Wang Ming leisurely sat in the yard of his estate, sitting in a lotus position. After his daughter married Teng Wuba, the Teng Family fulfilled their promise and helped him ascend to become an acupoint opening master, a martial grandmaster of the Allfist Realm.
After five years of blood, sweat, and tears, Wang Ming finally reached the peak of the early Acupoint Opening Realm. He exhaled, and his breath condensed into a white mist even though it was in the middle of summer. "I was right. As long as I become a martial grandmaster, I have hope of becoming a martial ancestor like Ancestor Allfist."
In the Allfist Realm, those that reached the Soul Nourishing Realm and ascended to a higher plane were titled martial ancestors in reverence of their accomplishments. "If Brother Leng wasn't so stingy and helped me, then I could have protected his little Leng Clan. Too bad he wasn't farsighted enough. You only have yourself to blame."
Not long later, a servant arrived and informed Wang Ming of news that caused his face to frown. He had already received word that his daughter, Wang Meilin, had been kidnapped by the remnants of the Li Imperial Family, but that news was easily overtaken by the news that Teng Shifang was promoted to the Soul Nourishing Realm.
Wang Ming was one of the participants, and Teng Shifang had given him pointers. It was one of the reasons why he could reach the peak of the early Acupoint Opening Realm so soon. The other reason was that Wang Ming was decently talented. If he hadn't started cultivating late and suffered an injury that left a sequela, he might've already entered the Acupoint Opening Realm.
And Wang Ming achieved one step closer to his dream at the cost of his daughter. At first, Wang Ming was still a bit reluctant to force his daughter to marry Teng Wuba, but after she scolded him for selling out the Leng Clan and ignoring his plights, he hardened his heart and forced her.
Wang Ming believed that Wang Meilin would see how correct his decision was. Compared to following a clanless brat like Leng Jung, who was destined to be chased by the Teng Family, wasn't it more intelligent to join the Teng Family? Who knows, if she could curry favor with Teng Wuba, she may also get the resources to achieve the Acupoint Opening Realm.
He had thought Wang Meilin would see the error of her ways, so a month into the marriage, Wang Ming visited her. He never expected to be scolded even harsher than he was previously. As a result, the father and daughter hadn't seen each other in almost five years.
Wang Ming knew that the stubborn girl wasn't kidnapped. She went along willingly. And just now, his subordinate had gotten a clue to Wang Meilin's whereabouts. "Just send the information to the Teng Family, let them deal with it."
He was actually dissatisfied with Teng Wuba too. Teng Wuba and Wang Meilin have been married for five years and even had a child together, yet he still couldn't prevent himself from getting a green hat. A disgrace of a man!
"Wait," Wang Ming said, stopping the servant. "Nevermind, I'll go myself. I'll see if I can persuade that unfilial daughter of mine. I'll bring her back even if I have to use force."
Wang Ming felt that he should still try to convince Wang Meilin one last time. She had been 'kidnapped' for quite a while. He was sure that she understood the difference between the status of being Teng Wuba's wife and following a brat like Leng Junfeng.
The clue led Wang Ming to a remote village in Wushan Mountain. According to the intelligence, the nameless village near Wushan Mountain was suspected of hiding an imperial secret base, but Wang Ming didn't care. Even if he couldn't win, he could still run away, couldn't he?
During his investigation, Wang Ming felt that he had discovered the location of the imperial secret base. He pondered for a moment on whether or not to report it to the Teng Family, but after a moment of consideration, he decided not to. He heard that the ninth princess, who was thought to be dead, had taken the artifacts in the Li Imperial Family's treasury. What if he encountered her? He had the right to take one for capturing her, didn't he?
Although Wang Ming reached the Acupoint Opening Realm, he still didn't have an artifact. The weapon he used before could only be considered a half artifact—nothing worth mentioning. That's why he was determined to get one as soon as possible.
However, his greed would become his downfall.
After sneaking into the mountain cave, Wang Ming entered a hidden space that was over a hundred meters wide and twenty meters tall. The strange thing was that it was empty. Wang Ming expected it to be a secret base or at least a storage room, but it was totally empty. Had it not been for the dim lights illuminating the cave, Wang Ming would have thought it was just a regular cave.
He had an ominous premonition, and just as the feeling snuck up to him, he heard a loud sound behind him. Twirling around, he discovered that the exit had been sealed. Then there was the sound of footsteps.
Whirling around, Wang Ming saw a youth who looked about twenty walking towards him out of nowhere. Although the youngster had a smile on his face, it didn't reach his eyes at all. Instead, his eyes only contained murderous intent.
"Leng Junfeng," Wang Ming said. "Do you think that just because you've become a martial grandmaster, you can defeat me? In the end, you're still too gre—"
Wang Ming never had a chance to finish as he felt a fist in his gut. Without any resistance, his body slammed into the wall and caused the cave to tremble. Even while he was seeing stars, Wang Ming couldn't understand how Leng Junfeng attacked him. He didn't even see him move!
"Wang Ming, ah, Wang Ming, did you ever expect such a day to come?" Leng Junfeng said as he slowly walked towards his father's sworn brother. Each step was seemingly magnified by a thousand times.
"I-I-Impossible!" Wang Ming shouted as blood leaked from his mouth. He clutched his stomach. "What trick did you use! Or did you have a secret helper?"
Leng Junfeng sneered and unleashed another Fist Qi, sending Wang Ming into the walls once more. "If you answer my questions honestly, I might let you live."
"Brat! Pchuu!"
Wang Ming was sent to the wall by Leng Junfeng again, only this time it was by a kick. "Not only did you betray my father, but you also sent your own daughter to that hell. Death is too good of a punishment for you."
"Or what, follow a convict like you in hiding every day? I only did what was best for her!" Wang Ming argued.
"Best for her?" Leng Junfeng sneered and kicked Wang Ming into the wall a few more times to vent his anger. "You sure know how to deceive yourself."
Another kick. "If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have been forced to birth a child against her consent!"
A kick to the face. "If it weren't for you, her foundation wouldn't have been damaged, and she wouldn't have lost the qualification to cultivate!"
"AHHH!" Wang Ming yelled in pain as Leng Junfeng stomped on his leg and broke his legs, but he still heard what Leng Jiunfeng said. "W-w-what did you say?"
"Why are you pretending not to know? After how much you harmed her, do you think ignorance will make up for it?"
"I really didn't know. Tell me, what did Young Master Teng do to her?"
Leng Junfeng sneered again. He graciously explained why "Young Master Teng" would want to marry the daughter of a loose cultivator. Wang Ming shook his head in disbelief. "Impossible, he promised that he fell in love at first sight. He said that she was doing well. He showed me proof!"
"Proof? Old man, your sight is worse than a blind man's. You can't even differentiate between truth and fiction," Leng Junfeng said. "Now, are you ready to tell me all that you know about the Teng Family?"
After a few more words from Leng Junfeng, Wang Ming decisively spilled everything. The more Wang Ming said, the colder Leng Junfeng's eyes became. Not that he noticed. "Thank you for your information, now die."
"Wait, that's not what you promised!"
"When have I ever promised you that?"
"You can't do this! I'm Mei'er's father. You can't kill me. I still have to take revenge!"
"Hmpf, Mei'er would have a better life without a trash father like you. Don't worry, I'll send Teng Wuba after you soon." Leng Junfeng unleashed a full-powered punch and pulverized Wang Ming's head, killing him instantly.
"Teng Wuba, you're next."
-line break-
It hadn't been long since Teng Shifang had left his name as the newest martial ancestor, greatly increasing the prestige of the Teng Family, before new information sent a stir in the Allfist Realm. The last member of the Leng Clan, Leng Junfeng, openly challenged Teng Wuba to a duel to the death.
The reasons were as follows.
Massacring the Leng Clan
Forcefully taking Wang Meilin and absorbing her cultivation to improve his
Assassinating the Li Emperor and stealing power
There were more charges, but those three were the greatest. To prove the veracity of the claim, Leng Junfeng invited numerous famous doctors to check on Wang Meilin in the hope of curing her, but without fail, all those doctors shook their heads. With their failure, they also sent news that Wang Meilin's foundation was indeed destroyed, sending rippling effects throughout the Allfist Realm.
Right after Teng Shifang ascended, the Teng Family's prestige rose, but within a year, their prestige fell because of the despicable action of their most promising descendant. Although massacring a clan and taking over a dynasty weren't glorious things, many people could still understand the desire to rule, but harming Wang Meilin was an ethical problem that made martial practitioners look down on Teng Wuba.
We respect you, but we never expected that your strength would come from harming a girl. Are you even a man?
When Teng Wuba heard this news, he almost broke his teeth from biting too hard. He didn't think his actions were wrong. In the allure of such benefits, who could resist? Those people only said that because they didn't have the chance and were jealous.
What was worse was that all those martial practitioners became more neutral. If before, they would step up for the Teng Family if Leng Junfeng acted brazenly, now they would give it more consideration. Worse was that Leng Junfeng set the date for their duel to the death to three years away.
Teng Wuba was arrogant but not stupid. He felt that Leng Junfeng planned to borrow Wang Meilin's body to make a breakthrough and fight him. That's why he set the date to three years, but how could Teng Wuba allow such a thing?
In response, Teng Wuba set the date to one year later. Teng Wuba also wanted time because he also felt that he would make a breakthrough. In addition, he planned on forging some artifacts. He didn't doubt that the ninth princess, Li Qiu'ai, would give Leng Junfeng some artifacts to fight him, so he planned to arm himself to the teeth.
As time passed, not only did the news not die down, but it increased to the point that more and more people knew about it. It was quite obvious there was a hidden hand pushing the rumor mill.
Teng Wuba's face was ugly. Even if he won, his name would be dragged through the mud. "Who is it, who is defaming my Teng Family? The imperial family? No, they are too weak. Is it the remaining ten great clans? Tch, they are so cowardly, fearing extermination like the Leng Clan."
No matter how much Teng Wuba wanted to stop the rumors from devolving into malicious slander—in his eyes—his fame kept getting lower and lower until even the Teng Family was dissatisfied with him. When the one-year appointment arrived, Teng Wuba couldn't wait to rip out Leng Junfeng's intestines and hang him with them.