Chapter 24 The Pang Family's Investment

Countless gazes were fixed on the figure slowly descending from the sky, holding a blood-dripping heavy hammer, filled with fanaticism, adoration, and an unprecedented sense of security!

This newly arrived Minister Zhang had established unrivaled authority in everyone's hearts using the most brutal and direct method possible!

At this moment, Wang Zheng, Li Kui, and Zhao Yun were ghastly pale.

They finally understood what a foolish mistake they had made!

The "parachuted-in minister" they thought they could manipulate was simply a prehistoric beast wearing a human skin!

Its terror far exceeded that of the three beasts in the sky!

Zhang Fan landed steadily, holding the mystic heavy mountain-collapsing hammer, from which sticky beast blood was still slowly dripping.

He turned around, his cold gaze locked onto the stupefied Wang Zheng, Li Kui, and Zhao Yun, as if looking at three corpses.

A cold, temperatureless smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"Now," his voice clearly entered their ears, "it is your turn."

The three of them trembled violently, cold sweat instantly drenching their backs.

Zhang Fan walked toward the three, carrying the bloodied hammer.

He was actually going to kill them directly.

The three retreated repeatedly, feeling the tangible, genuine killing intent radiating from Zhang Fan, and they all felt a sense of panic in their hearts!

"No! Zhang Fan! You cannot kill us!"

"We are backed by the three major Martial Artists Alliance guilds! If you kill us, it will mean total war with the three major guilds!"

"No matter how strong you are individually, can you fight against all the martial artists in the city? You won't be able to take a single step in Qinggang City!"

"That's right! If you dare to touch us, the guilds will never let you go!"

"War?"

Zhang Fan seemed to have heard a joke; he walked forward step by step, carrying a suffocating sense of oppression, "From the moment you disobeyed orders and stood by while beasts slaughtered the common people, you were already my enemies."

"As for not being able to take a single step?"

Zhang Fan shook his head, his eyes disdainful, "I would like to see who can make it impossible for me to take a step."

The moment his voice fell, Zhang Fan's figure suddenly vanished!

"Thunder Instant Step!"

Wang Zheng, Li Kui, and Zhao Yun only felt a blur before their eyes, and a deadly sense of crisis descended upon them!

They were terrified, their internal Qi and blood erupted frantically, and they unleashed their life's ultimate techniques, trying to resist or escape.

However, in front of the perfection-level Thunder Instant Step, their speed was as slow as a crawling turtle.

In front of the destructive will of the Bengdao Hammer Technique, their defenses were as thin as paper.

"No!"

Three short, shrill screams rang out almost simultaneously.

A hammer shadow flashed by.

Wang Zheng had half his body smashed by a single hammer blow.

Li Kui was swept by the hammer wind and broken in two at the waist.

Zhao Yun was the most miserable, smashed from top to bottom, person and protective aura alike, into a pool of meat paste.

The three broken corpses fell into a pool of blood.

The scene fell into a deathly silence once again.

Everyone widened their eyes, looking at the three glaring pools of blood in disbelief.

This Minister Zhang was not only terrifying in strength, but his methods were also ruthless and decisive to the extreme!

He really killed them! He killed three high-ranking guild members with deep backgrounds without hesitation!

This meant that the sky over Qinggang City was truly about to change.

Zhang Fan shook the blood off his hammer, his gaze sweeping over the terrified, pale-faced martial artists of the Alliance, his voice calm yet containing unquestionable majesty:

"Clean up the scene and collect the bodies. From today on, the Martial Artists Alliance in Qinggang City is under my command."

"Those who are dissatisfied can come find me."

"But you had better think first whether your necks are as hard as these three."

Having finished, he carried the mystic heavy mountain-collapsing hammer and turned to walk toward the branch building.

Behind him, Pang Panshi, who had been stunned, finally came back to his senses, swallowed hard, and then quickly trotted to catch up, his face full of excitement!

Qinggang City, Martial Artist Alliance Branch, Minister's Office.

"Brother Fan! You were so fierce today! Three hammer strikes! Just three strikes! And those were three half-step Lord-level flying beasts!"

Pang Panshi circled around Zhang Fan, gesticulating excitedly, his chubby face glowing red, his spit almost spraying onto Zhang Fan's face.

"When I heard you became the branch minister, I knew you would definitely succeed! But I didn't expect you to be this capable! You even took down those three deputy ministers, and now the whole city is talking about you!"

He caught his breath, his tone becoming serious: "Brother Fan, from today on, our Pang Family will follow your lead!"

"Previously, the Martial Artists Alliance was controlled by that bunch from the Three Dragons Society, Nine Dawns Society, and Heavenly Sparrow Society. Our Pang Family had no way to align with them and was instead squeezed out everywhere. Now that you are in charge, we are willing to follow you! We will provide people if you need people, and resources if you need resources!"

Zhang Fan looked at his excited old classmate, smiled slightly, and patted his shoulder: "Fatty, you have a good heart."

He needed to take root in Qinggang City; just having the empty title of minister wasn't enough; he truly needed the support of local forces.

Although the Pang Family's strength was not as great as the three major guilds, they were valuable because their stance was clear, and they started in business, possessing unique advantages in resources and information.

"Great! Brother Fan! I'll go back and tell my father right now!" Pang Panshi was overjoyed and ran off in a hurry.

...

Pang Family residence, in the study.

"Father!" Pang Panshi pushed the door open excitedly.

The family head, Pang Nan, was standing by the window; upon hearing this, he turned around slowly. His face did not carry the pure joy his son had, but rather a trace of solemnity.

"Panshi, the strength Minister Zhang Fan... displayed today is indeed shocking."

Pang Nan's voice was steady, "But have you thought about it? What he killed today was not just three beasts, but the face that the three major guilds had planted in the Alliance! Wang Zheng, Li Kui, and Zhao Yun—the people behind them, Zhang Zhuo, Li Qingyue, and Granny Que—which one of them is not an old-school peak seventh-rank expert who has dominated Qinggang for decades? How could they just let it go?"

The excitement on Pang Panshi's face faded slightly, and he hesitated: "But... Brother Fan is so strong..."

"A strong dragon does not suppress the local snake."

Pang Nan interrupted him, his gaze deep, "Minister Zhang is strong, but the three major guilds have been rooted in Qinggang for many years, their influence is intertwined, and they have countless experts. If those three guild leaders really put aside their pride and join forces..."

"Even if Minister Zhang could barely resist, it would surely be a pyrrhic victory, or perhaps both sides would suffer. By then, as the first to openly defect to him, what would our Pang Family face?"

Pang Panshi gasped: "Then... then wouldn't we..."

"The risk is huge, but the opportunity is equally huge!"

Pang Nan changed his tone, a glint of light flashing in his eyes, "It is easy to add flowers to brocade, but hard to provide charcoal in snowy weather. If we wait until Minister Zhang has completely wiped out the three major guilds and stabilized the situation before we go to join him, we would just be one of many vassals. How much importance would we get?"

"Only now, by helping with all our might, will this friendship appear precious! This is true friendship."

...

Alliance top floor.

Zhang Fan sat cross-legged, his consciousness sinking into his mind. On the light blue panel.

[Available Attribute Points: 210]

Killing the three flying beasts and the three former deputy ministers, plus what he gained from "looting the corpses" in the warehouse today, the harvest could be called abundant!

"It is time to upgrade again."

His intent locked onto the fundamental cultivation method, "Dragon Elephant Eight Desolations Art (Perfection)."

The option to deduce an advancement appeared: [Can be advanced to "Dragon Elephant Body Refining Art", requires consumption of Attribute Points: 100].

"Advance!"

100 attribute points evaporated instantly.

"Boom!"

The Qi and blood in his body underwent a qualitative change! The Qi and blood that had been flowing endlessly and forming the Eight Desolations suddenly condensed and contracted inward to the extreme! The Dragon Elephant patterns on his bones became more complex and deep.

The sound of resonance from his internal organs was as low as thunder, the restrained radiance on his skin surface completely disappeared, and his skin presented a plain, unadorned, yet indestructible texture! A majestic artistic conception of "suppressing oneself, invulnerable to all evils; suppressing external objects, stabilizing the universe" welled up spontaneously.

[Dragon Elephant Eight Desolations Art] advanced to [Dragon Elephant Body Refining Art (Entry Level)]!

The eighth-rank body-refining cultivation method was initially formed!

Zhang Fan felt that his physical strength had undergone earth-shaking changes. If it was toughness before, now it was an absolute "stability" and "power"!

"Next, it's attack!"

He invested the remaining 100 attribute points into the "Bengdao Hammer Technique (Perfection)."

The attribute points turned into a torrent, pushing the hammer intent to transform and sublimate again! The artistic conception of the Dao of Destruction became purer and more extreme, deriving a trace of the terrifying true meaning of "all things collapse and fall, laws do not exist"!

[Bengdao Hammer Technique] advanced to [Collapsing Star Hammer Technique (Entry Level)]!

Attack power went up another level!

210 attribute points were consumed, leaving only 10, not enough to continue upgrading Thunder Instant Step. But Zhang Fan was already satisfied.