In the First City, in a restaurant room, four middle-aged men were sitting around a large dining table, and on the table were delicious dishes, steaming hot.
However, the four of them were not in the mood or appetite to taste it, and they didn't even take a second look at it. They all lowered their heads, their eyes flickering, and no one knew what they were thinking.
These four people are the four city lords of the second and third cities.
"Snapped!"
Feng Xinghai slammed his palm on the dining table, clearing the dull atmosphere. His eyes were blazing with fire, and he said with murderous intent: "No, this matter absolutely cannot be let go. I will tear that little bastard Li Feng into pieces!"
After he finished speaking, he burst into energy, the chair behind him shattered, and he was ready to walk out the door.
"City Lord, please calm down!"
Upon seeing this, Liao Fan, the deputy mayor of the second city, stood up in a hurry, pulled the hot-tempered mayor back, and repeatedly advised: "Mayor, you know the rules of the first city. Private fighting is not allowed."
"I am the Lord of the Second City. Do I have to abide by this rule? At worst, I can fight that old dog Wang Fan. Who is afraid of who?"
Feng Xinghai was so furious that he could not express it. Not only did his most proud disciple die, but even the imperial soldiers were taken away by Li Feng. This was simply a great shame and humiliation. If he did not vent his anger, he would go crazy sooner or later.
"Yes, yes, yes! The city lord is extremely powerful, so he is naturally not afraid of Wang Fan. No, that old dog Wang Fan is no match for the city lord at all. But has the city lord ever thought about this? Now the Shadow Guard Commander is in the First City. What he hates most is to kill the contestants who participate in the Shadow Guard election without reason. If you act rashly, you may not be able to protect yourself!"
"Are you threatening me?" Feng Xinghai looked at him unkindly.
The Lord of the Third City, Yin Haoming, could not bear to watch this any longer. He stood up and pushed him down on his chair. Then he shook his head and said, "Brother Hai, Deputy Lord Liao is right. We cannot act rashly on this matter. We need to think it over carefully."
Looking at a few old friends he had known for many years, Feng Xinghai shook his head and sighed, "I know what you are worried about, but you also saw today that Li Feng's strength is so terrifying that even Chongfeng was defeated in one move. Even if he can't win the first place, he can probably become a shadow guard. By then, it won't be us who kill him, I'm afraid he will kill us."
"That's true. With Li Feng's strength, if nothing unexpected happens, it's a foregone conclusion that he will become a shadow guard. If they really want to kill us, they can just find a trumped-up charge."
Yin Haoming nodded and did not deny Feng Xinghai's words, because it was the fact. In the eyes of the shadow guards, they, the city lords, were nothing at all. A lie they made up could cost them their lives.
Then, he continued, "But I still don't agree with you to assassinate Li Feng, because with Li Feng's strength, you may not succeed even if you go to assassinate him, not to mention that he has now obtained the imperial soldiers and his strength has greatly increased. If you fail to kill him by then, he might kill you first."
Liao Fan and the other two deputy city lords also nodded, expressing their agreement with Yin Haoming's statement.
Feng Xinghai frowned and weighed the pros and cons for a long time. He finally made a decision and said in a deep voice: "Even if it means death, I will give it a try. It is better than waiting for him to become a shadow guard and treat us like fish on a steaming plate!"
"Uncle Hai, you don't have to take risks. Leave this matter to your niece!" At this time, a slightly hoarse voice sounded. Even so, it cannot be denied that this voice is really nice.
“Crunch!”
The door was gently pushed open, and a woman in red walked in slowly. This person was Kong Hanqing. Her face had lost its former beauty and looked extremely haggard. Her eyes were slightly red and her eye bags were red and swollen. It was obvious that she had cried sadly before.
"Qing'er, uncle knows that you are always competitive and want to avenge Chongfeng yourself, but I absolutely disagree with this. Not to mention that Li Feng is no less powerful than you, the rules of the competition are determined by drawing lots, so you may not be able to meet him."
Kong Hanqing asked, "Did Uncle Hai forget that there is another special rule in the Shadow Guard competition?"
"You mean?"
"That's right. Even if I can't meet Li Feng, with my cultivation level, it will be no problem for me to squeeze into the top three. Then I can challenge him and avenge Brother Chong with my own hands!" Kong Hanqing said, his voice as cold as frost, and even the four city lords couldn't help but feel a chill in their bodies and minds.
Then Kong Hanqing suddenly knelt in front of his master and begged, "Please grant me your blessing, Daddy!"
The sudden action made Feng Xinghai and Liao Fan confused, but Yin Haoming knew very well what his most beloved daughter was begging for.
With his brows knitted and hesitating for a while, Yin Haoming said in a deep voice: "Do you really want to do this? Do you know the price of doing so?"
"My daughter understands." Kong Hanqing said firmly.
"Okay! Come with me."
Yin Haoming sighed lightly, stood up and walked out of the private room, walking towards another room. Kong Hanqing also stood up, bowed to Feng Xinghai and the other two, and quickly followed.
…
"There are such rules in the battle for Shadow Guard?" In the suburban villa, Wutan frowned slightly and looked at Sikong Yanran speechlessly.
I learned from Sikong Yanran that as long as you are in the top three in the Shadow Guard competition, you can challenge anyone.
For example, if Wutan, Cang Zheng, and Sikong Yanran enter the top three, no matter who is first, if one of the others is dissatisfied, he or she can challenge anyone of them, and the person being challenged cannot refuse.
Sikong Yanran nodded gently and said with some concern: "So you have to be careful. If you kill Chongfeng this time, I believe Kong Hanqing, his fiancée, will not let it go.
And Little Devil, if you buy my own essence for 10 million, Wang Fan will definitely try every means to get rid of you, and with the Shadow Guard Commander here, they dare not carry out assassination or anything like that. If the three of you don't meet in the fighting field tomorrow, they will definitely make a fuss about the challenge."
"It doesn't matter. Li Feng's strength is enough to crush the two of them easily." Cang Zheng spat out a mouthful of fragrant tea and said indifferently.
Sikong Yanran was stunned, and couldn't help but look at the two of them deeply again, then shook her head and smiled: "It seems that I still underestimated your abilities."
"Miss Yanran, please don't praise me! I'm just a little follower, he is the real protagonist." Cang Zheng waved his hand, glanced at Wu Tian, and said sarcastically: "Master Li Feng, tell me, is the little follower right?"
Wu Tian ignored him. Cang Zheng felt bored and pursed his lips. He turned to look at Sikong Yanran and said, "Miss Yanran, is there any fun place in the First City?"
Sikong Yanran pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "There aren't any fun places, but you can go to the stock exchange, where there are many rare treasures, and the prices are quite reasonable."
"Okay, let's go and take a look?" Cang Zheng immediately became excited, but he still did not forget to ask Wutan for his opinion.
"Let's go! I also want to see what good things are here." Wutan smiled faintly. Only he and Cang Zheng could understand the true meaning of this sentence.
"It's quite boring for two grown men like us to walk around. Why don't we bring Miss Yanran along? Just as a companion."
"All right!"
So the three of them walked out of the courtyard and soon came to a huge building. On the gate were three large golden characters, written in a vigorous and powerful style, showing their extraordinaryness!
This is the trading hall of the First City. It has five floors in total. The higher you go, the rarer and more precious the items are, and of course, the more expensive they are.
"Oh my god, this is too crowded!" Cang Zheng said in shock.
"The Trading Pavilion is located in the center of the First City. There are a lot of people coming and going on weekdays. In addition, these days are the days of the Shadow Guard Battle, so many people from the other eight cities have also come here. Basically, they all come here to hang out and try their luck, so it is very lively here these days." Sikong Yanran explained.
It was more than lively here. There were people standing shoulder to shoulder. Even a fart could knock a large group of people down. The three of them struggled for a long time before they entered the main hall.
"Let's go directly to the fourth floor. The things on the first three floors are basically very ordinary and of no use to a cultivator in the Divine Transformation Stage." Sikong Yanran smiled at the two of them and quickly reached the fourth floor as if she was familiar with the route.
Relatively speaking, there are a lot fewer people here and it's much quieter. Everyone is wandering around the counters, looking for what they need, and the staff behind the counters are explaining things patiently.
The arrival of Wutan and the other two naturally attracted a lot of attention. There was surprise, anger, disgust, and of course, fawning. However, they had already gotten used to being stared at as they walked along the street, so they simply ignored them and wandered around aimlessly.
"This stone is not bad. It is probably very precious." After a while, Cang Zheng stopped and looked at a bloodstone as big as an egg and commented.
"Of course Phoenix Blood Stone is very expensive, and it has the effect of beautifying and nourishing the skin. However, I don't think you, a grown man, need it so much. You'd better look somewhere else." The staff member guarding the counter said expressionlessly, with a completely different attitude from when he faced other customers.
"Hmm?" Wutan and the other man frowned slightly when they heard this.
Sikong Yanran said: "My two lords, I am so sorry. I forgot to tell you that the Trading Pavilion is actually a private property of the City Lord's Mansion..."
Cang Zheng waved his hand, signaling that he should stop talking, because hearing this was enough. He looked at the pretty woman behind the counter and said jokingly, "Really? I really must have it today! How much essence? Name your price!"
The woman frowned and said impatiently, "How can you be so ignorant? I told you to go somewhere else and you went! What are you doing here? Besides, you are a grown man, not a sissy, what do you want the Phoenix Blood Stone for?"
The woman did not deliberately lower her voice, so almost everyone on the fourth floor heard it. They all looked over in confusion, but when they saw that it was Wutan and his companions, the confusion on their faces disappeared, replaced by a look of mockery.
"what happened?"
A young man at the counter next to the woman shouted, strode over, stood next to the woman, looked at Wu Tian and the other two with disgust, frowned and said, "What are you going to do? Do you want to bully a weak woman?"
"Oh! The bad guy is the first to complain."
Cang Zheng was amused and said calmly, "I just wanted to buy this Phoenix Blood Stone, but your companion tried to stop me and spoke rudely. Tell me, is she making things difficult for me, or am I making things difficult for her? Or is it that you have too much essence in the Trading Pavilion and have no place to spend it, so you don't plan to do business anymore?"
"I see." The young man suddenly realized and nodded to the woman, indicating that he was relieved. Then he looked at Cang Zheng and said arrogantly, "So what? It's not a big deal that you have so much essence? We won't sell the Phoenix Blood Stone to you even if we throw it away. Get out of here quickly and don't get in the way of our business."
(End of this chapter)