Chapter 6

Suddenly, a piercing scream erupted from behind Chen Shan, among the few remaining survivors: "Old dog Chen Shan! You're talking nonsense!" "How come I've never heard of this big shot you keep talking about?" "Your Chen Family was slaughtered by Brother Yun Feng, which is only what you deserve! Why are you trying to drag the Li Family down with you?!" The speaker was a young man, looking to be about the same age as Chen Shuo. With dark bruises around his eye sockets, thinning hair, and lips tinged with an unnatural blackness, it was plain to see that wine and women had hollowed out his body. Seeing a flash of surprise cross Yun Feng's face, Zhou Ling quickly leaned in and whispered: "Xiaofeng, this is Li Xiaotian." "He is the legitimate eldest son and young master of the Li Family." "At the same time, he represents the Li Family in a political marriage with the Chen Family, and he is currently the husband of Chen Yin's second daughter." Hearing this, Yun Feng's expression suddenly turned ice-cold! The Li Family was no better; they accepted bribes in Haicheng, ran illegal businesses, and decades-old rumors even claimed the Li Family made their fortune through human trafficking. Even setting all that aside, the Li Family had once dispatched a full team of three assassins to hunt him down. The two piercing scars on his lower back and over his heart were courtesy of the Li Family. Seven years ago, if not for his Second Master's superb medical skills, one of Yun Feng's kidneys would have been ruined by the Li Family! Flesh and blood could only take so much! Since this Li Xiaotian was a member of the Li Family and connected to the Chen Family by marriage, he had brought this doom upon himself! Li Xiaotian had long since been scared out of his wits by Yun Feng. At this point, his only desire was to sever all ties with the Chen Family and salvage his life to escape. Seeing Yun Feng's expression shift, Li Xiaotian's legs trembled so violently he almost peed himself again. He stammered in a rush: "Brother Yun Feng! I am no member of the Chen Family!" "Don't listen to Chen Shan's dying, random barking about what happened back then—it was all orchestrated by the City Lord of Haicheng alone!" "Although my Li Family made a move, we were forced into it against our will!" "In this Haicheng, who would dare defy the City Lord's orders?" "In fact, I heard from my dad that my mother and your mother were best friends back in the day!" "Brother Yun Feng, trust me! My Li Family only needs three months... no, one month! We will definitely help you kill the City Lord of Haicheng!" "I, Li Xiaotian, swear on my honor!" As he spoke, Li Xiaotian slapped his chest with loud, solid thuds, putting on an utterly righteous display. Yun Feng glanced at him and sneered: "A mouth full of lies. Time to die!" Li Xiaotian's expression underwent a drastic change. Before Li Xiaotian could utter another word, Yun Feng flashed forward and materialized right in front of him. With a swift chopping motion, he slashed! His hand-blade swept across Li Xiaotian's neck, and the head instantly went flying into the air! A headless corpse collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud. Yun Feng's expression remained completely unperturbed. Extending one hand, he caught Li Xiaotian's falling head with a steady grip. Yun Feng spun around and reached out with his other hand toward Chen Shan's head. Without any wasted movement, Chen Shan's head rolled off his neck and was plucked right into Yun Feng's grasp! Boom! A fierce and terrifying aura instantly erupted from Yun Feng's body. The few people still alive in the courtyard were instantly crushed by this overwhelming pressure, turning into a wave of blood without even an intact corpse left behind. With this, every single member of the Chen Family was utterly wiped out! Yun Feng casually grabbed a blood-stained coat and roughly wrapped up Li Xiaotian's head. Then, cradling Chen Shan's head in both hands, he turned around and placed it squarely before his parents' memorial tablets. Three sticks of incense were lit, and Yun Feng respectfully bowed toward his parents' memorial tablets: "Father, Mother." "Your unfilial son Yun Feng today uses the dog head of former Chen Family head Chen Shan to comfort the spirits of my parents in heaven!" "As for the mastermind behind the tragedy of the Yun Family, Xiaofeng already has a lead." "It won't be long before Xiaofeng drags that cowering murderer out and presents them before Father and Mother's memorial tablets!" With that, Yun Feng kowtowed three loud, heavy thuds to his parents' memorial tablets. Zhou Ling also knelt beside Yun Feng, meticulously bowing to his parents' memorial tablets. These three kowtows were performed with absolute, unyielding propriety. Coming from Zhou Ling in her capacity as Senior Sister, this was perhaps a bit too heavy a courtesy. Beside them, Zhou Ling's parents exchanged a glance, secretly nudging Yun Feng's position in their hearts from "junior apprentice brother" to something much closer and more intimate. When all of this was done, Yun Feng held his parents' memorial tablets, Zhou Ling carried Li Xiaotian's head, and they left the deathly quiet Chen Family Estate along with Zhou Ling's lingeringly terrified parents. "Creak—" The heavy gates closed, quietly sealing away the scene of bloodshed inside. ... Haicheng, City Lord's Mansion. In a massive private auditorium, the City Lord of Haicheng sat all by himself. On the stage, a Huangmei opera was being performed with great flair and color. The City Lord of Haicheng smiled faintly, pinched a piece of pineapple pastry, and gently smacked his lips as he said to the secretary beside him: "Tell that young dan actress on stage to come to my room tonight to attend to me." The glamorous female secretary's pretty face flushed slightly as she nodded and said: "Understood!" "You come too," the City Lord of Haicheng added. The glamorous female secretary gave him a sultry look and said coquettishly: "This humble maid understands~ My lord is so bad~" Suddenly, the auditorium doors were pushed open a crack. A solemn-looking bodyguard slipped inside, hurried over in two strides to the City Lord of Haicheng, and whispered: "Lord City Lord..." "Something has happened." The City Lord of Haicheng unceremoniously stuffed the half-eaten piece of pineapple pastry from his hand right into the glamorous female secretary's mouth, and asked cheerfully: "What is it?" The bodyguard's expression remained grave as he said: "Today, Chen Shuo was holding an engagement banquet with Haicheng's rising star, Zhou Ling..." "What?!" The City Lord of Haicheng instantly straightened up in his seat and roared: "How come I knew nothing about this?!" "Damn it, the Chen Family has some colossal nerve! The woman I've set my sights on, and they dare touch her?" "Chen Shuo? What kind of piece of trash is he? Does he deserve a pure beauty like Zhou Ling?" The City Lord of Haicheng waved a grand hand and declared decisively: "Go and snatch the bride, Zhou Ling, away for me! Go right now!" "Ah, this?" The bodyguard was instantly dumbfounded. A lewd expression crept across the City Lord of Haicheng's face as he rubbed his hands together and chuckled wretchedly: "Zhou Ling..." "A virgin wife..." "Not bad at all..." "Hehehehe..." . Chapter 14: Come Quickly, Senior Sister! The bodyguard gave a bitter smile and continued to explain: "Lord City Lord..." "That engagement banquet between Chen Shuo and Zhou Ling was slaughtered... by some unknown young man..." "There were many Haicheng celebrities attending this engagement banquet." "The Inspection Bureau has already cordoned off the engagement banquet scene and is not letting anyone in." "The news hasn't spread out yet." "But this incident caused too big a commotion; we won't be able to suppress it for long." Hearing this from his bodyguard, the expression of the City Lord of Haicheng finally changed. The City Lord of Haicheng slammed his hand heavily onto the table and raged: "What?!" "Such a thing actually happened right here in my Haicheng?" "This simply means they don't take me, the City Lord, seriously at all!" The City Lord of Haicheng took two deep breaths to calm himself down, then asked: "What is the cultivation realm of the killer?" In Shenzhou, martial artists held a transcendent status. Even as exalted as he was as a City Lord, he had to figure out the other party's weight first before deciding how to handle the situation. The bodyguard reported: "No living person saw him make a move, so it's hard to judge his exact realm." "However..." "Long Xiao's corpse was found at the scene, killed with a single blow." "In addition, there were ten AK-47 assault rifles, which should belong to the Chen Family." The expression of the City Lord of Haicheng grew heavy, inch by inch. "Able to kill Long Xiao with a single blow? This person's realm is very high." "Even with the Chen Family bringing out ten guns, they were still slaughtered by this person?" "Could it be... a Grandmaster?" The City Lord of Haicheng suddenly realized something and asked: "You just said this person is very young? How old?" The bodyguard answered truthfully: "He looks under twenty years old." The City Lord of Haicheng was startled into a cold sweat, springing up from his chair, his eyes filled with shock: "What?!" "A Grandmaster under twenty years old?!" The bodyguard handed over a blurry photograph and said: "This is the face of this person we pulled from street surveillance." The City Lord of Haicheng took it and looked, finding it somewhat familiar, yet he couldn't remember where he had seen it. "No..." The City Lord of Haicheng shook his head slightly and said: "Impossible. In this world, a Grandmaster under twenty should not exist." "If one truly did, I would definitely know about it." "This person should just be a relatively strong Eighth-Stage martial artist." "Excelling in movement techniques, it is possible for him to survive amidst a dense crowd and under the muzzle of ten guns..." The bodyguard pulled another photograph from inside his tunic, swallowed heavily, and said with lingering fear: "In fact, there was one person in the banquet hall who doesn't seem to be dead yet." "However... they probably can't be considered alive anymore either." "His condition is very strange, and the Inspection Bureau didn't dare dispose of him privately; they need Lord City Lord to issue an order." The City Lord of Haicheng took the photograph and looked at it. It showed the incomparably wretched-looking head of the Chen Family, Chen Jin.With his purplish-red skin, bulging eyes, and chest pierced right through and pinned to the ground, he looked by all accounts like a dead body.

Yet, astonishingly, he still had a heartbeat and breath, and could even let out one blood-curdling shriek after another.

"The Head of the Chen Family has forty-nine golden needles driven into his body. It looks like some kind of secret art."

The City Lord of Haicheng nodded and said:

"This matter has indeed exceeded what the Inspection Bureau is capable of handling."

"Have Master Qing take a few men from my estate to deal with Chen Jin."

"Order the Inspection Bureau to issue a city-wide manhunt warrant and make sure his whereabouts are pinned down in the shortest time possible!"

With that, a lecherous expression suddenly surged onto the face of the City Lord of Haicheng, and he rubbed his hands together with a chuckle:

"Send two men to tie up that little wench Zhou Ling and bring her to me!"

"Since she failed to get engaged to Chen Shuo, tonight she will marry the City Lord himself!"

"Hehehehehe..."

...

Just as the entire city was quietly springing into action under the City Lord's orders, Yun Feng and Zhou Ling had already returned to Zhou Ling's residence in Haicheng.

It was a villa—not large, but quite exquisite.

Zhou Ling poured Yun Feng a cup of tea, then immediately took out her phone and said to him:"Xiaofeng, repeat the prescription for the antidote my parents need." "I'll have someone source the ingredients right away." "Although it sounds like it requires many precious herbs, Tianxiang Group built its foundation on incense, so we have extensive material channels. We should be able to gather everything before the poison flares up..." Zhou Ling's tone sounded somewhat uncertain, and her expression was quite anxious. After all, her parents only had three days. And some precious herbs might not be found immediately. Yun Feng gently grasped Zhou Ling's small hand and smiled. "My good Senior Sister." "You have a divine healer from the Yaochi Sect right in front of you—what antidote could possibly be needed?" "With just nine needles, the poison can be completely drawn out from Uncle and Auntie's bodies." Upon hearing this, Zhou Ling's expression lit up with joy. "That's wonderful!" "Mom, Dad, hurry and come with me!" Zhou Ling found a bedroom in the villa and had her parents lie down on the bed. She hesitated for a moment, looked at Yun Feng, and asked, "Do they... need to take off their clothes?" Yun Feng was momentarily stunned, then shook his head repeatedly and said with a serious expression, "No, they don't."With that, Yun Feng immediately went to work, channeling his qi into a single index finger and rapidly tapping at various vital pressure points on Zhou Ling's parents through their clothes. wisps of true qi transformed into qi needles, penetrating into the meridians and acupoints of Zhou Ling's parents. Zhou Ling: "..." Isn't this precisely the technique of the qi needles? That rascal Xiaofeng... As the nine qi needles struck their acupoints, Zhou Ling's parents each spewed a mouthful of dark, toxic pus and blood, then simultaneously passed out cold. Yun Feng briefly checked their pulses and said: "They're fine now." "Let them rest for the night, and they'll be good by tomorrow." Zhou Ling threw her arms around Yun Feng, burying her head deep against his chest. She secretly wiped away a tear and murmured in a low voice: "Xiaofeng..." "It's so good to have you here..." Yun Feng naturally rested his hand on Zhou Ling's curvaceous rear, his mind wandering as he said: "Senior Sister must have been terrified lately." "With Xiaofeng here now, I won't let Senior Sister suffer the slightest bit of grievance ever again." Zhou Ling wept with emotion for a moment before pulling herself together. Only then did she pull Yun Feng along, saying: "Come, Senior Sister will make the bed for you." "You've worked hard and exerted yourself today, you must get a good rest." Yun Feng, however, firmly shook his head and said righteously: "No!" "I want to sleep in Senior Sister's bed!" "Otherwise I'll have nightmares tonight!" Zhou Ling's pretty face flushed red as she recalled the days up on the mountain... Back in the Yaochi Sect, there was naturally a bedroom designated for Yun Feng. Yet Yun Feng had practically never slept in his own room. When he first went up the mountain seven years ago, Yun Feng had suffered from nightmares every single night. Back then, Yun Feng was just a little boy, fair-skinned with rosy lips and bright, spirit-filled eyes, exceptionally refined and handsome. As soon as he arrived on the mountain, he won the deep affection of all the senior sisters. The nine senior sisters would vie with one another to coax Yun Feng to sleep. And so, after a while, it simply became a habit. As for Yun Feng's own bedroom, it ended up covered in a thick layer of dust... "You!" Zhou Ling shot Yun Feng a reproachful glare and scolded playfully: "You're a grown man now, and you're still acting like a child!" "I really don't know what to do with you..." Yun Feng chuckled with a grin as he pushed open the door to Zhou Ling's bedroom. Inside, the bedroom was pristine, elegant, and simple, with a faint, lingering fragrance drifting through the air. The scent refreshed the heart and mind, and just smelling it made one feel instantly calm and at peace. Yun Feng took a deep breath and praised: "Senior Sister's Soul-Soothing Incense is getting more and more refined."With that, Yun Feng stripped off his outer shirt and trousers and dove under the covers of Zhou Ling’s bed. Patting the mattress beside him with enthusiastic fervor, he chirped, "Come on, Senior Sister, hurry up!"

Chapter 15: Sharing a Bed

Seeing Yun Feng’s utterly shameless display, a blush crept across Zhou Ling’s pretty face. She cast him a coquettish glare, though the corners of her mouth betrayed a hint of shy, irrepressible joy.

She loosened her sash, and her outer robes fell to the floor. Under Yun Feng’s burning gaze, Zhou Ling blushed even deeper and pointedly ignored him. Instead, she turned toward the incense burner at the head of the bed and lit a single stick of incense.

A wisp of smoke drifted out; it was not pungent, but carried an incredibly elegant and delicate fragrance. This was the Soul-Soothing Incense, one of the secret aromatic arts of the Yaochi Sect.

Yun Feng took a deep breath and praised, "Senior Sister’s aromatic arts have grown more profound than ever! The ingredients are top-notch, too."

Yun Feng naturally knew the aromatic arts of the Sixth Vein of the Yaochi Sect. Objectively speaking, the Soul-Soothing Incense he crafted was, if anything, superior to Zhou Ling’s. Yet, perhaps it was all psychological, but Yun Feng always felt that the incense he, a big man, crafted lacked the delicate, nuanced touch of Zhou Ling’s own gentle hands.

Hearing Yun Feng’s praise, Zhou Ling’s face flushed an even deeper shade of red. Seeing Yun Feng patting the bedside with that same burning look in his eyes, she offered a helpless smile and lifted the quilt with light, cautious movements, as if terrified she might startle some monster hiding beneath the sheets. With a flicker of her delicate form, she slipped into the bed.

"Xiaofeng..." Zhou Ling murmured, her face flushed. "We are both adults now. It’s not like back on the mountain when we were children... Tonight, you stay on the left, and I’ll stay on the right... The pillow will be the border... You... you are not allowed to cross it."

Before she could finish her sentence, a powerful hand pulled her into a warm, broad embrace.

"Ah!" Caught off guard, Zhou Ling let out a sharp cry, her entire body stiffening in Yun Feng’s arms.

Yun Feng leaned in close to her ear and chuckled, "What pillow? I don’t see a pillow."

Zhou Ling turned bright red to the roots of her hair. Pushing gently against Yun Feng’s burning chest, she stammered, "You... you... Xiaofeng, we shouldn't be doing this..."

Yun Feng asked with a grin, "What kind of wicked thoughts is Senior Sister having? Xiaofeng only wants to get a good night’s sleep."

Zhou Ling felt a wave of warmth wash over her ear, and her entire body went limp. "Pah!" she spat indignantly. "You wicked boy, do you think I don't know exactly what you’re thinking?"

Yun Feng laughed again, then his expression turned serious. "Senior Sister, you are perceptive. I did think of it. But... if Senior Sister does not consent, Xiaofeng guarantees he will never bully you."

Hearing this, Zhou Ling finally let out a sigh of relief. She had spent seven years with him; she knew better than anyone that Yun Feng was a man of his word. If he said he wouldn't do anything out of line, he wouldn't.

Who could have known that Yun Feng would immediately change his tone, asking with a wicked smirk, "So, can Xiaofeng bully Senior Sister tonight?"

Zhou Ling was struck with alarm and shook her head repeatedly. "No!"

Yun Feng yawned, losing interest. "Oh... alright then. Let’s sleep. We have to go kick down the gates of the Li Family tomorrow."

***

While Yun Feng held Zhou Ling and drifted into a deep sleep, a black van pulled silently to a stop on the street not far away. Two men in black suits stepped out. One checked a map in his hand and nodded. "That's right, this is Zhou Ling's villa."

"Let's move. Don't ruin the City Lord's plans."

Inside the bedroom, the snoring continued, but Yun Feng’s tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open. A flash of cold light crossed his gaze! The villa was well-insulated, but Yun Feng’s senses were incredibly keen; he had heard every word of the two men’s conversation.

"The City Lord of Haicheng?" Yun Feng sneered to himself. "I haven't even gone looking for you, yet you’ve sent people to find my Senior Sister?"

Yun Feng gently disengaged from the sleeping Zhou Ling, drifted out like a gust of wind, threw on some clothes, and closed the door without a sound.

Outside the villa, the two men in black were tinkering with the lock; after a moment, they managed to pry the door open without making a noise.