Chapter 4578 — Stepping In

The Law Enforcement Hall moved with remarkable speed. Almost the instant they received the report, the much-watched Ma Dangfeng was taken away for interrogation. Yet, unexpectedly, that investigation dragged on for a full half month without ever producing a concrete result.

In the end, it was Hall Master Gongyang Jun who settled the matter with a single hammer blow, declaring that the fifteen disciples of the Threefold Pavilion who had died overnight had all perished from a unique and unprecedented acute illness, the source of which still required further confirmation with the Elixir Hall. None of it, however, had the slightest connection to Ma Dangfeng; he had merely been concealing his true strength, and beyond that had committed no violation whatsoever.

Since this was Gongyang Jun's final ruling, naturally no one dared question it. Even though Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che still found it somewhat strange, they did not dare raise an objection. And so, after half a month's confinement in the Law Enforcement Hall, Ma Dangfeng walked out unscathed, without a scratch on him.

And so the matter passed. But from that day on, Ma Dangfeng shed his former low profile entirely and grew brazen beyond measure, doing whatever he pleased. As an unprecedented Nascent Soul-stage newcomer, to think that Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che, with their mere Foundation Establishment cultivation, could keep him in check was nothing short of a fool's dream.

￠

One was the third-pavilion master of the Welcome Pavilion; the other, the senior brother in charge of newcomers. Not only were they unable to rein in this Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomer, Ma Dangfeng, but because of their earlier report, he bore them a deep grudge and repeatedly humiliated them in public, leaving them unable to show their faces—truly, they were made to swallow every indignity. And the other higher-ups of the Welcome Pavilion, Pavilion Master Hu Yun included, all looked on coldly, neither asking nor caring.

If even the Welcome Pavilion's higher-ups took such an attitude, then in the Azure Cloud Pavilion it went without saying. Whether it was Miserable Senior Brother or Xiao Che, their only patron was Wei Zhao. Now that Wei Zhao was gone, they had, within the Azure Cloud Pavilion, not even the most basic foothold to rely on. Those Azure Cloud higher-ups would not only fail to speak up for them—they actually praised Ma Dangfeng to the skies, every last one of them standing squarely on the opposite side!

This tendency became especially pronounced after Ma Dangfeng unquestionably became the King of Newcomers—particularly after he, just like Wei Zhao before him, skipped the outer sect grand tournament and went straight to shine brilliantly in the inner sect grand tournament. Word had it that the Azure Cloud Pavilion's higher-ups had now unanimously recognized Ma Dangfeng as the hope of the future, and had even resolved to designate him as the pavilion's future successor!

In strength, the man was a Nascent Soul expert; in status, he was the Azure Cloud Pavilion's heir apparent. In neither respect could anyone present begin to contend with Ma Dangfeng, so this utterly one-sided slaughter was only to be expected. Lu Bianren and the others were helpless against it, able only to take their beating passively.

"Judging by those looks, seems you've all accepted your fate, have you?" Ma Dangfeng swept his eyes sidelong over the crowd with a cold sneer. "How boring. I thought you'd have at least a little backbone—didn't expect you'd be so sensible. Or do you think that means I'll let you off? Hahahaha, don't be so naive. Since I said I'd cripple every one of you today, I won't cut the slightest corner. Might as well start with this one under my foot!"

As the words fell, Ma Dangfeng applied a touch more pressure underfoot, and at once everyone heard again that familiar, scalp-numbing crack of bone. Just how many fingers on Qiao Hongcai's pinned hand were still intact was now anyone's guess—quite possibly not a single one.

Feeling that inhuman agony shoot straight to his scalp, Qiao Hongcai's face flushed crimson in an instant, the veins at his temples leaping and pounding madly, yet he clenched his jaw and did not make a sound. His bloodshot eyes fixed hard on Ma Dangfeng, and word by word he forced out through his teeth: "You'll pay for this! You will most certainly pay for this! If you don't kill me today, I'll repay you a thousandfold, ten thousandfold in the days to come!"

"Oh my, I'm so scared!" Ma Dangfeng put on a deliberate show of fright, then threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Seems I misspoke earlier. I shouldn't have said you were boring—I should have said you're very interesting! I won't kill you today; no amount of goading will work. But I will cripple your meridians one by one, and I'd rather like to see just what a pack of cripples like you plan to rely on when you come seeking revenge in the future. Hahahaha!"

At that very moment, not far away, Xiao Che and Li Zhengming suddenly struck as one, their movement techniques instantly pushed to the utmost limit, bearing not the slightest sign of having just been gravely wounded by the ground spikes. Once a cultivator's meridians were crippled, he was reduced to a total wreck for life. They would rather risk everything in a desperate struggle than watch Qiao Hongcai be crippled before their eyes—and still less were they willing to become cripples themselves!

"Hmph! Seeking death!" Killing intent congealed in Ma Dangfeng's gaze. Though he had sworn up and down that he did not wish to kill, if these lowly scum, no better than ants, insisted on charging headlong to their deaths, he would show them no mercy either. Killing a few insignificant outer sect disciples—in his eyes, that did not amount to a fart.

That ground spike attack earlier had been no more than a show of force. Once he truly set his heart on killing, not a single person present could escape disaster—and now he intended to begin the slaughter in earnest!

At the mere flicker of a thought, Ma Dangfeng was about to unleash his killing move. To ordinary eyes, Xiao Che's and Li Zhengming's movement techniques were already fast, but to him, a Nascent Soul expert, they were as slow as turtles crawling, so feeble they could not withstand a single blow.

As killing intent flared, alarm bells clanged wildly in Xiao Che's and Li Zhengming's hearts, yet neither of them slowed in the least, still pressing forward without a thought of retreat. One who roams the jianghu will surely take a blade—and even if it meant death, what was there to fear?!

Watching this, Lu Bianren, Miserable Senior Brother, and Qiao Hongcai felt their eyes blaze with blood as they saw the two about to rush headlong to their deaths. Then, all at once, a clear breeze swept across the field, and a figure appeared out of nowhere without the slightest warning, saying mildly, "Even killing a man, one need only bow his head to the ground. You bear them no grudge, Brother Ma—why bring trouble upon yourself?"

Everyone was struck dumb at once. Even the unbridled Ma Dangfeng could not help but let his pupils contract slightly at the sight of this person. It was none other than the Azure Cloud Pavilion's senior brother in charge of the inner sect, Jia Mufan.

With the formidable strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator, Ma Dangfeng could treat anyone present like so much grass, killing or crippling them at will. But faced with this Jia Mufan, even he had to rein himself in somewhat—not only because the man was the senior brother in charge of the inner sect, but also because he, too, possessed Nascent Soul strength, equal to his own if not greater!