Chapter 85: The Amaterasu Gang, Revised

Ling Chi pulled Cao Bianjiao aside and spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t tell me—you want to cut someone down on the day your senior brother and senior sister are getting married?”

“It doesn’t have to be a person. Demons, evildoers, fiends—I can take any of them,” Ling Chi said, tapping his shoulder with a finger.

Cao Bianjiao rubbed his forehead in helpless silence. A bright, sunny youth had somehow turned into a killer.

The two of them chatted idly, now and then exchanging a few words.

“Sixth Brother, get ready. We’re setting off to fetch Second Senior Sister,” Zhao Shanhe said, suddenly appearing beside them.

Ling Chi let out a sharp whistle, and the big black horse came trotting over. No one knew what it had been eating, but its belly was round and full.

He stroked the horse’s head, smoothed its mane, and saw that Little Rui’er had even tied red ribbons into its coat, making it look especially festive.

A line of carriages set off, Li Shui wearing a cheerful expression and following behind Zhao Lei.

Zhao Lei, decked in red and bright ornaments, walked at the front, while Ling Chi brought up the rear.

Copper coins and packets of wrapped barley candy were scattered along the street all the way to the martial hall.

There were no elaborate scholar’s rules here; they went straight inside.

Zhao Lei and Xiao Yu knelt and bowed before the ancestral tablets, which Xiao Zhan had set up for their late parents.

Xiao Zhan was somewhat stirred with emotion. His younger sister was married off, and at last one of his long-held wishes had been fulfilled.

After the bride was brought back, the ceremony proceeded in one smooth sequence under the emcee’s arrangements: the formal bows, then the bridal chamber.

Only after the bride had been escorted into the bridal room did the wedding feast truly begin.

Most of those present were martial practitioners, and could eat and drink heartily.

A large number of maids and matrons moved among the crowd, adding rice and dishes with tireless bustle.

Dishes flowed out in an unbroken stream to the banquet tables set up outside, and from time to time children who had overindulged in bear-bone soup would end up with nosebleeds, leaving the adults in a flurry to stop the bleeding.

Zhao Qing brought Zhao Lei with him and began to go from table to table in the outer hall, toasting with guests, while the brothers also helped by taking a few drinks in their stead.

There was no need to worry about the female relatives of the guests, who were dining in the inner hall, arranged by Yang Shu.

Though Ling Chi did not care for wine, he was not incapable of drinking it.

Before long he had gone through nearly an entire jar, while Zhao Shanhe had long since drunk himself silly and disappeared somewhere, staggering unsteadily.

Most of those present were either local townsfolk or colleagues from the State Security Office, and all gave the Zhao family and their disciples plenty of face.

Though the hall was noisy, the atmosphere was warm and convivial.

He Qian and the people beside him were raising cups and exchanging drinks, speaking of something or other.

He Qian’s junior martial brother, one of the young men beside him, lifted a bear paw from the plate while speaking in a low voice, his face full of ridicule.

“The bear paw cooked here in your miserable backwater isn’t bad, Junior Brother He.”

At the very least, everyone present was a martial artist in the Meridian Opening Realm or above, so how could they not have heard him? Many faces changed instantly. Those words were no different from deliberately causing trouble.

All eyes turned to Zhao Qing, waiting for him to speak.

Zhao Qing’s expression did not change. He kept chatting and laughing with Cao Huabao, but beneath the table his fist had already tightened.

He cast Ling Chi a discreet glance. Ling Chi understood at once. The moment the thunder bead stirred in him earlier, he had already sentenced those men to death on his own.

He Qian remained silent as well. His father had sent him to offer congratulations precisely to test Zhao Qing, to see how deeply he was tied to Cao Huabao.

The purple-robed young man acted as though no one else were there, chatting with the brothers beside him.

After three rounds of wine and five courses of dishes, Ling Chi gave Cao Bianjiao a subtle look and then rose to leave the outer hall.

Cao Bianjiao sat a moment longer, then followed him out.

Zhao Qing and Cao Huabao exchanged a glance, saying nothing.

Ling Chi leaned lazily against a pillar in the corridor outside, the afternoon breeze stirring his hair.

“What are those damn birds made of?” he asked as soon as Cao Bianjiao came out.

“I heard they’re martial brothers under He Qian from some sect or gang, maybe called the Heavenly Radiance Gang or something like that,” Cao Bianjiao replied.

“Do you know what level their master or gang leader is?”

“No idea. In any case, they’re not from the Northwestern Route. I heard they came from the north. The old Fengli Escort Agency used to be one of their peripheral forces, apparently.”

Heavenly Radiance Gang? Anyone with that name deserved to die.

What a decent name to choose, and yet they had to call it Heavenly Radiance.

Killing intent slowly rose in Ling Chi’s heart, but he kept it hidden, his expression still warm and gentle.

He nodded toward Zhao Qing to indicate that he already had the basic information.

Zhao Qing returned the gesture. It was a tacit understanding they had only just forged after a bout of sparring between master and disciple.

Ling Chi was already preparing to find an excuse to blow up and deal with those brats from the Heavenly Radiance Gang.

Then the purple-robed man suddenly slammed his chopsticks down, released the cultivation of the sixth level of the Sea of Qi, and shouted:

“Where’s the bride? Bring her out and have her toast everyone!”

Those words were the spark that lit the fuse. What bride-to-be, not yet having lifted her veil, was supposed to come out and toast you? That was blatant troublemaking.

Even He Qian’s face changed at once; this was not what they had discussed before.

His father had merely told him to come and test them with a few words. Cao Huabao had not yet broken openly with his father, but now that his senior brother had spoken like this, they had forged a deadly enmity. Whether they could even leave alive today was uncertain.

The room erupted at once with the sounds of tables being slapped and bowls smashed.

Zhao Qing’s thick brows drew together, and the aura of the ninth level of the Sea of Qi spread outward. The others had come to his doorstep to bully him.

“Presumptuous! He San’er, if you can’t control your people, then get the hell back where you came from.”

Cao Huabao slammed a hand on the table and roared.

Zhao Lei was instantly furious. He struck the table and sent it over, ready to fight. His newly married wife had just been insulted in words—who could tolerate that? Behind him, Xiao Zhan’s face flushed red.

For the two of them, one with a wife and the other with a younger sister, those were their reverse scales.

The purple-robed man laughed heartily. “Isn’t there a custom in your remote place of having the wife keep her husband company through the night? Why can’t we even say a few words?”

“That’s right. We’re honored guests of your Governor He in Yizhou. Do you really dare lay hands on us?”

Several of the men beside him also chimed in with confidence.

He Qian’s face had gone pale, and he was just about to explain when sudden agony shot through his leg. His knees weakened, and he dropped to the ground, while a large hand seized the back of his neck.

A long, finely made horse-cleaving saber was placed against his throat.

Only then did the purple-robed man and his martial brothers notice that someone had suddenly appeared beside them.

“Let go of my junior brother.”

“Release him now, or we’ll kill without restraint.”

The men began shouting.

The sharp blade pressed into the flesh of his neck. With a slight push, bright red blood slid along the edge to the tip, gathered into a thin stream, and dripped to the floor.

The hall fell instantly silent, every eye fixed on Ling Chi.

No one knew when he had already moved beside He Qian, one foot planted on a chair, his left hand locking the back of He Qian’s neck and his right hand holding the horse-cleaving saber against his throat.

“Go on, say something. Weren’t you all so eloquent just now?”

Ling Chi bared eight snow-white teeth, laughing with fury.

Before he had even had the chance to explode, the other side had beaten him to it, and the murderous intent in his chest surged straight to the heavens.

“Let go of my junior brother. There’s still room to talk. Do you want to offend your Governor He that badly?”

The purple-robed man said arrogantly, utterly unafraid. The people from such a small place only looked ferocious; in truth, Governor He was their heaven.