Qin Hu's move was almost identical to his younger brother Qin Feng's! He formed his hand into a blade, chopping straight for Qin Li's neck. The viciousness in his eyes suggested he was trying to finish what Qin Feng had started.
In a flash, Qin Li's body shifted backward with an uncanny movement, narrowly dodging Qin Hu's strike. At the same time, Qin Xue and Fang Haonan attacked from the front and back, their two palms blasting toward Qin Hu and colliding with his own.
BANG!
A tremendous noise echoed through the empty hall of the martial arts hall. Qin Hu coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes flashing with venomous hatred. He glared at Qin Li and let out a wild laugh. "Qin Li... Sooner or later, I'll make you wish you were dead!" As he spoke, his body turned into a wisp of green smoke and shot toward the main entrance of the Fangzheng Martial Arts Hall.
A moment later, Qin Hu let out a pained scream. His body came flying back into the martial arts hall and slammed onto the floor with a THUD. He lay there, unable to get up.
Then, an old man in a green robe with white hair and a beard entered, his eyes sharp as lightning. He pointed a finger at Qin Hu and cursed, "You little bastard! For your grandfather's sake, I'll spare you today. But if you dare try anything else, I'll show you what a fate worse than death truly means! Stop playing dead and get lost!"
At Shangguan Tie's roar, Qin Hu leaped up from the floor and vanished in a flash, not daring to utter another threatening word.
Shangguan Tie turned to see Qin Li, his expression immediately softening into a gentle one. "Are you alright?" he asked.
'Since when did the iron-faced Master Shangguan have such a gentle side?' Qin Xue and Fang Haonan watched this, stunned.
Qin Li looked up at Shangguan Tie, his brow furrowing slightly. "You must be Master Shangguan, correct? When did I become the Shangguan Family's son-in-law? And... my affairs are my own. I don't need anyone else to interfere!"
With that, he walked out of the Fangzheng Martial Arts Hall with a somewhat unsteady gait. At the entrance, Qin Li turned back to look at Fang Haonan. "Thank you for today. In the future, I, Qin Li... will definitely repay this debt!"
Qin Xue and Fang Haonan stood there dumbfounded. Even Shangguan Tie, who had arrived in a fury, was now standing awkwardly in the martial arts hall. 'Damn it, what a stubborn little brat!' he cursed. 'You don't want to be my Shangguan Family's son-in-law? I'd like to see you try and escape!' After muttering something to save face, he turned and left as well.
Only then did Qin Xue snap out of it and chase after Qin Li, leaving Fang Haonan standing alone in the center of the martial arts hall, looking completely bewildered.
By this time, a large crowd had gathered outside the martial arts hall, all chattering about what had happened inside. Although none of them had witnessed the events firsthand, it didn't dampen their excitement in the slightest.
This was the Fang Family's martial arts hall, yet several disciples of the Qin Family had been fighting here. Then the Shangguan Family had gotten involved. Even more shocking, the Patriarch of the Shangguan Family had shown up in person, roaring something about "who dares touch my Shangguan Family's son-in-law..."
As they say, walls have ears. Even secrets from within the imperial palace eventually make their way to the streets, let alone today's incident. By evening, nearly everyone in Yellow Sand City, from the nobility down to the common folk, was talking about it.
The once-ignored illegitimate son of the Qin Family had, seemingly overnight, become the center of everyone's attention.
Never mind how Fang Haonan would face his family's questions, or how Shangguan Tie, whose kindness had been thrown back in his face, went home to sulk. Right now, the entire Qin Family, from top to bottom, was in chaos.
Qin Feng wasn't just the most promising young man of his generation in the Qin Family; he was also a genius student at the Cyan Dragon Kingdom's finest institution, the Imperial Academy! Graduates from this academy were directly decorated by the King himself!
They became true members of the nobility!
In the entire, vast Cyan Dragon Kingdom, there were only a few dozen such students each year!
It was no exaggeration to say that Qin Feng was a true genius. At fourteen years old and with the strength of a sixth-rank Profound Level Martial Artist, he was considered one of the elites even at a place like the Imperial Academy!
Years ago, the Qin Family had missed a major opportunity for advancement because of the incident with Qin Hanyue. Now, almost everyone had pinned their hopes on Qin Feng. This had fostered a somewhat arrogant personality in him, but so what? What genius wasn't arrogant? What genius didn't have a strong personality?
Those without one... were mediocrities!
You could say the entire Qin Family treasured Qin Feng to an extreme degree. This was especially true for his mother, Mo Lan. She doted on her son endlessly, granting his every wish.
Who would have thought that after leaving home perfectly fine that morning, he would be carried back a short while later, beaten by that little bastard who had latched onto a powerful family! Even worse, after an examination by the Qin Family's High-Level Physician, the diagnosis was that Qin Feng's Dantian was injured. Even if it healed, it would likely leave a permanent weakness.
For the Qin Family, which was counting on Qin Feng to bring them glory, this was the most fatal blow! A permanent weakness in the Dantian—any martial practitioner would understand that this meant Qin Feng's career as a Martial Artist would likely be cut short!
Like a shooting star...
It took only a moment for Qin Hongyuan to get a detailed account of the incident from the Guards. Though those Guards might act high and mighty on a normal day, they didn't have the guts to lie in front of the Qin Family's Patriarch.
But that was precisely what made the situation so difficult to handle. If this had happened before the marriage alliance between the Shangguan and Qin families, Qin Hongyuan could have simply beaten Qin Li half to death to appease the clan, leaving him with just a breath of life, and then expelled him and his mother from the Qin Family. Whether they sought revenge later would have been irrelevant.
But now, news of the marriage alliance was known to everyone. Furthermore, Qin Li was in the right in this matter. If the brothers Qin Feng and Qin Hu hadn't provoked him first, how could Qin Feng have been injured? As for the claim of a sneak attack, that was just ridiculous. 'If you want to beat someone up, are you supposed to tell them: "Stand still and let me hit you to vent my anger!"? ... That makes no sense. Only an idiot would stand there and take a beating!'
'Putting everything else aside, the look on Qin Li's face when he killed those two Qin Family servants was enough to show he's not someone to be trifled with. Yet those two bastards, Qin Feng and Qin Hu, just had to go and provoke him... Fucking hell, they're such morons!'
The Qin Patriarch paced back and forth in his room, hands clasped behind his back, unable to stop himself from cursing under his breath. He was weighing his options, trying to figure out how to resolve this perfectly. This was especially difficult now that he'd just received news that old fool Shangguan had personally shown up, shouted a bit, and even kicked Qin Hu. Though it wasn't a vicious blow, the action was a clear declaration: 'The Shangguan Family is protecting this boy, Qin Li!'
'Who told that old bastard?!' Qin Hongyuan cursed fiercely again. Just then, the sound of wailing came from outside. "Patriarch, you must seek justice for me... My son has been beaten so badly, I can't go on living! The hope of the Qin Family is gone..."
Qin Hongyuan's face darkened. He cursed inwardly, 'What kind of bullshit is this! The hope of the Qin Family is gone?...' He shoved the door open and looked at the large, dark mass of people kneeling outside. In a perfectly calm voice, Qin Hongyuan said, "Summon all disciples within five generations. Notify all the Elders. We are holding a clan assembly!"