togophonebook Chapter 13: Grudges and Love
Chapter 13: Grudges and Love
"You want the entire martial arts world?" Upon hearing this, the martial arts figures who came to pay their respects in the mourning hall exchanged glances, sensing something was amiss.
Tang Yifan's gaze sharpened, and he said, "This guy still wants to deal with us!"
Qin Zhixue had a cold and aloof expression, her right hand gripping the hilt of the sword at her waist.
Tang Xiao, Qin Jianhe, and the others all looked wary.
"Fourth Uncle, do you really think you can unify the martial arts world just by virtue of your Grandmaster strength?" Yang Jiuli said calmly to Yang Lin.
"That's right. Although Grandmasters are strong, they are not invincible. There are quite a few half-step Grandmasters in the arena!" Tang Yifan said.
The Grandmaster is very strong.
It can release true qi outwards, injuring enemies ten feet away.
However, if four or five half-step Grandmasters join forces, they might still be able to restrain a Grandmaster.
Moreover, Snowdrift Manor has many renowned archers and crossbowmen assisting them.
Tang Xiao's eyes flashed with a fierce light, his hand gripping the curved knife at his waist, ready to strike at any moment.
Qin Jianhe, standing beside him, also held a white jade sword, ready to make a move.
"Haha, fighting and killing, that's a game only young punks play!" Yang Lin laughed. "Do you really think I don't have any other tricks up my sleeve?" He glanced at Tang Yifan indifferently, then his gaze shifted to Yang Jiuli behind the coffin.
"He still has other methods?" At this moment, everyone in the mourning hall held their breath and looked at Yang Lin.
"My dear nephew, haven't you noticed your muscles starting to ache and your body feeling weak?" Yang Lin said with a smile.
"Muscle soreness? Feeling weak?" Upon hearing this, Yang Mu was initially wary.
"Oh no... It's poisonous!" Yang Jiuli seemed to feel a sudden weakness, and his body staggered a step.
Yang Mu quickly helped Yang Jiuli up.
"What! Poison?" Upon seeing this, everyone in the mourning hall was on edge and hurriedly circulated their qi to sense the danger.
"Oh no... I've been poisoned!"
"I've been poisoned too!"
As soon as Fang Yi circulated his qi, many martial arts practitioners in the main hall felt a wave of weakness, and their consciousness began to gradually become hazy.
"When...when did you poison me?" Yang Mu frowned and gritted his teeth as he looked at Yang Lin.
Although Yang Lin used the Poisonous Palm.
However, when the poisonous aura from the palm spread out, everyone held their breath, but it was not enough to poison everyone in the hall.
Even though Yang Mu had been eroded by the evil energy before, he only felt slightly uncomfortable.
Everyone in the hall was feeling weak, which made Yang Mu panic.
"It's that incense... there's something wrong with the incense!" Tang Yifan's eyes flickered as he locked onto the coffin in front of him.
Although the incense burner there was destroyed, a few sticks of incense were still burning slowly.
"Not bad!" Yang Lin said with considerable pride, "This sandalwood incense is mixed with the demonic poison of the Xuanming Nether Python from the Northern Barbarian Mountains. Once inhaled, it will make one's muscles and bones go weak within an hour, and one's blood and energy will be completely depleted within two hours. Even a grandmaster will suffer a great loss of vitality and lose half his life after just one breath. Haha, today all of you are sitting ducks!"
"Haha!" Yang Lin laughed maniacally, turned his head, and glanced at the martial arts figures of various clans in the mourning hall.
The hall is a gathering place for representatives from all corners of the martial arts world.
Once you win over these people, it's like winning over most of the martial arts world.
That's why Yang Lin hadn't made a move against Yang Jiuli and the others until today.
"What! These incense sticks are made from the poison of the Xuanming Nether Python!" The people in the hall were shocked.
"The Mysterious Nether Python!" Qin Zhixue's expression changed as well.
Tang Yifan looked at Tang Xiao.
The two immediately took out the pills and fed them to the child.
"Although your Tang Family Fortress is known for its poisons, I'm afraid you can't cure the poison of this Xuanming Nether Python, can you?" Yang Lin looked at Tang Yifan.
He grinned menacingly.
"It's over, we've really messed up this time!" Tang Yifan's face was extremely grim.
Qin Zhixue took the antidote and her expression turned serious.
"Master Yang, no, Alliance Leader Yang, my Chen family is willing to pledge allegiance to you. Please grant us the antidote!" a middle-aged man knelt down and said.
"Alliance Leader Yang, I've only come by to ask for a drink, please grant me the antidote!" another young man knelt down and said.
"My Ling family is willing to follow Alliance Leader Yang to the death, please grant us the antidote!" Another person knelt down.
The others exchanged glances, their faces turning extremely grim as if they had swallowed a rat.
"Haha, good, good! As long as you are willing to submit to our sect, you can obtain the antidote!" Yang Lin said with a loud laugh.
He was as pleased with himself as an emperor signaling his subjects to rise.
"Yang Lin, my father treated you well, why did you kill him! Was it just to unify the martial arts world?" Yang Jiuli said.
Yang Mu glared angrily at Yang Lin.
Yang Lin turned to look at Yang Jiuli, his eyes filled with malice, and said, "Have you treated me well?"
Seeing Yang Lin's ferocious gaze, the guests in the room all showed surprise.
"My father's real name is Lin Zongliang. He was the commander of the secret guards of Piaoxue Manor...a half-step Grandmaster..." Yang Lin said.
"He is exceptionally talented and has the makings of a grandmaster..." Yang Lin's eyes were filled with reverence when he mentioned Lin's father.
"So Yang Lin isn't of the Yang family bloodline?" Upon hearing this, many guests looked surprised.
"Forty-two years ago, Grandmaster Yang Xiangru, knowing that his lifespan was nearing its end, led his people to the 'Black Abyss' in an attempt to obtain an ancient opportunity and extend his lifespan... However, in the 'Black Abyss', they were attacked by demons. Yang Xiangru was entangled and, in order to protect his son Yang Mo, my father died... My father, who had the potential to be a Grandmaster, died just like that... My mother and I... our world collapsed."
Yang Lin continued.
He looked nostalgic, his eyes misty with tears.
My father from my childhood is like a hero, etched in my heart, and I can never forget him.
The audience didn't react much.
From the perspective of those in the martial arts world, it is one's duty as a bodyguard to die in battle to protect one's lord.
Without the resources of Snowdrift Manor, Lin Zongliang might not have been able to reach the half-step Grandmaster realm.
"I was only ten years old then..." Yang Lin continued.
"Later, Master Yang Mo found me and said he wanted to adopt me as his godson. He said I had everything his children had..."
"That day, the master was like the winter sun, warming my heart... I was filled with hope for the future..."
"Then why did you betray Snowdrift Manor?" Tang Yifan said.
Others were also puzzled.
"Hmph, all that talk about treating me like a son is a lie, a lie!" Yang Lin roared hysterically.
He glared at Tang Yifan like an enraged lion, his murderous intent palpable, as if a blade were about to slice into flesh.
Tang Yifan shuddered, his heart filled with horror.
Tang Xiao said, "Young Master, please don't say anything more!"
Tang Yifan also felt a wave of fear, and repeatedly said, "Yes, yes!"
He glanced at Yang Lin secretly.
At this moment, Yang Lin had already withdrawn his gaze. He squinted his eyes, seemingly lost in reminiscence.
"The old master usually teaches me martial arts... but he only taught me the first volume of the Snowdrift Manor's secret manual, the Heavenly Fiend Body Refining Technique. Every time I asked when he would teach me the next volume, he said the time was not right. What time is not right? Isn't he just afraid that I will master the Heavenly Fiend Body and turn the tables on me?"
"When I was eighteen, I fell in love with a girl... I confessed my feelings to her with great anticipation..."
When the woman was mentioned, Yang Lin first showed a gentle expression, but then his gaze gradually turned ferocious and manic.
"But she said I was a toad lusting after a swan, an adopted son who dared to dream of being the young master, unaware that it was the master who deliberately won people's hearts by taking me in as his adopted son... I'm nothing but a dog of Piaoxue Manor, what right do I have to marry her..."
"Haha...dog! The woman I like actually called me a dog, just because I'm not of the Yang family bloodline!"
Yang Lin said, gesturing wildly.
As he finished speaking, his gaze turned sinister.
"After the third brother found out I was pursuing that woman, he also warned me to recognize my place!"
"It was only then that I realized..."
"It was all a lie... I was just a pawn in that old bastard Yang Mo's game of winning people over!"
"Haha..." Yang Lin seemed to be going crazy.
Upon hearing this, Yang Jiuli frowned, and a past event from Piaoxue Manor gradually became clear in his mind.
"Even if the third brother made a mistake... it's not a reason for you to betray Snowdrift Manor!" Yang Mu said. "There's a reason why Father didn't give you the complete 'Heavenly Fiend Body Refining Technique'!" He felt a pang of sorrow, not expecting his fourth brother to harbor such deep resentment.
The Heavenly Fiend Body Refining Technique requires gradual and progressive cultivation.
Volume 1: In the initial stage, one needs to refine oneself using ordinary medicinal stones.
In the later stages, the use of potent medicines to penetrate the muscles and bones can harm the body.
At that time, Yang Lin had not yet mastered the early stages of the first volume, so Yang Mo naturally did not pass on the middle and later stages of the technique to him.
In addition, Yang Mo had been observing Yang Lin's character.
Yang Lin ignored Yang Mu's words, already lost in his memories.
He seemed to be under a spell, continuing to talk to himself.
"In the end, the woman I loved married the third brother... It's okay! What I can't have, I'll destroy!"
These secrets had been buried in his heart for far too long, and he had long wanted to tell them.
Now that he finally had a chance, Yang Lin couldn't wait to spill everything out.
Upon hearing Yang Lin say that he had ruined him, Yang Mu's eyelids twitched, as if he had thought of something.
"Haha, six months later, I found an opportunity to concoct a 'bee-attracting' medicine and secretly put it on Lao San's sachet... That day, Lao San and I went hunting... As I expected, it attracted a swarm of poisonous bees, which stung Lao San to death..."
"After the third brother died, I used a torch to drive away the poisonous bees, secretly replaced his sachet, and burned it to cover up the evidence."
"Then I lured two giant wolves and deliberately let them bite my bones, so that people would think I was injured while saving the third brother."
"Sure enough... Afterwards, when Yang Mo saw that my right kneecap was bitten and I was seriously injured, he did not suspect me."
"We thought we were attacked by poisonous bees and giant wolves," Yang Lin said with a sinister grin.
He looked at Yang Mu and said, "Did I do a flawless job? Haha..."
"You killed the third brother!" Yang Mu was furious upon hearing this. He strode forward, as if to pounce.
But he was weak and powerless.
One of the Shadow Guards immediately grabbed Yang Mu.
"Haha, besides that, I was the one who revealed the whereabouts of the master's wife when she was attacked!" Yang Lin said with a smile.
Twenty-four years ago, the manor lord's wife returned from her parents' home to prepare for childbirth, but was attacked.
The manor lord's wife was struck by a palm strike and injured by the hidden force.
Fortunately, the Shadow Guards of Snowdrift Manor killed the attackers in time.
It seems that due to the hidden force of that palm strike, Yang Jiuli's physique was weaker than that of ordinary people when he was young.
But he never expected that it would damage his spiritual root.
"You're the one who killed my mother!" Upon hearing this, Yang Jiuli gritted his teeth, his gaze sharp as a blade, and stared at Yang Lin in an icy tone.
A murderous intent emanated from him.
Yang Jiuli had asked so many questions because he felt his third uncle's death was suspicious after investigating the case files a few days ago. He deliberately lured Yang Lin to find out the truth. But Yang Lin revealed such a shocking piece of news.