Chapter 4033 — All the Better

So though doubt still gnawed at Zhang Lifeng's heart, he did not voice it before the crowd.

"Enough. This matter ends here. Everyone, disperse." Zhang Lifeng waved a hand, dismissing them all.

With him speaking in person, Zheng Dongjue could hold all the objections he liked—he could only swallow them and not dare let out so much as half a fart. The death of Zheng Tianjie was, as of this moment, officially closed.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Zhang Lifeng, right before everyone's eyes, vanished with a *swish*, coming and going without a trace—the very picture of a master.

In keeping with his lifelong habit, once he disappeared this time he was most likely off wandering the four corners of the world again, and who knew how many years it would be before he showed himself before a crowd once more.

Yet even if Zhang Lifeng was a dragon that showed its head but never its tail, he had left those words in public, and no one would dare defy them in the slightest. Even if Zheng Dongjue harbored thoughts of outward compliance and inward betrayal, he absolutely lacked the nerve.

Zheng Dongjue fixed Lianxin and her disciple Tianchan with a venomous glare and said viciously, "Fine. Since the Hall Master has opened his golden mouth and pardoned your crimes, I can let the matter drop. But Tianchan is betrothed to my grandson Tianjie. The man may be gone, but the betrothal still stands—I will hold a ghost marriage for them!"

The moment the words fell, every soul in the hall, high and low, was struck dumb with shock.

That so-called betrothal was in truth nothing but Zheng Tianjie pestering Tianchan endlessly and wanting Zheng Dongjue to arrange the match for them. To this day it had never been anything but a one-sided claim bandied about by word of mouth. No actual ceremony had ever been held—and he had the gall to call that a betrothal?

Zheng Tianjie had now met his retribution and died in a furnace explosion, and yet Tianchan, a girl in the bloom of her beauty, was to be bound for no reason at all in ghost marriage to a dead man. Zhang Lifeng had barely left, and already Zheng Dongjue dared to tyrannize so brazenly—was this not overbearing in the extreme?

"No! This is Chan'er's lifelong happiness—Deputy Hall Master, do not push people too far!" Lianxin rushed forward to block him.

Given her station and strength, she was far from able to stand against Zheng Dongjue, but as Tianchan's master, she could not bring herself to stand by and say nothing.

"Hmph. Is this a place for you to speak? Get out of this Hall Master's sight!" A savage, ruthless light flashed through Zheng Dongjue's eyes.

Zhang Lifeng had declared in public that these two master and disciple were not to be punished, but if Zheng Dongjue truly set his mind to tormenting them, he had no fewer than a hundred ways to make these two wretched women wish they were dead—and no one could find fault with any of it.

Lianxin was about to hold her ground, but just then Tianchan, behind her, gave her sleeve a gentle tug. "Master, there is no need. Your disciple will agree to him."

"What?" The whole hall was startled anew—even Zheng Dongjue could not help but be slightly taken aback.

A ghost marriage to a dead man—no normal girl could possibly agree to such a thing so readily, could she? And what was more, the so-called betrothal Tianchan carried was from first to last a thing that had never existed at all.

"In that case, make your preparations. The day of the burial shall be the day of the wedding. Originally, this Hall Master's intention was that you should be buried alive alongside Tianjie to keep him company. But to keep the Hall Master from misunderstanding, I will let you live and keep vigil for him instead." Zheng Dongjue gave Tianchan a long, deep look.

Tianchan nodded silently. With Zhang Lifeng's words standing as her guarantee, Zheng Dongjue would certainly not dare make her accompany Zheng Tianjie in death. She had foreseen this, and that was why she had agreed.

To be wed to a dead man in the prime of her blooming youth—for anyone at all, this would be a thing of utter misery, and Tianchan, a disciple of the Alchemy Hall with a boundless future ahead of her, least of all. It was a disaster straight out of a nightmare. Yet in Tianchan's eyes, it was all the better this way.

Zhongdao was a gathering place where the forces of every faction coiled like dragons and crouched like tigers, and prodigal young lords like Zheng Tianjie were naturally thick on the ground. Beauty is a curse—with her looks, Tianchan would easily invite trouble. Even with one Zheng Tianjie dead, a second and a third would come after.

Now it was settled: bearing the name of a widow, and with Zheng Dongjue's influence behind it, no one would dare pursue or harass Tianchan in the days to come.

What was more, the situation just now had made it plain enough—if she refused, Zheng Dongjue could always find an even more venomous way to torment the two of them, master and disciple. Better that Tianchan agree.

As for this so-called betrothal, once her strength reached a certain height in the future, dissolving it would be no more than a word—just as in the case of Zhang Lifeng before: one word, and who would dare defy it? So the only thing to do now was to endure, to cultivate diligently, and to wait patiently for that day to come.

The matter of Zheng Tianjie's death had at last drawn to a close. Because Zhang Lifeng kept his mouth shut, Wei Zhao, far away on the Far North Island, had narrowly escaped disaster—but now he had run into fresh trouble.

Having succeeded in doing away with Zheng Tianjie, he had not only resolved Tianchan's predicament but also recovered that stray ten-piece set of forging implements. This trip to the North Island could be called a complete success for Wei Zhao. Yet wherever there are people there is a jianghu, and wherever there is a jianghu there is strife and slaughter—and this time, Nan Tianxiong and his companions had come to the Far North Island as well.

At the auctions over the following days, with Hong Zhong's tireless sponsorship, Wei Zhao reaped a rich harvest, laying hands on several rare treasures in a row. Though for the moment not even their purpose could be discerned, one thing at least was certain: these few pieces Wei Zhao had singled out at a glance were no ordinary useless things. Once the right opportunity came, they might well blaze with dazzling light.

The things Wei Zhao took a fancy to, Yu Jiang of Nan Tianxiong's crew took a fancy to as well—only their financial power, set against that of Hong Zhong, the top-grade magnate behind Wei Zhao, was not even in the same league.

Hong Zhong was wholeheartedly set on repaying Wei Zhao, and in such a mood, how could he lightly let anything Wei Zhao had set his eyes on slip away? Unless he ran into a fool with more money than sense like Zheng Tianjie, the likes of Nan Tianxiong and his crew had no power to compete with him at all.

"Damn it! Every treasure we set our eyes on gets snatched away by that bastard. If your disciple is not mistaken, those treasures are not only useful to experts of the Foundation Establishment stage—even to Golden Core and higher, they should have uses beyond imagining. They are things that come by chance but once in a lifetime!" Yu Jiang rolled his eyes and said, grinding his teeth.

Watching treasure after treasure slip through their fingers—and snatched away, no less, by Wei Zhao, that fellow who was very likely Lin Er—Yu Jiang hit upon a scheme, and his mind began to churn out wicked ideas once more. (To be continued) R752