins of the Grandmaster Realm in return—this powerful Martial Dao strength.

Just his depth of character alone made the three of them feel creeped out and shudder with fear!

Even Wu Qingkui was unaware, which was enough to show that he had hidden it from everyone; could it then be inferred that tonight's assassination was also within his expectations?

It seemed as if the three of them were joining forces to deal with Chen Che, but in reality, Chen Che was playing along with their scheme to trap them!?

They couldn't figure it out, and didn't dare to think about it in detail, but looking at the current situation, it seemed that was indeed the case.

"I will finish clearing out the remnants of the Martial Arts Alliance as soon as possible, and also give the deceased Han Qingfang an explanation."

Wu Qingkui glanced at the three, who had yet to recover their senses, and smiled, "Alright, I'll be going now; let's meet again another day."

As Wu Qingkui and Tang Yu'e left, the legs of Li Shizheng, Han Bailing, and Zhou Xiangyun went soft, and they collapsed onto the ground.

After a long silence, the three looked at each other.

"What... what should we do now?" Zhou Xiangyun said, still shaken.

"What else can we do? Wu Qingkui just came to show us her power; now the knife is in her hands, and it was us who handed it to her."

Li Shizheng let out a breath, his whole body feeling as if it had collapsed.

Han Bailing closed his eyes and took a deep breath: "We were wrong; we have been wrong all along. The most difficult one to deal with is not Wu Qingkui, but Chen Che."

Before, when Chen Che went to war with Gu Yuanzong, we all thought Chen Che only won with Wu Qingkui's help, so we never took him seriously.

And so, tonight we have learned this lesson the hard way!

"Chen Che must have known of our existence long ago; perhaps from the moment he began hiding his Martial Dao Cultivation, he had already calculated everything."

Our actions tonight were completely jumping into his trap of our own volition.

Han Bailing's expression was sorrowful, "My dear granddaughter, she must have been killed by Chen Che!"

Zhou Xiangyun was trembling all over: "Even when old Chen was around, the Chen Family never had such a monstrous person! This Chen Che is so difficult to deal with at such a young age, and now that we have been caught by Wu Qingkui, isn't that... isn't that really the end for us!"

"Chen Che's capabilities shouldn't just be his depth of character, but also his Martial Dao strength."

Li Shizheng said: "Gu Yuanzong received favors from those people to reach the Heavenly Master realm. Although they were always afraid of being targeted by Wu Qingkui and never exposed it."

"Even if those people used unorthodox methods and there were watered-down components, that was still the Heavenly Master realm; in this world, how many Martial Artists of the Heavenly Master realm are there?"

"You could count them on one hand, right? Yet Gu Yuanzong died at the hands of Chen Che!"

Han Bailing and Zhou Xiangyun looked stunned, feeling their hearts sinking bit by bit.

"And the most important point."

Li Shizheng suddenly revealed a bitter, desperate smile, "Age; we have always ignored Chen Che's age."

Gulp!

The hearts of Han Bailing and Zhou Xiangyun instantly sank to the bottom!