Was this the kind of man she would soon be marrying?
Zhou Cheng ignored Fan Xian's rampage.
After kicking Teng Zijing once, he stopped.
"Fan Xian, my man was injured saving you. I'll leave his recovery and care to you."
He paused again.
"As for the culprit, I know who it is, but I don't feel like telling you. If you've got what it takes, investigate it yourself."
With that, he turned and left without bothering to watch their reactions.
Fan Xian was still struggling desperately, but how could he break free of Wang Qinian when he was so badly wounded?
He had not even heard clearly what Zhou Cheng was saying.
All he knew was that Teng Zijing had died protecting him, and Zhou Cheng had desecrated his corpse right before his eyes!
"Ugh..."
A faint groan came from the ground.
Fan Xian shuddered, his struggles abruptly stopping.
Wang Qinian's hands froze as well.
Their necks stiff, both men turned toward the faint sound.
To their astonishment, Teng Zijing rubbed his chest and sat up.
Fan Xian: "...???"
Wang Qinian: "...!!!"
Chapter 28: Luring and Capturing
"Wasn't he dead? How did he come back to life?"
Ye Linger hurried to catch up with Zhou Cheng, her eyes wide and brimming with questions.
Although she had not personally examined Teng Zijing's body, the expressions on Fan Xian's and Wang Qinian's faces had certainly not looked like an act.
Anyone who practiced martial arts ought to be able to tell whether someone was alive or dead.
Zhou Cheng glanced back at her as though he were looking at an idiot.
Joy of Life wasn't some fantasy world of immortal cultivation. How could anyone come back from the dead?
Teng Zijing was alive because, naturally, he had never died.
When Teng Zijing had broken into his residence that night, Zhou Cheng had given him a chance to attack and used the opportunity to leave a strand of true qi inside him.
When he had told Teng Zijing that the price for his life had been paid, he had not meant the meager wages Fan Xian had given him. He had meant the strand of Hundred-Forged True Qi left inside Teng Zijing's body.
Although that strand of Hundred-Forged True Qi was negligible in size, it was genuine Grandmaster true qi. It normally coiled around his heart's meridians, and Teng Zijing had no hope of refining it himself.
Only an attack of eighth-rank strength or above would trigger the true qi's defensive response, protecting his heart's meridians.
Thus, when Teng Zijing took Cheng Jushu's full-force strike, that strand of true qi immediately spread out, firmly securing and shielding the area around his heart's meridians along with all his internal organs.
In that state, not only would someone at the peak of the eighth rank like Cheng Jushu fail to kill him with a single blow, even a seasoned ninth-rank fighter would be unable to do so.
Of course, it was foreign true qi, and Teng Zijing could not control it himself.
The moment it activated, he entered a state of suspended animation.
Without any interference, the true qi would have dissipated after several hours, and he would have woken on his own.
As it happened, Zhou Cheng was right there. He simply reclaimed the strand of true qi, and Teng Zijing naturally woke up.
Zhou Cheng did not explain all this to Ye Linger. He merely said he had left a strand of true qi in Teng Zijing beforehand.
Ye Linger looked thoroughly skeptical.
"You're bluffing, aren't you?" She curled her lip. "Teng Zijing is Fan Xian's bodyguard, so he shouldn't be weak. How could he fail to dispel a single strand of your true qi?"
Zhou Cheng stopped walking.
"Don't believe me?"
Ye Linger lifted her chin stubbornly. "Of course I don't."
Zhou Cheng said nothing more. He simply raised a finger and thrust it toward her.
Startled, Ye Linger instinctively raised her hand to block.
But Zhou Cheng's finger slipped past her defenses like a ghost and tapped her wrist.
The next second, she froze.
An aura condensed to an extraordinary degree settled in her wrist. She frantically mobilized her true qi to dispel it, but her efforts were like water washing against a reef, producing no effect whatsoever.
Even more frighteningly, she had completely lost control of that hand.
She tried moving a finger, but it refused to obey, as though it no longer belonged to her!
No amount of explanation could compare to the shock of experiencing it firsthand.
Ye Linger was utterly stunned.
Her father, Ye Zhong, was a Ninth-Rank Expert. Growing up, she had often experienced the oppressive force of ninth-rank true qi.
Yet the tiny strand of true qi Zhou Cheng had injected into her body, minuscule as it was, was far more condensed than her father Ye Zhong's!
"You're... upper ninth rank?" Her voice sounded dazed.
Upper ninth rank was another term for the peak of the ninth rank.
The ninth rank encompassed an enormous range of strength. The gap between upper ninth rank and ordinary ninth rank was greater than the gap between the eighth and ninth ranks.
As for the Grandmaster level above upper ninth rank, she did not even dare consider it!
"If that's what you think, so be it." Zhou Cheng offered no explanation.
Ye Linger was different from Sang Wen.
Sang Wen followed him with unwavering devotion and had no one else to turn to, so he could tell her many of his secrets without concern.
But Ye Linger?
There were no feelings between them, and Ye Linger's loyalties surely still lay with the Ye Family. Naturally, he would be more guarded when answering her questions.
With that, Zhou Cheng took Ye Linger's hand and reclaimed the strand of true qi.
Ye Linger flexed her wrist, her eyes as wide as brass bells and filled with disbelief.
Had she not experienced it herself, nothing could have convinced her that Zhou Cheng's martial arts cultivation had reached such a level.
Haitang Duoduo, Northern Qi's Holy Maiden and the personal disciple of the Grandmaster Ku He, had reached the ninth rank at fifteen and was hailed as the greatest talent in a hundred years.
Yet what was she seeing now? A seventeen-year-old at upper ninth rank?
No one would believe it!
Ye Linger stared blankly at Zhou Cheng. It felt like a dream, utterly unreal.
Her mind was a tangled mess, and countless questions sprang up within her.
Before she could speak, however, Zhou Cheng suddenly asked, "Didn't we just agree to a three-move match?"
Ye Linger went blank for a moment.
Then she shook her head like a rattle drum, her ponytail swinging back and forth through the air.
"No! I don't know what you're talking about! Oh, I just remembered, Wan'er still needs me for something! Your Highness, please excuse me!"
With that, she tried to make her escape.
"All right." Zhou Cheng did not stop her.
As though granted a pardon, Ye Linger secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
When she had not known Zhou Cheng's strength, agreeing to the "three-move match" had been confidence!
Now that she knew how strong he was, honoring that "three-move match" would make her an idiot!
She, Ye Linger, a wandering heroine whose word was worth a thousand pieces of gold, was certainly no idiot!
Ye Linger had yet to develop a sufficiently thick skin. She cupped her fist toward Zhou Cheng, avoided his gaze, and turned to flee.
But she had barely taken two steps...
"I noticed you'd hit a bottleneck at the sixth rank, so I was going to offer a few pointers and help you break through to the seventh," Zhou Cheng said behind her with an unhurried sigh. "But since you and Wan'er have important business, I won't take up your time. Forget it, then."
Ye Linger's raised foot stopped dead in midair.
She held that pose for less than two seconds before whipping around. A smile immediately spread across her face as she walked back as though nothing had happened. "Your Highness, is that really true? Can you really help me reach the seventh rank?"
Zhou Cheng chuckled. "Of course I can. But..." He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you have important business with Wan'er, Miss Ye?"
"Oh, you've got to prioritize!" Ye Linger laughed, her ponytail swishing along with her. "Naturally, your business is more important, Your Highness!"
Zhou Cheng smiled casually. "Then come back to my residence with me, Miss Ye. I've nothing to do today, and I've long admired the Ye Family's Flowing Cloud Loose Hands. We can spar and learn from each other."
Ye Linger hesitated at first when she heard she would have to visit Prince Cheng's Residence, but once she heard that Zhou Cheng was interested in Flowing Cloud Loose Hands, she immediately cast her misgivings aside.
It was perfectly normal for both sides to want something!
What martial artist wasn't interested in the Ye Family's Flowing Cloud Loose Hands?
She didn't know Flowing Cloud Loose Hands, but she did know Great Coffin Splitter, which had been derived from it!
Round it off, and didn't that mean she knew Flowing Cloud Loose Hands too?
Practicing martial arts required not only agile footwork, but agile thinking as well!
Soon afterward, downstairs from the restaurant, Ye Linger climbed into the carriage and accompanied Zhou Cheng to Prince Cheng's Residence.
Zhou Cheng kept his word. He spent the entire day patiently instructing her, even guiding her with his true qi to force a breakthrough to the seventh rank.
During the process, he also saw Ye Linger demonstrate Great Coffin Splitter.
How should he put it? Judging Flowing Cloud Loose Hands solely from Great Coffin Splitter, it was indeed a powerful art, but only about as powerful as his Hundred-Forged True Qi.
Still, Zhou Cheng knew very well that Flowing Cloud Loose Hands in anyone else's hands was an entirely different thing from Flowing Cloud Loose Hands in Ye Liuyun's.
Before you continue