Chapter 26 : Fresh Knots & Old Ties
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Fu Liwei's days were the easiest among the group of captains, ever since the wedding day when he got allocated the security of Feng's privacy and it was kept that way.

The interior of the manor's security was given to him and his elite men who kept receiving the most severe training courses and preferable treatment compared to the rest of Feng's guards after being personally handpicked by Ba Tusai, when Liwei asked his friends why's his men are treated better he received his answer in the form of one short line : "Because they're trustworthy that's why, now go do your job because unlike you and your men who get to spend the days twirling your fingers while guarding the master's family the rest of us actually are very busy."

It was a boring job yet very important and couldn't be handed to anyone who isn't both trustworthy and dedicated enough to endure the days of guarding shift after shift without lowering his guard, because if these men did someday lower their guard and something happened to the noble family then it would be attributed to Ba Tusai being unworthy of his position as the commander of the guards.

Or at least that's how Fu Liwei felt anyway, his job was to keep his men vigilant all the time and to keep this nice family safe until the very end.

But his and his men's days didn't stay boring and dull for long, Joy gave entertainment to the manor with the little brats of his master.

The guests who streamed in everyday and those citizens who arrived to throw petty complaints, news that could only be learned in these hallways and rooms before anywhere else.

But his men proved that no matter how many secrets they get to learn in the manor, nothing will come out of their mouths in the bed to their women or in their vacations when they're in the company of their friends.

After seeing that kingdom toppling beauty in their manor and Feng's order to go bring him his women, Fu Liwei went to bring the two ladies while feeling sorry for them.

Their incoming shock certainly would hurt their self confidence, both women were clearly a grade higher in charm, beauty and grace in comparison to the commoner women of this village.

Yet he's sure that after seeing this white haired angel their eyes would threaten to go out of their sockets in disbelief, and he was right.

Outside the doors of the main hall both of them froze in place and opened their mouth unable to find the words to describe it, then after regaining their focus they glared at him which made Fu Liwei's skin prickly with fear and he retreated far away from the ladies yet never left.

He was responsible for protecting them and wouldn't leave the premises unless he's ordered to do that, his men were close by and ready for a single word from him to storm the main hall.

Yet he felt despair when he saw the old butler move more than a hundred paces in the blink of an eye and vanish from some place to appear on another like a ghost, when Fu Liwei saw the old man in blue robe appear behind the ladies his hands reflexively went towards the handle of his sword yet halfway there he felt a cold hand grip the back of his neck and saw that man give him a fleeting look before walking back inside the main hall.

Cultivator!

While the ladies followed after the man with unsteady steps, Fu Liwei was covered no scratch that he was Drenched in his own sweat and his eyes were bloodshot as he froze in his awkward position!

Deep inside he knew that if he hadn't experienced Night's mad outburst earlier on the day Storm died then his current sorry condition would've been much much worse, such killing intent was lethal and he felt his blood which turned cold after this wave of killing intent had him locked on, that blood felt like knives tearing away at his innards every inch it moved and that was after that senior cultivator went easy on him.

"Captain Fu! Are you alright?"

One of his deputies noticed the awkward behavior of his superior and went to check on him, seeing his skin pale and bluish in color and sweat forming a small puddle around his feet after seeping through the gaps of his armor almost scared the deputy for mistaking his leader for a ghost.

"W.... water. S.... Stay a... away from the hall."

As if saying that took away what remained of his strength, Fu Liwei fell forward and got supported by the arms of his deputy.

Can't rest yet, I have to hold-on.... gotta warn Tusai.

*****

"Ooh! Despite being an annoying junior I have to say that you have quite a good eye when choosing your women. come ladies, sit with me."

"Biyu has seen maiden Yin."

"Lanfen has seen maiden Yin"

Yin Meirong already knew that these two naughty ladies were here long ago yet didn't exposed it, she gave Zhu Feng a side glance then gestured for the seats nearby for them to sit as if it was her home and she's inviting her guests instead.

Both women looked awkwardly at Zhu Feng first after hearing this invitation, it would be disrespectful if they followed their guest's commands while the man of the house stood watching.

Yet he merely smiled and gave them an easy nod to go and sit, only then did they properly greet their guests before sitting.

He choose them with care huh! That exchange of gazes previously proves the fact of how he trained them well, too bad though.... I like to personally touch to see for myself how good it feels.

It makes me wonder.... what kind of reaction would he give if I did it right in front of him?

Hehehehe.... maybe some other time, I guess I'm not in a hurry to try everything all at once.

Again Yin Meirong felt like she lost again to this junior when she saw these two brats refuse to make their man suffer this small loss to her, inwardly she was making plans to show them her techniques as a payback while outwardly she was smiling gently as if there's nothing awkward going in her mind.

Song Yunru's eyes almost rolled in their sockets when he saw the behavior of his young mistress's, but his admiration for the young man was growing more and more after his captain of the guards endured a strand of killing intent then this following incident which gave away the bond of respect and love these women have for their husband.

Add to that Feng's unique personality and bright mind and he's already a jewel in comparison to how usually mortals are mere sand in the eyes of most cultivators, plus how good he managed to accomplish for himself and his family in little time and young age.

"Is he bullying you two in any way? Biyu is in a way like my granddaughter and since Lanfen is her sister then I feel responsible towards the two of you, but actually I'm just looking for a justification or a good reason to beat your man up. I didn't do it before even though I really wanted to. So. Wanna see him beaten black and blue and screaming for your mercy? Just nod and I'll gladly do it for you."

"Eh!"

"Bffft..."

Out of the blue, Yin Meirong started her conversation by asking the women's permission to beat their man. Her serious gaze and excited expression confused Biyu and amused Lanfen, while Feng felt cold shivers on his spine and butler Song inwardly shook his head with a helpless smile.

"Maiden Yin is teasi-"

"Go for it."

"That's a good girl, I like your spirit."

"Crack.... Crack...."

"Y-y.... You! Lanfen this isn't a joke, she's a cultivator for god sake I'm no match for her. What if she kill me by mistake? You can't do this to me. I love you, and will always care for you!"

"You're busy all the time, me and sister only get to spend so little time with you everyday. Fang and Meili are growing older with a father in very close proximity yet spends little time, that oughta teach you a lesson."

"Crack.... Crack....."

"You're being unreasonable! I'm busy everyday trying to become stronger so I can protect my family if needed, trying to do more so that they won't get bothered by anything at all in their upcoming life."

"Finished with your familial drama yet? Even if your two women begs me to stop, I won't be stopping unless I'm satisfied of beating your annoying face with my own two fists. She asked to see it and that is all I needed to avoid getting entangled by karma when I beat you, hehehehe, prepare for some pain."

Biyu tried to shrug the words of Meirong as a tease but got interrupted by her sister Lanfen who grinned at the idea.

Not one to miss a chance to do what she wanted, Yin Meirong grinned even wider and patted Lanfen's cheek as she spoke then turned to look at Zhu Feng while cracking her fingers with a teasing smile on her stunning face.

While slowly walking towards Zhu Feng and listening to his exchange with his wife as his feet back-bedaled, Yin Meirong soaked in the feelings of accomplishment in finally getting to see some emotions on Feng's face.

That stone faced junior did well in hiding his inner feelings from showing up on his face ever since she started threatening him, and Yin Meirong was sure that all he gave away on his face as she argued back and forth with him was all fake while he hid his true intentions deep inside behind these two eyes which kept giving her an irritating serene look.

Finally Feng tried to flee by running out of the main hall which only made Yin Meirong enjoy what's going to come even more, with a gesture of her fingers the doors which Feng was aiming for got shut down in his face just in time for his forehead to be slammed by them as they closed.

With another wave of her right hand Yin Meirong pushed away every obstacle in the hall to the walls and both of the ladies were still on their seats but in a very good spot to witness what's coming for their man.

*****

"Liwei! Strange how? is he sick! Alright you go back, I'm going to check on captain Fu you know this project is very important for our village's next development stage find me a solution..... I'll be back once I can."

Ba Tusai was in a conference room supervising a team of scholars when a messenger told him that his best friend was not his usual self, at a hurry he gave his commands to these lot then hurried towards the personal guards of the Baron's family.

There he felt his heart go cold at the state his friend was in, Liwei looked much thinner and almost a decade older even though he just met him early in the morning today and he was completely fine!

He was sitting near the hallway of the main hall and leaning his back and head on one of the pillars and his worried men were gathered nearby looking at their captain Fu with confusion in their eyes, next to Liwei was a toppled empty flask of water and he was staring at the ceiling like an idiot!

"Fu are you alright! What happened to you?"

Standing in front of his friend and shaking him by the shoulders after Liwei failed to notice that someone is standing right in front of him, if it wasn't for the insane change that he's seeing on his friend's body then Ba Tusai would've doubted that he's drunk.

But no amount of liquor could do that to a man, at least not in a few hours. In a couple decades maybe.

"Tusai huh! Don't let anybody near the main hall...."

After waking from his stupor or ceiling-gazing, Liwei smiled weakly at his friend and spoke.

The guards nearby only heard the first few words before their captain Fu gestured for commander Ba Tusai to come closer then whispered something in his ears before resting his head back on the pillar, but some of them saw the commander's eyes go wide as he kept nodding his head.

"Take captain Fu to his house and send word to the healers from the infirmary to check on him, I'll be taking over in his place in this shift. Nobody comes closer to the main hall without my permission, even the wolves."

Ba Tusai gave orders to the guards then turned and walked towards the main hall's entrance.

Cultivators visiting us! Why? Are they friends or.... enemies? If one of them could do that much damage to someone like Liwei just by directing some killing-intent towards him then.... I'm afraid we're helpless to do anything to them if they're enemies! Still, even if I'm going to end-up dying.... I have to check on the young-master and his wives.

Should I order some of the men to sneak the kids out of the manor? But, is it really possible for us to achieve this feat without alerting these cultivators?

Sigh.

While millions of thoughts spun out of Tusai's brain he finally was able to see inside the main hall, but what he saw shocked and confused him beyond his limits of comprehension.

Both ladies were sitting and seemed perfectly alright, both women were laughing and the Baroness was even clapping like a child and swinging her feet back and forth in amusement.

The furniture of the hall was pushed away to the walls and in the cleared area in the middle was his young lord, kneeling on a single knee and holding his stomach with an arm while the other arm which just healed after Lanfen dislocated it's wrist was dangling at his side clearly dislocated from the shoulder socket.

Standing in front of his master's was a woman in black and she was giving a gesture of victory while posing as she looked at the ladies who cheered her on!

Then Tusai felt danger from the side and saw an elder staring back at him apathetically when he looked, swallowing hard on his saliva, Commander Ba Tusai stood in silence and watched as his master got beaten to the ground again and again by the prettiest female that he ever saw.

Just endure young-master, your skin is thick enough for you to sleep soundly despite being whipped.

Show this subject of yours another one of your miraculous-feats, please do your best and survive this.... absolute-thrashing! 

*****

This little.... demon!

In the beginning all I wanted to do was whack him once or twice before wrapping things up here, yet he keeps taking the beating in silence without uttering a sound.

But I guess it's alright to keep going for a little longer, after all his two wives behind me seem to be quite enjoying the scene of their man being taught a lesson by one of their kind.

These girls are just too adorably-cute

In the beginning Yin Meirong thought that after she threw Zhu Feng here and there and mixed it with some punches to the gut.

Nothing too harmful she made sure to avoid crippling him in the process, however the young man's toughness were apparent to her eyes because her hits did less than what she intended.

The inner armor that he wore on his body was thin yet absorbed the force of her hits and negated almost all of the damage, when she threw him the young man would always make sure to protect the only part of his body which wasn't covered in the black and purple spotted layer. His head.

Gradually Yin Meirong felt the urge to test the man's limits and gradually increased the force behind each of her punches and kicks, yet after using fifty percent of her physical strength the brat was still fine much to her irritation!

He just started to wince slightly after every strike she gave him at fifty percent of her physical strength.

Still, it was a joy to watch for the girls.

Fifty percent of Meirong's raw physical strength could smash rocks and crack steel, honestly Meirong felt slightly offended at the results even if physical strength wasn't amongst her areas of expertise.

However, as a cultivator with almost three centuries worth of being a cultivator it can be imagined how much self-disappointment she was feeling deep inside when met with Feng's combination of endurance, well trained body, physique which experienced marrow washing, good eyes, coordinated judgement and reflexes, plus the protection of the ZhuQing material.

Of course the results would be world's apart if she started adding her Qi force to give her strikes more effect, but there's no need for that since Yin Meirong still had fifty percent more of her physical strength left for her to add and press this mortal junior further towards his limits.

fifty-five percent then, how about that?

Still not the effect I'm looking for huh! Then.... take that at sixty-percent and go fly.

Kneeing Feng's chest only made him lose his breath slightly which made Yin Meirong pucker her lips slightly, twisting her waist in a heartbeat she elbowed the young man with a stronger strike and watched as his feet skidded on the floor as he got pushed more than ten meters back before he tumbled on his back and rolled another ten before picking himself up.

It hurt him at sixty-percent huh! But from the looks of it he can take many of these hits before collapsing, not to mention that the only reason he's hurt to begin with is because I'm focusing the force of my strikes on a single point.

Had this strike been aimed towards a wider surface of his body then the damage would've been much less, for example if I weren't hitting him with my knee or elbow and instead used a palm of the flat of my foot then.... I fear that if any junior-cultivator underestimated this young-man under any circumstances, said cultivator would come to regret it dearly for sure.

For a mortal, his defense is just top-notch. Even most of the peak-grade grandmaster martial-artists don't have a similarly-refined defense, gotta—at least—give him that credit.

Sixty-five percent then, attacks on a wider-surface—like kicks—are starting to affect him but barely enough to hinder his movement on the follow-up.

What about seventy-percent then? That did hurt your internals a bit huh! Brat.... I hope that you're used to the taste of blood in your mouth, because this isn't over yet.

Yin Meirong saw Feng getting up and didn't give him a chance to take a breather, delivering a roundhouse kick with her left leg to his chest made Feng's body stagger a few steps.

Seeing that he was trying to recover and tackle her body, Meirong was faster by spinning her body right and giving Feng's chest another strike with the back of her right forearm from below and upwards after ducking left and away from his arms which tried to grab at her.

Seeing him cough a few drops of blood made her smile in victory before grabbing his left arm and raising his body up then twirling on her heels with him flying in the air for a couple times before smashing him on his back while making sure that he doesn't hit the ground head first.

An overhead smash with seventy-five percent of my power only dislocated a shoulder and he's still able to get up on his own, quite frankly.... I'm impressed!

But.... I've got to admit that this is getting dangerously-fun for me, especially when the cheers of these cute and excited girls are encouraging me to keep going.

I Better allow him to take a quick and short break.... before he breaks, I could also make myself look awesomely-cool while I'm at it!

Tehehe.

Sweet, voluptuous, and motherly-boobs! these shining-eyes of his seem more than ready to me.

Time to give him something with an eighty-percent force in it.

This one fractured his rib, but.... was this fool trying to block my hit just now? Eighty-five percent broke the bone on his upper-arm.

No doubt about it.... he's clearly reading my moves!

Earlier he reacted in the last moment and sacrificed his arm which was dislocated earlier, after he went through the trouble of relocating his shoulder.... this young-man didn't hesitate at all and moved his arm in the way of my strike and by suffering a broken arm he avoided having his fractured ribcage suffer anymore damage.

At least for now.

This annoying brat! What's with the look? Want some more eh? Be careful what you wish for then!

Ninety-percent broke the bone on his left-thigh and he's still trying to get up, it really is amazing how he never voiced a single sound until now.

The ones I got are the ones I forcefully extracted from him whenever I hit him.

Seeing that Feng was getting up with some difficulty made Meirong nod faintly inside in approval of his capabilities, deciding to allow a very short break she turned towards Bo Biyu and Zhu Lanfen and smiled widely with her left hand on her slender waist and the other stretched in a victory gesture with her fingers.

Her enchanting looks coupled with the cute action made the audience even more excited and captivated by Meirong.

Noticing that Feng just got up and pushed his dislocated arm back in place in dead silence made Meirong react after seeing his strong eyes, when she feinted going for his left side then did a lightning-quick sidestep and changed her target for the right side instead then smashed him with an open palm slap at the ribs below his right armpit she heard a groan followed by a faint tick.

But the thing that she noticed was how Feng's guard was trying to cover the exposed weakness just a bit slower than her attack.

Deciding not to overthink for now and keep having her fun, Meirong followed after Feng who used his left arm to borrow the force of the previous hit to lean his upper body down and support his weight on it then flip to the side and try to widen the distance between them.

This time she upped her speed a bit to confuse him and mixed more feints before giving him a very realistic action of going for an axe kick aimed at his left shoulder, but that too was a feint and Feng's raised arms which were crossed to meet it found themselves brushing against Meirong's sole as she quickly planted the raised right foot on the ground which caused it to crack from the force before quickly delivering him a crescent kick with her left which was aimed at the same place he got hit earlier on the right ribs.

The difference this time was that Feng twisted his upper body while moving his bent right arm to protect himself, an action which succeeded in protecting his side but at the cost of his right arm being no longer usable in this fight.

Meirong noticed that the ladies were starting to panick for their beloved, they wanted to teach him a lesson not to cripple him but the look on the young man's face was still strong and had a touch of pride and joy for his small accomplishment in blocking one of her hits for the first time.

It was annoying yet admirable in the eyes of this woman who finally got to move her body freely after more than fifty years of being confined to her manor, even after getting rid of the poison with the help of the brat's robe and breaking through her bottleneck in cultivation Meirong still had to spend almost a year in secluded cultivation to gain the feeling of the power running through her body.

Having such a mortal read her moves meant that she was still rusty and not yet close to her peak form, smiling at one another for a second then both of them moved and their exchange ended with Feng's left leg at an awkward angle below the waist and him falling at his side with signs of pain on his face and a few green veins pulsing on his reddened skin.

Meirong choose the lower body with the strongest strike so far out of fear for hurting him beyond repair in her excitement, the effort it took her to deliver that hit wasn't easy at all because she had to exchange a few back and forth moves while using strikes that had no power behind them.

Her pride as a cultivator didn't want her next strike to land on some guard, she wanted her hit to land cleanly and that's why she purposely waited for the weakness to show before stealing Feng's legs from below him with a swift right kick that landed on the thick thigh muscles instead of the knee-joint which could've done more damage.

ZhuQing material inner armor plus Feng's well trained thighs and the strongest bone in his body failed to block that side-kick powered with ninty percent of Meirong's physical strength which managed to bypass all these defences and crack Feng's femur bone cleanly.

Still, seeing Feng trying to get up made Meirong squint her eyes and smile a very dangerous smile.

Get up junior! You still have an intact leg don't you? In my world there's too many legends of one-legged cultivators who made fearsome opponents tremble at the mere mention of their names.

That's it.... you're such a good, good boy. For making me feel so much fun tossing you around, you're rewarded with another kick. But, this kick is so special because.... it's packed-with ninety-five percent of my power!

Don't worry and go to sleep now.

I'm gonna make sure that grandpa-song is absolutely careful in fixing you up, once you wake-up you'll come to discover that you're as good as new.

Struggling with his only leg and arm to balance his groggy body which is burdened by pain, bruises, broken and fractured bones on top of internal wounds and exhaustion.

Yin Meirong was clenching her fists just like Zhu Lanfen and Bo Biyu who became silent a while ago as they watched Feng slowly straighten his back, Ba Tusai was shaking from the effects of the emotions currently heating up his chest while watching his young master get up once again after what he saw him go through.

Nodding once before giving Feng's other thigh a spinning roundhouse kick then lightly knifing the back of his neck with her hand to knock him out was Yin Meirong's way of showing her respect for this junior.

He endured and that was enough for her to respect him, especially when he kept his mouth shut and took the beating like a man without allowing her to see him disgracing himself by screaming or wallowing in pain.

He swallowed his pain and emotions deep in and focused on trying to accomplish something and he did, yes if Yin Meirong was more careful she could've prevented it from happening.

But now that it was over, Meirong knew that he was able to follow her moves with his eyes but his body was slow to react in time.

The time which he succeeded was when he anticipated her attack after figuring out some of her habits, indeed she was still rusty and he helped her see that.

After her previous breakthrough and finally succeeding in surpassing her grandpa Song's cultivation realm Meirong had this flaw in her Dao which she didn't discover until now with Feng's help, she was supposed to be aiming to become stronger than everything to get revenge for her clan yet after the years blunted her dreams she thought of her grandpa Song as the strongest and after she passed him she became condescendingly satisfied with her vain lofty inner feelings.

This weak junior reminded her of her young aspirations which burned with hunger for power, his eyes awakened something in Yin Meirong's heart and the shackling heart demons which were starting to form their webs around her Dao were shattered into smithereens then removed all-together.

*****

Finally she noticed the flaws in her techniques, what a man!

Unfortunately he doesn't to seem like he's fated to cultivate Qi-Force, all I'm sensing from his is a very faint strand of Qi.... it isn't enough to awaken his northern-star.

Sigh.... that faint strand of Qi is probably the aftereffect of him taking the Marrow-Washing Pill.

Young-man.... let's see what my young-lady has done to you.... Hiss! Yet he's been able to keep getting up despite all these types of injuries? If I weren't absolutely certain that he's a mortal then I would've mistook him for some undead-creature or a Zombie of some sort!

Seeing his little precious Yin Meirong standing next to Zhu Feng's unconscious body for a while then closing her eyes after her gaze grew stronger, then feeling little Meirong's Qi force lose it's previous restlessness then vanishing from his senses made a smile form on the old butler's face.

Walking towards the unconscious Feng his admiration levels for him were the highest they could ever be for Song Yunru to admire a mortal.

While gesturing for the two women looking at their man with tears and panick in their eyes to calm down with his arms, Song Yunru was regretting that such a person had weak Qi force in his body and attributed it to the pill his young lady gifted the man almost a year before.

But when he crouched next to his body and touched his chest with a hand and sent a stream of gentle Qi force to scan his state, Song Yunru's eyes opened wide in shock and his mouth gaped slightly from what he saw of Feng's interior body which was a complete and utter chaotic mess.

Seeing the old man have that reaction on his face made Ba Tusai's heart fall in his feet from fear, Zhu Lanfen fainted from being overly worried for her man and burdened with guilt after she ended up making him go though all that with a single phrase.

Bo Biyu was distracted by her sister Lanfen who was spasming and foaming in the mouth.

*****

"Eh! You're awake already. Good, we need to talk before I leave."

"Indeed we do senior."

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