Chapter 922 — So This Is Your Helper?

"Heh heh, Xiao Ji, you said it yourself — the Xiao family is not what it once was. With terms like these, there is no need for us to keep talking. Please see yourselves out." Gu Pengzhan spoke calmly. If the Xiao family's appetite was this vast, then there was nothing for it but to remain enemies and see how things played out.

Gu Pengzhan's reasoning was this: the Xiao family might be wealthy and powerful, one of the old established houses, but they were still newcomers to Songshan City, and the Gu Group was by no means certain to lose to them.

"Gu Pengzhan, don't push your luck!" Xiao Ji slapped his thigh and leapt to his feet. "What are you putting on airs for? The Xiao family may not be what it once was, but how much better off are you? Do you still think you are the Gu Pengzhan of a while back? Do you know why we came to see you now? Do you know why?"

Gu Pengzhan frowned, and his heart gave a faint, involuntary lurch. So his guess had been right after all. But this Xiao Ji really was arrogant.

"That driver of yours, Li Fu — he was beaten half to death, wasn't he? Still hasn't woken up, has he? And that Wei Zhao fellow — he's injured too, isn't he? Lost all his strength, hasn't he?" Xiao Ji went on, spilling one revelation after another. "We held off from coming to you before because we had our misgivings. Now that we have come, it means we have you exactly where we want you. If you know what is good for you, pay up and avert disaster. Otherwise, the trouble Zhen Yingjun can bring down on your house is nothing compared to the far more thrilling trouble we can bring!"

"So you had this planned all along!" Gu Pengzhan's face turned livid with rage. The Xiao brothers had indeed come to take advantage of him in his hour of weakness.

"So what if we did? Gu Pengzhan, the world is a very unsafe place these days. You and your daughter had better watch your step, or you may end up dead in the street. Otherwise you will have money and no life left to spend it with!" Xiao Ji said coldly. "These days, there are far too many cases with no head to them!"

"Mr. Wei, see them out!" Gu Pengzhan glanced at Wei Zhizun on the sofa. Thank goodness he had prepared in advance; otherwise the Xiao family really would have had him at their mercy.

Wei Zhizun rose to his feet with tremendous swagger. Add a musical score, and this was the sort of shot television dramas always used for the moment the tide turns and the master makes his entrance.

"You three ignorant little brats, get out of here at once! If you dare make trouble here again, Wei will take your lives!" Wei Zhizun waved his hand with great panache, looking down on the Xiao brothers and Pi Bo with contempt.

Wei Zhizun's sudden appearance did startle the Xiao brothers. They had not noticed him before, and had certainly not taken him for anyone of consequence.

"And what are you supposed to be?" Xiao Ji looked at Wei Zhizun and asked with a trace of scorn.

"A Xuan-rank supreme master! Get out now, or Wei will send you to the Western Paradise!" Wei Zhizun looked at Xiao Ji with immense pride, his words dripping with disdain.

"Ha? Gu Pengzhan, I wondered why you were putting on such airs — so you have a new helper!" Xiao Ji looked Wei Zhizun over, then burst out laughing. "But this is rich. I have never in my life heard of any Xuan-rank supreme master. Pi Bo, have you ever heard of such a thing?"

"No. In all my years I have never heard of any Xuan-rank supreme master," Pi Bo said flatly.

"Ignorant brat, you dare mock Wei? Wah yah yah yah, I will kill you all!" Wei Zhizun, ignored so utterly, flew into a towering rage.

"Pi Bo, shut him up," Xiao Ben said, glancing at Wei Zhizun.

"Yes, Second Young Master!" Pi Bo's body moved in an instant, his hand striking out at Wei Zhizun.

Wei Zhizun was in the grip of his fury when the palm landed squarely on him, and his voice cut off mid-scream. In that instant his eyes bulged, a wretched cry tore from him, and he was sent flying backward with a whoosh, slamming hard into the wall. A mouthful of blood burst from him, he twitched twice on the floor, and plainly he had already suffered severe internal injuries.

"Nothing but early-stage Xuan-rank external martial strength, and he only broke through to Xuan-rank recently, yet he comes out here to show off, calling himself a Xuan-rank supreme master. A true frog at the bottom of a well!" Pi Bo shook his head with some contempt. "I thought some new tier of Xuan-rank had appeared. How pathetic. This is your helper? Where did you pick him up, some garbage dump?"

"A mid-stage Xuan-rank master?" Wei Zhizun stared at Pi Bo in disbelief. He had never imagined the other man was a mid-stage Xuan-rank master, a full two tiers above himself.

Before this, Wei Zhizun had never expected the other side to have any real master, and had meant to put on a show of force before Gu Pengzhan to convince him that five hundred thousand to hire him had been money well spent. But the show had gone badly wrong: the moment he made his move, the other man had crushed him in an instant.

In truth, the two hundred thousand agreed upon beforehand had never been meant to go entirely to the company. The company took only a cut; the greater part went to Wei Zhizun himself. But raising the price on the spot was a trick these masters were accustomed to, and Wei Zhizun had even thought that once he dealt with these few troublemakers for Gu Pengzhan, he might ask for a little extra reward.

But his calculations had gone badly astray. The other man's strength far exceeded anything he had imagined.

Even had he not been careless, he would have stood no chance against a mid-stage Xuan-rank master of external martial arts; and now, caught off guard by a single palm strike, how could he possibly come off well? Wei Zhizun felt as though his internal organs had been shifted out of place. Plainly he had been beaten to a wreck, and even if his injuries healed, his skills could never be restored to what they were now.

This time, he was finished for good! Wei Zhizun was suddenly overcome with sorrow, bitterly regretting that he had ever taken this job! It was all his own greed and carelessness! But then, who else was there to blame? Now he would not only get not a single cent, but would have to slink away in disgrace!

"Gu Pengzhan, this is a warning for you!" Xiao Ji watched as Qing Bo crippled the fine fighter Gu Pengzhan had newly hired with a single palm strike, and was instantly overjoyed. Pointing at Gu Pengzhan, he said with insolent smugness, "We have already laid out our terms for you. I hope you will not do anything as foolish as seeking your own death! I will give you one day to think it over. Otherwise, heh heh, you will die a very ugly death! And so will your daughter. Your entire Gu family will die very ugly deaths!"

"Come now, Elder Brother, don't frighten him so. What if you scare him to death? Then who will give us the money?" Xiao Ben waved his hand with an air of kindness and said, "Let us go. Let Mr. Gu think it over properly. I am sure he is no fool!"

The Xiao brothers laughed heartily and, together with Pi Bo, left Gu Pengzhan's office, paying no heed at all to Gu Pengzhan's dark and grim expression.

At that moment Gu Pengzhan was both shocked and furious. He had not expected the Xiao family to press him so relentlessly, step by step, and still less had he expected that the fine fighter he had paid so dearly to hire would prove so utterly unable to withstand a single blow before Pi Bo!!~!