Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

The dozen or so people from the Hong Family immediately descended into chaos. Some cried out in grief, while others rushed forward in a panic.

The few women among them saw the splattered brain matter and the head smashed into several pieces, and fainted on the spot.

"Feng..."

Hong Xu staggered over, knelt down, and cradled Hong Feng’s body. Seeing that Hong Feng was mangled beyond recognition, his vision went dark.

"Senior Brother Xu Yang is so ferocious... Hong Feng is really dead..." Qiu Wenjie mumbled, as if in a dream.

It wasn’t a pyrrhic victory like Xue Fangsheng had predicted at all; Xu Yang had killed Hong Feng without taking any damage himself.

"Xu Yang killed Hong Feng, who had reached Qi Gathering Minor Achievement."

The brothers Qiu Yongqiang and Qiu Yongjian stared with wide eyes, incredulous and thrilled at the same time. Without Hong Feng, the Hong Family couldn’t cause any more trouble.

With the reputation Xu Yang had built from this one battle, anyone who wanted to bully the Qiu Family in the future would have to think twice.

They had originally thought Xu Yang would just step in, exchange a few words, and convince the Hong Family to back off. They never expected him to directly kill the Hong Family’s rising trump card, completely eliminating the hidden threat.

"Xu Yang is ruthless. He killed Hong Feng directly, without holding back at all."

"He’s definitely killed before, and more than a few times."

"Senior Brother Xue Fangsheng, it wasn’t a case of mutual destruction at all. Senior Brother Xu Yang wasn’t even scratched."

...

The group of Inner Courtyard Disciples from Weiyuan Hall who had come to watch the fight now looked at Xu Yang with completely different eyes. Their surprise was tinged with a hint of awe.

Under the influence of Lu Ren, Jiang Ping, and others, many people hadn’t taken Xu Yang seriously at all, even looking down on him. They couldn’t even be bothered to greet him when they passed by. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

But now, things were completely different. Perhaps people like Lu Ren and Jiang Ping were qualified to look down on Xu Yang, but they absolutely were not.

If it had been anyone else, they might not have been able to kill Hong Feng so cleanly and decisively.

’Thank goodness I didn’t offend him.’

Xue Fangsheng swallowed hard. He didn’t feel like he’d been proven wrong; he only felt a lingering fear, thankful that Xu Yang hadn’t fallen for the trap back when he was setting up Zhang Yong and the others.

He was no genius. He had been in the Qi Gathering realm for a year and a half and had only recently reached Minor Achievement. Since even Hong Feng was dead, he knew he wasn’t much stronger than him.

"How dare you kill someone?" Hong Xu snapped back to his senses, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Xu Yang.

’I actually wanted to kill all of you to eliminate any future trouble.’

Xu Yang suppressed the killing intent in his heart. If he really did that, even if the Government Office didn’t pursue the matter, the Tiger Roar Boxing Hall would not stand idly by.

In a proper duel, the Tiger Roar Boxing Hall wouldn’t care that he killed Hong Feng. But if he slaughtered the entire family after winning, the Tiger Roar Boxing Hall would be forced to intervene.

"You tried to seize another family’s assets by force. Weren’t you prepared to be killed in the process? This is a duel between Martial Artists, did you think it was child’s play?" he retorted.

Hong Xu collapsed to the ground. In the end, it was all because of greed. The Hong Family had reaped what they sowed.

They thought they were squeezing a soft persimmon, but it turned out to have thorns.

"Hong Xu, before, you relied on Hong Feng’s Qi Gathering Minor Achievement to bully my Qiu Family. Now, this is the Mandate of Heaven coming full circle."

The Qiu Yongqiang brothers stepped forward. "Take your son and bury him. You’re the one who got him killed."

Hong Xu looked as if he had been struck by lightning and said nothing more.

Their strongest, Hong Feng, was dead. Anything he said would be futile. He didn’t even dare to think of revenge, otherwise, Hong Feng wouldn’t be the only one from the Hong Family to die.

"You are all perfectly clear on the cause and effect of this matter. If you are not convinced, you can invite someone to duel me at any time. But if you dare to play dirty, not a single person from the Hong Family will be left alive."

Before leaving, Xu Yang gave Hong Xu one last warning.

The Hong Family couldn’t get revenge on him, but he still had his younger sister. And aside from Qiu Wenjie, the rest of the Qiu Family were all ordinary people.

"We wouldn’t dare!" Hong Xu’s heart tightened, and he quickly shook his head.

He knew that Xu Yang had developed a killing intent toward the Hong Family and had only held back due to his apprehension about provoking the Tiger Roar Boxing Hall into action.

How could he possibly invite any experts? The Hong Family was a minor family. Hong Feng’s status in the Tiger Roar Boxing Hall was no different from Qiu Wenjie’s in Weiyuan Hall. It was precisely because he was certain Qiu Wenjie couldn’t invite any experts that he’d had malicious intentions. He’d just never expected the anomaly that was Xu Yang.

When Hong Feng was alive, there was a small chance he could have invited an expert. Now, it was completely impossible.

Xu Yang returned to the Qiu Family home with Qiu Yongqiang and the others, and the spectators also dispersed.

Xue Fangsheng and his group, however, went straight back to Weiyuan Hall.

"Did a fight break out? What was the result?"

Just as he stepped into the Inner Courtyard, Jiang Ping waved to Xue Fangsheng from a distance.

Xue Fangsheng didn’t dare to delay, jogging over. "Reporting to Senior Brother Jiang, a fight did break out. Xu Yang publicly killed Hong Feng of the Tiger Roar Boxing Hall."

As soon as he said this, many of the Weiyuan Hall Inner Courtyard Disciples showed looks of astonishment. Xu Yang not only won, but he killed Hong Feng?

Jiang Ping raised an eyebrow. "Was that Hong Feng truly at the Minor Achievement in Qi Gathering Cultivation?"

Xue Fangsheng nodded. "The real deal. During the battle, Hong Feng even executed an attack with True Qi Leaving the Body."

Jiang Ping felt as if he’d been proven wrong. "I didn’t expect him to actually win."

Lu Ren laughed. "It’s not surprising. After all, he was once someone who could almost keep up with me. A guy like Hong Feng, who took two or three years to reach Qi Gathering Minor Achievement, is no different from trash. It’s not strange that he died. Is Xu Yang badly injured?"

Xue Fangsheng’s expression was a sight to behold. "Junior Brother Xu Yang wasn’t injured. He killed Hong Feng in under ten moves."

The moment he said that, the expression on Lu Ren’s face froze.

For a moment, the vast Inner Courtyard was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Killing an opponent of the same level in under ten moves was a bit terrifying.

Jiang Ping fell silent for a moment. "Tell me about the course of the battle in detail."

’Could I have overlooked a genius?’

Xue Fangsheng didn’t dare to be negligent and immediately recounted the details of Xu Yang and Hong Feng’s fight.

After Xue Fangsheng finished, before Jiang Ping could speak, Zhao Zhifei laughed out loud. "Although I don’t know what happened, it must have been because of that momentary pause from Hong Feng that Xu Yang got the first strike, injured him, and was then able to easily kill him."

"He only won because of pure luck. And that Hong Feng really was trash. To suddenly pause while fighting an opponent of the same rank... was he afraid Xu Yang *wouldn’t* kill him?"

Jiang Ping nodded. "Junior Brother Zhao has a point."

Xue Fangsheng said, with a dawning realization, "Now I remember! Right before Hong Feng made his mistake, I said that Xu Yang had a Minor Achievement in Qi Gathering Cultivation and that their fight would result in mutual destruction. He must have suddenly heard that and decided he didn’t want to fight Xu Yang anymore..."

He completely understood. He was the one who had helped Xu Yang.

Even they, his martial brothers from Weiyuan Hall, had only found out today that Xu Yang was at Qi Gathering Minor Achievement. How could Hong Feng have known Xu Yang’s specific Cultivation level?

Jiang Ping laughed heartily. "So that’s how it was! And here I was, thinking my judgment was getting worse."

Sun Tao said, "Even if there were accidental factors, the fact that Xu Yang could kill Hong Feng—who was also at Qi Gathering Minor Achievement—in under ten moves without getting injured means he has some skill."

No one refuted this statement. Even if it was luck, being able to kill an opponent of the same rank in ten moves meant he was definitely not weak.

Lu Ren said, "He was, after all, someone who almost caught up to me once. He must have some strength, but not much."

Jiang Ping and the others nodded in agreement. Only Xue Fangsheng felt that something was off.

He had a feeling that even if Hong Feng hadn’t been influenced by him, Xu Yang still seemed capable of killing Hong Feng with ease. It was just that, at this moment, he didn’t dare to sing a different tune from Jiang Ping, Zhao Zhifei, and the others.

...

「The Huang Family.」

Originally, for this selection and training of Martial Artists, Huang Ping was supposed to personally oversee their development and observe their character.

But because all the chosen candidates had C-class Root Bones, he had thrown the matter to Huang Jin to handle in a fit of anger. That was why Huang Jin was now constantly paying attention to the happenings at Weiyuan Hall.

At this moment, he was holding a piece of paper. Written on it was the news about Xu Yang reaching Qi Gathering Minor Achievement and killing Hong Feng.

After reading it through once, Huang Jin was incredibly excited.

’This is the person you all looked down on! He reached Qi Gathering Minor Achievement all by himself. If he had received the Huang Family’s support, would he be any worse than Lu Ren?’

’Most importantly, he values relationships and righteousness. Because the Qiu Family sponsored him, he was willing to risk his life to stand up for them and kill their enemy.’

’With such a loyal and righteous character, what does it matter if his Root Bone is a bit lacking? It would just be a matter of spending a little more gold and silver.’

He picked up the note, wanting to go and report to Huang Ping.

But after taking a few steps, he came to his senses. Huang Ling’er had acted on her own and already destroyed what little favor the Huang Family had with Xu Yang.

Huang Jin slumped down in his seat. "Huang Ling’er has been the ruin of my Huang Family..."