"Qin San, you know this young brother?" Old Master Li inquired, looking puzzled.

Qin San was baffled himself.

He didn't recognize the young man before him at all, but hearing the Eldest Master speak, Qin San understood this person was a friend of the Young Sect Master of the Guiyuan Sect. He immediately cupped his hands and said, "This brother, I am indeed Qin San, but it seems I don't know you!"

Just then, Teng Qinghu, who was slower to realize what was happening, finally rushed in.

"You don't know me?" Teng Qingshan's expression grew colder.

"Qin San! Do you still recognize your grandpa?!" With a furious roar, Teng Qinghu charged into the room, like a maddened tiger. He snatched up a nearby solid wood chair, poured thousands of jin of force into it, and viciously smashed it down toward Qin San.

Whoosh!

The chair came crashing down. Qin San, still somewhat dazed, also became enraged: "What manner of bastard dares—!" Simultaneously, he drew the long sword at his waist and fiercely brought it down upon the wooden chair.

Bang!

The wooden chair shattered. Shards flew everywhere, some striking Qin San, others embedding themselves in the dishes on the table. Plates splintered, and food splashed out. A wave of sharp cries erupted, and Li Qingyu instinctively bent down to shield her son.

"Stop it." Li Qingyu and her husband, 'Liu Rufeng', shouted in anger almost simultaneously.

But how could Teng Qinghu, filled with burning rage, stop? One of the three crippled men was a neighbor who had doted on Teng Qinghu since childhood; Teng Qinghu was extremely fond of this 'Second Uncle.' When he joined the hunter team, it was this Second Uncle who took him along.

During that bandit raid, the Second Uncle lost a leg! A fine man, ruined for life!

"Die for me!" Teng Qinghu lowered his stance and delivered a sweeping kick.

"Qinghu!" Teng Qingshan shouted again.

They hadn't brought any weapons this time. If Teng Qinghu had his spear, he might not even win. Even more so now, without arms.

"Courting death!" Qin San was also a ruthless individual. As long as he didn't provoke others, it was fine. But anyone who dared provoke him—now that someone was trying to kill him, he could no longer hold back. He leaped into the air, evading the sweeping kick, and simultaneously brought the long sword in his right hand slicing down fiercely!

Teng Qinghu grabbed the leg of the square table beside him.

"Hmph!"

He swung the massive table directly toward the airborne Qin San.

"Hmph," Qin San sneered. His long sword cleaved the square table into splinters. Following immediately, his sword momentum undiminished, he slashed directly towards Teng Qinghu.

At that very moment—

Swish!

A glimmer of cold light flashed and vanished within the private room!

"Ah!" A scream echoed. The long sword in Qin San's hand slipped from his grasp.

"Die," Teng Qinghu countered with an upward thrust kick aimed at Qin San's chest. Qin San covered his right hand with his left and, as he fell, lightly tapped his right foot against Teng Qinghu's kick. He used the momentum to spring backward nearly ten zhang, dissipating the force before landing.

His face was pale as he clutched his right wrist with his left hand.

A throwing knife was embedded in his right wrist!

"What a fast throwing knife!" Old Master Liu's eyes flashed coldly. He looked toward Teng Qingshan, who had instantly thrown the weapon. Teng Qingshan had seen Teng Qinghu in danger, of course he had to intervene.

"Stop! What exactly do you people want? Explain yourselves clearly!" Old Master Li roared angrily.

"Brat, prepare to die."

The other two guards, seeing their junior brother’s wrist pierced, were instantly enraged. With two loud 'Clang! Clang!' sounds, they both drew their long swords.

"Stand down," Old Master Li warned them as well.

"Master!" one of the guards rushed to interject. Old Master Li said coldly, "Let's clarify the situation first!" He then looked toward Teng Qingshan by the door. At this moment, the Young Sect Master, 'Zhuge Yun,' and Zhuge Qing also arrived outside the private room.

Old Master Li frowned deeply. "Young Sect Master, what is the meaning of your friend? Without asking right or wrong, he attacks my guards the moment he enters. And look at this feast I arranged, ruined like this!"

Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing were equally bewildered.

However, Zhuge Yun chuckled, "Eldest Master Li, why the haste? It's just a banquet. If we are in the wrong, I will pay for a new one. But first, we need to see who was wrong and who was right. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I am very keen to know the whole story!" Old Master Li stated coldly.

"Brother Teng, what happened?" Zhuge Yun looked at Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qinghu burst out in frustrated anger: "Still asking what happened? Tell this dog-son-of-a-bitch named Qin San to explain himself!" He glared intensely at Qin San, who was clutching his wrist, "Qin San, have you forgotten Teng Family Village? Have you forgotten that ten thousand taels of silver?!"

Teng Qingshan also stared coldly at Qin San.

"Teng Family Village? Ten thousand taels of silver?" Qin San was truly confused.

Over the years, following Old Master Li, Qin San had secretly pocketed quite a bit of money. But it was all minor stuff, and Old Master Li often turned a blind eye. As for 'Teng Family Village,' the incident happened seven years ago. In this world, there were countless estates named 'Li Family Village' or 'Wang Family Estate'; Qin San couldn't possibly recall it.

"Who exactly are you people!" Qin San pulled the throwing knife from his wrist, pressed it against the wound to staunch the bleeding, and stepped forward two paces. He positioned himself alongside his two senior brothers and roared, "I don't know you at all!"

"Young Sect Master, did you hear that?" Old Master Li said gravely.

Whoosh!

Teng Qingshan moved in an instant. A sudden gust of wind materialized in the private room. The two senior brothers next to Qin San's face changed drastically: "Courting death!" they roared, thrusting their long swords out, but there were only two muffled sounds of 'Peng!' 'Peng!' before the two men were flung into the air.

They subsequently crashed heavily onto the ground, spitting blood. The two struggled to rise, terror evident in their eyes.

"Master!" Both senior and junior brothers had reached the peak of the Houtian realm, yet they couldn't withstand a single move from Teng Qingshan, even with their swords. Little did they know... Teng Qingshan was fundamentally a master of Xingyi Quan, and this close-quarters, unarmed combat was what he specialized in. Two explosive punches were enough to severely injure the two men, given Teng Qingshan's keen insight.

...

Without his senior brothers nearby, Qin San panicked!

"Ah!" Qin San went mad, his functional left hand turning into steel claws, lunging toward Teng Qingshan's head. No one doubted that Qin San’s fingers could pierce a skull.

Teng Qingshan reached out a hand and seized Qin San's wrist, twisting it!

Crack!

Qin San doubled over, his face turning white from the excruciating pain: "Who the hell are you people! I don't know you!"

"You don't know us," Teng Qingshan stared down at him coldly. "Seven years ago! You placed an order with our Teng Family Village for 182 Bihan Blades. You put down a deposit of eight thousand taels. Our Teng Family Village, more than thirty strong men, personally delivered the Bihan Blades to the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall in Yicheng. Do you remember that?"

Qin San's eyes widened into perfect circles: "Those dead mountain folk?"

In Qin San's perception, those mountain villagers had long been killed by bandits. Although the bandits failed to rob them and were subsequently killed themselves, no one had delivered that news back to Qin San.

"Hahaha, dead mountain folk?" Teng Qingshan let out a cold laugh. "Yes, yes, we nearly died. Luckily... the bandits were rather weak. They failed to kill us and were instead slaughtered by our clansmen. But we also found out... it was you! You were the one who leaked the information to the bandits, saying we possessed ten thousand taels in silver notes, correct?"

Disbelief flooded Qin San's eyes.

Teng Qinghu roared as well: "You bastard! When we went to the Yangzhou Commercial Association Hall, we knew you and your Master were no good. You told your Master the Bihan Blades were 150 taels of silver each, but you only gave us one hundred taels per blade. Then you deliberately used internal force to damage one Bihan Blade, trying to frame us and withhold our ten thousand taels!"

"You think you're some big shot? A master of internal energy? Because you couldn't embezzle the silver, you took it out on us poor mountain folk! I will never forget that fight with the bandits! My Second Uncle has been crippled for life. He often stands near the training ground, foolishly watching the rest of our clan practice with spears, secretly wiping away tears! You dog-day creature, this is all your fault!" Teng Qinghu bellowed.

The entire private room fell silent, save for Teng Qinghu's roaring.

Everyone now understood the whole sequence of events.

"It's them, Father, they are members of that group of mountain folk," Li Qingyu whispered.

"I know," Old Master Li's face was also extremely grim.

His guard, 'Qin San,' had sticky fingers; Old Master Li was aware of this in his heart. But Qin San was clever; he knew which people he could afford to offend and which he couldn't. After following him for so many years, he hadn't caused any major trouble.

He hadn't cared much about it.

Who would have thought... that group of poor mountain folk would actually produce two masters? Thus, the revenge of the poor mountain folk had arrived!

"This must be Brother Teng," Old Master Li said with a smile. "I understand everything that happened. All of this is my guard's fault. However, what has happened cannot be undone. I beg Brother Teng to grant me face and spare his life. I will certainly compensate you handsomely."

Teng Qingshan turned to look at him, a cold smile appearing on his face.

"This Old Master Li, if I were to kill your daughter and son-in-law, and give you some silver in return, would you agree?" Teng Qingshan stared at him, and simultaneously, a throwing knife appeared in Teng Qingshan's left hand.

Old Master Li froze.

He had no doubt that Teng Qingshan would throw that knife.

"This..." Old Master Li hesitated.

"So, it's best if you keep quiet," Teng Qingshan's gaze was icy clear. He then turned and looked down at Qin San, whose arm he had wrenched. "Qin San, in your eyes, that group of poor mountain folk back then were just ants you could crush at will. And today, in my eyes, you are an ant. I also want to crush you now!"

Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing watched the scene in silence.

Zhuge Qing was stunned; she had never imagined that the always smiling, polite, and composed Teng Qingshan could possess such a terrifying and cold side!

Zhuge Yun, conversely, had excitement gleaming in his eyes.

"Stop!" The other two senior brothers shouted. One of them, 'Qin Da,' pleaded, "Brother Teng, my junior brother was wrong in this matter, but please spare his life. He is a disciple of our Golden Sword Sect; killing him means making an enemy of our Golden Sword Sect. Even if he dies, it should be handled by our Sect. I implore you..."

A desire for survival flickered in Qin San's eyes too.

"Qingshan, kill him! That dog-son-of-a-bitch, I dream of killing him!" Teng Qinghu yelled. Teng Qingshan reached out his left hand and gripped Qin San's throat.

"No—" Qin San's face contorted in terror.

Teng Qingshan looked down at Qin San coldly, applying a slight pressure with his fingers.

Snap!

The sound of breaking bone!

Qin San struggled desperately for air, but he could no longer breathe. His face was deathly pale, his eyes still filled with unwillingness, fear, and hatred, before his gaze completely dimmed. Teng Qingshan released his grip, and Qin San's body went limp, collapsing onto the floor.

Dead!

"You, you..." The two senior brothers appeared enraged.

"My enemies, I will deal with them myself. I don't need help from your Golden Sword Sect!" Teng Qingshan glanced coldly at the two men. "If anyone from your Golden Sword Sect wants revenge, I'll take it anytime! Qinghu, let's go!"

Qinghu glanced at Qin San on the ground, spat fiercely, "Scum!" before following Teng Qingshan out.

Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu turned to walk toward the door, but halfway there, Teng Qingshan stopped. He turned back to look at the two senior brothers: "Oh, by the way, just so you know, don't bother looking for revenge from the wrong people in your Golden Sword Sect. Listen clearly: my name is Teng Qingshan!"