Chapter 7: One Strike to Subdue the Enemy

"The Tang Clan has always been a clan of our word — if we said we'd fight, we'll fight. But let's get one thing straight beforehand: fists and feet have no eyes. If anyone gets hurt, no one can blame the other." Tang Yan pushed Little Cui aside, rolled up his sleeves, and looked every bit like someone itching for a fight.

Liu Yuan nearly burst out laughing. This idiot was truly a one-track mind, blurting out exactly what he was thinking.

"First Young Master Tang is certainly straightforward. Then let's begin! Everyone here, bear witness for me, Liu Yuan — it was First Young Master Tang himself who said fists and feet have no eyes."

The exchange between the two had long since drawn the attention of the people around them.

However, neither the Liu Clan nor the Tang Clan were easy to provoke, so naturally no one dared step forward as a witness. Still, they all privately settled in with the mindset of watching a good show, waiting for Tang Yan to kowtow to Liu Yuan.

"First Young Master Tang, shall we begin?" Liu Yuan asked.

"Of course. Then let's start. But let me give you a word of warning first — see this folding fan in my hand? It's no ordinary fan. It's a remarkable Magical Artifact. Its eighteen ribs can transform into eighteen sharp arrows, capable of piercing iron and breaking gold without the slightest effort."

At those words, Liu Yuan's expression shifted. No wonder this fellow dared to challenge him — he had a Magical Artifact to rely on. Magical Artifacts were not common things; they were typically worth a fortune and hard to come by. Though Liu Yuan himself had none, Tang Yan was the sole direct heir of the Tang Clan, and Old Master Tang would surely have gone to great lengths to find him some means of self-preservation.

Liu Yuan was just about to declare that Magical Artifacts were forbidden in the match, when he heard Tang Yan shout: "Behold the Treasure Fan!"

With that, Tang Yan flung the folding fan upward into the air. There was a whoosh, and the fan snapped open in midair.

At the First Young Master's words, everyone around simultaneously looked up at the sky — even Liu Yuan's two bodyguards were staring at the open fan with keen interest.

A Magical Artifact — that was a rare thing in Yun City, something many children of great families had never had the chance to see.

Liu Yuan's heart clenched sharply. His eyes were locked on the fan floating in the air. He had carelessly come without a weapon, and in that moment he felt a surge of frantic anxiety and fury.

Tang Yan's lips curved into a faint smile. He lunged forward, raised his leg, and drove a kick straight into Liu Yuan's abdomen.

The kick was fast, vicious, and precise — landing squarely on Liu Yuan's lower abdomen. Poor Liu Yuan had been gathering True Qi in his cultivation core, bracing himself for the power of the "Treasure Fan," when a tremendous force suddenly slammed into his belly. He was sent flying and crashed heavily to the ground.

Everyone was stunned. What the fuck was going on? Where was the Magical Artifact they'd been promised? How had Liu Yuan just been sent flying?

In his previous life, Tang Yan had been a ninth-grade Alchemist. He had endured countless hardships throughout his life, and his unyielding nature had forged him through countless battles, leaving him rich in experience. He never gave an enemy a chance to catch their breath. The instant he kicked Liu Yuan away, Tang Yan charged forward again, straddled Liu Yuan, and rained punch after punch down on his head — thud, thud, thud.

Liu Yuan had already been dazed by the kick and the fall. With fists hammering down on his head like a rainstorm, both of Liu Yuan's eyes swelled into a pair of black rings in no time at all.

He tried to gather a breath of True Qi, but his lower abdomen was in agony — the slightest movement felt like countless needles stabbing into it, and Liu Yuan broke out in a cold sweat from the pain.

Meanwhile, the relentless pain from his head kept reminding him that he was getting beaten. The thought that he — Liu Yuan — was being pummeled by a good-for-nothing whose cultivation core had been shattered made him want to weep.

When he returned home this time, not only would there be no reward — his father, his patriarch, and everyone else would likely give him a severe tongue-lashing. His hot-tempered father had probably already prepared the whip.

Under the combined torment of shame, rage, fear, and pain, Liu Yuan's vision finally went black, and he was beaten unconscious by Tang Yan.

When the fan clattered to the ground without so much as a flicker of reaction, and Tang Yan sent Liu Yuan flying with a single kick, the onlookers gradually came to their senses — this bastard had never had any Magical Artifact at all. It was a Fucking Hell sneak attack!

"Ha! Third Young Master Liu, you fell asleep!" Seeing Liu Yuan lying unconscious, Tang Yan chuckled and patted him down, actually turning up a two-thousand-tael banknote and some loose silver.

The onlookers' mouths twitched at Tang Yan's words. You're the one who knocked him out, you know? But more of them simply looked at the unconscious Liu Yuan with pity.

To be floored in a single move by Tang Yan — that scoundrel who had never studied a day in his life — and beaten without any chance to fight back: this battle had utterly ruined Liu Yuan's reputation. The Liu Clan's face had surely taken a serious hit.

"Wow, Young Master, you won!" At this moment, only Little Cui believed her young master had won in a fair, brilliant, and spectacular fashion.

"But of course. Your young master is quite impressive, hahaha…" Picking up the folding fan from the ground, the First Young Master Tang elegantly fanned himself a couple of times and sauntered off into the distance with a carefree swagger.

Liu Yuan's two guards finally snapped to their senses, hastily lifted Liu Yuan, and rushed off toward the Liu Clan estate at full speed…

The crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed, but the battle that had just taken place would surely become the talk of Yun City over tea and meals for days to come.

* * *

Tang Yan, with Little Cui in tow, strolled boldly down the street, his mind turning over what to do with the two thousand taels he had just won — whether to buy a low-quality pill cauldron or put it to some other use.

After about fifteen minutes, Tang Yan's gaze swept ahead and spotted a street lined with medicinal herb stalls not far in front of him.

A flash of inspiration struck him. He pulled out a thousand-tael banknote from his chest and handed it to Little Cui. "Take this money, go to the Hundred Herbs Hall up ahead, and buy 150 grams of Thousand-Flavor Grass, 50 grams of Green Sandalwood, 25 grams of Dried Peony Flowers, 100 grams of Rice Tree Pith…"

He rattled off more than ten types of medicinal herbs before stopping. Fortunately, Little Cui had an excellent memory; she committed everything to heart and headed toward the shop with the banknote.

Watching Little Cui enter the shop, Tang Yan immediately slipped into a different nearby herb store.

"Shopkeeper, give me 100 grams of Crystal Sand, 15 grams of Pearl Powder, 45 grams of Celestial Star Grass, 25 grams of Butterfly Flower…" Young Master Tang strode into the shop and called out his order in a loud voice.

At Tang Yan's call, the shopkeeper immediately broke into a wide smile. Though the quantities Tang Yan wanted were not large, with over twenty different herbs adding up, it was still a decent sum. Once everything was weighed, the shopkeeper clacked away on his abacus and tallied it all up — Tang Yan was left with just over three hundred taels on him.

He had the shopkeeper wrap up the herbs, then returned to the spot where he had been before. After a short while, Little Cui finally emerged from the herb shop.

"I've kept Young Master waiting." Little Cui looked at Tang Yan with eyes full of guilt.

"It's fine, let's go." Tang Yan smiled. He knew his maidservant well — this girl was extremely meticulous in everything she did. The fact that she had taken so long probably meant she had been carefully verifying the weight of each herb inside the shop to make sure nothing was off.

"Young Master, where are we going?" Seeing that the young master wasn't scolding her, Little Cui couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Miaodan Pavilion!"

"Miaodan Pavilion? Young Master, you… what are you going there for?" Little Cui immediately grew anxious. Surely the young master wasn't planning to cause trouble at Miaodan Pavilion?

"I'm buying herbs to take to Miaodan Pavilion — naturally, to refine pills." Tang Yan said with a calm smile.

At his words, Little Cui quietly let out a breath of relief. Following behind the young master, she stole a glance at his silhouette from behind. His walk still had that same carefree, devil-may-care air — yet having served Tang Yan for so many years, she couldn't shake the feeling that the young master was somehow slightly different from before.

Take today's herb-buying, for instance. In the past, if she had held things up even a little, the young master would have scolded her at least a few times. Nothing like the easygoing manner he had shown today.

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Edited by Fat Goose