225: Chapter 225 The Zhao Family's Panic

"Brother Fan!"

"Are you alright?!"

Qin Feng had a look of anxiety on his face.

Although he knew Lin Fan was very strong,

the opponents were two Late-stage Grandmasters after all.

When he saw the ground covered in blood and minced meat, and Lin Fan standing there completely unscathed,

Qin Feng froze for a moment.

Then, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Seems like I was worrying over nothing again."

Qin Feng gave a bitter smile.

"Brother Fan, this... this is just too tragic."

"Those Zhao Family bastards... they didn't even leave behind an intact corpse."

Lin Fan curled his lip.

He pointed at the corpses of the hidden guards on the ground that had been shredded by lasers.

"Hurry up and clean this up."

"Even though they're a bit fragmented, it's still the flesh and blood of Martial Master Peaks."

"Take it to feed the dogs... oh wait, no, take it to be refined and turned into C-grade pet food blind boxes. There should still be some demand for it."

Qin Feng's mouth twitched.

Human flesh as pet food?

Brother Fan, are you a devil?

However, he didn't ask further.

After following Lin Fan for so long, his nerves had already been trained to be incredibly thick.

"By the way."

Lin Fan looked around the surroundings.

Watching the craters blasted by The Wind and Thunder Duo and the walls corroded by poison gas,

he had a look of immense heartache.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Look, just look."

"This is star alloy!"

"Even if it's just a little scratched, that's a loss of several million!"

"What a bunch of wasteful bastards!"

Lin Fan cursed through gritted teeth.

Qin Feng and Mo Yu exchanged a glance.

Both were somewhat speechless.

You didn't even blink when you were killing people just now,

but now you're this heartbroken over some scratched walls?

Isn't your focus a bit skewed?

"Qin Feng!"

Lin Fan gave a grand wave of his hand.

"Get me a calculator!"

"I'm going to settle the score!"

"This renovation fee, mental distress fee, lost work fee, and the cleaning fee for disposing of the corpses."

"I must make the Zhao Family compensate us tenfold... no, a hundredfold!"

"If they're short by even a single cent,"

"I'll go dig up the Zhao Family's ancestral graves and turn them into blind boxes!"

Qin Feng looked at Lin Fan's petty, Shrewd Merchant face.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"You got it!"

"Don't worry, Brother Fan."

"I'll draw up this bill personally."

"I guarantee that old geezer Zhao Haokun will cough up blood the moment he sees it!"

Lin Fan gave a cold laugh.

His gaze looked out into the pitch-black night sky beyond the warehouse.

In that direction,

lay the Kyoto Zhao Family's estate.

"Zhao Family."

"Since you were the ones to reach your claws out first,"

"then don't blame me for chopping them off."

"After tonight,"

"the sky over Kyoto"

"is due for a change."

Kyoto.

The Zhao Family Estate.

Although it was late at night, the core area of the Zhao Family was still brightly lit.

The atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

Inside the Family Head's study,

Zhao Haokun was pacing back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back.

His right eyelid had been twitching incessantly,

making him feel irritable and restless.

"Why is there still no news?"

Zhao Haokun stopped and looked at the butler standing to the side.

"The two elders, Wind and Thunder, set out nearly two hours ago."

"Logically, with their strength, crushing that South Suburb Base should be a matter of minutes."

"Even if that Lin Fan has some tricks up his sleeve,"

"in the face of absolute power, all schemes and deceits are paper tigers."

The butler quickly bowed and said,

"Master, please remain calm."

"The South Suburb Base has jammed signals, so news coming back might be a bit slow."

"But rest assured."

"The two elders, Wind and Thunder, are Late-stage Grandmaster powerhouses, plus twelve elite hidden guards."

"Let alone killing one Lin Fan,"

"even slaughtering everyone in the South Suburb Base down to the chickens and dogs would be effortless."

Hearing the butler's words,

Zhao Haokun's expression softened slightly.

Indeed.

Was he being too sensitive?

Those were two Late-stage Grandmasters!

In all of Kyoto, aside from the old monsters of those top noble families and those freaks in the military,

who could stop them?

That Lin Fan was nothing more than an upstart who relied on luck.

Even if he was a bit uncanny,

could he really defy the heavens?

As long as Lin Fan was killed tonight,

and they obtained the secret of the myriad blind box system,

the Zhao Family would soar to the sky!

At that time,

the Qin Family, the Tang Family...

all of them would be trampled under the Zhao Family's feet!

Thinking of this,

a flash of greed and fanaticism crossed Zhao Haokun's eyes.

Just then,

"Bang!"

The door to the study was violently slammed open.

An elder responsible for guarding the family's Soul Hall came stumbling in.

His face was as white as paper,

and his entire body was trembling,

as if he had seen a ghost.

"Ma... Master!"

"Some... something terrible has happened!"

Zhao Haokun's brow furrowed.

The ominous feeling in his heart instantly intensified to the extreme.

He shouted sternly,

"What's the panic!"

"Where are your manners!"

"What happened? Has the sky fallen?!"

The elder fell to his knees with a thud,

holding up two shattered jade tablets in his hands.

Those were soul plaques.

Core members of major families would leave a sliver of their soul imprint in the Soul Hall.

If the person died,

the plaque would shatter.

"Shattered... they're shattered..."

"Elder Wind and Elder Thunder's soul plaques..."

"They've all shattered!!!"

Boom!

These words were like a bolt from the blue,

striking Zhao Haokun right on the crown of his head.

His entire body instantly froze.

His eyes stared fixedly at those two piles of broken jade.

Those were the soul plaques of The Wind and Thunder Duo.

They were one of the Zhao Family's strongest foundations.

Shattered?

All of them shattered?

What did this mean?

It meant that two Late-stage Grandmaster powerhouses had been killed at the same time!

And their souls were completely extinguished!

"Pfft!"

Zhao Haokun felt a sweetness in his throat,

and a mouthful of blood sprayed out violently,

staining the desk in front of him red.

"Master!"

The butler and the elder turned pale with fright and rushed forward to support the tottering Zhao Haokun.

"Impossible..."

Zhao Haokun pushed everyone away.

His hands trembled as he grabbed the broken jade pieces.

His eyes instantly turned blood-red.

"This is impossible!!!"

"Those were Late-stage Grandmasters!"

"Even if they encountered a Great Grandmaster, they could have run if they couldn't win!"

"How could they all be dead?!"

"What on earth is going on?!"

"That Lin Fan... what kind of person is that Lin Fan?!"

Zhao Haokun's roars echoed in the study,

filled with terror and disbelief.

Two Late-stage Grandmasters!

For the Zhao Family, this was like having their arms cut off!

No,

it was having both arms severed!

The Zhao Family's top-tier combat power had been reduced by a third in an instant!

This wasn't just a matter of loss;

it was an extremely dangerous signal.

That South Suburb Base

was not some lamb waiting to be slaughtered at all,

but an abyssal beast with its bloody maw wide open, waiting to devour everything!

The news couldn't be hidden at all.

The news of the fall of The Wind and Thunder Duo spread through the Zhao Family like a plague.

Following that,

the entire Zhao Family was shaken.

Inside the council hall,

the various elders of the Zhao Family gathered overnight.

But at this moment,

there was no longer any of their usual arrogance and confidence.

Panic was written all over everyone's faces.

"Master! We can't fight this war anymore!"

An elder from a branch family stood up and said with a trembling voice.

"Even the two elders Wind and Thunder have fallen."

"There must be a powerful expert behind that Lin Fan!"

"Maybe... maybe there's the shadow of the military!"

"If we keep fighting, our Zhao Family's entire foundation will be lost!"

"He's right, Master!"

Another elder chimed in.

"We are fundamentally a business family; why should we fight to the death with such a desperate character?"

"Let's sue for peace!"

"Even if we have to pay some money, let's just put this behind us."

"Doesn't that Lin Fan like money? We'll just give him money!"

Listening to the clamor for peace below,

Zhao Haokun's face turned ashen.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth,

his gaze sweeping over everyone with hidden malice.

"Sue for peace?"

"They killed two of our Grandmasters, and you want to sue for peace?"

"You even want to send him money?"

"Have your backbones been eaten by dogs?!"

"If word of this gets out, how will our Zhao Family ever show our faces in Kyoto again?!"

The branch elder braced himself and said,

"Master, is face more important or is life?"

"The problem now is that we have no idea about Lin Fan's background."

"What if he comes straight to our door next time?"

"What do we have to block him?"

As soon as these words were spoken,

the hall instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Indeed.

What did they have to block him?

Even The Wind and Thunder Duo died inexplicably.

Who among the remaining people would dare to go to their deaths?

While the Zhao Family was in total chaos,

the winds outside also began to shift quietly.

In the circles of Kyoto,

there were never any secrets.

Although the Zhao Family tried their best to block the news,

a major event like the shattering of The Wind and Thunder Duo's soul plaques could not be hidden from the eyes and ears of the top noble families.

Moreover,

Lin Fan had no intention of hiding it at all.

Just moments ago,

the official account of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion suddenly posted an update.

The attached photo was of a warehouse in complete disarray.

Although it was pixelated, one could still tell it was the scene of a tragic battle.

The caption was only one sentence:

[A few big rats broke into the house tonight. Fortunately, the defense system was effective, and they've all been turned into specimens. Also, certain people should remember to prepare the renovation compensation; the bill will be sent tomorrow.]

As soon as this update came out,

the entire martial arts circle in Kyoto instantly exploded.

Everyone understood.

This was Lin Fan publicly slapping the Zhao Family's face!

And he was rubbing their faces in the dirt!

Big rats?

Specimens?

Those were two Late-stage Grandmasters!

To think Lin Fan would call them rats!

The Qin Family.

Qin Wentian looked at the update on his phone and sucked in a breath of cold air.

"This Lin Fan..."

"is truly a ruthless person."

"Fortunately, Feng'er turned from an enemy into a friend with him back then."

"Otherwise, the unlucky ones right now might have been our Qin Family."

Qin Wentian made a prompt decision.

"Pass down the order."

"Starting today, completely cut off all commercial cooperation with the Zhao Family."

"Furthermore,"

"have Feng'er perform well in front of Lin Fan."

"Whether the Qin Family can go a step further in the future might depend on this kid's favor."

The same scene

was playing out in various families throughout Kyoto.

Those forces that were originally on the sidelines, or even thinking of taking advantage of the situation,

were all like they had been doused with a bucket of cold water, instantly snapping to their senses.

Even the Zhao Family's Late-stage Grandmasters had fallen.

Who would dare to cross Lin Fan now?

Overnight,

the Zhao Family had gone from being a behemoth to a pariah that everyone avoided like the plague.

Inside the Zhao Family estate,

Zhao Haokun listened to his subordinates report one piece of bad news after another.

Partners terminating contracts, banks demanding loan repayments, allies losing contact...

He felt like the world was spinning.

The situation was irredeemable.

The Zhao Family

was finished.

At least in the short term, there was no longer any possibility of a comeback.

"Pass the order..."

Zhao Haokun seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

He sat slumped powerlessly in his chair,

his voice hoarse.

"Activate the family's defensive array."

"Recall all personnel from outside."

"The entire clan... will retreat and defend."

"Without my order, no one is allowed to step foot outside the gates."