Jiang Ning's question sent Liu Heng into a sudden moment of confusion. Liu Heng's face darkened the next instant.
"Punk, don't test my patience. I'm trying to show you some respect."
"I don't need that from you," said Jiang Ning calmly.
He couldn't be bothered with Liu Heng at all. Before Liu Heng could retort, Jiang Ning walked right up to Zhang Heng. Their eyes met. Zhang Heng appeared unfazed despite the look that Jiang Ning was giving him.
He had no idea why Jiang Ning was speaking up on his behalf.
They had only met each other once and had barely spoken to each other.
Zhang Heng had been the one who had instructed Luo Heng to kill Jiang Ning. Jiang Ning must be aware of that, so there was no reason for him to speak up for Zhang Heng.
"Mr Zhang is a good man with a good heart. He wouldn't hurt anyone," said Jiang Ning. "Besides, we don't know each other and bear each other no grudge. He has no reason to harm me."
Zhang Heng nodded. "That's right. This is only the second time I've met Jiang Ning. I don't harbor any personal grudge against him at all. None so great that compels me to kill him. Mr He, you shouldn't make baseless accusations against me."
Mr He eyed Zhang Heng, gave Jiang Ning a look, then scoffed. From the look of unhappiness on his face, it was clear that he was extremely displeased about Jiang Ning stepping forward and speaking up for Zhang Heng.
He was helping Jiang Ning figure out who had tried to kill him and bring the perpetrator to justice. But what was Jiang Ning doing now? He was actually standing on Zhang Heng's side.
"Chief Liu, the person who wants me dead must be someone else. I don't believe that Mr Zhang would do something like that."
Jiang Ning walked up to Liu Chuandao and clasped his hands together respectfully.
"Who do you think it is then?"
Everyone froze in stupor when they heard what Liu Chuandao had said. The expressions on their faces revealed their differing thoughts. What a question!
Were they going to looking into whomever Jiang Ning believed was the culprit and have the man arrested?
The sect leader was treating this matter like child's play!
Who was Jiang Ning exactly? Why did he deserve such a privileged treatment from Liu Chuandao?
"It can't be anyone from Qingshan Sect," Jiang Ning said earnestly. Tve only recently arrived at the sect. Few have seen me or know that I'm here. Why would they want to kill me? have many enemies outside the sect though. If they knew that
I'm here, they might send someone to filtrate the sect and assassinate me."
"Are you suggesting that an outsider has infiltrated the sect and attempted an assassination on you?" Liu Chuandao's face darkened. That would be a serious matter.
Infiltrating Qingshan Sect was an outright act of provocation towards Qingshan Sect.
"Do we know of any outsiders who have entered the sect grounds recently?" asked Jiang Ning.
Silence descended upon the hall suddenly.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.
They had no idea if Jiang Ning had spoken those words unintentionally or deliberately. The only outsiders who had arrived at Qingshan Sect recently were none other than Elder Lue Feng and his convoy.
They had come on behalf of their young master to seek Liu Qing's hand in marriage.
They had not expected that Liu Chuandao had already arranged a match for Liu Qing and that he had named Jiang Ning his future son-in-law.
Everything did kind of make sense. There was a possibility that Elder Luo Feng and his party might have tried to kill Luo Heng.
They had a strong motive to do so.
They had come with a marriage
offer, only to find out that Liu Qing
had been bestowed to another. If
they truly wanted Liu Qing to
become their young master's wife, Jiang Ning had to die.
The revelation struck everyone present like a shattering bolt of lightning.
Zhang Heng heard something explode in his head. Jiang Ning had somehow stumbled upon the truth while uttering nonsense.
Killing a mere son-in-law should have been a simple matter. No one had expected things to spiral out of control.
The air was taut with tension.
"What utter nonsense!" the Senior Elder said in a burst of anger. "Who do you think you are? You're not worth Elder Luo Feng's time!"