Tang Wangcong genuinely didn’t believe the man before him would dare do anything to him — after all, he was Young Lord Zheng’s man.

And who was Young Lord Zheng? Young Lord Zheng was a great figure whose slightest stamp of his foot would make all of Daxing City tremble three times.

Who in Daxing City wouldn’t show Young Lord Zheng face? Whoever didn’t would be in trouble — let alone some outsiders who’d come from elsewhere.

So he was absolutely certain these people wouldn’t dare do anything to him.

And then he flew.

Yu Jiuling had people strap a wooden frame to Tang Wangcong’s back — freshly made on the spot, bound tight and secure. Then cloth was sewn onto the wooden frame, so that Tang Wangcong now genuinely looked like he’d been turned into a big kite.

“Can this thing actually fly?”

Li Chi asked.

Yu Jiuling said, “There’s nothing that can’t fly — it’s only a question of whether there’s enough speed. And I…”

He smiled with a certain pride in himself: “…happen to be someone with a degree of transcendent excellence when it comes to speed.”

So Yu Jiuling took up the rope and sprinted out at full speed. The next instant Tang Wangcong was dragged into a great forward sprawl, his chin slamming into the ground.

“You’ll regret this!”

Tang Wangcong shouted: “When my Young Lord finds out, he won’t let you off lightly!”

Li Chi sighed, “Could your Young Lord find out quickly?”

Tang Wangcong said, “If you’ve got the nerve, let me go and walk back myself — if you dare!”

Li Chi said, “Let you go back on your own two feet? That would be so slow.”

He walked up to Tang Wangcong and said with a smile, “I’m getting a bit impatient myself. Let’s pick a faster way.”

He asked, “Where did you say your Young Lord is waiting for me?”

Tang Wangcong said, “Deyuan House!”

Li Chi nodded, then looked toward Yu Jiuling and said, “Do you know why he didn’t fly just now?”

Yu Jiuling said, “Maybe still not fast enough.”

Li Chi said, “That’s not it. You are fast enough — but your strength isn’t sufficient. To get airborne, you need both sufficient strength and sufficient speed.”

He glanced to the side. Yu Jiuling immediately understood. Tang Wangcong followed Li Chi’s line of sight — and the color immediately drained from his face, going pale as paper.

—

**Deyuan House.**

Zheng Le sat by the window on the second floor looking out, already growing impatient with the wait.

He’d sent Tang Wangcong to tell Cao Du he was waiting here for him. He was confident that even if that fellow Cao Du was ever so arrogant and overbearing, he wouldn’t dare show disrespect toward him.

After all, his father was the Minister of Revenue of Dachu — *the Minister of Revenue*… among the entire court, that was no ordinary figure.

What’s more, his father and the Chancellor were on such good private terms — and who would dare not give the Chancellor face?

Cao Du might call himself a young lord, but he had no real official title to speak of. And since his father wasn’t dead yet, the Feilinghou earldom hadn’t passed to him either.

Whereas Zheng Le felt himself to be different — his father held real power.

“Still not back?”

Growing impatient, Zheng Le muttered this and rose to his feet.

The attendants behind him immediately moved forward. One of them said, “That Cao Du wouldn’t dare not come. Even if he doesn’t come, he’s probably too scared to come.”

This was a self-contradictory statement from the outset, but then these people were all ruffians and scoundrels with no real learning or talent, so even their flattery was of no particular quality.

Another said, “Once Tang Wangcong announces his name, Cao Du will probably tremble in his boots.”

The man next to him thought he absolutely couldn’t be outdone — these two had already laid it on pretty thick, and there wasn’t much vocabulary left for him.

He thought it over, then said, “That Cao Du, when he hears the Young Lord’s name, might be so terrified he wets his trousers and his legs give out before he can even come.”

Zheng Le made a sound of contempt: “If he were really as cowardly as you describe, he wouldn’t have dared to mess with Miss Yun’er in the first place.”

He rested both hands on the railing, speaking half to himself: “Perhaps this time, I’ll meet the first real opponent I’ve ever had. Just thinking about it feels interesting — I’ve never encountered an opponent in Daxing City before. I hope Cao Du doesn’t disappoint me too much.”

Having said this, he gave an order: “Send someone to check on Tang Wangcong — why hasn’t he come back yet? Tell him to get back here and report immediately.”

And then he saw two fast horses gallop past below the restaurant, followed immediately by a large kite flying past right in front of him.

At second-floor height. Flying right before his eyes.

Zheng Le turned and asked, “Why does that kite that just flew past look somewhat familiar?”

One of his subordinates, the ruffian named Li Haiwei, rubbed his eyes: “That thing that just flew past… looked like Tang Wangcong.”

Then they heard Tang Wangcong’s wailing voice.

“Young Lord save me, Young Loooord!”

Zheng Le looked into the distance — those two fast horses had already galloped very far, while Tang Wangcong was still airborne.

Perhaps the rope had been hard to keep balanced, so they’d switched to a long wooden pole, fashioning a frame to hold Tang Wangcong aloft in flight.

“Insufferable wretches!”

Zheng Le flew into a rage, slapping both hands down hard on the railing: “They actually dared to bully one of my own people — go call reinforcements!”

Zheng Le bellowed, and Li Haiwei immediately ran out to gather men.

On ordinary days, many of Daxing City’s ruffians and scoundrels were kept on Zheng Le’s payroll. Whenever Zheng Le wanted to bully people or engage in other such misconduct, these ruffians were the ones who showed up.

Li Haiwei ran out to call for men, and before long had assembled over a hundred — quite an imposing show of force on the surface.

These fellows were used to throwing their weight around, backed as they were by Zheng Le’s support on ordinary days.

Besides, at their level, how would they ever have dealings with anything like Prince Wu, the Cao family, the Mountain River Seal, or the Cloud Mist Map?

“Go stop those two men on horseback and beat them within an inch of their lives!”

At Zheng Le’s command, the mob of ruffians and scoundrels charged out, howling and hollering, like a pack of wolfhounds.

Zheng Le sat fuming on the second floor of the restaurant, waiting for news.

A moment later, he saw those two men on horseback come back — still at that same speed — while Tang Wangcong flew past in front of Zheng Le’s eyes for a second time.

In the instant their four eyes met across that distance — so close, yet as if separated by several centuries.

Then that great mob of ruffians and scoundrels came screaming in pursuit. And it couldn’t be denied — some of them ran quite fast.

Not far away, at the corner of the street, Emperor Yang Jing watched this spectacle unfold, his expression immediately darkening.

The commander of the imperial bodyguard, Hui Chunqiu, quickly bowed and said, “This servant will go discipline them and drive them away, lest they disturb the Imperial Presence.”

The Emperor raised a hand: “No need. We wish to see who these people are, acting so recklessly and without restraint in broad daylight on a public street.”

Hui Chunqiu immediately nodded: “This servant will bring them back.”

He issued the order: “Apprehend those two men racing on horseback in the street and bring them back.”

“Yes!”

Several imperial bodyguards acknowledged the order and burst forward swiftly.

A moment later, someone came leaping back to report with a bow: “Commander, our men have been surrounded by those ruffians and scoundrels. They say the two men belong to them and refuse to let our men take them away. This subordinate has specifically returned to ask for instructions — may we use force?”

Hui Chunqiu looked toward the Emperor. The Emperor nodded.

So Hui Chunqiu ordered: “Use force.”

“Yes!”

That bodyguard turned and sprinted back out.

—

Over in the teahouse across from Deyuan House, Li Chi had in fact already arrived some time ago, sitting there watching the young man on the opposite second floor growing more and more frantic.

“Doesn’t look like he can hold out long.”

Li Chi said this with a hint of regret.

Yu Jiuling laughed: “We finally got someone willing to play — Chief, you can’t call it off prematurely.”

Li Chi was about to respond when he heard a burst of commotion. Looking into the distance, he saw a fight had broken out.

“Those few have solid skills.”

Li Chi’s attention was quickly drawn to what was happening over there.

Seven or eight men against over a hundred ruffians, and they weren’t falling behind at all — far from it. These few moved with lightning strikes, and though they weren’t using weapons, their fists were heavy. Those ruffians were essentially being dropped one by one with a single blow each.

Strength in numbers seemed to lose all meaning in the face of absolute power.

“Impressive,” Li Chi said involuntarily in admiration.

Dantai Qi smiled: “Looks like someone stepped in to deal with them on our behalf.”

Li Chi turned and gave an order: “Brew tea, bring out the pastries and dried fruits — we’ve got something good to watch.”

—

On the other side, Zheng Le was also watching, watching with his heart lodged in his throat.

He thought to himself — how could he have imagined… this Cao Du’s men could really fight like this. These were imperial bodyguard caliber fighters, surely.

“Do we have any more men?”

Zheng Le immediately called out.

Li Haiwei’s expression grew somewhat difficult. To summon more than a hundred men on short notice was actually no small feat.

Who would have thought the other side had so few people, yet could fight like this… summoning another hundred-plus at this point would be useless as well.

Looking at how the other side was fighting, another hundred-plus probably wouldn’t pose any problem either.

So after some thought, Li Haiwei offered cautious counsel: “Young Lord, these aren’t ordinary street toughs that our people can handle. Even if we bring more, I fear it won’t make much difference.”

Zheng Le turned his head: “You mean you can’t find more men?”

Li Haiwei quickly said, “No, no — Young Lord misunderstands. What I mean is…”

Suddenly something clicked in his head, and he remembered what to say.

“Young Lord, consider this: first — it’s not that this subordinate can’t find more men, but if we bring another group that also gets beaten, it would look even worse for the Young Lord’s face. Second — they’re using martial arts masters. If we just send more street toughs again, it looks like we couldn’t find any martial arts masters ourselves, which also wouldn’t look good for the Young Lord.”

Zheng Le thought this over and found it reasonable.

“So you’re saying — to win cleanly, we need to match whatever card they play, and match it with a bigger card?”

He mused to himself for a moment, then said, “You go — head back to the estate and bring the household’s skilled fighters. Have them go deal with this.”

Li Haiwei wasn’t entirely without sense, and quickly counseled, “Deploying the estate’s martial arts guards — if the Master found out, I’m afraid that wouldn’t go over well.”

Zheng Le said, “Bah — would they dare tell my father? Go and call them. Have them teach those arrogant fools a lesson.”

Li Haiwei pressed once more: “Young Lord, why don’t we let today’s matter rest for now, and come back prepared? Given those people’s fighting ability, and the way it looks like military training — if their background turns out to be…”

“Shut your mouth!”

Zheng Le snapped, “Who in Daxing City am I afraid to fight? As long as they aren’t imperial bodyguards, what military training do I need to fear? Minister of War Zhao is a lifelong family friend of my father’s!”

At that, he suddenly had an idea: “You go right now to the Ministry of War and call on Lord Zhao. Tell him I’ve been bullied by some men with military training and I don’t know their background. Ask him to urgently send skilled fighters to help!”

He said this and then laughed: “Men with military background — what’s frightening about that? I know the Minister of War personally.”

He kicked Li Haiwei in the backside: “Go! Quickly!”

Li Haiwei immediately ran downstairs and sprinted toward the Ministry of War.

—

Over here, Li Chi watched Zheng Le dispatch another runner, guessing he’d gone to call reinforcements again.

But Li Chi was also somewhat puzzled — he couldn’t quite tell who those people were who’d gotten into a fight with Zheng Le’s men.

Though he wasn’t worried… because the two men on horseback had been using the horses that belonged to that Miss Yun’er’s group to begin with.

Still, Li Chi was curious: who had people with skills this good, and had quietly taken this matter over for him?

—