As Bian Yixia kicked the main gate open, the rest of the gang members followed. Some rushed in right behind her, while others vaulted over the courtyard wall and leaped directly inside.
Zou Feng chose to scale the wall.
But he didn’t jump in right away. Instead, he crouched atop the wall, preparing to first observe the situation inside the courtyard.
This was like he was switching to spectator mode on the sidelines before the team fight had even begun.
But no one found anything wrong with it. Zou Feng was a doctor, after all; it was perfectly reasonable for him to take a wider view of the battlefield, ready to treat the wounded at any moment.
As it turned out, the scene in the courtyard left not just him, but most of the gang members, completely stunned.
The Incense Master who had just told Bian Yixia that the owner of the house was Old Deng now had his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit two duck eggs.
"Old... Old Deng, you... what are you..."
The expected scenario—of Old Deng’s family having been murdered, with only the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect in the courtyard—had not come to pass.
Old Deng and his wife were perfectly fine. They were sitting under a canopy in the yard, gathered around a small charcoal stove with a group of strangers, eating a steaming pot of stew.
As a part-time chef, Zou Feng could tell at a glance that the stew even contained Spirit Beast Meat.
As for the strangers’ identities, there was no need to guess. Who else could they be but the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect hiding here?
Old Deng, who was in the middle of serving a Ten Directions Cultist some food, froze for a moment upon seeing the commotion. Then he slammed his bowl down and roared, "Commander, you have to run!"
Hearing this, the Incense Master who knew Old Deng immediately understood. He stomped his foot and cursed, "Old Deng, have you gone senile? Colluding with the Ten Directions Sect, you son of a bitch! You got a death wish?!"
Further words were useless. He might have had some history with Old Deng, but the other gang members had no time for chatter. They were already charging forward to kill.
In an instant, a cloud of lime powder was the first to fly, surging toward the canopy and instantly ruining a perfectly good pot of stew.
Mixed in with the lime powder was a good amount of fast-acting knockout drugs.
And under the cover of the lime and drug powders, there was naturally no shortage of various poisoned hidden weapons, thrown over as densely as raindrops.
Zou Feng’s sense of smell was too sharp. He immediately caught a whiff and realized that some of these hidden weapons weren’t coated in poison, but were "enchanted weapons" that had likely been marinating in a latrine pit for days.
’Damn, no wonder I thought some of them smelled bad on the way here.’
’At the time, I thought they just had an upset stomach and accidentally sharted, but held it in because they were in a rush to join the siege...’
Most members of the Black Flood Dragon Gang were ruthless characters who had fought their way up from the bottom. They had no concept of "martial ethics."
When facing an enemy, they would stop at nothing. As for "martial ethics," they had long since thrown it into a cesspool.
Since Zou Feng had participated in pitifully few siege operations, this was, strictly speaking, his first time witnessing the "prowess" of the Black Flood Dragon Gang.
Yes, you could say that the Black Flood Dragon Gang didn’t have many experts of the Martial Dao, and that many of them cultivated Evil Skills with great hidden dangers, giving them bleak futures.
But you could never underestimate the considerable combat power they displayed when ganging up on a smaller group.
Wang Xingjian’s flute also came into play. It turned out the thing was actually a blowgun.
Puffing his cheeks, he would occasionally fire off a slender Poison Needle, which was extremely difficult to spot.
But the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect were, of course, no pushovers.
Seeing that a fierce battle was unavoidable, almost all the cultists chose to immediately consume Evil Pills.
After taking these Evil Pills, they could, at least for a short time, ignore less potent knockout drugs, poisoned weapons, and the like.
The Eighth Grade Ten Directions Cultists among them naturally took "Divine Inviting Pills."
After consuming these Divine Inviting Pills, they always liked to shout the slogan, "Ten Directions Divine King, grant me Divine Power!"
The Black Flood Dragon Gang’s response was to launch a verbal assault.
"The Ten Directions Divine King? A son of a bitch!"
"Instead of worshipping some Ten Directions Divine King, you’d be better off worshipping my ten-inch rod!"
Don’t underestimate these spiritual attacks. If they could break through the enemy’s defenses, it would make them lose their minds, throw them into disarray, and create openings.
Having dealt with the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect for so long, the members of the Black Flood Dragon Gang knew that insults like "your mom" were useless.
To break the defenses of these cultists, you had to go after the "Ten Directions Divine King’s" entire family tree.
Once the battle began, Old Deng, who seemed dead set on covering the "Commander’s" escape, erupted with ferocious combat power.
The Black Flood Dragon Gang’s Incense Master who knew Old Deng, filled with righteous indignation, had intended to take him down personally.
But in their very first exchange, he was sent flying by Old Deng with a single blow.
He was horrified to discover that the old man, who had been a mere Ninth Grade with failing vitality, had now reached the Eighth Grade realm.
And there was no sign of failing vitality at all.
What’s more, he was using the Ten Directions Sect’s Great Compassion Hand!
It was obvious that Old Deng hadn’t just recently started colluding with the Ten Directions Sect.
This old geezer must have joined the Ten Directions Sect quite some time ago.
At this, Zou Feng’s eyes lit up.
’Old Deng must have gained a lot of benefits from joining the Ten Directions Sect.’
’The Great Compassion Hand he’s using now is clearly one of them.’
’But before they were besieged, the Ten Directions Sect wouldn’t have sent someone to teach him every day. They must have just given him the manual directly!’
’There’s a chance. The Great Compassion Hand manual is most likely hidden somewhere in Old Deng’s house.’
Thinking this, Zou Feng surveyed the current state of the battle.
The "Commander" Old Deng had mentioned was a Seventh Grade Expert, currently locked in a fierce, evenly matched fight with Bian Yixia.
However, this Commander had no desire to fight to the death; he only wanted to escape. As a result, Bian Yixia was gradually gaining the upper hand.
’I wonder if this Commander is the Ji Changsheng on my List of Gods...’
Seeing that the battle was basically won, Zou Feng leaped down from the wall. Not caring if anyone heard him, he announced, "I’m going to search the house!"
There was, of course, nothing wrong with searching the house for any hiding remnants of the Ten Directions Sect.
Besides, even if Zou Feng were to pocket the Great Compassion Hand manual for himself right in front of everyone, no one present would say a thing.
After all, anyone could figure out that cultivating this thing would certainly require a constant supply of Evil Pills from the Ten Directions Sect as support. Therefore, an ordinary Martial Artist couldn’t even dream of practicing it.
Just as Zou Feng rushed into a bedroom, a Ten Directions Cultist suddenly sprang out from behind the door, viciously slashing at him with a blade.
This guy had hidden here just to launch a sneak attack, hoping to take out at least one person.
However, while Zou Feng seemed to have charged in recklessly, how could he have been unprepared?
He had smelled him long ago and knew someone was hiding behind the door.
Effortlessly dodging the slash, Zou Feng casually struck the man’s chest with his palm.
But with so many people around, he certainly wasn’t going to use his Five Poison Skill. Instead, he channeled the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm.
But that was more than enough.
You see, Zou Feng had already practiced the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm to the level of "Integration and Mastery." It was no longer a Cultivation Skill that was just for show.
As a result, even though the Ten Directions Cultist was also a Ninth Grade, the sudden palm strike sent him flying backward with a blood-curdling scream, and a rich, meaty aroma immediately wafted from his chest.
With the "Fire Poison" of the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm, the Inner Qi not only becomes scorching hot, burning the opponent in the form of Fire Force, but it’s also mixed with toxins, which is like basting someone with "spice" as they’re being roasted.
The next moment, Zou Feng’s figure didn’t stop. He rushed over and landed two more palm strikes, while also deftly swiping the Evil Pills from the man’s body.
After finishing the kill, Zou Feng wasted no time and began ransacking the house, turning over chests and cupboards.
He didn’t have the patience to search slowly, so he just started destroying things, smashing all the cupboards and chests with his fists and feet.
However, after a round of smashing, Zou Feng still hadn’t found the Great Compassion Hand manual he so desperately wanted.
’Dammit, where is it hidden...’
After a moment’s thought, Zou Feng kicked the wooden bed to smithereens, then tore open the sheets, quilts, and pillows to check them.
Still nothing.
Staring at the wreckage of the kicked-in bed, Zou Feng’s eyebrow twitched as if he had finally discovered something.
Beneath the already shattered bed-boards, a rustic chamber pot was revealed.
This couldn’t help but remind Zou Feng of his time at the Yang Mansion, when he had hidden the poison for cultivating the Five Poison Palm inside a chamber pot.
’So, is it possible...’
He stepped forward again and kicked the chamber pot to pieces.
There was no filth inside, only a small, oil-paper-wrapped package.
It was just the right size to wrap a book.
Zou Feng instantly stopped caring whether the oil-paper package was dirty or not. He immediately squatted down and tore it open.
Even if gold fell into a cesspool, normally no one would turn their nose up at it—unless they were already so rich they saw money as dirt.
And for Zou Feng, the Great Compassion Hand manual was far more valuable than gold.
Although the progress of his Five Poison Skill cultivation had improved thanks to the gift from the Poison Dao senior at the pharmacy, advancing from "Refined Skill" to "Peak of Perfection" was still a distant prospect.
Even if he raised a Human Gu and successfully completed its Refinement, there was no 100% guarantee that this Skill could be cultivated to the Peak of Perfection.
But if he were to cultivate another high-quality Poison Skill, and then, based on the Poison Dao knowledge system he had built up, merge the Five Poison Skill, the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm, and the Great Compassion Hand...
’Then I would absolutely be able to take off.’
After tearing open the oil-paper package, Zou Feng took one look and his face lit up with ecstatic joy.
He didn’t look any further, quickly stuffing the manual into his robes.
Then, Zou Feng strode forward, grabbed the Ten Directions Cultist—who had been "roasted" until he was fragrant but was actually already cold—and roared, "Die!"
As he spoke, he struck out with another palm, sending the corpse flying out the window.
This was, of course, to create the impression that he had fought a fierce and protracted battle with this Ten Directions Cultist inside the room and ultimately emerged victorious.
This would logically explain why everything in the room was smashed to pieces and in total disarray.
Suppressing his elation, Zou Feng returned to the courtyard. He no longer stayed on the sidelines to observe, but actively joined the chaotic fray.