Just as they were about to bypass the living room and head up to the second floor to Zhou Ling's bedroom, intending to snatch away the woman the City Lord of Haicheng had specifically demanded to play with, the two men in black suits suddenly noticed that something was not quite right...
On the coffee table in the living room, a tiny dark red spark was glowing.
The air was filled with a strange, sweet fragrance.
Looking closely, they saw that the dark red spark was actually a stick of incense, planted in an incense burner, burning quietly!
And sitting in the sofa behind the coffee table was a person!
The young man was draped in women's pajamas, his muscular chest exposed in the dim light.
A pair of eyes were colder than the moonlight on the horizon!
"You have quite the nerve," Yun Feng rebuked coldly.
The pupils of the two men in black shrank abruptly!
Simultaneously, they reached out and drew two pitch-black handguns from their waists!
Watching the gun muzzles pointing at him, Yun Feng raised an eyebrow, shook his head, and smiled:
"Guns?"
"That simply won't do."
"It will disturb my Senior Sister's sleep."
Without caring what Yun Feng was saying, the two men in black instantly wanted to pull the triggers!
However, when they exerted force with their fingers, they were horrified to find that they could not budge the triggers at all!
The triggers, which usually offered no resistance, felt today as if they were weighed down by two massive mountains.
Despite using every ounce of strength in their bodies, neither of them could force the triggers to move!
"What is going on?"
The brains of the two men in black completely crashed!
Before the two of them could figure out the situation, they suddenly felt a weakness in their legs.
It was as if all the strength had been drained from their bodies, and they collapsed straight to the floor together.
Yun Feng reached out, pinched the burning incense from the burner, flicked it slightly, and said indifferently:
"Soft-Bone Venom."
"Considered one of the most elementary venomous incenses in the Yaochi Sect's Sixth Vein perfumery secret arts."
"However, this one was blended by me, so its potency is quite strong."
"Even my Sixth Master might not be able to withstand it, let alone the likes of you."
One of the men in black trembled and said:
"You... do you know who we are?"
"How dare you make a move against us? Have you got a death wish?"
Yun Feng nodded lightly:
"I know."
"Two dogs belonging to the City Lord of Haicheng."
The bodies of the two men in black shook violently, and they exchanged glances, seeing the terror deep within each other's eyes.
This man knew who we were, and yet he still dared to move against us?
"Who are you?" the two asked in terror.
Yun Feng gave a faint smile and shifted slightly, letting the moonlight from the window illuminate his face.
"You should recognize me, right?" Yun Feng asked.
At a single glance, the hearts of the two men in black skipped two beats!
How could they possibly not recognize this face of Yun Feng's?
This was precisely the mysterious person who had just been placed on a city-wide wanted list by Haicheng this afternoon!
It was rumored that this man had slaughtered the Chen Family's engagement banquet, directly offending nearly eighty percent of the powerful families in all of Haicheng!
Many powerful families had already released word that it was either him or them, to the bitter end!
Never in their wildest dreams had they expected that just by coming to grab a woman for the City Lord of Haicheng to play with, they would actually run into this vicious wanted criminal?
Ignoring the terror on the two men's faces, Yun Feng casually grabbed a fruit knife from the table and tossed it in front of them:
"I need someone to take a message back to the City Lord of Haicheng."
"Therefore, only one of you gets to walk out alive."
With that, Yun Feng extinguished the Soft-Bone Venom in his hand.
Chapter 16: Why is Yun Feng So Strong?
At the same time he extinguished the Soft-Bone Venom, Yun Feng made a beckoning gesture, and the two handguns on the ground landed beside him.
As the Soft-Bone Venom dissipated, the two men in black gradually recovered a bit of strength.
Without a second thought, both reached out toward the fruit knife on the ground!
Five minutes later.
One man had severed the other's head.
Yun Feng nodded and said:
"Go tell the City Lord of Haicheng for me."
"The grudge from back then, I will return to him a thousand and ten thousand fold!"
"Once I slaughter the Li Family, I'll come looking for him."
"Tell him to wash his neck clean and wait obediently."
The surviving man in black nodded repeatedly, indicating that he had memorized every word.
Yun Feng pointed toward the villa's front door and said indifferently:
"Take the corpse and the blood-stained carpet, and get lost."
The man in black crawled and scrambled away from the villa, shoved the body and the carpet into a van, slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and fled without ever looking back!
In his heart, there was only a single thought:
Get away from this hellish villa and this demonic man—further, even further away!
...
In the banquet hall, which had been flowing with rivers of blood during the day, three retainers kept by the City Lord of Haicheng filed in one after another.
The man in the lead was an elderly man with white hair and beard, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
With strides like a dragon and a stance like a towering peak, he was clearly no ordinary person.
The surrounding inspectors sealing off the scene trembled in fear at the sight of him, not even daring to draw a full breath.
Surnamed Qing and addressed as Master Qing, he was one of the most trusted confidants of the City Lord of Haicheng.
In Haicheng, Master Qing was virtually the incarnation of the City Lord himself.
Few people had ever seen Master Qing make a move, but everyone knew that he was a genuine Grandmaster!
Behind Master Qing followed two other retainers of the City Lord, both men in their prime around thirty years of age, their imposing auras similarly heavy and deep.
Shockingly, they were also two Seventh-Vein martial artists!
In the banquet hall, the stench of blood was so thick it refused to disperse.
Stepping onto the slick, sticky carpet gave one the sensation of being sucked downward.
Master Qing swept his gaze across the banquet hall, immediately locking onto Chen Jin, who had been pinned to the floor by stool legs.
"Forty-nine golden needles..."
Master Qing looked at Chen Jin's purplish-red skin, his bulging eyeballs, and the miserable shrieks constantly bursting from his throat, and murmured in a low voice:
"This is using exceptionally superb medical skill to create a living corpse."
"Chen Jin is already dead, but his life is still being artificially sustained."
"Only after enduring such torment for forty-nine days will he truly die."
"Fine methods!"
Ever since stepping into the Grandmaster realm, Master Qing had rarely praised anyone.
Yet today, he was truly shaken by the scene before him.
With his Grandmaster realm, he was all the more capable of appreciating the brilliance of these forty-nine golden needles locking the soul.
Pondering for a moment, Master Qing said:
"This must have come from the hand of a Grandmaster of medicine."
"Furthermore, a Grandmaster of medicine with extremely profound cultivation, exceptionally transcendent techniques, and an immensely deep heritage."
Hearing Master Qing use the word "extremely" three times in a row, the two Seventh-Vein martial artist retainers following behind him could not help exchanging glances.
"Could it be..."
"The young man who slaughtered this banquet hall really is a Grandmaster?" one Seventh-Vein retainer asked, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He was thirty years old, had practiced martial arts without a break, and had only reached the Seventh Vein!
In Haicheng, a Seventh-Vein martial artist was already a phoenix among men.
Yet a Grandmaster not even twenty years old?
What kind of concept was that?
However, Master Qing shook his head decisively:
"Impossible."
"Where on earth would a Grandmaster of that age exist?"
The Seventh-Vein retainer hesitated and asked:
"Then?"
Master Qing said indifferently:
"In my view, there are two possibilities."
"First, a Grandmaster of medicine used disguise techniques to alter his appearance."
"Second, it was someone else entirely. The young man we saw on the surveillance footage was likely just a decoy. For a Grandmaster, avoiding capture by surveillance cameras is the easiest thing in the world."
"Personally, I lean toward the second possibility."
The two Seventh-Vein retainers came to a sudden realization and nodded repeatedly:
"That makes sense!"
"Master Qing's vision is still far superior, seeing right through the other party's little trick at a glance!"
Flattered and thoroughly pleased, Master Qing stroked his long beard lightly and smiled:
"We will discuss this matter in detail with the City Lord after we return to the City Lord's Mansion later."
"You two, go deal with Chen Jin first."
"After all, he is the current head of a powerful Haicheng family; looking this wretched makes the City Lord lose face as well."
"Pull out the golden needles from his body and give him a quick release."
The two Seventh-Vein martial artists exchanged glances.
One of them quickened his pace and walked up to Chen Jin's side.
He reached out, pinched the golden needle between Chen Jin's eyebrows, and slowly drew it out.
...
Zhou Ling's villa, second-floor bedroom.
Yun Feng lay back down, just as he had gathered Zhou Ling's soft, delicate body into his arms.
Suddenly, his heart was stirred, a brilliant flash crossed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled into a cold sneer.
"Heaven has a path you refuse to tread, but into Hell you force your way."
"Are my golden needles something you wretches are qualified to pull out?"
"Acting as dogs for that dog of a City Lord is the very reason you brought this death upon yourselves."
...
That Seventh-Vein retainer had just extracted the first golden needle.
Suddenly, he felt the golden needle in his hand tremble, as if it possessed a life of its own, instantly breaking free from his grasp and flying out!
With a flash of golden light, the Seventh-Vein retainer felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows.
When he came to his senses, the golden needle that had broken free from Chen Jin's body had actually pierced into this Seventh-Vein retainer's body!
The Seventh-Vein retainer was shocked to the core, uttering the very last word he would ever leave in this world: "This?!"
The next moment, all forty-nine golden needles on Chen Jin's body erupted in unison!
Swish, swish, swish!
One golden needle after another flew out from Chen Jin's acupoints, turning to pierce into the Seventh-Vein retainer's body.
The exact same forty-nine major acupoints, with not a hair's breadth of difference in position!
A succession of hysterical screams burst from the Seventh-Vein retainer's mouth.
An unnatural purplish-red hue spread across his skin.
Under the intense agony, his eyes rapidly bloodshot, then bulged outward from their sockets, as if they might explode at any second!
The screams in his mouth grew increasingly horrifying!
He had met the exact same fate as Chen Jin!
Master Qing drew in a sharp breath, his eyes splitting in rage, and roared:
"What a Grandmaster of medicine! How dare you be so ruthless, treating me, Old Qing, as if I don't exist?"
"Let me test your mettle!"
A terrifying aura instantly erupted from Master Qing, and he reached out, snatching the golden needles from the Seventh-Vein retainer into his hand.
With a burst of qi circulating through his palms, he intended to shatter this golden needle into powder!
However, when his qi touched the golden needle, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, vanishing instantly without a trace.
It failed to inflict even the slightest bit of damage upon the golden needle!
Swish, swish, swish!
Forty-nine sharp sounds rang out in succession.
The forty-nine golden needles that had just locked the soul of the Seventh-Vein retainer landed precisely on Master Qing!
They pierced accurately into Master Qing's forty-nine major acupoints!
The Golden Needle Soul-Locking Art!
"No! Don't!!!"
Master Qing's hysterical roar echoed back and forth inside the banquet hall:
"How can he... be so strong???"
"Ahhhhhhhh! It hurts! It hurts so much!!!"
Chapter 17: A Grandmaster Beaten to Death by Needles?
As a master standing proudly in the Grandmaster realm, Master Qing was naturally incomparable to a Seventh-Vein martial artist.
Before plunging into boundless, agonizing torment, Master Qing managed to shout three sentences.
After that, Master Qing, this towering master of the Grandmaster realm, right before the eyes of the last surviving Seventh-Vein retainer...
His skin turned purplish-red, his eyes bulged, and screaming the whole way, he collapsed weakly onto the blood-stained carpet of the banquet hall!
He had already become a living corpse, destined to wail for forty-nine days before dying!
Looking at the scene before him, the last remaining Seventh-Vein retainer felt his scalp go numb, every hair on his body standing on end as a puddle of yellow liquid rapidly spread across his trousers!
Their group had come simply to deal with Chen Jin's corpse, which ought to have been a relaxed and pleasant task.
Yet no one could ever have imagined...
Master Qing was actually dead?!
He had died right before his very eyes!
Without even catching a glimpse of the killer's shadow, a mere forty-nine golden needles had claimed the life of Master Qing, a dignified Grandmaster!
"Monsters! They're monsters!!!"
The Seventh-Vein martial artist shrieked continuously, pissing and shitting himself as he bolted out of the banquet hall, weeping and wailing until he vanished around the street corner.
Leaving behind only a crowd of inspectors sealing off the scene, staring at one another in blank dismay, having no idea what on earth had just happened.
...
In Zhou Ling's bedroom.
Yun Feng lay in bed, holding his beauty, and let out a light, breezy hum.
He formed a hand seal and muttered to himself in a low voice:
"You lot could have died cleanly, but you didn't deserve to suffer this torment."
The moment his voice fell, inside the banquet hall, Master Qing and the Seventh-Vein retainer simultaneously spewed a mouthful of heart's blood and dropped dead on the spot!
For them, a crisp and clean death was absolute mercy.
The forty-nine golden needles flew out from Master Qing's corpse, returning once more into Chen Jin's acupoints.
Just as it had been before Master Qing and the other two arrived.
Inside the banquet hall, Chen Jin's miserable groans, sounding just like a crying ghost, echoed on and on...
...
In the study of the City Lord of Haicheng.
The lamplight was dim and faint.
The Qingyi dan, who had been performing on stage by day, was now dancing completely naked, putting on a show for the City Lord alone.
Kneeling before the City Lord's chair was the glamorous secretary, busy up and down without a pause, her face plastered with seductive smiles.
The City Lord's face was full of greasy, obscene, and satisfied smirks.
Suddenly!
The study door was smashed open with a loud "bang" by a retainer!
"Ah!!!" The Qingyi dan's pretty face turned pale as a sheet, and she hurriedly snatched up the clothes on the floor to cover her exposed charms.
The City Lord of Haicheng froze for a moment, then flew into a violent rage, picking up an ashtray from the desk and hurling it fiercely at the forehead of the retainer who had broken in.
"Are you fucking mentally retarded?"
"Get out! Get the fuck out!"
"Did I not fucking say, under no circumstances is anyone allowed to disturb my refined pleasures?"
Struck by the ashtray, the retainer was bleeding from the head, yet seemed completely oblivious.
With a dull "thud," he dropped to his knees, his eyes glazed over as he murmured:
"Lord City Lord..."
"This subordinate has an urgent matter to report..."
The City Lord of Haicheng furrowed his brows deeply, suddenly remembering something, his expression relaxing again as he rubbed his hands together with a chuckle:
"Is it that Zhou Ling girl being brought back by you lot?"
"That certainly qualifies as an urgent matter."
"For the sake of that beauty Zhou Ling, this City Lord won't argue with you."
"Get lost and carry that Zhou Ling girl in here for me."
The Seventh-Vein retainer stood frozen in place.
Turning to the glamorous secretary and the Qingyi dan, the City Lord of Haicheng leered obscenely:
"You two stay as well."
"Record a video for me later..."
"Tonight, this City Lord is going to make that Zhou Ling girl properly experience my mighty prowess!"
"From this day forward, she will be my... 341st toy!"
"Hahahahaha!"
The beautiful secretary and the Qingyi dan exchanged glances, bitterness filling both their hearts, yet neither dared show the slightest trace of it on their faces as they replied in soft, sweet voices:
"Yes, My Lord."
Only then did the Seventh-Vein retainer snap back to his senses. Shuddering all over, he stammered repeatedly:
"Lord City Lord, you... you've got it wrong."
"I wasn't part of the group that went to snatch Zhou Ling!"
"Tonight, I went with Master Qing to the banquet hall to handle Chen Jin's corpse..."
The City Lord of Haicheng froze, only then remembering that he had dispatched two batches of people tonight.
He had simply forgotten about Master Qing's group afterward.
Although the Chen Family was a powerful family, how could they compare in importance to indulging in a respectable maiden?
The City Lord of Haicheng's expression instantly darkened.
"Is that so."
"Then why didn't Master Qing come?"
"What could possibly be so important at that banquet hall that it couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to report to me?"
"If you can't give me a proper explanation, don't bother showing your face tomorrow."
Facing the City Lord's pitch-black, menacing expression, the Seventh-Vein retainer swallowed hard, his voice on the verge of tears:
"Lord City Lord..."
"Master Qing... is dead!"
Silence!
Deathly silence!
Inside the study, the City Lord of Haicheng froze.
The glamorous secretary froze.
The Qingyi dan, ignorant of the situation, cowered timidly in the corner.
Only the Seventh-Vein retainer broke the atmosphere with his sobs:
"He was... he was stabbed to death... by the golden needles on Chen Jin..."
The City Lord of Haicheng wore a constipated expression, opening and closing his mouth several times without knowing what to say.
After a long pause, he roared furiously:
"Are you fucking playing an April Fool's joke on me?"
"Master Qing was stabbed to death by needles?"
"Those bitches haven't died after being pounded by my rod so many times, yet a Grandmaster like Master Qing can die from a needle prick?"
"Are you drunk out of your mind?"
Trembling, the Seventh-Vein retainer pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket and wept:
"Master Qing really is dead!"
"I don't know how it happened either..."
"But... but..."
As he spoke, he opened an image on his phone.
In the picture, the massive, blood-soaked banquet hall showed three people kneeling on the ground.
All of them had purplish-red skin, bulging eyeballs, and expressions of agonizing shrieks.
Those three people were none other than Chen Jin, Master Qing, and the other Seventh-Vein retainer...
The City Lord of Haicheng took the phone. After just a single glance, the phone dropped to the floor with a sharp "snap."
"How is this possible..."
With a vacant gaze, the City Lord of Haicheng muttered to himself in a low voice:
"Master Qing was a Grandmaster; how could he end up in the exact same state as that good-for-nothing Chen Jin?"
"Just what background does the person who slaughtered the banquet hall have?"
"Could it really be... a shockingly brilliant teenage Grandmaster?"
While the City Lord of Haicheng was completely at a loss, the Seventh-Vein retainer suddenly recalled something and said:
"Before this, Master Qing made an inference about the person behind this..."
Having listened to Master Qing's deductions, the City Lord of Haicheng gradually calmed down, nodding slightly as he said:
"What Master Qing said makes a lot of sense."
"If that's the case, then behind that young man, there's also a hidden Grandmaster of medicine?"
"Hmph... a Grandmaster..."
A cold glint flashed in the eyes of the City Lord of Haicheng, and he gnashed his teeth as he said:
"So what if he's a Grandmaster?"
"Offend this City Lord, and he dies just the same!"
Just as the City Lord of Haicheng was pondering countermeasures in his mind, a man in black stumbled in from outside, cradling a severed head in his hands, and dropped to his knees with a "thud" before the City Lord, wailing:
"Lord City Lord!"
"We... we took your orders to go snatch Zhou Ling..."
"Who could have guessed... that inside Zhou Ling's villa, we would run into that wanted criminal who massacred the Chen Family banquet!"
"That fiend directly chopped off Old Fourth's head, and then told me to bring a message to the Lord City Lord..."