Zhou Donghuang was in his room, concentrating on practicing the Way of the Supreme Four Divisions. As the meridians in his body expanded, the qi stored in them increased.
Suddenly, he heard someone shouting urgently and frantically, "Young Master! Young Master!"
"Granny Lian?"
Zhou Donghuang's expression changed upon hearing her voice, and he leaped off the bed and sprinted out of the room.
"Granny Lian, what's wrong? Has something happened?"
"Young Master, people from the Wang family are here, led by the level-two adept, Grand Patriarch Wang Yukun. They are at the entrance. Her Ladyship did not want me to tell you and went out alone with me…"
Granny Lian blurted out everything as fast as she could.
As soon as Granny Lian mentioned that Lin Lan was willing to suffer three blows from Wang Yukun for his sake, Zhou Donghuang's expression changed completely.
"Mother!!"
Zhou Donghuang's eyes popped out of their sockets, and his first thought was to rush out, but Granny Lian stopped him.
"Granny Lian, what are you doing?!"
Zhou Donghuang glared angrily at Granny Lian as though about to devour her, scaring her so badly that she trembled.
"Young Master, I told you this to see if you were able to rescue Her Ladyship," she said through trembling lips. "If you are unable to face that Wang Yukun, I will prevent you from going out with my life… because Her ladyship told me as we were going out that I should bring you away if the opportunity arises.
"If you are unable to face Wang Yukun, I can only bring you away! If you stubbornly insist, there is only one way, that is over my dead body."
Granny Lian stood squarely in front of Zhou Donghuang, blocking him, her voice firm and resolute, leaving no room for any doubt about her resolve.
Lin Lan had actually not allowed Granny Lian to tell Zhou Donghuang what had happened and had only intended that Granny Lian find a way to sneak away with Zhou Donghuang while she stalled the Wang family members.
Granny Lian had spilled everything out to see if Zhou Donghuang was able to find a way to stop Wang Yukun.
Although she felt it was improbable, she had resolved to try nonetheless. After all, the Young Master had surprised her again and again in recent days…
"Granny Lian, come out with me."
Hearing Granny Lian's story, Zhou Donghuang took a deep breath, and after calming his raging emotions, a cold murderous look shone in his eyes.
Granny Lian's eyes lit up. Going by the Young Master's actions, he seemed really confident.
Leaving Granny Lian staring blankly, Zhou Donghuang had already sprinted off at a speed that left her, a level-one adept, choking on dust.
"Young Master's speed…"
Granny Lian's eyes narrowed, and gasping with astonishment, she ran after him.
...
Outside the main entrance of the Magnolia Guild.
Pong!!
As a level-two adept, Wang Yukun used his full force of two bull's strength and with one blow, sent Lin Lan flying. She crashed into a pillar at one side of the Magnolia Guild's main entrance and fell heavily to the ground. Her breathing was shallow, and blood spurted from her mouth.
"Mother!"
Zhou Donghuang had just arrived, and looking at the scene before him, his expression changed completely. He dashed to Lin Lan's side and tipped a bottle of medicine into her mouth.
"Mother, swallow this… this is a healing elixir I made."
Only after making certain that Lin Lan's injuries were not life-threatening did Zhou Donghuang let out a breath and stand up. His gaze had turned cold and fell upon Wang Yukun.
"Zhou Donghuang!"
Behind Wang Yukun, Wang Feng jumped off his horse as well and moved to stand beside Wang Yukun. He stared at Zhou Donghuang with an expression full of hate and anger, as though he wanted to bite Zhou Donghuang's head off.
"You are Zhou Donghuang?"
Wang Yukun's gaze fell on Zhou Donghuang, and he smiled placidly.
"Your step mother treats you really well… she agreed to suffer three blows from me just to protect you."
"It's too bad that after just one blow from me, she can't even stand… one more blow and that will be the end of her! You can say you've saved her life by coming out, if not, both of you would have died today."
Wang Yukun was now looking at Zhou Donghuang as though he were a dead man, and indeed, Zhou Donghuang was no different from a dead man in his eyes.
"Donghuang…"
Lin Lan struggled to stand, but her severe injuries had robbed her of the strength to stand. After trying to push herself up with her palms, she collapsed again.
"Granny Lian, take good care of my mother."
Just then, Granny Lian came out, and after turning back to instruct her, Zhou Donghuang's gaze found Wang Yukun once more.
"And you are Wang Yukun?"
Zhou Donghuang grinned, showing two rows of snow-white teeth. Instead of showing anger, he smiled a radiant smile.
"Today, you can consider yourself to have lived a worthy life, to be able to die by my hand."
Hearing Zhou Donghuang's words, Wang Yukun was stunned, as was Wang Feng beside him.
So was everyone else.
No one had expected that Zhou Donghuang would suddenly say such a thing. Did this mean that he intended to fight Wang Yukun?
"Donghuang!"
Lin Lan's expression changed, and she tried to push herself up again but was stopped by Granny Lian.
"Lady, don't you feel that… Young Master is now very self-confident?"
Granny Lian was still unable to hide the shock in her eyes as she thought of the speed at which Zhou Donghuang had sprinted out.
"Self-confident?"
Lin Lan was stunned, and glancing at Zhou Donghuang's back, she saw him standing proudly with both hands behind his back, unmoving and exuding an aura of tremendous confidence.
"Hahahahahaha…"
Wang Feng roared with laughter till tears flew from his eyes.
"Zhou Donghuang, it seems that the anger from seeing your mother injured this badly has driven you insane?"
"You think you are a match for my grandfather?" Wang Feng said in derision.
The gathered onlookers were also shaking their heads, and no one believed that Zhou Donghuang had the ability to stand up to Wang Yukun.
Zhou Donghuang was the famous martial invalid of Qingshan Town, and Wang Yukun was a fearsome level-two adept, also called the "bloody-handed butcher."
The two of them were on completely different levels.
The former, compared to the latter, was like a baby compared to an adult; the latter could strangle the former to death at any time.
Other than Granny Lian, no one had any hope for Zhou Donghuang except a middle-aged man standing in the corner of the crowd. That middle-aged man was the guild master of the Sunset Guild, Hong Yue.
Zhou This Zhou Donghuang is more than he seems… when he defeated me that day, he had more than a thousand jin of force! Otherwise, I wouldn't have been so soundly defeated.
Thinking of how he had been defeated by Zhou Donghuang that day when he was at the Magnolia Guild with Chen Dandan, Hong Yue still felt some residual fear.
It was clear to him that the adopted son of Guild Master Lin Lan of the Magnolia Guild was more than what he seemed.
Of course, at a glance, he did not expect Zhou Donghuang to be able to match Wang Yukun. After all, Wang Yukun was a level-two adept possessing two bull's strength and was one of the strongest people in Qingshan Town.
"Qin Fei, do you still remember?" Zhong Gang glanced at Qin Fei, who was beside him. "Two days ago in the earthly dining booth at Yunxuan Restaurant, this Zhou Donghuang said that if the level-two adept of the Wang family came looking for trouble, he would be able to kill him with a single blow."
At this, Zhong Gang began to smile.
Qin Fei wanted to laugh, but upon seeing Qin Xiaoyu nearby, dared not to. Instead, he did everything he could to hold back his laughter.
"Zhou Donghuang!" Zhong Yi looked at Zhou Donghuang and laughed loudly. "Two days ago, didn't you say that if the old man from the Wang family came looking for trouble, you would be able to kill him with a single blow? Now you have your chance… Demonstrate it for us will you?" Zhong Yi said and smiled even wider.
"I heard that too… Zhou Donghuang, all eyes are on you," Zhong Xiu joined in the chorus of mockery.
"Big Brother Donghuang… perhaps, he really is confident in taking on that old man from the Wang family?" Qin Xiaoyu was reminded by the three Zhong siblings of what Zhou Donghuang had said two days ago in the earthly dining booth of Yunxuan Restaurant.
That day, her Big Brother Donghuang mentioned three things which no one believed he was capable of.
The first was that he did not care if the Magnolia Guild fell, and while no one had believed him at first, no one doubted him once they knew that he was the new owner of Yunxuan Restaurant.
The second was that he could kill the level-two adept of the Wang family with a single blow, but this had not been proven yet.
The third was that he could eat for free at Yunxuan Restaurant because he was the owner of Yunxuan Restaurant, and this had already been confirmed by Chief Steward Li Xian of Yunxuan Restaurant himself.
Big Brother Donghuang has already accomplished two things… could he also accomplish the third?
Qin Xiaoyu's eyes lit up with hope at this thought.
Of course, it was also because Qin Xiaoyu was still young and had not begun to practice, and there were many things she did not yet understand. Otherwise, she surely would not have had this thought.
The claims of the three Zhong siblings raised a commotion in the crowd.
"Zhou "This Zhou Donghuang would really say such things?"
"Is he crazy?"
"From what he just said, could he not be crazy?"
…
More and more people began to look at Zhou Donghuang, but this time with a pitiful gaze.
Most people could only believe that Zhou Donghuang had gone insane.
Why else would he say such things?
Outside the main entrance of the Magnolia Guild, Zhou Donghuang looked indifferently at the three Zhong siblings before looking away and back at Wang Yukun.
"Let us begin… I'm in a rush to send my mother back so that she can recover."
Although Zhou Donghuang's tone was calm, the murderous intent in his eyes was increasingly pronounced.
"Little brat, you are not worthy enough for the grand patriarch himself to act!"
As soon as Zhou Donghuang had spoken, the thin old man behind Wang Yukun leaped off his horse and soared through the air in Zhou Donghuang's direction.
"I will capture you and let First Young Master kill you himself!"
While he was still in the air, the old man had drawn his right hand into a claw and reached out, grabbing for Zhou Donghuang's neck.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Zhou Donghuang's expression did not change, and he remained still.
At the last moment, just when the old man's hand was about to touch him, he tilted his head smoothly to the side.
Whoosh!
Zhou Donghuang tilting his head to the side was a masterstroke, and the old man was left grasping air.
The crowd was shocked, and before they could recover from their shock, Zhou Donghuang's right hand had already shot out like lightning.
Pong!!
His palm rose and fell like a shadow of doom on the old man's skull, with a fearsome strength like a tiger leaping down a mountain. The old man fell with a sound and died instantly.