Chapter 87: The Vendetta Between Tang and Song

How could anyone dare to provoke the Song family so brazenly? No—this was not mere provocation. It was a filthy slap across the face.

Everyone turned in unison toward the source of the voice. In the middle of the courtyard stood a pale-faced man, his expression cold and arrogant. Those around him instinctively stepped back, leaving a wide empty ring about him, like a crane among chickens.

“Who are you? Men, seize him! Break his legs and throw him straight out the gate. Let his elders come and claim him!”

Song Cang had a fiery temper. Seeing a junior dare insult the illustrious Song family in such a manner, especially on a day crowded with honored guests, he issued the order at once. He cared not who the man was.

The guards nearby immediately moved. Two burly men charged forward to pin down the insolent youth, while the others remained on guard, fearing the man might suddenly explode into violence.

Who would dare such suicidal folly without some hidden card to play? No one believed it, unless he were mad.

Then, all at once, two sharp cracks rang out.

The two burly men had barely reached the pale man when they dropped to the ground, convulsing violently. Foam spilled from their mouths; within a few breaths, their lives were gone. Their fingers curled like chicken claws, their bodies arched grotesquely, their deaths twisted and uncanny, as though struck by some vile and lethal poison.

The crowd was aghast, but the nightmare had only just begun. More than a dozen guests nearest to the man suddenly suffered the same symptoms. They too collapsed, spasming on the ground, not dying immediately, but spreading the terror like a raging contagion. Centered on the pale stranger, the crowd fell in ring after ring, as though reaped by a scythe. Cries of agony burst everywhere; tables, chairs, and dishes crashed to the floor in ruin.

“Hold your breath! The air is poisoned!” A master in the crowd detected the anomaly and shouted a warning.

But it seemed too late. Nearly everyone present had already been poisoned. Curses and screams rose one after another, and only then did they realize that not a single person in the hall recognized this man.

“I never expected someone to bring me such a grand surprise today. Who exactly are you, and what do you want? Speak plainly,” Song Han said, his face darkening, though he did not appear panicked.

“Song Han! So you still don’t understand your situation!” The pale man seemed irritated by Song Han’s composure. As he spoke, he suddenly tore open his clothes. When the crowd saw what lay beneath, they all drew a sharp breath.

His bare upper body was covered in black, sinister runes and countless tiny holes, as though corroded by something unseen. The sight was appalling enough to terrify several timid women and children.

“Every one of you has been struck by my Ten-Finger Knot Gu. It is a poison gu never before seen in this world. It is finer than dust; once it enters the body, it fuses with the host’s flesh and blood, like lovers clasping fingers, inseparable and unwilling to part. It obeys only my command. The moment I wish it, the gu will flare to life at once. As for their deaths, you have all seen them. I spent a full ten years raising the gu with my own body, all for this day. Song Han, do you still not know who I am?”

His voice was vicious and grating.

Listening to him, everyone felt a chill rise from their bones. They had only come to attend a banquet—how had they been dragged into such an innocent disaster? What rotten luck this was.

“Hmph. I have many enemies. How should I know who you are?” Song Han said, though he had already begun to suspect the answer.

“Ha! Relying on your superior cultivation, do you think you can act with impunity?” The pale man sneered. “I know you are a master of the third realm. The gu may not be able to withstand your protective force, but what about everyone else? Heh. If I were ruthless enough to kill every other guest here, I wonder how the Song family would keep its footing in this land?”

The listeners’ faces changed dramatically.

Surely he would not be so cruel. If all the guests died here, whether or not the Song family had laid a hand on them, the blame would still fall on the Song family. By then, with hundreds of family powers joining forces against them, even an ancient clan like the Song family might not endure.

“Well? Family Head Song, do you know who I am yet?” the pale youth pressed.

Song Han ground his teeth, thoughts racing. With his cultivation, killing this man would take nothing more than a casual strike. But as this man had said, the stakes were too great. If he died, would he drag others down with him in his final moments? Or perhaps only he knew the antidote? Song Han could not tell how much of what had been said was true, but he dared not gamble.

Humiliating. Utterly humiliating.

“If I am not mistaken, might your esteemed self be from the Southern Tang family?” Song Han finally said after a long exhale.

The Southern Tang family? The Tang clan! Someone in the crowd cried out inwardly.

“Old thief Song! At last you remember. Now do you know why I came for you?” The pale man looked at Song Han with grief-stricken fury, grinding his teeth.

Song Han said nothing.

“Fine. If you won’t say it, I will. Twenty years ago, the Southern Tang family offended the Song family. Not long after taking the position of Song family head, you, Song Han, sought to establish your authority. You led your family experts on a thousand-li raid, wiped out the Tang household to the last soul, and stained both your hands with the blood of my clan. A splendid ‘sending cold over a thousand li,’ Song Han!”

His voice dripped with hatred, his eyes bloodshot. “I, Tang Qiu, have come to avenge the Song family!”

The crowd fell silent as well, though inwardly they were groaning. We support your vengeance—but must you drag the innocent into it?

“What do you want?” Song Han asked, unmoved.

“At the time, it was also my grandfather’s sixty-fifth birthday. You stormed into the Tang estate and slaughtered thirty-four members of the main branch. So today, on your own sixty-fifth birthday, my demand is simple: I only need to cut you thirty-four times.”

“What a joke!” Song Han scoffed.

“Don’t be so quick to refuse.” Tang Qiu’s expression had now become eerily calm. “Anyway, I already know I won’t leave here alive today. So let me play with you a little.”

He smiled coldly. “I know it is asking too much to make a lofty family head like you die alone. But I have the guests here, along with your Song family descendants, to bargain with. If you refuse, I’ll have to start with them.”

As he spoke, Tang Qiu made a grasping motion into the air. A fallen boy flew toward him, and he seized the child by the collar, lifting him high. It was Song Chengzong’s son, Song Mingxuan.

“Your grandfather-grandson affection just now moved me deeply. But since your grandfather refuses to repent for his crimes, I suppose I’ll have to kill you first,” Tang Qiu said with a cruel smile, baring his white teeth.

The boy was actually rather brave. Though trembling with fear, he forced himself not to cry.

“Outrageous!” Song Han’s expression finally changed. His aura suddenly exploded upward, surging into the sky. All the cups and porcelain bowls in the courtyard shattered into fragments. That terrifying pressure seemed to drain away all the air, pressing down on Tang Qiu like a cloud of black storm.

Yet Tang Qiu merely chuckled and held the boy before him, not the least bit afraid of Song Han’s threat.

Agh!

Several muffled cries erupted as a few young men suddenly suffered a gu outbreak and died on the spot, sending their relatives into anguished screams.

“This is your warning! Don’t think I won’t kill!” Tang Qiu said coldly.

Song Han immediately withdrew his aura, his face extremely ugly. The dead were all Song family juniors. This man’s killings were silent and invisible—so it seemed his words were true.

“Now do you understand my resolve? I can kill every last person of the Song family if I wish, yet all I ask is that you take thirty-four cuts. I imagine everyone here will agree that this is hardly excessive,” Tang Qiu said in a chilling voice.

Song Han fell into thought, then asked, “How do I know you will keep your promise and not harm anyone else? What if I let myself be cut, and you still go on a killing spree? Better for me to fight to the death.”

“Hmph. That is not for you to decide. In any case, if I die, all the gu worms will flare at once!” Tang Qiu wore a smile.

Song Han fell silent again.

Seeing this, Tang Qiu continued, “Don’t try to waste time. I’ll count to five. If you still refuse, I’ll kill your grandson first, then one Song family member every second! One, two… Hm? Wait, where is Song Qi behind you?”

His expression shifted as he noticed something amiss. The moment he spoke, explosions and the sounds of fighting erupted from the rear courtyard. Soon after, two figures sprang up from there, vaulted over the courtyard wall, and landed among them.

Once they steadied themselves, the crowd could see them clearly.

One was the Song family’s chief steward, Song Qi, skilled in both mercy and severity. The other, who stood beside Tang Qiu, was an old man with a hooked nose.

“Song Qi? It was you!” The elder Song Cang glared furiously, almost bulging his eyes from their sockets.

Many others recognized the man as well. Song Qi was one of the Song family’s four external stewards, and he was also one of Song Cang’s people.

Song Han, however, seemed unsurprised. “As expected, it was you.”

The truth was, the moment he noticed something wrong, the seasoned Song Han knew there must be an insider helping them. Otherwise, how had these traitors slipped in? His first suspicion had been Song Qi, who was responsible for verifying the guest list and arranging accommodations. So Song Han had immediately used secret voice transmission to tell Song Qi to use the chaos to investigate the accomplice among the thieves. Now it seemed the traitor was Song Qi himself. This man had hidden in the Song family for fifteen years. He had concealed himself deeply indeed.

“Ha! I am not Song Qi. From now on, please call me Tang Qi!” the hooked-nose elder said with undisguised mockery.

Another Tang family member.

“Good, very good. What a magnificent revenge scheme. I am impressed!” Song Han laughed in anger.

But the hooked-nose elder’s expression changed, and he said, “Young Master! Stop playing around. I know Song Han. He will not submit. If he uses his full strength, he’ll subdue us in an instant. Then he can use all manner of secret arts to interrogate us or take control of your mind, and everything will be ruined.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Tang Qiu asked.

“Simple!” The hooked-nose elder snorted and pointed at the surrounding crowd. “Have these hostages all rise and gather around us. That will make it impossible for him to strike!”

Tang Qiu’s eyes lit up. What a brilliant idea. At once he threatened and barked orders, forcing dozens of hostages to move in and block them. Anyone who hesitated even slightly was killed on the spot. In this way, the rest dared not disobey. Very soon, they clustered around the two of them, thick as walls inside and out, forming a human barrier around Tang Qiu and the elder.

At last, Song Han truly began to panic. His thoughts matched those of the hooked-nose elder. The reason he had not yet acted was first to extract intelligence from the intruders, and second to buy time for Song Qi to uncover the traitor. Ideally, he could seize the traitor as leverage.

Now the traitor had emerged, and at once he had exposed Song Han’s intentions.