Chapter 957: Chapter 954: Rewards and Punishments

"Yes!"

As soon as Leng Yunshan finished speaking, several members of the Iron Spear Army, exuding a murderous aura, stepped forward and, without a word, arrested the three ugly men on the spot.

This sudden turn of events astonished the people of East Flame City nearby.

They all knew about the relationship between Leng Yunshan and these three martial artists. When Leng Yunshan appeared, everyone thought he would act against Luo Feng, but they did not expect things to develop this way.

At this moment, no one was more shocked than the three men who were captured.

"Young City Lord..."

The ugly man widened his eyes, looking at Leng Yunshan, still unable to recover from the shock.

Ignoring him, Leng Yunshan turned around. His stern expression shifted to show a slight smile as he spoke to Luo Feng:

"Brother Luo Feng, these three blind dogs dared to target you. How do you think we should deal with them?"

Luo Feng glanced at Leng Yunshan, a bit surprised by his attitude.

Compared to his former arrogance, today’s Leng Yunshan seemed much more tactful. It seemed that the last lesson had taught him well.

However, he didn’t think much about how to deal with the three men.

Just then, the sturdy man whose right hand Luo Feng had crippled came to his senses. Seeing Leng Yunshan chatting and laughing with Luo Feng, he was furious:

"Young City Lord, what do you mean by this? Are you planning to burn your bridges? Back then we..."

Bam!

"Ah!"

The sturdy man’s sentence was cut short by a piercing scream. He spat out a mouthful of blood, among which were several broken teeth.

The captain of the Iron Spear Army, clad in black armor, patted his blood-stained hands and scanned the three men with a cold gaze, shouting:

"How dare you slander the Young City Lord, beat them for me!"

"Captain Liu, Captain Liu... I... I didn’t say anything..." the ugly martial artist exclaimed in terror.

The small-eyed martial artist turned pale as he saw the Iron Spear Army guards approaching. With a quick mind, he looked at Luo Feng:

"Young master, young master, it was we who were blind, we didn’t recognize Mount Tai. Please..."

"Beat!"

The black-armored martial artist waved his hand coldly.

It’s a joke. If these small-time scoundrels were allowed to gossip in front of so many people, his position as captain of the Iron Spear Army might very well be doomed.

The Iron Spear Army guards understood the meaning behind the black-armored martial artist’s words. With ferocious expressions, they approached and began smashing the silver spears into the mouths of the three men.

Whoosh...

The coldly gleaming spear tails left brilliant golden arcs in their wake, descending with a resounding whoosh.

"Poof!"

"Ah!"

"Leng Yunshan, you... ah!"

Immediately, miserable screams echoed in the streets.

The cultivation levels of these Iron Spear Army soldiers were all above the seventh rank of the Meridian Wheel Realm. After a few hits, the three ugly men were bleeding from their mouths, their teeth completely knocked out, only able to moan in pain.

Leng Yunshan appreciatively glanced at the black-armored martial artist, then turned his head to Luo Feng and said:

"Brother Luo Feng, how about leaving them to me to handle? I promise you’ll be satisfied."

"As you please."

Luo Feng had little interest in such matters, replying indifferently.

Leng Yunshan coldly glanced at the three ugly men and declared loudly:

"You dared to cause trouble in East Flame City and harm a guest of the City Lord Mansion. Such audacity! Someone, drag them away, break their limbs, and throw them into Yellow Cloud Valley, let them fend for themselves!"

Yellow Cloud Valley!

Upon hearing this, the ugly man spat a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with triple the fear.

Yellow Cloud Valley is a gorge stretching for a hundred miles outside East Flame City, shrouded in yellow mist all year round, hence the name.

Within Yellow Cloud Valley live countless poisonous demon creatures. The yellow mist is the toxic gas exhaled by these demon beasts. Any martial artist below the Spiritual Rotation Realm entering would surely die!

"Mmm... Mmm mmm... Mmm mmm mmm..."

The three struggled vehemently against such a fate, yelling as hard as they could, but could only emit low sobbing sounds.

The Iron Spear Army paid no heed. Thrilled by Leng Yunshan’s commendation, the black-armored martial artist was brimming with joy.

At that moment, he recalled the identity of the young man. If this task were accomplished well, a significant reward would surely follow, possibly a promotion to the leader of the City Lord Mansion. Without another word, he personally led the team to drag the trio away.

"Brother Luo Feng, are you satisfied with this resolution?" Leng Yunshan turned back to Luo Feng with a fawning smile.

"In just a few months, your bootlicking skills have improved."

Luo Feng didn’t care about the life or death of the three men, but Leng Yunshan’s ruthless actions were somewhat surprising to him. It seems one cannot judge a person by a single glance, and the miserable fate of the three martial artists was proof of that.

Seeing this scene, the surrounding crowd was astounded.

The usually profligate Leng Yunshan acted with such decisiveness; and Leng Yunshan’s attitude towards Luo Feng surprised everyone even more.

"Who is this young man? The Young City Lord seems to fear him greatly."

"I didn’t recognize him earlier, but upon hearing the Young City Lord call him Luo Feng, I remembered. This is the young man who turned East Flame City upside down a few months ago. At that time, not only the Iron Spear Army was mobilized, but even the City Lord was alerted, and the Young City Lord was punished because of this incident."

"Ah, I remember now as well. No wonder the Young City Lord is so respectful to him."

"It’s more than that. Have you forgotten? The one who became this year’s Martial Champion and fought Yi Tian, a new expert from Azure Sky City and the Dragon Ranking list, is also named Luo Feng."

"Are you saying he’s that Luo Feng?"

"Almost certainly."

The seemingly calm swordsman glanced at Luo Feng and said thoughtfully, "The thick calluses on the upper side of his right hand’s tiger’s mouth, only years of practicing saber techniques would cause such. This person must be a saber man."

"Hiss, I didn’t expect he’s the top of the Wu Kui Rankings. No wonder the young city lord acts like a mouse before a cat when he sees him. Over the past six months, this person seized the top of the Wu Kui Rankings, becoming the first disciple of Linglong Hall in history, then fought a life-and-death battle with experts from the New Dragon Rankings, challenging top ten new dragon Blood Cloud Fire Dragon Lu Xiao Yun, showing off endlessly. His fame even overshadows some of the renowned experts on the New Dragon Rankings; truly remarkable."

"By the way, Yi Wuxue is also in the city now. Rumor has it that the two had a feud during the Twelve Golden Palace assessment. During the final battle, Yi Wuxue suffered a crushing defeat at Luo Feng’s hands. If they were to meet now, who do you think is stronger?"

"Isn’t it obvious? Times have changed; Yi Wuxue has slain a Demon General-level expert. How could Luo Feng be his match?"

"That’s true."

The crowd murmured amongst themselves.

In Misty Swamp, the story of Luo Feng and Lin Hongyi, Su Rui, Xue Ziyi, and others joining forces to slay a great Asura had already spread.

However, whether it was Lin Hongyi or Su Rui and the others, all were renowned elites of the New Dragon Rankings, and the rumors often overlooked Luo Feng, leaving many unaware that he was the one who ultimately slew the great Asura.

Luo Feng casually exchanged a word with Leng Yunshan, preparing to take his leave.

At this moment, a short, plump figure squeezed through the crowd—it was the tea shop owner.

His gaze swept across, seeing the three martial artists being dragged away and Luo Feng unscathed, his expression somewhat dazed.

He had gone to the City Lord Mansion to report, delayed a bit, expecting Luo Feng to suffer at the hands of the three martial artists, yet the situation was quite the opposite.

"Young brother, are you alright?"

The tea shop owner, uncertain, asked.

Luo Feng had long since noticed him, shook his head, then, recalling something, said to Leng Yunshan, "This is my friend; take good care of him in the future."

He had just been puzzled as to why Leng Yunshan and the Iron Spear Army returned, now it suddenly became clear to him.

While it seemed unnecessary to him, the tea shop owner’s act of risking himself to report to the City Lord Mansion on his behalf was not something he could let go unrewarded.

An observant member of the Iron Spear Army stepped forward and whispered to Leng Yunshan,

"Young city lord, this is the shopkeeper of Hong’s Tea Shop in our city; he’s the one who reported to the City Lord Mansion."

Leng Yunshan’s eyes lit up. He had been worried about his lack of opportunities to curry favor with Luo Feng, yet here was an opportunity delivered to him, so he promptly said to the tea shop owner,

"You’ve done well in reporting. Someone, reward him with ten thousand taels of gold!"

"Ten thousand... thousand... thousand taels of gold..."

The shopkeeper’s eyes widened, stammering with excitement.

Running a tea shop, he could only earn a few dozen taels of gold in a year; ten thousand taels of gold was a massive fortune he had never dared to dream of before.

"Thank you, young city lord, thank you, Young Master Luo..."

Once he came back to his senses, the shopkeeper was so excited that even his body fat was trembling, knowing he had met a benefactor, he repeatedly thanked Luo Feng.

Luo Feng waved his hand:

"Go and get your gold."

Ten thousand taels of gold, now to him, wasn’t much at all, but it was enough to change an ordinary person’s life dramatically.

"Alright, thank you, Young Master... thank you..."

The tea shop owner, blushing with happiness, thanked every step of the way as he left with a member of the Iron Spear Army.

The nearby onlookers, seeing the jubilant shopkeeper, envied him, lamenting their lack of such good fortune.

Watching the shopkeeper leave, Luo Feng said to Leng Yunshan, "Thank you."

Leng Yunshan hastily cupped his hands, smiling, "It’s a small matter; to be able to relieve Brother Luo Feng’s troubles is my honor, Leng Yunshan."

It’s the first time he was punished by Lengyuan in his life.

Although mischievous, Leng Yunshan wasn’t ignorant; he guessed that Luo Feng and the girl weren’t individuals he, a mere young city lord of East Flame City, could afford to offend.

Besides, he was aware of Luo Feng becoming the first Martial Champion and defeating Yi Tian over these months, and any residual grudges he’d harbored had long vanished; now, he only sought ways to endear himself to Luo Feng.

To say nothing else, being on good terms with a New Dragon Rankings expert made others regard you more highly.

"Brother Luo Feng, is your classmate also in East Flame City?" Leng Yunshan asked enthusiastically.

Luo Feng raised an eyebrow, shook his head.

Observing Luo Feng’s displeasure, Leng Yunshan quickly chuckled and said, "I’ve already ordered a banquet to be prepared, why not come to my mansion for a gathering, Brother Luo Feng?"

"No need, I still have matters to attend to back at the Golden Palace."

Luo Feng shook his head; unable to find a suitable gift, he didn’t plan to stay in East Flame City any longer.

Moreover, the drastic shift in Leng Yunshan’s attitude made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Leng Yunshan was momentarily stunned, then quickly smiled:

"Then let me see you out of the city, Brother Luo Feng. Someone, bring my two-hundred-year-old Qingyang Rain Dew Wine from the mansion."

Luo Feng looked at Leng Yunshan, smiled wryly, and let him have his way.

The group headed towards the city gate.

They hadn’t gone far when three figures emerged from the crowd, blocking their path. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Who dares to be so bold..."

Leng Yunshan was about to scold them when his words abruptly ceased.

The three in front, led by a youth in a blood-red robe, wearing a treasured sword at his waist, with eyes as sharp as blades.

That morning, Leng Yunshan had seen him; he immediately recognized him.

Disciple of Sky Sword Pavilion, Bloodless Sword ’Yi Wuxue’!