Chapter 3765 — See You Out

The problem was that it was not the height of a second-story fall that had truly brought him down, but the formidable true qi of four experts deliberately wrapped around him. Even if they had not struck to kill, the impact alone was enough to leave him in a sorry state for some time.

Had it been a mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert like his disciple Yu Jiang, the outcome would have been far worse than a few bruises—most likely he would have bled from all seven orifices on the spot and died.

Under the gazes of the onlookers ringing him—some curious, some gloating—Nan Tianyong came to his senses, and his fury boiled over. Though he dared not storm the gate, he jabbed a finger at the second-floor window and prepared to curse them out.

But before he could open his mouth, four powerful auras from above locked onto him once more, killing intent flickering in and out of perception. If he showed the slightest disrespect now, those four retained experts seemed ready at any moment to strike him dead.

Merchants prized harmony and the pursuit of wealth, and Nan Tianyong was utterly certain Hong Zhong would not kill him today. But those four retained experts were a different matter altogether.

Hong Zhong was a businessman; those four were not. They were retainers whose sole duty was to settle matters when the moment demanded, and the Hong Clan Merchant Association held little sway over them.

What was more, experts had the pride of experts. If a clown like Nan Tianyong kept testing the limits of their tolerance, killing him would be no harder than slaughtering a chicken. This was a privilege universally acknowledged by the cultivation world, and even if Chongtian Pavilion investigated afterward, it would be useless.

Faced with the cold, grim killing intent of those four retained experts, Nan Tianyong promptly and wisely swallowed the curses at the tip of his tongue. He was reckless, but not truly a fool. If he had been an utter idiot, then no matter what backing or support he had behind him, he could never have reached the position he held today.

Hong Zhong stood at the window, taking in every bit of Nan Tianyong's aggrieved expression, and said mildly, "See you out."

The voice was not loud, but like a great hammer it struck every person present in the chest, word by word. Nan Tianyong, bearing the brunt of it, nearly sprayed out another mouthful of blood, his face unbelievably ugly.

Yet ugly as his face was, Nan Tianyong's heart was filled with utter shock. Because Hong Zhong had always been so mild and agreeable, he had assumed all along that the old man was nothing but a running dog and lackey of the Hong Clan Merchant Association. Never had he imagined that this man was a more terrifying existence than all four of those retained experts combined!

With the strength Hong Zhong had just displayed, killing him would have been as simple as crushing an ant. And to think he had earlier provoked and bellowed at the man without a care for his own life—looking back now, he broke out in a cold sweat. Just now he had been, as the saying goes, the old man of longevity tying a noose: tired of living!

Faced with such a vast gulf, even Nan Tianyong, long accustomed to arrogance and bullying, could only bow his head and admit defeat for the moment, slinking off shamefaced with his hands over his face, drawing a chorus of laughter from the onlookers. Some passersby who knew Hong Zhong gave him a thumbs-up, and a roaring cheer went up.

Hong Zhong watched it all with a faint smile, then courteously cupped his hands toward the crowd below in thanks.

However, a few customers acquainted with Hong Zhong still found a chance to remind him, "Manager Hong, this Nan Tianhai may be a good-for-nothing, but he has two elder brothers whose strength far surpasses his. They are just as domineering and unreasonable, and on the North Island they are quite famous—infamous, of course. You would do well to guard against them in the days to come."

"My thanks for the warning," Hong Zhong nodded, stroking his long beard with a light laugh. "If they dare come, then let them come with all they have. Though the Hong Clan Merchant Association is in the business of trade, sometimes we too must find occasion to flex our muscles, if only to leave some deterrent in the minds of those with ulterior motives. Otherwise, if every Tom, Dick, and Harry dares to bare its teeth at us, then these troubles will never end."

Behind him stood the illustrious Hong Clan Merchant Association, a top-tier merchant power across all five islands of the Heavenly Tier. And this so-called Three Heroes of the Nan Clan were, at the very most, local tyrants of the North Island. To say nothing of contending with the Hong Clan Merchant Association—even a single newly risen expert like Gongyang Jun of the Law Enforcement Hall could crush them to death with one hand. There was no need to take them seriously at all.

If this Nan Tianyong truly did not know his place and went back to fetch his two elder brothers to stand up for him, then Hong Zhong would not mind taking action to put down the Three Heroes of the Nan Clan himself. After all, it could not happen a second time. Having already tolerated this once, if they came again to stir up trouble, then even if he killed them on the spot, Chongtian Pavilion could say nothing against it.

Still, though Hong Zhong had no worries for the Hong Clan Merchant Association, at this moment he found himself unconsciously fretting a little over Lin Er, the man he had met only once before.

Nan Tianhai had been humiliated today, and clearly would not be coming back to the Hong Clan Merchant Association to make trouble anytime soon. That left Lin Er as the greatest remaining outlet for his anger. Once they dug out Lin Er's identity and background, the consequences were easy to imagine.

In the eyes of the Three Heroes of the Nan Clan, their merchant association could be crushed like ants at a whim—but to an expert at the peak of early-stage Foundation Establishment like Lin Er, they were nothing less than personages of consequence. If they truly cornered him at his door, he would have no recourse at all.

Hopefully this Lin Er was hidden deep enough not to be found so easily. Otherwise, that spirit jade card they had just handed out would be money down the drain.

This commotion at the Hong Clan Merchant Association was, to others, nothing but amusing after-dinner gossip. But to this so-called Lin Er, it was nothing less than **trouble**—trouble that could mean life or death.

Yet as the person in question, Wei Zhao knew nothing of it. As things stood, he was simply an ordinary newcomer of the Qingyun Pavilion, a man who neither knew this so-called Lin Er nor had any connection with him whatsoever.

Still, if Wei Zhao were to claim he was merely an ordinary newcomer, that would truly leave every other newcomer of the Sandie Pavilion too ashamed to show their faces.

The first newcomer of the Sandie Pavilion to successfully establish a foundation, the only newcomer to score a divine-grade perfect mark in both of the first two assessments, and a newcomer who could recover swiftly even after taking a full-power blow from an expert at the peak of early-stage Foundation Establishment. If that could still be called ordinary, then no one else had any business living at all.

Of course, if the other newcomers—those who were already worked to death every day just cultivating three or four spirit herb seeds—were to learn that Wei Zhao could effortlessly cultivate eighty-five at once, they would probably all go throw themselves off a building in unison.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. The newcomers had more or less figured out some method for cultivating spirit herb seeds, no longer fumbling about helplessly as they had on the first two days. As for how many seeds would ultimately survive, that could only be left to human effort and the will of heaven.RS