Without waiting for Wang Feng to respond, Zhou Donghuang darted forward like lightning, grabbing Wang Feng’s wrist with one hand and his shoulder with the other.
Instantly, Zhou Donghuang exerted the maximum strength of the muscles in both arms in an abrupt explosion of force.
Ka-chak! Ka-chak! Ka-chak!
…
The gathered crowd felt their goosebumps tingle and their hair stand on end at the successive snapping sounds of bones breaking and being crushed.
“Aaaahhhh—”
Wang Feng let out a terrible scream like the shrill cry of a pig being slaughtered and fainted immediately.
“Fainted just like that?” Zhou Donghuang raised his eyebrows and casually remarked, “Really useless.”
Zhou Donghuang stepped over Wang Feng’s body and walked away with ease, leaving the onlookers mystified.
Wang Feng lay unconscious on the main road with one of his arms tied in a knot as though it contained no bones.
The arm in question was the one Wang Feng used earlier to block him. Zhou Donghuang had forcibly twisted it into a knot as though he was making a braided dough twist.
It was obvious that all the bones in Wang Feng’s arm had been almost completely snapped or shattered by Zhou Donghuang’s strength, and the arm was now completely useless.
There would be no way to restore Wang Feng’s maimed arm— at least not on the planet of Ziyun.
Hisssssss!
It was only when Zhou Donghuang was out of sight that the crowd regained their senses and collectively released the breaths they were holding.
“This is the Young Master Zhou Donghuang of the Magnolia Guild. How could he have such power?”
“Oh heavens! To be able to twist the arm of Wang Feng like this, how great must his strength be?”
“Isn’t he a martial invalid who is unable to manifest his qi? Is this something a martial invalid is capable of?”
…
Looking at the prone form of Wang Feng with his arm twisted into a knot, many of the bystanders felt a chill down their spine and shivered involuntarily.
“Wang Feng is not only the beloved son of the head of the Wang family but also the favorite grandson of the patriarch of the Wang family… now that he has been maimed, the Wang family will definitely not let the matter past!”
“The Wang family might have been cautious with the Magnolia Guild before… But now that the Magnolia Guild is on shaky ground and might fall apart at any moment, they might not be able to protect Zhou Donghuang.”
“The Magnolia Guild may or may not fall apart. It is not certain… Right now, we only have Wang Feng’s side of the story.”
“The only thing I can say for certain is that the Wang family will not take this lightly.”
…
It was indeed as many people had guessed.
After retainers from the Wang family had brought Wang Feng back to the Wang family mansion, the atmosphere in the Wang family had become heavy and somber.
“Second Uncle, is it really true that my arm cannot be healed?”
Wang Feng had just awoken and found himself lying in bed in a spacious room. His expression had changed to one of shock upon realizing that his family members had unanimously decided to amputate his right arm.
Wang Feng’s second uncle “Bamboo Crane Wang,” was a basic-level medicine master. When faced with Wang Feng’s hopeful look, he only shook his head gently. “Feng’er, if your arm had been snapped in two, a full recovery would definitely be possible. I would have confidently guaranteed at least an 80 or 90% chance of a complete recovery.
“However, the bones in your whole arm are shattered and broken. Never mind that I’m just a basic-level medicine master; even a superior-level medicine master would not be able to help.”
Bamboo Crane Wang sighed, “Moreover, if your arm is not amputated in time… the high risk of gangrene may endanger the rest of your body.
“No… no… no!!”
Wang Feng was so agitated that he leaped off the bed and made to escape like a madman to avoid having his arm amputated.
“I refuse! I refuse!”
Peng!
In the end, it was the head of the Wang family, “Red Crane Wang,” who struck his son unconscious with a single blow.
“Second younger brother, please begin.”
Throughout the whole process, Red Crane Wang’s expression was terrible to behold.
His son was the most talented, direct descendant of the Wang family in a hundred years, and he had a bright future ahead of him. It was everyone’s hope that he would lead the Wang family to even greater heights in the future.
Now that his right arm had been maimed, his future was ruined together with it.
“Zhou Donghuang!”
Red Crane Wang left the room, staring solemnly in the direction of the Magnolia Guild with murderous look in his eyes. “You have maimed my son’s arm, so I, Red Crane Wang, will take your life!”
A moment later, Bamboo Crane Wang came out of the room. “Big brother, Feng’er’s injuries have been taken care of.
“What are you going to do about this? Will we go in force to punish the Magnolia Guild, or wait for Father to return?” Bamboo Crane Wang asked Red Crane Wang.
“Let’s wait for Father to return… If we go there now, it’s not Lin Lan we have to fear, but the adept who is at level-two of Qi-gathering stage stationed there,” Red Crane Wang said thoughtfully.
Both he and his second younger brother were only level-one adepts of Qi-gathering stage. There was only one level-two adept in the Wang family, and that was their father, the patriarch of the Wang family.
“In addition, by the time Father returns, the Magnolia Guild should have lost the support of the Lin family of the prefecture capital. If that happens, Lin Lan will be expelled from the Lin family, and the level-two Qi-gathering adept who stationed at the Magnolia Guild will also be recalled to the Lin family.
“Lin Lan alone cannot protect that little swine!”
The more Red Crane Wang spoke, the colder his voice became.
“Big brother, isn’t Zhou Donghuang a useless piece of trash who can’t even manifest his qi? To wound Feng’er so gravely… Even if he sneaked the attack, he must have three to four hundred jin of strength in his arms.”
Bamboo Crane Wang was puzzled by this.
“It’s highly probable that Lin Lan used some kind of invaluable treasure on him that temporarily increased his strength. There’s nothing to worry about,” Red Crane Wang replied nonchalantly.
…
“Go back.”
After spending the morning strolling leisurely through Qingshan Town, it was almost noon when Zhou Donghuang returned to the Magnolia Guild.
Huh?
Passing by the receiving chamber, Zhou Donghuang heard granny Lian pleading earnestly with someone, “Elder San, I really cannot return you the money for now… When my Lady returns, the money will still need to be invested into the production of the blood-staunching elixir.”
“The entire Qingshan Town knows of the circumstances that your Magnolia Guild is in. Your formula has been leaked to the Sunset Guild, which implies that the blood-staunching elixir produced by your Magnolia Guild cannot monopolize the market, and thus will have a hard time making a high profit,” said a confident voice.
“In addition, I know that the formula belongs to the Lin family of the prefecture capital… Having leaked such a valuable formula, the Lin family will not let Guild Master Lin Lan off lightly. From what I can see, the Magnolia Guild might not survive for long.
“If we don’t demand repayment of the loan now… We might end up losing our original investment in a few days’ time.”
Zhou Donghuang raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.
Although it was such a long time ago, he could still remember very clearly that the Magnolia Guild had to borrow money from external parties if it wanted to further develop its business, especially since it paid nine-tenths of its monthly profit to the Lin family.
Of course, the high-interest rates that came with borrowing money from external parties were considered to be a normal expenditure. This was all because the Lin family would not give money directly to the Magnolia Guild or any of the other guilds under the Lin family for that matter.
I remember… When the Magnolia Guild borrowed money from external parties, we usually only borrowed from one person. That person was Zhao San, the owner of Yunxuan Restaurant, and the wealthiest man in Qingshan Town.
Just now, Granny Lian called him Elder San… I guess he is Zhao San.
Still deep in thought, Zhou Donghuang entered the receiving chamber.
As he entered, he saw a middle-aged man sitting at the side of the receiving chamber on a wooden armchair with one leg crossed over the other. He was toying with two obviously very expensive pearls in his right hand.
The middle-aged man was dressed splendidly and had a regal look about him. He kept a small goatee on his chin, and his eyes sparkled with intelligence.
It really is Zhao San.
Although he had been to Zhao San’s Yunxuan Restaurant several times in his previous life, he had never before seen Zhao San because he rarely showed himself.
However, he had seen paintings of Zhao San hung on the walls of the great hall on the ground floor of Yunxuan Restaurant.
According to my memory… Zhao San is not only a level-two adept of the Qi-gathering, but I think he is also a direct descendant of the Governor’s Household of the prefecture capital. No doubt, he has an illustrious background.
All these memories from long ago slowly came back to him.
“Young Master,” Granny Lian greeted Zhou Donghuang hastily as he entered before turning back to Zhao San, who was sitting at the side of the receiving chamber with his leg up. “Elder San, we have already emerged smoothly from this troubled period… I can guarantee you that our Magnolia Guild is under no threat.”
“Oh?” Zhao San looked at Granny Lian with interest. “Then I shall wish to hear how your Magnolia Guild has overcome its troubles. If the Magnolia Guild truly can overcome its troubles, I will have no qualms about leaving my money with you.”
Zhao San scooped up the teacup on the table before him, raised it to his lips, took a sip, and put it down slowly while waiting for Granny Lian’s reply.
As Granny Lian was getting ready to tell the story of the formula of the new blood-staunching elixir, Zhou Donghuang spoke first. “Zhao San, if I am not mistaken… You were previously a Qi-gathering level-four adept?”
As Zhou Donghuang spoke, his piercing gaze settled on Zhao San.
“Eh?”
When Zhou Donghuang had entered, Zhao San merely spared him a glance and had not even looked directly at him.
But now, after hearing Zhou Donghuang’s words, Zhao San was looking incredulously at Zhou Donghuang. “You… How did you know?”
There was only one person other than himself who knew that he had once attained level-four of Qi-gathering.
That person was his older brother.
He had not told anyone else about this, and it was also impossible that his older brother would have told anyone.
“It’s not difficult to tell,” Zhou Donghuang said matter-of-factly. “It was a pity that when you attained level-four of the Qi-gathering, you overextended yourself and did not enter it smoothly. Because of this, you regressed to level-two of Qi-gathering instead and subsequently could not advance further to level-three. Am I correct?”
Earlier, with just one look at Zhao San, Zhou Donghuang had been able to discern some of these problems just by looking at Zhao San’s slightly swollen temples.
With his experience from once having been the greatest being in the universe, it was not difficult to identify Zhao San’s problem.
