Chapter 206: Duke Dingguo, Whose Home Was Stolen
Rumors among martial artists had always been a mixture of truth and falsehood.
Those who wished to hide their strength and bide their time would deliberately show weakness in order to avoid their enemies.
Those who intended to display their might and suppress a region would boast about themselves to win through sheer momentum.
Cheng Yu, a Jinyiwei who acted tyrannically wherever he took office, clearly suited the latter.
When rumors repeatedly spread through the Jianghu that Cheng Yu had defeated opponents at the eighth rank, ninth rank, and even Grandmaster level, many people subconsciously questioned them.
How was that possible?
Who was he trying to scare?
Looking back several hundred years, even Daoist Taiyi, the strongest expert who had dominated an era, could not have achieved such feats at the age of twenty.
What right did an obscure Imperial Hound have?
It was definitely nothing more than the Jinyiwei bluffing and boasting wildly.
After the rumors traveled ten thousand li to the Great Qian Capital, martial artists like Yang Ting, who thought highly of themselves, were even less likely to believe that a mere junior possessed such strength. Naturally, they would not take too many precautions.
Only when that Xiuchun Saber, stained by the deaths of countless people, pierced through his chest did fact prove stronger than argument.
Only then did Yang Ting realize that everything was true!
For Cheng Yu to deal with a late seventh-rank martial artist like him was as easy as chopping melons and vegetables.
The other household retainers in Duke Dingguo’s Estate had originally mustered their courage under Retainer Expert Yang’s leadership, preparing to fight to the death until Ning Dingyuan returned.
But in the blink of an eye, they discovered that Yang Ting’s late seventh-rank strength was nothing at all before Cheng Yu, let alone worthless trash like them.
One by one, they were so frightened that their legs trembled. The weapons in their hands fell to the ground on their own, and they completely lost the courage to resist.
The Jinyiwei quickly surrounded them and cut them all down, carefully finishing them off without leaving the slightest future trouble.
Blood spilled from Yang Ting’s mouth, and his eyes widened as he watched the people of Duke Dingguo’s Estate being slaughtered in despair. They had no chance to resist at all.
In the Great Qian Capital, the people of Duke Dingguo’s Estate had always been the ones acting arrogantly and oppressing others. He had never imagined that such a day would come for them as well.
Cheng Yu and the Jinyiwei.
So ruthless!
In his despair, Yang Ting also discovered in confusion that Cheng Yu could clearly kill him at any moment, yet had not continued to act.
“Why are you not killing me?”
Cheng Yu smiled faintly and looked toward the distance. “Someone has returned. I am waiting for him to see you one last time.”
At the same time, an extremely powerful aura erupted wildly in the distance, streaking across the Great Qian Capital as it rushed over from the direction of the imperial palace.
Duke Dingguo, Ning Dingyuan, had returned!
“Cen’er! Retainer Expert Yang!”
Ning Dingyuan had rushed back from the imperial palace at his fastest speed, but he was still one step too late. All he saw were corpses lying in disorder.
The unconscious Ning Cen was being controlled by the Jinyiwei. The chief retainer expert who had saved his life and whom he trusted most was on the verge of death before Cheng Yu.
He had confronted Cheng Yu once before in the Imperial Prison.
He had a basic understanding of Cheng Yu’s strength, so rather than shock, what rose in him was extreme fury.
“Cheng Yu, you have such audacity that you even dare touch Duke Dingguo’s Estate! Today, I will make sure you die without a burial place!”
Ning Dingyuan roared and struck out with a palm carrying terrifying internal energy.
Behind him, a massive, berserk giant bear phantom formed from internal energy appeared. It roared, spilling a bloody stench everywhere, and suddenly pounced toward Cheng Yu.
“Duke Dingguo, there is no need to be so impatient.”
Facing the fierce incoming attack, Cheng Yu was not anxious in the slightest. He revealed a mysterious smile.
He used his Xiuchun Saber to lift Yang Ting. “Guess where this retainer expert came out from when I killed my way here?”
Yang Ting was in so much pain that he wanted to struggle madly, but he was suppressed by the power of the Dragon-Dethroning Xiuchun Saber and could not move at all.
He had just been about to scream and beg for help when his expression changed drastically upon hearing Cheng Yu’s words.
He had been discovered!
Ning Dingyuan’s attack did not stop at all. In his heart, he was certain that Cheng Yu was using another vicious scheme.
“No matter what you say, it is useless! Cheng Yu, you brat, you will undoubtedly die today!”
Cheng Yu did not mind when he saw this.
He struck a palm toward Ning Dingyuan’s residence, and his internal energy easily pushed down the wall, revealing the scene inside.
A woman who was anxiously putting on her clothes was startled. When she saw the scene outside the wall, she turned pale with shock.
“My lord, you...?!”
Cheng Yu smiled and said, “Madam is truly a heroine among women. Even at a time like this, you are still calmly changing your clothes. Presumably, you were discussing a Hard-Body Technique with the retainer expert just now?”
A Hard-Body Technique.
When cultivating it, one had to remove one’s clothes and observe the results of the body’s tempering. Obviously, that was not what Cheng Yu was talking about.
Ning Dingyuan, who had been charging over in a frenzy, suddenly stiffened. His entire body seemed to have been struck by lightning, and the momentum and killing intent he had gathered shattered on the spot.
Countless doubts buried deep in his heart, doubts he had never been willing to ask about, surfaced one after another.
His face instantly turned pale. With red eyes, he grabbed a fleeing servant.
“Where did Yang Ting come out from just now?”
“Your room, my lord...”
Rip!
The servant did not even have time to scream before he was instantly torn into chunks of flesh by that tremendous force.
“You two wretches! What were you doing behind my back?”
Ning Dingyuan roared miserably, and an incomparably powerful pressure swept out wildly. The weaker people present were crushed to their knees.
His wife also knelt on the ground and did not dare say anything. Instead, Yang Ting, a man on the verge of death, hurriedly began explaining.
“Duke, do not listen to this fiend’s nonsense. Everything is a misunderstanding. I was discussing the young master’s condition with Madam...”
Before Yang Ting could finish explaining, Cheng Yu’s eerie voice sounded.
“He is about to die, yet I did not expect that you, a retainer expert, would still be quite loyal...”
Yang Ting proudly raised his head, wearing the appearance of someone ready to sacrifice himself for righteousness. Loyalty and other personal interests did not conflict!
But in the next second, a cold voice transmission sounded beside his ear.
“Then did you know that Ning Dingyuan colluded with Prince Chu, and that he would eventually fall out with His Majesty? If someone was kept in the dark, that means he was meant to become an abandoned pawn.”
Colluded with Prince Chu?!
When Yang Ting heard this crime, one that could make even the benevolent Xiao Wuji fly into a rage and exterminate an entire clan, his whole body trembled.
He also thought back to all the strange clues he had once discovered and finally arrived at a despairing answer.
Ning Dingyuan, whose life he had saved, had secretly rebelled behind his back and was simply waiting to watch him die when the time came!
“You beast!”
Two voices rang out in unison.
Ning Dingyuan did not believe Yang Ting’s explanation at all. Why would they need to discuss Ning Cen’s condition inside his room, and with their clothes in disarray no less? As expected, they were a pair of adulterers!
“Yang Ting, after I treated you with such courtesy, you actually dared to do this!”
As a retainer expert, he had actually served all the way into Ning Dingyuan’s wife’s bed!
Yang Ting was also enraged that Ning Dingyuan had long planned to sell him out. He was not a good person, but the other party’s ingratitude was even more beastly!
“You are also a beast! No wonder your wife was stolen behind your back—”
Before he could finish speaking, terrifying saber light spilled from the Dragon-Dethroning Xiuchun Saber in Cheng Yu’s hand and instantly cut Yang Ting to pieces.
That was enough talking.
The timing was ripe!
A faint light lit up at Cheng Yu’s wrist, and a massive, indistinct chessboard rose up and enveloped Duke Dingguo’s Estate.
The Heaven-and-Earth Chessboard!
“Ah!!!”
Ning Dingyuan heard Yang Ting stop pretending entirely and speak outright, and he was so enraged that he failed to notice his surroundings for a moment.
Not only had Cheng Yu led men to raid his home, but he had also exposed the person who had been secretly stealing his home long ago.
His vital blood churned throughout his entire body, and his face swelled red for a long while without easing.
The adulterer Yang Ting was already dead, so Ning Dingyuan could only fix his blood-red eyes on Cheng Yu and make this hateful Jinyiwei receive all of his fury.
“Cheng Yu! You die first!”