Chapter 339: Feng Xing’s Death
Chapter 339: Feng Xing’s Death
"...Right." Feng Lei nodded at Yi Chen’s words and continued, "Initially, even though the Huo Clan had agreed to the terms of the peace treaty, we naturally didn’t trust their words.
A few days after the treaty had been signed, my father, the Patriarch, passed away, and by then much of the clan had changed.
Feng Haoran was officially made the Feng Clan’s patriarch, and he ensured that all the terms of the peace treaty were adhered to.
More than half of the Clan’s treasury was completely emptied and passed on to the Huo Clan’s officials. The same also happened with the complete version of the Crimson Fire Arts, which, as stated, was handed over to the Huo Clan."
’This...’
When Yi Chen heard the mention of Crimson Fire Arts again, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows a little.
Earlier, it didn’t ring any bells, but now he was suddenly reminded of a small exchange he had with Elder Lei, which from Yi Chen’s perspective happened several years ago.
’A-At that time...didn’t he mention something about burning the clan founder’s written records? Could it be because of this incident?’
While Yi Chen was debating whether this reasoning was the correct one or not, Feng Lei continued on with his words.
"...Lastly, Feng Yu was officially stripped of her status as a clansman and was told to vacate the clan within twenty-four hours."
"This..." Yi Chen knitted his brows when he heard this as he couldn’t help but ask, "...Were they ambushed after they had left the clan?"
If that’s how things went, then Zheng Ru’s injured state made sense to him.
"No...it didn’t happen then." Feng Lei shook his head and said, "At that time, even after the Huo Clan’s promise that they wouldn’t be targeting Feng Yu after she had left the clan, a lot of us in the clan still didn’t believe that claim.
Therefore, the first thing we did was to convince Feng Haoran to let Feng Yu stay within the Clan’s premises for a few more days, stating the reason that she had yet to recover from her father’s death.
Thereafter, I assisted both Feng Yu and Zheng Ru to sneak out of the clan’s premises and then the city without informing anyone in the clan to keep secrecy.
If not for those actions, then I believe that the ambush would have happened several years earlier than it actually did..."
Feng Lei said with a bitter tone in his voice.
"This...were the Huo Clan’s members able to locate their hiding place?" Yi Chen asked with a frown on his forehead.
"No, they didn’t." Feng Lei shook his head now and said with anger evident in his eyes, "It was a mistake on my end...if I hadn’t agreed to her request, none of that would have ever happened."
Sensing the intense self-blame that was laced in those words, Yi Chen couldn’t help but grow concerned and called, "Uncle, are you..."
However, Feng Lei didn’t respond to those words and instead continued on with the narration, "A few years had passed since Yu’er had started a new life with Zheng Ru at a secluded town far away.
During that time, after every two to three months, I would receive an anonymous letter from Yu’er where she would talk about her married life and how things were going for her and Brother Zheng.
At the time when the clan was deteriorating with each passing day, those letters were my only sources of comfort.
Then, when I read about how she gave birth to a beautiful young girl who looked just like her, I was on cloud nine, and thereafter, with each letter that talked about how Yu’er was growing up under their care, I started feeling more alive than I ever did.
My sister’s complaints, Brother Zheng’s well wishes and Feng Yu’s childishness became the very reason I started looking forward to each passing day during that period while diligently focusing on my cultivation each and every day.
By the time Yu’er’s fifth birthday was fast approaching, I had already reached the Sixth Qi Absorption Stage and had become an Elder at the clan.
Hearing this news, Xing’er naturally wanted to celebrate and had asked whether it would be alright for them to visit the clan to congratulate me and also use this opportunity to celebrate Yu’er’s birthday together.
If it was before, I would have definitely refused that suggestion, but over these years, seeing how the Huo Clan had truly taken no action against the Feng Clan in any matter, I had slowly grown complacent and ended up agreeing to her request.
A decision which I’ll regret until the day I breathe my last breath, for it was when she was returning to the Murut town after spending time with me, along with Brother Zheng and Yu’er, that her carriage was attacked.
If it were normal bandits, then they wouldn’t have stood a chance against my sister, as her cultivation was already at the Ninth Qi Absorption Stage.
However, that wasn’t the case.
After an intense battle where Zheng Ru was grievously injured, Xing’er finally managed to deal with all the assailants before rushing deep into the forest with Brother Zheng and Yu’er in tow.
However, the injuries she had sustained were too grievous, and a few hours later she succumbed to her injuries in Brother Zheng’s arms.
I only found out about everything an hour later, when Zheng Ru contacted me using our agreed-upon communication method.
Feng Lei muttered while pursing his lips, hatred and self-loathing clearly evident in his eyes.
"This..."
Yi Chen couldn’t help but be at a loss for words, sensing the immense hatred Feng Lei carried for himself.
However, not wanting him to drown himself in it, he soon asked the question he had almost confirmed by now in order to direct Feng Lei’s anger somewhere else.
"So those attackers at the end were from the Huo Clan..."
"Yes, although there was no way to prove their identity, they were all indeed assassins raised by the Huo Clan..."
Feng Lei’s eyes reddened as he recalled seeing Feng Xing’s corpse when he had finally made it to the spot Zheng Ru had informed him about.
Clenching his jaws, he continued, "At that time, I had tampered with the scene and made it look as if all of them had died at that place.
Therefore, for the Huo Clan, both Feng Xing and Zheng Ru were dead, and the matter had soon come to a close..."
"So, Master Zheng had always been aware of who the culprits were...did Feng Yu also know?" Yi Chen asked a second later.
"No." Feng Lei shook his head at those words and said, "Before dying, he had promised Xing’er not to reveal the entire truth to Yu’er so as to protect her.
Therefore, the only thing that Yu’er knows is the fact that her parents were caught in an ambush when she was young, which resulted in her father’s injuries and her mother’s unfortunate death."
"I see..." Yi Chen nodded, but there were still a few things he was confused about. "...but now that Yu’er has gone to the higher realm, her safety shouldn’t be a concern for Master Zheng, right? So why isn’t he planning to take his revenge against the Huo Clan?"
Even after recovering from his injuries using the Golden Firmament Pill back then, Zheng Ru had still refused to practice cultivation and continued to train with only his sword throughout the months Yi Chen had spent with him back then.
Therefore, he was finding him extremely hard to read.
Especially because if something like this were to have happened with Yi Chen, he would have surely used all his might to get revenge against the perpetrators.
Hearing that question, Feng Lei couldn’t help but pause and stare toward Yi Chen with a weird expression, "Isn’t that obvious? He wants to protect you."
"...Protect me?" Yi Chen asked with confusion evident in his eyes.
"If Brother Zheng were to take his revenge, then wouldn’t your identity as Yu’er’s husband be exposed? That’s why he gave up on it...his desire to take revenge."
Feng Lei stated with a hint of admiration evident in his voice.
"He gave up on his revenge...for me?" Yi Chen muttered with disbelief evident in his eyes.