"Hey! What are you doing tearing my pants?!"
The mountain breeze whispered through the bamboo grove, filling the serene landscape with a rustling symphony. Amidst this tranquility, Lin Dong's clothes were ripped to shreds by the woman standing before him.
Tattered strips of fabric hung from the bamboo tips, leaving Lin Dong in a position of utter humiliation, pinned down by the woman with a single hand, utterly powerless to resist.
A strange, mesmerizing crimson flush surged across the woman's arms and spread over her entire body. Combined with her breathtaking facial features, it made her look bewitching to the extreme.
Yet Lin Dong was in no mood to appreciate the scenery. He wanted to run!
"Master! You sealed my cultivation! And my virginity of over twenty years!"
"Miss! I can cure your poison! You don't have to do this!"
Despite her immense strength, however, the woman's eyes were clouded with delirium; she couldn't hear a word he said.
*Rip.*
In a fraction of a second, she stripped off her own clothes, caring not a whit whether Lin Dong consented or not.
The bamboo grove lost its quiet peace, filled endlessly with the sounds of her delirious passion.
It wasn't until evening that calm finally returned.
Lin Dong peered closely at the woman before him, watching the demonic red fade from her skin. Her grease-white flesh took on a hazy, ethereal quality under the faint moonlight.
Though the lust had vanished from her face, the blush remained, a mix of dazed vulnerability and bashfulness.
Her poison was gone.
But what about Lin Dong?
His innocence was gone.
"Sigh! Consider it saving a life."
What was done was done, and regrets were useless. Lin Dong had no choice but to comfort himself with his medical ethics.
Yet, after collecting her wits for a moment, the woman glared at Lin Dong with bloodshot eyes, her gaze brimming with a desire to kill him and be done with it.
Lin Dong protested, "Don't look at me like that. You forced me; I'm the victim here."
The woman took a few deep breaths, consumed by shame and anger. She snatched her outer garment away, leaving Lin Dong stark naked, and glared daggers at him. "For twenty years I kept my purity, only for it to be squandered on a rustic country bumpkin like you!"
Lin Dong drew a deep breath and said slowly, "My master has already arranged a marriage for me, but as for today's events... I will take responsibility for you. Worst case, I'll break off the other engagement and marry you."
Seeing Lin Dong's deadpan seriousness, the woman froze for a moment before sneering, "You country bumpkin! You got to share the waters with this young miss and you're not even satisfied—you still want to marry me? Talk about a toad wanting to eat swan meat! I'd rather starve to death than marry a village yokel like you!"
With that, ignoring the fact that Lin Dong was completely naked, she stepped right up to him and whispered a threat, word by word: "I am Yu Shuang, Young Master of the Dragon Gate! Today's affair—only heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know. If you dare breathe a single word of this to anyone, I will kill you!"
Lin Dong pondered for a moment, then turned and walked away, leaving behind a single sentence.
"Just don't regret it."
Yu Shuang let out a cold snort and quickly strode away.
"Hmph."
Naked as the day he was born, Lin Dong sped through the bamboo grove, moving much faster than before.
"My seal? It seems broken?"
Lin Dong went faster and faster, moving like the wind.
"Haha! I never expected that uniting with Yu Shuang would accidentally break the seal left behind! I can finally come out of seclusion!"
The seal his master had deliberately placed served two purposes: on one hand, to make Lin Dong focus entirely on his medical arts; on the other, to suppress his urge for revenge.
Possessing the Azure Dragon Saint Blood, Lin Dong progressed in his cultivation at a terrifying speed. Had his master not suppressed him, he probably would have burned out his body long ago and rushed off to exact vengeance.
The master's seal was extraordinarily unique; Lin Dong had tried countless methods to break it, never dreaming it would inexplicably dissipate today.
"No wonder it felt so ecstatic just now, the pleasure so intense. So that was why."
"Today happens to be the anniversary of my parents' death. It's fate! It's heaven's will! I can finally leave! Dad! Mom! Your son can finally go avenge you!"
Over the past few years, Lin Dong had studied his craft under his master in Taohua Spring. Though life had been carefree and detached, the image of his parents dying brutally before his eyes could never be forgotten.
The Lin Family had been wiped out. To protect Lin Dong, his parents had suffered a miserable death just outside Taohua Spring. Had his master not rescued him, Lin Dong would have lost his life right then and there.
Before setting off on his travels, his master had told him he could leave once the seal was broken.
Now, on the exact anniversary of his parents' death, the seal had shattered, and Lin Dong's cultivation had broken through to the peak.
This was the will of heaven!
Vengeance!
Moving at lightning speed, Lin Dong returned to Taohua Spring. He originally intended to head straight home, pack up his things, and leave, but the villagers had noticed him disappearing into the mountains for so long and had gathered at the village entrance to wait.
When the two sides met, the atmosphere became extremely awkward.
"Village... Village Chief..."
Unable to spare time for explanations, Lin Dong rushed back to change his clothes, adjusted his expression, and only then went out to meet the waiting crowd.
None of the residents living in Taohua Spring were ordinary people. Most were heads of great clans or elders of major sects—true titans of their respective realms—who had come here to live long-term and heal their injuries under the care of Lin Dong's master. Take the ragged old man standing right before him, for instance: who would ever guess he was the supreme leader of the Hongmen?
"Village Chief, my granddaughter is arriving tomorrow. You should meet her; you might hit it off."
The other old men nearby refused to be outdone and immediately chimed in.
"Old Lin! Your granddaughter is already twenty-seven! Do you have any idea how much older she is than the Village Chief?!"
"Village Chief, my granddaughter is nineteen this year, and she studies medicine too. It's the perfect chance for her to learn properly from you!"
These bigwigs who usually stirred up storms in the outside world now looked like a bunch of old grandpas at a village gate, bursting with eagerness to set Lin Dong up on dates, practically shoving their eligible granddaughters at him.
Lin Dong chuckled wryly.
He was already used to it.
Normally, he wouldn't mind meeting them—just consider it a blind date.
But not today. He had to leave.
Lin Dong frankly stated his intentions. The crowd fell silent for a long moment, and then each produced a gift of their own.
"Village Chief, the Old Divine Doctor has traveled the four seas, and we've relied on your care these past two years. This card has twenty billion on it; please accept it."
"Village Chief, this is the secret command token of my Hongmen. If you ever need anything, just flash this token, and a million Hongmen brothers will obey your orders!"
Lin Dong accepted their gifts one by one, left behind a large batch of medicinal pills, and then bowed and departed.
Muye City, Donghua Manor.
This had once been the ancestral home of the Lin Family, where an entire great clan used to live.
The bustling noise and laughter of the past had all been reduced to ashes. As a gust of wind swept by, sending the gray dust dancing, Lin Dong fancied he saw his whole family waving to him.
"Dad! Mom! Everyone!"
Lin Dong dropped to his knees in the ruins, desperately searching for any familiar aura, but found nothing save for decay and despair.
Dozens of family members, and not a single one left except for Lin Dong.
A blood debt!
It had to be repaid!
"Every single person involved—I will hunt them down, and use their heads as a sacrifice to you!"
*Thump, thump, thump!*
With three heavy kowtows against the earth, Lin Dong rose, preparing to leave.
Right at that moment, he suddenly sensed an extremely familiar aura.
It was faint and elusive, yet it wrenched fiercely at Lin Dong's nerves.
"Who's there?!"