Chapter 30: Making Enemies
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Oh no!
A palm against the keen edge of a sword. Everyone present expected Zhou Donghuang’s palm to be severed by the sword in Lu Gang’s hand.
You use the sword clumsily. If you want to sever my hand, you need more finesse.
Just as many people thought Zhou Donghuang was doomed, Zhou Donghuang smiled nonchalantly. In the instant when his hand met the sword, he curved his thumb and fingers to pinch the face of the sword tightly.
Stonebreaking Fingers was a third-grade technique, allowing your qi to be concentrated in any of the fingers to bore through stone easily.
If enough qi was used, even metals such as bronze or iron could be bored through easily.
Now, it was this martial art technique that Zhou Donghuang was demonstrating. His qi concentrated in his five fingers, making them hard as steel. They pinched the face of Lu Gang’s sword with the edge only half an inch away from his palm, but they prevented it from advancing any further and even touching him.
“Whoa——”
Lu Gang’s face turned red, and he roared like a wild beast as he channeled all the qi in his body to his hand. He tried to free his sword from Zhou Donghuang’s control, but no matter how much effort he put in, the sword in his hand remained frozen.
What terrible strength!
In that instant, Lu Gang’s heart trembled as it struck him how fearsome this youth was. He could not hope to contend with him.
“Come here!”
As Zhou Donghuang spoke casually, he pulled the hand pinching the sword towards the side of his body with a savage tug, and Lu Gang, who was holding on to his sword with a death grip, was pulled in as well.
In the blink of an eye, Zhou Donghuang released his grip, allowing the sword to pa.s.s beside his body and allowing Lu Gang to rush towards him with the momentum from the enormous strength of his tug.
Weighted Sand Palm!
Zhou Donghuang had already formed his hand into a rigid palm as he released the sword, and he struck out with a whoosh as Lu Gang headed directly for him.
Pong!!
Zhou Donghuang’s palm landed squarely on Lu Gang’s unprotected chest like a thick metal cudgel, making a loud sound and caving Lu Gang’s chest inwards in an instant.
Lu Gang was dead the instant his chest was caved in, but the force of Zhou Donghuang’s palm sent him flying three meters clear before he crashed to the ground.
Ka-dum!
Even at the moment of his death, Lu Gang had not released his grip on the sword, and the sword crashed to the ground together with him.
From the time when Lu Gang adjusted the face of his sword to the edge up to the moment Zhou Donghuang pulled him in closely only to kill him with a single blow—the whole process all happened in the blink of an eye. It was so fast that the gathered onlookers were unable to react.
By the time the crowd outside Yunxuan Restaurant had come to their senses, Lu Gang had already been killed by Zhou Donghuang.
How… how is this possible?
The smiles on the faces of Lu Yuan and Fang Tianyi froze, and dread and shock surfaced in their eyes once again.
Lu Gang was a level-two adept, and he was armed. But he had still died at the hands of this sixteen-year-old Zhou Donghuang?
Even if they were beaten to death, they would not have believed that a youth of only sixteen years old could have this level of ability if they had not witnessed it with their own eyes.
“The man that Young Master Donghuang killed called himself Lu Gang of the Lu Family?”
“Lu Gang? That level-two adept who is called the ‘frenzied sword,’ of the Lu Family of the prefecture capital?”
“This Lu Gang, it’s said that he once killed a bandit chief who was a level-two adept in the span of ten breaths, and he earned the t.i.tle ‘frenzied sword’ after that battle.”
“Even with a sword in hand, the frenzied sword, Lu Gang was still killed in one exchange by Young Master Donghuang?”
“Young Master Donghuang’s ability is incredibly fearsome, isn’t it? Even if Young Master Donghuang was not a level-three adept, it seems that few level-two adepts of Qi-gathering are a match for him.”
Many of the Qingshan Town locals recognized Lu Gang, and this created an uproar among the crowd, and also many exclamations at Zhou Donghuang’s ability.
“Young Master Donghuang is only sixteen years old. Even if tomorrow was a new year in the Ziyun Era, he would still only be seventeen years old.”
“It’s just a pity that this time he has completely offended the elite lesser families of the prefecture capital, the Ma Family and the Lu Family. If not, when he grew up, even if the entire Ma and Lu Families come out to kill him, they might not be enough.”
“Heaven envies heroes.”
The more outstanding Zhou Donghuang’s performance, the more regret the people of Qingshan Town felt for him.
“Boss.”
Seeing Zhou Donghuang kill Lu Gang made Fu’s eyes s.h.i.+ne with grat.i.tude. But the waiters and servant girls in Yunxuan Restaurant, as well as the chefs who had come out when they heard the commotion, all had ugly expressions on their faces.
In that moment, Zhou Donghuang’s calm and emotionless gaze found Lu Yuan and Fang Tianyi, and he smiled suddenly, showing two rows of snow-white teeth.
“I said just now that if he could survive one exchange with me, I would let you leave unharmed. Too bad he was too useless.”
Zhou Donghuang’s tone was calm, and he spoke unhurriedly.
“Zhou Donghuang!”
Fang Tianyi was scared witless and took a step back instinctively.
“If you dare touch me, the Fang Family will definitely not let you off!”
“Zhou Donghuang, if you let us go now, I guarantee the Lu Family will not make trouble for you,” Lu Yuan said solemnly.
Of course, this was just an expedient measure to Lu Yuan. When he returned home, he would get his father to send the most able men with him to Qingshan Town, kill Zhou Donghuang, and seize Yunxuan Restaurant!
“You may leave if you wish but leave a leg behind like him.”
Zhou Donghuang turned to glance at Ma Jin, who was still lying unconscious and said indifferently, “Everyone has to pay the price for their actions. You should have prepared yourselves from the moment you thought of seizing my Yunxuan Restaurant. I don’t have time to waste with you here. After ten breaths, if you don’t do something, I’ll send you to keep Lu Gang company!”
A murderous look flashed across Zhou Donghuang’s eyes, and his tone was cold and resolute.
Fang Tianyi and Lu Yuan’s expressions changed completely.
“Zhou Donghuang, if only you let us leave, I will not only guarantee the Fang Family will not make trouble for you but also, I will beg my father to guarantee your life in front of the Ma Family.”
Fang Tianyi was scared out of his wits and hastily began making guarantees to ensure his safety, not doubting at all that Zhou Donghuang dared to harm him.
After all, Ma Jin had been maimed by Zhou Donghuang.
“Zhou Donghuang, do you really want to offend our three elite lesser families at once?” Lu Yuan asked icily, staring coldly at Zhou Donghuang.
Between them, Lu Yuan and Fang Tianyi were playing the good cop and bad cop, hoping that Zhou Donghuang would stay his hand.
Right then, they regretted not establis.h.i.+ng all the details about Zhou Donghuang before coming to Qingshan Town to seize Yunxuan Restaurant.
“You still have five breaths’ time.”
Zhou Donghuang spoke with the same indifferent tone.
From Zhou Donghuang’s demeanor, both Lu Yuan and Fang Tianyi could see that Zhou Donghuang would not be placated, and their expressions grew uglier and uglier.
“Zhou Donghuang, you watch out!”
Lu Yuan stared furiously at Zhou Donghuang, and with a chilling roar, sprinted to Lu Gang’s corpse and took the sword from his hand.
Taking a deep breath, his body trembling, Lu Yuan shut his eyes tightly and swung the sword downwards.
“Ahhhh——”
Lu Yuan let out a shrill, piteous scream and fainted.
“You still have three breaths’ time.”
Zhou Donghuang stared intently at Fang Tianyi.
Immediately, Fang Tianyi moved beside the unconscious Lu Yuan, his face pale, and raised the sword with trembling hands, and only when Zhou Donghuang said there was one breath remaining did he swing the sword down, following in Lu Yuan’s footsteps.
“Fu, help them staunch the flow of blood then find a carriage and send them back to the prefecture capital.”
From start to end, Zhou Donghuang’s expression did not change much, and after instructing Fu, he departed under the shocked and reverent gaze of the crowd.
“Young Master Donghuang is leaving himself no path of retreat by doing this, and also his relatives, and those around him as well!” many people sighed, with bitter smiles.
“But wasn’t Young Master Donghuang too ruthless?”
“I, however, feel that Young Master Donghuang cannot be considered ruthless, if he was really ruthless, he would have killed them all, and possibly even kill all of us, cover up the evidence, and not let anyone from the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital know about this.”
“Young Master Donghuang really cannot be considered ruthless. If today, Young Master Donghuang’s ability could not match theirs, what kind of fate would he have had? Frankly speaking, they aren’t saints, they came to seize Yunxuan Restaurants; they are robbers!”
No matter what was said, on the last day of the year 1227 in the Ziyun Era, the actions of Zhou Donghuang made him famous once more in Qingshan Town.
At the same time, the vast majority of people felt that Zhou Donghuang was as good as dead. And Zhou Donghuang’s relatives and those close to him were also as good as dead.
The news reached the ears of the three elite lesser families of Qingshan Town very quickly.
…
In the w.a.n.g Family mansion.
“That Zhou Donghuang maimed the scions of the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital?”
Hearing the news, the patriarch of the w.a.n.g Family Red Crane w.a.n.g laughed heartily.
“He’s dead for sure! He’s dead for sure!”
“Father, your son is useless and unable to avenge you, but now, there will be someone to avenge you!”
…
In the Zhong Family mansion.
“This time, that Zhou Donghuang is dead for sure!” one of the three people sitting around a stone table, laughed coldly. It was Second Young Master, Zhong Yi of the Zhong Family.
The third young mistress of the Zhong Family Zhong Xiu also had a cold smile on her face.
“He dares provoke even the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital? That Zhou Donghuang is trying to get himself killed!”
“Disaster is looming over Zhou Donghuang. The grand patriarch of the Qin Family should go back on his word and cancel that banquet to celebrate his adoption of Qin Xiaoyu Qin Fei. At least he will be relieved that he doesn’t have to call an eleven-year-old girl, ‘Aunty.’” First Young Master Zhong Gang of the Zhong Family laughed mockingly.
…
In the Qin Family mansion.
“Grandfather, that Zhou Donghuang has offended the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital; he must surely be dead! Since he is going to die, you no longer need to adopt Xiaoyu as your daughter,” Qin Fei told Qin Yi in his private compound.
“Father, if you still adopt Xiaoyu as your daughter I’m afraid the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital will find you guilty by a.s.sociation and bring their wrath down on the rest of the Qin Family,” Qin Long, the patriarch of the Qin Family, warned Qin Yi as well.
“In this life, I, Qin Yi, will not do anything in bad faith.” Evidently, Qin Yi was resolute on this. “Since I have already decided to take Xiaoyu as my adopted daughter, I will do it! No matter if Zhou Donghuang is still alive or even if he is dead, this decision will not change!”