He Fan's help

Tianwu City, Qin family prison

Yuan Guo sighed. "Why is there a delay? They should have already used Reverse Teleportation long ago!"

Li Gang looked at him but kept silent. He knows they can't do anything anyway, so no point in giving any opinion. He has already thought of the possibilities. 'There can only be few possibilities given the situation. First, They are caught and being held somewhere else. Second, They aren't caught but exposed. They are being chased right now. Third, They betrayed. And finally the most likely one, external factor.'

He thinks the fourth possibility is most likely, because Fang Chen is an expert Assassin and knows how to hide his clues well. And more importantly, the place he hid shouldn't be found so easily. It is even more unlikely for them to betray. This leaves the only option: Interference of external factor. But without any clue, it is impossible to tell what this external factor truly is.

Yuan Guo thought something and murmured. "Could it be him?"

Dai Lin was surprised and immediately thought of someone. He replied. "But why would he interfere? We didn't target anyone related to him!"

Yuan Guo sighed. "He is the only one capable of tracing and trapping senior brother Fang."

Lin Gang was surprised and looked at Yuan Guo in a puzzled manner. He asked. "Who?"

Somewhere in an abandoned house

Fang Chen looked at the man in front of him and asked deeply. "Why should I trust you?"

He Fan smiled gently and said. "Don't you think why they captured your companions, instead of finishing them right away?"

Fang Chen didn't reply. He knows what He Fan said is true. 'It is truly intriguing why someone like Qin Yuanlong will capture them.'

He Fan took out a train feather and smelled it elegantly. "The moment you use Reverse Teleportation, they will be able to track you, and you will be captured."

Fang Chen glanced at him and asked. "Why are you helping me?"

He Fan smiled deeply. "Help you? You think too much!"

Fang Chen knew he can't pry on him, so he changed the question. "Why is he determined to capture us?"

He Fan took a deep look at Fang Chen and replied in a heavy voice. "He has awakened a special bloodline. This is unique and very strong. It feeds on strong Warriors and improves his Spiritual Imprint grade and his talents!"

He Fan moved forward and his deep abyss like eyes stared out of the window as he said. "This secret is only known to him. Even his father is unaware about it."

What He Fan didn't say is: This bloodline has a very heavy disadvantage. The person having this bloodline must feed on Warriors at a regular interval, and if he doesn't then a Dragon shaped tattoo appears as a side effect. This tattoo becomes more and more violent as the delay elongates. First it occurs in one of the body part, weakening it. The Warrior feels a strong burning pain wherever the tattoo is. If he doesn't calm down the tattoo, he will be fully consumed and loose his sanity, becoming a complete demon that only relies on its instincts.

Fang Chen immediately realized the cause and effects. 'So this is why he is determined to capture us and didn't kill them immediately. He is baiting us! As soon as we use the Reverse Teleportation, all of us would be captured! He must have spread the soldiers across the whole town. Since no one knows about the secret, Qin Yuanlong will never kill them openly or he can't devour their power. In other words, he might still kill them, but not openly. This gives us chance since as an assassin, what we are good at is doing sneak attacks. Saving them openly puts us in a heavy disadvantage.'

He looked at He Fan and asked. "So? What is the plan?"

He Fan smiled. "Nothing, I have already sent some of the Assassins to divert their attention. What Qin family lacks are the guards as of now. Qin Jia trusts his son blindly and has already dispatched almost all of the guards to block the town and also put them at various places so that they can get back to you as soon as reverse teleportation is performed!"

Fang Chen was surprised. "You want to attack the Qin family?"

He Fan sniffed the train feather and said in a calm voice. "Don't put it in such a way. We just have to sneak into their Vault, and get something we need. All you have to do is distract Qin Yuanshu. If you do it nicely, I can give you 10% profits!"

Fang Chen immediately replied. "But if we do so, it is impossible to protect them..."

He Fan interrupted him and said calmly. "Don't worry about your friends. They won't be in danger."

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Next Day, Qin family prison

Qin Yuanlong was sitting on a medium size chair, while dictating Qin family guards. He smiled and looked at Yuan Guo. 

"It appears that your teammates don't care about you and have already left."

Yuan Guo glanced at the large pit filled with liquid iron boiling there. He felt chill when he thought about what Qin Yuanlong going to do.

Li Gang looked at Qin Yuanlong and said casually. "Looks like you are a demon disguised as righteous Warrior. I wonder what would happen if your secret gets leaked."

Qin Yuanlong's face didn't change at all, and he looked at Li Gang calmly for a while. But in reality he panicked the moment he heard him. 

'Does he know something? No, it is impossible! No one should be aware of my secrets. It is likely that he meant about why I am going to torture him so brutally instead of executing publicly!'

As he realized this, he calmed down.

He smiled and said calmly. "Is that your futile attempt? Why do you think I would fear anything? All I have to do is just release the news that you tried to escape and were killed while doing so!"

Soon, everything was prepared. Qin Yuanlong smiled deeply and said. "So, whom should we send first?"

As he was speaking these words, a guard from outside came in and whispered something in his ears. 

Qin Yuanlong face turned ugly and then anger filled his heart. He shouted. "They dare!"

He immediately started leaving the prison, but at that moment, Li Gang said something that made him pause. 

"If you go, I will make sure the secret about that tattoo in your hand is leaked!"

Qin Yuanlong glanced at Li Gang and said in a heavy voice. "You could have survived if you hadn't said anything. But, you just have to court death. Don't blame me then!"

He immediately came towards Li Gang and was about to attack, but at that moment a sharp attack came from behind. Qin Yuanlong immediately dodged towards side, avoiding it. 

He looked at Yuan Guo and Li Gang and said deeply. "It looks like you have already got rid of the restrains we put on you!"

Li Gang glanced at Yuan Guo and had admiration towards him. 'Yuan Guo is not only great strategist but can also break any restrains. In fact, what he is expert in is not strategy instead it is in breaking through any heavy security palace!'

Tang Yan also attacked from behind using her sword. Li Gang didn't give any chance to Qin Yuanlong and started attacking him using his own Sword combined with a very strong Sword Intent.

Qin Yuanlong started getting suppressed at first, then he took out his Sword and shouted: 'Sword Soul'

The sword in his hand as if became alive and started making it's own attacks at any moment when it is near the enemy!

Qin Yuanlong with a bit of difficulty started dominating the three alone! The battle continued for half an hour, when Qin Yuanlong suddenly found an opening and knocked out Li Gang. 

Li Gang's face changed at that moment. The direction he was shot was where the molten iron was kept! The sword fell from his hand before he himself fell right into the pond made up entirely of liquid iron. A huge painful shout came from within. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh"

After shouting it for a few moments, his voice disappeared!

Yuan Guo and Tang Yan were shocked and also became angry. They increased their power but where could they stand a chance against Qin Yuanlong!

They were defeated very fast. Qin Yuanlong looked at them and said calmly. "You could have lived a bit longer, but it is a pity..."

He couldn't continue, because someone else continued instead. 

"...but it is a pity that you didn't bring An Wei"

Li Gang said while smiling, his hand gripping on the sword that has pierced Qin Yuanlong's heart. 

Qin Yuanlong felt a deep pain but didn't utter a single word. He glanced at Li Gang and his face turned ugly. "You, how could you..."

He was surprised at the sight. The entire skin of Li Gang was burned and at some places, his muscles are visible and even then, he was smiling at him with his completely burn and disfigured face. It was truly horrifying to see this. 

Qin Yuanlong had expected him to not die, but to be able to withstand such pain, this was something he never expected. As a Rank 4, Li Gang's body was strong, so obviously he wouldn't die with just this. But the pain he faced was very real. Any normal Rank 4 Warrior would have fainted instantly, but Li Gang was different.

Dai Lin took out his knife, and was about to kill him, when Yuan Guo immediately stopped him. "Stop!"

Dai Lin was surprised. "Why?"

Li Gang looked at Dai Lin and replied calmly. "As soon as you kill him, we would have life and death feud with Qin Jia. Right now, he is only pursuing us because of his instructions <while pointing towards Qin Yuanlong>. If we kill him, Qin Jia would pursue us blindly out of hatred and revenge. This is not ideal for our goal, especially when most of the guards are likely to be spread throughout this area!"

Yuan Guo continued. "It is better to keep him as a hostage, we can kill him later! He might be useful for escaping."

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Meanwhile outside the Secret Vault of Qin Family

Fang Chen was fighting Qin Yuanshu, but he was completely suppressed. However, with the help of Tang Yue, who was occasionally shooting arrows at Qin Yuanshu from a large distance away, Fang Chen was able to keep up with him somehow. 

He murmured. 'The Qin family is already alarmed, I don't know how he stopped Qin Jia and others, but anyways, we don't have much time!'