The courtyard ground was paved entirely with neat flagstones, untouched by snow, though the surrounding flora and trees bore a dusting of white.
“Awoo, wooo~~” A series of low, pained moans drifted from the side.
A powerfully built, one-eyed man was bound to an iron pillar. Someone was using specialized iron tongs, designed for bending steel, to pry open the man's mouth; blood was steadily trickling from the corners of his lips. Yet, at this moment, the gaze of nearly everyone present was fixed upon Teng Qingshan.
“Protect the Matriarch!”
“Seize the assassin!”
Shouts rose one after another.
“Rumble~~” A surge of soldiers and retainers flooded into the courtyard.
“Stop!” A clear, ringing, and authoritative command issued from the beautiful woman seated high on her chair. Instantly, all the masters within the courtyard ceased their attacks on Teng Qingshan. Nevertheless, they maintained a tight cordon around him, poised to strike at any second.
Teng Qingshan looked up with marked interest at Dong Zizhi, musing: ‘A female head of the house? Keeps male concubines? Enjoys sadism?’
Teng Qingshan scrutinized Dong Zizhi closely, trying to gauge the nature of this generation’s formidable woman.
Dong Zizhi was full-figured, her complexion ruddy and moist, and her eyes, in particular, seemed faintly luminous—quite seductive!
When Dong Zizhi saw Teng Qingshan, her eyes actually brightened, and she praised, “What a handsome young man!”
In Dong Zizhi’s estimation, Teng Qingshan possessed far more charisma than any of her male concubines. Compared to him, those men were utterly insignificant.
“You sought me out?” Dong Zizhi sat upon her throne, a faint smile playing on her lips. She rubbed her hands together softly and said with a gentle smile, “You certainly have courage, daring to attempt to assassinate me. Countless people have tried to kill me, yet here I, Dong Zizhi, still stand!”
“However, I am a person of great tolerance and magnanimity. I pardon your offense, but—from this day forward, you shall be my tenth male concubine.” Dong Zizhi’s voice echoed throughout the garden.
Teng Qingshan froze momentarily.
‘Male concubine? To become her concubine? This Dong Zizhi truly doesn't know death is at her door!’ Teng Qingshan shook his head inwardly, simultaneously striding toward Dong Zizhi and laughing aloud, “Dong Zizhi, you old demoness, facing death and still so oblivious! Truly laughable!”
Dong Zizhi’s expression shifted slightly upon hearing this.
Old demoness?
Dong Zizhi hated nothing more than having her age mentioned. As a Xiantian expert, her appearance was fixed at her early thirties—her most alluring phase. Though she was nearly sixty now, it was impossible to tell from her exterior.
“Seize him for me!” Dong Zizhi’s face darkened as she commanded, but she immediately added, “Do not harm his life.”
“Yes!”
The vast crowd that had surrounded Teng Qingshan responded in unison, each one resembling a fierce lion or tiger, weapons in hand, lunging toward him.
“This is rather interesting!” Teng Qingshan watched the inner-strength masters and soldiers, all eager to earn merit, and shook his head. “Forget it, I won’t bother squabbling with them!” Several hundred people heavily encircled Teng Qingshan, yet his figure flickered unpredictably, darting and flashing like a phantom.
With every flicker, he covered several zhang of distance.
“Don’t run!”
“Hah!”
Two retainers struck out simultaneously at Teng Qingshan with open palms, but he vanished in a flash, causing them both to strike each other instead.
This sight caused Dong Zizhi, perched high on her throne, to change expression: “What incredible movement technique! Judging by this movement alone, this person must be a Xiantian Martial Saint. To think a Martial Saint has come to assassinate me… yet I don’t recognize this person at all!” Back during the auction of the Vanadium Stone set in Nanshan City…
Many families attended, but the Dong family was embroiled in conflict with the Jiang family at the time and did not go.
“Kill him for me!” Dong Zizhi roared fiercely.
The retainers and soldiers, who had been hesitant, roared upon hearing the command. Arrows flew, hidden projectiles whizzed, and poisons erupted—a torrential downpour aimed at Teng Qingshan.
“Whoosh!”
Teng Qingshan took three more steps in succession, each covering eight zhang, directly breaking out of the siege circle and stopping less than ten zhang in front of Dong Zizhi.
“Old demoness, you think these third-rate skills can kill me?” Teng Qingshan smiled, continuing his advance. He was unhurried, his steps paced evenly.
“Go!” Dong Zizhi waved her hand.
Immediately, the group of masters standing in a line behind her drew their weapons. “Clang, clang~~” A series of sounds as sixteen masters simultaneously unsheathed their battle sabers.
“Die!”
The sixteen lunged forward.
Teng Qingshan took one step, covering two zhang, easily slipping past the cluster of sixteen masters. Their expressions changed drastically, and they pressed their assault with renewed frenzy.
Teng Qingshan smiled, then took another step, another two zhang. In his eyes, the surrounding experts seemed not to exist.
At this point, only the final two zhang separated him from Dong Zizhi.
“Hmph!” Dong Zizhi slammed her throne, transforming into a streak of red phantom light, fleeing rapidly backward.
“Hahaha, Dong Zizhi, you have your day too, hahaha…” The one-eyed man bound to the iron pole howled with excited glee. “Brother, I, Tie San, thank you! Hahaha…” Though several teeth were missing, the one-eyed man was ecstatic.
Teng Qingshan’s figure traced a strange curve, sliding like an eel through water.
“Old demoness, stop running.” Teng Qingshan’s voice boomed like rolling thunder, echoing directly into Dong Zizhi’s ears.
Dong Zizhi saw a flash before her eyes, and Teng Qingshan suddenly materialized in front of her.
“You…”
Dong Zizhi’s face paled slightly as she stared at the youth before her.
“Who sent you to deal with me?” Dong Zizhi retreated two steps. “Whatever others offered you in gold and silver, my Dong family will give you double, no, triple! Tell me, you know the wealth of my Dong family; we can certainly afford it.”
“You cannot afford me,” Teng Qingshan said, stepping forward with a smile. His right hand became like a sharp claw, reaching directly for Dong Zizhi.
A vicious glint flashed in Dong Zizhi’s eyes. She flicked her waist, and a purple light emanated from her closely worn sword. Simultaneously, a bolt of black lightning shot from her left hand toward Teng Qingshan.
“Whoosh!”
Teng Qingshan swept his left hand, catching a rhomboid, sharp hidden weapon. His right hand easily seized the purple soft sword.
“You…” Dong Zizhi was aghast. Purple Xiantian True Essence erupted from her body as she desperately tried to pull free the soft sword, but Teng Qingshan’s right hand held it fast, like an iron vise, rendering the sword immovable.
“How can his hand grip a divine weapon barehanded?” Dong Zizhi was stunned. “I am a Martial Saint; for him to catch my sharp sword without a weapon—who exactly is he?”
“You play with hidden weapons against me?” Teng Qingshan exerted force with his left hand, grinding the rhomboid weapon into dust.
Teng Qingshan advanced one step!
“Thump!” Teng Qingshan’s fist smashed into Dong Zizhi’s abdomen like lightning. The speed was so great that Dong Zizhi had no chance to evade. She was sent reeling back several steps by the single blow. “Pfft!” Blood sprayed forth, and Dong Zizhi’s face instantly turned deathly white.
Dong Zizhi’s expression changed drastically, and she shrieked, “You, you destroyed my Dantian!”
“Stop the nonsense.”
Teng Qingshan flickered, easily grasping Dong Zizhi’s shoulders. With a slight application of force, he dislocated both her shoulder joints, causing her arms to hang limply.
“Let’s go!” Teng Qingshan threw Dong Zizhi over his shoulder and prepared to leave.
“You bastard, you absolute wretch, release me now, or, or you will certainly regret this,” Dong Zizhi screamed. “My Dong family will never let you go.” Having been captured so suddenly, even her hard-cultivated Xiantian True Essence was instantly and utterly crippled.
Dong Zizhi descended into complete madness.
“Release the Matriarch!”
The soldiers and retainers held their weapons but hesitated. They had witnessed Teng Qingshan’s strength and knew they stood no chance against him, yet they couldn't just stand by and watch the captive escape.
“Who dares be presumptuous in my Dong family!!!”
An enraged roar, like thunder splitting the sky, echoed above the Dong residence.
A black silhouette shot over from the distance. Teng Qingshan, still carrying Dong Zizhi, glanced at the newcomer, offered a wry smile, and leaped onto the rooftop.
“Release me quickly!” Dong Zizhi shrieked.
Teng Qingshan walked along the tiles, Dong Zizhi slung over his shoulder, and replied coldly, “Old demoness, if you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll sell you off to a brothel!” At these words, Dong Zizhi’s face turned ashen… She, the high and mighty Matriarch, known as the ‘Queen Dong.’
To be sold to a brothel? That was worse than death for her.
“Die!” The black shadow shot forward, and a sword shadow flared.
Teng Qingshan’s figure swayed with bizarre agility—the Swimming Fish Movement Technique!
He easily flashed to the side of the shadow and delivered a lightning-fast straight kick!
“Thump!” The kick landed squarely on the shadow’s waist. With a terrifying force equivalent to hundreds of thousands of jin, the shadow was blasted away like a meteor plummeting downward.
“Thump!” “Thump!” “Thump!”…
It smashed through a tree, demolished a wall, and finally dug a deep trench in the ground before coming to a halt.
“How is this possible!” Dong Zizhi’s eyes widened.
That person…
That person was the Dong family’s foremost expert, a Martial Saint who had reached the Xiantian Solid Core Realm. Kicked away in a single move?
“Hahaha, you slut, you have your day too, hahaha!!!” Below, the one-eyed man bound to the iron pole threw his head back and roared with laughter, blood still oozing from his mouth.
“Who is he?”
The black shadow struggled to sit upright, looking toward where Teng Qingshan, carrying Dong Zizhi, had vanished from sight. The other soldiers and retainers were utterly dumbfounded, staring blankly. Only the bound one-eyed man continued to tilt his head back, screaming excitedly, his laughter resounding over the Dong estate.
...
A moment later—
“Yooo~~~”
A joyful cry echoed across the heavens and earth. Teng Qingshan, still carrying Dong Zizhi, was seated on the back of a Gale Eagle, flying swiftly toward the south.