The two young members of the Martial Alliance wailed, almost crawling out.
As they reached the doorway, they hysterically roared, "Ye Feng, you dare to lay hands on us, we are from the Martial Alliance, you're dead meat, you must die, and the Hong Family, daring to oppose our Martial Alliance, you're all doomed. Just you wait!"
Seventeen's expression suddenly darkened, ready to strike again and finish these two dogs' lives.
Ye Feng waved his hand and said, "They are but two crawling insects, why dirty this place of the Hong Family?"
Seventeen halted in his tracks upon hearing this, then respectfully returned to his place behind Ye Feng.
Ye Feng looked up at Hong Zhenguo and said, "Explain in detail, what's the situation with Jiangdu's Martial Alliance?"
The original purpose of Ye Feng establishing the Martial Alliance was to encourage the nation's people to learn martial arts for a strong and healthy body, and of course, to select experts from the Martial Alliance for the Four Realms Legion.
After all, martial persons with a foundation in combat skills had significant advantages after joining the military, whether in individual capabilities or team combat.
After all, in the last century, the nation was weak and impoverished; foreigners even scorned it as the "Sick Man of Asia." In order to completely change this situation, Ye Feng promoted the Martial Alliance nationwide, even allowing it to supplement fresh blood into the military.
Now, it seemed, the situation was not as he had imagined.
Hong Zhenguo was unaware that the Martial Alliance was founded by the sovereign before him. He seemed somewhat apprehensive about the words of the two members of the Martial Alliance he had just overheard.
He shook his head and sighed, "Initially, the Martial Alliance, started off very well, even frequently celebrated for performing chivalrous deeds. However, these past few years, the situation has only been getting worse."
Ye Feng did not speak. He suddenly thought to himself that the saying "chivalry is often a justification for committing forbidden acts" seemed to hold some truth.
Hong Zhenguo continued, "I'm not too clear about the situation in other provinces, but as for Southern River Region Jiangnan Province, especially Jiangdu, the Martial Alliance has enormous influence, involving all kinds of forces, with even many Hidden Families getting involved."
"Hidden Families?" Ye Feng raised an eyebrow.
"In fact, Jiangdu's Martial Alliance is now controlled by three major Hidden Families. Despite the Hong Family being recognized as a business giant, compared to these Hidden Families, we are nothing but a minor player. It is precisely because of this that members of the Martial Alliance dare to be so brazen and unrestrained!"
Hong Zhenguo sighed repeatedly. The Martial Alliance's involvement was too extensive, extending throughout the country. Not to mention the Northern Border, by now, members of the Martial Alliance were present in almost all of the Four Great Realms.
Ye Feng nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "Currently, who is in charge of Jiangdu's Martial Alliance?"
After pondering for a while, Hong Zhenguo replied, "Embarrassingly, I'm not clear on who exactly is in charge. I only know that within the circle, he is known as the Great Grandmaster. This person is very secretive, like a Divine Dragon whose head can be seen but not the tail, and even I can't get into that circle."
"Great Grandmaster, seems to have some tricks up his sleeve," Ye Feng said with a faint smile before falling silent, lost in thought.
Originally, his intentions for establishing the Martial Alliance were good, but now the Martial Alliance was rife with mixed elements, the good and the bad mixed together.
"It looks like I'll have to make a serious effort to reform once I return," Ye Feng reflected inwardly. He then waved his hand, ready to head back to the Inner Courtyard.
Hong Zhenguo stood there, watching the wheelchair slowly moving through the corridor, and could not help but sigh, "I never thought the Jiangdu Martial Alliance would be dragged into this. It seems the heavens of Jiangdu are about to change."
Back in the attic, Ye Feng had intended to contact Mu Tian again, but after giving it some thought, he decided against it.
"Now that my strength has not yet recovered to its peak, and many things are not yet clear, it's best to take my time returning. This is a good opportunity to quietly investigate, including this Martial Alliance!"
Ye Feng pondered. The ambush in the Capital Region two months earlier was supposed to be secret; not many people knew his route.
Yet, Mountain Eagle and those hypocritical National Scholars in the country somehow knew his whereabouts in advance, which meant that his route had been leaked. In other words, there was a spy among his close associates.
To date, Ye Feng still could not determine the identity of the spy hiding beside him!
Therefore, the best strategy for the moment was to respond to action with inaction. The former him had been too high-profile and too domineering. "The tree that stands out in the forest is the one that the wind blows down," or "one's achievements can threaten a superior." Reflecting on it now, the ambush in the Capital Region likely involved a complex web of intrigue.
Ye Feng let out a small sigh, then slowly closed his eyes and entered into a state of the Void Breathing Technique.
Time slowly passed, and when Ye Feng opened his eyes, he found that it was already sunset time, and yet Hong Qingyan had still not returned.
At first, he thought that it was probably because there was a lot of work at the Hong Family Group and Qingyan might have been too busy to leave, so he did not put much thought into it. However, as darkness fell, there was still no sign of her.
Just then, Hong Zhenguo suddenly ran inside in a fluster.
"Trouble, Mr. Ye, there's been trouble."
Hong Zhenguo was very anxious. The old man had weathered many storms and usually remained calm in the face of problems, but now he was agitated, indicating that the situation was serious.
"What's wrong!" Ye Feng asked sternly.
"It's Qingyan. Something's happened to Qingyan!"
Hong Zhenguo took a breath before continuing, "I had already notified Qingyan to come back at noon, but she hasn't shown up yet. I just tried to contact her assistant, who said she left the company at noon."
Ye Feng asked, "Can you still get in touch with her now?"
Hong Zhenguo replied, "It's precisely because I can't contact her that I'm saying something's happened. Qingyan doesn't have many friends and rarely goes out. Even if she goes somewhere, she would tell me in advance. It's not like her to be unreachable for half a day."
Ye Feng's eyes slowly narrowed to slits, and he suddenly ordered, "Go contact the Chu Family right away."
"Contact the Chu Family?" Hong Zhenguo was taken aback and questioned, "Mr. Ye, do you think that the Chu Family is behind this?"
Ye Feng did not answer, for he rarely responded to others' questions. He just gave an order, "Tell the Chu Family if they have touched her, if Hong Qingyan is missing even a single hair, I'll destroy the Chu Family entirely!"
As he spoke, Ye Feng's body erupted with a bone-chilling intent to kill, his eyes fiercely sharp.
Hong Zhenguo couldn't help but jump, but after regaining his composure, he said, "I will call them right now and convey your message word for word."
However, just as he was about to take out his phone, coincidentally his phone began to ring, and the caller ID showed it was the Head of the Chu Family, Chu Min.
Hong Zhenguo's brow furrowed, instantly realizing what was happening.
As the call connected, Chu Min on the other end chuckled first, "Old Man Hong, since we parted last night, have you been well?"
Hong Zhenguo immediately snapped, "Did you lay your hands on Hong Qingyan?"
"Wow, you found out so quickly. I actually wanted to give you a surprise," Chu Min said with sarcastic laughter.
"Chu Min, do you know what you're playing with?"
Hong Zhenguo bellowed, "It was just a small grudge before, but you've completely torn apart any pretense and dared to harm Qingyan; do you realize what you're doing!"
"A small grudge? Old fool, spare me your cool talk. It's not your grandson who's dead, so of course, you'd call it a small grudge!" Chu Min sneered repeatedly, "Since last night, when you insisted on shielding your useless son-in-law, our two families have been at odds with each other!"
"Enough with the nonsense. Where is Qingyan now?" Hong Zhenguo demanded.
"Old man, you're not qualified to talk to me. Have that waste of a son-in-law of yours talk to me!"
"Give me the phone!" Ye Feng suddenly reached out, his voice cold as steel.