One flash and he was on a distant rooftop, another flash and he vanished from sight. Was this still the Teng Qingshan they knew?

“Qingshan he…” Teng Yongfan stammered out.

“That’s Qinggong, the most formidable Qinggong.” Teng Yunlong finally reacted, surprise mixing with elation. “When I was young, I saw Fourth Master Hong use his Qinggong, but even his speed couldn't match Qingshan’s! He’s too fast, faster than a galloping horse. Qingshan actually possesses such incredible lightness skill!”

“Brother is so amazing!” Qingyu exclaimed excitedly.

“Godfather, with Qingshan heading out now, won't he…” Mother Yuan Lan worried.

Teng Yunlong frowned too. “Didn’t Qingshan say it? Hong Zhenjie is finished! Qingshan is going out now to kill that Young Master Hong Zhenjie, to slaughter the men of the White Horse Battalion.”

“Master, will he be alright?” Teng Yongfan was deeply concerned. After all, the White Horse Battalion was infamous—they were the elite troops of the White Horse Gang. Every warrior in the White Horse Battalion wore heavy armor and rode superior warhorses. When they charged, even a peak Houtian expert would struggle to survive.

“I’ve never been able to truly see through Qingshan. He exterminated a wolf pack and slew the wolf king at the age of ten, single-handedly devising the Tiger Fist. Without a teacher, he reached the level of a First-Class Martial Artist capable of lifting ten thousand jin. Now, he reveals such astonishing Qinggong.” Teng Yunlong gazed towards the distant sky. “Since Qingshan is going to kill that Young Master and take on the White Horse Battalion, I trust him. He will succeed.”

The few people in the main hall quieted down.

Over the years, Teng Qingshan had indeed proven capable of anything. Nothing had ever stumped him.

They looked toward the sky outside, each silently sending forth their hopes. At this moment, anticipation was all they could offer.

The day had been bright with sunshine, but as dark clouds blotted out the sky, the world instantly grew dim, accompanied by howling gusts of wind. Heaven’s moods truly were fickle.

Employing the Heaven’s Edge Stride, Teng Qingshan soon spotted the silhouettes of the White Horse Battalion riders. He immediately ceased using the Heaven’s Edge Stride, relying purely on the speed afforded by his powerful physique to track them. Given Teng Qingshan’s monstrous body, his velocity far outstripped that of fine steeds, allowing him to trail them easily.

The Heaven’s Edge Stride was the most supreme Qinggong manual from Teng Qingshan’s previous life’s history.

This Heaven’s Edge Stride was mainly divided into three tiers. Reaching the absolute pinnacle allowed one to achieve the effect of ‘A Yard Away, Yet Worlds Apart.’ However, Teng Qingshan could only execute the first tier so far, because the second and third tiers demanded reaching the Xiantian realm before they could be deployed.

After all, achieving a level like ‘A Yard Away, Yet Worlds Apart’ carried exceptionally stringent requirements.

The Heaven’s Edge Stride comprised three diagrams of footwork and six diagrams of meridians.

The first tier only required mastering the most basic, first footwork diagram.

Of course, with Teng Qingshan’s terrifyingly formidable physical state, the speed granted by his body alone was already extreme; paired with the Qinggong manual, his velocity became breathtaking.

“Rumble~~~”

Dark clouds choked the heavens. Thunder began to sound.

Teng Qingshan moved like a wisp of green smoke, maintaining a speed equivalent to that of galloping horses while following the contingent of the White Horse Battalion from a distance. Within his gaze, a hidden killing intent flickered: “Hong Zhenjie, I didn't expect yesterday’s kill to miss you, letting you slip away! Yet now you deliver yourself to my door. Still coveting Xiao Yu? You charge into Hell’s gate when there’s no exit—you’re asking for death, blaming no one!”

“This troop of the White Horse Battalion—their hands are stained with countless blood. Today, they all die!” Teng Qingshan suddenly accelerated, darting into the adjacent Great Yan Mountains.

Within the Great Yan Mountains, Teng Qingshan was like a phantom of the peaks, his speed instantly surging.

The bandits of the White Horse Battalion galloped along the road beside the Great Yan Mountains, while Teng Qingshan paralleled them within the mountain range.

“It’s about five or six li from my Teng Family Village. If they manage to blend in with the several thousand men of the main White Horse Gang, it will become troublesome. Time to act!” Teng Qingshan knew clearly that he could annihilate this White Horse Battalion unit. But if they merged with the five or six thousand men of the White Horse Gang, even if those masses stood still to be slaughtered—killing one per second would take nearly two hours.

Furthermore, they wouldn't stand there waiting to be killed.

And if a large group of men fled, would it only take two hours? Therefore, facing a sea of people, even the most formidable master could only hope to capture or kill the leader.

“Crack!”

A sudden thunderclap split the sky, immediately followed by the rattling downpour of heavy rain!

The storm arrived with incredible speed; within a few breaths, the world was engulfed in sheets of rain, pouring down relentlessly, turning the landscape into a watery expanse.

“Excluding the twelve new recruits, there are 146 of them! One by one!” Teng Qingshan casually scooped up some pebbles from the ground. Pebbles were the cheapest hidden weapons, but in the hands of a master like Teng Qingshan, possessing boundless strength, profound inner energy, and knowledge of projecting projectiles—each pebble was equivalent to an armor-piercing round.

Even an expert like Fourth Master Hong, employing his ultimate skill, could barely protect his vital points with his blade, yet he was still forced to drop his weapon when struck by a single pebble. The force behind these stones was conceivable.

…

Over a hundred riders charged forward.

“Damn it, what kind of foul weather is this!” Hong Zhenjie, riding at the very front, squinted, as the massive raindrops hammered painfully against his face. “The sky changes on a whim. Xiao Dao, are there any places nearby to take shelter from the rain?”

The cavalryman beside him replied, “Young Master, shelter? Only some mountain hamlets. There’s a village about three li ahead. We can rest there. But Young Master… the large contingent led by the Third Master shouldn't be far ahead of us. They are probably only twenty or thirty li faster. Why don't we ride a bit further and rest when we reach Third Master.”

“Good, we’ll push through in one go!” Hong Zhenjie agreed.

Hoofbeats pounded, splashing mud and water. The hundred-plus riders kept their heads down, galloping wildly.

…

“Whoosh~~~” The fierce wind raged, whipping the falling rain into a horizontal blur. Dead leaves and dry branches were swept down from the mountain, plunging the world into twilight gloom.

“Swish!”

A low, sharp sound rang out, and a streak of light shot out from the Great Mountains, piercing the head of a White Horse Battalion bandit riding at the very rear.

“Ah!” A bloody hole appeared on the forehead of the bandit, who was wearing a helmet. Blood immediately gushed out, instantly washed across the bandit’s face by the downpour. The bandit’s eyes widened in shock, then his body went limp and he tumbled backward off his horse.

The corpse rolled onto the ground, immediately covered in mud and water.

In the chaotic storm and wind, who among these bandits would think to look back? Moreover, the sound of a single man falling off his horse would be utterly lost in the deluge.

“Swish!”

Another pebble.

“Ugh…” Another bandit’s head developed a hole, blood mixing with brain matter surging out. Another corpse slid off his mount.

Pebble after pebble claimed a bandit’s life.

“Hey, Sanzi, let’s make a deal, you run a bit faster first.” As he spoke, this bandit looked back, shouting as he went, “Didn’t I tell you—” The bandit’s eyes suddenly widened in horror. Far behind him, every three or four zhang on the muddy road lay a corpse, body after body in the mire. His face turned paper-white. There wasn’t a single living person behind him.

“Young Master!!!” A shrill cry pierced the sky.

“Thwack!” A hole appeared on his forehead too.

All the bandits were alerted, and every head whipped around. They saw the bandit who had been shouting slump limply from his horse, rolling into the mud.

“Stop!” Hong Zhenjie roared in panic. All of them yanked their reins, bringing their horses to a halt. The more than one hundred men drew close together in alarm.

“Young Master, it’s projectiles, hidden weapons! They were all killed by projectiles exploding their heads!” Several bandits shouted frantically. Just then, another pebble shot out from the adjacent Great Yan Mountains. “Thud!” It pierced directly through the head of a White Horse Battalion bandit beside the Young Master.

One strike, piercing through!

The bandit couldn't utter a word, his eyes fixed wide in terror before he rolled onto the ground. Instantly, the bandits were thrown into chaos.

“Pfft!” Blood splattered onto the face of the Young Master, Hong Zhenjie, ejected from the skull of the dead rider. Hong Zhenjie shuddered, a jolt of ice running through him, and he immediately looked toward the Great Yan Mountains. “Too fast. I couldn’t react to that projectile at all! If that projectile hadn't hit Xiao Dao’s head, but mine, wouldn’t I be dead?”

Fear began to grip Hong Zhenjie’s heart. He didn't want to die! He had immense wealth, women to enjoy—how could he possibly be willing to die?

“Young Master, we are just targets standing here for him!” A bandit cried out. “Let’s flee!”

“Right, we…” Hong Zhenjie gritted his teeth, about to give the order.

“Thwack!” A pebble pierced the head of the bandit who had just spoken. Seeing this, Hong Zhenjie’s heart clenched violently.

Immediately, some bandits broke down.

“Let’s flee quickly.” Three bandits, ignoring the Young Master, tried to bolt away.

“Thwack!” “Thwack!” “Thwack!”

Three pebbles moved like bolts of lightning, piercing the heads of the three men. All three crashed to the ground heavily.

…

Inside the Great Yan Mountains, Teng Qingshan squatted low, resembling a statue, his eyes fixed intently on the distance. He held a pebble in each hand, and there were two piles of pebbles on the ground. Teng Qingshan could snatch up the stones instantly; with Teng Qingshan's hand speed, how could these men possibly escape?

“Escape?” Teng Qingshan, who had remained half-crouched without moving, made a slight shift with his left and right hands. Two pebbles zipped through the air, skimming the ground. Teng Qingshan’s hands immediately held two more pebbles, and he swiftly launched another projectile.

At this moment, Teng Qingshan was equivalent to a heavy sniper rifle capable of firing two or three rounds per second!

…

Three more corpses rolled onto the ground, seeming to strike Hong Zhenjie’s heart three times. Hong Zhenjie stared at the Great Yan Mountains, forcing down his terror, and shouted, “I know you! You’re the one who caused my father’s death, the one who killed my senior brother, right? Tell me, what do you want so you can let us go! Everything is negotiable!”

His senior brother was the one killed by the penetrating pebbles. And Fourth Master Hong had only been captured by Wang Tieshan because he tried desperately to intercept one of these stones.

“The Iron Mountain Gang is here for revenge!” A bandit shouted in fear.

“It’s the Iron Mountain Gang!”

“The Great Master’s weapon was shattered by those hidden weapons,” a chorus of panicked voices rose from the bandit ranks.

An unseen enemy was terrifying beyond measure.

Rainwater streamed down Hong Zhenjie’s face, yet he could feel cold sweat beading on his skin. He stared at the Great Yan Mountains before him, his mind reeling from the fear overwhelming him.