"What are you standing there for? Apologize!"
Seeing that Lin Tang didn't comply, Shen Youling grew even more anxious. She hurriedly turned to Xie Changchun.
"This man just came from the countryside; he doesn't know any better. If you're angry with me, take it out on me. This has nothing to do with him. Please, I'm begging you, show mercy and let him go."
"Spare him? Hahaha! Shen Youling, are you an idiot? The moment you chose this low-born scum to be your shield and married him, his fate was sealed. His only end is death! Do you understand? Death!"
Xie Changchun sneered, looking at Lin Tang as if he were a cockroach in a sewer.
"I..."
Shen Youling couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. Because of her terminal illness and having been defiled, she had impulsively registered her marriage with Lin Tang. She had not only ruined her own life but dragged him down with her...
"Ah!"
Suddenly, Xie Changchun screamed in agony. Lin Tang had twisted his arm into a pretzel! A second later, a kick sent him flying, and he crashed to the ground like a dead dog.
"And here I thought he was supposed to be a big deal," Lin Tang said, shaking his head. He turned to Shen Youling. "All talk, and so weak. We don't need to be afraid of him at all."
The air fell deathly silent. Shen Youling and Xie Changchun's men were all dumbfounded.
What... what did he just do? He actually hit the Xie Family's young master?! Audacious beyond belief! The man is courting death!
Two voices shouted at once.
"Quick, run!" Shen Youling yelled.
"Aaaah! Flay him alive! Peel the skin from his bones for me!" Xie Changchun shrieked from the ground.
Shen Youling immediately grabbed Lin Tang and yanked him into the car. She started the engine and slammed her foot on the accelerator. As they sped off, Xie Changchun's bodyguards hacked at the rear of the car with their weapons before scrambling into their own vehicles to give chase.
"We don't actually have to run," Lin Tang said cheerfully. "It's just a few guys. I can handle them."
Shen Youling ignored him as if he were spouting nonsense, forcing herself to calm down. "You've made a terrible mistake! The Xie Family will never let you go. There's no place left for you in Jiangbei City now. Take all the cash from my wallet and leave Jiangbei. You can never come back, do you hear me?"
"Wife, you really don't need to be afraid—"
"Shut up!" Shen Youling snapped. "And don't call me your wife! You're not worthy!"
This fool still doesn't grasp how serious this is! How did I end up with such a world-class moron?
"..."
Seeing her so agitated, Lin Tang fell silent.
The Xie Family is far too arrogant. I'll just go and wipe them out in a bit.
Shen Youling's driving skills were impressive, and it wasn't long before she shook their pursuers. A while later, they hit a traffic jam up ahead, forcing her to stop.
Lin Tang patted her on the shoulder, leaving behind an imprint that only he could sense, and then got out of the car.
"What are you doing now?" Shen Youling called out irritably.
Lin Tang waved a hand without looking back. "You go on home. I'll come find you after I've taken care of things."
"You... Hey! Hey!"
Shen Youling was left completely speechless. She glanced at the freshly issued marriage certificate on the passenger seat and felt a wave of bitter irony. She was just about to tear it up when her grandfather, Shen Qiushi, called.
"My dear granddaughter, I've arranged a marriage for you. Your fiancé could arrive at any time, so don't go wandering off for the next few days."
Shen Youling was silent for a moment. She ran her fingers over the marriage certificate before replying, "Grandpa, I'm sorry. I'm already married."
"What?!"
「Hospital.」
Xie Changchun was screaming in agony as a doctor set his bones. A few of his bodyguards stood watch outside, their faces fraught with worry. Another stood in a nearby stairwell, on the phone with Xie Changchun's father, Xie Qinghong, to report what had happened.
"You pack of useless fools! What do I even pay you for? Find him! Scour all of Jiangbei City, but you find that bastard! When you do, encase him in concrete and dump him in the lake to make an example of him!" Xie Qinghong bellowed through the phone.
"Yes, yes, of course..." the bodyguard said, bowing subserviently.
He had just hung up when he turned around and saw Lin Tang smiling at him.
"You!"
The bodyguard's eyes widened in shock, and he opened his mouth to call for his partners.
Before a sound could escape, Lin Tang's hand shot out, clamping around his neck. With his other hand, he snatched the bodyguard's knife and squeezed, crumpling the steel blade into a useless ball of metal. "Do you want to live, or do you want to die?"
"..."
The bodyguard chose to live. Having learned the Xie Family's address, Lin Tang casually strolled toward their stronghold.
On the way, his nose twitched as he caught the faint fragrance of a medicinal herb.
At least a hundred-year-old Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus!
Lin Tang's eyes lit up. He had just achieved a breakthrough and was in dire need of medicinal herbs to build up his power.
Talk about a godsend!
Following the scent, he arrived at a clinic. As he stepped inside, he saw an old man performing acupuncture on another elderly man. Nearby stood a line of stern-faced men in black suits, exuding a fierce aura. A young woman with a ponytail watched them, her face etched with worry.
Lin Tang leaned his handsome face in close. "Hey beautiful, is that your grandfather who's sick?"
"Yes, why?" Wei Zichu replied, nodding instinctively.
"If so, he's in big trouble. He's in the hands of a quack. You'll be collecting his corpse soon," Lin Tang said with a look of mock sympathy.
"Ah?"
Wei Zichu was shocked, then confused. "Wait a minute, who are you? Who let you in here? How dare you spout such nonsense!"
Enraged, she swung a slap at his face, but Lin Tang dodged it with ease. She followed up with a furious kick.
Lin Tang dodged again with a playful smile. "That smells divine."
The Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus is on her!
"You!" Wei Zichu's face flushed crimson, assuming he was harassing her.
"Throw him out!" she ordered. Deep down, she had a kind heart and didn't actually want to see him crippled.
"Yes, Miss!"
The men in black moved as one, their attacks coordinated and fierce. They were a world apart from Xie Changchun's lackeys. But against Lin Tang, it still wasn't enough.
With a flurry of CRACKS and THUDS, he made short work of them, leaving them all sprawled on the ground. Then, in a flash, he was standing before Wei Zichu again.
"Hand it over!"
Wei Zichu's pupils contracted. She never imagined this unassuming man would be such an expert.
Is he an assassin, here to kill Grandpa and me? We're finished!
Despair washed over her, but then she realized he had only snatched the medicine box she was carrying.
"Let me have this, and I'll cure your grandfather," Lin Tang offered, still being quite reasonable. "How about it?"
"Scoundrel!"
Wei Zichu assumed he was a robber. Even knowing she was no match for him, she stubbornly prepared to fight to the death.
Just then, the sweating doctor, Ge Shijian, cried out in alarm, "How can this be?"
On the treatment bed, Wei Shanhe suddenly began to vomit blood, his entire body convulsing violently. Seeing this, Wei Zichu's expression changed dramatically. She pointed a trembling, hateful finger at Lin Tang.
"This is all your fault! You came in here and disrupted Doctor Ge's treatment! You've killed my grandfather! I'll kill you!"
She lunged at him, fingers clawing. Lin Tang simply placed a hand on her face and pushed her back.
"Step aside!" Lin Tang said, snatching the silver needles from Ge Shijian's hand. A surge of True Qi erupted from his fingertips, guiding the needles to simultaneously plunge into Wei Shanhe's major acupressure points. "Get up!"
Wei Shanhe, who had been clinically dead moments before, abruptly sat bolt upright and then stood, his movements stiff and strange, like a marionette whose strings had just been pulled!
"What the..."
Wei Zichu and the men in black were all stunned into silence. Ge Shijian's eyes bulged as if he were witnessing a miracle.
He trembled with excitement. "Could this be... the legendary Qiankun Qi-controlling Needle?!" he blurted out. "Thank the heavens! To think I would live to witness such divinely masterful needlework with my own eyes! I can die with no regrets now!"
THUD!
Ge Shijian shamelessly dropped to his knees, his face a mask of utter reverence. "Divine Doctor, please, may I become your disciple?"