Chapter 295: Family

Ever since Gao Yi's death, the entire Ba Manor had been plunged into a whirlpool of unrest, and everyone was waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next.

With all the followers of the Tribulation Religion in the Ba Manor coming together to express their outrage, it was clear that trouble was brewing.

Anyone aware of Gao Yi's status within the Tribulation Religion knew that retaliation was inevitable, but no one could say exactly how far the Tribulation Religion would take things.

Some of the native residents of the Ba Manor had even begun evacuating for their own safety. However, as the deputy hundred-man commander of Earth Gate Fort, Ning Chigong couldn't find any justifiable excuse to leave.

He knew that the Ba Manor would soon become a battlefield for the Tribulation Religion and the Heavenly Master Religion, and he wanted nothing more than to leave this accursed place.

To make matters worse, some strange changes had been taking place in his body over the past few days. His chest had become increasingly hairy, but instead of normal body hair, some type of beast fur was growing there.

He immediately thought of what the cat fiend had done to him that night, and the note that he found by his bedside the following morning only confirmed his suspicions.

The note stated that if he wanted to maintain his human form, he would have to bring Liu Yao to meet the cat fiend at a rendezvous point outside the manor city.

Ning Chigong couldn't help but heave a forlorn sigh at the thought of the predicament he had gotten himself into.

If I had known this would happen, I would've just let Chu Qiguang take the reins and deal with everything. If I had done that, he would be the one in my shoes right now.

***

That night, Ning Chigong led Liu Yao out of the city.

"Where are we going at such a late hour, Brother Ning?" Liu Yao asked with a puzzled expression.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you yet, but this is a very important matter, so please come with me," Ning Chigong replied.

"Now that I have you here, there's something I need you to look into for me, Brother Ning," Liu Yao said. "All of my underlings have disappeared, and so has Chen Gang, that servant of Chu Qiguang's. Something must've happened to them!"

"All right. I'll look into it," Ning Chigong replied placatingly, struggling to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

Given the circumstances, Ning Chigong couldn't have cared less about Liu Yao's missing underlings.

"I think Chu Qiguang rescued Chen Gang while I was away," Liu Yao speculated.

"Maybe," Ning Chigong replied with a halfhearted nod.

Before long, the two of them arrived atop a small hill, and after a short wait, they were joined by a giant, silver cat.

Liu Yao's expression instantly stiffened at the sight of the silver cat.

He had personally witnessed the brutal killing spree carried out by the cat fiend during the martial gathering, and it was undoubtedly the most powerful fiend he had ever seen. In fact, Liu Yao had yet to recover from the injuries he had suffered at the paws of this very cat fiend.

"Why did you ask us to meet you here? What're you plotting?" Ning Chigong asked coldly.

A look of realization and fury instantly appeared on Liu Yao's face as he turned to glare at Ning Chigong.

This bastard set me up! He knew this cat fiend was going to be here!

Chu Qiguang offered no response and merely grinned before shooting toward the two men like a streak of silver lightning, his fur rippling slightly with gale force.

To enhance his combat prowess in his fiend form, Chu Qiguang had been learning the Raging Tempest from Qiao Zhi. Although he was still far from full mastery, he was beginning to get the hang of it.

Liu Yao and Ning Chigong were no match for Chu Qiguang to begin with, and they were both still injured, so he quickly incapacitated them before administering a series of paw strikes all over their bodies.

The two of them stared at each other in shock and horror as Ning Chigong began transforming into a monkey, while Liu Yao started growing feathers and involuntarily crowing like a rooster.

Chu Qiguang left them to wallow in despair and horror for some time before using the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique to return them to their human forms.

"Welcome to our fiend family," he said with a smile. "From now on, we're all family, and we'll work together toward a brighter future."

Liu Yao was still reeling from the horrific ordeal he had just endured, whereas Ning Chigong had already prepared himself mentally.

"What do you want from us?" Ning Chigong asked. "If you want me to betray the imperial court or the Demon Vanquishing Department, then you may as well kill me now!"

"I wouldn't do that," Chu Qiguang reassured. "You two are part of my family now. I wouldn't put you at risk like that."

Mustering some courage, Ning Chigong asked, "How long are you going to make us work for you? You can't make us do this forever! Even officials of the imperial court get to retire at some point!"

"What's retirement?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"You can't make us work for you for the rest of our lives!" Ning Chigong protested. "Even officials of the imperial court receive around half a month of holidays every year!"

"What are holidays?" Chu Qiguang asked. "You have to understand that you're not my subordinates or underlings. We're all family. Now that you've joined our family, you must take it upon yourself to do things for the betterment of the family."

"What about compensation?" Ning Chigong asked.

"It's far too early for you to be thinking about that," Chu Qiguang said as he flashed his claws at Ning Chigong. "Before thinking about what you can get out of this, think about what you can contribute to the family. You can go back for now, Liu Yao. Stay in the manor city, and I'll find you when I require your services. Oh, by the way, don't mess with Chu Qiguang."

"Why?" Liu Yao asked.

Could this cat fiend have something to do with Chu Qiguang?

"I'm going to deal with Chu Qiguang personally, and I don't want you interfering with my plans," Chu Qiguang explained.

A hint of schadenfreude arose in the hearts of Ning Chigong and Liu Yao upon hearing this.

I bet Chu Qiguang will end up just like us soon! If he gets roped in as well, would that make us his superiors?

Following Liu Yao's departure, Chu Qiguang began questioning Ning Chigong about the Demon Vanquishing Department and the Tribulation Religion.

According to Ning Chigong, the pope of the Tribulation Religion was a man named Li Yaofeng, and all five scourges were his direct disciples.

He was also the one who had refined the demons implanted in the bodies of the five scourges.

Apparently, Li Yaofeng had started out as a disciple of the Vajra Monastery, but after learning its martial arts, he defected to the Heavenly Master Religion. Once there, he rose through the ranks until his status was comparable to Zhang Fengyun's present condition, but he ultimately chose to defect once again, this time to the Tribulation Religion.

Over the course of twenty years, he learned the martial arts of all three factions and combined them to great effect, becoming the undisputed number one martial artist in Shu Province below the Dao Comprehension state.

His aptitude for martial arts was extraordinary, but after joining the Tribulation Religion, he abandoned martial arts in favor of Dao arts.

According to him, the more he cultivated martial arts, the more he came to realize how inferior martial arts were to Dao arts after reaching the Dao Comprehension state, and he wanted to limit his own potential.

He was already thirty-six years old when he decided to give up martial arts, and everyone believed that he had doomed himself to spend the rest of his life in mediocrity. However, he defied everyone's expectations and reached the Dao Comprehension state through the Animitta Tribulation.

During the questioning, Chu Qiguang naturally made sure to ask about the Steel Tendon Iron Bone Arts.

Ning Chigong found it rather strange that a fiend would want the Steel Tendon Iron Bone Arts, but he still complied with Chu Qiguang's instructions and recited the cultivation art to him word for word.