Opening the Banquet

He Lian Zheng felt his eyes split with rage. Before he could even round the Eight Immortals table, Chen Shi had already made the first move to slaughter them. Two chopsticks, taking down Third Young Master Zhao and Zhao Xue'e, left his anger burning and impossible to suppress.

This time, the Xuan Ying Mansion of the Zhao family had sent Third Young Master Zhao out to search for Second Miss Zhao and resolve the disappearance case of steward Zhao Ming and Iron Brush Old Man. At the same time, they had dispatched him to lead the Imperial Guard and guard the safety of Zhao Yue and the others.

Although Zhao Yue was the third young master, his reputation within Xuan Ying Mansion was quite high. He was smart and studious, well-read in poetry and books since childhood, proficient in the zither and se, and at the same time full of charity, deeply loved by everyone in the mansion.

There were even rumors that if the eldest young master failed to live up to expectations and the second young miss could not be found, the master might have the intention of making Zhao Yue the successor.

Zhao Xue'e, who sat beside Zhao Yue, was his full younger sister. At sixteen years old, in the bloom of her youth, she had happily come along upon hearing that her third older brother was going to find their second older sister and avenge Zhao Ming and Iron Brush Old Man.

She was also a charitable young maiden, extremely kind-hearted, and usually couldn't bear to crush even an ant.

Who would have expected those country folk to be so savage, using a single chopstick to pierce Third Young Master Zhao to death, and yet another chopstick to pierce Zhao Xue'e to death!

With Zhao Yue and Zhao Xue'e dead, he, He Lian Zheng, would absolutely not be able to escape his complicity. He would have to shoulder the crime of dereliction of duty, and might even be buried along with the third young master!

And all of this was thanks to Chen Shi!

"Country brute!"

He Lian Zheng cursed through clenched teeth and charged. Chen Shi finished off the two with his two chopsticks, raised his hand to overturn the dining table, and the table flew up with a whoosh, blocking the line of sight of the people in front.

The moment the table flew up, Chen Shi's figure retreated swiftly. Reaching out, his left hand struck like a saber, landing on the throat of the Imperial Guard behind Zhao Yue.

Such terrifying speed!

That Imperial Guard felt despair in his heart.

He had already noticed something was amiss, but it was too late to dodge. His neck bone was shattered by the strike.

Right Guard Two, dead.

Chen Shi spun around and threw a punch. The fist whipped up a gust of wind, smashing into the face of the nearby Imperial Guard and driving the man's head crashing against the ancient temple's wall. The wall burst open with a thump, revealing a large hole!

The Imperial Guard outside only saw the wall of the ancient temple suddenly bulge, a few blue bricks fly out, and a fractured skull thrust through.

Left Guard One, dead.

"Enemy attack—"

The other Imperial Guards were stunned for a moment before reacting instantly, charging toward the ancient temple.

Inside the temple, chaos reigned. Almost everyone moved at that moment. Some were pushing chairs away in an attempt to stand, some were tripped by chairs, some tried to rush forward, and others tried to back away to avoid Chen Shi, this god of plague.

For a time, they tripped over and blocked one another. The other Imperial Guards wanted to strike, but at that moment people were everywhere; moving rashly to use spells would only result in killing their own people.

Their hands and feet were in disorder, and their hearts were in turmoil as well. They desperately wanted to throw the people in front of them out, but remembering they were comrades, they had no choice but to endure.

Yet Chen Shi remained extremely calm.

Strange to say, before making a move, he would analyze the pros and cons and hesitate greatly. But the moment he acted, his heart became incomparably peaceful. Every strike was fast and accurate, as if he possessed innate methods for taking lives.

His speed was blindingly fast, his body small and slippery as grease. Sidestepping a charging Imperial Guard, he raised his hand into a fist, his thumb curled beneath his middle finger and pressed under his index finger. The middle joint of his index finger smashed into the Imperial Guard's temple, shattering the fragile skull and driving force straight into the brain.

The Imperial Guard's right eye instantly congested with blood, turning the entire eyeball crimson, hiding the pupil.

Blood vessels burst at his temple. First his vision blurred as his eyes flooded with blood, then the violent shock made his brain stop thinking, and finally blood rushed into his brain, bringing instant death with very little pain.

Chen Shi's figure moved like a swimming fish. Having delivered this blow, he slipped behind this Imperial Guard, pressing back-to-back with him, only to see Zhao Yan rushing at him with a chair raised high to smash down.

Chen Shi neither dodged nor evaded. The chair slammed into his head, the armchair shattering into pieces with a loud bang. Zhao Yan was left holding only two chair legs, and Chen Shi seized the opportunity to grab the other two.

Seeing that the ends of the chair legs were sharp, a fierce glint flashed in Zhao Yan's eyes. He was just about to use the chair legs as weapons to stab Chen Shi to death when, without waiting for him to react, Chen Shi drove the chair leg straight into his throat!

Chen Shi practiced body refinement, while Zhao Yan's physical quality was far inferior and much slower in speed.

Chen Shi lowered his body, swept his leg, and kicked the groin of an Imperial Guard charging from the side. He spun around, thrusting his left hand forward to plunge the chair leg from his other hand into the belly of the face-twisted Imperial Guard.

Right Guard One, Left Guard Two, Zhao Yan.

Dead.

The ancient temple was in complete turmoil. Zhao Yue and Zhao Xue'e had not yet breathed their last, the body of the first Imperial Guard whose neck bone Chen Shi had broken with a palm-blade had yet to hit the ground, and Zhao Yan was still trying to pull the chair leg from his throat, when an Imperial Guard activated a Yellow Turban Strongman Talisman. His entire body shone with golden light, granting him boundless strength as he charged at Chen Shi like a wild bull, throwing a heavy punch.

Chen Shi paid no mind to the two chair legs. This was an experience he had gained at the Li Family Camp: blood-stained weapons became extremely slippery and were prone to slipping from one's grip.

Therefore, whether it was chopsticks or chair legs, he discarded them after use, never considering a second use unless they happened to be at hand.

He churned his vital energy, and in an instant his right arm swelled to over twice its thickness, his palm growing as heavy as a bear's paw to meet the incoming punch head-on.

That Imperial Guard had activated the Strongman Talisman, and the peak of his fist also blazed with golden light. The brilliant golden radiance all over his body made him look as though he were clad in golden armor, resembling a divine being!

The Strongman Talisman allowed a cultivator to possess an indestructible body and infinite strength in the shortest possible time, making it the best talisman for close combat.

Crack!

The two fists collided. The five fingers of the Imperial Guard's palm shattered completely, and his arm bone snapped. Grit-toothed, he raised his left hand to strike, but Chen Shi had already grabbed his broken right arm and pushed forward with all his might, driving the fractured bone straight into his own chest.

The Imperial Guard hammered wildly at Chen Shi's face with his left hand—once, twice, three times!

Bearing the hammer blows, Chen Shi pushed forward with all his might, shoving him until he slammed into the wall with a loud bang, the protruding broken arm bone impaling him right through.

Chen Shi gripped the broken bone and pulled it out forcefully. Blood spurted in a torrent, and only then did the Imperial Guard's breath finally cut off.

Left Guard Three, dead.

A Zhao family disciple saw Chen Shi charging toward him and, without a second thought, summoned the Zi Wu Zhan Xie Sword from the divine shrine. With a shrill whistle, it cleaved toward Chen Shi, who seemed about to be cut in two by the sword qi, only to suddenly drop into a deep crouch.

The streak of sword qi brushed past the crown of his head. Another Zhao family disciple who had been chasing behind Chen Shi froze as his head rolled from his neck to the floor.

That sword qi severed his neck, its momentum unchecked as it continued flying forward to slice a deep gash into the ancient temple's wall with a loud explosion!

Chen Shi had not expected that someone in this tiny temple would still dare to use spells. As he crouched, his hand already gripped the corner of a shattered plate.

The temple floor was slick—whether from cooking oil or blood—and Chen Shi slid past the side of that Zhao family disciple. One hand grabbed the man's leg, jerking him until he tumbled to the ground, while the other hand gripped the porcelain shard, slashing up and down, up and down with blinding speed.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Shi started stabbing from the man's leg, working his way all the way up with over a dozen consecutive thrusts. When he reached the chest, his hand slipped; the porcelain shard failed to pull out, and he ended up slicing his own palm open.

Chen Shi rolled his body and leaped up, dodging a falling Three-Eyed Firearm while thinking silently: There were originally twelve people in the temple, and now only two remain. I only need to deal with the remaining two...

The Three-Eyed Firearm bounced off the floor, thrusting straight ahead to strike his chest with a heavy thud!

This was spear technique, not a mere poke, but a pierce intended to run someone through with even greater might!

Yet He Lian Zheng had no time to reverse the barrel, and could only use this end of the Three-Eyed Firearm. If he had used the other end with its sharp spearhead, it could already have run Chen Shi through.

Even so, a firearm weighing over ten catties, coupled with He Lian Zheng's brute strength, striking the chest was still exceptionally ferocious. Chen Shi felt as though he had been hammered by a massive iron mallet. He let out a muffled groan and flew backward involuntarily, and while still airborne, he saw He Lian Zheng lift the gun with one hand as fire flashed from the muzzle of the Three-Eyed Firearm!

He slammed into the wall with a heavy bang. Ignoring the intense pain in his chest, he forced one palm deep into the masonry and exerted sudden force, causing his body to whip upward like a giant python.

The next instant, half the wall where he had just collided exploded. Air pressure surged, broken bricks flew everywhere, and half the wall collapsed in ruins!

The gunpowder used in the Three-Eyed Firearm was invented by the Daoist Medicine King Sun Simiao during the Great Tang period. It combined three materials to refine Three Yang Thunder Fire, producing astonishing power upon eruption that could shatter physical bodies and injure primordial spirits. Even great cultivators who had cultivated Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit were helpless when facing such Daoist secret treasures.

He Lian Zheng's Three-Eyed Firearm used only an ounce and a half of black powder, an ounce of Thunderbolt Pellets, and had Five Yang Heavenly Thunder Talismans inscribed within the barrel, giving it such terrifying might. Naturally, a larger charge of gunpowder would have made the power even greater!

Having missed with his shot, He Lian Zheng raised the firearm again. Chen Shi had already scrambled up to the roof of the ancient temple. The roof lacked a main ridge, featuring only circles of hexagonal frames laid out along six small beams.

Using both hands and feet, Chen Shi climbed swiftly. He Lian Zheng hoisted the Three-Eyed Firearm, his body leaping into the air as the divine shrine behind his head blazed with light. A piercing sound of the air being torn apart reached his ears; knowing something was wrong, Chen Shi instantly let go and dropped downward.

Two streaks of sword qi zipped past, slicing open the temple roof and allowing sunlight to spill down.

Landing on the ground, Chen Shi dashed forward without pausing, heading straight for the hole blasted open by the firearm.

While He Lian Zheng was still airborne and had yet to land, the Jia Ma Talisman on his legs activated, and the divine embryo within the divine shrine behind his head gathered true qi, transforming into Zi Wu Zhan Xie sword qi. At the same time, he pointed his firearm downward as fire burst forth, accompanied by a deafening roar like thunder exploding inside the temple!

The Thunderbolt Pellets unleashed by this shot detonated right beside the charging Chen Shi, the flying shrapnel leaving several bloody gashes across his back.

As for He Lian Zheng, the recoil of the shot blasted him upward. He caught a small beam of the temple roof with his palm, flipped through the gap he had sliced open with his sword qi, and landed heavily on top of the ancient temple with a grim, icy gaze fixed on the interior below.

Yet he did not see Chen Shi's figure.

Logically speaking, Chen Shi should have rushed out of the temple and exposed himself to his field of view, allowing him to take the opportunity to blast the opponent to death with the firearm!

This brat rushing out of the ancient temple was just a feint; he's gone back inside!

He Lian Zheng's mind went blank. Young Master Zhao Rui is still inside the temple!

His body plummeted downward through the hole in the ancient temple. Before he even hit the ground, he saw Chen Shi press Young Master Zhao Rui's head against the wall with a loud bang, splattering brain matter across the masonry.

All six members of the Zhao family were thoroughly wiped out, leaving not a single survivor.

Chen Shi let out a breath, his heart settling into a deep sense of calm.

A gentleman shows no weight, shows no majesty.

If he could not strike with heavy blows to slaughter every single one of them, how could he establish prestige and strike terror into the hearts of the provincial Zhao family?

If Scholar Zhu were here, he would surely be very pleased. I have not failed the Master's teachings!

--Thanks to Alliance Leader Liu He Ji Shui for the reward, and thank you for your strong support of the new book!