January 15, the year 1228 of the Ziyun Era.
Night was falling as the carriage drawn by the ferghana horse entered Qingshan town, attracting the attention of a crowd of passers-by.
Many people recognized the man driving the carriage as the chief steward of Yunxuan Restaurant, Fu.
“Chief Steward Fu of Yunxuan Restaurant has been gone for more than ten days with Young Master Donghuang… now, they have returned?”
“That’s a long time… could they have gone to the prefecture capital?”
“They must have gone to the prefecture capital. If the matter with the three elite lesser families is not resolved, Yunxuan Restaurant cannot open for business, so if he wants to resume business, he definitely has to visit the prefecture capital to discuss the matter with them.”
“How could they resolve it through discussion? The sons of those three lesser families were all maimed by Young Master Donghuang. Even if he gave away Yunxuan Restaurant, they might not be placated. Moreover, Young Master Donghuang is strong-willed and not someone who would give in.”
“I agree, even if Young Master Donghuang went to the prefecture capital, he would not have visited the three elite lesser families… he probably went to look for Elder Zhao San.”
“That should be the case. If Elder Zhao San agrees to step in, this matter will be easily resolved.”
“Up till now, I still cannot understand this: Why would Elder Zhao San give Yunxuan Restaurant to Zhou Donghuang?”
…
Amidst the speculation of the people of Qingshan town, the carriage driven by Fu returned to the compound behind Yunxuan Restaurant.
“Mother.”
As soon as he reached home, Zhou Donghuang went to look for Lin Lan. Coincidentally, she was not practicing but was in the back courtyard familiarizing herself with martial art techniques.
“Donghuang is back.”
Seeing Zhou Donghuang return, Lin Lan’s focused expression loosened up, and she broke out into a radiant smile.
“Mother, the Star-Stepping Footwork you were practicing already shows the basic form, I think you’ll be able to master it completely before long,” Zhou Donghuang said with an encouraging smile.
“Mother knows her own ability, it’s far below Freezing Wind’s.”
As she said this, she seemed to remember something and looked sternly at Zhou Donghuang. “Donghuang, I wish for you to teach me how to exert my maximum muscular strength… I’ve just recovered my level of practice after switching to the Technique of Everlasting Youth, and even practicing the two techniques you have given me, I can only match an ordinary level-two adept in the short term. With maximum muscular strength, my ability could match an ordinary level-three adept.”
Lin Lan looked expectantly at Zhou Donghuang.
“He… told you everything?”
Zhou Donghuang frowned. He had not thought that Freezing Wind would tell his mother about how he could exert his maximum muscular strength.
“Don’t blame him, Mother forced it out of him.”
Lin Lan continued, “Two days ago, that fourth elder, Lin Tonghong, appeared, insisting that I hand over Yunxuan Restaurant. In the end, he was defeated by Freezing Wind and left with his tail between his legs. It was then that I realized how powerful Freezing Wind was. From what I knew, he had not even attained level-two of Qi-gathering before he decided to follow you. I badgered him constantly, and he finally told me that his ability was all due to you.”
Lin Lan looked at Zhou Donghuang with a fire in her eyes.
“Donghuang, what Freezing Wind can endure, your mother can endure as well.”
“Mother,” Zhou Donghuang said with a sigh. “That kind of method is only suitable for men, and is closely dependent on the male physiology… you are not a man, so it would be useless even if you attempted that method.”
“Really?”
Lin Lan looked suspiciously at Zhou Donghuang, not believing him entirely. She stared at him as though trying to make out any traces of the lie she suspected.
In any case, Zhou Donghuang, with his thousand years’ worth of experience, had long ago mastered the art of controlling his emotions and expressions. How could Lin Lan possibly be sure that he was lying?
What Freezing Wind had endured was not something that anyone could endure. It was not that he believed Lin Lan would not be able to endure such pain, but because it was unnecessary.
After chatting with Lin Lan for a while, Zhou Donghuang left the back courtyard and returned to his room.
Not long after, Freezing Wind came looking for him.
“There are some things I don’t want my mother to know because she will get ideas… in the future, I hope this won’t happen again.”
Sitting straight and rigid at the table and staring coldly at Freezing Wind, Zhou Donghuang scared him so badly that he fell to his knees and prostrated himself with a thud.
“Young Master, I was wrong, Freezing Wind guarantees that it will not happen again.”
“Hmm.”
Zhou Donghuang’s expression softened, and he asked calmly, “According to my mother, that fourth elder of the Lin family of the prefecture capital, Lin Tonghong, came over, and you defeated him?”
“Young Master, I am here precisely because of this.” Freezing Wind grew serious and said, “That Lin Tonghong, although I managed to defeat him, I used everything I had. His ability should be considered strong among level-three adepts.”
Zhou Donghuang was not surprised that Freezing Wind mentioned this.
As the fourth elder of the preeminent Lin family of the prefecture capital, Lin Tonghong’s ability would naturally be above average, greater than that of the ninth elder of the Li family Li Yan whom Zhou Donghuang had killed.
Of course, he had also expected Freezing Wind to be able to defeat Lin Tonghong.
The level of his ability now was such that within Yunfeng prefecture, none below level-four of Qi-gathering could match him.
“I wanted to kill him, but my lady stopped me.” There was a cold gleam in Freezing Wind’s eyes as he said this. “Young Master, I can ride the ferghana horse, catch up to him and kill him before he reaches the prefecture capital. He arrived in a carriage, and I recognize the driver of the carriage… I can identify the carriage he is in.”
Freezing Wind had come to find Zhou Donghuang to ask if Zhou Donghuang wanted him to kill Lin Tonghong.
“No need.”
Zhou Donghuang shook his head, and a cold look flashed across his eyes. “Even if he wants a clean death, I’m not quite willing to grant that to him.”
In his view, killing Lin Tonghong would be an act of charity. He intended to toy with Lin Tonghong, and make him pay the price of misappropriating the formula with his misery!
“Young Master has a grudge against him?”
Freezing Wind was stunned.
“A grudge? Hardly worth calling it a grudge,” Zhou Donghuang snorted derisively.
Immediately after, Zhou Donghuang instructed Freezing Wind to help him retrieve some herbs from the storehouse. He was going to formulate an even better qi-gathering elixir.
With the herbs that Lu Qinghu helped gather, he could formulate an even better qi-gathering elixir, and his rate of practice would be boosted.
Several hours after Freezing Wind had retrieved the herbs, Zhou Donghuang had formulated a hundred new bottles of qi-gathering elixir.
The new qi-gathering elixir could increase the sensitivity to qi by sixty percent!
The herbs brought back by the grand patriarch of the Qin family, Qin Yi, had only allowed Zhou Donghuang to formulate a qi-gathering elixir that increased the sensitivity by forty percent.
The new qi-gathering elixir represented a fifty percent increase in effectiveness over the previous one!
“With this new qi-gathering elixir, I will attain level-three of Qi-gathering within three months!”
Zhou Donghuang lips curled upwards in a smile.
When Freezing Wing received the new qi-gathering elixir from Zhou Donghuang, he was dumbstruck. “Increase the sensitivity to qi… by sixty percent?”
Earlier when Zhou Donghuang gave him the qi-gathering elixir that increased sensitivity by forty percent, he thought he might have been dreaming.
To put this in context, the best qi-gathering elixir of the entire Yunyang country could only increase the sensitivity to qi by twenty percent.
“Next, I have a task for you.”
Zhou Donghuang gave Freezing Wind some instructions, which he then left to carry out, riding his ferghana horse and leaving Qingshan town that very night.
After Freezing Wind left, Zhou Donghuang went looking for Fu to pass on the technique of the Fiery Thunder Training Regimen to him.
Of course, he would only pass on the portion that was appropriate for the stage Fu was at. He would pass on the rest slowly when Fu reached the appropriate level of practice.
Fu’s martial talent was indeed ordinary, but nurtured by Zhou Donghuang, even a wild chicken would one day become a phoenix…
Zhou Donghuang was very confident of this.
“Thank you, Young Master.”
Fu kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude.
“Practice well… I hope you will be able to catch up to Freezing Wind soon.”
Leaving Fu with ten bottles of the newest qi-gathering elixir, Zhou Donghuang left Fu’s room and returned to his own room to practice.
His expectations of Fu were high as well, or he would not have passed the Fiery Thunder Training Regimen on to him.
The Fiery Thunder Training Regimen and Way of the Thousand-Star Sword were top techniques among all the civilizations of the universe.
Upon returning to Qingshan town this time, Zhou Donghuang put his heart into practicing, rushing to level-three of Qi-gathering.
However, two days later, he was interrupted by Fu as he was immersed in practice.
“Young Master, the patriarch of the Lu family is here!”
“Lu Qinghu?”
Zhou Donghuang was surprised. “The day we agreed upon… is still four days away, isn’t it?”
Leaving the room and walking to the front courtyard, Zhou Donghuang saw not only Lu Qinghu but also Fang Jishan of the Fang family, and the man from the Ma family he had last seen in the receiving chamber of the Lu family.
Lu Qinghu still looked thin and weak, but his eyes shone with light and looked full of energy.
“You’ve broken through?”
Zhou Donghuang looked at Lu Qinghu, smiling casually.
“Many thanks to Young Master Donghuang for the new lease on life.”
Lu Qinghu bowed deeply as he thanked Zhou Donghuang with sincerity. Although he had attained level-four of Qi-gathering, he was extremely humble before Zhou Donghuang.
“The patriarch of the Fang family Fang Jishan acknowledges Young Master Donghuang.”
“The patriarch of the Ma family Ma Dongfeng acknowledges Young Master Donghuang.”
Just then, the two people standing behind Lu Qinghu bowed deeply and paid their respects to Zhou Donghuang.
“Young Master Donghuang, this is the family treasure of the Fang family that has been handed down six generations, an ice jade hairpin made of a hundred-year-old piece of ice jade. It clears the mind and soothes the emotions, and this is a gift is from the Fang family to the mistress,” Fang Jishan said respectfully as he presented an intricate wooden box.
“Young Master Donghuang, the Ma family does not have a treasure like the ice jade hairpin of the Fang family… these notes are worth two hundred thousand liang of silver. We hope that Young Master Donghuang will accept this small token.”
Ma Dongfeng took a stack of notes out from his pocket and presented them to Zhou Donghuang.
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