Chapter 174: Poison of the Human Heart

On the Dragon-Tiger Platform, Li Fei stood.

Below the platform, Liu Zheng lay.

Li Fei truly did not dare to expose his true strength, but at the last moment, at the most critical time, he still used the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl to block Liu Zheng's attack, and also used "Blood Rage."

If it was just a momentary abnormality, it could actually be accepted, and Li Fei wouldn't even need to explain it; others would automatically "fill in the blanks" that this was some kind of killer move of his.

"Good!!!"

After a brief silence, applause and cheers erupted in the restaurant.

Obviously, they were all sent out by the Zhang family.

"Good—"

Subsequently, the audience around the Dragon-Tiger Platform also applauded and cheered one after another.

They actually didn't care that much about who won, caring more about whether the two sides fought well.

In their view, this final showdown was very good, fought with great momentum!

"He actually... really won?"

In the crowd, Zhao Yi looked at the figure on the platform in a daze.

She knew about the Breaking Limit Pill, because she had a Great Mage of the Possession Realm as a master, who had told her many things about the martial arts world.

A Force-Refining Martial Master at the peak of the Qi Transformation period taking a Breaking Limit Pill has strength directly approaching the Dao Foundation Realm!

Li Fei actually managed to win against such an opponent?

Although he won under the rules of the platform competition, it was enough to make Zhao Yi feel shocked.

Such a person... such a person, can I truly defeat him?

Zhao Yi actually didn't fear climbing a high mountain, because she was determined to be the number one.

But what made her feel cold was that this high mountain she had to climb was still constantly getting higher at a very fast speed!

At this moment, the joy of successfully breaking through to the Spirit Transformation period vanished.

How long will it take me to catch up with such a peerless prodigy? Ten years? Twenty years?

Zhao Yi fell into confusion...

On the Dragon-Tiger Platform, Li Fei raised his head and looked at a certain place in the restaurant.

There, Chu Bo stood expressionlessly.

At the moment Liu Zheng was swept off the platform, he actually really wanted to leave.

But reason made him stand in place forcibly.

If he left at this time, it would only make the Chu family, which had already lost face, lose even more face.

"Helmsman Chu."

Li Fei looked at Chu Bo and said loudly.

When he started speaking, the surroundings quieted down rapidly.

"Is there anyone else from the Chu family who wants to come up?"

Li Fei asked.

Chu Bo clenched his fists, but his face was still calm:

"No more."

"Good."

Li Fei nodded, "Then I hope Helmsman Chu can abide by the agreement: starting tomorrow, bring everyone from the Chu family to keep vigil at the Zhang Mansion for three days!"

Chu Bo fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly:

"Good."

Leaving this word, he turned and left.

"Phew—"

In another restaurant, everyone from the Zhang family breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to cheer.

With this battle today, plus the Chu family coming to the Zhang Mansion to keep vigil, the Zhang family could finally catch a breath in this crisis and see a glimmer of survival!

Shangguan Xiao looked at the figure below, and the scene of the first time she met Li Fei appeared in her mind.

At that time, Li Fei was still a martial nephew who needed her protection.

But nowadays, this martial nephew has grown into someone she can rely on with peace of mind.

Soon, Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao returned to the Zhang Mansion together.

After returning to the Zhang Mansion, Li Fei intended to take off this Level 4 protective clothing and return it to the Zhang family, but was stopped by Zhang Zedong.

This Level 4 protective clothing belongs to the first branch, and there is only this one piece.

Zhang Zongyang actually also had one piece on him, but that belonged to the General Stop-Goe Academy, a public item. After he died, the protective clothing was taken back.

"You solved the crisis for my Zhang family and restored our prestige; just keep this protective clothing, consider it my Zhang family's gratitude to you."

Zhang Zedong said to Li Fei in front of all the Zhang family members.

These words made everyone have different expressions.

The value of a piece of Level 4 protective clothing is comparable to a Level 5 exotic weapon; they are all treasures that have a price but no market. Zhang Zedong just gave one to Li Fei like this; it can be said to be very generous.

But for winning over a peerless prodigy like Li Fei, it also seems very worth it, especially at this time.

Li Fei wanted to decline, but was stopped by Shangguan Xiao.

She looked at Li Fei: "Just keep it; you might face risks in the future, and I will feel more at ease if you wear a piece of Level 4 protective clothing."

Since Shangguan Xiao had spoken, Li Fei did not stand on ceremony and thanked Zhang Zedong.

This scene made the expressions of the people from the second and third branches somewhat unnatural.

Temporarily solving the crisis outside, the internal strife started again.

Or rather, the internal strife had never stopped.

Next, Zhang Zedong wanted to arrange a room for Shangguan Xiao, but was rejected by Shangguan Xiao.

"I won't stay in the Zhang family from now on."

Shangguan Xiao said calmly.

"Little sister!"

Zhang Zedong looked at her somewhat helplessly, "It's already this time; must you continue to draw such a clear line with the family?"

Shangguan Xiao looked at him with a cold gaze: "Second brother, the Zhang family is in trouble this time, and I will certainly do my best to help the Zhang family overcome this crisis, but I have never coveted the position of family head."

In this world where martial power is respected, there are noble families where women are family heads, so if Shangguan Xiao truly wanted to fight for it, she would actually have a great advantage.

But she had never thought about fighting for it.

Zhang Zedong: "..."

Shangguan Xiao swept a glance at the people with different expressions present. She saw schadenfreude in the eyes of many people, which made her disdain even stronger:

"I will not ignore the Zhang family, but as for this position of family head, whoever wants to fight for it can fight; I have the surname Shangguan, not Zhang."

Leaving these last words, Shangguan Xiao turned and left.

Li Fei followed closely behind.

The two walked one after another out of the Zhang Mansion and walked slowly on the street.

"Do you think I am very pretentious, clearly unable to let go of the family, yet wanting to draw a line with them?"

Shangguan Xiao suddenly asked.

Li Fei said calmly upon hearing this: "I am not clear about the grievances between you and the family, so I will not comment."

Do not persuade others to be kind without experiencing their suffering.

Li Fei has always believed in such a principle.

Shangguan Xiao smiled, then said in an indifferent tone:

"I just got tired of these noble family disputes and those ugly faces long ago. The people who hurt you most in this world are often not your enemies, but your family, the people closest to you."

Li Fei nodded, feeling deeply touched.

"I promised to protect the Zhang family and help the family overcome this crisis, just because I feel I owe my father, so I cannot let the Zhang family fall. But if it is specifically about everyone in the family, I only feel disgust if I have to risk my life for those who only care about interests."

Shangguan Xiao shook her head and looked at Li Fei, "It just implicated you..."

She let Li Fei keep that piece of Level 4 protective clothing, actually helping Li Fei get benefits in advance.

She herself can help the Zhang family without asking for return, but Li Fei has no such obligation; she, as a martial aunt, doesn't want Li Fei to suffer a loss.

"Martial aunt."

Li Fei interrupted the other party, "It's not about implication; there are some things in this world that don't need to be divided so clearly, for example, if I encountered any difficulties in Datong Prefecture, I believe you and Master would also choose to help me without hesitation."

Shangguan Xiao smiled: "Good, then let's not talk about this."

Next, the two walked into a guesthouse.

This guesthouse was built by the government, specifically used to receive officials from other places who came to the prefecture.

Shangguan Xiao is an imperial official, so naturally, she is qualified to stay here.

Living here, she at least doesn't need to worry about her own safety.

No matter how insane the enemies outside are, they wouldn't go so far as to kill their way into the government's guesthouse at this juncture.

And after a fourth-rank sitting official has already died, if an imperial official staying in the government guesthouse also has an incident, then the Garrison Commander of Datong Prefecture, the Chief Inspector of the General Inspectorate, the head of the General Stop-Goe Academy, and other big shots can all resign directly!

Actually, Shangguan Xiao could also stay in a higher-specification guesthouse, but the investigation team from the provincial capital is currently staying in there, so she won't go to join the fun; after all, she is also a party involved and needs to avoid suspicion.

After registering at the front desk and opening the room, Li Fei followed Shangguan Xiao into the room.

Shangguan Xiao still had something to ask him.

"Did you find any inside information through the General Supervision Academy?"

After closing the door, Shangguan Xiao asked.

Li Fei had said before that he would try to understand more inside information about Zhang Zongyang's murder case through his identity as a secret inspector of the General Supervision Academy.

"Yes, it's about your father's autopsy."

Li Fei nodded.

When Zhang Zongyang's autopsy was performed, all parties had people present, so the General Supervision Academy also obtained a copy of the results. 【1

It stands to reason that Li Fei didn't have the authority to know this result, but perhaps because he was Shangguan Xiao's martial nephew, out of some consideration, Xia Huan let Lu Mengyang reveal an important piece of intelligence to him:

"A very rare toxin was detected on your father's corpse; the preliminary judgment is that he was poisoned with a deadly toxin that would take effect at a fixed time before he died."

"What did you say?!"

Shangguan Xiao stood up abruptly, killing intent appearing in her eyes.

She had always had one biggest doubt about Zhang Zongyang's death, which was: who exactly possessed the strength to kill him?

Zhang Zongyang was a long-established Dao-Foundation stage powerhouse who had already incorporated three types of implants and had cultivated all of them to the Qi-Transformation stage, having mastered high-level strength.

Such combat power was also in the upper reaches among Dao-Foundation stage powerhouses.

There might still be quite a few powerhouses within the Datong Prefecture who could defeat Zhang Zongyang, but very few could kill him, because the vitality of a Dao-Foundation stage powerhouse was extremely tenacious, and it was very, very difficult to kill them.

And on the night Zhang Zongyang was murdered, from the moment the sounds of battle came from that villa until the battle ended, it was less than five minutes in total.

To kill a Dao-Foundation stage powerhouse like Zhang Zongyang in five minutes, without letting the other party even escape, there were not many people in the entire Datong Prefecture who could do it.

And almost none of these people had a reason to kill Zhang Zongyang.

This was the point that Shangguan Xiao couldn't figure out no matter how hard she thought.

Now, this doubt finally had an answer:

It turned out that her father had been poisoned before he died!

"What kind of poison is it?"

Shangguan Xiao asked.

Li Fei shook his head: "It's still unclear; toxins that can take effect on Dao-Foundation stage powerhouses are truly too rare..."

"What else do you want to say?"

Shangguan Xiao saw Li Fei's hesitation.

Li Fei hesitated for a moment and said slowly:

"After I entered the Martial University, I followed a teacher who specialized in toxicology to learn how to use poisons. He told me that toxins like this that can take effect at a fixed time are actually tailor-made and require long-term observation and research."

Shangguan Xiao stared fixedly at Li Fei: "What did you say?!"

She was a smart person and had an instinct that could point directly to the human heart, so she instantly understood what Li Fei meant.

If it required long-term observation and research to configure a toxin that could take effect at a fixed time, then who could observe and research Zhang Zongyang for a long time?

The most likely ones were the people around him, the people of the Zhang family!

At this moment, Shangguan Xiao suddenly felt that her body was a bit cold.

A toxin that could make even a Dao-Foundation stage powerhouse fall for it was certainly terrifying, but what made her feel even more terrified was the poison of the human heart!

Please give me a monthly ticket.

(End of chapter)