"Brother Ling, those words aren't quite right. Your four brothers came to exterminate my Chen family; my family was merely acting in self-defense!"
Chen Changsheng put down his teacup, stood up, and spoke unhurriedly.
"Heh. I'm not here to reason with you; I'm here for revenge!"
"If you want to blame someone, blame your Chen family for being too weak yet showing off too much, catching the Liu Family's eye. In this world, fists speak louder than reason!"
Black Tiger Ling chuckled coldly, then slowly drew his long saber. With his Bone Tempering Realm strength, the Chen family was nothing but chickens and dogs before him, so he was willing to chatter with Chen Changsheng for a bit.
"...You're right. In the end, one must speak with strength!"
Chen Changsheng fell silent for a moment, then chuckled and muttered to himself. He then made a gesture behind him and whispered a command.
"Howling Heaven, go!"
As the words fell, a bolt of white lightning charged forward, and a cold light flashed!
Black Tiger Ling's hair stood on end instantly. Combat experience forged from countless life-and-death struggles made him instinctively raise his saber to block!
"Clang!"
The sound of clashing metal rang out. Black Tiger Ling's long saber snapped into two, and the white lightning came to a halt.
What a massive, ferocious white hound!
"A Spirit Monster? Your Chen family actually keeps a Spirit Monster!"
Black Tiger Ling, who had thought everything was under his control, cried out in shock. At that moment, his heart turned completely cold!
Spirit Monsters were beings that only those in the Innate Realm could fight!
Who did he, Black Tiger Ling, think he was? A mere Bone Tempering Realm Martial Artist, yet he had provoked a Spirit Monster into action!
"Head of the Chen Family, you are truly too low-key. I am willing to surrender and guard the Chen family's courtyard. I wonder if you could spare my life?"
A forced, ugly smile appeared on Black Tiger Ling's Face as he pleaded in a low voice.
"Heh..."
Chen Changsheng sneered. As expected of an old hand in the Jianghu, he didn't care about Face at all. To save his life, he was exceptionally quick to back down.
Chen Changsheng indeed hesitated about whether to take in Black Tiger Ling. With him as an enforcer, the Chen family's development would undoubtedly accelerate!
But after just a moment's hesitation, he abandoned the idea. Howling Heaven's existence was a secret that must never be known by outsiders; otherwise, it might attract trouble from the Innate Realm!
"Since you've forced me to reveal my trump card, how can I just let it go?"
Chen Changsheng spoke in a cold tone, then gave an order to Howling Heaven. Howling Heaven immediately turned into a bolt of lightning and pounced!
This time, there was no long saber to help Black Tiger Ling block. Howling Heaven's sharp claws easily tore through his throat!
In his final moment, Black Tiger Ling surprisingly felt little hatred toward Chen Changsheng!
Instead, he only felt sympathy for the Liu Family. The Liu Family thought Chen Changsheng was just a dish on a chopping board, but the moment the disguise was lifted, they would realize what kind of ferocious existence they had encountered!
He believed many more would meet the same fate as him, deceived by the Chen family's surface-level weakness, only to walk into a trap and die at their hands!
Thinking of this, Black Tiger Ling felt his death wasn't in vain and slowly closed his eyes.
With Black Tiger Ling dead, Chen Changsheng relaxed completely. He believed the Liu Family would have no way to hire another Bone Refining Realm expert.
Next, it was time to deal with the refugee problem!
Killing all these refugees certainly wouldn't do; it was better to drive them away!
Chen Changsheng had Howling Heaven secretly protect his wife and Chuanjie, then headed toward the medicinal fields!
By the time Chen Changsheng reached the medicinal fields, many refugees were already lying on the ground, clutching their arms and legs while wailing, but fortunately, no lives had been lost yet.
"Brother Wang, just drive them away. Don't cause unnecessary bloodshed!"
Seeing the young men led by Wang Yong charging like tigers into a flock of sheep, beating the refugees so badly they couldn't even look up, Chen Changsheng hurriedly advised.
"Haha, this fight was satisfying!"
Wang Yong sent an unfortunate refugee flying with a punch. With his strength, he was like a god of war among the refugees, striking them down like mowing grass.
"Disciples, drive these refugees away for me!"
As soon as Wang Yong spoke, the young men who had formed a surrounding formation opened a gap and drove the refugees down the mountain like herding sheep!
Seeing a chance to escape, the refugees fled in a massive wave!
Fifteen minutes later, only Chen Changsheng's people and over twenty injured refugees lying on the ground remained on the mountain!
"Remember, you can come to Longwei County and Kaoshan Village to make a living, but you cannot cause trouble. Now leave! If there's a next time, I'll hand you over to the Local Government!"
Chen Changsheng laid down the rules to the twenty-odd injured people and let them support each other as they left.
He believed that after this lesson, no more refugees would target the Chen family.
"Father, I've caught the leader who incited the refugees. This guy is a Second Tempering Martial Artist and quite unruly!"
Just then, Chuanwen walked over escorting an old man, who was precisely the Martial Artist Zeng Li who had incited the refugees.
Zeng Li was old; although he was also in the Flesh Refining Realm, he was no match for Chuanwen.
Chuanwen had been looking for the refugees' leader from the start and captured him once he was found. Zeng Li had tried to flee, but Chuanwen pursued him too closely for him to succeed.
"Head of the Chen Family, spare me! I can tell you who the mastermind behind the refugees raiding your medicinal fields is!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Yong and the others looked toward Zeng Li. They had thought the refugees were just causing chaos and hadn't expected someone to be plotting behind the scenes.
"Chuanwen, kill him and find a place on the mountain to bury him!"
Chen Changsheng didn't give Zeng Li another chance to speak at all.
If he exposed the Liu Family's actions in public, it would be an open declaration of enmity, forcing the Liu Family into a bloody confrontation with him.
Even if the Chen family ultimately won, they didn't have a Bone Tempering Realm expert on the surface, so he would surely have to expose Howling Heaven—something Chen Changsheng was unwilling to do.
Otherwise, Chen Changsheng would have wiped out the Liu Family long ago instead of letting them run rampant.
However, the moment the Liu Family would be exterminated was not far off. As soon as someone in the Chen family broke through to the Bone Tempering Realm, the Chen family would have the overt strength to destroy the Liu Family.
Chen Changsheng would then kill the Liu Family members without a second thought!
"Head of the Chen Family... listen to me... I know... many things..."
Zeng Li hadn't expected Chen Changsheng to be uninterested in the mastermind and to order his death directly, so he hurriedly pleaded for mercy.
But before he could say more than a few words, Chuanwen stabbed him to death. Chuanwen was clever; he knew Chen Changsheng didn't want Zeng Li to speak.
"Brother Wang, the matter is settled. Thank you all for your help. Take everyone to rest; I'll treat everyone to a good meal tomorrow!"
Seeing that everything was resolved, Chen Changsheng returned to the Courtyard House with Wang Yong and the others, chatting and laughing.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the Liu Family's residence was extremely oppressive.
Liu Jinshan frowned deeply as he listened to the reports from his subordinates, his expression extremely grim.
"Chen Changsheng led Wang Yong and the others to repel the refugees, and not a single person from the Chen family died?"
A fierce glint flickered in Liu Jinshan's eyes. His backup plan, Black Tiger Ling, had actually failed?
Did Black Tiger Ling not go, or did he fail and lose his life at the Chen family's home!
"Just who is helping this Chen Changsheng?"
"Who exactly is the Chen family's hidden foundation? Just how strong are they!"
Liu Jinshan muttered to himself with hollow eyes. He hadn't expected a mere Chen family to be so difficult to deal with; they must have a secret!