Chapter 26 Rescue

At Lei Yan's instruction, Blacksmith Huo packed up some of his commonly used belongings and followed Lei Yan back to the House of Welcoming Talents. Upon arrival, Lei Yan ordered the servants to settle Blacksmith Huo into a guest room on the fifth floor.

On the sixth floor of the House of Welcoming Talents, Lei Yan summoned Wutai inside.

"Young Master, this is the information you requested. This Zhao Tianhun is a very interesting person." Wutai said with a smile, handing over the dossier concerning Zhao Tianhun.

Lei Yan took the dossier and opened it. His expression changed slightly as he read the contents:

"Zhao Tianhun, the only son of the Zhao family. His father, Zhao Jincan, is the head of the Zhao family. Zhao Tianhun lost his mother at the age of five. When he was six, his father Zhao Jincan married a concubine. At the age of seven, for reasons unknown, he murdered all the female servants in his courtyard. At the age of eight, he murdered his stepmother. Ever since then, any concubine taken by Zhao Jincan has not lived past a year. As an adult, Zhao Tianhun harbors a deep loathing for females. Any woman who fails to satisfy him is sent to the Waterside Pavilion. At the same time, he has a strong preference for males and keeps several male concubines. Furthermore, Zhao Tianhun's personal cultivation has reached the late Innate Realm, and he commands thirty-six personal guards known as the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gangs..."

Lei Yan closed the dossier, having no desire to read any further. He rubbed his temples and asked, "Wutai, have you found out about Zhao Tianhun's whereabouts over the past few days?"

"This Zhao Tianhun visits the Waterside Pavilion every single day," Wutai said in a deep voice.

"Very well, you may withdraw," Lei Yan waved his hand.

Wutai bowed and backed out of the room.

"The Waterside Pavilion." Lei Yan's psychic perception swept across Bagfang Town, locating the sign of the Waterside Pavilion in a small alley on East Street. Locking his psychic perception firmly onto the entire Waterside Pavilion, Lei Yan closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, waiting for Zhao Tianhun to arrive.

Although it was currently daytime, the entire Waterside Pavilion was bustling with activity. Many men and women were engaging in the acts of procreation inside the rooms. Snow-white bodies constantly collided with one another. Lei Yan sighed and pulled back his psychic perception; he simply could not bear to watch such a spectacle. Turning to White Tiger, he said, "I am going out for a moment." His figure flickered and vanished from the room.

Outside the main entrance of the Waterside Pavilion, Lei Yan slowly walked over to the tea stall across the street and sat down. He ordered a bowl of herbal tea, sipping it while waiting for Zhao Tianhun's arrival.

"Make way! Make way! Clear the way!"

Suddenly, shouts echoed down East Street, followed by the sound of thundering hooves. The dense rumble of hooves shook the ground. Then, a total of eighteen martial artists advanced in six parallel rows. In the middle was a sedan chair carried by sixteen people, screened by white gauze so that three figures were vaguely visible within. One person was seated upright, while the other two were draped over the seated person's lap. Following behind this sedan was a smaller bridal sedan carried by four people, with another eighteen martial artists bringing up the rear.

The sedan's carrying poles were made of a dark red material with gold trim, looking exceptionally luxurious. Lei Yan's first impression was simply 'extravagant.'

"Tsk tsk, young masters of noble families are truly different. I heard that sedan chair alone is worth a hundred thousand taels," an ox of a man next to Lei Yan said with envy.

"Ignorant. That sedan is crafted from ice crystal wood from the snowy mountains. When soaked in human blood, this ice crystal wood becomes incomparably hard. The ice crystal wood alone is worth over a million taels, not to mention the embedded gold threads. Those gold threads are pure purple gold, with a single thread worth ten thousand taels. You do the math," a man in a green scholar's robe said with a look of utter disdain.

"Ice crystal wood?" Lei Yan paused slightly. He had once read about ice crystal wood in a book. It was said that wood soaked in human blood became harder than steel, but the book had not recorded the origin of the ice crystal wood. He had never expected that Zhao Tianhun not only managed to find this ice crystal wood but had also soaked it in human blood. Lei Yan shuddered to think how much human blood must have been required to soak such a massive sedan chair.

In the blink of an eye, Zhao Tianhun and his retinue had entered the Waterside Pavilion.

Lei Yan slowly stood up and walked toward the Waterside Pavilion. His psychic perception covered the entire building, and he instantly located Zhao Tianhun's position. Seeing several women about to press close to him, Lei Yan's figure flickered and vanished from their sight, reappearing outside a courtyard.

This courtyard had been specially prepared by the Waterside Pavilion for Zhao Tianhun. Because Zhao Tianhun loathed women, the courtyard was populated entirely by men, with ten martial artists guarding the entrance.

"Halt! This is a restricted area, no one is allowed inside," two guards barked upon seeing Lei Yan appear before the courtyard gate, instantly lowering their long spears to block his path.

The corners of Lei Yan's mouth curved upward slightly as he stepped forward.

"Brat, have you grown tired of living?" The ten martial artists instantly surrounded Lei Yan.

Lei Yan's figure flickered and vanished from the spot, reappearing inside the courtyard.

The ten guards stared in astonishment at Lei Yan ahead of them. At that moment, Lei Yan walked leisurely toward the interior as if taking a stroll in a courtyard garden, showing not the slightest concern for the guards rushing toward him. The bizarre part was that whenever the martial artists charged to encircle him, his figure would simply vanish from within the encirclement.

The guards panicked; they had never witnessed anything so bizarre. Yet, as guards, they still performed their duty by shouting, "Assassins! An assassin has broken in!"

Prompted by the guards' shouts in the courtyard, all of Zhao Tianhun's personal guards mobilized, thirty-six men surging toward Lei Yan's location.

"Halt!" A deep voice capable of piercing through steel plates echoed in Lei Yan's ears.

Hearing the command to stop, Lei Yan smiled and continued walking forward. What he was employing at that moment was the Drifting Dragon Divine Movement technique; against these Innate realm experts, he couldn't even be bothered to use the Submerging Divine Dragon.

The thirty-six personal guards immediately drew their swords and charged at Lei Yan. However, Lei Yan's movement was too bizarre and his speed too strange. Just as they rushed to his side, his figure would reappear seventy or eighty feet away.

Amid the continuous shouting from behind, Lei Yan was now only seventy or eighty feet away from the room where Zhao Tianhun was staying.

"Hahaha! Zhao Tianhun, you bastard! Did you hear that? The heavens have finally sent someone to deal with you!" Laughter rang out from the room ahead of Lei Yan.

Inside the room, there were four men and one woman. A man sat in the primary seat—this was none other than Zhao Tianhun. Zhao Tianhun was thin and sickly in build, dressed in blue embroidered brocade robes. At his feet, two men draped themselves over his thighs with flattering, ingratiating expressions. A man with a mustache stood behind him, while a young woman stood opposite him. She wore a red tight-fitting upper garment, a green sheer gauze scattered-flower skirt at her lower body, a golden-yellow soft smoke gauze belt around her waist, low-hanging temples pinned with a jade phoenix hairpin, and possessed a slender, alluring figure that could hook a soul.

A hint of hatred and sorrow lingered on the young woman's face.

"Slap her face," Zhao Tianhun commanded in an exceptionally shrill voice.

"Slap! Slap! Slap!" The mustachioed man behind Zhao Tianhun stepped forward and rained vicious blows across the young woman's face.

"You little bitch, if your life weren't still useful, I'd kill you right now. Oh, wait, it seems I only need to keep you alive. Qu San, haven't you always wanted to taste this woman? Today I'm rewarding her to you. As long as you don't kill her, you can play with her however you like..." Zhao Tianhun shouted again.

"You... you dare! I... I'll die for you right now..." The young woman stepped back, her voice trembling slightly.

"Die? It's not that easy..." The mustachioed man smiled lewdly as he tapped a few points on the young woman's body, then reached out and tore open her outer garment, instantly exposing her snow-white skin to the air.

The young woman glared furiously at the man before her, but she could neither move nor cry out, forced to watch helplessly as the wretched man molested her. In her helplessness, she could only close her eyes as hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

Right at that moment—

"Ah!" The mustachioed man's entire body was sent flying through the air, accompanied by a miserable scream as he rocketed backward.

"Thud!" Hitting the ground, the mustachioed man vomited blood and instantly died.

Hearing the scream, the young woman opened her eyes. The man who had just molested her was dead, and standing beside her was a youth clad in blood-red robes. The youth was glaring coldly at Zhao Tianhun opposite him.

"You must be Zhao Tianhun," Lei Yan said coldly.

Just as Lei Yan stepped into Zhao Tianhun's room, the guards from outside poured in as well.

"Protect the Young Master!"

Shouts rose one after another as many men moved to block Zhao Tianhun's path, while dozens of others surrounded Lei Yan.

"Stop." Zhao Tianhun raised his eyes to look at this sudden arrival, his eyes suddenly brightening. In his eyes, Lei Yan was far superior to his male concubines. He couldn't help but praise, "What a truly handsome young brother." Kicking away the two men draped across his legs, he stood up and said, "You have much more guts than those previous fellows, daring to come and assassinate me all by yourself. Truly a newborn calf unafraid of tigers. Don't make pointless struggles; stay and become my male concubine, and I will pardon your crime."

If these words had come from a woman, Lei Yan might have taken it in stride, but coming from a frail man, Lei Yan felt his scalp go numb. He shouted coldly, "You really don't know death is at your doorstep. The only thing you're relying on is that fellow hiding on the roof." With that, Lei Yan thrust his right hand forward and commanded, "Get down here!" Streaks of fiery red radiance erupted from Lei Yan's hand, converging in mid-air into a red dragon that soared straight toward the roof.

A figure engulfed in flames plummeted from the roof, and within the span of a breath, the burning figure was reduced to ashes.

"You..." Zhao Tianhun's expression shifted drastically. The man just killed was a retainer of his Zhao family—a cultivator who had reached the Core Formation stage. Yet the opponent had killed him with a single strike.

"Well? Do you still wish to keep me?" Lei Yan slowly walked forward.

"Stop him! Stop him!" Zhao Tianhun panicked.

Hearing this, the crowd immediately moved to block Lei Yan's path.

"I'll give you one chance. Scram right now, or you all die." Lei Yan had not wanted to start a massacre, especially with so many external cultivators around, but Zhao Tianhun's words had changed his mind.

"Protect the family head!" shouted sixteen personal guards as they charged straight toward Lei Yan.

"Truly seeking death." Lei Yan waved his hand, and a streak of white light resembling a sharp sword swept across the bodies of those around him.

"Boom! Boom..." Everyone touched by the white light was split in two—including their bodies and the weapons raised to block him. Integrating the 'Dao' of the Metal Element to forge blade attacks could be described as nothing short of indestructible.

Witnessing such a bloody scene, the young woman felt not a shred of sympathy or fear, but rather an urge to laugh.

Zhao Tianhun stared in terror as Lei Yan walked slowly forward. With every step Lei Yan took, Zhao Tianhun's heart felt as though it had been struck by an iron hammer. His legs trembled incessantly, and he had long since forgotten that he was an Innate late-stage martial artist. Watching Lei Yan draw close to his side, he dropped heavily to his knees and pleaded, "I was wrong! Please spare my life!"

"Speak. Where have you imprisoned Blacksmith Huo's mother and daughter?" Lei Yan asked coldly.

Hearing Lei Yan's question, Zhao Tianhun's trembling body suddenly steadied, and a smile crept onto the corner of his mouth. "So you have a favor to ask of me. Let me go, and I'll tell you where they are. Otherwise, even if you find them, they are destined to die. Well? As long as I am safe, I'll tell you their location."

"I originally intended to let you die a quick death, but you insisted on choosing this method," Lei Yan shook his head and said.

"What?" Zhao Tianhun's expression shifted, but before he could react, his eyes turned hollow before clearing once more.

"Tell me, where are Blacksmith Huo's mother and daughter?" Lei Yan's voice sounded once again.

"Blacksmith Huo's daughter is right behind you, and her mother is imprisoned in the firewood room of the Zhao estate," Zhao Tianhun answered submissively.

"She is Blacksmith Huo's daughter?" Lei Yan turned around to look at the young woman whose upper body was exposed to the air.

The young woman felt somewhat self-conscious under Lei Yan's gaze, her face flushing slightly.

Lei Yan stepped forward, retrieved an outer robe from his storage artifact, and draped it over the young woman's shoulders. He tapped two points on her chest and said, "Your father sent me to rescue you."

"Father... Is-is he alright?" At the mention of her father, the young woman was overcome with emotion, suddenly throwing herself into Lei Yan's arms and weeping as she asked.

"He is well. Come back with me to see your father first," Lei Yan patted the young woman's back and said.

"No, I want to kill that bastard Zhao Tianhun!" The young woman pushed Lei Yan away gently, gritting her teeth.

"No," Lei Yan stopped her. Having been subjected to the Heart-Seizing Technique, Zhao Tianhun could currently be considered his puppet. Keeping him alive would help deflect the suspicions of external cultivators; killing him now would only cause unnecessary trouble.

"Why?" the young woman asked, uncomprehending.

Lei Yan frowned. He was reluctant to offer lengthy explanations, but seeing the look in the young woman's eyes, he said, "He is still useful."

The young woman fell silent for a moment, then nodded and walked outside. Seeing her depart, Lei Yan turned his gaze to Zhao Tianhun and instructed, "Send Blacksmith Huo's mother back to the House of Welcoming Talents, and bring the antidote along as well." Given Lei Yan's expertise in medicine, the moment the young woman had thrown herself into his arms, he had caught the faint scent of poison.

"Yes, Master," Zhao Tianhun replied respectfully.