"Should I still go to Ming Feng Tower?" Ye Tianming asked himself. After a moment of hesitation, he made a decision. No, I won’t go! It would be pointless, anyway. I can’t stop Long Tianshuo from leading his people to their deaths at Ming Feng Tower. I’ll find a hotel, get some sleep, and head back to the hospital after dawn. Then I’ll tell Long Tianba and the others that I was right outside Ming Feng Tower and personally witnessed the entire massacre of Long Tianshuo and his men.

Having made up his mind, Ye Tianming told the driver, "Take me to the nearest hotel."

「Early the next morning」

Ye Tianming arrived at the hospital to see Long Tianba and Long One through Six standing at the entrance, waiting anxiously.

"What are you all doing standing here?" Ye Tianming asked as he got out of the car.

"You have the nerve to ask? Why are you only just getting back?" Long Tianba demanded, his frustration boiling over.

"Sigh!" Ye Tianming instantly got into character. He sighed and said, "By the time I reached the Ming Feng Tower branch, Long Tianshuo had already led his men inside..."

Hearing this, the expressions of Long Tianba and Long One through Six changed drastically.

Long Tianba asked anxiously, "How are Fifth Brother and the others?"

"They’re all dead," Ye Tianming responded solemnly, his expression dramatically shifting to one of rage as he gritted his teeth. "I hid in a tree outside the Ming Feng Tower branch and witnessed the entire slaughter of Long Tianshuo and his men. It was horrific. The branch clearly had the strength to kill them easily, but they chose to torture them to death..."

As he spoke, images of Long Tianshuo and the other Long Family members being brutally tortured flashed through the minds of Long Tianba and Long One through Six.

Enraged, Long Tianba roared to the heavens, "Gong Jin, if I, Long Tianba, do not kill you, I am no man!"

Seeing this, Ye Tianming secretly rejoiced. I’m a genius! What if I tell Long Tianba right now that Ye Xiu was the true mastermind behind the alliance between Ming Feng Tower and Medicine King Valley, as well as the deaths of Long Tianshuo and the others? Then I could incite the enraged Long Tianba to seek revenge on Ye Xiu. If he dies at Ye Xiu’s hands, Ye Xiu will become a marked man for the three great Judicator Families. Yes! That’s exactly what I’ll do!

"Long Tianba, the real person who murdered Long Tianshuo and his men is actually—"

Before Ye Tianming could finish, two large buses suddenly pulled up and stopped not far from them. Over a hundred people got off.

Leading the group were none other than the Long Family’s Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Brothers.

Ye Tianming: "..."

I just said Fifth Brother died at Ming Feng Tower, and now he shows up. Ye Tianming felt as if his face had just been slapped.

"Ye Tianming, didn’t you say Fifth Brother and the others were all dead?" Long Tianba demanded, glaring at him.

Ye Tianming panicked. "Long Tianba, listen to my excuse—er, I mean, listen to my explanation..."

"Fall in!" At that moment, the Second Brother of the Long Family shouted, cutting off Ye Tianming’s feeble attempt to explain.

Instantly, the hundred or so Long Family members who had disembarked from the buses formed a neat square formation.

"Forward march!" Second Brother shouted.

The formation began marching in perfect unison toward Long Tianba and the others. As they marched, Second Brother chanted a cadence, "One, two, one... one, two, one..."

Long Tianba, Ye Tianming, and Long One through Six were completely dumbfounded. What was this circus act so early in the morning?

"Halt!" Second Brother shouted as the front row of the formation reached a point two meters from Long Tianba’s group.

CLICK!

The formation stopped.

"At ease!" Second Brother yelled.

CLICK!

Long Tianba: "???"

Ye Tianming: "???"

Long One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six: "???"

What is going on?

Long Tianba asked, "Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Brother, what in the world has gotten into you?"

"Big Brother, do you think we wanted to embarrass ourselves like this in the middle of the street?" Second Brother said angrily.

"What exactly happened?" Long Tianba asked.

"Sigh," Second Brother sighed and explained, "All the elites from Medicine King Valley were at the Ming Feng Tower branch, and they were prepared for us. When we stormed in, we were caught completely off guard and captured. That old scoundrel, Bai Shan Jun, not only crippled our Martial Prowess but also forced us to train and learn gymnastics."

Third Brother continued, "Bai Shan Jun said we were all poisoned. He claimed that if we followed his training and properly performed a gymnastics routine, the poison would be neutralized. And that’s what led to the scene you just witnessed."

Hearing this, Long Tianba, Ye Tianming, and Long One through Six could only marvel at the bizarre games Ming Feng Tower and Medicine King Valley played. However, they had a nagging feeling that Ye Xiu was the director behind it all, though they had no proof.

"Your Martial Prowess... all of it was crippled?" Long Tianba asked.

"Yes," Second Brother nodded.

Long Tianba swayed, nearly fainting from the shock. All of the Long Family’s Second Realm War Gods were among the hundred men standing before him. Did this mean he was the only Second Realm War God left in the entire Long Family? The blow was too much for Long Tianba to bear.

"Ye Tianming..." With nowhere else to vent his fury, Long Tianba roared at him, "Didn’t you say Fifth Brother and the others all died at Ming Feng Tower?"

Before Ye Tianming could offer another excuse, Second Brother handed his phone to Long Tianba. "Gong Jin sent me this. Big Brother, take a look."

Long Tianba took it skeptically. After watching, his anger erupted. He glared at Ye Tianming and snarled, "Ye Tianming, you are truly ruthless. I told you to race to the Ming Feng Tower branch to stop them, and you went to a hotel to sleep instead."

"Long Tianba, what are you talking about?" Ye Tianming demanded indignantly, acting as if he’d been wrongly accused.

"See for yourself!" Long Tianba threw the phone at him.

Ye Tianming caught it, opened the video, and nearly bolted. It was surveillance footage of him entering a hotel and checking in at the front desk.

"Ye Tianming, you’re a vicious man. You tried to use Ming Feng Tower to kill my family members. You just wait. After the Mist Chant Martial Meeting is over, I will see your Ye Family annihilated."

With that, Long Tianba stormed away in a rage. The other members of the Long Family, along with Long One through Six, followed him, each casting a "you’re a dead man" look at Ye Tianming as they left.

Ye Tianming collapsed onto the ground.

It’s over! I thought I could finally challenge Ye Xiu by having the Ye Family join the sponsors’ team, but with one ’clever’ move, I’ve alienated all my allies. Now, even if I manage to use the three great Judicator Families to kill Ye Xiu, my own family is doomed. The Ye Family will be destroyed by the Long Family after the Mist Chant Martial Meeting ends.