21: Chapter 21 A Decisive Strike (Part 1)

"Drive, Old Lin."

"The good show has only just begun. Over at Jingyuan Villa... it's about time they prepare to welcome our 'Student Ding,' whose Hard Qigong are truly world-shaking."

"Since Old Daoist Huang has given the nod, the Zhang and Zhou families must be unable to wait any longer."

The black business van started up silently.

Like a giant crocodile sliding into deep water, it noiselessly merged into the city's nocturnal flow of traffic and neon lights, heading into the distance.

...

The night was as dark as ink, thick and indivisible.

Smoke swirled in Wang Yang's rented living room, which was filled with the smell of instant noodles and game posters.

Ding Qing sat cross-legged on the floor, his upper body bare.

His bronze skin shimmered with a cold metallic luster under the dim light.

Nine deep Body-Suppressing Veins slithered like living things across his neck, shoulders, arms, and chest.

Every slight pulsation brought a faint hum to the air; it was the sound of power coursing endlessly through his muscles, bones, and skin.

"Inhale!"

"Exhale!"

Between his breaths, a faint white smoke Dragon took shape.

The physical strengthening from the Great Perfection of the Iron Cloth Shirt's ninth stage had finally concluded.

Three days!

Three whole days!

Since the Old Daoist in Yellow Robes left that night, Ding Qing had stayed indoors.

Finally, today, his strength reached an unprecedented Peak.

This was Ding Qing's most Peak state yet.

Compared to when he had just reached the ninth stage of the Iron Cloth Shirt, he was now three times stronger.

With dark circles under his eyes, Wang Yang irritably clawed at his hair, pacing back and forth in the narrow space like an ant on a hot pan.

"Dammit, Brother Qing, the Zhang and Zhou families are clearly trying to screw us to death. How many times has it been now? Fuck! What do they think we are? Meat on a chopping block?"

Ding Qing slowly opened his eyes.

A cold metallic glint flashed deep within his pupils, like lava passing over a dormant crater.

"You could say that."

His voice was low, possessing a penetrative force that crushed all ambient noise.

"In their eyes, we are just disposable cannon fodder. After all, they are used to controlling the fates of others."

He stood up, his tall figure nearly reaching the low ceiling.

The invisible pressure made Wang Yang subconsciously hold his breath.

The nine Body-Suppressing Veins became clearer as his muscles contracted, exuding the ferocious aura of a primordial Vicious Beast.

"But this time, they are wrong."

Ding Qing's voice wasn't loud, yet every word fell like heavy iron.

He looked at Wang Yang.

"Contact Teacher Huang, Zhao Xiaoya, and that Sun Hao. Tell them to leave their homes immediately, go somewhere crowded, or find a safe place to hide."

"Just say... someone is trying to silence them."

Wang Yang shuddered and immediately pulled out his phone, his fingers trembling with tension.

The call connected quickly; Huang Guohua's voice, hoarse with lingering shock, repeatedly agreed.

Sun Hao's side also connected quickly, his tone equally panicked.

When it was Zhao Xiaoya's turn, the phone rang for a long time before being picked up.

Wang Yang had just started: "Hello, Xiaoya? It's me, Wang Yang..."

But the voice that came from the other end was a low, cold male voice that interrupted him:

"Wang Yang? Good. Tell Ding Qing that Young Miss Zhao is currently a guest of the Zhang family. They 'miss' Student Ding very much."

"If he doesn't want anything to happen to this pretty classmate... don't keep President Zhang and President Zhou waiting too long."

"Beep... beep... beep..."

The dial tone rang out like a cold funeral knell.

Wang Yang's hand holding the phone froze in mid-air as he looked at Ding Qing with a grim expression.

"Brother... Brother Qing... it's the Zhang family! Xiaoya... Xiaoya was taken by them. They want you to go to Jingyuan Villa."

The rental room fell into a deathly silence.

The neon lights outside filtered through the gaps in the blinds, carving cold lines across Ding Qing's face.

He took a slow, deep breath.

The sound of his inhalation was exceptionally clear in the silence, like a giant beast deeply drawing in oxygen, preparing for a world-shattering roar.

An indescribable aura of malevolence, mixed with bloodlust and violence, erupted.

"Courting death!"

Those two words were like a cold wind blowing from the northernmost ice plains, carrying a Soul-freezing killing intent.

The last trace of human warmth in Ding Qing's eyes was completely extinguished, leaving only pure, cold, abyss-like brutality.

Without any hesitation, and without even glancing at Wang Yang again.

"Stay here. Lock the door."

Ding Qing's voice sounded like polar cold iron grinding together.

He slammed open the thin door of the rental room, his tall figure like a streak of black lightning tearing through the night, instantly vanishing into the deep darkness of the hallway.

...

Jingyuan Villa.

A wealthy family's Forbidden Ground nestled halfway up the mountain east of the city, it crouched in the night like a dormant beast.

The towering wrought-iron gates were tightly shut. Four bodyguards in black suits with eagle-sharp eyes stood before them, their waists bulging.

"BOOM—!!!"

A deafening explosion tore through the mountain's tranquility!

It wasn't an explosion, but a physical impact of the purest extremity.

The heavy wrought-iron gate, sturdy enough to withstand an SUV's impact, along with the solid stone pillars on both sides of the frame, was hit as if by a prehistoric beast head-on.

Amidst the tooth-grinding sound of twisting metal and cracking stone, the entire structure exploded inward and went flying!

The heavy iron gate and rubble smashed into the villa's interior like cannonballs.

Dust filled the air, and stone fragments rained down.

The four bodyguards guarding the gate didn't even have time to react before being violently blown away by the raging shockwave and flying debris.

They crashed into distant flowerbeds and the ground with screams, their bones broken, their fates unknown.

From the dust-filled breach, a figure as tall as a mountain slowly stepped out.

Ding Qing!

He was still wearing that oversized black hooded sweatshirt.

The hood was pulled down low.

Only his jawline, cold and sharp as if carved by a knife, was visible.

He was barefoot. Every step he took on the carefully laid granite pavement of the villa emitted a dull "Thump! Thump!" like a beating drum.

The hard stone surface beneath his feet cracked in response, spider-web-like fissures spreading forward with his every step!

"Who is it?!"

"Stop! Open fire!"

"Enemy attack!!!"

Piercing alarms wailed shrilly. More bodyguards poured out from various parts of the villa, expertly seeking cover.

When they saw that only one person had broken through the gate, their horror was quickly replaced by ferocity.

Seven or eight bodyguards unhesitatingly drew their pistols and pulled the triggers at the figure approaching step by step through the dust!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Dense gunfire erupted like popping beans!

Searing bullets tore through the air with a reaper's shriek, instantly enveloping Ding Qing's figure.

However, what happened next caused the pupils of every bodyguard who had fired to shrink suddenly, their hearts feeling as though they were gripped by a cold hand!

Ding Qing didn't dodge.

He didn't even raise his hand to block!

Those small-caliber pistol bullets, capable of easily piercing a human body and leaving deep pits in concrete walls...

...actually emitted a sharp, metallic clang when they hit his ordinary black sweatshirt, as if striking specialized alloy steel plates.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—!"

Sparks flew everywhere!

The sweatshirt fabric shredded instantly under the impact of the bullets, revealing the bronze skin beneath.

Even more chillingly, when the bullets hit that skin, it was as if they had struck an indestructible barrier.

The bullet heads instantly twisted, deformed, and flattened!

Other than leaving a few barely noticeable white dots on his skin, not even a single scratch was made.

Under that bronze skin, the nine deep Body-Suppressing Veins flickered in and out of sight under the reflection of the gunfire.

They exuded a suffocating metallic texture and primordial ferocity.