That Explosive Shout

Everyone turned around.

The moment they saw who had come, everyone's expression changed.

The Liu Clan had arrived.

At the front was a brawny young man in his early twenties. An unsheathed saber hung at his waist, his face full of hard flesh, his brows carrying the fierce aura of someone who had only just returned from outside.

Beside him stood two extraordinary-looking young men in luxurious long robes. One was tall, thin, and fair-skinned; the other short, sturdy, and arrogant. Tiger-pattern emblems of the Wang Clan Martial Hall were embroidered on both their cuffs.

Everyone recognized them!

This was Liu Teng, Liu Dagang's second son—the Liu Teng rumored to be studying martial arts at the town's martial hall and already having become a Martial Artist.

"Liu Teng is back."

"He must have come back to deal with his father's affairs."

"From the sound of it, he seems unhappy with us."

"We're holding Cuihua's funeral here while his father's body is still lying in the ancestral hall."

"Of course he's unhappy. Anyone would feel awful in his place."

Bitterness surfaced on everyone's faces. The once lively funeral atmosphere was smashed into pieces by that explosive shout.

Feng Chen saw Liu Teng as well.

Their gazes met across the crowd for an instant, and he recognized that face at once!

It overlapped with the youth in his memories who had followed Tiger Liu to block him at the village entrance and throw stones at him. Only now, Liu Teng was sturdier than before, and the flesh on his face was thicker too.

At the same time, Feng Chen secretly sensed Liu Teng's cultivation: Body Tempering, First Heaven.

Feng Chen's gaze swept toward the two youths beside Liu Teng wearing Wang Clan Martial Hall attire. He silently sensed them as well. They were both at Body Tempering, First Heaven.

Three at Body Tempering, First Heaven—but he was at Body Tempering Second Level. With the Perfection-level Giant Strength Art and Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber, he could still crush them in terms of strength.

Feng Chen calmed down and stood where he was, holding Lin Qing'er's hand.

Liu Teng stepped out, his gaze sweeping across every face like a blade.

He pulled the saber at his waist out together with its sheath and planted it into the ground. The sheath struck the dirt with a dull thud, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"My father's head was cut off, and you still don't know who the murderer is?"

"All of you, go home and stay there obediently. Wait for me to come looking house by house."

"I want to see exactly who was connected to my father's death. Once I find them, I'll immediately tear them into ten thousand pieces!"

No one dared to speak.

The Martial Artist's pressure Liu Teng had brought back from the martial hall was only at Body Tempering, First Heaven, but it was already enough to frighten these ordinary villagers who faced the yellow earth with their backs to the sky.

Everyone lowered their heads and left in twos and threes.

Before leaving, someone glanced toward Aunt Li's grave, sighed, slung a hoe over his shoulder, and walked away.

Before long, the front of the old house, once packed with people, had mostly emptied.

Feng Chen also turned and left with Lin Qing'er.

He walked neither too quickly nor too slowly, keeping the same pace as the villagers dispersing around him, drawing no one's attention.

Yet he was already calculating something else in his heart. Liu Teng had to be dealt with.

There were two reasons.

First, to avenge the bullying Liu Teng had inflicted on him years ago.

In the memories he had fused with, Liu Teng had followed his older brother Tiger Liu in bullying him countless times: blocking him at the village entrance to throw stones, snatching the prey he brought back from the mountains, shoving him to the ground and stepping on his face. He remembered every single scene with perfect clarity.

Second—and more importantly—he had killed Tiger Liu and Liu Dagang. He and Liu Teng were already bound by a blood feud.

If he did not take this chance to kill Liu Teng today, and Liu Teng later encountered some opportunity in the martial path and discovered that Feng Chen had killed Liu Dagang and Tiger Liu, that would be troublesome.

If he himself could be reborn, who was to say others could not gain fortuitous encounters too?

If he was going to kill, he had to kill cleanly and leave no future trouble behind.

Liu Teng stood where he was, both hands resting on the hilt of his unsheathed saber, watching Feng Chen's departing back. A trace of gloom flashed through his eyes.

Naturally, he knew Feng Chen. Back then, he and his brother had bullied that boy more times than he could count.

After not seeing him for years, the boy looked much sturdier than before, and his complexion had improved greatly. He no longer looked like that sallow, emaciated, useless hunter.

But in Liu Teng's eyes, Feng Chen was still that soft persimmon anyone could squeeze.

That little bastard. Once I've settled my father's affairs, I'll deal with you properly.

He cursed inwardly and withdrew his gaze.

Turning his head toward the surrounding Liu Clan members, he frowned and said in a deep voice, "Come. Go back with me first and see my father's body."

He had only just arrived in the village.

Then he heard from the clansmen that the village was holding a funeral. He had thought it was for his father, and had even felt slightly relieved!

After all, the dead deserved respect. Surely no one would truly leave his father unattended.

But after asking around, he learned that Feng Chen was holding the funeral for a widow.

The villagers also told him that Feng Chen had spent both money and effort, even paying out of his own pocket to treat the entire village to a good meal. He had made the funeral more respectable than the birthday banquets of many village elders.

That made Liu Teng extremely angry.

His father's head had been cut off. His body had lain at home for days with no one tending to it. In the end, Liu Ma had been unable to bear watching any longer and brought people to collect the body and place it in a coffin.

He had already been holding in a bellyful of fire. Then he heard that Feng Chen had made such a grand display of holding a funeral for a widow, and the flames in his chest surged higher and higher.

Why could Feng Chen give a widow such a respectable funeral, while his father had served as village chief his entire life and could not even receive a proper funeral after death?

He immediately brought people over.

"Understood, Brother Teng. Let's go."

Liu Ma squeezed out from behind the crowd, rubbing his hands as he looked at Liu Teng, a flattering smile on his face.

He had some family connection to Liu Dagang's branch. After Liu Dagang died, he was the one who had brought people to collect the body, and he was also the one who had gone to town to notify Liu Teng.

These past days, he had been running about handling the Liu Household's affairs, hoping that once Liu Teng returned, he could continue following him and making a living.

Liu Teng nodded, hung the saber back at his waist, and waved his large hand. The Liu Clan members followed behind him in a mighty procession as they left!

Wang Tianfan and Wang Tianping walked at Liu Teng's side, looking around at the sights of Green Mountain Village along the way, their faces openly showing superiority.

When they arrived home, the coffin was still placed in the side hall, covered by a layer of white cloth.

Liu Teng strode over and reached out to pull off the white cloth.

His father Liu Dagang's body had already had its head sewn back on by Liu Ma. The crooked stitches around his neck were like a giant centipede coiled there, a horrifying sight.

His mother, Wang Household, lay beside him, her face covered with cloth.

Although Liu Ma had done his best to arrange their appearances, the heavy stench of decay and the blood that had dried into a dark black still proclaimed the bloody slaughter from days ago.

Liu Teng lowered his head and stared at the stitched line on his father's neck. He reached out and touched those centipede-like stitches. Under his fingertips was cold, dead flesh that had lost all elasticity.

He knew his father truly had been beheaded.

His hand suddenly clenched into a fist, veins bulging one after another across the back of it.

His knees bent, and he knelt before the coffin. His forehead struck the bluestone floor with a muffled bang.

"Damn it, who was it?! I'll definitely tear you into ten thousand pieces!"

Liu Teng's eyes were bloodshot, the veins on his forehead throbbing wildly. His voice burst from the depths of his throat, making even the window paper tremble faintly.

The Liu Clan members beside him lowered their heads and dared not speak. They barely even dared to breathe.

Liu Ma stood hunched in the corner, twisting his hands together before him as a layer of cold sweat seeped across his forehead.

He feared Liu Teng's fury would burn its way onto him, but he also hoped Liu Teng could find the murderer and continue firmly holding the Liu Household's position in the village, so that he could keep benefiting from it.

The brothers Wang Tianfan and Wang Tianping stood nearby, watching Liu Teng kneel before the coffin in rage, and sighed softly.

Though they had not personally experienced the pain of losing both father and mother, they could understand it by putting themselves in his shoes.

Wang Tianfan stepped forward and patted Liu Teng on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Junior Brother Liu. This time, we'll definitely stand with you. Investigate as you please. Whoever harmed your family is making enemies of our Wang Clan Martial Hall."

"That's right, Junior Brother Liu. Investigate without restraint."

Wang Tianping continued, his hands behind his back and chin slightly raised. "Our Wang Clan Martial Hall isn't something any stray cat or dog can provoke."

"Within a hundred miles around Green Mountain Town, offending our Wang Family is the same as hanging your own head from your belt."