Beside what had been their campfire, corpses now littered the ground. Having taken the brunt of Fang Wen's Wrath of the Wind God and suffered a backlash of internal force, those red-robed men were as dead as dead could be.
Fang Wen's expression remained grim. He searched through their bodies one by one, giving each a finishing thrust of his blade, but after searching them from head to toe, he found nothing of value.
He turned his gaze toward Lu Guiyan.
"Young Chief Escort, they came for me. It has nothing to do with you.
"Let us part ways here... I have some personal scores to settle.
"Now that you have escaped the vortex, I imagine you won't face any further trouble."
Lu Guiyan pondered in silence for a moment upon hearing this. She made no move to stop him, merely saying:
"Brother Fang, you must take care on your way. Judging by these people's martial arts, their origin is bound to be extraordinary."
"Thank you for your concern, Young Chief Escort."
Fang Wen then called Mo Beidou over.
Reaching into his robe, he placed the Ten-Year Dust-Shattering Pill into Mo Beidou's hand.
"This is a gift I picked out for Master from Zhujige Pavilion. I have no idea when I'll be able to return, so please carry it back to him for me first.
"Once I have handled things on my end, I will return to see him."
Mo Beidou hesitated briefly before tucking the box into his chest pocket. "Are you confident in this?"
"Don't worry, Senior Brother. I just don't know yet whether things will go smoothly. If they do, I'll likely be delayed for a while before I can make it back.
"If they don't, I might even be back sooner than you."
Fang Wen gave a light chuckle.
"As the saying goes, courtesy demands reciprocity. Since they dared send people to kill me, there is no reason for me not to return the favor.
"Besides, if I don't deal with this matter, I fear the martial arts hall might be dragged into it as well..."
Mo Beidou understood Fang Wen's meaning. He simply patted him on the shoulder and said:
"Little Sixteen, you've made something truly grand of yourself now. Your senior brother can't compare to you, nor can I offer much help.
"Take good care of yourself in everything. The trials of the jianghu wear a man down; if you grow tired or weary, just come back home.
"There will always be a bowl of rice waiting for you among brothers."
Fang Wen nodded gently without adding another word. He cupped his fists in salute to Mo Beidou, exchanged a nod with Lu Guiyan not far off, and then turned to walk in the direction of Feixue City.
In truth, his travels thus far had stirred up no small amount of trouble.
The faction behind the Black Fiend Cult, as well as Cao Jiuyin, whom he had killed half a month ago at Autumn Moon Nunnery—the Hundred Ghosts Hall he belonged to was certainly no trifling force.
Even Wentian Mansion, one of the Seven Great Sects of the Eastern Domain, had a blood debt unsettled with him.
All of these matters had to be dealt with one by one.
Originally, he had planned to return to Julu City to see Zheng Sihai first, and then make a trip to Wentian Mansion to resolve the matter of Shi Meng.
He had not expected the people behind the Black Fiend Cult to come knocking at his door tonight.
Though judging from the red-robed man's words, this encounter was somewhat coincidental—they had not originally planned to seek revenge against him right away.
Yet revenge was clearly only a matter of time. Now that the powder keg had blown ahead of schedule and he knew these people were gathering outside Feixue City, how could Fang Wen not pay them back in kind?
They sought to seize the Seven-String Ancient Chapter, so Fang Wen certainly would not let them have their way.
His best course was to follow the trail back to the root, uncover their true background, and put an end to them once and for all.
As for the Hundred Ghosts Hall... they were elusive and shadowy, and even the Seven Great Sects rarely heard word of them, so he could only take things one step at a time.
If they did not provoke him and left no traces to follow, he would let it rest.
But if he caught so much as half a trace—given Cao Jiuyin's brutal ways—Fang Wen had no intention of sparing any member of the Hundred Ghosts Hall he came across.
In the past, Fang Wen had lacked this level of martial arts, so he had been forced to act with a hundredfold caution, calculating every step meticulously.
Now, having unleashed his prowess in several battles and proved invincible every step of the way, a heroic spirit naturally welled up within him.
He was more than willing, within the limits of his ability, to use his martial arts to eradicate a few scourges from the world.
After bidding farewell to Mo Beidou and Lu Guiyan, Fang Wen executed his Blue Cloud Steps all the way toward Feixue City.
They had not traveled very far in the first place. With his current internal cultivation, driving any lightness skill allowed him to move at a speed far beyond normal comparison, to say nothing of the fact that Blue Cloud Steps was no ordinary technique.
Pushing forward at full tilt, Feixue City came into view in barely the span of an incense stick.
Yet as far as the eye could see, the interior of Feixue City was a sea of raging flames!
Fang Wen's expression darkened slightly.
"Could it be that, for the sake of the Seven-String Ancient Chapter, these people have gone so mad that they mean to reduce the entire city of Feixue to ashes?"
With a light tap of his feet, his body drifted like a wisp of azure cloud, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived before the main gates of Feixue City.
The massive, heavy gates hung wide open, and the relentless sounds of shouting and slaughter echoed from within.
Fang Wen swept his eyes across the gates. There were no marks of any battering ram from the outside; they had been opened from within, and the colossal crossbar stood intact to the side.
A terrified shriek sounded in the distance. Fang Wen pushed off with his toes, arriving instantly at the source of the noise.
Two jianghu fighters of unknown origin were dragging a woman out of a private residence.
One of them held a saber dripping with fresh blood.
The woman was weeping and screaming, looking back into the house with desperate eyes.
Fang Wen took a single stride forward. Before the two men could even react, a palm strike sent the head of the man wielding the single-edged saber flying.
The other turned deathly pale with fright. Forgetting all about holding onto the woman, he clutched his blade in hand, completely paralyzed between striking out and turning to flee.
Fang Wen seized him by the throat, hoisting him high into the air.
"Who are you?"
"I... I'm a man of Feixue City!"
"Bullshit!"
Fang Wen's expression turned chillingly cold. Disdaining to bother with A Single Thread, he grabbed one of the man's arms and began pulling it slowly outward.
The sickening sound of bone and flesh tearing apart filled the air. Terrified out of his wits, the man cried out in desperation:
"We really are men of Feixue City... It's the Old City Lord! The Old City Lord ordered us to disguise ourselves as foreign invaders... and enter the city to burn, kill, and plunder!!"
A bizarre look crossed Fang Wen's face, but the current situation left him no time to ponder it.
Flames were already erupting everywhere across the residential districts. Feixue City guards could be seen patrolling, battling the blazes while fighting fiercely against these thugs.
If things were already like this here, there was no telling what state the City Lord's Estate was in.
With a downward thrust of his palm, Fang Wen drove the man into the earth until only his head stuck out, then pivoted and vanished on the spot.
Having been freed halfway through her abduction, the woman bolted straight back into the house.
A moment later, she emerged in a daze, picked up the single-edged saber dropped by the two men, and began hacking wildly at the head protruding from the ground.
"Give me back my husband and son, you villain... You villain!!!"
Her weeping cries were soon swallowed by the roaring din of battle across the streets.
By this time, Fang Wen had already reached the City Lord's Estate.
Along the way, he had seen that most of Feixue City's common folk were already being shielded by the guards, who maintained organized formations to hold off the assailants.
Seeing that they had matters in hand, Fang Wen had not lingered.
Sure enough, the gates of the City Lord's Estate were thrown wide open as well. He had taken only two steps inside when a whooshing sound roared from above.
Fang Wen looked up, saw a figure hurtling downward, and caught it instinctively with both hands. But upon closer inspection, it was a headless corpse...
Chapter 90