Chapter 90: A Son-in-Law Is Half a Son

After Fan Qianjun launched into his abuse, the other brothers nearby also chimed in, hurling insults at Xiong Wu one after another.

Faced with the scorn of all, Xiong Wu clenched both fists and said loudly, "Uncle Han! Chu Feng and I have a grudge between us, and a clash of words between us is only natural! But your Wind and Thunder Martial Hall keeps butting in and backing him up. Is that how you treat your guests?!"

Han Mo shook his head and said, "As guests, of course we would not treat them like this. But if someone does not want to see Young Master Chu and Miss Lei together, then we in the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall do not regard him as a guest, and naturally there is no need to speak of hospitality."

"Fine!"

Xiong Wu gritted his teeth and said, "To be frank, my Omen Gate only has enmity with Chu Feng alone. I do not wish to offend the Heavenly Mechanism Mu Clan, nor do I want any conflict with your Wind and Thunder Martial Hall. I can even take a step back."

As he spoke, Xiong Wu turned to Chu Feng again. "Chu Feng, if you truly have the guts to fight Omen Gate head-on, then after the duel has passed, if you still have your life, you can become the son-in-law of the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall. Do you dare?"

Xiong Wu's meaning was clear enough: after the promised duel, if Chu Feng were killed by Omen Gate, then he would still not yet be Lei Yingfeng's son-in-law, and the offense to the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall would be much smaller, leaving room for maneuver.

And if the Xiong family were wiped out by Chu Feng, then by that time Chu Feng would be Lei Yingfeng's son-in-law, and the Xiong family naturally would have no say in it.

Chu Feng said, "All right. But you must first agree to one condition."

"What condition? Say it!" Xiong Wu said at once.

"I want you to leave Omen Gate first, and sever all father-son and brotherly ties with Xiong Zhan and Xiong Wei," Chu Feng said. "If you can do that, then I will do as you say."

Xiong Wu froze and asked, "Leave Omen Gate? Cut ties with my father and brother? How could that be possible? Even if I did that, what would you want then?"

"If you did that, then you would no longer be a member of Omen Gate, nor a member of the Xiong family. The next moment, I would crush you to death right here. Do you believe that?" Chu Feng's gaze was like a blade as he stared coldly at Xiong Wu from a short distance away. His fighting spirit surged, and his killing intent flared openly.

At those words, especially feeling the murderous pressure in Chu Feng's aura, Xiong Wu immediately stepped back and barked, "Chu Feng, what do you think you're doing? Planning to gang up on me?"

The three bandit chiefs who had come with Xiong Wu also hurriedly stepped to his side. On the surface they seemed to be protecting him, but in truth they were terrified. If Chu Feng gave the order and cried out for them to be killed, then the various martial practitioners surrounding them would likely not miss the chance to strike. In that case, the four of them would be annihilated on the spot, with not even their bones left behind.

Chu Feng shook his head and said coldly, "Xiong Wu, don't be nervous. I only want to make you understand that it is not I who am borrowing the prestige of the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall, but you who are borrowing the protection of the duel. Before the duel arrives, I cannot openly or secretly wage war with Omen Gate. Otherwise, with your seventh level of Body Tempering cultivation, do you think I could not kill you?"

Having said that, Chu Feng clasped his hands behind his back, lifted his foot left then stepped right, and suddenly turned around.

Whoosh!

At that very turn, a small pillar of wind, about a person high, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The funnel-shaped wind column wrapped around the large jujube-wood chair where Xiong Wu had been seated, spinning it in place for two full revolutions.

After one breath, when the wind column stopped and dissipated into the air, rustle, rustle, rustle, countless sawdust rained down like sand. A great mass of wood shavings had actually piled into a small, pyramid-shaped heap!

This large chair was made from jujube wood produced in the territory of the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall. The sandhill jujube trees that could withstand fierce winds and thunder had wood harder than metal or iron. Training stakes made from it could be struck every day by martial practitioners and still last for twenty years. Yet wrapped by the wind column produced through Chu Feng's Swift Wind Step, it turned into fine powder in the span of a single breath.

"This..."

Seeing this scene, the young male and female martial practitioners around them were naturally stunned and awed, and even many experts at the seventh and eighth levels of Body Tempering stood dumbfounded, mouths agape and unable to speak.

It was not hard to imagine that if the wind column had not enveloped the jujube-wood chair, but instead had wrapped around Xiong Wu himself, then with his seventh level of Body Tempering cultivation, even if he were not torn to pieces, he would at least have been shredded by the wind, his skin split open and his body covered in wounds.

Chu Feng's words had clearly been proven to the fullest extent: he truly had the strength to kill Xiong Wu.

"Fame does not compare with seeing it in person! We had only heard that Young Master Chu had soundly defeated five hall masters and even overcome Liu Shenghua. After all, we had never seen it ourselves. But now we've truly been enlightened! Setting aside everything else, the move Young Master Chu just displayed is simply stunning!"

"Exactly! What kind of profound martial art was that step technique just now? The Wind Hall's footwork of the Wind and Thunder Martial Hall is said to be unmatched in the martial world, but looking at it now, even if it were the footwork of the Wind Hall's leader, Liu Shenghua, he would absolutely never be able to produce such power!"

"Yes, that footwork has tremendous force and activates extremely quickly. In combat, it is truly impossible to guard against, and it cannot be compared to the Wind Hall's footwork. I suspect it must be a profound martial art we have never even heard of!"

"If that wind column had wrapped around Xiong Wu just now, he probably wouldn't even have had the chance to blink. Young Master Chu's claim that he had the strength to kill him was no empty boast!"

"It seems Xiong Wu really did borrow the momentum of the duel. Otherwise, with Young Master Chu's current strength, killing Xiong Wu would be no more than a matter of a few steps."

"Heh, Miss Lei is truly blessed! Young Master Chu is gifted in both talent and appearance, and his martial strength is so formidable. Among the hundreds of thousands of young martial practitioners across the Nine Mountains and Eighteen Veins, someone like Young Master Chu probably does not number more than a handful."

The one with the jeweled sword at his waist, Tang Xicui, wore a face full of envy and delight.

Hearing the surrounding discussions among the men and women martial practitioners, Xiong Wu's face alternated between blue and purple.

"Xiong Wu, how is it? Looking at it now, who is the 'horse' after all—me, or you? Who is slaughtering whom?" Chu Feng asked coldly.

Xiong Wu pressed his lips shut and was left speechless. At this moment, all the confidence he had shown when speaking of the "horse" was gone, replaced entirely by shock.

Xiong Wu could also be considered a martial practitioner diligent in cultivation. When Chu Feng fled Omen Gate, he had only been at the sixth level of Body Tempering. More than a month had passed since then, and though his strength had improved to the seventh level of Body Tempering, if he were asked to display such a hand as Chu Feng had just shown—turning a jujube-wood chair into sawdust without even lifting a finger—he knew he absolutely could not do it.

Standing here, whether in terms of personal martial strength or background and support, Xiong Wu knew he was no match for Chu Feng. If this stalemate continued, he would only be humiliated further.

Just then, Lei Yingfeng strode over and said to Xiong Wu, "Xiong Wu, go back and tell your father Xiong Zhan this: your Omen Gate and the Xiong family have enmity with Chu Feng, but our Wind and Thunder Martial Hall has gratitude toward him. You want revenge, and we want to repay kindness. Now I am betrothing my daughter to Chu Feng. That is not something little old you, Xiong Wu, can stop. And on the day of the duel, I do not want anything to happen to my son-in-law, just as your father does not want anything to happen to you. Do you understand?"

"Hall Master Lei, are you saying that on the day of the duel you will still interfere in the enmity between Omen Gate and Chu Feng?" Xiong Wu asked immediately.

"And if I do?" Lei Yingfeng asked in a deep voice. "Tell me, if you were to die at Chu Feng's hands, would your father Xiong Zhan seek him out for revenge?"

"Of course he would! A father avenging his son is only natural!" Xiong Wu said loudly.

"Well said! Xiong Zhan can avenge his son, so if something happens to Chu Feng, why can I not avenge my daughter?" Lei Yingfeng shot back loudly.

"That is not the same! I am Xiong Zhan's son. Even if Chu Feng becomes your son-in-law, he is still not your son!"

"Rubbish! A son-in-law is half a son. Have you never heard that, you greenhorn?" Lei Yingfeng said loudly, then waved a hand and declared, "Xiong Wu, listen well! The Wind and Thunder Martial Hall has never feared anyone, least of all your Omen Gate Xiong family. If you do not want to disgrace yourself, then get out of here at once!"

"Very well, farewell!"

"We won't see you out!"

Thus, under the gaze of countless eyes, Xiong Wu, having been thoroughly humiliated, left in haste together with the three bandit chiefs who had come with him.

Not long after Xiong Wu departed, Chu Feng's heart stirred, and he immediately went to Lei Yingfeng's side and said in a low voice, "Hall Master Lei, I... I have something important to tell you."