The Martial Saint Started from Scavenging

A mountain breeze swept by, swirling up a few withered leaves that fell around Du Qiang's feet.

He stared at the boy before him. Those eyes, once filled with numbness and blankness, had now transformed into a bottomless, icy pool, and a chilling killing intent emanated from the depths of his eyes.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

After a brief moment of shock, Du Qiangqiang suppressed his reverie and, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world, pointed at Ye Sheng and burst into wild laughter: "Kid, who the hell are you trying to scare? You? With a broken woodcutter's knife? You think you can fight us brothers?"

The servants behind him also burst into laughter.

Outnumbered and powerful, they were already used to this kind of bullying and didn't take Ye Sheng's seemingly feigned ferocity seriously at all.

In their view, this was nothing more than a rabbit desperately trying to bite someone, which was both laughable and pathetic.

"Stop wasting your breath on him! Get him! Break his legs first, then let's see how arrogant he can be!"

Du Qiang's laughter abruptly ceased, his face instantly contorted with rage. With a wave of his hand, he issued the order.

The servant who had broken the porcelain bottle earlier, relying on his tall and strong physique, was the first to respond. He grinned maliciously, raised a thick wooden stick, and smashed it down on Ye Sheng's head.

The stick whistles through the air; if it were to strike a solid point, an ordinary person would be either killed or left with a bloody head.

Ye Sheng remained motionless, standing quietly. Only when the wooden stick was less than three inches from his head did he slightly turn to the side.

The swift and powerful blow almost grazed past his ear.

"Such a quick reaction!" Du Qiang's eyelids twitched.

The servant who swung the stick stumbled because he used too much force, and his body was wide open.

Ye Sheng was moved. His movements were not fast, even somewhat slow, but no one present, including Du Qiang, could see how he made his move.

A sharp "crack" was heard, followed by a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.

The wooden stick that the servant had been holding had somehow ended up in Ye Sheng's hands, while his own right arm was bent backward, the white bone spurs piercing through his skin and exposed.

"My hand! My hand!" The burly man clutched his severed arm, rolling on the ground and howling in pain.

The other servants who were about to pounce stopped in their tracks, their sinister smiles freezing on their faces, replaced by horror.

"Damn it, all of you attack! He's alone!"

Du Qiang was the first to come to his senses, and he forced out a roar through gritted teeth.

He knew that if he couldn't take down this kid today, he would never be able to hold his head up in the servants' quarters again.

The remaining few exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and pounced on Ye Sheng from four directions simultaneously.

Ye Sheng's lips curled into a cold smile.

He shifted his feet, silently unleashing the Blood Shadow Step. His figure left a faint afterimage in place, and like a drifting leaf, he instantly broke free from the encirclement, appearing behind a servant on the far left.

The servant felt a chill on the back of his neck, followed by excruciating pain in the back of his knees. He screamed and his legs gave way, causing him to collapse to his knees. Ye Sheng had smashed his kneecaps with the hilt of his knife.

Before anyone else could react, Ye Sheng's figure flickered again. But each flash was accompanied by a scream and a muffled thud of bones shattering.

He didn't use any killer moves, avoiding vital points with every strike, but instead focused on the most vulnerable joints such as the wrists, ankles, and knees.

His methods were less like a fight and more like a cruel "discipline."

In less than ten breaths, all the servants Du Qiang had brought were lying on the ground.

Some had severed hands, some had severed feet; each one clutched their wounds, wailing incessantly, unable to get up again. On the entire mountain path, only Du Qiang remained, standing alone.

He held a sharp dagger in his hand, but his body was trembling uncontrollably, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.

He watched the aloof young man walk towards him step by step, and for the first time, fear showed in his eyes.

"You...you stay away!"

Du Qiang roared, his voice trembling despite his fierce but weak demeanor.

"I...I'm telling you, my cousin is an outer disciple! If you dare to touch me today, he won't let you off!"

Ye Sheng stopped, looked at him, and smiled. The smile was calm, even gentle, but to Du Qiang at that moment, it was more terrifying than any fierce expression.

"An outer disciple?" Ye Sheng tilted his head, as if pondering. "Is he very powerful?"

"Of course!"

Now that he seemed more confident, Du Qiang quickly said, "My cousin is a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining! You...you can't afford to offend him!"

"oh."

Ye Sheng nodded, and then he moved, his figure as fast as lightning.

Du Qiang felt a blur before his eyes, then a sharp pain in his wrist, and the short knife in his hand clattered to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, an irresistible force came from his chest, and he was sent flying backward, his back slamming heavily into a boulder, his internal organs feeling as if they had shifted.

"puff!"

He coughed up a mouthful of blood and struggled to get up, but a foot stomped heavily on his chest, rendering him unable to move.

It was Ye Sheng. He looked down at Du Qiang, his eyes cold and devoid of any emotion.

"I can spare your life today."

Ye Sheng spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but like shards of ice in the dead of winter, chilling Du Qiang to the bone.

"But you've provoked me time and time again, so you should pay the price."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly pushed off with his feet.

"Crack!" A sound of bone breaking rang out.

Du Qiang's sternum was broken in several places by Ye Sheng's foot.

"ah--!"

Du Qiang let out a piercing scream, his whole body convulsing violently, white foam and blood flowing from his mouth.

Ye Sheng stopped walking, not even glancing at him, and walked straight to his "scavenging" backpack, bending down to pick it up.

Just as he bent down, a tiny, almost invisible wisp of gray powder slipped silently from between his fingers and drifted precisely to Du Qiang's collar.

After doing all this, he slowly turned around and walked back to his hut under the complex gazes of the servants who were watching the spectacle from afar, a gaze that was a mixture of awe and a hint of pleasure.

As the sun set, it cast a long shadow of Ye Sheng.

At this moment, only Du Qiang and his few followers remained on the mountain path, writhing and groaning in agony on the ground. No one dared to approach, nor did anyone dare to inform the fat Taoist in charge.

Everyone knows that from this day forward, this menial district is likely to undergo a major change.

Ye Sheng, the instigator of all this, returned to the cabin and calmly closed the door, as if nothing had happened.

He had considered remaining patient, keeping a low profile, and avoiding trouble, but today's events were a last resort. If he didn't act now, he would definitely be seriously injured by Du Qiang and his men. As for the subsequent troubles, he could only wait and see.

He had considered eliminating Du Qiang and the others directly, but this would inevitably lead to accusations of infighting within the sect, and the Qingyun Sword Sect would never let him off easily.

After weighing the options, Ye Sheng chose a compromise: to cripple Du Qiang and the others. They were neither martial artists nor cultivators, and once crippled, they would never dare to bully others again.

In addition, although Du Qiang's cousin is a Qi Refining cultivator, in Ye Sheng's opinion, offending a Qi Refining seventh-level cultivator is far wiser than making an enemy of the entire sect.

Although Ye Sheng had never fought a cultivator in person before, he had studied the book "Fengwu Zhi" left by his father.

According to the book, the strength of a Qi Refining stage cultivator is roughly equivalent to that of a Bone Forging stage martial artist, except that they possess some spiritual energy combat techniques that martial artists cannot use.

He had personally killed three Bone Forging Realm martial artists. Although they all relied on external forces or methods, this undoubtedly made him less afraid of Qi Refining cultivators.

However, his only worry at this moment was that he must not alarm the other members of the sect about today's events, and especially he must not let Ye Kai's physique secret be exposed.

Ye Sheng walked to the bedside, looked at his younger brother who had woken up and was looking at him with a worried expression, smiled slightly, and did not say anything.

As Ye Kai gazed at his brother's calm smile and unfathomable eyes, a chill inexplicably rose in his heart.

He had a feeling that his brother had changed, becoming stronger and colder.

As night fell, Ye Sheng was meditating when there was a gentle knock on the door of the small house.

"Junior Brother Ye, are you there? Steward Pang requests your presence." A voice came from outside the door.

Ye Sheng opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them, thinking to himself: What was bound to happen has finally arrived.