Chapter 404: Hidden Strength

As the sword net neared Lin Dong, who still neither dodged nor avoided it, Feng Zhengyang’s ferocious face showed a bloodthirsty grin like that of a beast. He couldn’t understand why Lin Dong wasn’t resisting, but he was certain that even if a peak-level expert were present, at such close range, an energy shield might block his sword net but surely couldn’t prevent him from being hit. With no way to escape and no means to defend, the only outcome could be severe injury.
“Today is your death day!” Feng Zhengyang glared fiercely at Lin Dong.
Suddenly, everything blurred before his eyes. Behind him, Lin Dong raised the Ruyi stool in his hand and swung it violently backward.
Bang!
A burst of blood bloomed brilliantly. Feng Zhengyang only felt a flash before searing pain struck the back of his head, after which he lost consciousness.
As the Ruyi stool was swung backward, Lin Dong turned around and watched calmly as Feng Zhengyang flew sideways and landed. He then retrieved the stool and put it back into the counter. Clapping his hands, Lin Dong turned again and stepped into the backyard, which had been torn open by the strike. Behind him, Feng Zhengyang’s body and the spirit sword that had fallen to the ground floated mysteriously upward, following Lin Dong inside. This scene would scare countless timid people to death, yet Lin Dong seemed unfazed.
One of the great advantages of the Imperial Sky Technique was that it allowed one to move objects without lifting a hand. After throwing Feng Zhengyang to the ground, Lin Dong focused slightly, and the storage spirit ring and spirit sword on Feng Zhengyang’s little finger slowly moved and flew into his palm.
The sword was an eighth-tier spirit sword, and the storage spirit rings of elite disciples from major sects surely contained nothing trivial. Compared to the destroyed courtyard wall and the wasted over a minute, this deal was a small cost for a great gain.
To erase the imprint of a spirit sword and storage spirit ring that had already chosen its master required a higher realm than the opponent, and the higher the realm, the easier it was to erase. Since Lin Dong was only one realm above Feng Zhengyang, it took time. As he walked slowly toward the front yard, he continuously poured spiritual energy into the storage spirit ring. It wasn’t until he knocked on Cheng Bao’s door that a drop of bright red liquid slowly rose from the ring before turning into dust and disappearing into the night.
Upon learning Lin Dong’s purpose, Cheng Bao immediately knocked on the doors of Jiang Kui and the others one by one. While Cheng Bao searched for them, Lin Dong sent his spiritual energy into the storage spirit ring, extending his mind inward, and the contents appeared in his mind—bottles filled with pills, several spirit techniques, and wooden boxes containing spiritual materials.

There wasn’t much, but Lin Dong believed the items in this storage ring must be quite valuable. After all, it was the storage ring of the second most important figure among the younger generation of the Tianjian Sect—having only low-grade spiritual pills and materials inside would be far too meager.

“Shopkeeper!”

Before long, at Cheng Bao’s call, Jiang Kui and the others arrived one after another beside Lin Dong.

“Do you all know what to say in a moment?” Lin Dong asked.

Everyone nodded, clearly having already heard about Lin Dong’s plan from Cheng Bao.

“Let’s go!”

With a wave of his hand, everyone followed him into the backyard. Glancing at the collapsed courtyard wall, Lin Dong said, “Jiang Kui, tell Ma Chun early tomorrow to send someone to repair the wall.”

“Mm!” Jiang Kui nodded.

“The shopkeeper is amazing—even hitting a wall results in a circular hole,” Qiao Tianhao remarked in admiration. “Anyone else would never be able to do that.”

Upon closer inspection, Lin Dong saw that the collapsed wall indeed formed a round hole, leaving him speechless.

“By the way, how’s Senior Feng these days?” Lin Dong asked midway.

“His temper is getting worse,” Qiao Tianhao chuckled. “Yesterday, I came up with a plan: hang Tianfeng peppers around his neck with a rope so he can smell them but not eat them.”

Lin Dong paused, hesitated for a moment, then decided, “Don’t push him too hard. After all, with the Spirit-Ending Pill, eating Tianfeng peppers won’t restore his spiritual energy. Just let him eat a few every day.”

“Why?” Qiao Tianhao seemed displeased. Lately, returning to his room had become his greatest pleasure. If he had to eat Tianfeng peppers every day, that pleasure would surely diminish greatly.

“Stop asking so many questions. Just do as I say,” Lin Dong glared at Qiao Tianhao. His growing irritability was clearly not a good sign. If Feng Yue was pushed to the point of doing something extreme, it would be unjust without any reason.

Qiao Tianhao was startled and quickly nodded.

The terrifying hole created by Feng Yue’s full-force strike over a month ago had already been filled up half a month prior. Unimpeded, everyone reached the corridor.

“He’s sleeping soundly!” Qiao Tianhao smiled as he approached Feng Zhengyang, who was lying in the corridor. Without hesitation, he kicked him a few times before turning to Lin Dong with a flattering smile, “Shopkeeper, what about this guy? Should I do something to him too?”

“Choose between Senior Feng or him,” Lin Dong said calmly.

“Senior Feng!” Though somewhat disappointed, Qiao Tianhao replied promptly. Elite disciples from major sects were great for tormenting, but compared to those nearing peak strength, their sense of achievement was still inferior.

“Wake him up!” Lin Dong took out a porcelain bottle and threw it at Qiao Tianhao. “Take your time. Hand it over to Cheng Bao after you’re done.”
“Eh!” Qiao Tianhao was overjoyed. He pulled out the cork and poured out a pill from the bottle. Then, he stepped on Feng Zhengyang’s chest and slapped him in the face.
With a snap, Feng Zhengyang’s head tilted to the side, and his tightly closed mouth slightly opened.
Qiao Tianhao stuffed the pill into Feng Zhengyang’s mouth and forced it into his body using spiritual energy. Then, he started slapping Feng Zhengyang’s face repeatedly with both hands.
Meanwhile, as Feng Zhengyang’s body trembled, Yu Linglong lightly tapped her toes, and her massive body, like rapidly floating willow fluff, flew toward the collapsed courtyard wall.
“Wh-where am I… It hurts, so much pain…”
Feng Zhengyang slowly opened his eyes, still dazed, unable to understand what had happened.
With another snap, Qiao Tianhao slapped him again, causing Feng Zhengyang’s head, which was tilted to the left, to suddenly tilt to the right.
“W-why are you hitting me?”
Feng Zhengyang stared at Qiao Tianhao in confusion, his vision gradually focusing.
“Hitting you?” Qiao Tianhao stretched out his right hand, and a black iron kitchen knife appeared instantly in his hand.
He raised his right arm, and the black iron kitchen knife quickly formed an impenetrable wall of blades in front of Feng Zhengyang, slowly approaching his face.
The wind pressure grew intense. Feng Zhengyang was terrified and kept kicking at the ground, retreating until he was two or three meters away from the blade wall. Only then did he stop, no longer feeling the pressing wind pressure.
“Lin Dong? You’re not dead?”
Suddenly, Feng Zhengyang’s pupils contracted as he looked at Lin Dong in disbelief. Memories flooded his mind.
“Nonsense. My boss will live a hundred years. Someone like you, who can’t even live past thirty, is still alive.” Qiao Tianhao said disdainfully. “Of course, my boss isn’t dead.”
“How… how could you not be dead?” Feng Zhengyang stared at Lin Dong in shock, having fully recalled what had happened earlier.
A sword was thrust at him. It was already very close, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head and lost consciousness.
“Sss…”
Remembering the pain in his head, Feng Zhengyang felt an unbearable stinging sensation, forcing him to take a deep breath.
“Well? Do you understand what’s going on now?” Qiao Tianhao stepped forward with a sinister smile. When he was less than two meters away, he suddenly swung his right arm. The black iron kitchen knife spun in front of Feng Zhengyang’s neck.

“What do you—what do you want?” The chill on his neck and the sharp pain made Feng Zhengyang panic. He couldn’t understand how Lin Dong had dodged his sword strike or how he himself had been captured, but it was clear that Qiao Tianhao’s black iron kitchen knife was the most important thing at the moment.
Whoosh…
The harsh wind pressure sounded again, and Feng Zhengyang felt coldness on the left side of his neck, followed by sharp pain.
The next second, the black iron kitchen knife flew back straight and was grabbed by Qiao Tianhao.
Feng Zhengyang turned his head abruptly and saw Cheng Bao behind him, staring at Qiao Tianhao with a cold gaze, saying nothing.
It was clearly he who had thrown that knife.
“Brother Bao is really amazing. I knew you could catch it.” Qiao Tianhao was startled and quickly offered an apologetic smile. His real aim with that knife was to scare Cheng Bao; Feng Zhengyang’s neck was just a secondary target—Cheng Bao’s neck, a little to the left, was his actual target.
With Lin Dong present, Cheng Bao couldn’t act recklessly and just kept staring at Qiao Tianhao.
Realizing he couldn’t escape, Qiao Tianhao stopped paying attention. It was just a beating—he could deal with that later. For now, he wanted to enjoy himself at the expense of the pride of Tianjian Sect first.
“Lin Dong, if you’ve got the guts, kill me!” Feng Zhengyang said coldly. “Otherwise, Tianjian Sect will flatten this little inn.”
“Good point, Qiao Tianhao. Kill him.” Lin Dong nodded nonchalantly.
Feng Zhengyang’s gaze froze as the black iron kitchen knife in Qiao Tianhao’s hand swung wildly toward his head.
“You can’t kill me! I’m an elite disciple of Tianjian Sect, second only to Yun Lan. If you kill me…” Feng Zhengyang’s voice suddenly stopped as the black iron kitchen knife, less than a centimeter from his head, halted.
Whoosh…
The strong wind from the knife made Feng Zhengyang’s hair flutter wildly.
“You… you can’t kill me… If you kill me… Tianjian Sect won’t spare you…” Feng Zhengyang’s teeth trembled, and cold sweat poured down his forehead. His whole body spasmed and shook intermittently.
Qiao Tianhao couldn’t help but marvel—compared to Feng Yue’s toughness, this guy was utterly inferior. Torturing him would be boring, and it might not even take as long as picking a random thug from the street.
“Owner, the spirit array has been removed,” Yu Linglong appeared silently.
“Alright, you guys have fun! I’m going back to my room to practice.” Lin Dong glanced at Feng Zhengyang, who still hadn’t recovered, then turned and went back to his room. There was nothing more for him to do tonight. He believed that although Feng Zhengyang hadn’t heard clearly, he would surely remember Yu Linglong’s words.

He had set up a spiritual array in advance, and that was the reason for his failure this time. Sitting in seiza position, not long after entering meditation, a sinister laugh from Qiao Tianhao came from outside the door. Immediately afterward, Feng Zhengyang’s fierce threats rang out one after another. “You can’t kill me! I’m the eldest disciple of the Grand Elder of the Tianjian Sect. If you kill me, the Tianjian Sect will grind you to dust…” “You can’t kill me! I’m Feng Zhengyang! I’m Feng Zhengyang…” It continued until midnight, when Cheng Bao’s footsteps approached, followed by his rebuke to Qiao Tianhao, after which the noises gradually faded away. Apparently, Cheng Bao had returned to demand Qiao Tianhao hand over the person.