Having spoken and seeing the bruised and battered face whose eyes rose to meet his, the skin seemed to tighten on Murong Bo's face as his eyes widened in utter fear. As his jaw dropped and his face was overcome with unbelief, he said, "Who!? Who would dare to treat the Crown Prince in such a manner!?"
What on earth happened here? How could someone beat him into such a state? Who in all of the great Sun Glory Country would dare to attack the Green Gallop Crown Prince?
The image of the Feng Residence suddenly dawned upon him, and tensing, he cried out: "Your Majesty! Did the Feng Residence do this to you?"
Glaring at him, Nie Teng turned and left without a word, leaving the furious, bewildered Murong Bo stopped dead in his tracks.
Waiting until he could no longer see Nie Teng's figure, the Ruler suddenly regained his senses and yelled to the guard standing beside him, "What the h.e.l.l happened! Clear things up for your Ruler!"
Dropping to his knees, the guard answered quakingly, "I-it was the Green Gallop Crown Prince who snuck into the Feng Residence. The men at the Feng Residence seized him, thinking he was an a.s.sa.s.sin."
"Those shameless, insolent Fengs!"
Seething with rage, he yelled out, "Guards! Bring me the men from the Feng Residence who attacked the Green Gallop Crown Prince!"
In his anger, the Ruler summoned the royal palace guards to seize the attackers from the Feng Residence. On the one hand, he wanted to make an ostensible display of his reverence for the Green Gallop Crown Prince and show him how they deal with such matters in Sun Glory; on the other hand, he wanted to send a message to the Feng Residence to let them know that things would be different for the Feng Residence from this day forward! If they dared to act again with bold lawlessness, he would uproot the Feng clan itself!
With this command, squadrons of the royal guards streamed out in the dead of night on their way to the Feng Residence. The sight of all those guards and their horses rus.h.i.+ng through the streets in uniform on their approach to the Feng Residence naturally sent a stir through the city.
News of the royal guards streaming through the city alarmed and surprised many of the clans. What was so pressing that it must be dealt in the midnight hours? Are all those guards headed to the Feng Residence? What do they intend to do there?
While many of the city's clans ridiculed the Fengs and eagerly awaited their downfall, more than a few upright families could not bear to see the Ruler act in this way. If there was one thing known to the people of Cloudy Moon City, even to the inhabitants of the whole of Sun Glory, it was that the Fengs were loyal guardians to the homeland. Old Feng Patriarch and Feng Xiao were loyalists alike. They were staunch and stalwart defenders of Sun Glory!
Together with their Feng Guards, they had saved Sun Glory from many an impa.s.se. It was all to clear to these people that if it were not for their protection, their lowly ninth-grade Sun Glory would have been swallowed up by one country or another long ago. How could they stand idly by as Murong Bo abused the Young Miss Feng, the family's last bastion of hope?
Though it was late at night, the deliberation hall of the Geng Family, one of the largest families of Cloudy Moon City, was filled with people.
The old Geng Family Patriarch had just left the gates of the city earlier that day, but when word of the recent events caught the attention of others in the family, they called him back home to hold a meeting. Now, having heard news of what was happening that evening, the old Geng Family Patriarch slammed his heavy fist upon the table with a loud bang, silencing everyone in the room.
Looking to the wizened face of the old Geng Family Patriarch, they saw unbridled anger. Though his voice could not hide his age, the strength of his fury was that of a much young man. "This Murong Bo has simply gone too far!" yelled the old Geng Family Patriarch, "Despite the disappearance of the Feng Old Patriarch and Feng Xiao's relentless stupor that have left the Young Miss Feng all alone, instead of offering to protect her, this Murong Bo, the high lord that he claims to be, insists on beleaguering her further! He shows his true colors as the villain that he is!"
No one dared to speak. Up until this point, the Geng Residence had been observing silently from the sidelines. Now, hearing the old man's words, it seemed as if they were to further muddy the waters between the Fengs and the royal family.