Drunken Moon Tower, third floor, the largest private room.

Jiang Hongsheng, Cai Liantang, and Qin Anzhuo sat at a long table, eating meat in large mouthfuls and drinking wine in large gulps.

“I suppose that fellow surnamed Zhang has already guessed something?” Jiang Hongsheng set down his wine jug heartily.

“So what if he’s guessed?” Cai Liantang laughed loudly. “If he has the ability, let him go find evidence. I’m worried he won’t be able to find any.”

“That’s true, but it’ll be hard for us to pull off another job in the future.” Jiang Hongsheng picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.

“Such a fat piece of meat from the breeding farm, watching it but unable to eat it — how frustrating! Especially since it’s Lei Shenbao’s meat.”

“The Master will have a way. As long as we’re willing to act, there’s no need to worry about having nothing to eat.” Qin Anzhuo set down his wine cup.

“Once this blows over and the goods are sold off, we’ll make a fortune. Come, have another drink.”

“Drink! Not drunk, not going home!” Cai Liantang raised his wine jug.

Jiang Hongsheng also lifted his bowl and began drinking in big gulps.

Suddenly, the door of the private room was pushed open from outside.

Zhang Zhicheng said nothing and strode in.

Just as Jiang Hongsheng raised his eyes, Zhang Zhicheng’s long sword had already landed against his neck.

“Zhang Zhicheng, what do you think you’re doing?” Jiang Hongsheng raised his eyes and frowned.

“Tell me — did you use me? Did you steal the poison from our family’s breeding farm to sell it?” Zhang Zhicheng’s brows were tightly knit.

He had heard everything clearly from outside just now — he really had been the one being used.

“What are you talking about? What stolen poison? This is utterly absurd!” Jiang Hongsheng reached out and pushed at the sword against his neck.

He had guessed Zhang Zhicheng wouldn’t dare make a move, but the sword wasn’t long — it turned and cut his palm.

Jiang Hongsheng looked down at his wounded palm, furious.

“Zhang Zhicheng.” Jiang Hongsheng stood up, casually pulling out a square cloth and wrapping his hand.

Zhang Zhicheng did not let him off just because he stood up.

His sword followed Jiang Hongsheng as he rose, moving upward and landing once more on Jiang Hongsheng’s neck.

“Zhang Zhicheng, don’t think that just because you’re His Majesty’s man, you can do whatever you please!” Cai Liantang set his wine jug down on the table.

There was a loud clack.

“That’s right, do you even see where you are?” Qin Anzhuo also glared at Zhang Zhicheng.

“Tell me!” Zhang Zhicheng seemed not to have heard them at all, and thrust his sword forward.

Jiang Hongsheng sharply turned his head aside, dodging.

Only then did he begin to feel afraid.

If he hadn’t dodged quickly just now, his throat would already have been slit by that single stroke.

“Zhang Zhicheng, what exactly do you want to do?” Jiang Hongsheng looked at the sword on his neck, his attitude at least somewhat improved.

“I want to know the truth!” Zhang Zhicheng frowned, not looking like he was joking in the slightest.

“What truth? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jiang Hongsheng kept staring fixedly at the sharp blade.

“My sister is pregnant with your child, and this is how you treat your own future brother-in-law? Aren’t you afraid she’ll be angry?”

“Put the sword down first, don’t be so childish, all right?”

“I’m being childish?” Zhang Zhicheng’s thick brows knit together, tears welling at the rims of his eyes.

“I trusted you so much, yet you used me — stole the poison my Emperor had me raise. You’re forcing me toward death!”

“You lied to me! Lingling isn’t pregnant — you two siblings worked together to deceive me, didn’t you?”

“They aren’t actually blood siblings at all.” Suddenly, a woman’s voice rang out in the private room.

Cai Liantang and Qin Anzhuo, seated, only felt a gust of wind pass behind them, and then a cold sword was at each of their necks.

“How did you get in here?” Qin Anzhuo glanced down at the sword, then raised his eyes to look at the man holding the blade pointed at him.

This was a new face, but his deep-set eyes and cold aura unmistakably revealed him to be a master — and a master so skilled in martial arts that he himself couldn’t sense any trace of his internal energy.

Cai Liantang looked at the man dressed in men’s clothing before him, who nevertheless was clearly a woman the moment she spoke, and sucked in a cold breath.

How could their speed be so fast?

“Great Hero, whatever the matter is, let’s talk it over properly?” Cai Liantang said in a low voice.

“Zhang Zhicheng, you brought helpers too?” Seeing this, Jiang Hongsheng glared at Zhang Zhicheng.

“Are you out of your mind! Don’t you know what kind of place this is?”

“Do you think that after wounding the three of us, with your abilities, you could leave this town?”

“Forget about leaving the town — if you don’t put down your swords, even leaving this room will be difficult. Want to try?”

“Try it.” The corner of Feng Jiu’er’s mouth curled slightly upward, her long sword sliding forward. “Why not try?”

Cai Liantang’s neck instantly felt both pain and cold.

He turned and knelt down: “Heroine, spare my life! Let’s talk this over, talk it over properly.”

Cai Liantang understood very clearly — if these three people could get in here, the brothers outside must already be under their control.

He turned his head and glared sideways at Jiang Hongsheng, saying in a deep voice: “Jiang Hongsheng, what exactly did you do to offend these heroes?”

“Don’t drag us down with you — we’re innocent.”

Steal something from His Majesty — even facing death, he could never admit it!

“I—” Jiang Hongsheng frowned, withdrew his gaze, and looked at Zhang Zhicheng.

“Brother Zhang, isn’t there anything we can’t talk through properly? I’m your Brother Jiang — soon I’ll be your brother-in-law. Why have things suddenly come to this, taking up arms against each other?”

Now, the three of them, having drunk wine, were all under control, and the brothers outside were still nowhere to be seen.

The situation, however one looked at it, did not seem good.

Although he had local backing, Jiang Hongsheng no longer dared to act so arrogant.

“You are not my brother-in-law! You don’t deserve to be!” Zhang Zhicheng snorted coldly.

He hadn’t expected himself to be so foolish, deceived again and again without noticing at all.

“Jiang Lingling isn’t your sister — so from the very beginning, you deliberately arranged for me to meet Jiang Lingling.”

“You used her to get close to me, to achieve your goal, didn’t you?”

“Don’t!” Qin Anzhuo stretched out his large palm.

But the moment he moved, his neck went icy cold.

Qin Anzhuo was terrified, immediately turning to look at Jian Yi, and dropped to his knees.

“Great Hero, spare my life! I only wanted to say — this matter really has nothing to do with us. I only wanted to warn Brother Zhang, nothing else.”

“Brother Zhang, even if everything you say is true, you know this was Jiang Hongsheng’s doing, and it has nothing to do with us at all.”

With a cold sword at his neck, who wouldn’t know to protect their own life first?

“Brother Zhang, you’ve misunderstood, you’ve really misunderstood, I—ah—” Before Jiang Hongsheng could finish speaking, his shoulder was sliced by a sword stroke.

Zhang Zhicheng’s martial arts weren’t very good, but his swordplay wasn’t slow either.

“Enough nonsense! I heard everything outside just now. Tell me!” Zhang Zhicheng’s sword pressed against Jiang Hongsheng’s neck once more.

“Where is the poison now?”

“Ah—”

“Mm—”

Cai Liantang and Qin Anzhuo were both suddenly forced to swallow a pill.

The pill dissolved the instant it touched their mouths, as Feng Jiu’er and Jian Yi simultaneously struck the two men on their backs.

Before they even realized what had happened, the medicine had already slid down their throats on its own.