Gu Ke-Wu’s underlings followed but none dared to get too close.

Xia Lei dragged Gu Ke-Wu to the passenger side. Shentu Tian-Yin had already started the engine.

Gu Ke-Wu was calm. “This is not over, Xia Lei. I’ll settle this score with you,” he said coldly.

“I’m not afraid of your revenge; use whatever means you have. I’ll leave you with this - not everyone on this Earth is afraid of you. Don’t think so highly of yourself.”

“Humph! We’ll see!” sneered Gu Ke-Wu.

Xia Lei pulled the car door open and pushed Gu Ke-Wu away.

At that moment, Xia Lei’s left eye caught sight of a flash of light. He was jolted by it and dodged to one side. He was not as quick as that flying object, however, and was hit in the arm when he moved aside. Piercing pain came and the car door also shook with a dull thud.

It was a silver throwing knife with blades on both sides and it gleamed under the street lamps; it looked fairly sharp.

Fresh blood flowed from Xia Lei’s left arm, wetting his clothes.

Xia Lei could not look pause to look at his wounds. He fixed his gaze on the direction in which the throwing knife had come from and an old man and a young man strolled into view.

The old man was tall and slim and had sharp eyes. He was dressed in a traditional Chinese jacket and traditional Chinese martial arts cloth shoes. He carried a sword which matched his ensemble and he looked like a wandering swordsman from ancient times.

The young man was in his twenties, of robust build and well-proportioned and rather handsome. He wore a set of Adidas exercise clothing and was playing idly with a silver throwing knife. He would have looked like a professional athlete full of positive energy if it were not for the throwing knife.

It was apparent that the young man had attacked earlier, almost severely injuring Xia Lei. If Xia Lei had been just zero-point-something seconds slower, that throwing knife would have pierced him in the chest instead of just grazing his arm!

The first action he took was already so savage. This young man looked like a sunny lad but he was actually a ferocious wolf!

“Get in!” Shentu Tian-Yin said in panic.

Xia Lei reached to pull the car door again.

The young man suddenly swung his arm and the throwing knife in his hand became a shining, speedy blur. It pierced the front tyre of the BMW M6.

Tyres were elastic and would deflect a blow from a knife but the sides were soft. A knife just needed to be fast enough and thrown with enough strength to pierce it.

Pssss…

The front tyre of the BMW M6 was rendered immobile.

Xia Lei quickly took the opportunity to shut the door. “Go! Quickly!” he shouted at Shentu Tian-Yin.

“I’m not leaving without you!” Shentu Tian-Yin shouted back at Xia Lei.

Gu Ke-Wu laughed loudly. “Neither of you will be able to leave. You are mine, Tian-Yin. No other man on this Earth can have you except me.”

The sword-toting old man and young man walked to Gu Ke-Wu’s side.

Xia Lei regretted letting Gu Ke-Wu go too early, or he wouldn’t be in this situation now. He hadn’t expected two powerful people like these to be here, and also found it strange how these two had not turned up earlier when he fought so fiercely with the underlings. To sum it up, he still lacked experience. If Long Bing were here, she surely would have taken Gu Ke-Wu along in the car and only released him when it was safe.

There was no use regretting things.

Xia Lei wanted Shentu Tian-Yin to escape on her own while he tried to find some way out of the situation but she had been stubborn and insisted on staying with him. His heart was a mess. The tyre had burst and even if the car could run, the enemy would catch up to them in five minutes. He was clever but he still could not think of a way out of this.

“This guy’s good. He’s mine,” said the young man.

“He’s a skilled Wing Chun practitioner; I like beating up Wing Chun people. I can be your grandfather if we look at age. Matters like these should be taken care of by me,” said the old man.

The men, one old, one young, talked as if no one else was there. They didn’t even see Xia Lei as a threat. They did not greet Gu Ke-Wu but he was respectful towards them and waited for them to be finished with their conversation before he spoke. “Thank you, Uncle Dong, Qin Qi.”

The young man named Qin Qi smiled. “No need to thank us. Your father sent us to help.”

The old man surnamed Dong said, “Ah, you. I did tell you to learn some martial arts, didn’t I? You only know how to do business and get girls - you’re in trouble now, huh? Your father deliberately let you experience some roughing up before getting us to intervene. He said you’ll really know how to be smart after you’ve had some of that smugness ground away.”

Xia Lei then understood that these were men who worked for the Gu siblings’ father, Gu Ding-Shan. He realised the second mistake he’d made tonight - the Gu clan was on par with the Shentu clan and had their roots in the underworld. What he’d seen earlier was not all of what they were capable of. He also remembered what Long Bing had told him long ago about not angering the Gu clan.

This was a warning Long Bing had given him because the Gu clan was large and had connections with several big people and ancient lines, not just in business but in other matters. The Gu clan was a huge group of different people with similar interests. A huge entity like this was not something Long Bing could go up against, much less Xia Lei. However, even if he had the chance to go back in time, Xia Lei would still make the same choice - kick him to the ground!

It was for Shentu Tian-Yin, and also for himself. A man must defend his honour!

Seeing no way out, Shentu Tian-Yin alighted from the car and went to stand by Xia Lei. She saw the wound on Xia Lei’s arm and tore a strip of fabric from her own clothing to bandage it without a word.

“Young Master Wu, you sure you’re able to get this Shentu woman?” Qin Qi said laughingly.

Gu Ke-Wu looked at Shentu Tian-Yin bandaging Xia Lei’s wound and hatred flashed in his eyes though he put up a front of being madly in love. “Tian-Yin will understand my sincerity. She can only be my woman in this lifetime and no other man can even think of getting in the way.”

Qin Qi smiled salaciously. “I’ll capture her later and you two can spend the night in a room. I like these adult affairs most.”

The old man surnamed Dong said, “Enough dilly-dallying. Ke-Wu, tell your men to get those uninvolved to leave. I’m going to get to work.”

The uninvolved people referred to those celebrities and close friends of the Gu siblings who had followed the action to see what was going on.

Gu Ke-Wu raised his voice to say, “Guys, go to the Tian-Yin Pavilion and wait for me there. I’ll come over and have drinks with you later.”

His words were just a courtesy for as he spoke, his underlings surrounded them. They would have to move away whether they were willing to or not.

The car park was soon empty of people except the old man Dong, Qin Qi, Gu Ke-Wu, Xia Lei and Shentu Tian-Yin. There were just the five of them.

The old man Dong unsheathed his sword. It was an ancient sword and looked fairly menacing.

“Cut the hamstrings of that punk, Uncle Dong,” sneered Gu Ke-Wu.

The old man Dong nodded and strode towards Xia Lei with the sword in his hands.

Xia Lei could already feel the aura of power from him before he even drew close.

“Why didn’t you leave?” asked Xia Lei quietly.

“I brought you here so I have to take you away with me. If you don’t leave I won’t either.” Shentu Tian-Yin’s gaze was resolute.

Xia Lei sighed. “Then move aside. I can’t protect you when I’m fighting.”

Shentu Tian-Yin acceded to Xia Lei’s wishes and moved a few steps back. She thought of something and said loudly, “Name a price, Gu Ke-Wu. Let’s settle this with money.”

Gu Ke-Wu laughed. “I don’t want money, I want you. I’ll let this punk go if you agree to marry me.”

The old man Dong slowed his steps. He seemed to have guessed what Gu Ke-Wu’s aim was and he slowed to give Shentu Tian-Yin some time to consider it.

“Go die!” This was Shentu Tian-Yin’s answer.

Gu Ke-Wu’s face suddenly took on a malevolent look. “Uncle Dong, cut that punk’s hamstrings!”

“Easy-peasy.” The old man Dong suddenly sped up and was in front of Xia Lei in the blink of an eye. His sword blinked over too and went straight to Xia Lei’s ankle.

Xia Lei twisted his body to the side and rolled over the bonnet of his BMW M6.

The sword pierced through the BMW M6’s door, opening a slit in the metal door.

The sharpness of the sword, coupled with old man Dong’s strength was more than enough to cut hamstrings - Xia Lei’s entire leg would be sliced in two!

The old man Dong followed, and the sword in his hand whooshed toward Xia Lei. His attack speed was quick and the angles of his attacks were also quite tricky. Xia Lei had no weapon and there was no way he could come in contact with the sword; he could only dodge the attacks. Even if his left eye could follow the speed of the sword, his body could not match the speed of his eye. His body had two more wounds in under a minute.

“Who did you learn Wing Chun from, boy?” The old man Dong was surprised.

“Put your sword down and fight me bare-handed if you dare,” said Xia Lei as he moved backwards.

“Trying to get me to do what you want? It won’t work,” sneered the old man surnamed Dong. As he spoke, he moved his hand and his sword went cutting at Xia Lei’s thigh.

Swish! A throwing knife suddenly came flying.

Xia Lei was startled and gave up on looking decent. He threw himself to the ground and rolled to avoid Qin Qi and old man Dong’s combined attack.

“Xia Lei, catch!” came Shentu Tian-Yin’s voice.

Clatter! A crowbar-top of a jack flew from Shentu Tian-Yin’s hand and landed next to Xia Lei.

While the old man Dong was fighting with Xia Lei, Qin Qi was waiting for a chance to do a sneak attack and while Gu Ke-Wu was watching the fight, Shentu Tian-Yin had quietly opened the boot of the BMW M6 to take the crowbar top off the car jack and throw it to Xia Lei. Xia Lei was in a perilous position and she was anxious, thinking of ways and means to help him.

Xia Lei grabbed the jack crowbar just in time to block the shoulder strike from old man Dong’s sword. He did not avoid the attack this time and their weapons collided.

Clang! Sparks flew. The sword and the crowbar were thrown backwards by the force.

A groove appeared on the jack crowbar and the ancient-looking sword’s edge also had a new dint.

The old man Dong paused in surprise and lost a little of his earlier elegant composure. He roared and begun attacking Xia Lei madly.

Xia Lei countered every move. He was not so wary of his opponent’s sword now that he had a metal rod in his hand. His left eye could also catch the trajectory of the sword. Even if he did not need to avoid the attacks and just block them with his metal rod, he was already easily and skillfully responding to the attacks with speed!

Clang, clang…

The grooves in the jack crowbar increased, as did the dints in the sword. The jack crowbar could be thrown away if it was ruined but old man Dong’s ancient sword was a precious thing - it would become scrap metal after this fight!

“This is not good.” Qin Qi could not wait for another opportunity to stealthily attack Xia Lei. He walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin.

If he caught Shentu Tian-Yin, Xia Lei would not be able to lift a finger against him for fear of harming an innocent, even if he had the Monkey King’s golden staff*.

Shentu Tian-Yin turned around and started running.

Swish! A throwing knife grazed her thigh and thudded in the gap between two concrete bricks in front of her.

Shentu Tian-Yin halted in her tracks, her face pale.

“I say, woman, what’s so bad about marrying our Young Master Wu? Looks like you two will get married tonight! Hahaha!” sneered Qin Qi.

Shentu Tian-Yin bit her lip. She now knew why Xia Lei had wanted her to escape by herself but it was too late.

Qin Qi walked towards Shentu Tian-Yin. Capturing Shentu Tian-Yin was as easy as reaching into the cage to catch a canary to Qin Qi.

A great roaring suddenly came from the main gates of Distinguished Gathering at that moment. An SUV burst through the gates and charged in like a wild beast.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruyi_Jingu_Bang