Chapter 806 — Young Master Bing's Lament

"Oh? So some madman actually dared to lay hands on Young Master Bing? Who is he? Tired of living, is he? Even a man of the great families wouldn't dare such a thing, surely?" Yu Haitian asked, somewhat astonished.

"Let's talk inside — this is no place for it." Zhao Qibing gestured for Yu Haitian to go ahead. Though there were frictions between the upper echelons of the Hidden Yu and Hidden Zhao families, it did nothing to sour the personal friendship between Yu Haitian and Zhao Qibing. Both were sons drifting at the margins of their families' cores, and each stood to enrich his own influence through the other's connections.

Li Cihua knew Yu Haitian's standing and did not presume to walk abreast of him; he pushed Young Master Bing from behind, letting Bing and Yu Haitian enter the Geli Fuyun Bar side by side. In the back room of the bar, Zhao Qibing invited Yu Haitian to take a seat on the sofa while he himself remained in his wheelchair. "Brother Tian, forgive me — I can't rise to greet you properly."

"What nonsense is that, Young Master Bing? Between brothers, what need is there for such ceremony?" Yu Haitian laughed. "But how did your legs come to be broken, exactly? Care to tell your elder brother? I've only just arrived in Songshan City, and I'm none too clear on how things stand here."

"Don't even mention it — the tears come just thinking about it!" Zhao Qibing sighed. "You know my situation well enough, brother: I'm the Zhao family's bastard son. An awkward position, that. So I wanted to accomplish something worth showing the Zhao family, to earn myself a place there one day."

"I understand!" Yu Haitian nodded. He knew well how awkward Zhao Qibing's position was: though he was the true-born son of Zhao Guangyin, the Zhao family's present head, he was a bastard son all the same, and his status was indeed delicate enough.

"So I came to Songshan City, to Li Cihua's territory, planning to develop real estate," Zhao Qibing said. "But who'd have thought a man named Wei Zhao would come crawling out of nowhere and stick his nose into everything? All I did was tear down his girlfriend's house and rough up her face a bit, and he broke both my legs..."

"Wei Zhao?" Yu Haitian was slightly taken aback. The name was very familiar — wasn't that one of the suspects the family head, his second uncle Yu Shuixing, had instructed him to investigate as a priority?

(The name of the Yu family head, Yu Shuixing, was written incorrectly before, mistakenly rendered as Yu Bifu; this is hereby corrected.)

Yet Yu Haitian found it strange all the same: Wei Zhao actually dared to strike Zhao Qibing? And were there no skilled hands at Zhao Qibing's side? Even a bastard son — surely the Zhao family wouldn't simply leave him to fend for himself? So he asked, puzzled, "When he struck you, there was no one guarding you?"

"Uncle Zhu was there too," Zhao Qibing sighed. "A fine hand at the early stage of Profound rank! After trading one palm blow with Wei Zhao, he's still laid up in bed. You can go see him later — you know Uncle Zhu as well."

"Hiss—" Yu Haitian could not help drawing a sharp breath at Zhao Qibing's words. Uncle Zhu — of course he knew the man. He had once been famous throughout the jianghu, and had later thrown in his lot with the Zhao family; though his strength had not improved much over the years, he still possessed the power of the early Profound rank. And now, after a single exchange of palms with Wei Zhao, he had been gravely wounded and was still abed. Then what strength did Wei Zhao possess?

Still, if Uncle Zhu was laid up in bed, how much better off could Wei Zhao be? Surprised as Yu Haitian was that Wei Zhao had the strength to trade palms with Uncle Zhu, he did not think Wei Zhao all that formidable — if he were truly formidable, he would have killed Uncle Zhu outright rather than leave him lying in bed!

"And how is Wei Zhao now?" Yu Haitian asked once his surprise had passed.

"Hopping about as lively as can be, like nothing ever happened." Zhao Qibing burned with hatred at the mere mention of it.

"What? That can't be. Uncle Zhu is bedridden — how could Wei Zhao be perfectly fine? Does that mean Wei Zhao's strength is unfathomable?" Yu Haitian asked in astonishment at the news.

"Unfathomable is going too far. According to Uncle Zhu, Wei Zhao's strength is at most that of the early Profound rank. As for why he's hopping about so lively now — it's because Wei Zhao is himself a master of medicine!" Zhao Qibing hid nothing, speaking plainly.

Zhao Qibing was no fool. Though the recent string of events had left him somewhat muddled and prone to rash action, he remained a man with a head on his shoulders. Facing Yu Haitian now, he had recovered his usual composure.

In Zhao Qibing's view, Yu Haitian had been living comfortably in Yanjing; he couldn't possibly have come all the way to Songshan City for a holiday. There had to be a purpose to his visit! And Yu Haitian was paying close attention to matters concerning Wei Zhao — could it be that he too had come for Wei Zhao?

If the Yu family meant to join in dealing with Wei Zhao as well, that would relieve no small amount of pressure on Zhao Qibing. Besides, the Yu family was, after all, the foremost family of the mundane world, with many skilled hands at its command — a strength far beyond what a single bastard son like himself could match.

"He's actually a Profound rank expert! Just whose faction does this man belong to? How is it I've never heard of such a Profound rank expert existing?" Yu Haitian marveled at Wei Zhao's identity. Wei Zhao seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

Otherwise, skilled hands of the mundane world were generally all on file with the Yu family, which had gathered intelligence on nearly every renowned expert the mundane world had produced — and yet there had never been any word of a figure by the name of Wei Zhao.

"I've no idea." Zhao Qibing shook his head. "I'm utterly helpless against him now. Uncle Zhu is still recovering from his injuries, and you know as well as I do that Earth rank experts cannot casually show themselves in the world. Life is bitter for me these days, brother!"

By now Yu Haitian had already formed his judgment. Having heard that Wei Zhao was a Profound rank expert, he could be all but certain that Yu Kun had been wounded by Wei Zhao! After all, Wei Zhao was one of the men Yu Kun had been seeking — so it made perfect sense that Wei Zhao had injured Yu Kun.

But what shocked Yu Haitian most was Wei Zhao's strength. A Profound rank expert? Or perhaps higher still? Yu Haitian did not believe Wei Zhao was merely a master of medicine — the Zhao family had no shortage of medical masters either, and yet Uncle Zhu was still lying in bed.

The fact that Wei Zhao could still turn up in Songshan City, bouncing around as if nothing had happened, meant he must have real strength to back it up.

"Then what do you plan to do, Young Master Bing? Surely you won't just let Wei Zhao off so easily?" Yu Haitian asked, betraying nothing in his tone.

"And what good would not letting him off do? I'd love to see him pay, but right now he's the one who won't let me off the hook!" Zhao Qibing rolled his eyes and smiled bitterly. "He squeezed another three hundred thousand out of me today!"

"Oh? What do you mean? Wei Zhao, extorting money? He even cares about three hundred thousand?" Yu Haitian was taken aback and pressed him for details.