When Old Patriarch Chen saw Mu Jinyu enter, he felt as if he were facing a great enemy, his whole body tensed up.
At this moment, seeing Xiang Mantang come in and feeling the fierce evil Qi accumulating around him like a dense fog, his heart trembled, and his face couldn't help but turn a shade paler.
Old Patriarch Chen, who had roamed the Jianghu and the underworld for decades, had never felt this from anyone else.
It was truly the terrifying evil Qi that could only be amassed through a killing spree!
"Who are you? Why did you barge into the Chen Family and start killing without a word?"
Patriarch Chen clenched the handle of his Dragon Head Cane tightly, his eyes fixated on Xiang Mantang as he asked in a stern voice.
"Killing without a word, where did that come from?"
Upon hearing this, Xiang Mantang looked innocent, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Wasn't it you who started it? I was actually ready to discuss how you would compensate for stealing my senior brother's prescription, but that little guy at the door just attacked outright. I thought that was the attitude of the Chen Family."
He paused, then said with a light smile, "So, knowing your attitude, I didn't bother with the pleasantries and just took action."
Patriarch Chen's face looked grim. Leaning on the Dragon Head Cane, he slowly stood up, regretting heeding Chen Xuyang's advice, which had led to this encounter with such a fierce and evil being.
In their investigation within the Chen Family, there was no record of Xiang Mantang at all!
He guessed that this must be outside help called in by Mu Jinyu, who, if not the leader in his backing forces, must be a top figure.
Squeezing the Dragon Head Cane tightly, Patriarch Chen's knuckles turned white. He stared at Xiang Mantang as if facing a formidable enemy and said in a deep voice, "Do you know the consequences of offending the Chen Family? Our ancestor is currently cultivating in the Kunlun Ruins. Your actions today will bring disaster upon the forces you represent, leading to their annihilation!"
"The Kunlun Ruins?"
Upon hearing Patriarch Chen's words, Xiang Mantang's expression remained unchanged, though his eyes flickered slightly, contemplating something.
Then, he smiled and said, "So what? If he dares come, I'll make sure he never returns!"
"Ha!"
Patriarch Chen, who initially thought he might scare Xiang Mantang away, realized it was futile upon hearing his reply, and let out a furious roar. He kicked and shattered the rosewood table, swung the Dragon Head Cane, and struck at Xiang Mantang!
The force of his strike was tremendous, possessing the power to split mountains and seas, which ordinary martial artists would not dare confront but merely avoid its sharp edge.
But as the Big Dipper Tianshu of the Dragon King Hall, Xiang Mantang was clearly not intimidated by a mere family head of the Chen Family.
Xiang Mantang did not evade or dodge; he simply raised his hand, striking the Dragon Head Cane with a force as if trying to move a mountain!
"Crack!"
At the collision of fist and cane, a crisp snapping sound echoed, not because Xiang Mantang's arm was broken, but because the Dragon Head Cane was snapped in two!
Patriarch Chen's face changed, his hand moved, and with a ringing sound, a bright sword light suddenly flashed in the room, its chilling Sword Qi causing goosebumps on anyone it touched.
It turned out that inside the Dragon Head Cane, there was secretly hidden a short sword sharp enough to slice through iron like mud.
"Die!"
Patriarch Chen discarded the broken cane, grasped the frosty short sword, and with swift movements that did not resemble those of a man in his seventies, he stabbed rapidly towards key points like Xiang Mantang's heart and throat!
Seeing this, Xiang Mantang still maintained a calm demeanor, not awkwardly dodging backwards, but simply extending two fingers and gently pinching forwards!
Mu Jinyu stood by, not showing any sign of worry.
He even leisurely took out a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket and started cracking them, interestedly watching the spectacle.
"Cling!"
At the collision of sword and fingers, if it were an ordinary expert, even if they could successfully trap the blade amid the flurry of sword shadows, they would likely have their arms broken by the Inner Strength contained in Patriarch Chen's short sword.
Yet when Xiang Mantang reached out to grasp the sword's edge, not only was he unharmed, but he actually snapped Patriarch Chen's precious sword—which could slice through iron as if it were mud and was sharp enough to cut a hair blown across it!
It was as if the sword in his hand was, in fact, made of plastic.
"Horizontal Refinement Grandmaster?!"
Witnessing this scene, Patriarch Chen's pupils shrank rapidly, and he was struck with fear;
The Chen Family Ancestor had been merely a Martial Arts Grandmaster, yet that was enough for the Chen family to dominate River City and even in Jiangnan Province, no one dared to provoke them.
But today, he hadn't anticipated that the Beauty Pill would bring about such a formidable person.
Moreover, the opponent was so young, appearing to be only in his early twenties, which meant his background must be enormously significant, far beyond what the Chen Family could provoke!
As Patriarch Chen's thoughts whirled, his first impulse was to smash the window and flee from the Chen Family home.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing this, Xiang Mantang, still idly playing with the tip of the sword in his hand, suddenly lifted his hand and threw it.
Patriarch Chen sensed the movement behind him and was scared out of his wits; he tried desperately to dodge the sword, but no matter how he attempted to move in a serpentine pattern, he couldn't escape from being targeted!
"Shriek!"
The broken sword tip punctured Patriarch Chen's back, instantly spurting a spray of blood that interweaved into a cluster of stunningly red flowers in the air.
Patriarch Chen's eyes turned vacant, and he could no longer run; his body dropped straight down!
"Bang!"
Patriarch Chen fell heavily to the ground, and with his last ounce of strength, he turned over and fiercely fixed his gaze on Xiang Mantang and Mu Jinyu, as if to imprint their faces in his memory, refusing to let them go even in death!
Xiang Mantang did not look at Patriarch Chen again.
He was never a generous man.
Towards those who died by his hand, he was always too stingy to even spare them a glance.
Slowly pulling out a clean towel from his pocket, Xiang Mantang began meticulously wiping his hands.
His hands remained as pale and refined as if they were carved from jade, having not acquired even a drop of blood or filth during the encounter.
The reason he was wiping his hands was solely due to Xiang Mantang's obsession with cleanliness and habit.
After all, when he used to kill people, it wasn't with the leisurely ease he had now; each time was fraught with peril as he killed his opponent, pressing his fingers into their eyes, striking their throat or heart, and other vital spots.
Therefore, each time after he had killed someone and lived to tell the tale, he would thoroughly wash the sticky blood and filth from his hands...
Mu Jinyu stood by, watching Xiang Mantang clean his hands, and remained silent.
After wiping his hands, Xiang Mantang took out his phone and dialed a number, "Come over and clean up, and bring Chen Xuyang over; I won't personally go."
After speaking, he simply hung up the phone.
He did not inform the person on the other end of his current location or Chen Xuyang's whereabouts.
But clearly, the person would know Xiang Mantang's location and where Chen Xuyang was.
"Let's go, let's sit outside for a while."
Xiang Mantang put away his phone, looking at the blood-stained floor with disgust, he wrinkled his brow and then said to Mu Jinyu.