"Aah..."
After the deathly silence came an eruption like a mountain torrent.
Chen Yang finally registered what had happened and went berserk.
His eyes bulged, and his teeth ground together.
Since becoming a steward-or even earlier, since coming to the Azure Cloud Mountains-he had never suffered such humiliation.
Being slapped before everyone by a servant disciple he had never deigned to look at was an unspeakable disgrace.
"Chen Yang, if I don't run five swords through your heart and slice you to death today, I'll write the Lin in my name backward!"
"Whoosh..."
The strength of the fourth body tempering realm erupted without restraint.
Powerful divine sense power formed an ethereal sword in the air and slashed toward Lin Shisan's head.
"Screech..."
The air rippled.
Blood was already visibly seeping from Lin Shisan's forehead.
He, too, was mustering every ounce of his fighting strength. The Flood Dragon spirit in his dantian roared and struggled desperately.
The Flood Dragon was still in the swamp. He had yet to leap free.
The second-layer bottleneck seemed right before his eyes, but it was like a mirage.
He could see it from afar, yet never reach it.
Lin Shisan understood now: only by breaking through to the body tempering third layer could he enable this jiaolong true spirit to leap out of the swamp.
Or, once the jiaolong true spirit leaped free of the swamp, his cultivation would naturally advance to the third body tempering realm.
The two complemented each other, growing together and nourishing one another.
"Kneel."
Watching Lin Shisan strain until his face turned crimson, Chen Yang changed his mind.
He would torment him slowly, pulling out his teeth one by one.
Only then could he reclaim the face he had lost today.
"Not a chance..."
Lin Shisan's face flushed, and his veins bulged.
Chen Yang's body tempering fourth layer cultivation was no empty boast.
A second-layer Body Tempering small fry like him truly could not withstand it.
"Let's see which is harder, your teeth or your knees. Go!"
At Chen Yang's mental command, the sword formed from his divine sense power spun and transformed into two fists.
"Bam! Bam!"
The ethereal fists smashed into Lin Shisan's kneecaps from either side as he struggled to hold on.
There was even an audible sound of something actually cracking.
"Urgh..."
Lin Shisan reeled under the crushing impact.
He staggered three steps backward and nearly fell to his knees.
Yet he stubbornly held himself upright.
Even though his kneecaps were on the verge of shattering.
Blood trickled out, soaking through his trousers.
"Still putting up a fight."
Feng Qiufeng, who had been standing expressionlessly nearby, grabbed a wooden club and swung it at Lin Shisan's knees.
"Kneel before Boss Chen!"
"Bam... bam..."
The club snapped clean in two.
Lin Shisan could no longer hold his ground.
He stumbled backward five or six steps, finally crashing into a pile of firewood in a corner of the courtyard.
Half of this place served as a storeroom, where firewood for the kitchen was usually kept.
"Heh, heh, heh..."
Chen Yang and Feng Qiufeng both smiled.
They seemed to see Lin Shisan finally falling to his knees.
"Lin Shisan, let's see you stand up again!"
The beaming smile on Chen Yang's face gradually stiffened, his complexion turning livid.
Lin Shisan, who had nearly collapsed to the ground, slowly stood again, supporting himself on two sticks.
His eyes were bloodshot, and bloody foam clung to the corners of his mouth.
Fragments of bone were even visible at both kneecaps.
Feng Qiufeng's blow had been vicious.
He had poured all his strength into it and landed it squarely.
Sheer willpower alone kept Lin Shisan standing.
The servant disciples around him felt their hearts clench for Lin Shisan.
Such a commotion naturally drew the nearby servant disciples, and even two Servant Stewards in charge of them.
"Feng Qiufeng..."
A chill ran through Feng Qiufeng.
Why was that look in Lin Shisan's eyes so terrifying?
Even he, a man in the third body tempering realm, felt tremendous pressure.
"Kill him..."
Chen Yang's expression turned utterly hideous.
The crowd kept growing, and his humiliation grew with it.
Especially when he spotted those two Servant Stewards. No matter how he looked at them, he could see mockery lurking in their eyes.
A Body Tempering Fourth Layer steward, together with a Body Tempering Third Layer servant disciple, could not even make a Body Tempering second-layer servant disciple kneel?
What a tremendous loss of face.
More importantly, he was afraid-afraid of drawing the attention of those above him.
After all, he had been the one to report Lin Shisan's death.
Yet Lin Shisan stood here alive and well. There was no escaping responsibility for his dereliction of duty.
As for the claim that Lin Shisan had masterminded the theft of Wu Feng's Body Tempering Liquid, that was nothing but his own unsupported account.
It could not withstand scrutiny.
"Kill... kill him..."
With a guilty conscience, Feng Qiufeng looked toward the Inspection Team member, who was still dazed by the shock Lin Shisan had given him.
That man was from his hometown, and he was also his pillar of support.
More than that, he was Feng Qiufeng's greatest backer, the reason he had any say at all before Chen Yang.
Not only was that man stunned senseless, but Zheng Qian from the Herb Hall, who had come with him, could not squeeze out so much as a fart either.
"What are you afraid of? I'll bear all the consequences. Kill him, and I'll reward you handsomely."
Chen Yang leaned close and said coldly, "Haven't you always wanted to be my deputy? Once this is over today, you'll be deputy steward."
Under a lavish reward, a brave man was bound to step forward.
The wavering Feng Qiufeng finally began to give in.
Killing someone in full view of everyone was certainly out of the question, but severely injuring him was still possible. At worst, it would count as a mutual brawl.
If he offended Chen Yang, he would not even know how he died.
Just like that Ning Hao, who had failed to read the situation and ended up feeding the Demon Beasts as soon as he left the mountain gates.
In truth, he knew that the supposed death by Demon Beasts had very likely been Chen Yang's handiwork.
He had followed Chen Yang for years. Chen Yang had done this sort of thing far more than once or twice.
Feng Qiufeng had even helped him a few times.
Only the dead could keep secrets.
"Lin Shisan, I'll ask you one more time. Will you kneel or not?"
Feng Qiufeng walked over and asked quietly.
In his mind, wrongdoing was acceptable, but killing was something to avoid whenever possible.
Cultivators took cause and effect and karmic flame seriously. Once someone killed, that karmic flame would follow him for life.
"Pfft..."
Lin Shisan opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of bloody foam.
It splattered squarely across Feng Qiufeng's face.
"You fucking refuse a kindness when it's offered! Die!"
Feng Qiufeng grabbed an even thicker, larger club and swung it fiercely at Lin Shisan's legs.
He still did not want to take on the karmic flame of killing Lin Shisan.
"Lin Shisan..."
"Lin Shisan..."
"Brother, kneel, quick! Face is worthless-your life matters!"
Most of the onlookers felt indignant on Lin Shisan's behalf.
Especially those two Servant Stewards, who saw Chen Yang secretly reinforce Feng Qiufeng's club with his Divine Sense Blade.
In other words, once that blow landed, Lin Shisan would either die or lose both legs.
A cripple being driven off the mountain was as certain as a nail hammered into a board.
Then Chen Yang would have ten thousand ways to kill Lin Shisan.
"Aah..."
Lin Shisan roared like a tiger, choking on his helpless fury.
Watching the club hurtle toward him, he seemed to recognize his fate and made one final struggle against it.
"Roar..."
The jiaolong true spirit struggling in the swamp seemed to feel Lin Shisan's despair as well.
He tossed his head and thrashed his tail, roaring again and again.
"Rumble... boom..."
Lightning crackled through the sky, and thunder rolled.
A thunderclap crashed out of the clear, sunny sky.
It startled Feng Qiufeng into hesitating for a moment.
In that brief moment, the jiaolong true spirit's struggle reached its peak.
Finally, at the very instant the thunder crashed down, he leaped free.
He became a jiaolong true spirit in the truest sense, swimming joyfully through the sea within Lin Shisan's dantian.
The dragon had entered the sea.
Before you continue