135: Chapter 135 A Dark and Windy Night of Massacre

However, how could Gao Feng possibly give him this opportunity?!

"Since you've come, don't think about leaving!"

With a long roar, the three-pointed, double-edged blade that had been ready and waiting appeared in Gao Feng's hand instantly, like a dragon emerging from the sea, accompanied by a terrifying whistle that tore through the air!

A flash of blade light, and the tyrannical Saber Qi, like a bursting flood, instantly submerged the entire bedroom!

"Boom—!"

With a loud crash, the bedroom, built from sturdy timber, was torn into fragments filling the sky as if it were made of paper!

Two figures, one gold and one black, soared into the sky from the dust-filled air and collided violently in the thunderous, lightning-lit courtyard!

A Peak duel between two Fifth-Order powerhouses erupted on this stormy night!

Phantom's movement technique was as eerie as a ghost; sometimes he transformed into a wisp of green smoke, sometimes he merged into a puddle, and at other times he used the light of lightning to escape into the shadows.

The poisoned dagger in his hand was lethal with every strike, stabbing at Gao Feng's vital points from unbelievable angles!

Gao Feng, however, possessed a completely different style! He did not dodge or evade, fighting with bold and unrestrained movements!

The three-pointed, double-edged blade in his hands was swung like a golden sun! Every strike contained the terrifying power to split mountains and cleave rocks! Every blow carried an unparalleled, overwhelming aura of destruction!

He didn't care at all about Phantom's flashy movement techniques, simply using the purest and most extreme power to seal off all the space in front of him!

No matter how many changes you make or how many tricks you employ, I will break them all with a single force!

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The terrifying residual energy waves spread crazily in all directions like a tsunami!

The two fought from inside the room to the courtyard, and from the courtyard to the roof! Wherever they passed, pavilions and towers collapsed with a roar! Rockeries and ponds were all ground into powder!

Half of the luxurious City Defense Office was razed to the ground during their terrifying, god-and-demon-like clash!

However, as the battle continued, Gao Feng's brows furrowed slightly. The strength of this "Phantom" exceeded his expectations!

Not only was his movement technique eerie and his assassination skills at their Peak, but he was also adept at using various poisoned hidden weapons and hallucinogenic smokes that could affect the mind!

Several times, Gao Feng had been in danger because he had to divide his attention to defend against those insidious, unavoidable moves, nearly getting his skin cut by the opponent's dagger!

He knew he couldn't let this drag on! Engaging in a prolonged entanglement with a top-tier assassin was an extremely stupid thing to do! He had to finish the battle quickly!

A trace of determination flashed in Gao Feng's eyes!

During another fierce clash, he deliberately revealed a huge opening! His blade momentum was spent, and his center was wide open!

"Die!" Phantom had indeed seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! His eyes erupted with unprecedented excitement and cruelty!

He abandoned all defense, concentrating his life's cultivation into his right palm! A vicious palm print, wreathed in eerie black Qi, slammed heavily onto Gao Feng's chest!

"Pfft!" Gao Feng was struck as if by lightning, violently spitting out a mouthful of black blood! His chest rapidly turned black and began to rot at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The dark golden Protective Aura on his body instantly became chaotic, as if it were about to collapse completely at any moment!

"Hahaha! Gao Feng! You have died at my hands after all!" Seeing this, Phantom let out a triumphant and crazed laugh!

Without any hesitation, his figure flashed as he pressed forward, the poisoned dagger in his hand turning into a lethal stream of light, stabbing fiercely toward Gao Feng's heart, which had already lost its power to resist!

He wanted to deliver this final, most lethal blow!

However, at the very moment he thought he had succeeded, a terrifying divine light, a hundred times brighter than before, suddenly erupted from Gao Feng's previously dimmed eyes!

"I've been waiting for this moment!"

A thunderous roar, suppressing endless killing intent, exploded beside Phantom's ear!

Gao Feng suddenly detonated the massive Qi and blood that had been suppressed to the limit within his body! He had actually paid the price of a serious injury to forcefully trade for this 0.01-second opportunity for a kill!

Instead of retreating, he advanced, ignoring the dagger about to pierce his heart, and used a supreme punch containing a trace of the true meaning of thunder to slam violently into Phantom's chest, which was wide open from his all-out attack!

"Oh no!" The smile on Phantom's face instantly froze! An unprecedented crisis of death completely enveloped him! He wanted to retreat! But it was already too late!

"Boom—!!!"

Gao Feng's fist collided violently with Phantom's chest! In that instant, it felt as if a true thunderbolt from the Nine Heavens had exploded in the courtyard!

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Phantom spat out a mist of blood mixed with organ fragments, flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the ruins dozens of zhang away, unable to get up again.

The lethal dagger had only pierced less than half an inch into Gao Feng's chest before being clamped tightly by his powerful muscles, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch further.

Gao Feng slowly pulled out the dagger and tossed it on the ground. He looked at the "Phantom" lying on the ground like a pile of mud in the distance, his eyes filled with endless fear and despair, and a cold smile belonging to the victor curled at the corner of his mouth.

He walked over step by step, looking down from a high position at this top-tier assassin who had completely lost the ability to resist.

"Now, it's my turn to ask you." Gao Feng's voice rang out in the cold, rainy night, devoid of any emotion, "Speak, who sent you?"

The assassin's throat emitted a gurgling sound of bloody foam, his spiteful eyes staring fixedly at Gao Feng, but he couldn't say a word.

Gao Feng was not surprised; he coldly ordered the guards who had rushed over upon hearing the news: "Take him away, don't let him die; I want him to speak while conscious."

The wind and rain of that night would eventually pass, but the storm in the deepest dungeon of the Panshi Land had only just begun.

For a full day and night, the heart-wrenching screams never ceased, yet the stubbornness and dead silence belonging to the top-tier assassin remained unbroken.

The dungeon was dark and damp, and the air was always filled with an lingering scent of blood and decay.

"Phantom" was hung on the cold wall like a dead dog, with thick iron chains piercing his shoulder blades.

His limbs were completely crippled, and his Dantian had been thoroughly destroyed by the violent thunderous fist energy.

At this moment, he was no longer the top-tier assassin who struck fear into everyone's hearts, but merely a pitiful cripple who couldn't even commit suicide.

"Speak! Who the Hell sent you?!" Du Wei, commander of the Tiger Guard Battalion and the iron-blooded general in charge of the Law Enforcement Hall, was holding a red-hot branding iron, roaring like a beast at "Phantom's" already mangled chest.

However, no matter how many cruel torture devices in the Law Enforcement Hall he used, "Phantom's" bones were harder than anyone could imagine.

Aside from letting out unconscious wails of agony, he remained silent throughout.

"My Lord, this dog's mouth is too tough!"

Du Wei threw the branding iron in his hand fiercely into the brazier, sending sparks flying, and walked to Gao Feng, who had just entered the dungeon, reporting with a look of shame, "Your subordinate is incompetent! I used seventy-two types of torture and still couldn't make him utter a single word!"

Gao Feng nodded calmly upon hearing this, his gaze fixed from beginning to end on "Phantom," who was no longer in human shape.

He walked over slowly, not picking up any torture instruments, but taking a small jade bottle from his bosom, from which he poured a drop of spiritual spring essence that emitted a glowing green light and was filled with endless life energy.

Then, amidst "Phantom's" gaze filled with doubt and confusion, he gently pried open the other's mouth and dripped the supreme treasure, enough to drive any Martial Artist crazy, into his mouth.

A gentle yet massive surge of life energy instantly exploded within "Phantom's" body, which was already at the end of its rope!

His body, which had been on the verge of collapse, began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his consciousness, which had become blurred due to excessive blood loss, became clear again.

"You... what did you give me?" "Phantom's" voice was hoarse and weak, but his eyes were filled with extreme horror and fear.

He would rather be tortured to death than endure even one more second of consciousness!

"Nothing, just a little trinket to keep you alive." Gao Feng's voice remained as calm as water, but a demonic smile that made "Phantom's" hair stand on end curled at the corner of his mouth.

"After all, what I'm about to do to you requires you to remain absolutely conscious."

He brought over a chair, sat down in front of "Phantom" with composure, and said slowly in a gentle tone, as if chatting with an old friend: "Do you know what the most vicious and most interesting secret technique in the Southern Wilderness witchcraft is called? It's called 'Soul Refining Human Puppet'."

"The caster will first use a special medicinal liquid to peel off your skin layer by layer, but won't let you die immediately. Then, he will use 3,600 special silver needles tempered with the power of vengeful Souls to pierce every acupuncture point on your body, forcibly separating your Soul from your flesh."

"This process will be painful, very, very painful. That tearing pain originating from the depths of the Soul is ten thousand times more intense than any physical torture. But rest assured, you won't die."

Gao Feng's smile became increasingly "gentle," but in his eyes, a terrifying light, colder and darker than the abyss of Hell, flickered.

"Because your flesh will be refined into a walking corpse that has no thoughts and only knows how to kill, while your Soul will be permanently imprisoned within the Sea of Consciousness of this walking corpse. You will possess the clearest consciousness, able to clearly see what you are doing, clearly feel every swing of the blade, every kill, and even hear the wails and curses of those innocent people you killed with your own hands before they died."

"However, you can do nothing. You cannot control your own body, cannot make a sound, and cannot even blink your eyes. You can only act as the lowliest, most pathetic spectator, watching helplessly as you turn into a murderous Puppet, doomed to eternal suffering and curses, day after day, year after year, until your Soul is completely ground into nothingness amidst endless regret and despair."

"How is it? Is this little sorcery interesting?" Gao Feng finished, flashing a bright, "benevolent" smile at "Shadow."

However, to "Shadow," this was more chilling than any terrifying demon in the world!

He began to struggle wildly! His shoulder blades, pierced by iron chains, instantly became a bloody mess, yet he seemed to feel no pain at all! His eyes bulged out from extreme fear, filled with terrifying bloodshot veins! A "ho, ho" sound like an old, broken bellows erupted from his throat!

He wanted to beg for mercy! He wanted to confess! He was willing to say everything! As long as it would let him die! As long as it would let him die a quick and painless death! He did not want to hear another word from this devil!

The extreme mental torture was finally the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely shattering the iron will that this top-tier assassin was so proud of!

...

Half an hour later, inside an absolutely confidential meeting hall, Gao Feng, Liu Chengfeng, Xu Changqing, Du Wei, Wulu, and all the top leaders of Panshi Land gathered together, their faces filled with an uncontrollable, raging fury!

Just a moment ago, "Shadow," that completely broken assassin from the Ghost Shadow Tower, confessed everything, and the content of his confession was far more shocking than anyone present had imagined!

It turned out that behind this assassination attempt on Gao Feng, there was not only the shadow of the four great Families of Yunzhou, but also a mysterious force from the Imperial Capital that had intricate ties with the faction of the current Prince Ying!

Their goal was not just to kill Gao Feng, the thorn in the side of the Northern Territory, but also to frame the Crown Prince's faction for the entire affair using evidence they had already planted, thereby inciting an even larger and more uncontrollable upheaval in the turbulent Northern Territory!

By then, both Panshi Land and the Yunzhou government would become sacrifices in the political games of those high and mighty figures! What a vicious plan to kill two birds with one stone! What a shocking conspiracy that treats human lives like grass!

"Bastards! These bone-eating scoundrels!" Du Wei slammed his fist onto the table in front of him, and the tabletop, forged from refined iron, instantly dented with a clear fist print! "Lord! Give the order! I will take the troops and storm Yunzhou City right now! I will slaughter every single member of the Wang, Li, Zhao, and Qian Families!"

"Lord, if we do not avenge this, we swear we will not be human!" Wulu also let out an angry roar like a wounded beast!

However, what truly made the killing intent in Gao Feng's eyes boil to the extreme was not this, but the real "pledge of allegiance" that "Shadow" offered in exchange for his life!

It was a complete, detailed list of all the core members of the Yunzhou noble Families who participated in this conspiracy! It was a top-secret map marking all their secret contact points and the deployment of private troops hidden inside and outside the city!

With this, those noble Families who thought themselves high and mighty no longer had any secrets before Gao Feng! They were like a group of clowns stripped of their clothes, nakedly exposed beneath the hunter's butcher knife!

A blood-red net of revenge was thus completely cast!

"Good... very good!" Gao Feng slowly stood up from his seat. There was not a trace of anger on his face; there was only a terrifying calmness, like a deathly silent sea before a storm.

He walked to the huge military sand table, looked at Yunzhou City marked in bright red, and his eyes flashed with an absolute, cold, and ruthless killing intent like a god!

"Since they want me dead, then before they die, I will first give them a shocking gift they will never forget!"

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over every trusted general present like the sharpest blade.

"Pass on my order!"

"Tonight, at the Hour of the Rat!"

"Launch the 'Thunder' plan!"

"I want this Yunzhou City to completely change masters in a single night!"

The "Thunder" plan! This comprehensive purge plan, personally named by Gao Feng and perfected overnight by Liu Chengfeng and Xu Changqing, had only three core words: Fast! Accurate! Ruthless!

With the force of a thunderbolt, wipe out the core targets of all four great Families in a single night! Do not give them any time to react! Do not give them any chance to call for help! Use the bloodiest and most direct method to pull out these malignant tumors that have been leeching off Yunzhou for hundreds of years, root and branch!

"Du Wei!"

"General is here!"

"Lead one thousand of the Tiger Guard Battalion and take charge of wiping out the Li Family in the south of the city! I have only one requirement: before dawn, there must not be a single living thing that can breathe left inside the Li Family ancestral home!"

"General obeys!" A bloodthirsty, excited glint erupted in Du Wei's eyes!

"Wulu!"

"General is here!"

"Lead one thousand of the Green Wolf Battalion and take charge of the Zhao Family in the west of the city! Remember, you are wolves! I want you to sneak in as silently as possible, and then use your sharpest claws and fangs to tear apart all enemies who dare to resist!"

"Wulu understands!" Wulu licked his dry lips, and a green light flashed in his eyes and vanished.

"Big Fool!"

"Here!" The giant, like an iron tower, replied in a muffled voice.

"You go to the Qian Family in the north of the city alone." Gao Feng looked at him and issued a strange order that made everyone look sideways, "Your task is not slaughter, but to use your greatest strength to create the greatest 'deterrence' for me! I want that bunch of cowardly, spineless people in the Qian Family to kneel down on their own in the face of absolute terror and open the doors to their treasury!"

"Okay!" Big Fool scratched his head. Although he didn't quite understand the Lord's meaning, he still nodded heavily.

Finally, Gao Feng's gaze fell upon the eager Liu Chengfeng and Xu Changqing.

"As for the Wang Family ancestral home, which has the tightest defense and is the core of this conspiracy..." A cold, cruel, and bloodthirsty smile hooked at the corner of his mouth, "I will personally lead five hundred 'Ghost' death soldiers to meet them!"

Night slowly descended, and an extremely oppressive, murderous aura began to quietly permeate the entire Tianmen Pass.

Three thousand elite Panshi Army soldiers, already fully prepared, like three thousand vengeful demons crawling out of Hell, turned into four black torrents under the leadership of their respective commanders and silently surged out of Tianmen Pass, heading straight for Yunzhou City, which was still brightly lit and filled with music and dance in the night!

A thunderous storm destined to flow with blood was about to descend completely tonight!

...

Hour of the Rat, Yunzhou City, Wang Family ancestral home.

As a martial noble Family with a heritage of hundreds of years and the head of the four great Families of Yunzhou, the Wang Family's mansion was less of a residence and more of a small military fortress.

The tall courtyard walls were all built of hard bluestone. On top of the walls, not only were there Family guards patrolling day and night with powerful crossbows, but countless poisoned iron caltrops and trigger-based traps were also hidden.

At this moment, the ancestral home was still brightly lit, with pleasant music playing. To demonstrate the Wang Family's foundation and composure, the Family head, Wang Daolin, actually held a grand banquet at such a sensitive time when a storm was brewing, inviting all the wealthy merchants and gentry in the city who were on good terms with the Wang Family to attend.

He wanted to use this method to announce to everyone, and to that ignorant Panshi Stockade Master — the Wang Family, feared nothing!

However, what he did not know was that while he was holding forth and pointing out the landscape at the banquet, "ghosts," deeper than the night itself, had already silently climbed up his sturdy, high walls that he was so proud of.

These five hundred "Ghost" death soldiers, personally selected by Gao Feng and trained in the most cruel way, were each top-tier experts proficient in stealth and assassination.

Like weightless geckos, they silently avoided all the traps and hidden sentries on the wall; like bats in the night, they silently dropped into the blind spots of the defense inside the ancestral home.

"Puchi!" A patrolling Wang Family guard only felt a chill on his neck. Before he could even let out a scream, his mouth was tightly covered by a cold, large hand reaching out from the darkness, and then his throat was cleanly and swiftly slit by a sharp dagger.

Similar scenes quietly played out in every corner of the Wang Family ancestral home, and a silent, efficient slaughter quickly unfolded under the cover of darkness.

However, the Wang Family was worthy of being a century-old Family with deep foundations. Only after the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, a shrill and sharp alarm pierced this false tranquility!

"Enemy attack—! There are assassins!!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang!" The ear-piercing sound of gongs resounded throughout the entire Wang Family ancestral home! The guests who were drinking and toasting in the banquet hall instantly fell into chaos, fleeing in panic in all directions.

And the hypocritical smile on Wang Daolin's face instantly froze!

"What are you panicking about!" He slammed the table and roared angrily, "Are you scared like this by just a few assassins?! What a disgrace!"

He slowly stood up, cold killing intent flashing in his eyes. "Pass on my order! Initiate the highest alert! All guards and Family retainers, immediately go to all key passages! I want to see which blind thing dares to come to my Wang Family to die tonight!"

Following his order, hundreds of Family retainers and death soldiers who were already fully prepared, clad in heavy armor and holding sharp blades, surged out crazily from every corner of the ancestral home like a tide! There was no fear in their eyes, only a kind of fanaticism and loyalty instilled by generations of brainwashing!

"Kill!!"

The shouts of killing shook the heavens and the earth! The "Ghost" death soldiers, who had originally held an absolute advantage, instantly fell into a bitter battle under the crazy charge of these death-defying Family retainers.

And what made them feel even more troublesome was yet to come!