It was the dead of winter, and the cold on the Duanmu Continent was particularly biting, yet the external chill could not compare to the icy dread currently gripping the General’s heart.
“Teng Qingshan? It’s actually him!!!”
The General’s body trembled uncontrollably, a physical manifestation of extreme terror. “The Clan Head said that this Teng Qingshan is a Martial Saint of the Innate Golden Core level. Moreover, even the Great Elder of the Rising Sun Merchant Guild treats him with utmost respect. Even the Thunder Blade Martial Saint is no match for him!”
“How could I have offended him?” The General was paralyzed with fear.
The entire Duanmu Continent only had a population of two or three hundred million. How many Innate Golden Core powerhouses could there possibly be?
By proportion, the combined number of Innate Golden Core experts in Azure Water City and the Returning Origin Sect was barely ten. On the Duanmu Continent, counting those in the open and in the shadows, there were only about ten such experts! Yet, there were dozens of powerful families, and even more hidden ones.
The world was proclaimed to be ruled by a hundred competing tribes!
With so few Innate Golden Core experts, the majority were already monopolized by super-powers like the Rising Sun Merchant Guild and the Tianfeng Family. Some so-called great families, like the Fang Family of Dan Yang City, or the Wang Family and Murong Family of Nanshan City, were fortunate to possess one or two Martial Saints, let alone an Innate Golden Core Martial Saint!
This meant—
An Innate Golden Core Martial Saint was entirely capable of assassinating the head of a major family and then slipping away unscathed! Teng Qingshan, whom even the Great Elder, renowned as the foremost expert beneath the God of War, treated as an equal... His intelligence had been rapidly compiled by all the major families following the auction incident! He was designated as: A figure not to be provoked!
“Mr. Teng!”
The General spoke with utmost deference.
...
With that single address, "Mr. Teng," the thousand soldiers and nearly a thousand clansmen of the Tian Family Village gathered in the empty expanse before the village were utterly stunned.
Teng Qingshan was seated atop the Red Wind War Beast.
“Mr. Teng, I didn't know it was you before…” Halfway through his sentence, his son, who had already dismounted the War Beast, gently poked him and whispered, “Father, hurry up and get off the War Beast.”
The General, previously frozen by shock, immediately snapped back to reality and scrambled down from the War Beast.
“Mr. Teng…” the General began again.
“I said, I limit you to the time it takes to steep a cup of tea to leave completely, or all your military officers will be sold as slaves. Half that time has already passed…” Teng Qingshan stated calmly.
The General instantly jolted awake and roared back, “Retreat! Quickly, retreat!”
The other bewildered soldiers, though they didn't know the identity of the youth riding the Red Wind War Beast, could guess he was a supreme powerhouse.
“Hya!” “Hya!” Everyone fled swiftly, a thousand or so mounts galloping away in an instant, shaking the very earth.
“You, and… you two, remain.” Teng Qingshan pointed at three individuals: the General and the Captain of the Hundred-Man Squad.
“Yes, sir.” The General was exceedingly respectful.
How could he dare to be otherwise?
A General? In some great families, a thousand men constituted one battalion, and the commander of a battalion could be addressed as 'Minor General'; his subordinates would respectfully call him 'General.' This applied whether he was a Minor General or a higher-ranking Guard General; ordinary soldiers would flatteringly call him 'General.'
What was the officer of a single battalion compared to an Innate Golden Core powerhouse?
Even Wang Meng, the head of the Wang Family, would respectfully address him as 'Mr. Teng'! He would call Fu Dao 'Mr. Fu'!
It could be said that an Innate Golden Core Martial Saint completely surpassed the head of an ordinary family. Of course, even an Innate Golden Core Martial Saint had to slightly bow his head before super-powers like the Rising Sun Merchant Guild or the Tianfeng Family.
Unfortunately, he was merely an officer commanding one battalion.
“You scoundrel, why aren’t you kneeling and begging Mr. Teng for forgiveness!” The General walked over and kicked the Hundred-Man Captain, sending him tumbling onto the snow, making him bite down hard on a mouthful of icy dirt.
“What are you staring at!” The General angrily kicked him again!
Simultaneously, the General bowed deeply toward Teng Qingshan, “Mr. Teng, your subordinate has been lax in discipline, allowing this boy to offend you. I beg you to command how I should punish him!”
“Mr. Teng, Mr. Teng.”
The Captain finally snapped out of his daze and immediately knelt, prostrating himself on the snow, “It was I who offended you, sir! Spare my life, sir, spare my life!” He was filled with absolute dread. He knew well that in these chaotic times, family heads often presented their own concubines to supreme experts to curry favor. If women could be given away, what was a mere Hundred-Man Captain?
“Begging for mercy?” Teng Qingshan glanced at him. “You were quite arrogant just moments ago.”
The Captain shivered slightly in terror.
“You brute,” the General cursed, kicking him again.
“I ask you, why have you collected taxes so many times?” Teng Qingshan frowned.
The General replied with respectful helplessness, “Sir, currently, around Nanshan City, there are three major families. All three families maintain armies and are constantly engaged in conflict, all requiring silver. Thus… everyone collects taxes. As a result, we have collected a full three times already!”
“I heard them say this is the fourth time,” Teng Qingshan continued to inquire.
“When a family controls a large territory, their army is spread thin. Different units collect separately. Sometimes… problems arise, leading to duplicate collections,” the General explained, bowing low.
Teng Qingshan sighed inwardly upon hearing this.
In times of great upheaval, it was always the lowest strata of people who suffered the most.
On the Nine Provinces Land, the eight great sects sat at the apex; although the world was chaotic, the degree of chaos was limited. The Duanmu Continent, however, was different. Its population was much smaller than the Nine Provinces Land, yet a hundred tribes fought for supremacy. One could only imagine the lives of the poor common folk at the bottom.
“As I instructed before, for the villages surrounding Divine Axe Mountain, I do not wish to see any armies disturbing this tranquility,” Teng Qingshan commanded.
“Yes, sir.” The General bowed, but then raised his head anxiously, “Sir, if we do not come, there are still two other families who will.”
“I will handle that matter,” Teng Qingshan waved his hand. “You may leave now.”
The General and the Captain bowed and kowtowed respectively, then swiftly mounted their War Beasts, cracked the whips hard, and the two beasts bolted away at full speed!
The people of Tian Family Village, who had been steeped in terror and fear, watched this scene with wide, disbelieving eyes. A thousand soldiers had been scared off so easily, and the high-and-mighty General, along with the previously arrogant Hundred-Man Captain, had trembled before this mysterious youth.
“A’Shou, mount the War Beast.” Teng Qingshan instructed.
“Yes, Teacher.”
Teng Shou immediately leaped onto the Red Wind War Beast.
“Two esteemed sirs!” Among the Tian Family Village clansmen, the old Clan Head stepped forward, his face alight with joy, yet filled with trepidation, “You two esteemed sirs, this old man here did not know your identities just now, so please do not take offense. Why don’t the two sirs rest at our village for a moment?”
The old Clan Head of Tian Family Village understood clearly in his heart: Listening to their conversation, even the high and mighty three major families dared not offend that spear-wielding youth. If, if my Tian Family could forge a connection with him… best if he took a fancy to one of the village girls. If he becomes a son-in-law to the Tian Family Village, who would dare come and collect taxes? Who would dare provoke my Tian Family Village?
Then, the men of my Tian Family could also live a good life.
In the future, I suspect girls from every manor would want to marry into the Tian Family Village. If that day ever comes, even if I die, I will have faced the ancestors of the Tian Family without shame.
The old ancestor of the Tian Family knew the terror of chaotic times, which is why he desperately wanted to build a rapport with the spear-wielding youth before him.
“No need,” Teng Qingshan waved his hand.
“A’Shou, thank you,” the simple country girl called out happily.
Teng Shou, seated on the War Beast, grinned foolishly at the country girl twice: “No, thank, no need.” He stammered slightly.
“Let’s go!” Teng Qingshan commanded.
The two War Beasts immediately sped away, soon vanishing into the distance.
As soon as Teng Qingshan and his company departed, the clearing at Tian Family Village erupted. Everyone’s extreme tension moments before had now turned into overwhelming excitement, especially for the families whose daughters had been almost taken away. Children clung to their mothers, young men held their wives, and the old and elderly embraced their daughters.
“Mother!”
“Wife!”
Cries of joyful emotion rang out continuously, and many looked with gratitude toward the direction Teng Qingshan had gone.
“A’Xiu, come here, come here.” The old Clan Head of Tian Family Village called out.
A’Xiu walked over nervously, clutching her patched robes, her head bowed.
“Clan Head, A’Xiu caused trouble,” A’Xiu’s father also said nervously, fearing the Clan Head’s anger.
“It’s fine, this child didn’t cause trouble.” The old Clan Head, who had just been scolding A’Xiu, was now beaming. He gently stroked A’Xiu’s head, “A’Xiu, where did those two people just now come from? How do you know them?”
A’Xiu replied nervously, “I, I met Brother A’Shou in the woods beside the fields after working.”
“A’Shou?” The old Clan Head understood this referred to the youth who had captured the Hundred-Man Captain with lightning speed.
“And the young man?” The old Clan Head asked again.
“That is A’Shou’s Teacher,” A’Xiu considered her words carefully, “Teacher A’Shou is very formidable!”
“The woods beside the fields? Divine Axe Mountain?” The old Clan Head roughly gathered where Teng Qingshan was situated.
The old Clan Head spoke kindly, “A’Xiu, from now on, go often to the woods over there, go see that A’Shou.” The pure and simple young girl A’Xiu had been completely terrified today; first, the village girls being seized, and then the arrival of a thousand soldiers—she was utterly overwhelmed, and her mind was still fuzzy.
The Elder Chief’s previous scolding followed by such gentle words made A’Xiu even more confused.
“What I said, do you remember?” The old Clan Head stressed, “That A’Shou has done our Tian Family Village a great favor, so you must visit him often.”
“Oh, oh.” A’Xiu nodded repeatedly.
A’Xiu only knew one thing: even if the Clan Head hadn't said anything, she would have gone, let alone with the Clan Head’s instruction.
Gradually regaining her senses from the shock, A’Xiu caught a hint of the Clan Head’s underlying intention.
“Clan Head, do you mean…” A’Xiu bit her lip, and the image of the silly yet endearing ‘A’Shou’ flashed in her mind.
The old Clan Head gazed toward the direction Teng Qingshan had departed, sighing inwardly, They are truly beings of a higher realm! When will our Tian Family Village be able to produce such a powerful figure?