Chapter 90: The Regretful Yang Yunji
“Hung!” Zhou Donghuang’s eyes flashed coldly as he struck with his hand in a lightning-fast motion; before s.h.i.+ Hao could react, his two hands grabbed his arm like claws.
Shuah!!
As Zhou Donghuang grabbed s.h.i.+ Hao, s.h.i.+ Hao finally recovered from the shock of seeing his father s.h.i.+ Ji get defeated so easily. The blood drained from his face. He tried to pry open Zhou Donghuang’s hands, but to his surprise, no matter how much force he used, his strength was like a pebble sinking in the ocean, unable to create any waves. He could hardly fathom why this was happening… the man was simply too strong for him!
“This is the s.h.i.+ family’s strongest level-seven adept?” Ignoring s.h.i.+ Hao’s struggle, Zhou Donghuang remarked calmly. In a quick motion, he grabbed s.h.i.+ Hao and threw his body behind him like a ragdoll.
In the next moment, bang!! With a loud crash, Zhou Donghuang turned around, and as his feet touched the ground, he flew out towards s.h.i.+ Hao, causing the tiles to crack. Instantly, he flew above s.h.i.+ Hao’s body and raised his right leg. He landed squarely on s.h.i.+ Hao’s chest. Zhou Donghuang pressed s.h.i.+ Hao’s body down to the ground, landing behind Yang Zixi and Ren Jiapei.
Hong!! With another ground-shattering sound that reverberated around the hall, s.h.i.+ Hao’s body crashed into the ground under Zhou Donghuang’s feet. Blood gushed out of his open mouth as he lay seriously injured, like his father s.h.i.+ Ji.
“Zixi,” Zhou Donghuang looked at the frightened young girl and smiled as he said, “This is the man who killed your third uncle… now you can kill him to avenge your third uncle.”
The young girl’s gaze was filled with hatred as she turned to s.h.i.+ Hao. s.h.i.+ Hao’s pupils shrank in fear as he cried, “Zi… Lady Zixi… please spare me! Spare me!!” Seeing that everything was under the control of the young man who was stepping on him, and the young girl really looked about to kill him, he was certain he was about to die!
“I am terribly guilty about the death of Third Elder Yang. I can pay it back to you! I can compensate you!! No matter what you want, I’ll give it to you if I can! I’ll give it all to you!!” In the face of death, s.h.i.+ Hao was fl.u.s.tered.
“Brother Zhou, help me kill him.” The young girl was unmoved as she stared coldly at s.h.i.+ Hao. Towards this man who had murdered her third uncle, she had no pity, only hatred.
“Sure,” agreed Zhou Donghuang as he nodded. He stepped down with his foot and crushed s.h.i.+ Hao’s heart. s.h.i.+ Hao’s head drooped as he breathed his last breath.
“Father!!”
“Hao’er!!”
s.h.i.+ Hao’s death caused both s.h.i.+ Yu and s.h.i.+ Ji to cry in shock. Their eyes were filled with despair and indignation, but they dared not reveal any sort of anger towards the young man who had killed s.h.i.+ Hao. The young man was simply too powerful; he could kill them easily too.
With s.h.i.+ Hao’s death, the young girl fell to the floor loudly. She knelt in front of Zhou Donghuang and kowtowed, “Brother Zhou, thank you for avenging Third Uncle… from today on, my life is yours.”
“Silly girl, you don’t have to do this.” Zhou Donghuang helped her up and shook his head gently. “I have a part to play in Third Elder Yang’s death… today, I avenged him not just to help you.”
However, the young girl continued to stare resolutely at Zhou Donghuang.
“Zixi, how do you want to deal with this Yang Yunji?” As Zhou Donghuang helped the young girl up, he looked at Yang Yunji who could barely stay on his feet. His eyes narrowed murderously.
Before the girl could answer, Yang Yunji was so frightened his face had turned pale as he too fell to his knees as his entire body trembled. “Zixi, I… I am your uncle… you… you can’t kill me… Don’t forget that it was me who raised you. As long as you agree, you can come back to the Yang family anytime. Once I return home, I will announce to everybody and accept you back into the family… Uncle was wrong, I know I was wrong…. Give me a chance, give Uncle a chance…”
Seeing s.h.i.+ Hao, chief of the tyc.o.o.n s.h.i.+ family, being murdered, Yang Yunji was absolutely terrified as he begged the young girl nervously.
“I never would have thought that you could watch Third Uncle get killed… You can ignore me as your niece, but Third Uncle, he… was your brother!” The young girl looked at Yang Yunji with disgust, her body shaking with anger. “From today onwards, I, Yang Zixi, have nothing to do with you and the Yang family!”
Hearing this, Yang Yunji heaved a sigh of relief, because he knew that as long as the young man did not act on his own accord, he would be able to walk out alive today.
“After you go back home, prepare five million liang, that is the price you’ll pay for keeping your life today.” Zhou Donghuang glanced at Yang Yunji as he said calmly. “Later, I will get my men to collect it from you.”
Clearly, Zhou Donghuang was not going to let him go so easily. Just as well, the money that he had brought from Yunfeng prefecture was running low.
“Five million liang?” Yang Yunji’s eyes narrowed as he grimaced. In the past, it would be easy for the Yang family to produce five million liang, but in this half a year, he had spent most of the family’s money on producing the ten-year survival weed. The Yang family would not be able to produce five million liang now.
“What? You really value your money more than your life?” Seeing Yang Yunji’s reluctance, Zhou Donghuang stared at him menacingly.
Seeing this, Yang Yunji was completely fl.u.s.tered and cried, “Young Master Donghuang, I’ll prepare it right away! I’ll get it right away!” Now, Yang Yunji was already planning to sell some of the family business to get enough money for this man… He could not afford to offend him!
“Mm,” muttered Zhou Donghuang as he nodded with satisfaction. He turned to the pale old man who had long since been frozen with fright. “Xiao Chen, Medicine Master Xiao?”
“Dong… Young Master Donghuang, do you have any instructions?” Thinking that he had escaped, Xiao Chen turned in fright when Zhou Donghuang called to him. His eyes were nervous.
“The poison that I treated, you said it was you… now you’re famous in the city?” Zhou Donghuang asked.
“Young Master Donghuang, I will announce to everyone that you were the one who treated Yang Yunji’s poison and not me!” Xiao Chen’s expression changed as he cried hurriedly.
“No need,” said Zhou Donghuang as he shook his head. “I don’t care what they are saying… your fame must be worth five million liang?” With that, Zhou Donghuang looked hard at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen’s face turned pale as he heard what Zhou Donghuang had just demanded. “Five… five million liang?”
He could fork out this sum. But once he did, that would be all his life’s savings.
“Why? You can’t do it?” Zhou Donghuang asked as his eyes flashed coldly.
Sensing Zhou Donghuang’s murderous glint, Xiao Chen broke out in a cold sweat as he shook his head hurriedly, “I can! I can!”
Money lost could be earned again. But once he lost his life, that was it. Xiao Chen understood this.
“Very good,” said Zhou Donghuang as he nodded. “Later, I will send someone to collect it from the s.h.i.+ family. You better prepare it soon, if I don’t receive the money, I’ll come here to look for you. By then, it won’t be just a mere five million liang.” With that, Zhou Donghuang glared at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen immediately agreed, “Young Master Donghuang, don’t worry, I will prepare the money in the next two days!”
“s.h.i.+ family…” Zhou Donghuang’s eyes landed on s.h.i.+ Ji, who was staring forlornly at the body of his son, s.h.i.+ Hao. Zhou Donghuang said calmly, “Ten million liang should be reasonable for the s.h.i.+ family?” His eyes landed on s.h.i.+ Yu as his lips curled into a murderous smile. “If not, you can also… leave s.h.i.+ Yu with me.”
s.h.i.+ Yu had been influential in this whole incident. Hearing this, s.h.i.+ Yu’s expression changed as he dropped to his knees with fright, screaming, “Grandfather, save me!! Save me!!”
s.h.i.+ Ji said gravely, “Young Master Donghuang, don’t worry, we will prepare the ten million liang within two days.” Today, even though he was a level-eight adept and the pillar of strength of the tyc.o.o.n s.h.i.+ family, he could do nothing but accede to the request. The young man was simply too strong. Even if he was not a level-nine adept, he had to be among the strongest level-eight adepts and definitely not someone the s.h.i.+ family could afford to offend.
“Old Chief s.h.i.+ is decisive,” said Zhou Donghuang with a smile. He then turned to call the two girls behind him as they left arrogantly.
After their figures had disappeared out of sight, s.h.i.+ Yu turned to s.h.i.+ Ji as he cried with hatred, “Grandfather, we must avenge Father’s death!”
“Revenge?” s.h.i.+ Ji laughed. “Even I am not his match… why don’t you tell me how we will take revenge?”
“Grandfather, we can sue him in the Chu royal household!” suggested s.h.i.+ Yu.
“Chu royal household?” s.h.i.+ Ji shook his head as he said, “Though he killed your father, it was a simple act of revenge… even if it wasn’t, your father’s death doesn’t affect the s.h.i.+ family, as we are still a tyc.o.o.n family. The Chu royal court will not care.”
s.h.i.+ Yu was silent.
“Our Yang family… missed out on a huge opportunity!” Here, the most regretful one was none other than Yang Yunji, the chief of the Yang family. He would never have thought that this teenager that he had looked down upon would be such a powerful man… if the young man had been on good terms with his niece and stayed on in the Yang family, he could have led the family to become a tyc.o.o.n family!
The Yang family had missed their chance to become a tyc.o.o.n family.