Chapter 41 Hostages

"Those damn bastards! Do they really think I, Li Fan, am a fool?"

With a loud crash, another pot was broken into pieces. The room was littered with broken pieces of various porcelain objects.

The maid standing outside the room flinched as she heard another pot break. She was soon joined by another one who had come to check up on Li Fan. When they heard another loud crack coming from the room, the two maids looked worriedly at the closed door.

"How long has he been like that?"

"He came back from the Elder Hall and turned violent."

"I heard the Patriarch rebuked him severely before the elders."

"Just a few days ago, the Elders were blaming the First Young Master for ruining their deal with the Monstrous Flame Sect"

"Really? The Elders have never dared to raise a voice against the First Young Master before!"

The two maids were whispering to each other. One of the maids had a fresh palm print on her cheek. They shut their mouths when they heard footsteps approach the door.

The door clicked, and Li Fan emerged from the room. Blood was oozing from the numerous open cuts on his palm.

He pointed to the one he had slapped.

"You, go call the Umbra."

He turned to the other maid and motioned her to tend to his wound.

"Was Li Shen here?"

Li Fan asked the maid.

"No, Shaoye. But Li Chun came to inform you that the Second Young Master is going into closed-door training. It will last for a month."

Li Fan's eyes misted as he thought of his younger brother. Lotus Pavilion had delivered a Medium-Grade Path Forging Realm manual that fits perfectly with Ikasa's cultivation manual. In order to vindicate himself, Li Shen had vowed to combine the two and create a brand new Top-Grade Cultivation Technique for Li Family.

"I hope you succeed in combining the two techniques…"

Li Fan closed his eyes and wished well for his brother. The other maid returned while he was still thinking of his brother.

"Master, the Umbra is here."

Li Fan opened his eyes and saw a figure covered from head to toe in black.

He nodded his head in greeting.

"Yin Ying, bring twelve of your men. We are going to claim some compensation from the culprit behind this whole mess."

His eyes flashed with a vicious glint as he mentioned compensation.

Soon a group of fourteen people dressed in black departed from the Li Family estate. Their destination? A small mansion on the western side of the inner city.

—

On the grounds of Ikasa's mansion, the children were enjoying their free time.

"Tag, You are it, Qiqi!"

"No! Why is everyone tagging only me when you can tag anyone else? I am not playing anymore!"

She grumbled as she plopped her butt on a rock near the pond.

"Let's take a break?" Hei Ying suggested.

Everyone nodded and found rocks to rest their butts on. A few moments passed in silence.

"It was fun playing tag using our movement technique."

Yan Xiao chimed with a grin. Others nodded with a cheerful smile.

"We used to play all the time when we were in slums. Now, Sister Ruo only nags at us all day to study or train."

"Qiqi, go train. Yan Xiao, memorize the words. Chu Qing, don't take money without permission. Blah Blah Blah…"

Luo Qiqi imitated Xin Ruo's nagging voice and garnered a round of laughter.

"I like brother Ikasa but it is as if big sister changed because of him."

Yan Xiao mumbled, unsure of how to feel about the change.

"Hmph! What's there to like about him? He just treats us as workers. He did not even give us any remuneration!"

Everyone glared at Chu Qing. Although they might have some complaints, they did like Ikasa. Hei Ying spoke up to defend him.

"He has spent thousands of gold coins for us. And except for Arena, we haven't even done anything useful for him. Why do you want him to pay you?"

"He earned thousands of gold from that event. And we fought in the arena with our lives on the line. Shouldn't we get a good reward for it?"

Chu Qing fumed at Hei Ying. He was blinded by the amount Ikasa was earning and forgot about his contribution to earning it.

Clap Clap Clap!

"I didn't know Ikasa was earning gold in thousands. Looks like this is a very fat sheep. Don't you agree, Yin Ying?"

The Kids panicked as they saw several unidentified people in black surround them.

Chu Qing might butt heads with Ikasa, but he knew who were allies and who were enemies. He immediately took a defensive stance and covered the other kids behind him.

Yan Xiao joined him in defending while others became ready to attack.

Li Fan clicked his tongue seeing the formation. It might be impressive for others but the people he had brought were part of a specially trained force.

"Capture them, Yin Ying. Make sure not to harm them."

The men behind him leaped into action. Each of the kids faced two of the men. Outnumbered, the children fell at disadvantage.

"Fight us one on one if you dare, cowards!"

Chu Qing roared in anger as he saw Pei Yuan being surrounded by four men. No one replied or even paid any heed to his provocation.

Instead, Yin Ying joined the fray and Chu Qing's situation also became disadvantageous.

Moments later, Pei Yuan and Luo Qiqi were captured and subdued. Chu Qing's arm was broken. While trying to save Chu Qing, Hei Ying and Yan Xiao were knocked out.

Li Fan brought them into the mansion. He quickly found Caretaker Han.

"Don't even think of trying to resist. It might cost one of them their lives."

After having him tied up with the kids, he ordered his men to ransack the mansion. Shortly after, Yin Ying reported her gains.

"Master, we found two pouches with 500 gold in each of them."

"That's it? Any secret manuals? Secret Compartments?"

"None, Master."

"Useless!" He fumed as he paced in the entryway.

"At least I got my hands on these kids." He consoled himself as he looked at the unconscious teenagers tied with rope.

With a vicious grin, he patted Yan Xiao's cheeks.

"Let's see if your Big brother Ikasa values you enough to hand over his secret."

Li Fan released Caretaker Han.

"Deliver my message to Ikasa. If he isn't here in an hour, he will not see these kids alive again."

As if remembering something he paused and added,

"If you arrive here with City Guards, your family won't be alive to see tomorrow's Sun. Now get going."

He shooed the elder man away.

Understanding the importance of time, Caretaker Han made haste to reach Ikasa.