Fu Tingfang stared intensely at the portrait of Zhao Ya, her eyes almost shooting out flames.
This was actually her first time seeing the true image of Zhao Ya.
Although she’d had several encounters before and even a prolonged chase in the mountains and forests, Fu Tingfang had never seen Zhao Ya’s true face.
Because of this, the person she saw in her dreams during this time always had indistinct features.
Not until today did she finally see the face of the one who ambushed her in the dark, almost causing her death.
The artist’s skill wasn’t bad, rendering Zhao Ya’s appearance quite accurately, looking even somewhat handsome.
Yet the more it was like this, the more furious Fu Tingfang became, her teeth grinding audibly.
How could someone so decent-looking act with such insidious cruelty?
Even now, Fu Tingfang still felt a faint pain in her shoulder, but what she found hardest to accept was the sensation after being poisoned.
Feeling ethereal... it was unspeakable.
Behind her, Diao Ruhai had somewhat different thoughts from Fu Tingfang.
He was shocked by Zhao Ya’s youth and felt a deep apprehension because of it.
Especially since this time, the Third Village Chief Huo Tianxiao had returned in defeat, and Laoliu Ma Ling had even lost his head, the instigator being this same Zhao Ya.
This showed that the young man must have made a stunning breakthrough during this period; otherwise, he couldn’t have killed Ma Ling, who had strength in the Three Realms.
It seemed he needed to be extra cautious during this trip to the city, particularly persuading the Third Miss to prevent her from acting rashly in a fit of anger.
Diao Ruhai secretly resolved.
At this moment, someone beside him said, "Thir... Third Miss, when do you plan to deal with this brat?"
The voice was somewhat muffled, but filled with resentment.
Diao Ruhai frowned slightly; he was worried about Fu Tingfang causing trouble and didn’t expect someone to actually egg her on.
He turned his head to see a man with swollen cheeks staring venomously at the portrait.
The speaker was none other than the young master of the Yang Family, Yang Zisong.
At this moment, he was truly full of rage and grievance.
Yes, indeed, he felt deeply wronged.
Growing up, he had always been surrounded by praise and adulation, smoothly reaching this point.
But today, in front of everyone at the Yang Mansion, he had shockingly been slapped twice.
This was simply a humiliation of epic proportions.
The key was that the person who slapped him was an outsider, who seemed to have an inexplicable relationship with his former fiancée, which further drove Yang Zisong to madness.
When he was carried to see his father, Patriarch Yang Sansi.
Patriarch Yang Sansi did not immediately stand up for him but advised patience, then brought him to the Hong Family, where he met Fu Tingfang.
Upon hearing that the Third Miss of Cyan Bamboo Ridge also had a grudge against Zhao Ya, Yang Zisong couldn’t help but hope she would stand up and quickly end Zhao Ya.
"Of course, I want to deal with this brat, but not now!" Fu Tingfang said coldly.
Yang Zisong was greatly disappointed.
He couldn’t understand why even she would say such a thing.
Wasn’t he just an Escort Commander? Why were his father and Cyan Bamboo Ridge so apprehensive?
At this moment, someone beside spoke in admiration, "The Third Miss is right, at such a critical time, we can’t lose our composure over a trivial matter."
The speaker, though young, had a calm and impressive demeanor.
Yang Zisong felt disdainful about this.
"Hong Xu, you speak so easily; what do you mean by a trivial matter? It seems you weren’t slapped in public."
"Indeed, I wasn’t, because I don’t have a fiancée like yours." Hong Xu smiled warmly.
"You...!" Yang Zisong was furious.
Just then, footsteps sounded from outside, and two middle-aged men walked in.
"Father!"
"Dad!"
Yang Zisong and Hong Xu stood up simultaneously and said.
The newcomers were Patriarch Yang Sansi and Patriarch Hong Shouchang.
They were arguably the two most powerful men in Wuxiang City.
Yet, they were different; Yang Sansi was short, fat, and beardless, resembling a wealthy heir.
Hong Shouchang was tall and burly, exuding a heroic aura with every gesture, undoubtedly a Martial Dao expert.
However, the two acted very close, entering one after the other.
Seeing them, Fu Tingfang cupped her fists and bowed.
"Patriarch Hong, Patriarch Yang."
"Haha, long time no see, the Third Miss has grown even more beautiful!" Yang Sansi laughed.
Hong Shouchang was not so polite, and asked directly: "What does the Great Village Chief say?"
"My brother says Cyan Bamboo Ridge is almost ready. As long as your two families agree on the timing, he will personally lead the team into the city when the time comes."
"Great! The Great Village Chief is straightforward. Our Hong Family is also almost ready. Brother Sansi, what about your Yang Family?"
Yang Sansi listened with a smile, like a god of wealth.
"Our Yang Family needs to wait a little longer because I recently recruited a batch of newcomers and am currently cultivating them with elixirs, so it’ll take at least another month or so."
"A month or so?" Fu Tingfang nodded, "That’s not too long. Let’s do it this way, we’ll wait two more months at Cyan Bamboo Ridge. Once the Yang Family is ready, our three families will strike simultaneously. What do you two think?"
"The Hong Family has no problem!" Hong Shouchang immediately said.
Yang Sansi didn’t agree directly but said with a smile, "Striking is not a problem. It’s just that once the Song Family is defeated, how do we divide up the spoils? This needs to be discussed in advance to prevent conflict later."
Fu Tingfang frowned almost imperceptibly, "What’s there to ponder over? Why not split it evenly among the three families?"
"How to divide it evenly? The Song Family’s most valuable asset is that Exotic Beast Meat Field and the breeding techniques. Who will get those?" Yang Sansi said leisurely.
"Not only that, but the Song Family’s Black Armor Army is formidable; you’re all aware. Who will take the lead, and who will counter the Black Armor Army head-on? These must be agreed upon in advance, otherwise, if there’s a rift later, it will be troublesome."
After hearing Yang Sansi’s words, Fu Tingfang felt a bit troubled.
She preferred facing her enemies head-on on the battlefield rather than dealing with all these petty calculations.
"What does Patriarch Hong think?" Fu Tingfang tossed the ball to Hong Shouchang.
"Brother Sansi makes a valid point. Why not this: when the time comes, our three families each send out some elites to form a squad to counter the Song Family’s Black Armor Army. After defeating the Song Family, we will divide the other assets equally, but we won’t touch the Exotic Beast Meat Field, and the profits it produces will belong to our three families. How about that?"
Yang Sansi nodded with a smile, "This plan is good, I agree!"
Fu Tingfang thought about it and felt this plan was indeed fair, so she nodded in agreement.
"Since that’s settled, our three families are agreed. In two months, we will move together to wipe out the Song Family!" Hong Shouchang said.
"Agreed!"
Listening nearby, Yang Zisong felt his spirits lifted, finally understanding why his father wanted him to be patient.
It turned out he was targeting not Zhao Ya himself, but the entire Song Family.
If the Song Family fell, what would Zhao Ya’s abilities amount to?
Thinking of this, Yang Zisong couldn’t help feeling delighted, eagerly anticipating the day the Song Family would collapse.
Just then, Fu Tingfang pointed to a portrait of Zhao Ya.
"There’s one thing I need to clarify in advance. When the time comes, no one can fight me for him, he must be given to me!"
Hong Shouchang was already aware of what happened in the Yang Family today and had found out that Zhao Ya was previously at Changlong Escort Agency.
Back when the Hong Family was wiping out Meng Lei, the Chief of the Escort at Changlong, they lost an elite squad, and even Hong Shouchang’s trusted advisor Yuan Zhiwen was killed.
Later, the Hong Family sent people to search in the forest, and besides some battle traces, they only found a few scattered corpses, with the rest eaten by wild beasts.
With no leads, the matter ended inconclusively.
However, Hong Shouchang always felt something was off; by rights, even if Meng Lei was a Third Realm Martial Artist, losing an arm would have significantly weakened him.
The team Yuan Zhiwen led should have been enough to eliminate him; how did they get completely wiped out?
But for Hong Shouchang, this was a small matter, especially compared to what they were about to do.
And since Fu Tingfang wanted Zhao Ya, then it would be a favor to give him to her.
So Hong Shouchang just smiled slightly, "Alright! Since Miss wants this guy, we will hand him over to you when the time comes."
Yang Sansi had no objections.
So this matter was decided.
After spending a night at the Hong Family, Fu Tingfang and Diao Ruhai left Wuxiang City and returned to Cyan Bamboo Ridge.
For a while, undercurrents surged in and out of Wuxiang City, with many eyes covertly watching the Song Family like a luscious cake, salivating with anticipation.
In such an atmosphere, the Song Family naturally sensed something was amiss.
Especially after the fallout with the Yang Family, the Song Family showed signs of being isolated and weak.
In response, Song Linqing ordered all Song Family members to be on high alert and intensify their training without the slightest negligence.
Zhao Ya, as the Commander of the guards, naturally had even more responsibility.
Every day, he drilled these guards under his command, focusing particularly on training their sense of cooperation.
Though it was impossible to turn these scattered guards into a cohesive unit in a short time, obedience at least was essential.
Moreover, Zhao Ya consciously nurtured their sense of camaraderie, so that once on the battlefield, they could at least trust each other with their backs.
Don’t underestimate this; even basic trust is crucial to a team’s growth.
Zhao Ya was kept extremely busy every day.
Fortunately, after the incident with the Yang Family, his prestige skyrocketed, and these guards highly respected him; thus, despite the harsh training, no one complained.
On this particular day, after a long day’s work, Zhao Ya returned home and encountered an unexpected visitor.
"Ya, this is Hongyu. She said she has something to discuss with you but couldn’t get inside, so I let her wait here for you," Zui’Er said.
Xia Hongyu awkwardly performed a greeting to Zhao Ya, "I’ve...I’ve met you, Lord Commander!"