"These two words echoed in the minds of everyone present, and they were utterly shocked by Li Daofeng's sheer arrogance.
This was Wancheng in the Northwest, the territory of General Li, the Northwest Marquis. The entire Northwest fell under the jurisdiction of the Northwest Marquis, who commanded a force of two hundred thousand divine troops. Who in the entire world would dare utter such a wild statement as killing the Marquis along with the rest?
"What did you say?"
Xiang Ba's face turned livid. Ever since he began serving General Li, the Northwest Marquis, he had seen plenty of arrogant people, but this was truly the first time he had ever laid eyes on someone as arrogant as Li Daofeng.
"You had better clear out of here right now! Or I'll kill you along with them!" Li Daofeng had no desire to waste any more words.
"You little punk! Do you even know what you're saying? This is Wancheng in the Northwest, the domain of the Northwest Marquis!" Xiang Ba bellowed in fury.
"You talk too much! So what if he is the Northwest Marquis? Get lost!"
Having lost his patience, Li Daofeng threw a palm strike straight at the old man!
Seeing this, Xiang Ba did not dare to be careless and hurriedly raised his hands to parry.
"Bang!"
Their palms collided!
A tremendous noise reverberated through the air!
A massive surge of force erupted outward from the point where their palms met!
Li Daofeng withdrew his hand and stood rooted to the spot without moving so much as an inch!
Xiang Ba did not have it nearly so easy. He staggered back dozens of steps before finally managing to halt his momentum, his face turning instantly pale as he forcefully suppressed the roiling blood in his chest.
The very instant his palms had met Li Daofeng's a moment ago, he felt a formidable surge of power rush violently into his body, churning his blood into a tempest!
Had he not suppressed it with all his might, the mouthful of blood rising to his throat would have spewed right out.
"Good kid! This old man misjudged you. To be so formidable at such a young age! Not bad!" Swallowing down the surge of blood welling up in his throat, Xiang Ba said in a cold voice.
With just a single exchange, he already knew that the young man before him was significantly stronger than he was, an Earth-grade Peak martial artist.
"Kid! This old man considers you a talent and cannot bear to see someone so young throw their life away. Listen to this old man's advice and leave right now! I can pretend none of this ever happened!"
"Impossible! The blood debt for three lives in my family—how could I let that go unavenged? Every last member of the Jiang family must die today!" Li Daofeng declared with a chilling voice.
"Brat! Don't be ungrateful. Have you even thought about the consequences of offending the Northwest Marquis?" Xiang Ba roared in anger.
He had originally wanted to offer him a graceful way out, hoping Li Daofeng would quit while he was ahead. Yet Li Daofeng refused to be sensible and wouldn't even give the Northwest Marquis any face.
"I said it before! If the Northwest Marquis tries to stand in the way of my revenge, I'll kill him too!"
"Incorrigible! Attack! Take him down for me, alive or dead!" roared Xiang Ba, ordering the dozen or so guards in military uniform behind him to move in.
The men brought by Xiang Ba were personal guards of General Li, the Northwest Marquis. Every single one of them was a Human-tier Martial Artist—a mighty existence in the eyes of ordinary people.
Just as the dozen-plus guards lunged forward, Li Daofeng moved! He was as fast as lightning; the human eye could barely catch a glimpse of his figure.
Amidst a flurry of muffled bangs and successive cries of agony, the dozen guards were sent flying backward several meters before crashing heavily to the ground, where they lay motionless, their fates unknown.
"You..."
Xiang Ba's expression grew even uglier, and a heavy weight settled in his chest. He could no longer gauge Li Daofeng's true strength.
Yet the dignity of the Northwest Marquis could never be compromised!
"Take your men and get lost! Or die!" Li Daofeng had no wish to kill more people than necessary; his sole target was the Jiang family.
"Brat! Do not be so arrogant! The dignity of the Northwest Marquis is not something you can trample upon. Go to hell!" Xiang Ba surged upward, curving his hands into claws and lunging straight for Li Daofeng's face!
Li Daofeng said no more. He did not want to needlessly take lives, but neither did he mind sending those who came looking for death straight to the netherworld.
Faced with Xiang Ba's ferocious onslaught, Li Daofeng remained completely still. The moment Xiang Ba's hands reached for his neck, he executed a bizarre maneuver and sidestepped the fatal blow.
Li Daofeng's sequence of movements was so swift and uncanny that by the time Xiang Ba reacted, he was already being hoisted into the air by his throat in Li Daofeng's grip.
He tried to fight back, but to his absolute horror, he discovered that he could not channel the internal strength within his body at all!
"I gave you a chance! You brought this upon yourself, so you have no one else to blame! Remember, in your next life, don't meddle in other people's business!"
Li Daofeng's chilling words made Xiang Ba feel as though he had plunged straight into the depths of hell, a profound sense of terror gripping his heart.
"You... if you dare lay a hand on me, the Northwest Marquis... will never let you go..." Xiang Ba stammered in fear.
"Let's test that theory!" Li Daofeng sneered disdainfully and tightened his grip with a sudden burst of strength.
"Crack!"
With a crisp snap, Xiang Ba's windpipe was crushed, and blood trickled down the corners of his mouth.
Li Daofeng released his grip, and the corpse slumped limply to the ground, completely devoid of breath.
Xiang Ba, who had been so arrogant and overbearing only moments ago, went to his grave refusing to believe that Li Daofeng would actually dare to kill him.
Everyone present gasped in horror once more, staring at Li Daofeng as if he were a demon. Their eyes filled with terror, and they instinctively began to retreat.
Xiang Ba!
He was one of the top experts under General Li, the Northwest Marquis, even more formidable than Wu Tianxie! He was a powerhouse who commanded respect across the entire Northwest, yet he had just been choked to death like this.
"I will say it one more time: today, I am only settling accounts with the Jiang family, and I have no wish to harm the innocent. Those who do not want to die—get out of here right now!" Li Daofeng roared, sending a formidable wave of inner qi bursting forth from his body.
The guards who had intended to avenge Xiang Ba were blown away by this immense pressure, crashing to the ground and bleeding from their seven orifices before drawing their final breaths.
At this sight, no one dared to linger a moment longer, terrified that they would be the next to die.
They scattered and fled in a wild panic!
"Tianyou! Don't leave me behind! Take me with you... Tianyou..."
Qin Tianyou tried to break away, but Jiang Xueyao clung to him with a death grip, frantically begging him to take her along.
"Bitch! Let go of me, you whore! Are you trying to get me killed? Get lost!" Qin Tianyou viciously shoved Jiang Xueyao away and fled in a panic.
"Tianyou..." Jiang Xueyao wailed aloud, utterly helpless.
"Heh! Jiang Xueyao, I never thought you'd have a day like this!" Li Daofeng said, walking step by step toward Jiang Xueyao.
"You... don't come over here! Don't come near me!"
"Li Daofeng! Please spare me, I didn't want any of this either! It was all forced upon me by my father and my grandfather. They were the ones who looked down on you, the ones who felt that letting you be my husband brought shame upon the Jiang family, which is why they had you killed! It has nothing to do with me, please spare me..." Jiang Xueyao backed away step by step, weeping and pleading.
"I won't kill you! But I will take back what rightfully belongs to me! A vicious woman like you is not worthy of having my bone marrow and spine!"
As he spoke, Li Daofeng made a pinching motion from a distance and tapped several spots on Jiang Xueyao's body!
It looked like child's play.
Yet the very next moment, Jiang Xueyao collapsed to the ground, letting out a shriek of agonizing pain!
Amidst Jiang Xueyao's screams, red and white fluids could be seen oozing from her lower back—marrow mixed with fresh blood, staining the ground.
This was the bone marrow that had been extracted from Li Daofeng's body eight years ago and grafted into Jiang Xueyao, and now Li Daofeng was taking it back in this manner.
"What I gave you, I am taking back! What you took from me, I will reclaim piece by piece!" Faced with the agonizingly shrieking Jiang Xueyao, Li Daofeng showed not a shred of pity!
With a wave of his hand, several silver needles flew forth and embedded themselves into Jiang Xueyao's lower back! The next instant, Jiang Xueyao let out a piercing shriek, thrashing and rolling across the ground in a miserable display that sent chills down the spines of all who watched.
Following that, the spine along her lower back began to protrude in a bizarre fashion! As the spine bulged further and further outward, with a loud "crack," Jiang Xueyao's spine snapped, and a section of the spine reinforced with steel pins burst right out of her body!
"Ah..."
The sound of Jiang Xueyao's shrieks made one's scalp tingle; the excruciating pain caused her to pass out cold on the spot.
The blood-drenched segment of spine lying on the ground was picked up by Li Daofeng and held in his hand!
This was the very spine that the Jiang family had carved out of his body back in the Northwest; his own belongings, which he had now reclaimed.
"A blood debt must be paid in blood—it is only natural and just!"
With an exceptionally chilling expression, Li Daofeng exerted force with his palm and crushed that section of the spine into powder.
Glancing at Jiang Xueyao, who lay on the ground like a dead dog, Li Daofeng did not finish her off. He left her alive to fend for herself, just as Jiang Xueyao and her family had abandoned him in the wilderness eight years ago.
Like an executioner of death, Li Daofeng turned around and looked at Jiang Haotian, who was still cradled in Jiang Xuelin's arms, covering his eyes and wailing.
"Now it's your turn, Young Master of the Jiang family!"
"You... what do you want... brat, I'm warning you, if you dare lay a hand on my son, the Jiang family will never let you go! You... don't come any closer..."
Jiang Xuelin held his son tightly in his arms, desperately trying to shield him.
"When you murdered members of my family, you should have anticipated this day would come! Die!"
With a flick of his finger, a flash of silver darted from Li Daofeng's hand. A silver needle pierced straight through Jiang Haotian's skull, leaving a tiny bloody hole right between his eyebrows!
"Tian'er..."
Gazing at his lifeless son, Jiang Xuelin let out a heart-wrenching howl, shaking Jiang Haotian's corpse violently as if trying to wake him up.
"Little bastard! You killed Tian'er! I'll kill you! Ah..."
Driven entirely by madness, Jiang Xuelin allowed his grief and rage to override his terror, rushing recklessly toward Li Daofeng, wanting to tear him to shreds to avenge his son.
"Bang!"
Li Daofeng lashed out with a flying kick, landing a heavy blow squarely against Jiang Xuelin's chest.
Jiang Xuelin spewed a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward, hitting the ground with no breath left in his body.
Every remaining member of the Jiang family collapsed limply to the floor, staring at Li Daofeng in utter terror as if awaiting the arrival of the Grim Reaper, enveloped by an overwhelming sense of dread.
Ignoring them completely, Li Daofeng walked straight toward Old Master Jiang, who had remained seated without moving a muscle!
"Old Master Jiang! Rest assured, I won't kill you! I'm leaving you alive so you can collect the bodies of your son, your grandson, and your granddaughter! I want you to live—to live in the agonizing torment of losing your loved ones!"
"If you want revenge, come find me whenever you please. I'll be waiting for you at the old Li residence!"
With that, Li Daofeng walked straight up to Jiang Haotian's corpse. Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, he snapped Jiang Haotian's neck, severed his head, and strode out of the hall of the Imperial Capital Villa, leaving a trail of blood glistening in a red line across the floor.
Carrying the head all the way, Li Daofeng departed the Imperial Capital Villa, and not a single soul dared to stop him!
...
Before long, the news of Li Daofeng crashing the grand banquet of the Jiang family's eldest daughter spread like wildfire throughout the entire city of Wancheng.
At the venue of the Jiang banquet, the Jiang family's son-in-law who had supposedly perished eight years ago had made a powerful return, slaying Jiang Xuelin, the eldest son of the Jiang family, and killing the eldest grandson, Jiang Haotian! He had even gouged out the spinal column of the beloved beauty Jiang Xueyao.
This intelligence swept through Wancheng like a whirlwind, triggering an enormous uproar.
In the blink of an eye, the name "God of Slaughter Li Daofeng" became the hottest topic of conversation all over Wancheng.
From lowly street peddlers to powerful and influential figures, everyone on street corners and over tea breaks was discussing the event!
Back at the Imperial Capital Villa, Old Master Jiang, Jiang Henian, stared at the corpses of his son and his headless grandson, his face drained of all color.
Still he said nothing, merely signaling the others to send the barely breathing Jiang Xueyao, who was still hanging on to life, to the hospital!
He clenched his fists tightly, his gloomy gaze fixed upon the two corpses on the floor.
The former son-in-law, who used to be treated worse than a dog by the Jiang family, had committed murder right in front of him. His son was dead, his grandson had been slain, his grandson's head had been severed and carried away, and his granddaughter had been left worse off than dead! He had watched all of this unfold with his own eyes, yet he suppressed his thunderous rage—a testament to how vicious and chilling this man's temperament truly was.
"Li Daofeng! This old man will make you pay the price! Not a single member of the Jiang family will have died in vain!"
After a long silence, Old Master Jiang squeezed those words out from between his teeth. His chilling voice was laden with malice and hatred, as if echoing up from the depths of hell, making one shudder.
"Send word to General Li, the Northwest Marquis! Tell him that Li Daofeng is waiting for him at the old Li residence, and ask him if he dares to show his face!" A sinister glint flashed across Old Master Jiang's eyes!
"In addition, pass down the word! Every member of the Jiang family is to leave town and take refuge elsewhere for a few days! Return only after the storm in Wancheng has passed!"
With just those two instructions, Old Master Jiang arranged everything.
"Understood!"
The members of the Jiang family nodded in unison and immediately set out to act.
Meanwhile, Li Daofeng had already returned to his former home.
Placing Jiang Haotian's severed head before the three memorial tablets, he dropped to his knees.
"Father, Mother, Sister! I have avenged you! The head of the mastermind who caused your deaths has been severed and brought before your tablets to comfort your departed spirits. Rest in peace!"
"Rest assured! I will not spare a single member of the Jiang family. This is only the beginning. The blood debt they owe us will be repaid tenfold, a hundredfold! I will make the Jiang family live in eternal terror!"
...
Li Daofeng remained kneeling before the three memorial tablets, pouring out his longing accumulated over the past eight years and recounting every single detail of what he had endured.
Unbeknownst to him, night had fallen.
In the dark night sky, a fierce gale raged as if countless evil spirits were coming to claim souls, and gusts of chilling wind made one's scalp tingle.
Crash!
The dilapidated front gate of the Li residence, which had stood for eight years, finally collapsed in the cold wind.
The faint light from the outside filtered through the doorway and cast illumination into the room.
Beneath that glow, Li Daofeng remained kneeling before the three tablets, looking like a monk in deep meditation.
The three blood-red memorial tablets before him took on an eerie, terrifying aura in that moment.
Suddenly, two figures flashed through the darkness, landing outside the doorway and blocking out the faint light, casting two long shadows across the floor of the room.
"Little brother! You've got some nerve, running wild in the Northwest Marquis's territory and killing his men! You really make this big sister look at you with new eyes!"
A seductive voice dripping with libertine allure drifted out of the dark night.
"Hmph! Wu Tianxie and Xiang Ba are getting more and more useless by the day, actually getting killed by a little bastard like this! They even lost the Marquis dozens of guards—they deserved to die!"
Another man's voice rang out with disdain.
Hearing the voices, Li Daofeng paid them no mind, remaining kneeling before the memorial tablets!
He had sensed their presence even before they landed outside.
He could hear that these two were not the only ones; several miles away, a large force was rapidly marching toward this direction.
Chapter 8: You Are a Grandmaster
A moment later, hearing those footsteps approaching the courtyard entrance, he muttered under his breath: "The Northwest Marquis's men!"
Still, he did not get up, keeping his back turned to the doorway.
"Hahahaha! Little brother! Since you knew we were the Marquis's men, yet you still put on such a haughty act! That's not very nice of you, oh no!"
The woman's voice was seductive to the extreme. Even though Li Daofeng had not laid eyes on what she looked like, he could tell from her voice alone that this woman must be utterly dissolute!
"Does the Northwest Marquis not dare to come himself, so he sent you two here to throw your lives away?" Li Daofeng scoffed dismissively.
"Brat! With just your little punk status, you aren't even worthy of our Marquis making a move! Killing the Marquis's men means even the King of Hell can't save you. I'll give you a chance: take your own life right now, and I'll grant you a painless death!" the man sneered arrogantly.
These two were among the thirty-six elite experts under the command of the Northwest Marquis. Their status was even higher than that of Xiang Ba, whom Li Daofeng had slapped to death back at the Imperial Capital Villa, making them naturally more formidable than him as well!
Having grown accustomed to running rampant across the Northwest, the thirty-six top experts under the Marquis naturally didn't regard a greenhorn like Li Daofeng as anything special.
Though Li Daofeng had killed Xiang Ba and Wu Tianxie, their arrogant minds simply concluded that those two were mere incompetents, rather than believing Li Daofeng was truly powerful.
While the three of them were exchanging words, the two experts arrived in the courtyard accompanied by three hundred elite soldiers of the Northwest Marquis, forming a dense sea of black armor that completely and tightly surrounded the room where Li Daofeng was located.
"I said it before! My revenge today is directed solely at the Jiang family! I have no wish to harm innocents. If you leave now, you still have time!"
Faced with the hundreds of soldiers and the two top experts outside, Li Daofeng still did not turn around, his cold voice speaking in an indifferent tone.
"Arrogant! Let me see just how much capability you have to keep running your mouth!" The man cursed in fury, taking a step across the threshold to kick fiercely at the back of the kneeling Li Daofeng.
"Hmph! A mere dog dares to bare its teeth!"
Li Daofeng whirled around abruptly, lashing out with a ferocious punch straight toward the incoming kick.
"Ah!"
A miserable shriek rang out, accompanied by the ear-piercing sound of snapping bone.
The man was sent flying backward amidst his screams, landing far out in the courtyard where he rolled around on the ground, wailing in agony.
As everyone looked over, they saw that the leg struck by Li Daofeng had snapped clean through the muscle of the thigh, leaving the stark-white bone exposed to the open air in a gruesome display. That leg was utterly ruined.
"Ah... it hurts like hell... Attack! All of you attack, kill this little bastard! I want him dead!" the man roared in torment.
Upon receiving his command, the three hundred Northwest Marquis soldiers drew their sidearms and unleashed a barrage of gunfire aimed squarely at Li Daofeng.
At that exact moment, Li Daofeng's body moved in an uncanny blur! He vanished from the spot like a phantom, reappearing right behind them just as the crowd looked for his trace once more.
"I didn't want to kill you all, but you insisted on seeking your own deaths! Don't blame me, then!"
With those words, his hands danced continuously as a countless shower of tiny pebbles flew from his fingertips, embedding themselves into the soldiers' bodies! They struck vital acupuncture points, instantly crippling their martial capabilities.
His medical mastery had reached a miraculous realm; a healer could save lives, but they could also take them, and he knew far better than anyone else which pressure points on the human body could cause instant death.
In the span of just a few breaths, all three hundred soldiers collapsed to the ground amidst cries of pain! However, Li Daofeng did not deal fatal blows; he merely stripped them of their cultivation and temporarily robbed them of their mobility.
These men were merely following orders after all!
They had wives, children, and elderly parents waiting at home; how could he slaughter so many innocent souls right before the memorial tablets of his parents and sister?
"You..."
The seductive woman turned pale with fright at the scene before her. It was only at this moment that she realized the true terror of Li Daofeng.
The man who had just had his leg crippled by a single kick from Li Daofeng was Tunshe, ranking twenty-first among the thirty-six experts under the Northwest Marquis, an Earth-grade Peak martial artist. Yet an expert of such caliber couldn't even withstand a single move from Li Daofeng before being crippled.
As for the three hundred elite soldiers, the weakest among them were Human-tier Martial Artists, and there were even Earth-tier Martial Artists mixed in. Yet facing Li Daofeng, those three hundred troops didn't even get a single chance to fight back.
Was this even human?
"You... you are a Grandmaster-grade..." the woman stammered, a chill gripping the depths of her heart.
"Get lost..."
Li Daofeng roared coldly.
"You..."
Fury surged within the woman! Having spent so many years in the Northwest, when had she ever been rebuked like this?
"Youji! The Marquis gave strict orders! He told us to bring this little bastard's head back to him. Do you dare defy the Marquis's orders? Why aren't you making your move and killing this little bastard!"