Turning these troublesome matters over in his mind, Chen Yutian slowly closed his eyes and sank into unconsciousness...

Yu Feng did not leave at once. He stood not far from the police station, watching from a distance as Chen Yutian was lifted into the ambulance; only then did he let out a breath of relief.

It seemed Chen Yutian was not dead, though his injuries were far from light — and that was precisely the outcome Yu Feng had wanted. Had Chen Yutian died, the Yu family would have been put on the back foot. Overbearing and domineering though the Yu family was, and though as the host family of the Great Families' Gathering it wielded powers no other family possessed, if it struck at other families at will, then no matter how strong it was, it could not withstand the combined backlash of all the rest.

But now there was no problem at all. So long as Chen Yutian did not die, everything was easy. Even if the matter were brought up at the Great Families' Gathering, it would at most count as a spar between juniors — you were too weak and got yourself hurt, so whom have you to blame? Thus Yu Feng's responsibility was far smaller, and though the Chen family seethed with resentment, there was nothing they could do to the Yu family.

If you have the ability, come and settle the score! Such were the rules of the great families. If you would not accept it, then fine — at the Great Families' Gathering you could challenge any enemy you pleased! And challenges at the Gathering were to the death. If you had the skill, you could beat your opponent to death; but by the same token, your opponent could beat you to death as well. It was the same as signing a life-and-death pledge before stepping onto the arena, and the hosts of the Gathering would not favor either side. If you had the strength, settle it yourselves; and once it was settled, then sit down and hold the meeting.

But as the saying goes, every wrong has its author and every debt its debtor — whoever's feud it was, that person must step up, and no outside help could be sought. That is to say, if the Chen family had been humiliated and wished to settle the score, it had to be a Chen who took action. A disciple or a relative of the Chen family, that was all fine, but hired help from outside was absolutely not permitted — that would be a breach of the rules.

In truth, this rule had originally been made to restrain the Yu family. The Yu family and the Hidden Yu family shared a bond that defied explanation; if the Yu family called in helpers from the Hidden Yu family, what was anyone else to do? They would have no choice but to take a beating and wait for death.

Of course, though the Yu family and the Hidden Yu family were in fact relatives of a sort, it was a kinship that could not be made public. This involved the Hidden Families Arbitration Association: if the Hidden Yu family wanted to rake in money, it could not openly acknowledge its ties to the worldly Yu family. For once it formally acknowledged them and claimed its ancestral line, the worldly Yu family would have to be folded into the Hidden Yu family and could no longer make money in the mundane world.

So with this rule in place as a check, if the Yu family wished to resolve a conflict, it could not go looking to the Hidden Yu family either.

When the rule was first laid down, the Yu family had not been pleased with it, but now, in Yu Feng's eyes, it could not have been better.

For Chen Yutian to try to reclaim his face at the Great Families' Gathering was utterly impossible. The Chen family had only one cultivator, Chen Yutian himself, and now that he was crippled, daring to come and challenge would be pure suicide. Yu Feng did not fear him in the least.

"Chen Yutian, you think you can snatch a woman from me, Yu Feng? You never even stopped to consider what you are. So you're an early Mystic Rank expert — is that supposed to be impressive? I'm already a mid Mystic Rank expert. Crippling you is as easy as pulling a leg off a grasshopper!" Yu Feng said coldly, watching the ambulance recede into the distance.

But Yu Feng was no fool either. Though this matter would not much affect the Yu family, he still had to report it to his father at the first opportunity.

"Hello? Xiao Feng, what is it?" Yu Shuixing was cultivating when the private phone at his side rang. Only Yu Feng and Yu Lingtou knew of this number; he had told no one else. It was kept as an emergency line, and unless something major had happened, no call would come through.

"Father, I've beaten Chen Yutian half to death!" Yu Feng wasted no time on pleasantries and came straight out with what had happened.

"What!" Yu Shuixing was stunned. "Chen Yutian? Beaten half to death?"

Yu Shuixing had only just come back to himself from his cultivation and had not quite taken it in.

"It's Chen Yutian of the Chen family. I beat him half to death. I'd say he's crippled — he'll never cultivate again in this life, and even if he recovers, he'll find it hard to make any progress!" Yu Feng explained.

"Chen Yutian of the Chen family? Why did you go and hit him? The Chen family is a trifle; our Yu family has never given them a second glance. Chen Yutian is nothing but a Yellow Rank expert, no threat at all to the Yu family's interests. The Great Families' Gathering is about to be held, and you go provoking the Chen family now? Isn't that just making trouble?" Yu Shuixing's tone was displeased. "Xiao Feng, how could you be so rash? What exactly happened?"

"Father, Chen Yutian is no Yellow Rank expert. He's an early Mystic Rank expert!" Yu Feng said. "And so is Qiu Lingshan!"

"What? How are they both Mystic Rank experts? How is that possible?" Yu Shuixing was startled, and he no longer bothered to pursue the matter of Yu Feng wounding Chen Yutian; his attention had fixed entirely on the two of them becoming Mystic Rank experts.

"I don't know either, but I suspect the two of them have been dual cultivating together!" As Yu Feng said this, he could not help grinding his teeth in fury.

"Dual cultivation? You mean Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian have been dual cultivating together?" Yu Shuixing vaguely sensed something, as though he had guessed why his son had flown into such a rage and wounded Chen Yutian.

"That's right!" Yu Feng nodded. "It happened like this. Qiu Lingshan had just returned from a mission. Today I bought some food and went to her office to see her, to celebrate her safe return, but I never expected to find Chen Yutian in her office..."

Yu Feng recounted everything that followed to Yu Shuixing exactly as it had happened. He added no embellishment, for in this matter he did not believe he had done anything wrong. Anyone in his place would have refused to let it go. Qiu Lingshan was, after all, his nominal fiancée, and now another man had gotten there first. To show no reaction at all would have been spineless.

"So that's how it is!" Hearing his son's explanation, Yu Shuixing understood his feelings. "So it was that ** Qiu Lingshan who first took up with Chen Yutian? Hmph. In that case, no one can blame our Yu family!"

"Exactly. Qiu Lingshan is your son's nominal fiancée, and the Chen family still dared to thrust themselves in. Isn't that failing to take our Yu family seriously? But your son was also afraid of stirring up disaster at the Great Families' Gathering, so I didn't dare kill Chen Yutian on the spot. I left him his life..." Yu Feng said.

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