Chapter 4 Nine Levels of Perfection (2/2)
Zhou Donghuang shook his head and straightened up, walking away immediately and leaving the stallholder behind with a dumbfounded look on his face.
The stallholder could not understand how the Young Master of the Magnolia Guild could show such a keen interest in his wares at one moment and lose interest so completely in the next.
Sorely disappointed, Zhou Donghuang hung his head as he continued walking down the street. He had barely gone a few steps when he heard someone call out in derision, ”Hey! Isn't that Zhou Donghuang of the Magnolia Guild? Young Master Zhou!”
Zhou Donghuang snapped back to reality and looked in the direction of the voice.
He immediately saw a youth who looked about his own age in a brocade outfit standing at a distance. The youth was staring at him with a smug expression on his face.
”You are… Wang Feng?”
Zhou Donghuang slowly recognized the identity of the youth before him by digging through his memory.
It was the first young master of the Wang Family of Qingshan Town, Wang Feng.
Wang Feng was only sixteen years old and had already manifested his Qi at a basic level. He had mastered four hundred jin of force and had the potential to master the strength of one bull and attain level-one of the Qi-gathering to become an martial adept before he turned twenty. Within the Wang Family, he was a rare prodigy of the Martial Way.
Whenever Zhou Donghuang had gone out alone and met Wang Feng, Wang Feng would bully him, but Wang Feng would never go too far since Zhou Donghuang's mother was the guild master of the Magnolia Guild.
And even though Zhou Donghuang had lost every time, he never told his mother of these incidents for fear of worrying her.
Although Wang Feng had not yet attained level-one of the Qi-gathering, he had attained a reasonable level of manifestation of his Qi, and he had already surpassed many adults in terms of ability.
Previously, Zhou Donghuang had been limited by the seal within his body and had no way to manifest his Qi, so naturally, he had been no match for Wang Feng.
”What? Our Young Master Zhou does not even recognize me?”
Wang Feng laughed mockingly, ”It seems that Chen Dandan's betrayal has hit you really hard and caused some memory loss… Come to think of it, your Magnolia Guild will be finished in a few days. Without a guild, what difference will there be between you, Zhou Donghuang, and an invalid?”
Wang Feng's words had startled more than a few bystanders.
”The Magnolia Guild will be finished in a few days? Is that really true?”
”This is the first young master, Wang Feng, of the Wang Family of our Qingshan Town. What he says may have merit.”
”Master Wang Feng, have you received any news?”
…
A group of passersby had gathered and were all looking curiously at Wang Feng.
”Everybody, you might not know yet… But the formula for a blood-staunching elixir given to the Magnolia Guild by the Lin Family of the City of Jun has been leaked to the Sunset Guild by the adopted daughter Chen Dandan of the guild master of the Magnolia Guild, Lin Lan.”
Faced with questions from the group of bystanders, Wang Feng replied reassuringly, ”The formula for that blood-staunching elixir is complicated, and it is 30% more effective than the commonly available ones on the market. It will monopolize the market for high-end blood-staunching elixirs if it appears in Qingshan Town.
”Apparently, the formula was researched after great efforts by an intermediate-level medicine master invited into the Lin Family at great cost to them. That the Magnolia Guild should leak this formula… do you think the Lin Family of the City of Jun would give Lin Lan a free pass? Can the Magnolia Guild be anything but finished?”
As he reached the latter part of his speech, Wang Feng smiled a brilliant smile as if he would very much enjoy seeing the Magnolia Guild fall as soon as possible.
He had heard this news just before he left home. As he passed by the great clan hall of the Wang Family, he overheard the conversation between his father and an elder of the Wang Family.
”If this is the case… the Magnolia Guild is surely finished!”
”I never thought that Chen Dandan would turn out to be such an ingrate… I heard that she was once a street urchin, and she is only where she is today because Guild Master Lin Lan took her in out of the goodness of her heart.”
”Turns out that Guild Master Lin Lan raised a wretched ingrate!”
…
Upon hearing Wang Feng's words, the bystanders were filled with rage and indignation on behalf of Lin Lan.
Zhou Donghuang gave Wang Feng one brief, apathetic glance before turning and walking away without any further acknowledgment.
From his perspective, although Wang Feng frequently bullied him, he saw now that it was nothing more than children making noise and being rowdy. If he were to get into a dispute with Wang Feng, it would show that he had not learned anything from such a long life.
Unfortunately, as he was passing by, Wang Feng put his arm up to bar his way. Wang Feng evidently did not intend to let him leave.
”Zhou Donghuang, did I let you leave?”
”Wang Feng, I'll give you one chance… Move your arm out of my way now!”
Zhou Donghuang narrowed his eyes, staring coldly at Wang Feng. At this moment, his originally calm voice carried a hint of iciness. Even though he had wanted to avoid any conflict, Wang Feng was starting to push him beyond his limit.
If Wang Feng continued to pester him, he would not object to teaching him a lesson he would not soon forget.
”I'm not moving it… I'd like to see what you intend to do about it, you useless piece of trash.”
Wang Feng smiled smugly.
A useless piece of trash like Zhou Donghuang, who could not even manifest his Qi and whom he had toyed with in the past, dared to threaten him?
”You're not going to move it?”
Seeing how Wang Feng was not taking him seriously, Zhou Donghuang returned with his own cold smile.
”If that's the case, I will… move it for you!”