Chapter 28

'Impossible!' Huo Feng thought, maybe the assassin was just in shock, he was still alive? Maybe he was surprised at that jump move Huo Feng had pulled off? But Huo Feng knew his hopes were dashed the more he looked into the man's eyes.

He had been got.

What could he do? He was in no position to fight the man, not to mention the numerous deadly weapons hanging from his body like branches on a tree. Even if he beat the leader, what about his people? 

Would the guards even allow the fight?

Huo Feng slowly got up, wincing. The only thing keeping him moving was the qi running through his body and forcing his heart to pump blood. He didn't have to tame the wildness of the beast core qi. Only direct it for now.

If he had been able to make it docile, it wouldn't have been fierce enough to force his body to function properly. He would have just lain there, alive but unable to do anything else.

He turned towards the guards. Slowly, like an old man with a cane and chronic back problems. He looked like a porcupine.

"May I be let in?"

The guards chuckled. "Of course, fellow disciple." Huo Feng started to move towards the gates, but one of the guards put their hands on him, stopping him. It felt like when you shook the hands of another man and he squeezed harder than he should have, but with an unassuming, innocent smile on his face.

Huo Feng had no choice but to stop. Pretending to not feel anything. The guard pushed harder, Huo Feng could not see him smile but he could recognise the signs, the tightening of his eyes into crows feet, the scrunching of his nose, the bastard was not going to let up.

"Is there anything you need?" Huo Feng sounded out, his voice hoarse as he tried to keep the pain out of them.

"Yes," the guard talked in a slow drawl through his helmet, "which one of you was trying to pursue the other first?"

'What sort of foolish question was that?' Huo Feng kept that thought to himself though as he said, "They pursued me first, honorable senior."

"Aaaah," the guard put on hand on his chin in a thinking motion but kept the other on Huo Feng's shoulder. "Is that all?"

Huo Feng almost shouted in anger at this obvious display, but he kept his temper. "That is all, sir."

"Hmmm, you may go now" 

"Thank you, senior."

The man smacked Huo Feng one last time for good measure, and Huo Feng almost tumbled over, driving the weapons deeper into his body than they already were. The guards behind him erupted into laughter.

"Told you bastards, now pay up!"

"Awww, but that doesn't count….."

The guards were trying to negotiate their way out of paying their debts, but Huo Feng had to go on. His first stop would be the Medicine Pavilion. 

—-------------

At the pavilion**

Huo Feng walked through the open doors of the medicine pavilion. One by one, the people in there turned to stare at him.

Was it a rare sight for someone to come in wounded? No. But to this extent? With spears and long swords sticking out of him? This was a momentous occasion.

Within seconds, the room burst into chatter, then silent laughs and sneers. With some even saying that the bastard who had caused this should have finished the job.

But Huo Feng could do nothing. He walked to the counter, "I would like to buy one second-grade Flesh regrowth healing pill." 

The attendant looked him up and down, not bothering to hide the scowl on her face, "Do you even have qi stones? Hey, hey, hey, please hurry up and make yourself useful by leaving here, can't you see what kind of establishment this is?"

Blood he didn't have surged to his cheeks as the laughter crashed over him. Huo Feng almost keeled over and died from the embarrassment.

"Miss," he gritted his teeth, bloodshot eyes staring death at the woman, "I have my personal contribution points, " he tossed her a jade tag, covered in blood, so it looked like a mixture of brown, red, and green colours.

She sniffed, hmmph! And took out tongs to hold out his jade token. She checked it for a while with her qi, then a slow, mischievous smirk appeared on her face, "You barely have enough for one of these pills, are you sure?"

She said it so loud, Huo Feng was sure his grandfather would have heard it. The whole room tossed with laughter.

Huo Feng's grip on the counter turned his fingers a sickly white. "Yes, I .am .sure" 

She smirked, feeling on top of the world once more. Why can't she be one to work with those top tier cultivators, maybe she would catch ones eye and… she stopped herself, afraid to let her inner thoughts show.

She brought out the pill in a small wooden box, sealed at the seams with a grey solid. "Would you like anything else…young master?" Her mischievous smile was back, this time she folded her hands between her legs, opening her eyes as wide as possible to create an innocent look.

Huo Feng coughed out blood. He didn't even bother to answer her before walking out, taking slow, deliberate steps to the outer disciple quarters. As a disciple of elder Bai, he atleast got one of the better ones. 

Halfway to his accommodations on sect grounds, a girl stopped him. Plain, and petite, with long silky hair that reached the back of her knees, and too much make up on her face. Her forehead was large enough for Huo Feng to put all five fingers on.

"Feng…what happened to you?" She whispered, reaching out to touch him. 

Huo Feng just stood there. Looking at her. In his head he thought of all the things he had been through in the past few days. How many times he had touched the hands of death, he couldn't help but look at her like he would look at an enemy.

She reached out to hug him but he stepped away, wincing in the process. This was all her fault!

Hung Lee had problems with him, sure, but he was content to just bully him whenever he could find him, but because of her—his eyes turned a shade darker as more blood pooled into them.

This woman was bad luck.

He stared past her and started walking again, in a low, hoarse voice, he said, "Don't come near me anymore. Next time…I'll treat you like a blood enemy."

He walked away, not caring about the well of emotions he had sprung in the poor girl. But Huo Feng didn't care. This expedition had reminded him of what really mattered. What he had forgotten.

Revenge.

He wouldn't let anything stand in his way.

####

Late at night, in the confines of Hung Lee's room**

"Boss Lee, we couldn't get him."

Hung Lee reached out and smacked the man, letting him sprawl onto the floor. It was the lead assassin!

"You think I don't know that? You let that walking pin cushion back into the sect," he snarled, kicking at the body of the leader, who did not dare resist. "And now the whole sect cannot stop talking about the fool who almost died at the medicine hall!"

He pulled at his hair. "How am I supposed to get rid of him now? What if he hears about him? Hmm? What am I to do?"

Hung Lee kept kicking and beating the man as he lay there. Only daring ot cycle his qi to avoid the worst of the pain.

"My Lord, spare me."

"I should what? You muck-filth born idiot," Hung Lee hissed, "low-brained-lowlife. Worm! I should do what? Speak again!"

The assassin threw up his hands to beg for mercy, but cultivators didn't understand the meaning of the word. What was that? Could you chew it? Was it good for cultivation?

A few more minutes passed as Hung Lee vented his anger, bruising and hurting the man all the more. 

When the assassin sensed that Hung Lee was spent, he looked up at him and said, "My lord, I have found something better than that porcupine."

Hung Lee almost slapped him. 

'Does this bastard think I pay him for his opinions?' He almost slapped the man again. "You think I pay you to embarrass me?"

But the man kept speaking, not wanting to endure another beating. "Wait, my lord!"

'Now he's telling me to wait! Am I some pushover!'

"My lord, it's true, I saw a sword—A Jiang Ling sword."

"A what? Are you serious? Where? Do you know what it means to lie to me?" He bombarded the assassin with questions.

"My lord, it was with the boy—the porcupine—"

"Huo Feng? It was with him?"

The assassin nodded.

Hung Lee turned his back to him, hiding his hands, "Are you sure? Does anyone else know?"

"Yes, my lord, I saw it at the sect gate. he tried to hide it, but it was too late; I had already seen it. I don't think anyone else saw…"

"Is that so? Do you remember what it looks like? Where on his body did he keep it? Tell me everything!" All the while, Hung Lee did not face the man. Instead, he kept his back to him. Face hidden.

And when the man was finished…

"Is that all?

"Yes, my lord, I've told you everything-every—detail, even the colour of his underwear." The assassin paused, hesitating, but then looked up again, raising his head from the floor, eyes hopeful, "I'm sure the compensa-"

Hung Lee turned around and cut off his head. He swung the sword in the air to flick off all the blood.

"Hmmm, a Jiang Ling sword, eh? That means it's not just a qi vein that is here in this area."