Chapter 217 – The Riddle of the ‘Throwing Knife’

“Yes!” everyone responded in agreement at the same time.

One must agree that the Third Elder’s planning was very rational; he had intentionally sent Mu Xue Tong to the Jun Family instead of Xiao Han since Xiao Han was likely to incite trouble at the Jun residence by making rash accusations.

The Third Elder had been bestowed with a very important and sensitive responsibility by the Master of the City at their time of his departure: Do not cause any trouble with the Jun Family!

The Third Elder hadn’t been a participant in that matter in the beginning; in fact, the entire affair surrounding the Jun Family had been carried out very secretively, and only the Xiao Family was involved in it, while the others got know about this situation much later on, and although the situation had already calmed down quite significantly by then, but it had already brought upon some very serious consequences. When it came to this matter, even the Silver Blizzard City was internally divided into two different factions, each with its own set of arguments, which hadn’t been resolved even now.

Personally, the Third Elder carried no malicious sentiments towards to the Jun Family; but he carried no favorable impression of them either. However, he did carry a sense of sympathy when it came to the Eldest Princess, which in his heart, had led to an unfavorable impression with regard to Old Shi Xiao Han’s stubborn attitude.

In his personal opinion, what would such pressure from the elderly bring? Even if they are able to arrange a profitable marriage, but in case the bride doesn’t consent, then the groom would be nothing more than a licensed stalker! Even if the couple was forcefully tied in the knot of a marriage, it would only bring discontent and would only lead to an unhappy married life.

However, he was still quite furious with Jun Wu Yi and the Silver Blizzard City’s Eldest Princess for finding their match away from their dominions. It was because of them that the Silver Blizzard City found itself internally divided into two opposing and mutually hostile factions, whereas the Princess was now found either practicing as hard as possible to increase her strength, or lost in her own thoughts and fantasies, meanwhile Xiao Han’s nature was becoming more and more violent and distorted with every passing day, and the distances between the Xiao Family and the City’s Family was continuously growing apart…… this as a result was obviously leading to even more destruction for the Jun Family in return!

The Third Elder’s speed was so astonishingly fast even though he was carrying the Little Princess, Han Yan Meng that they arrived at the scene in a matter of moments. The Third Elder found himself completely dumbfounded now that he was standing at the spot where Jun Mo Xie had ruthlessly assaulted Xiao Feng Wu since he saw nothing more than an empty piece of land around him.

“Girl, are you sure this is the place? You didn’t bring us to the wrong direction, did you?” The Third Elder asked in astonishment.

One really couldn’t blame him; this piece of land was so clean that even a single weed didn’t seem to be growing here. The entire radius of this dozen or so acre of land was completely devoid of even the Maple leaves, let alone the trees.

There was a Maple Forest here just moments ago?

Are you kidding me!

Even if this place was set ablaze, the ashes would still be here ah.

This place is completely devoid of everything…. It’s just too clean!

“This really is the place!” the young girl nodded hard with surety: “Third Grandpa, you come and see…. this is where Brother Xiao was lying bleeding; I can never forget this!”

The Third Elder continued to look around for a while, but still couldn’t believe the truth, and hence decided to seek out a few locals to inquire about the fate of this place, and all he saw was people running about in hysteria with incense sticks in their hands, offering prayers to the heavens above.

This is simply a miracle ah! The entire forest has been obliterated…..he asked several people one after the other, and was finally left to conclude this immensely shocking finding: This piece of land was once home to a Maple Forest! However, for some unknown reason the entire Forest vanished moments ago….At this moment, the Third Elder suddenly remembered another point: “Girl, you said that the man was naked when you saw him, right? Was he completely naked?”

“Grandpa, why do you ask this?” Although no one had pinched her cheeks, they were still flushed-red as if someone had.

“Just answer me; was he naked? He wasn’t wearing anything on his entire body, top to bottom? And he hadn’t even realized this when you spotted him? Isn’t that right?” the Third Elder asked once again in a rather imposing and dignified manner.

“Yes ah!” The young girl carefully recalled the scene, and then answered with certainty.

The Third Elder’s face suddenly became deathly pale!

It seems that this person was here to practice some very unique martial law, and his practice must have been so powerful that he might have unintentionally burnt away all foreign objects, including his own clothing. However, he must have been so involved in his own practice that he may not even have realized this at the time when he ended his practice, but as chance has it… he encountered Xiao Feng Wu and the Little Princess soon after. Xiao Feng Wu would’ve made some very rude remarks……and a person with such abilities obviously wouldn’t have taken well to such insolent remarks from such a young boy…. That being said, Xiao Feng Wu’s life was actually spared by this man’s mercy!

But…..what kind of strength would it take to burn off an area this large?

It’s not very surprising that this man pays no regard to the Silver Blizzard City. If this is what he is really capable of, then I reckon that he probably wouldn’t even be intimidated by the combined strength of the Silver Blizzard City and the Xue Hun Manor. Would the combined strength of the Eight Great Master be able to produce such a result?

The Eight Great Masters could easily destroy a Maple Forest if they wished to, but they wouldn’t be able to erase all traces of it; and they certainly wouldn’t be able to do it so silently!

What kind of terrifying power does this person possess?

And now this person has chosen to stand against the Silver Blizzard City!

At this moment, the Third Elder’s mind was least bothered with extracting revenge for Xiao Feng Wu’s injuries or the insults caused to him, and was actually more bothered about the possible consequences that the Silver Blizzard City might have to face because of Xiao Feng Wu’s arrogance!

If he had actually provoked an enemy they simply couldn’t match…. Then this would end very badly for the Silver Blizzard City!

“Let’s go! We have to head off to the Jun Family now!” The Third Elder acted decisively since this matter needed to be resolved immediately. In case this mysterious master was to actually investigate and find out more about my people, then I reckon that nothing will be able to withstand the madness of his fury. I’m afraid that he could destroy everyone and everything; even if we were to flee to the Silver Blizzard City, the end result would still be the same.

Even though the Third Elder was maintaining his composure on the surface, he was inwardly cursing Xiao Feng Wu in a hundred different ways; that Little Brat claims to the leader of the Xiao Family’s young generation, but he is completely failing in accomplishing anything. He has never accomplished any serious feats apart from the rapid speed of his cultivation, and has actually been landing us in a world of trouble all along! And this time, his arrogant nature has landed us against a Godly-being!

It seems necessary to return and limit the movements of the Silver Blizzard City’s experts, and ensure that they maintain a low-key profile from here on; their presently prevalent arrogant and despotic behavior simply must be curtailed.

Such a Godly-master actually exists in this world of mortals!

Though the environment in the Silver Blizzard City’s party was quite gloomy and unpleasant, but the one in the Li Family was far gloomier and far more unpleasant in comparison; in fact, it was the gloom of death….

One man had been injured to the point of an almost hopeless existence, while the corpses of their four fallen comrades hadn’t even been buried yet. Li You Ran and the five remaining of his seniors were sitting together in a circle, with each person bearing a grief-stricken look on their face! Their entire attention had been focused on nabbing their culprit, the owner of that odd and mysterious ‘throwing knife’ in these recent days, and they had already investigated more than half the capital city, but hadn’t been able to find any solid information as of yet.

“The Sixth Brother has recovered his consciousness now, but…..” Li You Ran’s calm face was reflecting a subtle hint of pain, “but, I’m afraid he’ll never be able to stand up on his own feet again in this life!”

“Solitary Falcon! This was far too ruthless! An enemy with such hatred in his heart must not be allowed to exist in the same world as us!” Lei Jian Hong was gritting his teeth so hard that one could clearly hear the clattering sounds they were making; the veins of his forehead had turned green with rage, while his eyes seemed to be spraying fire.

“This is all because of me… it is because of my wishful thinking, and my delusions about seizing that Xuan Core which has led to this state of disability for the Sixth Brother, and has delivered four more of my Brothers to the doors of death at such a young age……” Even though Li You Ran’s face was still quite calm, his eyes clearly revealed the underlying tears as he suddenly knelt down to his knees with a ‘thump’: “Big Brother….. I’m…. at fault! I’ve wronged you, and I’ve wronged my Master…. I….. I’m damned!”

Lei Jian Hong hurriedly stood up: “Get up young one, this isn’t your fault!”

Then he sighed and said: “Even though you were the initiating cause, it’s not entirely your fault. An uncountable number of people have died at the hands of their enemies ever since the beginning of martial activities; this is doomed to be the final destination in our line of work. If martial experts didn’t have the fear of dying by the blade of another man, then they would simply and aimlessly roam about the land with no fear or meaning in life; had we managed to win over the Xuan Core this time, then someone else would’ve lost the lives of their brothers, and someone else must’ve been left lamenting their fate. Moreover, this loss is also attributed to our miscalculations, and so you mustn’t blame yourself for this, young one.”

“Yes, that correct, the Elder Brother is right. The fate of any martial artist ends with the blade of another, and even though it may be a harsh and saddening truth, but there is no point in lamenting the deceased.” The woman wiped her eyes as her voice choked on her tears: “We must take revenge at all costs; we must recover the debt of their blood!”

“Yes! We must recover the debt of their blood!” everyone shouted in unison.

“The Sixth Brother’s enemy is someone as powerful as the Solitary Falcon. When it comes to this, I believe that I will have to personally come forward to solve this problem; although I don’t believe that I will be able to avenge him right away….” Li You Ran stood proudly staring at a distance: “But I will not spare any effort within the reach of the Li Family in order to resolve this matter!”

“As for the four of my deceased brothers, I’ve searched all archives and libraries for that throwing knife’s origin, and I had even launched a full-scale investigation into the Capital City, but none of it bore any fruit for a long time. However, I overturned a new leaf when I found a very special incident which had previously occurred in the city, and I believe that this incident is that only thing we can link this throwing knife with…..” Li You Ran stated with a very serious look on his face.

“What incident?” Lei Jian Hong and the others asked in unison.

“I have determined that this throwing knife has never been seen in this land before!” Li You Ran stated with a sense of surety: “However, I have heard that the last time there was an assassination attempt on Princess Ling Meng’s life, some unknown and strong expert timely released an odd and mysterious looking throwing knife which helped Princess Ling Meng in escaping away. However, that knife remains in the Princess’s personal collection of treasures since that day, and since no one has seen it, no one knows what it really looks like…..”

Some people had obviously seen knives similar to that one, but they were now in residing within the hell beneath. The Hitman Jun created his own unique throwing knives, and the vast majority of the people who had ever come in contact with his blades had died moments later, with the Princess Ling Meng and Ye Gu Han being the only exceptions, and Princess Ling Meng had never allowed that knife to be separated from her ever since the day she had seen it.

“Young one, you mean…. Princess Ling Meng may have a knife similar to this one in her possession?” A cold awn flashed in Lei Jian Hong’s eyes.