Tian Weidong wasn't dead.
But he might as well have been.
Because:
The golden sinews in his limbs had been pulled out by Chu Qing. Under normal circumstances, those golden sinews would have regenerated and healed anew.
However:
Chu Qing had ripped out his maid's major sinews and stuffed them inside.
Although the maid practiced martial arts, her sinews were merely the most ordinary, lowest-grade Copper Sinews.
Copper Sinews and golden sinews intertwined, growing together.
The Copper Sinews had even begun invading the golden sinews, seeking to contaminate every remaining strand into Copper Sinew.
And that wasn't even the most terrifying part.
What was more terrifying was:
Golden sinews were the foundation of martial arts.
Now that foundation had collapsed, the realms above it had become unstable.
Cracks appeared throughout the Four Great Realms: golden bones, internal organs, flesh and blood, and skin and hair.
The collapse of the Four Great Realms brought about the collapse of the Heaven-Connecting Path.
Most importantly:
Tian Weidong's brain had suffered severe trauma.
Wang Qingwen, the Heaven-Connecting Martial Artist he followed, inspected his head and discovered:
This fellow's brain had nearly turned to mush.
Other than basic survival instincts, he knew nothing at all.
The rotten oranges, the jade stone with words written on it that had been placed on Tian Weidong, the hands and feet bound with golden sinews, the milky-white fluid flowing from his seven orifices.
Everything pointed to one fact—Tian Weidong was finished.
Wang Qingwen was in a bad mood.
But he gave nothing away, merely instructing the steward beside him calmly, "Weidong was loyal and devoted."
"He was my right-hand man, and even more, my beloved family and friend!"
"I will avenge him. I will make the murderer die in despair. I'll grind his bones to dust and scatter his