Chapter 142: Pick Up Your Ears!

Meanwhile, in Japan, within the Ume River family—

Inside a wooden room, Ume River Guitian sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, quietly resting.

Just then—

“Tap, tap, tap…”

Footsteps approached, followed by the voice of a middle-aged man from outside.

“Patriarch.”

“Come in,” Ume River Guitian replied without opening his eyes.

A middle-aged man pushed open the door and entered.

“How is it? Have you found Inner One?” Ume River Guitian asked.

“Patriarch, Miss Inner One has not yet been found. I came to report to you about that man named Su Yifan.”

The middle-aged man handed several photographs to Ume River Guitian and continued, “Patriarch, these were sent back by our informant.”

“What are these?”

Ume River Guitian opened his eyes and took the photographs.

“These are the two successive patriarchs of a family in Jinling, Xia. They were just killed by that man named Su Yifan.”

“What does that have to do with us?”

Ume River Guitian raised his brows slightly.

The middle-aged man hurriedly replied, “Patriarch, did you not want Su Yifan dead? According to our informant’s investigation, one member of that family is still alive.”

“He is the eldest son of the family. Apparently, several years ago, he was taken in as a disciple by one of Xia’s sects.”

At this, a sharp glint flashed through Ume River Guitian’s eyes.

“You mean…”

“Exactly. As long as we pass this information on to him, Su Yifan will certainly die, even without us lifting a finger.”

The middle-aged man spoke slowly.

Su Yifan had wiped out the man’s entire family. As the eldest son, he would never let the matter rest.

No matter how powerful Su Yifan was, could he truly be stronger than an entire sect?

When the time came, they would merely need to sit back and watch the tigers fight.

“Excellent. That is a fine idea. Go and take care of it at once.”

Ume River Guitian nodded in satisfaction.

Su Yifan had killed two of his family’s prodigies. Now Inner One was missing, and it was quite possible that she, too, had died at his hands.

He had heard that the higher-ups in Xia placed great importance on Su Yifan. If they could have him killed by someone else, they would not only avenge their family’s prodigies but also take the opportunity to weaken Xia’s young combat forces.

It was a perfect solution to two problems at once.

“Yes, Patriarch.”

The middle-aged man answered and immediately withdrew.

…

Elsewhere, at the Su residence—

Six o’clock in the evening.

After dinner, Zhang Hong took Xu Shuyan and Xie Wei to the guest rooms in the rear courtyard.

Su Yifan returned to his room and took out the spatial bags he had seized from the father and son of the Leng family.

When he opened them, he found a total of five thousand spirit stones inside.

“What is this?”

Just then, Su Yifan noticed a gray token in one of the spatial bags.

He took it out. The token was made of some kind of metal. Engraved upon it was a sword, along with a large character meaning “spirit.”

“Could this be the Leng family’s token?”

The thought suddenly occurred to Su Yifan.

But that did not seem right.

If it truly were the Leng family’s token, should it not bear the character for “Leng”?

Besides, in this age, such tokens had long since fallen out of fashion, except among a few ancient families and sects.

The Leng family could not even be considered an aristocratic house, let alone an ancient family. Once that possibility was eliminated, only a sect remained.

“A sect?”

At this thought, Su Yifan began recalling the memories he had obtained from Leng Hao.

The next moment, his gaze sharpened.

“The Spirit Sword Sect…”

According to those memories, Leng Hao was only the second son of the Leng family. The family also had an eldest son named Leng Bufan.

Six years ago, Leng Bufan had caught the eye of a mountain sect called the Spirit Sword Sect and had been accepted as a disciple.

Since ascending the mountain, Leng Bufan had not returned for six full years. Apart from those two men in his family, he had gradually faded from the world’s memory.

“Leng Bufan? You had better be a sensible man. Otherwise…”

Su Yifan narrowed his eyes, a murderous intent faintly flickering around him.

…

At that very moment, outside the gates of the Spirit Sword Sect—

Whoosh!

A black-clad figure arrived.

“Who dares approach the Spirit Sword Sect?”

The two disciples guarding the mountain gate drew their long swords and pointed them at the newcomer.

“Please, do not misunderstand. I have something to deliver to a disciple of your sect named Leng Bufan.”

The black-clad man spoke.

“You are looking for Senior Brother Bufan?”

At this, the two Spirit Sword Sect disciples exchanged glances.

One of them then said, “Senior Brother Bufan is not someone just anyone can meet. Hand over whatever you have, and we will deliver it for you.”

“This…”

The black-clad man hesitated.

His family had specifically ordered him to place the item in Leng Bufan’s hands personally.

What was he supposed to do now?

“What? Is there a problem? If you do not intend to hand it over, then leave at once!”

With no other choice, the black-clad man produced a wooden box.

“This item is extremely valuable. Please make certain that it reaches Leng Bufan personally.”

The Spirit Sword Sect disciple reached out and accepted the box.

“Fine. You may leave now.”

The black-clad man had originally intended to remain until he confirmed that the box had reached Leng Bufan, but upon hearing this, he could only depart dejectedly.

After watching him leave, the disciple holding the wooden box gave some instructions to the other man before turning and walking into the sect.

A short distance away, the black-clad man had concealed himself in the shadows. Seeing this, he finally relaxed and left.

Several minutes later, the Spirit Sword Sect disciple carrying the wooden box arrived before a room inside the sect.

He had just raised his hand to knock when—

A captivating moan drifted out from within.

“Mmm… you are hurting me.”

Inside the room, a young woman lay on the bed, her body half-veiled by a gauzy robe.

Beside her, a well-built young man brushed a loose strand of hair from her face and said softly, “All right. I will be gentler.”

Just then, as the young man was about to resume their intimacy, he suddenly sensed someone outside.

He raised a finger to his lips, signaling the woman to be quiet, then pointed toward the door.

Whoosh!

A sword aura shot from his fingertip and pierced straight through the door, slicing off the ear of the Spirit Sword Sect disciple standing outside.

The next moment—

“Ah!”

The disciple let out a terrible scream.

Without even having time to attend to the pain in his ear, he dropped to his knees and begged loudly, “Senior Brother Bufan, please spare me! I did not do it on purpose! I had something to deliver to you, and that was the only reason I disturbed you and Senior Sister!”

As soon as he finished speaking—

Creak…

The door opened, and a white-clad figure flashed before him.

“You had better have a good reason. Otherwise, you will die.”

The disciple dared not delay. He hurriedly took the wooden box from inside his robe.

“Senior Brother Bufan, it is this.”

“What is inside?”

Leng Bufan reached out and took the box.

“I—I do not know either. A black-clad man came to the mountain gate just now. He gave me this wooden box and insisted that I deliver it to you personally.”

“Where is he now?”

“Senior Brother Bufan, he has already left.”

Leng Bufan glanced at the wooden box and said calmly, “I will let it go this time. If there is a next time, I will kill you.”

“Th-thank you, Senior Brother Bufan, for sparing my life…”

The disciple did not dare linger. He rose and was about to leave.

At that moment, however, Leng Bufan pointed at the ear lying on the floor and roared angrily, “Pick up your ear! Pick it up!”