Chapter Eighteen: Parting of the Ways

  "Ah?!" Lotus's heart skipped a beat, and she lowered her head, but a chill ran up her spine. This young master was not old, but his thoughts were vicious. Those few servants, beating them with sticks would have been enough, now they actually wanted to cut off the tongue of Seventh Madame's own niece, this was too arrogant!

  "Wang Guanlan, you dare! I am the eldest miss of the Wang family, my aunt is the seventh madam, and the master will never let you get away with this!" Lian Xin was secretly afraid in her heart, but she pretended to be furious and scolded loudly.

  "Miss Table? Interesting, I didn't know there was a Miss Table in the mansion! " Wang Guanlan gritted her teeth, her expression cold and stern. "My father, King Wang, has one empress and four consorts. I recognize all the clan daughters from these families, but which one are you?"

  "Huh?!" The woman was taken aback, and Wang Guanlan's words had hit the nail on the head. This Miss, just like the Seventh Madame's title, was only a flattering term used by the lower-ranking servants to curry favor. According to the rules, this woman could not be considered a true Miss, no matter what. However, even in the vast and majestic Qin Dynasty, such things were not uncommon among the wealthy and powerful families. As long as one didn't encounter someone who was truly serious about it, everyone would just turn a blind eye. After all, there was no need to provoke the favored concubine of the household for no reason. Although people who relied on their status to act arrogantly were detestable, they were also extremely troublesome. Generally speaking, such individuals did not live long lives. Therefore, if one could tolerate it, they would just endure it.

  Wang Guanlan had no intention of yielding, nor was there any need for him to yield. Wang Guanlan was very clear that due to the short time, his position in the Ningwang Fu was extremely unstable, and he needed to consolidate his position. How could he consolidate it? He could only rely on violent means to consolidate it. Don't mention anything about winning people over with virtue, or waiting for a long time to see people's hearts. He didn't have that much time to consolidate his own position, nor did he have that much time to let the people in the Fu know about his noble character. To be honest, his character was not high to begin with. What he needed to do was very simple: make the people in the Fu fear him. He wanted everyone to think about the consequences they would suffer after harboring bad intentions towards him, and then naturally give up on those bad ideas. This was the effect he wanted to achieve today. To achieve this effect, he had to shock everyone. In that case, the woman in front of him became the best choice. Who made her so unlucky? She had a beautiful face, but a foolish heart and a poisonous mouth.

  Moreover, Wang Guanlan and the Seventh Lady's representative, Wang Guanchao, had contradictions from the start, and it was only a matter of time before they would tear their faces apart. Wang Guanlan didn't mind taking the first step to tear his face off. Since he had already torn his face off, he wouldn't show mercy, not only couldn't he show mercy, but also needed to show sufficient determination and sharp will.

  So when Wang Guantao was finally allowed into the garden, what he saw made him erupt.

  Four servants were beaten to the point of being on their last breath, and his own cousin was lying at Wang Guanlan's feet, wailing with a mouthful of blood. Next to her, a bloody tongue shocked him, completely igniting the flames in his heart.

  "Damn you, Wang Guanlan! Go die!" He bellowed in rage, throwing a punch and charging at Wang Guanlan.

  Wang Guanlan's face wore a cold smile, his toes lightly advancing, his body tracing a sharp arc, and before Wang Guantao's fist could reach him, he had already seized the initiative and appeared in front of him. His left hand stretched out, fingers curved, directly grasping Wang Guantao's neck.

  "Brother Jiu, you're too slow!"

  "Y...!" Wang Guanchao was furious, but his neck was caught by Wang Guanlan, and he could only say the word "you", his face turning bright red from being choked. He originally wanted to struggle, but as soon as he exerted force, he couldn't breathe, so he had to stop his futile struggles.

  As Wang Guanlan loosened his left hand from around Wang Guanchao's neck, Wang Guanchao's body slowly fell to the ground.

  "Don't provoke me again with your reckless behavior, or next time it won't be just a beating or cutting off your tongue!" Wang Guanlan said calmly, gazing at the still frightened eyes of Wang Guantai. Then he turned his head and ordered those around him, "Alright, that's enough for today. Send these two young masters out, as well as those unlucky ones. Tell them that the 14th Young Master is in a good mood today and doesn't have time to bother with them!"

  "Yes, young master!" The servants in the Qing Song Garden responded in unison. As for Wang Guanlan, this master, they were now afraid to the bone, yes, it was fear, not respect.

  Most of these servants were sent by the government after Wang Guanlan entered the school, and it is unknown how many of them are spies or have ulterior motives. Wang Guanlan does not have the time to play games with them to win their hearts. The most direct and effective way to control them is to make them fear him, let them dare not disobey his will, just like what Wang Guanlan is doing now.

  Four servants who were beaten to the brink of death and a woman with her tongue cut out were carried out of the garden, followed by Wang Guanchao with a gloomy face. The ruthlessness and determination shown by Wang Guanlan today was beyond his imagination, and what he couldn't imagine even more was that after going through a trial in Misty Valley, Wang Guanlan possessed such terrifying strength.

  At the boundary, Wang Guanchao could determine that Wang Guanlan had broken through from the original Qi Refining Initial Stage to the Second Layer of Qi Refining, but even so, his strength was still weaker than his own. However, his speed and methods were completely beyond his imagination. In fact, until he left Lin Garden, he still couldn't figure out how Wang Guanlan had dodged his punch and tightly locked onto his neck.

  "Could it be that the trial of the Misty Valley was really so effective? In less than a month's time, he has transformed beyond recognition?!"

  As he left Qing Song Garden, Wang Guan Chao was thinking not about how to explain things to his mother, but whether he should also go to the misty valley that had just caused a huge stir.

  As Wang Guanchao and the others left, the forest garden finally quieted down completely, with only the sound of torches burning pine wax crackling in the night.

  "Alright, let's all go back. We've been making a fuss for so long, it's time to rest!" After sending everyone away, Wang Guanlan returned to her own room.

  "Master, you're back!" The green lotus in the house had already prepared hot water for bathing. Green Lotus was Madam Qin's confidant, and it could be said that in the entire Lin Garden, only Green Lotus held this position, so her status in the garden was naturally not comparable to ordinary people.

  "Green Lotus, you go back too, I want to be alone for a while!"

  "Yes, young master!" If it were in the past, Green Lotus might have argued with this young master a few more sentences. After all, this was what Madam had asked her to do, serving this young master in the house. However, now that Wang Guanlan had just dealt with those people, his entire body carried an aura of coldness and severity that was unbearable for Green Lotus. Being swept by Wang Guanlan's gaze, she didn't dare say another word and retreated out of the room.

  ………………………

  …………

  "Ah, the world is finally at peace!" With his entire body submerged in the warm water, Wang Guanlan let out a long sigh. After returning from the Misty Valley Gorge, the first thing he did was to go see Wang Bi Cheng and recount the events that had transpired in the gorge. He then returned to Qing Song Garden, but upon entering the garden, he saw others bullying the people of Qing Song Garden. He took care of these people with ease, also taking the opportunity to showcase his iron-fisted tactics to intimidate those who harbored malicious intentions within the Wang Manor. Although it was exhilarating to take action, it was also exhausting. Now, he could finally calm down and reflect on his emotions.

  This trip to the Wuyin Gorge was a bit risky for Wang Guanlan, but overall it was uneventful. Compared to what he gained from it, the risk was almost negligible.

  Whether it was the Wan Fa Gui Yi symbol or the benefits he had gained from the crimson-robed woman, they far exceeded his imagination, and their value was now beyond his estimation. In comparison, his own progress in martial arts was secondary.

  "If it weren't for the fear of being too ostentatious, a single fireball would have been enough to subdue everyone today, and my position in this mansion would have become even more solid!" With a hint of regret in his heart, Wang Guanlan began to think deeply. Since he couldn't reveal his identity as a Taoist for the time being, he needed to focus on martial arts. After his training in the Wuyin Gorge, his martial arts skills had made significant breakthroughs, reaching the second layer of Lianqi. Although this was not comparable to his gains in Taoism, it still met his previous expectations and even exceeded them. Especially during the battle with the demon beast Yuanhai and the ice beast, the two martial techniques he displayed left him amazed.

  A martial art that can record a thousand laws with just one thought is no ordinary feat, and similarly, wanting to master it is also not something that can be accomplished overnight.

  At this time, he did not know that the killing move displayed by the demon beast Yuan Hai was the first kill of the famous White Tiger Seven Kills. The defensive move that stood still like a mountain had an even more mysterious origin, and it was something that the demon beast Yuan Hai had obtained in a remote valley in the demon world, without knowing its specific source.

  These two martial skills are both above the innate level, and for Wang Guanlan, a small martial artist in the Qi-refining stage, they are like heavenly scriptures that he can't understand at all.

  However, he can learn from it, especially the first kill in White Tiger Seven Kills. The killing intent is so sharp that even if he just borrows that sharp killing intent and incorporates it into his own knife skills, he will be able to greatly increase his strength. As for the one move that is not second to the double axe like a mountain, Wang Guanlan doesn't even have a chance to understand it, let alone grasp this absolute defensive style.

  "Never mind, let's just stabilize for now. Today I cut off that woman's tongue, tomorrow it will inevitably be another storm in the mansion, but since no one stopped me earlier, it means that the master of the mansion has already tacitly approved my actions. Secret Array Mirror World, haha, unexpectedly, every move in Ning Wang Fu is under surveillance! Thinking about today's meeting with Ning Wang and the information he revealed, Wang Guanlan was secretly shocked and felt uneasy about being in such an environment."

  "Time-traveling things, that formation can't be detected, but the One Thought Gives Rise to Myriad Dharmas symbol is somewhat related. This thing is too precious, if others, especially cultivators, find out about it, they will definitely stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Even if it's the Ning King himself, if he finds out, he might not be able to resist some greedy thoughts. Not to mention there's also that strange Ninth Master!"

  What he is most worried about now is that the matter of obtaining a life-protecting talisman will be leaked out, in which case, not to mention being just a Ning Wang's illegitimate son, even if he were the Ning Wang's heir, it would be difficult to escape those greedy and deluded cultivators.

  "The Ning Wang Fu is not a place to stay for long, just right, taking this opportunity to receive the industry, go to Yicheng, there the sky is high and the emperor is far away, the range of the secret array mirror world also can't cover there, it's just right to give me the opportunity to digest what I got from the Wuyin Gorge, when I've digested most of it, I should also have the power to protect myself!" Wang Guanlan thought carefully in the bucket, a wave of drowsiness came over him, and soon he fell into a sweet dream.