The air crackled with the force of his punch.
Sun Lianlong’s hair was blown straight back.
Beads of sweat, large as beans, rapidly appeared on his forehead, slowly tracing paths down his nose.
“This is your last warning. Do not test my patience!”
“Otherwise, you know the consequences!”
Chu Fan’s icy words, like an invisible hand, forced Sun Lianlong to stagger back, his face even paler than before.
At this moment, his eyes held a look of terror as he gazed at Chu Fan, his clenched fists trembling slightly.
Too strong!
Too terrifying!
Sun Lianlong’s heart was in turmoil, unable to settle.
He hadn’t felt the true terror when he was sent flying down the mountain by the previous strike.
This punch, however, was truly extraordinary.
As the one who faced Chu Fan’s punch head-on, Sun Lianlong knew very well that if Chu Fan’s punch had landed squarely on him, he would already be a corpse on the ground.
With just one punch, Chu Fan utterly shattered Sun Lianlong’s unwillingness and fighting spirit.
“You… what realm are you at?”
Before turning to descend the mountain, Sun Lianlong gathered his courage and asked with a tremor.
He himself was a Grandmaster, yet in front of Chu Fan, he was so utterly vulnerable. He truly could not fathom what level the other person was at.
He looked no older than twenty-something, yet his strength was so terrifying.
Such a prodigy, by all logic, should have been discovered and nurtured by the martial sects long ago.
Why, then, had there never been any rumors of him within the circles?
Sun Lianlong could not comprehend it.
Chu Fan paid him no mind, turning and walking back towards the Shan Hai Pavilion. Those who lost were not qualified to ask questions.
Receiving no response, Sun Lianlong wasn't angry, or rather, he dared not be angry.
As someone who truly walked the martial path, he always revered strength and honored the powerful.
If his own skills were inferior, what right did he have to be enraged?
From a greater distance, the Five War Emperors, seeing Sun Lianlong descend, simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
Before the confrontation, they had genuinely worried that Chu Fan would kill Sun Lianlong. Because Sun Lianlong had some renown within the martial sects, his death would inevitably alert stronger individuals from those sects.
At that point, the War Emperor Hall would be in a difficult position.
The current situation was just right.
“I thought he was merely a Grandmaster, but it seems he is even stronger than we imagined!” the Northern War Emperor exclaimed.
The Southern War Emperor nodded and said, “It was the wisest choice not to provoke him earlier!”
“This strength… he is at least at the peak of the Grandmaster realm.”
The Eastern War Emperor and the Western Sea War Emperor both nodded in agreement.
The Central Plains War Emperor remained silent, or rather, he did not wish to say anything that would shock his companions.
As the only one among the five to have traversed the Eternal Hall and challenged the eighteen guardians, he knew precisely how terrifying the strength of those eighteen guardians was.
The guardian he had faced back then was merely the weakest among the eighteen.
That individual’s strength far surpassed Sun Lianlong’s, making him a mid-level Grandmaster.
And there were still seventeen others like that in the Eternal Hall, and what was more, the other seventeen were all stronger than the one before.
Chu Fan, by breaking the myth and defeating the eighteen guardians to leave the Eternal Hall, could not possibly be merely at the peak of the Grandmaster realm.
Whether he was above the Grandmaster realm, the Central Plains War Emperor could not ascertain.
Seeing Sun Lianlong retreat, the Five War Emperors also quietly withdrew.
Sun Lianlong, who had arrived with mighty momentum, returned dejectedly.
On the same day, he returned to the Sun family in Qingzhou.
Zou Xixiang, who had been anxiously waiting, rushed forward upon seeing Sun Lianlong’s return and asked, “Lianlong, how was it? Did you find the culprit?”
Sun Lianlong endured it for a moment and said helplessly, “Sister-in-law, I found out. The War Emperor Hall wasn’t lying; Elder Brother was indeed killed by a group attack from members of the Tianshan Hall.”
“I personally interrogated them and then personally executed them, avenging Elder Brother.”
“Ah…”
“How… how could this happen?”
“They were all people Elder Brother painstakingly recruited and trained. How could they have attacked and killed your Elder Brother?”
Zou Xixiang was shocked, finding it hard to accept such a betrayal.
Sun Lianlong smiled wryly and continued to explain, “A portion of them grew too powerful and wanted to break free from control!”
“Elder Brother lacked absolute deterrent strength and still bossed them around. They grew dissatisfied, which led to this incident.”
Was that really how it happened?
Zou Xixiang’s expression was dazed. Upon closer thought, it did seem like a possibility, as there had been incidents before of people wanting to leave the Tianshan Hall.
To deter the others, her husband had resorted to the tactic of “killing the chicken to scare the monkeys,” which had caused considerable dissatisfaction among many.
“Sister-in-law, let’s let this matter rest. I will quell the other members of the Sun family for you, and the future development of the Sun family will be entrusted to you!”
Sun Lianlong changed the subject, unwilling to let Zou Xixiang delve deeper into the matter.
He did this out of necessity.
Who could have known Chu Fan was so strong?
If he didn’t attribute the cause to the members of the Tianshan Hall, he knew that given his sister-in-law’s temperament, she would definitely continue her investigation.
Once she discovered that Chu Fan was the one who killed her husband, she would mobilize all the Sun family’s resources to continuously attack Chu Fan.
Both his nephew and his brother had died after actively provoking Chu Fan.
If his sister-in-law continued to provoke him, Sun Lianlong could not guarantee that Chu Fan wouldn’t get angry and actively deal with the Sun family.
In that case, even if he fought with his life, he wouldn’t be able to stop Chu Fan.
As for the martial sects behind them, Sun Lianlong harbored no illusions that they would stand behind the Sun family for support after such an incident.
As a member of the martial sects, he understood their modus operandi very well.
Someone as heaven-defying as Chu Fan would be befriended, not offended, by the martial sects. It would be good if they didn’t mobilize their forces to completely erase the Sun family from the Dragon God Kingdom.
“By the way, what about Hongji?”
“Did you find out who killed him?”
Hearing his sister-in-law continue to inquire, Sun Lianlong felt a headache coming on. He gave a perfunctory explanation, “I found out. It was a small assassin organization. Before I came, I had already wiped out that organization.”
Zou Xixiang nodded. She had always believed in her brother-in-law, Sun Lianlong, since she joined the Sun family.
With the enemies dead, the matter was concluded.
Afterward, Sun Lianlong assisted Zou Xixiang in forcefully suppressing the remaining members of the Sun family, and once the Sun family was unified, he hastily left Qingzhou.
Upon returning to the sect, Sun Lianlong, as promised, quickly compiled Zhang Wudao’s information and sent it to Chu Fan.
At the same time, he utilized the martial sect’s information system to investigate Chu Fan’s background.
In Shan Hai City, the commotion caused by Sun Lianhe’s death was soon forgotten.
After Chu Fan received Zhang Wudao’s information, he handed it over to Ji Ningyue for investigation.
As long as Zhang Wudao dared to show himself in or around Shan Hai City, he would be informed immediately.
Five more days passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Chu Fan suddenly received a call from Nan Zi’an.
“Xiao Fan, are you free?”
Nan Zi’an never called him unless something was amiss.
But whenever he called, something was definitely happening.
Chu Fan hummed in response and replied, “Uncle, I’m free. What is it?”
Nan Zi’an hesitated before saying, “Xiao Fan, something has happened at Tian Fan Pharmaceutical.”