The two Captains who came out with Cao Feng were, strictly speaking, both subordinates of Gu Zhan. However, their attitude was obvious—from the moment Gu Zhan joined the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they'd always taken Cao Feng as their leader and never listened to Gu Zhan.
Now, they brought their own warriors and followed Cao Feng out, thoroughly ignoring Gu Zhan's authority as their superior.
When Zhang Peng saw Cao Feng coming out, he immediately looked as though he'd seen his savior. The terror in his heart vanished at once, and he ran straight toward Cao Feng.
But Zhang Peng had barely taken two steps—
Gu Zhan suddenly launched a kick, sending Zhang Peng flying to the ground, then planted one foot on his back. In a cold voice, Gu Zhan said, "Did I give you permission to leave?"
Cao Feng's face instantly darkened at this, and he walked over, saying coldly, "Lord Gu, isn't this over the line?"
Gu Zhan looked at Cao Feng, his voice icy: "Are you teaching me how to do my job? Who gave you the qualification? Get lost, as far as you can!"
Humiliated publicly like this, Cao Feng's face flickered between blue and white, but he still suppressed his anger, saying, "Lord Gu, these men are Embroidered Uniform Guards. You're treating your own brothers like this—isn't that against protocol?"
Gu Zhan kicked Zhang Peng right to Chen Fei's feet, then looked at Cao Feng and said slowly, "And what the hell are you? I'm the Small Banner Officer. If I want something done, is it your place as a Captain to interfere?"
"Lord Gu, you—"
"Shut up!"
Gu Zhan spat out, waved at Chen Fei and the others, and said, "Take Zhang Peng to the Prefecture Government!"
But just as Chen Fei and the others moved—
Cao Feng and the dozen warriors he brought blocked their path.
Gu Zhan said in a deep voice, "What, you dare to stop me?"
Cao Feng replied calmly, "Lord Gu has been drinking and lays hands on our own Embroidered Uniform brothers. Brothers, we can't let our family's shame leak out—let's take Lord Gu to sober him up!"
With that, Cao Feng and his men stepped up, trying to seize Gu Zhan.
A flash of blade—
Gu Zhan raised his Horizontal Saber and pointed it at Cao Feng's group, saying, "Zhang Peng hired an assassin to attack his superior. The evidence is ironclad. I'm taking him to the Prefecture Government. If anyone dares stop me today, you'll be punished as an accomplice!"
With Gu Zhan's blade pointing at them,
The Embroidered Uniform Guards all hesitated,
They weren't stupid; they could see Gu Zhan was ready to risk his life. If Gu Zhan were alone, they could just overwhelm him with force. But with Chen Fei and several warriors at his side, a fight would get way out of hand.
Though they all looked down on Gu Zhan, in name he was their superior. Using force against a superior was a grave crime.
Cao Feng naturally saw what was on his allies' minds. In fact, he was worried too and deeply puzzled—he couldn't figure out how Gu Zhan dared to go this far today.
But he didn't dare back down,
Because Zhang Peng's actions were his instructions. He knew exactly how heavy this crime was. If Zhang Peng really got taken away and ratted him out, the crime of implication would doom not just him—his whole family would be executed.
For a moment, regret gnawed at his heart,
Not regret for targeting Gu Zhan, but regret for not making better preparations, for letting Gu Zhan slip through his fingers twice.
"Useless trash!"
He cursed inwardly. The first time, he'd arranged a few hoodlums to kill Gu Zhan, but Chen Fei ruined it. He meant to silence them, but before he could, the hoodlums realized something was off and went into hiding—Chen Fei caught them first in the end.
But he wasn't worried then,
Because he knew those hoodlums wouldn't dare spill anything. So he tried bribing Gu Zhan's personal maid, thinking nothing could go wrong. Instead, not only did he fail to kill Gu Zhan, he got exposed.
One slip,
Brought him straight to a dead end,
If he didn't handle this well, he was done for.
Gu Zhan dragged his saber away,
The other Embroidered Uniform Guards dared not stop him,
After all, they didn't respect Gu Zhan, but they weren't about to fight to the death with him. Faced with this mad display, they all gave way.
Cao Feng's expression was grim,
Suddenly, he shouted, "Lord Gu is drunk—take him to sober up!"
Before his words faded, he suddenly nudged a saber-wielding Embroidered Uniform Guard standing beside him.
Cao Feng's inner strength was deep. The guard next to him barely had Ninth Grade cultivation—he had no time to react and plunged his saber straight at Zhang Peng.
But in that instant—
Gu Zhan darted in front of Zhang Peng, hacking down with his saber, breaking the Brocade Spring Saber in the warrior's hand, and shouted angrily, "You've got guts, attacking a superior!"
The warrior was terrified and blurted, "It wasn't me! Someone pushed me..."
"What, on Cao Feng's orders?" Gu Zhan roared immediately, "Cao Feng, you son of a bitch! You dare send someone to kill me in front of everyone? Men, arrest them! If anyone resists, kill without mercy!"
Cao Feng was stunned, shouting, "Gu Zhan, what bullshit are you spouting, you—"
In that instant—
Chen Fei, standing next to Gu Zhan, slashed straight at Cao Feng and shouted at the same time, "Cao Feng attempted to assassinate Lord Gu in public, a crime punishable by death! Any accomplices will be punished the same!"
Chen Fei's shout startled the other Embroidered Uniform Guards,
No one dared help Cao Feng now. That was a death sentence.
But Chen Fei's men were different. They immediately joined him to attack Cao Feng,
These warriors varied in strength. The weak weren't even ranked, but the stronger were only slightly weaker than Cao Feng. With Chen Fei, who matched him in ability, they quickly overwhelmed Cao Feng.
Seeing Chen Fei's group show no mercy, Cao Feng knew things wouldn't end quietly—either Gu Zhan died, or he would. If Gu Zhan died, there'd be a sliver of hope left for him.
Assassinating a superior was a capital crime, but in this chaos, if Gu Zhan died, he'd have time to cover up what he'd done to Gu Zhan before. As long as that was buried, today's event could be framed as Gu Zhan, jealous of his subordinates, being killed in 'self-defense.'
The charges would be totally different then.
So, he forced his way through multiple saber wounds and charged at Gu Zhan,
Already bearing several cuts,
Cao Feng was now a spent force,
But he was absolutely confident,
Because he knew Gu Zhan had no cultivation whatsoever—killing him would be easy.
But just as he came close to Gu Zhan,
Suddenly he saw Gu Zhan swing his saber—fast, powerful, and ruthless in angle,
In that instant, Cao Feng's heart lurched in terror,
He remembered the scene just now where Gu Zhan had cleaved the Brocade Spring Saber in two,
He instantly realized his error and tried to retreat,
But it was too late,
Gu Zhan's saber came down, slashing straight onto Cao Feng's forehead,
A line of blood opened from forehead to chin,
With a thud, Cao Feng toppled to the ground, dead.
At that moment, a system prompt sounded in Gu Zhan's mind:
[Experience Points +150]