Chapter 107: Wang Lianchang's Diverse Passions

After leaving the market, Chu Tianfeng continued to scan the entire city with his spiritual awareness. It wasn't until after nine o'clock at night that he finished the full scan. Naturally, he still came up empty-handed.

With nothing else to do, he headed back to the city center, deciding to pay a little visit to Wang Lianchang—serves him right for crossing Chu Tianfeng and not knowing when to back off.

Both of them lived in Room 306 of the Fortune Hotel in the city center. Chu Tianfeng, still masked with a black scarf and employing invisibility techniques, quietly slipped into the room through the window.

By coincidence, when he entered, Wang Zaitian was taking a shower in the bathroom, while Wang Lianchang lay on the bed playing on his phone. What a loser—he was playing "Link Link," a simple matching game.

Chu Tianfeng cautiously approached the door, quietly removing the room card and slipping it into his ring. Soon, the lights went out, plunging the room into complete darkness.

"Wang Lianchang, what's going on?" Wang Zaitian shouted from the bathroom.

In the dead of winter, the sudden blackout turned the hot water on his head into cold—the shock was indescribable.

"I don't know, I'll go check," Wang Lianchang said, turning on his phone's flashlight and getting up to find his slippers.

Chu Tianfeng couldn't let him get away. He stealthily moved beside Wang Lianchang and, with a swift strike of his right palm, knocked him unconscious. Wang Lianchang didn't even make a sound.

Gently, Chu Tianfeng laid Wang Lianchang on the bed, then moved toward the bathroom.

At that moment, the bathroom door creaked open, and Wang Zaitian stepped out, wrapped in a towel.

"Damn it, a power outage in a four-star hotel!" Wang Zaitian muttered as he headed for the door.

Chu Tianfeng quietly crept up behind him, slowly raising both hands.

Whoosh!

Wang Zaitian never imagined someone would sneak into their room and launch a surprise attack. By the time he sensed something was wrong, it was too late.

Bang!

Wang Zaitian, too, offered no resistance as Chu Tianfeng incapacitated several vital points, causing him to collapse to the floor. Meanwhile, his towel slipped off, revealing his bare body.

"Who are you?" Wang Zaitian managed to speak, as Chu Tianfeng had attacked from behind and hadn't sealed his vocal points.

"Rob... robbery!" Chu Tianfeng deliberately hoarsened his voice.

"Friend, I advise you to let me go," Wang Zaitian said while secretly trying to activate his inner energy to break free.

Chu Tianfeng's spiritual awareness closely monitored him, fully aware of his intentions.

Whoosh!

Again, Chu Tianfeng struck with both hands, sealing all of Wang Zaitian's vital points.

He then kicked him aside, turned on the lights, and began searching for valuables.

After a moment, Chu Tianfeng found three suitcases—two by the bed filled with clothes and luggage, and another hidden in the wardrobe. Upon opening it, he discovered disassembled gun parts and bullets.

"What are you carrying so many guns for?" Curiosity got the better of him, and he released Wang Zaitian's vocal points.

"You're asking for it...!" Wang Zaitian roared.

Though Chu Tianfeng's voice was hoarse, Wang Zaitian was no fool—he knew this was the young man from the jade and stone market earlier that day. Only he would have the motive and capability to take him down.

"Screw you!" Before Wang Zaitian could finish shouting, Chu Tianfeng swiftly struck him unconscious again.

Chu Tianfeng then roused Wang Lianchang, who was still out cold.

"Tell me, where did you get those guns?" Chu Tianfeng demanded, delivering a harsh kick.

"I..." Wang Lianchang seemed about to scream, but Chu Tianfeng acted quickly, using his spiritual power to suppress the true energy that had been implanted in Wang Lianchang earlier.

"Ah—" Wang Lianchang's shout cut off as he was subdued.

"Refuse to talk? Fine, I'll help you!" Chu Tianfeng glanced at the naked Wang Zaitian lying on the floor, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

Wang Lianchang instantly sensed impending doom.

Chu Tianfeng grabbed Wang Lianchang, sealed all his vital points, and stripped him bare. Wang Lianchang suspected Chu Tianfeng might have some perverse intent and mentally prepared himself for the worst.

However, seconds later, he realized he was gravely mistaken.

Fortunately, his prayers still had a use—but now their focus shifted to Wang Zaitian's backside, as Chu Tianfeng positioned him atop Wang Zaitian’s back.

The camera flashes flickered repeatedly as Chu Tianfeng proudly admired his handiwork, laughing while snapping dozens of photos.

After taking dozens of shots, Chu Tianfeng used Wang Lianchang’s phone to upload them online under the title "The Broad Interests of Wang Lianchang."

Whether Wang Lianchang truly had wide-ranging tastes or actually interacted with Wang Zaitian was of no concern to him. His only interest was the spoils.

The two suitcases contained only a few thousand in cash. With no better option, Chu Tianfeng packed up all the guns and ammunition, vanished through the window under the cover of night.

Back at the "Chu Tianfeng Residence," he took out the spirit jade and carefully carved it into many jade pieces the size of bank cards, as well as numerous beads for making bracelets.

These jade pieces were typically fashioned into various functional jade tablets—used for communication, defense, even offense.

Making these jade tablets was relatively simple: after mentally engraving the necessary formation arrays, one infused them with true energy and then refined them slightly.

Bracelet crafting was more complicated—it required drilling holes in the beads, engraving the arrays, infusing true energy, threading them with water lines or ox tendon strings, and then refining the entire piece again to complete the process.

Whether jade tablets or bracelets, their actual effectiveness was somewhat limited. Communication tablets were acceptable, but defense and attack tablets were weaker, as their small size restricted the amount of true energy they could hold, even with formation support.

Moreover, Chu Tianfeng’s current cultivation level was low, so the bracelets or tablets he crafted could barely imitate or defend against attacks from experts at the early innate stage for a short time.

Though he hadn’t set formations in decades, his skills had not deteriorated.

Besides, the formations embedded in these jade tablets or bracelets were of the lowest grade, presenting no challenge for a former high-grade formation master like him.

In a single day, he produced five defensive bracelets and five defensive jade tablets.

Afterward, Chu Tianfeng returned to practicing his fundamental cultivation techniques.

Though winter had arrived, Ruimei’s temperatures remained mild—usually ranging from the teens to the twenties Celsius—barely feeling cold.

——————

In the outskirts of the capital, Wang Family Village.

The village was large, shaped like an irregular oval, longer east to west—about a thousand meters—and narrower north to south, less than five hundred meters.

To the south lay a large pond, once the communal washing spot for all village women. Now, with washing machines in every household, it had become a fish pond, stocked with various species.

Behind the pond was a large square, beyond which stood a sizable hall with two gates—an upper and a lower hall.

The lower hall hosted ordinary guests, with side rooms storing grains and such.

The upper hall served as the clan chief’s meeting place or for receiving VIPs. It also had many side chambers, including several secret rooms in the rear whose contents were known only to the Wang family.

The clan chief was different from the village head. The village head was a middle-aged man in his forties named Wang Zaiyuan.

The clan chief, however, was an elderly man with white hair, also surnamed Wang, named Wang Jianliang.

All the men in Wang Family Village bore the surname Wang—no exceptions.

Wang Jianliang was said to be over 130 years old but still radiated vitality, looking no older than seventy or eighty.

He was reputed to be well-versed in longevity, speaking softly and rarely losing his temper.

But today was different. Today, Wang Jianliang’s usually calm white hair and beard stood on end.

Inside the upper hall sat about a dozen people. Wang Jianliang naturally occupied the seat of honor, facing south with his back to the north.

Four elderly men sat on each side—mostly with white hair.

In the center stood two men, one old and one young—Wang Zaitian and Wang Lianchang.

“Our Wang family has never been so humiliated. I, Wang Jianliang, have never been so humiliated!” Wang Jianliang slammed his knuckles on the nearby tea table with a loud bang.

Wang Zaitian and Wang Lianchang trembled, not daring to utter a word.

“Father, please calm down!” An elder leading the eastern side urged. “This isn’t entirely Zaitian’s fault. He was outmatched and barely survived.”

“Then what do you suggest we do now?” Wang Jianliang, still furious, asked.

The elder pondered briefly. “In my opinion, we first need to find out who this young man is. Only then can we formulate a proper response.”

“Hmph. Worthless! A failure in every regard. We were made fools of, and we didn’t even get a photo of him!” Wang Jianliang said bitterly.

“Zaitian says the young man has a Tianhai accent. We might as well start from Tianhai,” the elder continued. “There’s only one major charitable hall in Tianhai—the Du family. I suggest sending people to surveil them and see if there’s any connection.”

Wang Jianliang’s anger subsided slightly. He turned to the western leader. “Caizhang, what do you think?”

Wang Caizhang, leading the western side, bowed slightly. “For this young man to defeat Zaitian, either his cultivation is higher or his combat ability is stronger. Either way, it shows his skills are unique. Honestly, I’m more interested in his techniques.”

“That may be,” the eastern elder waved his hand, “but if we don’t uncover his origins and whereabouts, how can we obtain his techniques?”

“I don’t believe such a genius exists in Huaxia,” Wang Caizhang said, eyes scanning the room before settling on Wang Jianliang. “In my view, most likely something has gone wrong at that border.”

The others showed frightened expressions at this.

Wang Jianliang considered for a moment, then shook his head. “Unlikely. This year, the Long family is on duty. If there were problems, they would have made a fuss.”

“Hmm.” The eastern elder thought for a moment. “I believe the most likely scenario is that this kid got lucky and found some technique that leaked from that area.”

This explanation was easier to accept, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Wang Jianliang rose and paced slowly in the hall.

After a moment, he stopped and looked toward the eastern elder. “Long family’s line can’t be neglected either. Caizhang, arrange two teams—one to Tianhai’s charitable hall, another to the Long family in Xiang province.”

Turning around, he saw Wang Zaitian and Wang Lianchang still dumbly standing in the center and his anger flared again.

“What are you standing here for? Go to Ruimei and investigate! Get moving!”