Everybody looked up and saw Zhao Chen standing, floating in the air.
...
Upon arriving at the Lin family estate, he was greeted by wreckage and blood all over, with damaged roofs and buildings destroyed. A strong stench of blood filled the air, enough to make those weak-willed feel weak in the knees. It was clear that the place had just seen a big battle.
He began to scan the crowd below with his spiritual consciousness and spotted the Zhao family search party holding their various weapons, forming a defensive circle around the deformed body of Zhao Lee.
He was stunned.
'How is this possible? How can he be injured to such an extent? Those are obvious signs of Blood Combustion Pill backlash. Could it be that even after taking that pill he still couldn't win?'
He then looked at the Lin family's side and saw most of them with varying degrees of injuries, with Lin Mu seriously injured and having lost his combat effectiveness. Then he looked at Lin Hai. Both of them looked at each other, neither willing to look away first.
'Could it be that he took the pill, first defeated and almost killed Lin Mu, but Lin Hai showed up at the last moment and saved him? Then both of them fought, and the final result was a backlash of the pill with the scene in front of me.'
'After all, with that third idiot's potential, it couldn't boost his cultivation too much. At most, sixth level of Grandmaster. And with his shallow foundation, it is not impossible for Lin Hai, who is at the fifth layer, to stall enough time until the pill burst.'
He analyzed internally, feeling his conclusion was the most likely outcome.
While floating and analyzing, the Zhao family members below were ecstatic upon seeing their Second Elder arrive.
"Great! It's Mr. Zhao Chen! We are saved!"
They exclaimed one after another, while those spectators who were initially enthusiastic were now scared to the point of almost fainting. They knew that compared to Zhao Lee, Zhao Chen's ruthlessness was more than double. They did not dare say a word for fear of hitting the muzzle of the gun with their heads. The entire place became silent as a graveyard.
After finishing his train of thought, he finally looked away from Lin Hai and glanced at his own men, then randomly pointed at Zhao Lei.
"You, what happened here? Who did this to my Third Junior Brother?"
"Greeting to Second Elder."
"This is what happened..."
Zhao Lei bowed and started to narrate what happened from the moment they got to the Lin family estate, coincidentally leaving out the details of their arrogance and tyranny. According to his explanation, they were respectful and friendly, but it was the Lin family that were arrogant and domineering, humiliating them and even attacking them. Their Third Elder was forced to use the Blood Pill because he was less skilled than the other.
His words were like a bolt from the blue, stunning everyone. They were all speechless at his shamelessness. Not only was he not grateful that Lin Hai saved his Third Elder, he even paid kindness with hatred without batting an eyelid.
'This... this bitch is so shameless.'
'Is this not turning black into white?' Lin Feng thought as his eyes twitched and his chest heaved rapidly.
Hearing his words, Lin Mu stumbled and nearly fell.
"Zhao Lei, you bastard! You dare to slander me! I will kill you!"
His excited state caused his barely stabilized injuries to reopen all at once, nearly causing blood to flow back into his heart and making him fall backward, almost vomiting a mouthful of blood.
"Third Uncle, no!!"
Luckily, Lin Feng and Feifei rushed forward and caught him before he fell.
Seeing Lin Mu's state, the crowd felt a surge of sympathy and anger.
"This guy is so shameless! A few minutes ago he was about to fall over bowing in gratitude for saving his life."
"He even said the Zhao family would repay them. I didn't expect the repayment to be in hatred."
"Yes, I have learned something today."
Despite their fear, a few couldn't help but speak out in righteous indignation.
But despite the sneers and curses, Zhao Lei not only did not flinch, but even turned around and looked at everyone with a look of disdain. In his opinion, the Zhao family were the rulers of this city and everyone else was their slave. It was the honor of the Lin family that they even came to ask them for something when they should have offered it up immediately. Yet they dared to fight. A slave who dares to disobey its master should be punished with death.
"Elder, that's how things were."
He bowed and stepped back as he finished the report.
Zhao Chen's eyes flickered.
Of course, he knew Zhao Lei was lying because he knew exactly how arrogant and domineering his Third Brother was. But he deliberately did not expose it.
He remained silent for a few moments.
Although there was no action, everyone could feel the increasing hostility and killing intent in the air, with bone-chilling wind passing through and making everybody numb.
"Lin Hai, the matter is already like this. What else do you have to say?"
"Or do you think I do not dare to exterminate your Lin family?" Zhao Chen said calmly and coldly.
"RUMBLE!!!"
"RUMBLE!!"
At the moment his words ended, there was a large shaking of the earth and the sound of armor striking against the ground. Everyone followed the sound and soon spotted an army of over a hundred men radiating a large amount of fighting and killing intent, like bloodthirsty soldiers who had seen countless bloody battles.
They were dressed in black armor carrying the Zhao family crest. On their backs they held spears in one hand and shields in the other, forming an encircling and suppression formation around the Lin family members on all sides, bursting out their cultivation to the fullest.
"Hiss! What kind of terrible army is this?"
"A full one hundred Martial Masters! Although most of them are early stage, there are quite a few middle and late stages there as well—even three peak ninth-stage masters!"
"And they all carry the Zhao family crest."
"This... this... has the Zhao family strength become so terrifying? I'm afraid with this amount of masters, plus the five Grandmasters, they are truly worthy of being the first power of Qinghe City."
"Yeah... but I'm afraid today is the doom of the Lin family."
Seeing the army, everyone on the Lin family side went pale-faced. Some of the weaker-willed ones dropped to their knees, crying in despair.
"It's over... it's really over this time."
"I don't want to die! I'm still so young!"
"Third Elder! Grand Elder! You have to figure something out!"
"Could it be the gods' will to destroy my Lin Jia?" they wailed.
On the side of Lin Feng and Ye Feifei, although Ye Feifei tried to act calm, her trembling arms gave her away. Lin Feng, on the other hand, looked calm on the surface, but his insides were in turmoil.
'No... no... how could they have so many masters? Weren't the three families all equal in strength according to old Lin Feng's memories?'
'Could it be that the Zhao family were playing tiger in sheep's clothing all this time? After all, even with a backer, it takes a lot of time to transform resources into strength.'
'What a terrible Zhao family... you hid so deeply.'
He analyzed silently, his face tightening slightly at the terrifying thought.
Lin Mu and Lin Hai looked at each other. They both saw the solemnity in each other's eyes.
Lin Mu was the first to speak.
"Zhao Chen, His Majesty the Emperor of Tianwu and the royal family clearly prohibit keeping a private army. You dare to keep one?"
"Aren't you afraid of angering the royal family and bringing disaster to the Zhao family?" he said.
"Hahaha!"
Zhao Chen's disdainful laughter sounded as he landed in front of them.
"Lin Mu, you're so old yet you still don't understand the truth."
"In this world, the only things that matter are strength and benefits."
"As long as Qinghe City continues to provide its quarter of resources to the imperial capital and the Emperor, he won't care what happens to the city or who's in charge."
"Likewise, it's just an army of a hundred masters. With the strength of the royal family, do you think they would take it seriously? As long as I add more benefits to the right people, not only will I not be punished, I might even be rewarded."
"Or do you think the royal family would care if I destroyed your weak Lin family?" he spoke with contempt in his voice.
Lin Mu went silent, knowing he was telling the truth.
Lin Hai, on the other hand, remained silent, but his eyes flickered nonstop before finally becoming still, as if he had come to some sort of conclusion.
"Alright, no more nonsense. Hand over the treasure and I will consider letting you all go," Zhao Chen said impatiently.
The army raised their shields for protection and thrust their spears forward while walking ahead, closing the circle.
"Zhao Chen, we don't have any treasure," Lin Hai finally spoke.
"Are you going to force me to do it?" Zhao Chen replied, clearly angered.
"Hahaha, Elder Zhao, you misunderstand," Lin Hai waved his hands.
"Although we don't have it, and I have no idea whether it is indeed a treasure or not, I do know who might know."
"Who is it?" Zhao Chen asked.
Lin Hai smiled in response, then turned around and pointed at Lin Feng.
"Of course, it is my dear nephew right here."