Master of the Heavenly Profound Pavilion

Shen Che had made up his mind and stepped inside.

"Welcome, sir! What would you like to see? Our shop has weapons and pills in abundance!"

"Bring out your finest sword for me to inspect," Shen Che said.

"Right away!"

The clerk's eyes lit up. He hurriedly took a long sword, still sheathed, from an ornate brocade box.

"Please have a look, sir. This Coldwater Sword was personally forged by Master Ouye. It is a divine weapon of refined iron, sharp enough to slice through hair blown against its edge and cut iron like mud!"

Shen Che took the sword.

With a ringing clang, the sword left its sheath. A blade-light like a pool of autumn water flashed through the hall, wisps of cold air still curling around its blade.

It truly was a fine sword.

The clerk's face was brimming with pride.

Yet Shen Che did not test its sharpness.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he curled his five fingers around the blade and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Crack!

A crisp sound, like shattering glass, rang out.

The "divine weapon of refined iron" that the clerk had praised to the heavens shattered inch by inch in Shen Che's hand like a brittle biscuit, turning into metal fragments scattered across the floor.

The entire hall fell silent as a grave.

The clerk's mouth gaped wide, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

He had crushed a refined iron sword with his bare hand...?

What kind of monster was this?

Shen Che casually tossed away the broken hilt and brushed the fragments from his hand.

He looked at the dumbfounded clerk with a half-smile.

"This is the divine weapon your Heavenly Profound Pavilion boasts of?"

Those words were a challenge to the establishment.

A naked, blatant challenge.

"Who are you, sir? What is your purpose in coming to my Heavenly Profound Pavilion?"

A steady voice came from the second floor.

A middle-aged man in brocade robes, his temples bulging high, slowly descended the stairs.

With every step he took, his bearing grew heavier. The pressure unique to a True Meridian Realm martial artist spread through the air.

Sun Yi, chief steward of the Heavenly Profound Pavilion.

In Qingfeng City, he was also a man of standing.

Sun Yi did not even glance at the scraps of iron on the floor. All his attention was fixed on Shen Che.

From this young man, he smelled an aura of extreme danger.

Shen Che ignored him.

He merely raised his voice.

"Have Feng Changkong come out and see me."

Sun Yi's expression darkened.

He had directly called the pavilion master by name.

This was no longer just wrecking the place. He had come to settle a score.

"Our pavilion master is not someone anyone can see merely by asking."

Sun Yi spoke coldly.

"If you do not provide an explanation today, I fear you will not leave the Heavenly Profound Pavilion through its front doors!"

The moment his words fell—

The two black-clad guards behind him swooped forward like hunting hawks, attacking from both sides as their iron claws grabbed for Shen Che's shoulders.

Eagle Claw Technique.

Their attacks were vicious, every move aimed at tearing tendons and dislocating bones.

The surrounding customers cried out in alarm and hurriedly retreated, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

Shen Che stood where he was without moving.

He did not even raise a hand to block.

Just as those two iron claws were about to touch his clothes—

His body gave an almost imperceptible shudder.

Bang! Bang!

Two dull impacts rang out.

The two black-clad guards seemed to have slammed into an invisible iron wall and were sent flying backward even faster than they had charged in.

In midair, they let out shrieks that scarcely sounded human.

Crack!

It was the sound of bones breaking.

The two men crashed heavily onto the floor. Clutching their twisted hands, they rolled about in agony.

Their fingers, along with the bones in their palms, had all been shattered by a violent rebound force!

Sun Yi's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

What a tyrannical external body-tempering technique!

With nothing but the rebound of his protective qi, he had crippled two Body Tempering Realm experts.

This man was a tough nut to crack.

"Brat, you are courting death!"

Sun Yi roared.

Things had reached this point. If he still did not act, the Heavenly Profound Pavilion's face would be trampled beneath someone's feet today.

An aura several times stronger than before erupted from his body.

Twelve ribbons of true qi circled his body, interweaving into a dazzling net of light.

Peak True Meridian Realm!

Dragon Locking Claw!

Sun Yi curled his five fingers into hooks. The muscles in his arms bulged and knotted as he became an afterimage, clawing at Shen Che's arms.

He put his full strength into this claw, certain that even refined iron would bear five finger marks beneath it.

However—

His claw stopped in midair.

One hand was faster, more precise, and more ruthless than his.

That hand struck after yet arrived first, directly clamping down on his shoulder.

Sun Yi only felt an irresistible, terrifying force travel from his shoulder blade throughout his entire body.

The protective true qi he had always taken pride in was as fragile as window paper before that hand.

"You..."

He only had time to utter one word.

Crack!

The crisp sound of splitting bone echoed through the entire hall.

"Aah—!"

Sun Yi let out a miserable scream and collapsed limply like a heap of mud.

His two arms hung at grotesque angles.

The bones in both shoulders, along with his collarbones, had been crushed to powder by Shen Che's single grip.

He was crippled.

Sun Yi, a renowned True Meridian Realm expert of Qingfeng City, had had both arms crippled in a single exchange.

The customers in the hall all sucked in cold breaths, feeling as though their understanding of the world had been shattered.

Just who was this young man?

"Stop."

Just as the scene was about to spiral out of control, a cool voice came from the third floor.

The panicked clerks and guards of the Heavenly Profound Pavilion seemed to have found their pillar. Joy appeared on their faces.

A refined man in a green robe slowly descended from the third floor.

He appeared to be in his thirties or forties. His features were handsome, and he carried none of a martial artist's killing aura. Instead, he resembled a scholar well-read in poetry and books.

Feng Changkong, master of the Heavenly Profound Pavilion.

A legendary figure said to have risen from humble origins and built this vast enterprise in barely over a decade.

Feng Changkong walked to Sun Yi's side. With a flick of his finger, he sealed Sun Yi's acupoints and stopped his screams.

Only after doing all this did he raise his head and calmly look at Shen Che.

"Who are you, sir? Why have you come to cause trouble at my Heavenly Profound Pavilion?"

His tone was restrained. He did not fly into a rage just because Sun Yi had been crippled.

What concerned him more was the Heavenly Profound Pavilion's reputation and business.

Shen Che took out the black iron token.

"Demon Suppression Division, Shen Che."

The moment the words "Demon Suppression Division" were spoken, Feng Changkong's expression changed for the first time.

The surrounding customers erupted into an uproar.

"Someone from the Demon Suppression Division? No wonder he is so overbearing!"

"Good heavens, the Heavenly Profound Pavilion has kicked an iron plate this time."

Feng Changkong quickly regained his composure.

"So it is an honored lord of the Demon Suppression Division. Forgive my discourtesy."

He cupped his hands in greeting.

"May I ask what official business has brought Lord Shen to my humble Heavenly Profound Pavilion?"

Shen Che put away the token.

"The Demon Suppression Division pursues wanted criminals and captures demons. It is our duty."

He paused, then changed the subject.

"I came for a case."

"In Inkstone Town, nearly a hundred young men and women have vanished over the past three months."

"I have discovered that this matter is connected to your Heavenly Profound Pavilion."

When the words "Inkstone Town" left Shen Che's mouth, an almost imperceptible stiffness flashed across Feng Changkong's calm, ancient-well-like face.

Though it lasted only an instant, Shen Che caught it with perfect clarity.

"Inkstone Town?"

Feng Changkong frowned slightly, putting on an expression of thought.

"Forgive Feng for being ignorant and poorly informed, but I have never heard of such a place."

"As for the disappearance case you speak of, that is even more groundless. My Heavenly Profound Pavilion conducts business openly and keeps to itself. How could we possibly be involved in such a matter?"

He flatly denied it.

Then he pointed at the groaning Sun Yi and the two guards on the floor.

"On the other hand, Lord Shen, without distinguishing black from white or right from wrong, barged into my Heavenly Profound Pavilion and injured my men."

"Should you not also give my Heavenly Profound Pavilion an explanation for this matter?"

He turned the tables, attempting to seize back the initiative.