Chapter Forty-Five: Luring the Snake from Its Den

“Here it comes, place your bets! Place your bets!”
“Hurry up and bet, double payout on big or small, ten times for triples, thirty times for picking the exact triple!”
“Open them! Stop wasting time, open them now!”
“Triples! Triples!”
This was a gambling house, filled with countless gamblers shouting alongside the dealer. Their eyes glowed with a greedy light. Some were laughing uproariously, basking in their luck, with piles of silver spread before them—clearly, they had won a fortune.

Others sat in despair, wailing in misery, having lost everything—their silver, their homes, even their wives and children!

“Hurry up, open the cup! I’m betting on triples, one hundred taels!”

At one particular table, a young man was shouting excitedly, his eyes bloodshot. Before him were several banknotes worth ten thousand taels each, more than a dozen for a thousand taels, and heaps of silver in tens, twenties, and fifties.

A rough estimate put his winnings at four or five thousand taels—a sizable sum for even a well-off family.

This youth was none other than Zhang Zhen, the same young man who had previously crossed paths with Lin Fan at the Four Seas Restaurant.

“One, two, five—small!”

The dealer lifted the bowl, revealing dice showing one, two, and five—a total of eight, considered a small bet.

“Damn it!”

The dealer swept away the silver Zhang Zhen and the other losers had wagered. Zhang Zhen grimaced and cursed his luck, then pulled out a thousand taels and slammed it down on triples, shouting, “I’m still betting on triples, a thousand taels!”

“Don’t bet, you’re going to lose!”

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in Zhang Zhen’s ears. He spun around, and when he saw who was behind him, his face turned ashen and panic flashed across his features.

Without a moment’s hesitation—without even bothering to grab the silver on the table—Zhang Zhen tried to flee toward the exit.

But he had barely moved before a powerful hand gripped his neck. “Why run when you see an old friend? Come on, let’s talk outside.”

Lin Fan smiled, and with a wave of his hand, swept all the silver before Zhang Zhen into his own possession before dragging Zhang Zhen out of the gambling house.

“Don’t touch me! We’ve already traced you back to the Lin family, a minor clan from Xiao North City. If anything happens to me, your entire family will be wiped out!”

Once outside, Lin Fan led Zhang Zhen straight to the seventh floor of the Four Seas Restaurant and into a private room.

Perhaps because Lin Fan hadn’t immediately attacked, Zhang Zhen’s initial terror faded. His eyes shifted shrewdly as he addressed Lin Fan.

When he first saw Lin Fan, Zhang Zhen was terrified, knowing full well he had been the one to inform his family about the assassination attempt on Lin Fan.

For a moment, he had panicked. But thinking it over, he realized Lin Fan couldn’t possibly know he was the informant. Even if he did, so what?

After all, Lin Fan came from the minor Lin family in Xiao North City—a world apart from the Zhangs. For the sake of the clan, nothing would happen to him.

Regaining his composure, Zhang Zhen didn’t believe Lin Fan dared to do anything to him. Perhaps he was only being held on suspicion. Still, he couldn’t resist threatening Lin Fan.

He wanted Lin Fan to know that he and his family had learned all about Lin Fan’s background. If anything happened to him, Lin Fan’s family would be in grave danger.

Suddenly—

A flash of white steel, cold and beautiful as a crescent moon, lit the room. Crimson bloomed in the air.

“Aaaah!”

Zhang Zhen screamed in agony, his face contorted in pain and disbelief. He clutched his left wrist with his right hand, blood seeping between his fingers and dripping onto the floor.

“I don’t like being threatened.”

Lin Fan sheathed his blade, his expression calm. “Now, use your messenger talisman to contact your clan. Tell them to bring three million taels in banknotes to ransom you and Zhang Yuan’s lives.”

“You captured my brother too?” Zhang Zhen gasped, fighting through the pain as he stared at Lin Fan in shock.

When Zhang Zhen and his brother Zhang Yuan had contacted the clan, the family had sent eight experts at the Qi Vein stage—two who had opened ten meridian points, and six with five points.

After all, no matter how powerful Lin Fan was, he was only at the peak of the Qi Gathering stage. Even an average Qi Vein fighter could kill him, let alone those with five opened points.

For extra caution, they had deployed all six five-point Qi Vein experts.

But to their surprise, not only did Lin Fan survive, but all six Zhang clan experts vanished without a trace!

On hearing this, the family immediately dispatched one of their ten-point Qi Vein experts to investigate. The conclusion was that someone skilled must be protecting Lin Fan—someone capable of killing all six of their Qi Vein experts.

They didn’t know exactly how strong this hidden protector was, but surely not at the ten-point level. Otherwise, Lin Fan would never have needed to flee in the first place.

A ten-point Qi Vein expert could have easily slain all six five-point experts of the Zhang clan.

So, the protector was probably at the seven- or eight-point level, relying on ambush to dispatch the Zhang clan experts as Lin Fan fled.

The Zhangs decided to let the matter rest for now. Multiple assassination attempts might provoke the wrath of all the clans, given the unspoken rule that elders are not to harm the younger generation.

They had already broken this rule once. With Lin Fan lacking a powerful backer, perhaps the other clans would turn a blind eye. But further attempts would surely bring disaster on the Zhangs.

They decided to let Lin Fan go for a few days. After all, they could not discover who was behind the assassination, nor did Lin Fan have the strength to retaliate.

They would wait until Lin Fan left the city, then ambush him on the road!

Zhang Zhen had waited half a day, but Lin Fan showed no sign of leaving. Bored and an inveterate gambler, Zhang Zhen had wandered into the casino.

He had never imagined that Lin Fan would dare seize him, leading to the current predicament.

Now, on hearing Lin Fan’s demand to use the messenger talisman, Zhang Zhen was truly terrified!

When he’d left for the casino, he hadn’t brought the two ten-point Qi Vein experts—he’d left them to guard his brother. Yet Lin Fan’s words implied that his brother had also been captured?

That was hard to believe. His brother Zhang Yuan, though gravely wounded, was protected by two ten-point Qi Vein experts. How could Lin Fan have managed it?

As Zhang Zhen reeled in shock, another flash of white steel split the air.

With a sickening sound, he cried out again. This time, his already severed wrist was sliced clean off at the elbow.

“I don’t like wasting words. Contact the Zhang family with your messenger talisman now!”

Lin Fan’s voice remained calm, but that very calmness sent a chill through Zhang Zhen’s heart as he whimpered in pain.

He dared not utter another word, and immediately sent a desperate plea for help to the Zhang family in Panlong City…

Panlong City, the Zhang residence.

“How dare they! How dare anyone threaten the Zhang clan!”

In the Zhang clan’s council chamber, an elder with a dark, sullen face read the message from the messenger talisman. His face twisted in fury, and his palm slammed down on the table, shattering it with a loud crack.

“Father, I’ll take men to wipe out the Lin family in Xiao North City. We’ll use their blood to wash away the Zhang family’s humiliation! Once we have that little bastard Lin Fan’s father, we’ll have the leverage to get Yuan and Zhen back.”

Seeing the elder’s rage, a middle-aged man beside him stood up, his gaze cold and ruthless.

This elder was Zhang Wangshan, the current head of the Zhang clan. The speaker was his eldest son, Zhang De. Both were at the Meridian Opening stage.

“Don’t be rash, big brother. We already made an enemy of the Lin family when we tried to kill that brat Lin Fan. Destroying them is inevitable.

“But the Lin family’s base, Xiao North City, is under the Xiao clan’s control—they are a powerful force, and the Lin family is one of their vassals. Compared to the Xiao clan, we are still lacking in strength.

“If we storm into Xiao North City over this, we’ll be publicly slapping the Xiao clan in the face. That’s something we can’t afford to ignore.”

Opposite Zhang De sat another middle-aged man, his age similar but his face hideously scarred, as if burned by acid. Only his eyes retained any clarity of black and white; the rest of his face was a mask of ruin.