Medical and Martial God

Chapter 245: The Mysterious Gem

"How dare you act so arrogantly before me? You’re overestimating your own strength!"

Seeing the sloppy old man casually waiting for her, Leng Yue felt like she was looking at an idiot. Her speed suddenly increased by several levels.

The sloppy old man only saw a blur before his eyes, and Leng Yue, who had been ten meters away, was suddenly standing right in front of him. Only then did he realize he had underestimated his opponent. Leng Yue’s speed alone was far beyond anything he could match.

In his haste, he couldn’t attack or block and was forced into a desperate retreat.

But it was too late.

The two curved sabers in Leng Yue’s hands slashed out with a storm of cold light. In the next moment, the sloppy old man felt his Eight Extraordinary Meridians falter as if caught in a violent tempest, then break apart, inch by inch.

The sloppy old man staggered back three steps before collapsing to the ground, violently spewing a mouthful of blood. His expression instantly wilted, and he looked as if he had aged a dozen years in the blink of an eye.

"You... you..."

The sloppy old man stared at Leng Yue, his expression a mixture of terror and astonishment. He, a mighty War God, couldn’t even withstand a single move from her. No, he hadn’t even had a chance to fight back.

What terrifying strength!

Moreover, Leng Yue’s swordsmanship was simply demonic. A single strike had shattered his Eight Extraordinary Meridians, yet there wasn’t a single wound on his body.

Such swordsmanship... It’s unheard of!

A scream jolted the sloppy old man from his daze.

He then noticed that the fifty-plus Martial Artists he had brought with him had already clashed with the 16 Blood Cloth Guards and were being routed instantly. The 16 Blood Cloth Guards were simply too strong, completely overpowering them.

The sloppy old man’s eyes suddenly flew open. "This..." he stammered. "Curved sabers... all of you are using curved sabers. You... you’re Huang Quan’s personal Blood Cloth Guards?"

Ten years ago, the Blood Cloth Guards had made their debut by wiping out the entire Xipoloya training camp and every member of the Yasha Sect, including their families, in a single night. From that day on, the name of the Blood Cloth Guards shook the world.

Over the next decade, the Blood Cloth Guards followed Huang Quan on countless campaigns. Wherever Huang Quan pointed, they swept through like a hurricane, leaving no survivors in their wake. Their actions made the entire global Underworld tremble in fear.

If Huang Quan was the Death God, then the Blood Cloth Guards were the scythes in his hand.

For years, countless people had secretly investigated the Blood Cloth Guards, trying to discover what kind of force they were, how many members they had, and how powerful they were. However, it was as if the Blood Cloth Guards didn’t exist; no one could find any information on them. All that was known was that they were a group of merciless, cold-blooded butchers clad in blood-colored robes and wielding curved sabers.

"Not bad. You have some insight," Leng Yue said, her lips curling into a sneer.

Upon receiving confirmation, a thought flashed through the old man’s mind. The Blood Cloth Guards are escorting the three members of the Kong Family... could it be... that Ye Xiu is Huang Quan?

It wasn’t a difficult conclusion to reach. After all, only Huang Quan could command the Blood Cloth Guards.

"You ask too many questions," Leng Yue said coldly. "Answer my question, and I’ll spare your life."

"I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" the sloppy old man exclaimed in ecstatic relief. It’s said that no grass grows where the Blood Cloth Guards pass. It seems I’ll be the sole survivor of their blades. This is an unparalleled honor! It’s enough to brag about for a lifetime!

He hastily continued, "Lian Chengbi is deeply in love with Qiu Yunxuan, but the one who ordered us here wasn’t Lian Chengbi. It was the Lian family’s old master, Lian Haidong. He ordered me to retrieve the item, kill Kong Dongming, and bring back Qiu Yunxuan and Kong Ruoruo."

"An item?" Leng Yue seized on the key word. "What item?"

"A stone. I don’t know exactly what kind of stone it is. Lian Haidong never told me what kind of treasure it was," the sloppy old man explained.

Leng Yue squinted at the old man, and seeing that he wasn’t lying, she said, "You can go. Think carefully about what you report back to Lian Haidong. If you dare to reveal anything about the Blood Cloth Guards, your entire family, from the old to the young, will be exterminated!"

"Yes, yes, yes! I’ll keep my mouth shut!" the old man promised repeatedly. He scrambled to his feet and started running. With his meridians shattered and his martial prowess gone, he was now just an ordinary old man. He ran slowly and clumsily, yet he somehow managed to run with a desperate passion.

"Move the car blocking the road," Leng Yue ordered. After getting back into their vehicle, she looked at Qiu Yunxuan and said, "I don’t care what that stone you have is, nor do I have the authority to. But I hope you will tell the Young Master its secret. Only then can he help you eliminate all threats."

Qiu Yunxuan fell silent.

Kong Dongming and Kong Ruoruo looked at her in confusion. Kong Dongming asked, "What stone?"

Qiu Yunxuan hesitated for a moment before pulling up her pant leg. From her sock, she retrieved a blood-red, thumb-sized diamond. "My father left this to me. I’m not sure what it is. One time, when I took it to be appraised, Lian Haidong saw it. From that moment on, the Lian family has been trying to get their hands on it. They’ve used all sorts of methods, but they’ve been very discreet, as if they’re afraid of anyone else finding out."

"What in the world is this thing?" Kong Dongming took it and examined it, but couldn’t make any sense of it.

"Leng Yue, please give this to Ye Xiu," Qiu Yunxuan said, taking the gem back from Kong Dongming and handing it to Leng Yue. "He’s worldly and knowledgeable; perhaps he’ll know what kind of treasure this is."

"Alright." Leng Yue carefully pocketed it, planning to deliver it to Ye Xiu after escorting the Kong family to Jin Ye City.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiu was looking at paintings in an art gallery.

The gallery was named ’Ya Qiu Qing Meng’!

What a pretentious name.

It was just like the gallery’s owner, Shen Shijie, who exuded the air of an artsy poser.

"Sir, you’ve been looking at this painting for half an hour. If you’re truly interested in buying it, we can discuss the price," a middle-aged man said with a smile as he approached.

With his slicked-back hair and powdered face, he was the very image of a modern-day Ximen Qing. He was Shen Shijie, Shen Monong’s father and a refreshing outlier in the Shen Family.

The Shen Family was an oddity. Altogether, the family numbered over a thousand members, young and old. Most of them were the illegitimate children of various mistresses.

The first rule of the Shen Family stated:

Each man could only marry one official wife, but they were encouraged to keep mistresses.

The official wife could only bear a single son, known as the legitimate heir; but mistresses could have as many children as they pleased—the more, the better.

The Shen Family had become the number one family in Qingfeng Road, and indeed the entire Qi Yun Dao, precisely because of their sheer number of children, whom they used to forge marriage alliances with other major families. Through these unions, the Shen Family had bound nearly half of Qi Yun Dao’s powerful families to their warship.

However!

By the time it came to Shen Monong’s father, Shen Shijie’s generation, the family rules had gone awry.

The family patriarch, Shen Songshan, had one legitimate son, Shen Qilin, and more than a dozen illegitimate sons.

After Shen Qilin married his official wife, she gave birth to Shen Shijie. As the legitimate heir, he was her only permitted son; if Shen Qilin wanted more children, he had to have them with mistresses.

As Shen Shijie grew up, Shen Qilin realized his son was far too timid; the boy would get so scared he’d cry at the sound of his own farts. This won’t do. With such a cowardly disposition, he’ll drive the Shen family’s business into a ditch when he takes over. Besides, a legitimate heir this weak would be devoured by his countless illegitimate half-brothers.

And so, after discussing the matter with his father, Shen Songshan, Shen Qilin stripped Shen Shijie, the legitimate heir and de facto crown prince, of his status and had another legitimate son.