Chapter 77: Seeking Revenge
An uproar swept through the crowd. This kid clearly had a death wish. He Yama had finally offered to let him go, and he'd just thrown the gesture back in his face.
He even retorted with a taunt aimed at the He Family.
He Wanyong could feel his composure slipping. This kid was so ungrateful. He had to teach him a lesson today, no matter what. Even the faction backing the boy wouldn't find fault with him for it.
He roared, "You insolent whelp!"
He moved to personally teach a lesson to this boy who didn't know his place.
Chen Dong remained perfectly still as He Wanyong lunged at him.
A contemptuous smirk touched his lips. "Drop!"
The word was like a magic spell. He Wanyong staggered to a halt. Then, one by one, the members of the He Family collapsed.
Their faces contorted, their lips turned purple, and dark, purplish-blue veins began to crawl across their cheeks.
It was instantly clear to all the arriving guests: the He Family had been poisoned.
He Wanyong's eyes blazed with fury. He snarled, "I was being more than generous with you, you little bastard, yet you resorted to such a vicious poison! Are you trying to wipe out my entire He Family?"
Chen Dong spread his hands. "This wasn't my doing. You're blaming the wrong person. However, in ten minutes at most, there won't be a single person left alive in your He Family. Oh, wait—perhaps only you will be left. Or maybe two of you. And even you will only last twenty minutes, tops."
At this point, He Wanyong wasn't about to believe any of Chen Dong's crap. He was already convinced Chen Dong was the poisoner and roared, "Hand over the antidote!"
"I already told you it wasn't me. But even if I *could* cure you... why would I give the He Family an antidote?"
Tributor Zhao, who had just arrived, spoke up. "I must ask Your Excellency to provide the antidote. The He Family has no quarrel with you. There's no need to be so ruthless."
More and more guests were arriving. The Yang Family was now present, staring in shock at Chen Dong. A few other Grandmasters had also reached the scene, their faces a mixture of shock and confusion.
Chen Dong said haughtily, "You beat my father-in-law to a pulp and tried to kill him, and you say we have no quarrel? My father-in-law didn't poison you, and neither did I. The He Family falsely accusing us—that's a quarrel in itself!"
The poison in his system was already active, its effects intensifying with every passing second. He Wanyong had no desire to waste any more time bickering with Chen Dong. All he wanted was to capture him and force him to hand over the antidote.
Forcibly suppressing the poison with his True Qi, he lunged at Chen Dong, his hand a vicious claw aimed straight for the boy's neck. He was determined to incapacitate Chen Dong in a single move.
Chen Dong casually tilted his head, dodging the attack. "Still trying to fight? Aren't you afraid that'll just make you die faster?"
He Wanyong paid him no heed. He switched tactics, his claw-hand now swiping horizontally at the top of Chen Dong's head.
Chen Dong raised his arm, blocked the strike, and pressed forward, slamming his body hard into He Wanyong's. He Wanyong stumbled back five or six steps, crashing through a table and chairs behind him. Fruit platters and pastries scattered across the floor.
A collective gasp went through the crowd as He Wanyong was forced back!
A Grandmaster Wang and a Grandmaster Qian, who had arrived together, had just pieced together the situation. Upon seeing this, they began to discuss it.
"This kid is something else!"
"I agree. Patriarch He may not have activated his Heavenly Dipper, and he has to divert some of his True Qi to suppress the poison, but he should still be able to use about half his strength. The fact that he was bested in a single exchange shows that this boy is already a powerhouse among Grandmasters."
Seeing that he couldn't take down Chen Dong in a single move and was unable to use his full power, He Wanyong called out, "I ask my fellow Grandmasters to lend me a hand in capturing this boy. I will be sure to reward you generously afterward!"
There were eight Grandmasters in attendance. After a moment's consideration, five of them leaped into the fray. The three who remained were the same martial siblings Chen Dong had encountered when he killed Sun Yuanjing.
In an instant, the He Family's three Grandmasters, along with He Wanyong himself and the five who had just joined, formed a nine-person circle around Chen Dong.
The junior sister of the trio, a young woman named Zhu Ran, was known for being spoiled, willful, and arrogant. She had insisted on tagging along with her senior brother, Kang Ming, and was now watching the extraordinary scene unfold with giddy excitement.
"Senior Brother, do you think that arrogant brat can beat them?"
Kang Ming shook his head. "No chance. Even if he's a true Heavenly Dipper Grandmaster, he can't possibly defeat nine Grandmasters working in concert. If it were a gauntlet-style battle where he could fight them one by one and had time to replenish his True Qi, then maybe he'd have a shot."
Zhu Ran's eyes sparkled. "Hurry up and fight!" she yelled excitedly. "It'd be best if they just killed him! That's what he gets for daring to ignore you, Senior Brother!"
Kang Ming, however, just shook his head. "Things have progressed to the point where we have to intervene. We can't let them fight. It'll be difficult to explain when we return otherwise."
As he said this, he took a single step and appeared in the space between the two groups.
"I ask you all to stand down!"
He Wanyong's heart jolted. Another young expert he didn't recognize had just appeared out of nowhere. An ordinary Grandmaster would be completely incapable of taking a step like that.
Suppressing his shock, He Wanyong asked, "And who might you be?"
The righteous air on Kang Ming's face vanished, replaced by a sinister gloom. "The one who has come to take the lives of your He Family!"
The moment this man stepped forward, Chen Dong calmly folded his arms, preparing to enjoy the show. He could smell it on him—the same poison that was afflicting the He Family.
He Wanyong's heart began to pound in his chest. 'It's true what they say: when it rains, it pours. Another one has come to cause trouble for the He Family.'
But as He Wanyong looked at the man a moment longer, a flicker of recognition appeared in his eyes. He seemed to remember something and said in horror, "It's... you?"
Kang Ming's eyes narrowed, and he let out a sharp, grating laugh. "Hahahaha! So you do remember. That's good. I was worried you might have forgotten and I'd have to remind you!"
Then he bellowed to the crowd, "This is a personal grudge between myself and the He Family. I ask that you all refrain from interfering!"