Yan Yang and Ru Feng watched their own daughter's death with their eyes, their minds going blank from shock and horror. However, they did not blame Yan Yue at all. They knew that the Yan family patriarch had done this in order to save the Yan family.
If he didn't, then the whole Yan family would die together with Yan Wan.
The three of them left the basement and exited the dilapidated house. Yan Yue's hands were still trembling. Despite his age, this was the first time he had taken a person's life, and he felt a wave of nausea. A feeling of numbness engulfed him, an icy cold that gripped his heart in a gauntlet of fear.
"Dad, just who is Zhao Huan Shi?" Ru Feng asked, still in disbelief over what had occurred. She had witnessed Tang Li call me Brother Zhao, and even Yao Long was afraid of me to the point where he would kneel respectfully before me and begged for forgiveness. No matter how deluded they were before (the same delusion that eventually led to Yan Wan's death), they couldn't deny that I wasn't some useless trash now.
Yan Yue's teeth chattered and he took a deep breath to calm down. "I don't know. But if Old Man Mu Rong allowed his granddaughter to marry him, then he must have known that Zhao Huan Shi must have some sort of background. We should have realized that…otherwise, why would Old Man Mu Rong marry his granddaughter off like that? And why didn't Mu Rong Shu protest against the marriage? She had always been happy with her husband. We were the ones who were blind and ignorant all this time."
What a joke…to think they blindly believed in all those malicious rumors and slanderous gossip instead of seeing for themselves what kind of person I truly was…Yan Yue felt like a total fool now.
"You are not allowed to leak this matter to anyone else, otherwise we'll meet the same fate as Yan Wan."
"Dad…how are we going to explain Wan Er's death to everyone?" Yan Yang was devastated at the loss of his daughter, but he was aware that they couldn't just wave away her death. The relatives would ask questions.
"Yao Long and Tang Li will deal with the matter. If I'm not mistaken, they will most likely fake an accident to cover this up."
Yan Wan's parents nodded somberly. Even though their hearts ached, they were determined to take this secret to the grave with them. They just needed to remember that they should never mess with me or Mu Rong Shu.
The news of Yan Wan's death spread throughout the city, but Tang Li was able to keep a lid on the press and control the flow of information. The hospitals issued the relevant certificates, being under the influence of Tang Li, and thus officially she died in an accident. The matter came to an end, and Yan Wan's funeral was held three days later. She was cremated and buried. Liu Zhang Feng attended the funeral as a formality, but otherwise he said nothing.
While he seemed sad that his ex-girlfriend had died, he was ready to move on. Come to think of it, she had been spoilt and always demanded so much of him. Now he felt free…liberated. As if a heavy load had been taken off his shoulders. His ex-girlfriend had spent so much of his money and asked for too many things, and now he found that he could spend more time and money for himself.
So he ended up getting into Warhammer 40,000, participating in Renegade tournaments and Best Coast Pairings. He started an Imperial Guard army and began building up a battalion of infantry and tanks, painting them however he liked.
Meanwhile, the Yan family was shaken by the death of one of their youngsters, but other than the three adults who had been present that day, none of them knew the truth. Nonetheless, they still grieved for the death of one of their members. As for Yan Yue, Yan Yang and Ru Feng, a dark shadow had been cast over their hearts for the rest of their lives.
And then Mu Rong Shu and I returned to Cheng Shi City after the funeral, having finished our business and the whole Yan family affair. I wondered if we would be plunging back straight into the Summoner War. Hopefully our little vacation had kept the Wang family off our backs. Given that we weren't targeted or pursued by assassins during our trip back and forth, it was likely that they still hadn't realized we were the culprits responsible for Wang Ni Tian and Wang Ling Er's deaths.
Huang Hong Lin and her brother, Huang Fei Hong, were waiting for us. Not physically, of course. But the moment I informed them that we had returned to Cheng Shi City, they called a meeting. Mu Rong Shu and I didn't hesitate to visit the Huang Manor and catch up on the events that had transpired during our absence.
Which was…nothing.
"Well, there were a few minor skirmishes here and there, but by and large, nothing significant happened." Huang Hong Lin sat back, sipping tea and sighing. "Let's be honest…we took out the big players, Su Da Ji and the Qin Emperor, as well as their summoners. None of the other spirits come close to their strength. The Summoner War is as good as over."
"The Wang family did discover that two of their most genius children have gone missing, and they are turning the city upside down trying to find their whereabouts. They are also looking for the culprits, but obviously we remain silent on the matter."
Huang Fei Hong shrugged, as if it was obvious. Mu Rong Shu and I exchanged a glance. Looked like going to Jiang Nan City for a couple of weeks was a good idea. The Wang family had no idea that we were involved at all.
"So the plan right now is to wait until all the small fries and weaker summoners eliminate each other before we swoop in and take out all of them," Huang Hong Lin explained. "The only real threat left is Yue Fei and his summoner, Liang Cai Gui. But as long as we combine our forces, we should be able to defeat them."
"Sounds like a plan. Are they our next target?" I asked. Huang Hong Lin nodded.
"Yeah. Let's take them out tonight." She smiled. "I'm sure Liang Cai Gui is looking forward to fighting you again."
I wasn't, though, but whatever. Let's get this done and over with.
And so we set out that night to challenge Liang Cai Gui. It was pretty simple – all we had to do was contact him on social media, give him the venue, and he agreed to show up. He really did turn up at the large, open field that we proposed as our battleground.
"It's been a while," Liang Cai Gui said, stnaidng opposite me.
"Yeah," I replied with a nod. "It's time to settle this once and for all."
"Agreed. Yue Fei!"
The legendary spearman materialized. I summoned Lu Bu as well, and the two war spirits clashed in the middle of the field with such force that their collision created a crater. Shockwaves emanated from either of them, razing the grass and throwing up soil.
Spinning around, Lu Bu traded blow after blow with Yue Fei, the two heroes evenly matched for now. Sparks flew as spear struck against halberd, the gleaming metal reflecting the moonlight. Blades of grass lazily drifted on all sides, only to be sliced apart by the many strikes that the two spirits delivered. Yue Fei parried an attack from Lu Bu before retaliating with a riposte that sent him stumbling back, but Lu Bu then thrust his halberd forward at an angle that forced Yue Fei to evade.
Throwing his head back and allowing the halberd to cut through the air above him, Yue Fei then kicked out, his foot crashing against Lu Bu's guard. The force of the blow sent him skidding backward. Lu Bu then rammed the blunt end of his halberd against the ground to force himself to a stop before whirling around with a deadly slash.
Yue Fei blocked the lethal strike and then drove Lu Bu back. He then stepped forward to stab Lu Bu in the chest…
…only for two swords to erupt from his own chest. Blood spurted out of his mouth and he cried out, stumbling forward. Behind him, Gan Jiang and Mo Ye drove their two swords deeper, finishing him off once and for all.
Then they cut Yue Fei apart in a series of coordinated maneuvers. The spirit cried out defiantly before he dissipated into nothing.
"You…!" Liang Cai Gui growled, only for Huang Hong Lin and Huang Fei Hong to show up. Before he could say anything, Huang Fei Hong struck him fiercely, breaking his ribs and pulverizing his heart. Liang Cai Gui folded over and fell, dead.
"Damn…" I didn't know what to say. Liang Cai Gui was a decent fella, at least as far as I could tell. He didn't deserve to die like this. I felt sorry for him. It was just…ouch. I honestly didn't know what to say, man. This just sucked.
It was a dishonorable fight. There was no denying that. Poor Yue Fei got stabbed from behind and even his summoner, Liang Cai Gui, was taken out by a sneak attack. That was…ouch. Just ouch.
I felt ashamed of myself.
The Huang siblings didn't seem to share my guilt, though. They looked pretty proud of themselves.
"That's one rival down now," Huang Hong Lin declared triumphantly.
"We're well on our way to winning the Summoner War," Huang Fei Hong agreed.
As for me, I was still trying not to go, "What the fuck?!" over such an anticlimactic end to a worthy rival. However, Mu Rong Shu was unperturbed. Being an assassin, she had been raised to believe that the ends justified the means, so she also didn't share my dismay. Rather, she probably was a proponent of the Huang siblings' tactics.
"So what now?" She asked instead. "Do we hunt down the rest?"
"No, not exactly." Huang Hong Lin thought for a while. Then she grinned. "We let the Wang family do that for us…then we eliminate them after they are exhausted."
"A good strategy," Mu Rong Shu aagreed, an approving smile on her face. "The hunter waiting for the crane and clam to tire each other out before capturing both. I like that."
I wasn't sure I liked it, but hey, this was the most effective manner to win, so who was I to argue?
…a week later, Mu Rong Shu and I joined the Huang siblings in destroying the Wang family. They had overextended themselves in trying to slay all of the other summoners in Hua Xia, and now they were incredibly weakened. Taking advantage of the chance, we launched an attack on their ancestral home and left no one alive.
With Wang Ni Tian and Wang Ling Er dead, there was no one left to oppose us…and we grabbed the victory very easily.
And that was how we won the Summoner War and got into the Spirit Realm.
The end…or was it now?
Before we left for the Spirit Realm, that was one last reckoning for me to make, and I didn't even have to wait for it, for she came to me.
Grandma…the matriarch of the Zhao family and the cause of all my suffering.
"So are you here to congratulate me?" I asked sarcastically.
"No," Grandma replied coldly. "I'm here to demand that you hand over your war spirit to the Zhao family."
"I'm no longer of the Zhao family, and you have no right to do so," I replied with a shrug. "Besides, who will take my war spirit? Zhao Huan Wang? He's already dead, and even after I gave him my dragon spirit, he still failed to do anything with him…and even lost him."
"I don't care. You're trash. You don't deserve to be a summoner. If you don't hand over your war spirit and your spot in the Spirit Realm…then die!"
With a screech, grandma lunged at me. Behind her, a titanic flood dragon materialized, roaring as it pounced forward with its jaws wide open, intending to swallow me whole.