"The prime minister?" Leng Junfeng felt an ominous premonition. "What about His Majesty? How could His Majesty allow the prime minister to order you like this?!"
The captain of the guard sneered, not wanting to waste time with Leng Junfeng, a criminal under the law, but seeing his confusion, he decided to be benevolent and explain. After all, this was a man on death's row.
"The Emperor fell sick a year ago. Now, with His Majesty bedridden, Prime Minister Teng deals with the affairs of the country. Under the ongoing investigation, Traitors Juedai Fenghua and Leng Junfeng are sentenced to death!" The captain of the guards 'graciously' explained. "Come quietly, and we can still give you a nice meal before your execution. Resist, and your last days will be filled with nothing but misery!"
Leng Junfeng was about to turn to his teacher to ask what they should do, but before he could, the captain of the guards shouted at him.
"I said do not resist! Guards, capture Convict Leng before he also escapes!" The captain of the guards ordered, his voice no longer as high and mighty as before.
'Also escape?' Leng Junfeng turned to his side to see no sign of Fenghua anywhere. 'Did I just get abandoned? No way, Teacher wouldn't so easily abandon me!'
Leng Junfeng didn't have much time to ponder as the guards were already thrusting their spears towards him. Moving in a circular fashion, he deflected the spears so that it appeared as if the spears all bent around him, creating a small circle of inviolability.
The guards stood still, stunned for a moment before their faculty returned under their distraught captain's shouts. "What are you idiots doing? Do you know what would happen if he escaped!? All our necks are on the line. The orders said failure to capture him would be punishable by death!"
The captain of the guards had thought he hit the jackpot when he saw Leng Junfeng. Every division of guards was given an order to capture Leng Junfeng on sight. The rewards were massive, but so was the punishment for failure.
The captain hadn't thought much of it at first. All twelve members of his squadron were all warriors at the peak of the Tendon Reinforcement Stage, and he himself was at the peak of the Marrow Enhancement Stage. Faced with thirteen of them, Leng Junfeng and a little girl should have been no match, but nothing went right for him.
First, the little girl disappeared without rhyme or reason, and then Leng Junfeng was singlehandedly dealing with all their efforts to capture him. Had it not been for the order to capture him alive, the captain would have already ordered the guards to use lethal attacks. Left with no other choice, the captain joined the fray as well.
And was immediately knocked back ten meters by the air cannon Leng Junfeng unleashed using the Divine Wind Fist. The captain showed traces of fear in his eyes as he hacked up a mouthful of blood.
Leng Junfeng could have killed the captain of the guards if he wanted to. Now he could externalize his qi; his air cannon became even more powerful with a simple application of his qi. The problem was that Leng Junfeng was unsure of the guard captain's allegiance. He could be just a guard following orders and not a loyal minion of the Teng Family.
Plus, he wanted to discover what had happened, so Leng Junfeng incapacitated all the guards. Then he began questioning. Under Leng Junfeng's oppressive aura and beating, the guards spilled the beans. It wasn't like they had any information that the general public didn't know.
Even before the emperor fell sick, the capital was already saturated with undercurrents. First, some minor officials began to go missing or died due to assassins or bandits attacks. Then the more powerful ministers began to have problems, such as their inner yard not being peaceful or their scions or heirs mysteriously disappearing or dying. There was even one time that one minister was impeached by a censor for corruption.
These events didn't occur for no reason but were an extension of the battle between the emperor and the prime minister surfacing to the public. Before, the two sides were on relatively equal footing, but with the death of thousands of the emperor faction's soldiers, the equilibrium tilted towards the prime minister.
Caught in the crossfire was the Gong Ducal Estate. As one of the loyal retainers of the emperor, Duke Gong was one of the first people the prime minister targeted whenever possible. Now, Duke Gong had already lost two grandsons and one son. Unable to take it any longer, the duke forsook the emperor and disappeared from the Li Dynasty capital, Chang'an.
When Leng Junfeng heard this, he felt strange. According to his understanding of Duke Gong, he should not be such a weak-willed man. Although losing a son and two grandsons would take its toll, that should not be enough for Duke Gong to flee. He should have done everything he could to take revenge instead.
However, soon, Leng Junfeng did not have time to think about Duke Gong as he heard another piece of earth-shattering news. The Teng Family's heir, Teng Wuba, was getting married in a month, and his bride-to-be was wandering martial artist Wang Ming's daughter, Wang Meilin.
Hearing this news, Leng Junfeng felt as if a bomb had exploded inside his mind, and he couldn't hear what the guard was saying anymore. Seeing the stunned Leng Junfeng, the captain of the guards considered using this chance to subdue the criminal but immediately decided against it. Martial artists were sensitive to ill will, and attacking them was likely to just cause him to receive a counterattack.
The guard captain's dream was good, but reality was harsh. Before he could even take a step away, a hand grabbed him by his collar, nearly choking him.
"Where is it!" Leng Junfeng roared after making the guard face him.
"Where is what?" The guard captain choked back, feeling the pain in his throat. As a body transformation acolyte, he could function without oxygen for much longer, but he hadn't reached the point of not needing it yet, so he was still fearful of losing his consciousness from lack of oxygen.
"The Teng Family, where is it?!" Leng Junfeng roared once more. His mind was blazing to the point that he had forgotten where the Teng Family Estate was even though he had already visited.
The guard captain immediately pointed the hotheaded lad to his goal. Once he learned of the direction, Leng JUnfeng released the guard captain, causing him to fall onto his butt. After sucking in a breath of fresh air, the guard captain pondered his next decision.
He looked at his subordinates all lying on the ground groaning in pain. Even if they weren't injured, the guard captain didn't have the courage to face Leng Junfeng again, but he still picked up his pain-wracked body in order to report it to his superior. His only hope was that they wouldn't be punished too harshly for letting the convict escape, but with the clue of where Leng Junfeng was heading, the guard captain even bore a small hope that he would be rewarded.
Leng Junfeng knew none of this. All that was going on in his head was the guard captain saying, "Teng Wuba will marry Wang Meilin in a month." He was like a raging beast, barrelling through the streets and even jumping over buildings, causing panic among the citizens and attracting even more attention from the authorities.
"Stop!"
After arriving at the gates of the Teng Family Estate, Leng Junfeng ignored the guards blocking his way and knocked them aside. Rearing his fist back, Leng Junfeng unleashed it and blasted the gates off their hinges, causing a loud disturbance.
Walking through the ruined opening, Leng Junfeng coldly glared at the arriving Teng Family members. "Where is Mei'er?"
The Teng Family members and servants didn't know who the intruder was talking about, and some even wanted to rush forward to teach him a lesson for daring to break the Teng Family's gate. Who didn't know that the Teng Family was the crownless king of the Li Dynasty?
However, the coercive pressure emanating from Leng Junfeng stopped them cold in their tracks. Sweat even poured down the weaker members, and the mortals who have yet to open their first meridian directly fainted. Finally, someone recognized Leng Junfeng.
"Leng Clan's brat, who do you think you are?" An old man with a long white bear and mustache rebuked. He was one of the Teng Family elders and was at the Organ Fortification Realm, a peak body transformation acolyte.
"You're already a criminal, yet you dare to act so brazenly? After hiding like a turtle for the past three years, why did you suddenly break the Teng Family's gates?" Then the elder sneered. "Is it because you're tired of living? This old man doesn't mind letting you reunite with the rest of your clan!"
Saying so, the old man jumped towards Leng Junfeng. His fist was covered in a blue glow, indicating that although he couldn't externalize his qi yet, the amount of qi condensed in his fist couldn't be contained and was leaking out.
Leng Junfeng stood there and allowed the Teng Family elder to attack him. To the Teng Family elder's surprise and horror, he discovered that his fist was blocked by some sort of invisible armor on Leng Junfeng. In actuality, it was not an invisible armor but a layer of qi that Leng Junfeng applied over his body according to the principles of the Divine Wind Fist.
"Are you done?" Leng Junfeng coldly asked.
Hearing the icy tones behind those words, the Teng Family elder felt sweat perpetrate on his back and moved to retreat. But before he could, Leng Junfeng's fist already buried itself into his stomach. There was a moment of silence as if time had stopped before the elder's body shot backward like a cannonball and into the wall.
"Elder!"
"Senior!
"Master!"
Several voices called out in shock. The elder was reaching the end of his years, nearing ninety and had no hope of reaching the Acupoint Opening Realm. Still, because of his contribution through the years, many of the Teng Family's current experts regarded him as a close elder and confident.
"I'll ask one more time, where is Mei'er?" Leng Junfeng asked as he slowly stepped towards the downed elder.
"Stop, you villain!" A Teng Family family member who appeared to be in his thirties stepped forward and blocked Leng Junfeng's road. Clearly, he was frightened out of his mind, as evident by his shaking legs, but he still bravely stepped forward.
It was like the signal as more and more people stepped forward and blocked Leng Junfeng's path. It was clear that they were terrified, but they still courageously stepped forward to protect their beloved elder.
At this moment, a peal of choking laughter could be heard. "Haha, Leng Clan's brat. I remember now. That Mei'er in your mouth should be Wang Meilin, right?"
The old man chuckled some more, but he suddenly stopped and coughed a mouthful of blood, staining his white beard. "I will tell you now, Leng Clan's brat, that you will never know. That lass will be the future patriarch's wife and bear the next generation of the Teng Family!"
Leng Junfeng's eyes became completely cold at the Teng Family elder's words and coldly said, "What kind of family has no members?"
Before the elder could process what Leng Junfeng's words meant, there was a scream of pain and horror. One of the people blocking the last Leng Clan member's path was staring at his chest, blood leaking from his mouth in perplexity.
The clothes on his chest were shredded, but what was revealed underneath was the skin of his chest, but dripping red liquid and pale white sticks. Leng Junfeng's punch had shattered and destroyed the front portion of the man's chest. After spurting out another mouthful of blood, he fell over, dead.
That man was just the beginning, as more and more screams could be heard. Just as much as the screams being released were the increasing number of corpses falling onto the ground.
Finally, the fallen elder couldn't take it anymore. "Stop, stop! I'll tell you where she is, so stop murdering them, you murderer!"
"Murderer?" Leng Junfeng paused in his movements as he sent a chilling glare towards the downed elder. His movements were stiff, almost mechanical. "Aren't you guys the same? When you massacred my Leng Clan, weren't you even worse?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" The elder repeated with a face full of confusion. The decision to kill the Leng Clan was not something every member of the Teng Family was aware of, so it wasn't a surprise that some, like the downed elder, didn't know.
However, the elder's confusion only served to agitate Leng Junfeng even more. His search for Wang Meilin was just a start. After entering the gates of the Teng Family, the Leng Clan's screams of horror and pain constantly rang in his ears. He wasn't killing the Teng Family for Wang Meilin but also for his parents, cousins, uncles, and the rest of the fallen Leng Clan.
As the commotion grew bigger from Leng Junfeng's actions, more and more Teng Family arrived and surrounded him. He had already killed fifty Teng Family members and servants, but over ten peak body transformation acolytes were now pressing him into a corner.
It was true that he could unleash the so-called mystical moves, but he had just entered the Foundation Establishment Realm and had no time to practice any spells or the like. So he could only fight with his body, and the saying two hands couldn't beat ten fists was not without reason.
If it went on, even if Leng Junfeng managed to kill the ten peak body transformation acolytes, he would not be without injuries either. However, he was in a berserker-like state. Where was the spare thought concerning his retreat?
"I was wondering who dared to cause trouble at the Teng Family. It turns out to be a descendant of an insignificant clan."
Like the red sea, the people surrounding Leng Junfeng parted a bit to allow a single man to walk through. Despite there being an opening now, Leng Junfeng only felt the pressure increase as he glared hatefully at the newcomer. "Teng.Wu.Ba!"
D.C.Haenlien
If you want to read 15+ Chapters ahead, consider joining my Patreon.
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Volume 1 is now available on Amazon!
Volume 2 up for preorder
"The prime minister?" Leng Junfeng felt an ominous premonition. "What about His Majesty? How could His Majesty allow the prime minister to order you like this?!"
The captain of the guard sneered, not wanting to waste time with Leng Junfeng, a criminal under the law, but seeing his confusion, he decided to be benevolent and explain. After all, this was a man on death's row.
"The Emperor fell sick a year ago. Now, with His Majesty bedridden, Prime Minister Teng deals with the affairs of the country. Under the ongoing investigation, Traitors Juedai Fenghua and Leng Junfeng are sentenced to death!" The captain of the guards 'graciously' explained. "Come quietly, and we can still give you a nice meal before your execution. Resist, and your last days will be filled with nothing but misery!"
Leng Junfeng was about to turn to his teacher to ask what they should do, but before he could, the captain of the guards shouted at him.
"I said do not resist! Guards, capture Convict Leng before he also escapes!" The captain of the guards ordered, his voice no longer as high and mighty as before.
'Also escape?' Leng Junfeng turned to his side to see no sign of Fenghua anywhere. 'Did I just get abandoned? No way, Teacher wouldn't so easily abandon me!'
Leng Junfeng didn't have much time to ponder as the guards were already thrusting their spears towards him. Moving in a circular fashion, he deflected the spears so that it appeared as if the spears all bent around him, creating a small circle of inviolability.
The guards stood still, stunned for a moment before their faculty returned under their distraught captain's shouts. "What are you idiots doing? Do you know what would happen if he escaped!? All our necks are on the line. The orders said failure to capture him would be punishable by death!"
The captain of the guards had thought he hit the jackpot when he saw Leng Junfeng. Every division of guards was given an order to capture Leng Junfeng on sight. The rewards were massive, but so was the punishment for failure.
The captain hadn't thought much of it at first. All twelve members of his squadron were all warriors at the peak of the Tendon Reinforcement Stage, and he himself was at the peak of the Marrow Enhancement Stage. Faced with thirteen of them, Leng Junfeng and a little girl should have been no match, but nothing went right for him.
First, the little girl disappeared without rhyme or reason, and then Leng Junfeng was singlehandedly dealing with all their efforts to capture him. Had it not been for the order to capture him alive, the captain would have already ordered the guards to use lethal attacks. Left with no other choice, the captain joined the fray as well.
And was immediately knocked back ten meters by the air cannon Leng Junfeng unleashed using the Divine Wind Fist. The captain showed traces of fear in his eyes as he hacked up a mouthful of blood.
Leng Junfeng could have killed the captain of the guards if he wanted to. Now he could externalize his qi; his air cannon became even more powerful with a simple application of his qi. The problem was that Leng Junfeng was unsure of the guard captain's allegiance. He could be just a guard following orders and not a loyal minion of the Teng Family.
Plus, he wanted to discover what had happened, so Leng Junfeng incapacitated all the guards. Then he began questioning. Under Leng Junfeng's oppressive aura and beating, the guards spilled the beans. It wasn't like they had any information that the general public didn't know.
Even before the emperor fell sick, the capital was already saturated with undercurrents. First, some minor officials began to go missing or died due to assassins or bandits attacks. Then the more powerful ministers began to have problems, such as their inner yard not being peaceful or their scions or heirs mysteriously disappearing or dying. There was even one time that one minister was impeached by a censor for corruption.
These events didn't occur for no reason but were an extension of the battle between the emperor and the prime minister surfacing to the public. Before, the two sides were on relatively equal footing, but with the death of thousands of the emperor faction's soldiers, the equilibrium tilted towards the prime minister.
Caught in the crossfire was the Gong Ducal Estate. As one of the loyal retainers of the emperor, Duke Gong was one of the first people the prime minister targeted whenever possible. Now, Duke Gong had already lost two grandsons and one son. Unable to take it any longer, the duke forsook the emperor and disappeared from the Li Dynasty capital, Chang'an.
When Leng Junfeng heard this, he felt strange. According to his understanding of Duke Gong, he should not be such a weak-willed man. Although losing a son and two grandsons would take its toll, that should not be enough for Duke Gong to flee. He should have done everything he could to take revenge instead.
However, soon, Leng Junfeng did not have time to think about Duke Gong as he heard another piece of earth-shattering news. The Teng Family's heir, Teng Wuba, was getting married in a month, and his bride-to-be was wandering martial artist Wang Ming's daughter, Wang Meilin.
Hearing this news, Leng Junfeng felt as if a bomb had exploded inside his mind, and he couldn't hear what the guard was saying anymore. Seeing the stunned Leng Junfeng, the captain of the guards considered using this chance to subdue the criminal but immediately decided against it. Martial artists were sensitive to ill will, and attacking them was likely to just cause him to receive a counterattack.
The guard captain's dream was good, but reality was harsh. Before he could even take a step away, a hand grabbed him by his collar, nearly choking him.
"Where is it!" Leng Junfeng roared after making the guard face him.
"Where is what?" The guard captain choked back, feeling the pain in his throat. As a body transformation acolyte, he could function without oxygen for much longer, but he hadn't reached the point of not needing it yet, so he was still fearful of losing his consciousness from lack of oxygen.
"The Teng Family, where is it?!" Leng Junfeng roared once more. His mind was blazing to the point that he had forgotten where the Teng Family Estate was even though he had already visited.
The guard captain immediately pointed the hotheaded lad to his goal. Once he learned of the direction, Leng JUnfeng released the guard captain, causing him to fall onto his butt. After sucking in a breath of fresh air, the guard captain pondered his next decision.
He looked at his subordinates all lying on the ground groaning in pain. Even if they weren't injured, the guard captain didn't have the courage to face Leng Junfeng again, but he still picked up his pain-wracked body in order to report it to his superior. His only hope was that they wouldn't be punished too harshly for letting the convict escape, but with the clue of where Leng Junfeng was heading, the guard captain even bore a small hope that he would be rewarded.
Leng Junfeng knew none of this. All that was going on in his head was the guard captain saying, "Teng Wuba will marry Wang Meilin in a month." He was like a raging beast, barrelling through the streets and even jumping over buildings, causing panic among the citizens and attracting even more attention from the authorities.
"Stop!"
After arriving at the gates of the Teng Family Estate, Leng Junfeng ignored the guards blocking his way and knocked them aside. Rearing his fist back, Leng Junfeng unleashed it and blasted the gates off their hinges, causing a loud disturbance.
Walking through the ruined opening, Leng Junfeng coldly glared at the arriving Teng Family members. "Where is Mei'er?"
The Teng Family members and servants didn't know who the intruder was talking about, and some even wanted to rush forward to teach him a lesson for daring to break the Teng Family's gate. Who didn't know that the Teng Family was the crownless king of the Li Dynasty?
However, the coercive pressure emanating from Leng Junfeng stopped them cold in their tracks. Sweat even poured down the weaker members, and the mortals who have yet to open their first meridian directly fainted. Finally, someone recognized Leng Junfeng.
"Leng Clan's brat, who do you think you are?" An old man with a long white bear and mustache rebuked. He was one of the Teng Family elders and was at the Organ Fortification Realm, a peak body transformation acolyte.
"You're already a criminal, yet you dare to act so brazenly? After hiding like a turtle for the past three years, why did you suddenly break the Teng Family's gates?" Then the elder sneered. "Is it because you're tired of living? This old man doesn't mind letting you reunite with the rest of your clan!"
Saying so, the old man jumped towards Leng Junfeng. His fist was covered in a blue glow, indicating that although he couldn't externalize his qi yet, the amount of qi condensed in his fist couldn't be contained and was leaking out.
Leng Junfeng stood there and allowed the Teng Family elder to attack him. To the Teng Family elder's surprise and horror, he discovered that his fist was blocked by some sort of invisible armor on Leng Junfeng. In actuality, it was not an invisible armor but a layer of qi that Leng Junfeng applied over his body according to the principles of the Divine Wind Fist.
"Are you done?" Leng Junfeng coldly asked.
Hearing the icy tones behind those words, the Teng Family elder felt sweat perpetrate on his back and moved to retreat. But before he could, Leng Junfeng's fist already buried itself into his stomach. There was a moment of silence as if time had stopped before the elder's body shot backward like a cannonball and into the wall.
"Elder!"
"Senior!
"Master!"
Several voices called out in shock. The elder was reaching the end of his years, nearing ninety and had no hope of reaching the Acupoint Opening Realm. Still, because of his contribution through the years, many of the Teng Family's current experts regarded him as a close elder and confident.
"I'll ask one more time, where is Mei'er?" Leng Junfeng asked as he slowly stepped towards the downed elder.
"Stop, you villain!" A Teng Family family member who appeared to be in his thirties stepped forward and blocked Leng Junfeng's road. Clearly, he was frightened out of his mind, as evident by his shaking legs, but he still bravely stepped forward.
It was like the signal as more and more people stepped forward and blocked Leng Junfeng's path. It was clear that they were terrified, but they still courageously stepped forward to protect their beloved elder.
At this moment, a peal of choking laughter could be heard. "Haha, Leng Clan's brat. I remember now. That Mei'er in your mouth should be Wang Meilin, right?"
The old man chuckled some more, but he suddenly stopped and coughed a mouthful of blood, staining his white beard. "I will tell you now, Leng Clan's brat, that you will never know. That lass will be the future patriarch's wife and bear the next generation of the Teng Family!"
Leng Junfeng's eyes became completely cold at the Teng Family elder's words and coldly said, "What kind of family has no members?"
Before the elder could process what Leng Junfeng's words meant, there was a scream of pain and horror. One of the people blocking the last Leng Clan member's path was staring at his chest, blood leaking from his mouth in perplexity.
The clothes on his chest were shredded, but what was revealed underneath was the skin of his chest, but dripping red liquid and pale white sticks. Leng Junfeng's punch had shattered and destroyed the front portion of the man's chest. After spurting out another mouthful of blood, he fell over, dead.
That man was just the beginning, as more and more screams could be heard. Just as much as the screams being released were the increasing number of corpses falling onto the ground.
Finally, the fallen elder couldn't take it anymore. "Stop, stop! I'll tell you where she is, so stop murdering them, you murderer!"
"Murderer?" Leng Junfeng paused in his movements as he sent a chilling glare towards the downed elder. His movements were stiff, almost mechanical. "Aren't you guys the same? When you massacred my Leng Clan, weren't you even worse?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" The elder repeated with a face full of confusion. The decision to kill the Leng Clan was not something every member of the Teng Family was aware of, so it wasn't a surprise that some, like the downed elder, didn't know.
However, the elder's confusion only served to agitate Leng Junfeng even more. His search for Wang Meilin was just a start. After entering the gates of the Teng Family, the Leng Clan's screams of horror and pain constantly rang in his ears. He wasn't killing the Teng Family for Wang Meilin but also for his parents, cousins, uncles, and the rest of the fallen Leng Clan.
As the commotion grew bigger from Leng Junfeng's actions, more and more Teng Family arrived and surrounded him. He had already killed fifty Teng Family members and servants, but over ten peak body transformation acolytes were now pressing him into a corner.
It was true that he could unleash the so-called mystical moves, but he had just entered the Foundation Establishment Realm and had no time to practice any spells or the like. So he could only fight with his body, and the saying two hands couldn't beat ten fists was not without reason.
If it went on, even if Leng Junfeng managed to kill the ten peak body transformation acolytes, he would not be without injuries either. However, he was in a berserker-like state. Where was the spare thought concerning his retreat?
"I was wondering who dared to cause trouble at the Teng Family. It turns out to be a descendant of an insignificant clan."
Like the red sea, the people surrounding Leng Junfeng parted a bit to allow a single man to walk through. Despite there being an opening now, Leng Junfeng only felt the pressure increase as he glared hatefully at the newcomer. "Teng.Wu.Ba!"
D.C.Haenlien
If you want to read 15+ Chapters ahead, consider joining my Patreon.
Discord: Discord: https://discord.gg/WCTeWEH
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/KaiserBlak
If you have the time, I would appreciate if you can vote for my story on topwebfiction.
Volume 1 is now available on Amazon!
Volume 2 up for preorder
