"But Captain Sun is also in the tea house, stopping the brothers from taking action."
Hearing the name Sun Yingkui, Lin Shiguo was first taken aback, then suddenly furious.
"Well, Sun Yingkui, last time you were severely reprimanded by the Lord Commander, and your military power was confiscated. I thought you’d behave yourself after that, but I didn’t expect you’d still dare to be so rampant. Come on, take me there to see."
Lin Shiguo and his men charged towards the Taihe Tea House with murderous intent.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the Taihe Tea House was extremely tense.
On the ground lay an old man with white hair, a deep whip mark across his face nearly breaking his skull, blood dripping from the wound, yet even so, the old man would not relent, still groaning in pain.
"It’s outrageous, I’ve lived over eighty years, and I’ve never seen soldiers so lawless."
Beside him, kneeling, was a slightly younger old man, tears welling up as he tried to comfort him, "Father, please say a few less words and rest for now."
"Rest, my foot! I’m clearly not going to survive, if I don’t curse now to vent, should I wait until after I’m dead?" the old man retorted.
Standing in front of them, Sun Yingkui appeared somewhat helpless.
This father and son duo were truly pieces of work.
But at the moment, he couldn’t care about this; he cupped his fists towards the cavalry eyeing them menacingly across.
"Brothers, we are all men under the Lord Commander, how about giving me some face today?"
"Captain Sun, we can give you face for other matters, but these old fools behind you openly spread rumors, and even cursed at us in front of so many people, not removing such rebels will be hard to settle our brothers’ hearts," said the leading cavalryman coldly.
Sun Yingkui sighed inwardly.
The reason he appeared here was precisely because a few days ago, due to the matter with Zhao Ya, he was scolded by Wei Hongbin and stripped of his military power, causing his status to plummet.
Feeling troubled at heart, he decided to go out to relax.
He ended up at Taihe Tea House to drink tea and listen to stories.
Coincidentally, he encountered this father and son speaking publicly about matters in the city.
At the time, the older man was talking about the incident of Zhao Ya beating up the Cavalry Captain on the street a few days ago.
He spoke with great fervor, especially emphasizing the Cavalry Captain’s wicked conduct of scheming and bullying the Ning Family.
The old man was very eloquent, turning a simple matter into an emotional narrative that drew cheers from the tea guests present.
After all, nowadays, how many in the city haven’t suffered from the cavalry’s bullying!
So when they heard that the cavalry were dealt with, and even beaten to death on the streets, the tea guests naturally felt delighted.
Sun Yingkui was also present at the time.
He felt something was amiss.
Because with the current tense situation in the city, cavalry patrols were becoming more frequent, especially prohibiting public discussions of such matters.
For the old man to dare say such things in front of so many people, he was clearly inviting trouble.
Sure enough.
Before he could finish speaking, a troop of cavalry came upon hearing the news, lashing the old man almost to his death.
Subsequently, the cavalry proceeded to brutally assault the father and son, and even the tea guests present were not spared, all were to be taken away.
Those who were slightly noncompliant were severely beaten.
Their actions were shockingly brutal.
Sun Yingkui hadn’t meant to get involved, but watching a group of burly men punch and kick a pair of white-haired elders, he couldn’t help but feel compassion.
Especially since he discovered these men weren’t just giving a simple lesson; they were obviously out to take the father and son’s lives.
Unable to bear it any longer, he stepped forward to stop them.
But unexpectedly, these cavalry refused to give him any face, leading to the standoff between them.
"Spare them when you can, especially since this old man is already eighty or ninety years old. Saying a few confused words shouldn’t cost him his life, right? How about you spare them and I’ll treat you to some drinks?" Sun Yingkui said.
Before the cavalry could respond, a voice full of mockery came from behind.
"Oh, Captain Sun, so generous today, even planning to treat my people to drinks?"
With the words, Lin Shiguo stepped onto the second floor, followed by Yuan Chenfeng and a group of guards and soldiers.
Seeing Lin Shiguo, Sun Yingkui’s heart sank, knowing this matter wouldn’t be resolved easily today.
But he still forced himself to cup his fists.
"Deputy General Lin!"
Lin Shiguo didn’t even glance at him, instead speaking to the cavalry, "You’re truly a bunch of incompetents, can’t even handle a few old fools."
He extended his hand, and immediately someone handed him a whip.
Then Lin Shiguo looked at the old man, Old Man Zhai, lying on the ground, sneering continuously, "It’s you, you old fool, spouting off, huh?"
Old Man Zhai struggled to open his blood-caked eyes, seeing a person dressed in luxurious clothing, knowing that even if he wasn’t Wei Hongbin, he must be a high-ranking official under him.
He grinned, "So what if *I’m* the one who said it? You heartless scoundrels, back when the Exotic Beasts attacked the city, you sat back and did nothing, and when the Martial Arts Hall boys repelled the Beast Tide, you took the chance to enter the city and act all high and mighty. What do you even count as!"
This barrage of scolding was extremely satisfying.
Lin Shiguo’s face turned green with anger, "Old bastard, you still have a sharp tongue, I’ll just break all your teeth first, let’s see if you dare to speak again."
With that, he raised his whip to strike.
Sun Yingkui stepped forward to block, speaking gravely, "Lord Deputy General, consider the people’s sentiments."
He’d noticed that the tea guests, beaten black and blue by the cavalry, had angry eyes instead of fear, glaring at Lin Shiguo and his people, seemingly ready to erupt at any moment.
Lin Shiguo, however, was indifferent, "They’re just a bunch of lowlifes, why care? Sun, this is my last warning, get out of the way, or I’ll have you beaten today as well."
Sun Yingkui was also fired up with anger.
He’d long hoped Wei Hongbin could understand the people’s hearts and suppress the increasingly arrogant cavalry, yet things went contrary to his wishes, even losing his own military power.
"Deputy General Lin, are you really not afraid of inciting a rebellion?"
"Seems like *you’re* the rebellion."
With those words, Lin Shiguo swung the whip.
Sun Yingkui raised his hand to grab the whip in the air; Yuan Chenfeng saw this and said, "Masters, calm down,"
but silently moved forward, secretly using the Heaven-Flipping Palm to restrain Sun Yingkui.
Smack.
Sun Yingkui, beset both front and back, was lashed on the shoulder by Lin Shiguo, one arm immediately sagged limply, clearly having its shoulder blade shattered.
"My lord!"
A tea guest cried out.
Sun Yingkui merely grunted, glaring furiously at the opposite Lin Shiguo and Yuan Chenfeng.
Lin Shiguo was slightly taken aback too but then thought that now Sun Yingkui had already fallen out of favor with Wei Hongbin, even killing him would at most result in some scolding, so he sneered.
"You brought this upon yourself, you can’t blame others."
With that, Lin Shiguo raised the whip again, this time aiming at Sun Yingkui’s neck and throat.
If hit, it wouldn’t be fatal but would result in serious injury.
Sun Yingkui wanted to dodge, but unfortunately, Yuan Chenfeng was beside him, constantly restraining and harassing him, making him unable to move at all.
In this critical moment, a figure suddenly burst through the second-floor window, throwing a punch at Lin Shiguo.
The punch was extremely fierce.
Lin Shiguo couldn’t react in time, the fist approaching rapidly.
Just then, Yuan Chenfeng appeared in front of him, delivering a palm strike that perfectly met the punch head-on.
With a loud bang, the person rushing in was blasted away by the Palm Power, landing by the window with a flushed face, clearly having suffered a strong blow.
Upon seeing the newcomer, Yuan Chenfeng was initially surprised, then sneered.
"I wondered who it was; turns out it’s Shen Dao, the Young Hero from Dingtai Martial Arts Hall. What is this? Planning to change careers and become an assassin?"
The newcomer was indeed Shen Dao, who took a deep breath to forcibly suppress the surging Qi Blood within, coldly gazing at Yuan Chenfeng and Lin Shiguo opposite him.
"Yuan Chenfeng, I realize my master made a big mistake by not killing you with one punch back then."