NOVPUBIn the Zhang family martial arts school, the atmosphere was heavy.
Zhang Zhenlin sat expressionlessly in the grandmaster chair, his withered fingers lightly tapping the armrest, producing a dull sound.
His gaze was icy as he stared at his apprentice grandson, Li Hui, who was standing in the hall. His voice was low and authoritative: "Li Hui, did you see Chen Nan? Did you pass on my message to him?"
Sweat beads formed on Li Hui's forehead, his throat tightened, he suppressed the unease in his heart and replied with his head lowered, "Master, I have told Chen Nan your words exactly, but..."
"But what?" Zhang Zhenlin frowned, his tone suddenly turning cold.
Li Hui gritted his teeth, forcing himself to speak boldly: "Chen Nan, that guy, is extremely arrogant. He said it's just a plaque, we can burn it if we want to!"
"Is that all?" Zhang Zhilong, the current head of the Zhang family martial arts school and Zhang Zhenlin's son, who was standing by the side, had a dark look in his eyes, and his voice carried a hint of anger.
"No..." Li Hui clenched his fist, took a deep breath: "He also said that we wouldn't dare to destroy the Health Care Hall's plaque."
"Not only that, he declared that sooner or later, our Zhang family martial arts school would carry the plaque on a grand sedan chair and return it respectfully to the Health Care Hall to apologize to him!"
"Arrogant! Utterly outrageous!" Zhang Zhenlin fiercely slammed the armrest, causing the entire grandmaster chair to tremble slightly.
Rage surged in his eyes, and his aura burst forth suddenly, as though the entire martial arts school was frozen in place.
The disciples felt a pressure on their chests, even breathing became difficult, as if being oppressed by some invisible force.
"That brat is not only arrogant but also shameless and despicable!" Zhang Qingxue, standing by the side, wore a frosty expression, her eyes filled with humiliation and anger.
She recalled the scene where she was humiliated by Chen Nan the previous day, her fingernails digging deeply into her palm.
"Someone!" Zhang Zhenlin slowly stood up, his voice low and icy, as if a cold wind swept through the withered branches, carrying a bone-chilling coldness: "Bring me an axe! I want to personally chop the Health Care Hall's plaque, and then personally visit the Health Care Hall to meet this reckless brat!"
He originally disdained to deal with a young junior personally, which is why he had someone take the Health Care Hall's plaque, hoping to intimidate the other party.
But now it seems that this Chen Nan needs to be personally taught a lesson by him!
As Zhang Zhenlin strode into the courtyard, a martial arts school disciple also brought an axe for chopping wood to Zhang Zhenlin.
The blade of the axe gleamed in the sunlight, as if foretelling a coming storm.
Zhang Zhenlin tightly gripped the axe, his knuckles whitening from the exertion, as he strode toward the hanging Health Care Hall plaque.
The warm sunlight fell on the plaque, casting a light brown glow, especially the words "Health Care Hall," as if gilded by time, appearing radiant and shiny.
Zhang Zhilong stood nearby, his eyes never leaving the plaque.
He was fond of antiques, especially ancient furniture.
When he saw the Health Care Hall plaque, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stepped forward saying, "Dad, the material of this plaque is extremely rare."
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be made from thousand-year-old yellow pear wood. If it is chopped, it would be an absolute waste!" Zhang Zhilong's voice carried regret, as if discussing a rare treasure.
Zhang Zhenlin slightly furrowed his brows. Although he didn't understand ancient furniture, he knew that thousand-year-old yellow pear wood was extremely rare, something only emperors or high officials could afford in ancient times!
The plaque's value exceeded his expectations by far.
"Master, this material is particularly heavy, it took four of us to bring it back." A young disciple said respectfully, his tone carrying a hint of pride, as if exhibiting a trophy.
Zhang Zhilong's eyes lit up, he immediately grasped the edge of the plaque, and then with difficulty lifted it, showing an excited expression on his face: "The weight of this material is indeed very heavy, I estimate it to be four or five hundred pounds! Ordinary material could not have this weight, this is a top-quality thousand-year-old yellow pear wood! Far rarer than even the imperial golden-threaded nanmu a hundred times over!!"
The courtyard erupted in a commotion, the disciples glanced at each other, no one expected that a small clinic could possess such a rare treasure!
Even Zhang Zhenlin unconsciously loosened his grip on the axe in his hand, his brows furrowed: "How could a small clinic have such a rare treasure? This doesn't make sense!"
Zhang Zhilong, indifferent, said: "It's not unreasonable, perhaps Chen Nan was lucky enough to find this treasure at an antique market."
Before his voice had faded, Zhang Qingxue's voice suddenly rang out: "Dad, there seems to be writing on the back of the plaque!"
Zhang Zhilong was stunned for a moment, then immediately placed the plaque on the ground, with the words "Health Care Hall" facing down and the back facing up.
"Qingyun Temple?" Upon seeing the words "Qingyun Temple" on the back of the plaque, Zhang Zhilong furrowed his brows again, full of suspicion: "Could this be the plaque from Qingyun Temple? How could the Qingyun Temple's plaque be in Chen Nan's hands?"
At this point, he suddenly shivered and screamed: "Oh shit!"
"Was Qingyun Temple wiped out by Chen Nan?"
Zhang Zhilong's voice carried a sense of shock, as if discovering some incredible secret.
"Could he be the one who fought Hu Ba on Luming Island recently?" Zhang Zhilong's voice trembled, as if speaking of a legendary mythical figure.
Upon these words, the scene exploded in an uproar, even Zhang Zhenlin's axe fell helplessly to the ground!
Being members of the Jianghu, they naturally knew that Qingyun Temple had been eradicated!
This incident caused a massive stir in the Jianghu at the time.
After all, the Temple Master Jingxu Zi was very powerful and was a disciple of the Grandmaster Hu Sandao!
Later, Hu Sandao, seeking justice for his disciple, even sent his chief disciple Hu Ba, who fought fiercely at Luming Lake!
But even though Hu Ba was a superlatively strong person, claiming invincibility below grandmaster level, he couldn't even injure the opponent!
Subsequently, during the fight, he broke through his constraints to become the ninth person in Jianghu to reach the Grandmaster Level!
It was thought that after becoming a grandmaster, he could defeat the opponent, but to everyone's surprise, even at the Grandmaster Level, he was defeated by Chen Nan, and returned in disgrace!
This event shocked the entire Jianghu, leaving everyone astounded!
Many began to hold a respectful fear for Chen Nan, but even those who personally went to Luming Island to witness the fight did not remember what Chen Nan looked like!
"So, the Chen Nan from the Health Care Hall is that super powerful person who crushed Hu Ba and reached the Grandmaster Realm a while back?" Zhang Zhenlin's mouth twitched, an inexplicable terror flashing in his eyes.
The courtyard fell into a dead silence, only the clear sound of Zhang Zhenlin's axe falling to the ground could be heard.
Everyone stood there in stunned silence as if struck by lightning, unable to recover for a long time!
