Chapter 4579 — Going Too Far

"Fine. Since Senior Brother Jia has spoken, I will grant you this face and let these reckless ants off for now. But if they fall into my hands again, do not blame me for showing no mercy." Ma Dangfeng gave Jia Mufan a long, hard look, then, with a sinister grin, slowly lifted his foot from Qiao Hongcai's hand. "Oh, and remember—next time, file your challenge in advance!"

Hiss! The crowd stared at Qiao Hongcai's hand, crushed beyond recognition, and drew a collective breath. Seasoned as they were to every manner of bloodshed, none had known a hand could be stomped into such a bloody pulp—so mangled that its shape was no longer discernible. Yet Qiao Hongcai had not made a single sound from beginning to end. The man's grit was truly beyond belief.

Xiao Che and Li Zhengming, nearest to him, exchanged a glance. Keeping one eye fixed on Ma Dangfeng's every move, they hurried to pull Qiao Hongcai out of the human-shaped crater, then slowly retreated to stand beside Lu Bianren and Miserable Senior Brother, joined in common cause against the foe.

"You had all best leave," Jia Mufan said slowly to the crowd. "As of today, this place belongs to Junior Brother Ma. Do not come here again—spare yourselves the trouble."

"What? This is clearly Senior Brother Lin's residence! How can it be given to someone else?" Lu Bianren and the others were aghast. They had assumed Ma Dangfeng was merely stirring up trouble for no reason. They had never imagined it was true.

"Senior Brother Lin? You mean that worthless Wei Zhao? Hahaha! Gone for over a year, no one even knows whether he is alive or dead, and he still has the nerve to squat on prime ground without using it? This is the finest residence in the entire inner court of the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Since I have laid eyes on it, it is mine! Surely you do not dare object?" Ma Dangfeng laughed in triumph.

Seeing the fury surging in Lu Bianren and the others—who looked ready to come to blows with Ma Dangfeng on the spot—Jia Mufan sighed inwardly. Silencing them with a look, he said, "There is more to this matter, and I will explain it all to you. First, come out with me."

With that, Jia Mufan walked up to Lu Bianren and the others, gave a slight nod to Lu Bianren, their leader, and then led the way toward the door.

All eyes fell upon Lu Bianren. With Wei Zhao absent, he was now their leader; if he said go, they went; if he said stay, they stayed.

Had Qiao Hongcai been the heart of the group, this day's affair would have ended only with one of them dead—even at the cost of dying here. But Lu Bianren was different. He was not so hot-tempered, and he knew how to take the larger view.

While there is life, there is hope. To stand fast in a pointless deadlock when defeat was certain was no act of wisdom. And doing so would also offend Jia Mufan, the senior brother and steward of the inner court who had come out to smooth things over. The consequences did not bear thinking about.

"Very well. We go." Lu Bianren drew a deep breath and took the lead in following Jia Mufan's steps. The others were reluctant, but they knew it was the best choice available. After casting Ma Dangfeng a venomous glare, they departed one after another.

"Haha, a pack of gutless cowards!" Ma Dangfeng laughed gleefully from behind them, taunting, "Oh, that's right—I forgot to tell you, I am about to become the second senior brother and steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner court. My ranks do not take in trash, but seeing as you were once the underlings of the former newcomer king, I suppose I can leave you a few spots as petty followers. Those of you with sense, come pledge yourselves to me. Otherwise, next time your luck will not be so good!"

Lu Bianren and the others exchanged glances, disdaining to bandy words with the bastard. Each laughed coldly in his heart: Next time? Hmph—next time will be when you pay for your blood debts!

The group walked out the gate in oppressive silence. Suddenly Lu Bianren halted and said to Jia Mufan ahead of him, "Senior Brother Jia, now will you tell us what is going on? How did Senior Brother Lin's residence become that bastard's?"

Jia Mufan stopped and swept his gaze across every face before sighing. "The truth is, the very day after the inner court tournament ended, Junior Brother Ma had already set his eye on this place. He came to demand it of me then, but because it belonged to Junior Brother Lin, I refused him on the spot."

"And after that?" Lu Bianren and the others frowned in unison.

"After that, he came to me several more times, but each time I put him off with some excuse. I may as well be frank with you: I am not close to Junior Brother Lin, nor would I call us friends, but he is, after all, a figure valued by both Pavilion Master Shangguan and our own Pavilion Master Yu. As the senior brother and steward of the inner court, how could I go and offend Junior Brother Lin over a matter like this for no good reason?" Jia Mufan said earnestly.

The others nodded one after another, and their gazes toward Jia Mufan visibly softened. They could tell he was speaking plain truth, and that a man of his station—senior brother and steward of the inner court—was willing to open his heart to them like this was no small thing. Whatever else might be said, the man clearly knew a thing or two about handling people.

"If that is so, then how did it still end up in his hands?" Lu Bianren and the others looked at one another in bewilderment. Authority over the allocation of cave dwellings for the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner court disciples rested entirely with Jia Mufan. If he had refused, would Ma Dangfeng dare seize it outright without justification?

"There is much you do not know. Junior Brother Ma's standing in our inner court is now no lower than my own, and many of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's higher-ups think highly of him. This time he was determined to have it, and he enlisted several of the pavilion's elders to support him jointly, forcing the allocation of this residence under his name at the pavilion's internal council of elders. So there was nothing I could do." Jia Mufan shrugged helplessly.

"Outrageous! This is going too far!" The crowd was instantly aflame with indignation. If Wei Zhao were still here, they believed, even those elders of the Azure Cloud Pavilion would never dare do such a thing. To offend Wei Zhao was to slap Shangguan Tianxia in the face—even Yu Zhenyang, the pavilion master of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, would not dare be so brazen, let alone these elders.

But Wei Zhao was absent now, and Shangguan Lan'er never came this way unless there was cause. That is to say, whatever befell them here would likely never reach Shangguan Tianxia's ears. (To be continued) R752