He might also be a disciple of someone from that place.
"If all of this is true, then this matter becomes tricky!"
"Tricky or not, it has to be handled! No matter what, the Northwest Marquis is your disciple, Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign! If you sit by and do nothing while he is killed, then your reputation, Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign, will truly be dragged in the dirt. How will you ever maintain your footing in Yan Country in the future, and how could anyone ever dare to risk their lives for you again?" the old man said with a half-smile.
"Therefore, that brat must die!" the Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign said coldly.
"This time, I want you to make a move. After all, if I step in myself, the commotion would be too great. If it is you, everything will be much easier!"
"Hahaha! So the reason you released me is because you didn't dare provoke Taixu Mountain! You want me to do it, right?" the old man laughed, his tone filled with disdain.
"After this matter, whether Li Daofeng lives or dies, you will be a free man! From then on, you can roam the world as you please!" the Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign said coldly.
"Hahaha! Good! I agree! Twenty years ago, because of a promise, I allowed myself to be captured without a fight and willingly locked away by you. If you ever dare to appear before me again after Li Daofeng dies, I will surely kill you!"
As he spoke, a powerful aura erupted from the old man's body!
The dense, murderous intent instantly turned the entire room ice-cold.
...
Over the next few days, Li Daofeng stayed entirely within the villa. In the morning, he would get up to sit in meditation and practice some boxing, and afterwards, he would spend his time in the room where the spirit tablets of his parents and younger sister were enshrined, reading books as a way of keeping them company.
Days like this were simple and peaceful.
However, what tormented him endlessly was that over the past few days, the dozen or so maid beauties dressed in maid outfits whom Shang Wanqiu had found for him would shoot sidelong glances at him with their large eyes whenever they crossed paths with him while working. Those blinking, fluttery eyes completely scrambled his thoughts.
Coupled with their full, voluptuous figures and those wicked outfits, every single time they provoked a scorching heat inside him. He discovered that this situation was becoming harder and harder for him to control with each passing day.
Every single time these beauties deliberately brushed their large mounds against him, pretending it was an accident, they scraped his little brother so hard it left him completely skewed!
If he still possessed even a shred of conscience, he would have made these women draw blood!
He would have let them know that when adults played with fire, they ended up wetting the bed.
Naturally, he couldn't take out his wrath on the maids, so he could only discipline one of his own people.
And so!
Li Daofeng directed a round of stern criticism right at his own little brother.
"Useless thing! You're becoming less and less picky lately! They just flutter around a bit, and you're already getting all worked up here! Look at your pathetic self-control—how am I supposed to take you out in public in the future?"
"If we go to those high-end clubs in the future and watch young ladies in bare thighs dance, you'll probably turn the place upside down, you disgraceful thing! If you're going to be this useless, I'll make sure you have no use for the rest of your life, you little piece of trash who keeps getting in the way of my acupuncture!"
Li Daofeng fiercely chewed out his little buddy!
He didn't stop scolding until the little fellow drooped in utter dejection, thoroughly recognizing its mistake, before he finally turned to his work for the day.
...
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Capital, at the Huang family residence!
The atmosphere in the Huang family courtyard was extremely heavy. Li Qiongsi and her husband, Huang Guangyuan, were in the middle of a bitter quarrel.
Huang Wenyin had already regained consciousness on the plane back to the Imperial Capital. Upon learning that they had been driven out by Li Daofeng, she said not a single word, doing nothing but crying incessantly.
Chapter 30: Little Brother, Hold Your Ground
Upon returning home, she still refused to speak, locking herself away in her room! By the very next day, she simply packed up and moved out to live with Li Xuemei!
Because of this, Huang Wenyin's mother was completely at her wit's end, so she simply pinned all the blame on Li Daofeng, convincing herself that he was the sole cause of everything.
It never once crossed her mind that if not for Li Daofeng, her daughter would likely have been dead long ago.
In her heart, it seemed as natural as heaven and earth that Li Daofeng should cure her daughter.
Treating her daughter's illness was nothing less than Li Daofeng's honor.
"Li Qiongsi! You vicious woman! For the sake of your own petty little schemes, you almost got Yinyin killed! Thank goodness Yinyin is all right, or I swear I'd never let you hear the end of it!" Huang Guangyuan glared with cold eyes at the woman sitting on the sofa.
Over the past few years, as the Huang family grew more powerful, this woman had become increasingly outrageous! The things she did grew more and more repulsive to him.
Especially the schemes she carried on behind his back—if not for the sake of their daughter, he genuinely would have beaten this woman to death.
"What did I do? Wasn't I just worried about Yinyin?" Li Qiongsi retorted angrily, feeling deeply wronged.
"You still have the nerve to say you were doing it for Yinyin? To help Yinyin, you let that bastard Li Longhao treat her illness. In my eyes, you've simply lost your mind and are beyond saving!"
"I don't object to you helping your maiden family. Over the years, haven't we helped them enough? Look at what your family used to be—just a tiny merchant household—and look at what they are now! Are you still not satisfied?"
"If you're not satisfied, fine, but please stop using Yinyin as a bargaining chip to help the Li family! What you did makes me sick to my stomach!"
"Huang Guangyuan! What did you say? You bastard! Now you find me sickening, do you? Where was that attitude back then? When you were crawling all over me years ago, why didn't you find it sickening!" Li Qiongsi's expression suddenly twisted into something ferocious, and she almost blurted out a bombshell.
"You... you are utterly unreasonable!" Huang Guangyuan was driven to fury.
"Hmph! Don't you think I don't know what you're really thinking! You're simply trying to marry our daughter off to that Li Daofeng! You accuse me of using our daughter as a bargaining chip, but aren't you doing the exact same thing? Aren't you using your daughter to ingratiate yourself with Shang Wanqiu?"
"Let me tell you, Huang Guangyuan, that son-in-law of yours whom you haven't even met yet killed the Northwest Marquis! You know better than I do what kind of person the Northwest Marquis is. Just think about it carefully—can our Huang family afford to provoke people like that? How do you, Huang Guangyuan, plan to withstand the wrath of the Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign?"
"I guarantee you, the moment you announce you're marrying your daughter to Li Daofeng, people will come knocking on our door tomorrow to cause trouble, and our entire family will be buried along with the Northwest Marquis! If you ask me, that little bastard should have been killed to keep him from harming people everywhere. A freeloader living off a woman, and now he even wants to be the matrilocal son-in-law of the Huang family..."
"You... shut your damn mouth!"
Huang Guangyuan was furious enough to drop dead. He pointed a shaking finger at Li Qiongsi's nose and shouted, "What do you know! Are you trying to get the Huang family killed?"
"Hmph! Get this straight, Huang Guangyuan, the one who's going to get the Huang family killed isn't me—it's that little bastard you've taken such a fancy to!"
"You're sucking up to that woman Shang Wanqiu like this—are you planning to divorce me and marry her instead? Have you already crawled into bed with that woman..."
"Slap..."
Huang Guangyuan could no longer stomach another word. In his fury, he delivered a fierce, heavy blow across Li Qiongsi's face.
"If you dare spout any more nonsense, I'll beat you to death, you bint!"
"Ah... Huang Guangyuan, how dare you hit me! For the sake of that bitch, you actually hit me! Wuwu... Fine! Go ahead and hit me! If you have the guts, beat me to death—that would suit you just fine so you can bring that woman back home! Come on, hit me! Beat me to death..."
Filled with anger and grievance, Li Qiongsi flung herself into Huang Guangyuan's arms and began throwing a tantrum.
"Get lost! You shrew, what are you trying to do?" Huang Guangyuan shoved Li Qiongsi away and roared.
"If you want to die, go die right now, but don't drag the Huang family down with you! I'm warning you, if I hear those bullshit words come out of your mouth again, I really will kill you! And not just you—not a single person in your Li family will be left alive either!"
Huang Guangyuan pointed at Li Qiongsi and issued a stern warning.
Perhaps feeling that this warning lacked enough deterrent force, or simply consumed by rage, Huang Guangyuan lunged forward, grabbed Li Qiongsi by the collar, hauled her up right in front of him, and warned her word by word:
"Remember! I am not joking with you. This is the first time, and it is the last time."
"If I ever hear you say something like that again, I will truly make you and your maiden family vanish completely! I, Huang Guangyuan, will not let you cause the deaths of over a hundred people in the Huang family from top to bottom, nor will I let you bring a violent end to Yinyin! Remember that!"
With that, Huang Guangyuan shoved Li Qiongsi hard back onto the sofa, slammed the door behind him as he left, and abandoned the woman to reflect properly on herself.
Left completely stunned by Huang Guangyuan's sudden explosion of fury, Li Qiongsi stood frozen. They had been together for so many years.
Huang Guangyuan had never once raised his voice at her, let alone issued a murderous warning like the one today.
She never expected that Huang Guangyuan would treat her this way over another woman and another man, even threatening to kill her and her entire family.
For a moment, the fury and grievance in her heart nearly drove her mad, yet she didn't dare fight back! In the end, she could only collapse onto the sofa and burst into bitter tears.
...
In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. During these dozen-odd days, the life Li Daofeng led could only be described as boring and agonizing.
Every day, he was tormented physically by a group of maids dressed in maid outfits, and he constantly had to give ideological pep talks to his little brother—sometimes mixing benevolence with stern authority! It was truly exhausting for both body and mind. He desperately wanted to throw caution to the wind and simply "execute" this group of little minxes by firing squad.
Yet reason reminded him that he was an upright man, and his first time had to be approached with caution!
To tell the truth, if the old Taoist priest hadn't warned him that within ten years he must not break his Yang-nourishing state—otherwise, the dragon energy of the Jiao Dragon Spine would dissipate and he would lose all his martial prowess—he truly would have given up his restraint and punished these women.
"Hold your ground, brother, don't stray! We cannot throw away an entire forest of the future just for a few little saplings in front of us! You must hold your ground! Absolutely do not stray!"
"Your big brother here is an upright young man with ideals and pursuits; we must never trade a moment of fleeting pleasure today for a crematorium of misery tomorrow!"
"We're going to be a grand lord whom beauties will chase just to rub up against us in the future, not someone who breaks his cultivation now! Hold your ground..."
Just as Li Daofeng was muttering to himself, his cell phone suddenly rang.
When he unlocked the phone and saw the contents of the text message, a fierce, overwhelming wave of murderous intent instantly erupted from his body.
Chapter 31: Gone
The text message contained only a few simple words, but it drove Li Daofeng into an instant frenzy!
Right at this moment, he wanted to kill!
"Come to Qintian Villa before dark! Otherwise, you'll be collecting Shang Wanqiu's corpse!"
Horrified, Li Daofeng immediately dialed the number, only to be told it was out of the service area.
"Senior Sister is in danger?"
"Qintian Villa! Qincheng! Could the Qin family be behind this?"
Li Daofeng's mind raced. At a time like this, snatching his Senior Sister and sending him a text message demanding he show up clearly meant they were coming straight for him.
And since coming down the mountain, the only people he had offended besides the Northwest Marquis and the Jiang family were Jiang Xueyao's man, Qin Tianyou of the Qin family, who was preparing to ally with the Jiang family! The Qin family!
His first reaction was that the Qin people had done it.
Yet upon second thought, he dismissed the idea as unlikely; the Qin family lacked that kind of strength.
"No matter who you are! Dare to touch my Senior Sister! I, Li Daofeng, will make you know what it means to wish you were dead!"
With no time to spare for hesitation, the moment he thought of Shang Wanqiu's safety, Li Daofeng strode out of the villa without a moment's delay. Heading into the underground garage, he picked a random luxury car from the fleet Shang Wanqiu had prepared for him, slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, and rushed toward Qincheng.
Qintian Villa was located in Qincheng. Though he had no idea what the situation was like right now, he knew one thing: Qintian Villa was a place where only the wealthy lived.
...
Meanwhile, in an apartment in the Imperial Capital, Huang Wenyin sat expressionlessly on the sofa. Sitting opposite her was her father, Huang Guangyuan.
"Yinyin! Are you still angry because of what your mother did?"
"Dad! Don't you think Mom went way too far? Big Brother Li saved my life, yet she treated him like that. How do you expect me to show my face in public after this!"
"If not for Big Brother Li, I probably would have died twice over, yet Mom subjected him to such humiliation! It's simply too much!"
"Dad! Do you know that if not for Sister Shang's sake, Mom and I probably wouldn't have made it back alive? Someone who even dares to kill the Northwest Marquis—can he possibly tolerate that kind of insult?" Huang Wenyin said indignantly.
"Yinyin! First of all, Dad wants to tell you that everything your mother did was not at Dad's behest; it was just your mother losing her mind because she wanted to marry you off to the Li family. You already know the reason why!"
"And another thing! Dad wants to know: is that Li Daofeng really as formidable as the rumors say? Did he really turn the Northwest upside down, slaughter members of the Jiang family, and kill the Northwest Marquis?"
Huang Wenyin's exploits in the Northwest were presumably known throughout the entire Yan Country. Although Huang Guangyuan was not a Martial Artist, he was a business tycoon—how could he not know about such an event? Besides, he even had Heaven-grade experts serving as honored guests by his side.
He was now brimming with curiosity about Li Daofeng, filled with both fascination and anticipation for Shang Wanqiu's junior brother.
He had witnessed firsthand just how terrifyingly capable Shang Wanqiu was. Everything the Huang family possessed in terms of achievement and status was a gift from Shang Wanqiu. Without her, the Huang family might no longer exist!
"Dad! That night, Sister Li and I were right there at the scene! The Northwest Marquis was killed by Sister Shang! But the moment Big Brother Li made a move, hundreds of the Northwest Marquis's guards collapsed to the ground! His movements were as fast as a ghost! I don't know how else to describe it, but in short, Big Brother Li is immensely powerful!"
Whenever Li Daofeng was mentioned, Huang Wenyin's eyes lit up with a brilliant radiance.
What did this signify? As a former playboy and veteran of the romance game, how could Huang Guangyuan possibly fail to understand?
"Heh! Truly a formidable kid, huh?" Huang Guangyuan smiled helplessly, not feeling particularly happy about it.
"Back then, when Wanqiu told me she wanted to marry you off to her junior brother, I thought she was just joking, so I agreed. I never imagined she actually had a junior brother!"
"Yinyin! Your mother's idea is to marry you off to your cousin, Li Longhao! But Dad has already promised to betroth you to Wanqiu's junior brother. Even if it started as a joke, I think it sounds pretty good now! What do you think?"
"Of course! This isn't the era of parental orders and matchmakers anymore; Dad still respects your choice. You aren't a child anymore—tell me what's on your mind?" Huang Guangyuan asked.
"I will never marry my cousin! Dad, you tell Mom that even if I die, I won't marry him!" Huang Wenyin leaped to her feet in a fury.
"Then you choose Li Daofeng?"
"I..." Mentioning Li Daofeng, Huang Wenyin deflated like a punctured ball, collapsing back onto the sofa in utter dejection.
"Big Brother Li must hate me to death right now! What else is there to say!" Huang Wenyin murmured.
Looking at his daughter's absent-minded state, how could Huang Guangyuan fail to understand? Her heart had probably been hooked by that brat eight times out of ten.
They had only been to Wancheng for a few days!
Yet that brat had already hooked his daughter. If she went away for a few months, wouldn't he end up with a free grandson?
This brat was truly otherworldly!
"Dad understands. Rest assured! No matter what, Dad will make sure you get your wish!" Huang Guangyuan promised.
"Stop acting throwing tantrums and go home to live tonight! You aren't going to abandon your mom and dad just for a man, are you?"
"Of course not... it's just that if I go back, Mom is going to talk about my cousin again... I don't want to go back..." Huang Wenyin said with revulsion.
"She won't! I guarantee your mom will never bring that up again! Dad promises!" Huang Guangyuan said, his tone full of doting indulgence.
"Dad! Actually, I want to take a trip to Wancheng to apologize to Big Brother Li in person, otherwise, I'll always feel weighed down by guilt!"
"Fine! Go if you want to! But you have to promise Dad—no getting into mischief!"
Huang Guangyuan was utterly speechless. Damn it, the daughter he had raised for over twenty years had just been carried off by a dog like this—and she was the one volunteering herself up to be chewed on.
"Dad..." Huang Wenyin blushed fiercely. She had never seen such an unserious father.
How could she not know what her father meant by "no getting into mischief"!
...
Driving at breakneck speed, Li Daofeng wished he could press his foot right through the fuel tank.
Wancheng and Qincheng bordered each other. Normally, driving took about four hours, but Li Daofeng stubbornly compressed the time to just over two hours before arriving in Qincheng.
Qintian Villa!
It was a famously luxurious estate in Qincheng; anyone on the street could point the way.
Qintian Villa sat on an island in the Qin River. The entire island had been transformed into a majestic, opulent estate. Aside from dignitaries and world-class billionaires, ordinary people had no qualification whatsoever to set foot there.
And Li Daofeng's target was precisely Qintian Villa!
Chapter 32: Qin Tianyou's Revenge
It was August, the height of summer, when darkness fell quite late. Even deep into the night, a few scattered people were still strolling along the riverbank to enjoy the cool breeze.
Because this stretch of the riverbank lacked streetlights, certain night-shift practitioners—both brothers and sisters—liked to ply their trade here.
Two or three girls dressed in schoolgirl outfits with ultra-short skirts—so short they barely reached their waists, accentuating their bulging chests—stood along the riverbank, stepping forward to chat up any men who walked past.
There were also some fellows sporting-style Mohawks with small knives hidden in their jackets.
When they spotted a lone walker, they would close in directly.
The work they did was much the same as the young ladies', except the girls had clients plug holes and paid them money, whereas these fellows collected money first, and if you had no money, they made holes in you!
At that moment, a young lady who had just successfully completed a transaction was leaning with both hands against the river wall railing!
Just as she struck a professional pose, a scene out on the river made her eyes widen in shock.
"Holy... holy crap! He's... he's flying..."
"Flying your grandma! Call out for me, or I'll run you over..." panted the fellow behind her, who worked part-time as a pipeline unblocker and kept losing money on the job.
"Br... brother! Quick... look at the river, someone's... someone's flying..."
"Are you out of your damn mind?"
The hardworking young fellow wasn't entirely satisfied with the young lady's professional dedication and decided to give her a bad review after finishing the shift.
However, the moment he glanced out at the lake, his eyeballs nearly popped out of his head. Startled into a violent tremor, he finished his job ahead of schedule.
There, skimming across the surface of the river, a figure was sprinting at breakneck speed—and the water where this person stepped didn't even kick up a single ripple.
"Holy crap! My goodness, I must have overdone it with the late-night shooting! My vitality is completely drained, or how else could my eyes be playing tricks on me? Damn it! I can't keep living like this from now on! Too terrifying!"