After the Lion King killed Shiva, one of the three “Great Appearance Gods” of the A-San Kingdom, in the Middle East and avenged several members of the Seven Kill Group, the Dubai branch of the Sky Net Organization was naturally not going to escape unscathed either.
With the Lion King personally leading the charge, the key members of the Sky Net Organization hardly had any chance to flee. They were almost completely wiped out, thoroughly erased from the Middle East.
After finishing all of this, the Lion King didn’t forget to get in touch with Jiang Fei and Jing Zhe, who were far away in London, Europe, to update each other on the situation in a timely manner. When he heard about what had happened in London, even though the incident was already over, the Lion King still felt a chill of fear run down his spine after listening.
He really hadn’t expected that this Sky Net Organization would possess such terrifyingly powerful backing. Not only did they have a Dan Jin level expert stationed in Dubai, but they also had two Dan Jin experts guarding London!
Two Dan Jin experts! That was a force strong enough to forcibly kill a single Dan Jin master. If he had known that London would be this dangerous, he would never have let Jiang Fei go there.
Of course, in the end, not only did Jiang Fei come out unscathed, but he even turned the tables and killed both Dan Jin experts. This once again shocked the Lion King immensely, leaving him feeling that it was utterly unbelievable.
Being able to kill two Dan Jin experts was far more terrifying than when Jiang Fei defeated Japan’s contemporary kendo master, Yagyu Munenori, on the summit of Mount Emei!
Defeating Yagyu Munenori only showed that Jiang Fei’s strength was exceptionally remarkable among Dan Jin level masters, and that he was already no weaker than the Lion King himself. But being able to kill two Dan Jin level masters—and according to his disciple Jing Zhe’s report, doing it with overwhelming force, sweeping them away like the autumn wind clearing fallen leaves, without much of a hard-fought battle—that kind of strength had already surpassed the Dan Jin level!
In all likelihood, only someone who had broken through the Dan Jin level and reached the true pinnacle realm of Xiantian Gang Jin could possibly achieve such a feat!
“Impossible, right? How old is this kid? Could he have already stepped into the Xiantian Gang Jin realm, just like Qing Long?” The Lion King couldn’t help but wonder to himself.
He had been able to kill Shiva of the A-San Kingdom by relying on his most powerful technique, honed through years of arduous training. This move was his greatest advancement in strength over the years, even though he hadn’t managed to break into the Xiantian realm like Qing Long. He had felt pretty good about himself when he first used this technique against an enemy and achieved such a significant result.
But now, compared to Jiang Fei…
It was really incomparable.
“Still, that’s probably unlikely.” The Lion King frowned as he pondered. “Last time at the summit of Mount Emei, this kid couldn’t even beat Yagyu Munenori at first. It was only after he got injured and then broke through at the final critical moment—entering the Dan Jin level and grasping the concept of ‘no sword surpassing the sword’—that he managed to turn the tables against Yagyu. How much time has passed since then? Just three months. And he’s already made another breakthrough to reach the Xiantian Gang Jin level? No way. No matter how talented a genius is, they can’t possibly advance that fast!”
The Lion King reasoned rationally in his mind.
Then he carefully went over the information Jing Zhe had reported and noticed a detail: it seemed that Jiang Fei hadn’t been a match for the two ascetics, Michael and Augustine, at the start either. He had been suppressed by them and even injured, ultimately forced to flee. His triumphant reversal only began after he ran away and then came back.
This situation seemed eerily similar to his duel with Yagyu Munenori at Mount Emei. In both cases, he seemed to be losing during the fight, only to suddenly experience a surge in strength or a breakthrough.
“Could it be… that this kid is a once-in-a-millennium true martial arts prodigy, who makes a breakthrough every time he’s under pressure, facing life-threatening danger, when his life is challenged, and after being pushed to his limits and then released?” The Lion King silently speculated.
He didn’t think it was possible for Jiang Fei to have gone from just entering the Dan Jin level a few months ago to abruptly stepping into the legendary Xiantian realm.
The Xiantian realm was the ultimate goal for all martial artists. Among the Four Kings of their land, after all these years, only Qing Long—who had the strongest strength and the most brilliant talent—had managed to step into the Xiantian realm first. The others hadn’t.
So the likelihood of Jiang Fei entering the Xiantian realm was very small.
The most plausible scenario was that, after clashing with the two Dan Jin level masters, Jiang Fei had been inspired and grasped an incredibly powerful killing move, which led to his victory.
The Lion King now had a clear understanding of the situation in London.
Likewise, Jiang Fei and his group naturally understood the situation in the Middle East.
Knowing that the Lion King had led his team to successfully eliminate the Middle East branch of the Sky Net Organization and capture all key personnel, Jiang Fei felt relieved and no longer needed to fly to Dubai for support. He had genuinely worried before, having been ambushed by two Dan Jin experts in London, that the Middle East might have faced a similar turn of events.
Although the Lion King’s strength was indeed profound and formidable,
he wasn’t like Jiang Fei, who essentially had a built-in cheat, possessing supernatural martial arts manuals like the Northern Dark Divine Art and the Nine Swords of Dugu, which didn’t belong to ordinary life. Taking on two Dan Jin level masters alone would be nearly impossible without having stepped into the Xiantian realm.
Luckily, the Lion King had only faced a single Dan Jin expert.
Jiang Fei and the Lion King exchanged information, and both understood what had happened.
But what they didn’t know was that someone in the shadows had also learned everything about their affairs in perfect detail!
“What?! It’s one thing for the Lion King to kill Shiva—those three Great Appearance Gods of the A-San Kingdom, while not bad, are only formidable within their own country and can’t do much in the West. But how could the ascetics Michael and Augustine possibly be dead?!” Inside an antique castle, filled with a medieval atmosphere, a silver-haired man who looked no longer young but had a vigorous spirit roared in fury.
When he got angry, it was as if the very air around him froze solid. The subordinate reporting the situation dared not even breathe loudly, standing there trembling with his head bowed, afraid to look up, terrified that a single careless move might provoke this furious big shot into killing him on the spot.
This silver-haired middle-aged man exuded an aura of natural authority mixed with a sinister, baleful presence. When angered, he became even more chilling, instilling genuine fear in the hearts of those around him.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible. No matter how heaven-defying this Jiang Fei is, even if he can beat Yagyu Munenori, there’s no way he could withstand the combined assault of Michael and Augustine! Unless… this bastard has stepped into the legendary Xiantian realm at such a young age? That’s absolutely impossible!”
The silver-haired man fiercely waved his hand, and the expensive, priceless tea table in the hall shattered from a distance, disintegrating on the spot.
He had anticipated the worst-case scenario: that Shiva wouldn’t be a match for the Lion King and would eventually be killed by him. That would have been fine—at worst, they’d lose the Middle East branch.
But he had never considered that Jiang Fei in London could also escape and then turn around to kill two Dan Jin level masters!
He had been thinking all along that he would leave no room for escape and spare no cost to make sure Jiang Fei was permanently eliminated in London, completely removing this threat once and for all!
How could the outcome have turned out like this?
Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…
After venting fiercely for several minutes, the silver-haired man gradually calmed down and began to think rationally about what to do next.
Since things had already happened and reached this point, anger alone was useless.
The Lion King wasn’t dead. The Seven Kill Group hadn’t been destroyed. And Jiang Fei wasn’t dead either!
All plans had to be temporarily shelved, and they needed to shift to cleanup operations.
“It doesn’t matter that Shiva is dead, and it’s not a big deal that Augustine is dead either. But the Vatican’s ascetic, Michael—he absolutely cannot die! Damn it!”
“The Vatican is incredibly powerful, and every ascetic is a revered figure—an indispensable asset to them. If one of their ascetics were to die mysteriously, they definitely wouldn’t let the killer get away with it, nor would they make things easy for Jiang Fei. But they’re not fools either. They’ll use every possible means and method to investigate this matter thoroughly, leaving no stone unturned.”
“The Sky Net Organization is definitely doomed. The Vatican, in a furious rage, whether to avenge Michael or to cover up the fact that their elder was helping a killer organization, will proactively kill all related personnel of the Sky Net to clear their own name. The Vatican’s wrath isn’t easily extinguished. If we’re not careful, they might even trace it back to me, and then everything would truly be over!”
The silver-haired man’s eagle-like eyes were frighteningly gloomy, his eyeballs bloodshot and red, like a monster ready to devour anyone in sight. His state at this moment was far more terrifying than the former ‘Devil’ Augustine—he was much more deserving of the title ‘Devil.’
“Your meaning is…?” a subordinate asked nervously and tentatively.
“Kill them! Kill everyone that needs to be killed. No mercy. We can’t wait for the Seven Kill Group or the Vatican to act; we kill them ourselves!” The silver-haired man turned his head, glaring at him and roaring.
“Yes!” the subordinate quickly answered.
“Sever every single clue that connects to me in any way. Completely sever them. No trace, not even the faintest hint, must remain! The Seven Kill Group is already formidable enough on its own; if the Vatican gets involved too, just the slightest shred of evidence will allow them to uncover everything! No matter how tough our people’s mouths are, or how well-trained they are, there will always be moments of weakness. Only the dead can truly and completely keep secrets! Understand?!” the silver-haired man said in a deep voice.
“Yes!” the subordinate answered again, stammering.
“Go!” The silver-haired man let out a long sigh, looking somewhat dejected as he waved his hand.
His heart was indeed burning with uncontrollable rage, completely consumed by fury. But he also felt a deep sense of reluctance!
The Sky Net Organization was the fruit of his many years of labor, a ‘killing weapon’ he had painstakingly built up with great effort. With the Sky Net, he could handle many things with ease—it was an incredibly profitable money-making machine.
Now he had to completely abandon the Sky Net Organization, leaving no chance for it to rekindle, and proactively extinguish even the faintest embers that might one day spark a prairie fire—
How could his heart not feel heavy?
But there was no other choice. To avoid being discovered by the Seven Kill Group, and to evade the investigation of the enraged Vatican, he had to make this sacrifice. Cutting off the pawn to save the rook was a desperate measure.
If there were any other way, he wouldn’t want to discard the Sky Net Organization like this.
He said it lightly—losing the Sky Net was no big deal, he could just build another one later.
But building a world-class assassin organization like that was no easy feat!
However, he didn’t have time to dwell on it now. His most urgent priority was to distance himself from the Sky Net Organization, sever all connections, and prevent the flames of this incident from reaching him.
Fortunately, he had always kept backups over the years. He had never personally handled any of the affairs, precisely as a precaution for a day like this, so he could escape cleanly.
At the critical moment, hiding himself away wouldn’t be too difficult.
——-
Three days had passed since Jiang Fei killed the two Dan Jin masters.
During these days, Jiang Fei hadn’t left London to return home just yet.
That was because Jing Zhe and a few other Seven Kill Group members still needed to stay behind to cooperate with the Sea Lion Team on cleanup tasks and completely eliminate the remaining elements of the Sky Net Organization.
Although the Sky Net was now unlikely to cause any more trouble, and it was improbable that any Dan Jin experts they couldn’t handle would pop up, Jiang Fei decided to stay a few more days just in case.
Besides, it wasn’t like he had absolutely nothing to do while waiting.
He spent these days casually exploring London, the capital of Great Britain.
Putting aside other things, London was quite a nice city from a tourist’s perspective. The air quality was pretty good, the streets and buildings had an exotic charm, and there were countless historic landmarks. Since Jiang Fei had always enjoyed traveling, he figured he might as well take a tour.
In fact, Jiang Fei used to dream of traveling around the world when he was younger. But reality with all its constraints—lack of money or time—had kept him from fulfilling it. Otherwise, when he first built his villa, he wouldn’t have been so meticulous in searching for a scenic spot he truly liked before finally settling on Inamura.
Now that he was abroad in London, there was no reason not to do some sightseeing.
The only pity was that he was touring alone. It would have been so much better if he had a beautiful companion by his side.
Standing in the center of Trafalgar Square, watching flocks of white pigeons and the many people feeding them, Jiang Fei looked quite solitary as he silently mused to himself.
Just then, a delicate, fair hand suddenly patted him on the shoulder from behind, and a surprised voice exclaimed, “Hey, Jiang Fei! It really is you! What are you doing here?”
