Chapter 471 : Consecutive Slaps - Second Form (5)
"Who are you people?" Things had already come to such a stage and if Fan Jin still did not realise the intentions of the group of people before them, he would have lived his almost two decades in vain.
But he would never have expected that anyone would want to take his life!
"People who are here to kill you." The leader of the youths said with a cold laugh and his eyes swept over Jun Xie and the others around Fan Jin.
"If you guys from the branch division are not looking to die today, leave immediately. If any of you dare to mention a word of what happened here today, I will come after you!"
Qiao Chu and his companions looked at each other all around, with vicious smiles across all their faces. Qiao Chu craned his neck to ask Jun Xie: "And these?"
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed. "Kill."
"Roger!"
Qiao Chu took the lead while Hua Yao, Fei Yan and Rong Ruo followed just a step behind him.
Qiao Chu cracked his knuckles loudly and stretched his neck to loosen his muscles. He stared at the group of youths and said: "Sorry. Not leaving, and neither do we want to die today. But you can choose to hand your lives over and we'll consider leaving your bodies intact."
The leader of the youth had not expected the trash from the branch division to be so arrogant and spew such scornful words. He was taken aback a short moment before he laughed out loud.
"You're just a bunch of trash! Do not overestimate yourself !"
That silver flash of lightning had been too fast and none of them had even noticed where it had come from. They had misunderstood Fan Jin's escape and the other youth's cut off fingers to be the work of Fan Jin's as Fan Jin himself had never been perceived to be a weak opponent, but this careless assumption and misunderstanding, had irrecoverably made the youths put their first foot into their graves.
"Little Xie, do we leave one alive?" Qiao Chu asked, tugging at his ears. He was not interested in the least to waste any more of his breath on a bunch of youths who were about to lose their lives.
"One." Jun Wu Xie replied.
"No problem !" Qiao Chu beamed widely at Jun Xie and before any of those youths could react, a figure had already streaked towards them and Hua Yao and the other two followed closely behind. Their lightning speed was too fast for any of the youths to be able to see them clearly.
The youths who had all been overbearing and their eyes filled with contempt just a moment ago suddenly saw the four figures disappear from where they had been standing. Their contempt and overinflated egos were suddenly smashed to pieces and before they realised what was happening, Fei Yan was already beside the leader of the youths and Fei Yan's heavy fist swung right into the leader's spine!
A loud hair raising crack tore through the air at that moment!
The leader of the youths gave an ear splitting howl and as his spine snapped into two at the impact, his body crumpled heavily to the ground and large quantities of blood spewed out of his mouth.
"We'll leave you alive." Fei Yan smiled sweetly at the leader of the youths and immediately turned with a raised foot that landed heavily on another youth who had been rushing to rescue their leader.
The clear crackling sound of bones breaking rang out once again and as if moving in a graceful dance performed with the spray and splattering of blood, the four figures moved and glided amongst the youths and in the next moment, only half of the initial twenty odd disciples were still standing!
Not a single one among them would have thought that the four disciples from the branch division that they had completely disregarded, would possess such overwhelming skills and power. Under the onslaught by Qiao Chu and his gang, all the twenty odd disciples had not been able to resist them even the slightest!
The first youth whose spine had been broken by Fei Yan was lying upon the ground, shocked beyond words at the bloody carnage before his eyes. He saw his companions being killed one after another with such ease that he thought he was seeing Death's scythe cutting them down and claiming their lives at that moment !
These four disciples from the branch division, what kind of monsters were they !?
How could they possibly be so ridiculously powerful!?
They had all so confidently assumed that among the members within the "weakest team" with Jun Xie, only Fan Jin alone would be a worthy opponent. But the blood filled reality before their eyes had slapped them strongly across their faces, proving to them how wrong they had really been!
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Chapter 472 : Consecutive Slaps - Second Form (6)
They had all been turned into a big joke!
Fan Jin?
Compared to these four Grim Reapers, Fan Jin was totally not even worth mentioning!
The leader of the youths could do nothing but watch wide eyed as his companions were getting slaughtered. Their blood flew and splattered all over his body. It was blood that they smeared over themselves in disguise previously but this time, it was their own warm and fresh.....blood.....
Fear and terror slowly crept into his heart. At that moment, he suddenly realised that they had all fully underestimated the might and power of this team right from the beginning.
They had all thought that Fan Jin was the only team member that was able to fight and if they took out Fan Jin, they would be able to slaughter the rest of the team effortlessly.
But now, the ones being slaughtered, were they themselves.....
When the last one among the youths fell in a pool of his own blood, the fear that gripped at the heart of the leader of youths was almost at bursting point!
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over him, and a figure came into his vision. He hastily raised his head and his eyes saw a calm but cold and emotionless face.
"Useless bum." Jun Wu Xie stared coldly at the youth crumpled on the ground.
The youth struggled to keep his head up and as Jun Xie's cold chilly countenance fell into his eyes, the fear that still gripped at his heart spread throughout his entire body.
This was the very same coward that everybody claimed had holed himself up to hide from the rumours? This was the same Jun Xie that had lived clutching desperately onto Fan Jin's protection?
Even if you killed him then, he would never believe that the Jun Xie before his eyes was the same cowardly Jun Xie that everybody said he was!
After the bloodbath, Qiao Chu walked over and picked up the youth crumpled upon the ground.
The brutal and violent action made the youth moan loudly in pain, and his face was deathly pale.
Having been picked up, and turned to stare at Jun Xie directly, the fear in him suddenly intensified making it hard for him to breathe.
The boy was just a skinny and tiny sized youth but his cold and chilling pair of eyes made one feel as though they had been suddenly transported into the icy and snowy mountains and the biting chill had seeped painfully into their bones.
Jun Wu Xie turned to Fan Jin standing on one side and said: "You want to ask?" As the target of the set up trap was obviously Fan Jin.
Fan Jin clenched his jaw and looked at the deathly pale youth. "Why?"
The youth was drenched in sweat at the intense pain he was feeling. He had never thought that they would fail and after having witnessed all his companions slaughtered one by one, the arrogance and haughtiness had all dissipated into nothing and he only wanted to live, hence he was willing to divulge everything he knew.
"It was Yin Yan..... Yin Yan was the one who asked us to do this..... I beg you to spare me..... Whatever you want to know, I will tell you....." The earlier arrogance had disappeared and he was reduced to a useless wreck of fear and terror, crying buckets while he pleaded pitifully.
"Yin Yan? He wants to kill me?" Fan Jin had not expected the answer to be like this as he never had much interaction with Yin Yan and he did not know what could have caused Yin Yan to harbour such strong enmity towards him.
It had been the same with the incident in the dining hall. Yin Yan had come at him aggressively for no rhyme or reason and Fan Jin had not known the reason behind it.
"Yes. It's him. He made someone lure you to us and got us to pretend to be injured. And when you come, we were to surround and attack you." The youth said as he secretly eyed Jun Xie and the others.
The plan was supposed to be perfect. The youth that ran out was supposed to put up a convincingly act of a hapless and deeply terrorized disciple, which would definitely draw out the righteous and fiercely protective nature in Fan Jin that would bring him flying to them. Everything had worked out just as planned but for one major snag. They had thoroughly underestimated the skills and might of the branch division disciples with Fan Jin.
"He had said that if we succeeded in killing you, he would handsomely reward us. And if our ring spirits were to be injured in future, he would unconditionally treat them for us."
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Chapter 473 : Consecutive Slaps - Second Form (7)
Anxious to save himself, the youth spilled everything he knew.
Long before the day of the Spirit Hunt came, Yin Yan had approached them. The group was made up of seniors from the Beast Spirit and Weapon Spirit faculties. Their individual powers might not have been the cream of the crop, but their ring spirits had all possessed certain special qualities. Just like the first youth who had possessed the weapon spirit. If not for Fei Yan's interference, they would have successfully sealed Fan Jin's movements and the others would have completed the job the next moment.
Yin Yan had used his position as a disciple of the Spirit Healer faculty to promise those disciples many rewards and had hinted to them that once they successfully killed Fan Jin, their positions within the Zephyr Academy would become more stable.
"Everyone knew that Yin Yan had an extremely good relationship with Senior Ning and Senior Ning was the daughter of the Vice Headmaster. So Yin Yan's words were as good as it being Senior Ning's words. We..... we were blinded by greed! Senior Fan! Find the benevolence in your heart to spare me this one time. I will not dare to ever do it again." The youth pleaded in tears. If they did not think Senior Ning would have their backs, they would never have agreed to such a request from Yin Yan.
Do not forget that Fan Jin was also the adopted son of the Headmaster!
"Ning Xin..... How can it be..... How can it possibly be her?" When Fan Jin heard the name Ning Xin being mentioned, his face had turned white and he had staggered back a step in shock, unable to accept what the youth had just said.
Jun Wu Xie glanced at Fan Jin and turned to the youth to ask: "Besides all of you here, are there any others?"
The youth shook his head and said in a hurry: "No more! There is no one else! Yin Yan told us he will think of a way to force you to take part in the Spirit Hunt with Senior Fan and when Senior Fan is dragged down by such useless bag..... It would make it easier for us to complete the task." The youth glanced at Jun Xie and said fearfully.
"What?" Fan Jin's eyes widened with incredulity as he stared at the youth.
If what the youth said was true, that it was Yin Yan's intention to force Jun Xie to take part in the Spirit Hunt, that would mean that those people who had broken into the bamboo grove to curse and swear at Jun Xie were instigated by Yin Yan?
A revelation appeared in Fan Jin's mind at that moment and he covered his face with his hands, cold sweat running down his back.
If all those wicked and vicious rumours surrounding Jun Xie had all been spread because he had mentored Jun Xie, and they had targeted Jun Xie just to hit out at him.....
That would mean that the person who had been helplessly implicated and dragged into an endless mess was not him! But it was he himself, who had unknowingly dragged Jun Xie into the mess instead!
The sudden realisation made Fan Jin's head spin and he almost lost his footing.
Fan Jin was not able to talk for a long while and Jun Wu Xie asked the youth a few more questions. After being certain that the youth had no more useful information to give, Jun Wu Xie shot Qiao Chu a look.
Before the youth could even plead any further, Qiao Chu immediately lopped off the youth's head.
Upon seeing the lifeless figure crumble back onto the ground, Fan Jin's eyes showed that he was still rather confused by all the things that were happening. He looked up suddenly and turned to Jun Xie. "Little Xie, you knew all this while that this was a trap?"
Jun Wu Xie nodded.
"From the moment the injured disciple had first appeared before us, you already knew?" Fan Jin stared at Jun Xie, his eyes looking intense.
"It was not possible for a seventeen or eighteen year old disciple to be in the branch division." Jun Wu Xie replied calmly. That injured disciple's act might have been a little convincing but it was his age that made it impossible for him to be from the branch division. And the fact that a disciple from the branch division was able to recognise Fan Jin for who he was at first glance did not seem logical, was the second giveaway.
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Chapter 474 : Venomous Lady (1)
If such a big number of people were really injured, the scent of blood in the air would have been much stronger and Jun Wu Xie only needed to sniff the air lightly, before she was certain that the scene before her eyes then was just an act.
Fan Jin bit on his lip. "When you agreed to come here, your real intention was to find out who was behind all this?"
Jun Wu Xie nodded again.
Fan Jin was suddenly silent. When he saw the reactions of Qiao Chu and the others, he believed they must have known everything all this while, but they had pretended not to know and walked right into the enemy's trap, and the fact was that the target of that trap had been the only ignorant one among them all, himself.
All this time, he had proclaimed to be Jun Xie's protector. Fan Jin finally realised that all the attacks that Jun Xie had suffered under, had almost all been because of himself. The guilt he felt in his heart at that moment, suffocated Fan Jin greatly.
"What do we do next?" Qiao Chu saw Fan Jin's gloomy face and tried to change the topic, feeling a little sorry for Fan Jin.
Jun Wu Xie narrowed her eyes and suddenly called out: "Ye Sha."
Just as Jun Wu Xie's voice trailed off, a black shadowy figure suddenly appeared just behind her.
That man speed was so fast that even Hua Yao who was standing next to Jun Wu Xie was shocked. And when Hua Yao and Qiao Chu saw Ye Sha's face, they immediately froze.
"You..... you..... Aren't you....." Qiao Chu would never forget that face his whole life. If it had not for this man's self sacrifice by blowing his ownself up in the Cloudy Peaks that had held the two men back, he might not be alive now. But on that fateful day in the Cloudy Peaks, he was sure he had seen the man blow himself up completely, so how is it possible that he is here now, still in one piece?
Ye Sha's eyes were fixed on Jun Wu Xie and there was no expression on that face. Ye Sha did not give Qiao Chu and Hua Yao even one single glance.
"This is not him." Jun Wu Xie said suddenly.
Qiao Chu's mouth opened and closed as he stared at Ye Sha in perplexity, but no sound came out of his mouth.
"Find me Ning Xin's location." Jun Wu Xie turned to Ye Sha and ordered.
"Yes!" The figure of Ye Sha shimmered and he disappeared completely from his spot.
Fan Jin, who had already been devastated with his earlier epiphany, suddenly found that he could not make his face show a more shocked expression anymore.
"Little Xie, you are going after those people called Ning Xin and Yin Yan next?" Fei Yan asked with a sweet smile as he looked at Jun Xie. From what the youth had said earlier, the whole gang had finally understood the whole situation and they had naturally identified the mastermind behind this assassination attempt.
"No rush." Jun Wu Xie said as she shook her head slightly.
After all that Ning Xin had done to Fan Jin, it had become like a fuse cord, that had led Jun Wu Xie to some clues to an unraveled mystery that had been on Jun Wu Xie's mind. She intended to gather more clues from it, for her to arrive at the answer that she seeked.
"Who is this Ning Xin?" Jun Wu Xie asked, turning to the gloomy Fan Jin. When that youth had mentioned Ning Xin earlier, Fan Jin's face had displayed great consternation. It was as if that having Ning Xin being the mastermind behind all the treachery was more unacceptable to him than if it had been Yin Yan.
"She is Ning Rui's daughter and Ning Rui is my father's junior fellow disciple, currently taking up the position of Vice Headmaster in the Zephyr Academy. He is very close to my father and Ning Xin could have been said to have grown up together with me and Little Zhuo. Moreover..... Ning Xin and Little Zhuo are engaged in marriage but due to Little Zhuo's health condition, he needed to recuperate and they seldom met. Ning Rui had initially spent a lot of time and spared no effort to seek treatment for Little Zhuo's illness and even Ning Xin had often taken care of Little Zhuo them..... How could it possibly be her?" Fan Jin scratched furiously at his head in frustration. He really could not make himself picture Ning Xin to be a conspiratory and manipulative lady and link that to the soft spoken and gentle image he had always had of her in his mind.
Although Fan Zhuo and Ning Xin were not yet married, but Fan Jin had long seen her as his sister-in-law.
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Chapter 475 : Venomous Lady (2)
Fan Zhuo had always suffered from a weak constitution and been very sickly since young. Fan Jin was always very protective of his often ill little brother. Fan Qi and Ning Rui were fellow disciples and Ning Xin had grown up together with the Fan brothers. When they were very young, Fan Jin had treated Ning Xin like a little sister who had a very sweet temperament and who was very caring towards Fan Zhuo, leading to Fan Jin to think Ning Xin as his future sister in law.
But now, after hearing the youth, Fan Jin was utterly devastated, struck by a bolt out of the blue.
Although he had naturally known that Ning Xin was Yin Yan's mentor all this time, Fan Jin still could not believe that his little sister would ever want to kill him.
"Could there be any misunderstanding behind all this?" Fan Jin asked through gritted teeth.
Jun Wu Xie looked at the deeply conflicted Fan Jin and did not give him any reply. Fan Jin's character was just like that. Candid and generous, upholder of justice. Or he would not have stood forward to defend Jun Wu Xie when everyone else had turned against her.
A person like this, usually had an pure and untainted heart, a righteous person. If such a person lived his life in peaceful times, he would undoubtedly become the hero that everyone respected and revered. But the same person, would have an immense weakness. He would be too trusting of people and one would only need to show him a little kindness and one would win his absolute trust. To put it kindly, he was an innocent person, but bluntly, people would call him dumb.
If all this had been directed just at Jun Wu Xie, she would have just killed the enemy. But she was not the real target and she felt Fan Jin should be the one to decide who lives and who dies.
But if Yin Yan and Ning XIn did not learn their lesson and further provoked her, she wouldn't mind settling some scores with them herself.
"Little Xie, can you agree to one thing?" Fan Jin asked Jun Xie suddenly.
"Speak." Jun Wu Xie said without emotion.
"Before the facts of the matter are all cleared up, spare Ning Xin just this once." Fan Jin said, his jaw still tightly clenched. After witnessing Qiao Chu and the rest of the gang's skills and prowess, he was well aware of the fact that it would not take much effort if Jun Xie wanted to kill Ning Xin. And if all that Jun Xie was put through in the Zephyr Academy was truly due to the urgings of Ning Xin from behind, Jun Xie had every reason to want to kill her.
But.....
When he thought back to the image of the little girl always tottering behind him and always looking up to call him "big brother Jin" and that Ning Xin might die, Fan Jin could not help it but feel an ache in his heart. He had to numb himself to the facts before him and wished fervently that it was all just a big misunderstanding.
"Once." Jun Wu Xie said, looking at Fan Jin, surprisingly acceding to Fan Jin's request.
The first time she had acceded to a similar request like this was to Mo Qian Yuan, and she had wanted Mo Qian Yuan to learn a lesson. As for Fan Jin, it was to repay him for his unwavering protection that he had shown to her all this while.
Jun Wu Xie might not know much about human relationships, but she knew one thing at least. Whoever treated her kindly, would receive more kindness back from her.
In reality, she had come to the Zephyr Academy with a specific objective. After Hua Yao and the others managed to locate the map, and retrieve it, they would not stay within the academy any longer. And the feud between the Fan Family and the Ning Family would not concern her. She had dirtied her hands now as the scheme had spilled onto her and also for the fact that both the Fan brothers had been extremely kind to her.
"Thank you." Fan Jin said, heaving a sigh of relief. Only after having entered the Battle Spirits Forest had he realised that Jun Xie was never as weak as he had thought him to be. He might be cold and withdrawn, but he was one person not to be trifled with.
You wouldn't know it if he remained silent, but any retaliation from him would make you never forget it for life!