Chapter 2: Get Ready to Die!

Qin Tian said nothing. His eyes were fixed on Qin Yuanming.

His grandfather had grown thin and old. The vigorous, imposing head of the Qin family he remembered was now little more than skin and bones, covered in dust, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth.

Pain clenched Qin Tian’s heart so fiercely that he could barely breathe.

“Grandpa!”

With a low cry, he appeared at Qin Yuanming’s side almost instantly and bent to help him up. At the same time, he discreetly placed his right hand on the old man’s wrist. In an instant, he assessed the injuries.

Thankfully, they were external. His internal organs were unharmed.

Qin Yuanming cupped Qin Tian’s face in trembling hands, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Good, good. You’re alive. Heaven has shown us mercy!”

Qin Tian fought back tears and gripped his grandfather’s bony hands. “Grandpa, I’ve been a terrible grandson. I came back too late.”

“No… it isn’t too late…”

Suddenly remembering something, Qin Yuanming shoved him away. “Xiaotian, run! They’re from the Heavenly Wolf Gang. You can’t fight them. Go!”

“Run?”

Liu Dongsheng had recovered from his shock. He sneered and looked Qin Tian up and down with his triangular eyes. “Well, well. One little bastard from the Qin family survived after all. You’ve been hiding for five years, Qin Tian. Why couldn’t you stay hidden? You actually came back to die?”

He swaggered forward, pulled a sheet of paper from his coat, and threw it on the ground.

“Second Young Master Qin, your grandfather’s too old and muddleheaded to understand the situation, but I’ll bet you’re smarter than that. It’s the transfer contract for the Qin ancestral home. Sign it.”

Qin Tian glanced at the paper drifting down before him. His gaze sharpened.

The next instant, the contract shattered into countless scraps that scattered on the wind.

Liu Dongsheng’s smile froze. Looking into Qin Tian’s cold, merciless eyes, he felt a suffocating sense of death wash over him and stumbled backward.

Then he came to his senses, furious at his own fear. “You little bastard, trying to do magic tricks on me? Damn it! Get him! Beat him to death!”

“Yes, Brother Dongsheng!” the three gang members answered. They exchanged a glance and lunged at Qin Tian together.

Qin Yuanming’s face changed. “Stop! Liu Dongsheng, call them off! I’ll sign it! Isn’t that enough? Please, let Xiaotian go!”

Liu Dongsheng threw back his head and laughed. “Too late for regrets now, old man—”

Before he could finish, Qin Tian raised a hand and struck through the air.

A deafening boom rang out. All three men slammed into the ground, blood spraying everywhere. They convulsed twice, then lay still, their fates unknown.

Liu Dongsheng fell silent. He stood rooted to the spot, as if struck by lightning.

Qin Tian rose and walked slowly toward him. His steady footsteps rang out in the silent residence.

Liu Dongsheng shuddered. “Y-you’re a Grandmaster?”

He was far from stupid. The Second Young Master Qin who had vanished five years ago had just knocked three desperate gangsters to the ground with a palm strike from a distance. They might be dead. Qin Tian was unquestionably stronger than he was and had to be hiding a secret about those five years.

“What? A Grandmaster?” Qin Yuanming cried, finally grasping what had happened.

Though he wasn’t a martial artist himself, Qin Yuanming, a Qin family patriarch, knew the realms well. There were nine: Manifest Force, Hidden Force, Transformative Force, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, Acquired, Innate, Supreme Master, and Sovereign.

His grandson was a Grandmaster? In a small city like Jiangcheng, someone at that realm was a titan!

Liu Dongsheng forced a smile uglier than a grimace. “Second Young Master, it’s a misunderstanding! Xie Tianlang threatened me. I had no choice! My heart has always been with the Qin family!”

“A misunderstanding?” Qin Tian’s expression didn’t change. His voice was so calm it sent chills down the spine. “It didn’t look like one when you hurt my grandfather and threw that contract at my feet.”

“Please, Second Young Master, let me explain…”

Sweat streamed down Liu Dongsheng’s face. Still smiling ingratiatingly, he edged backward, his right hand creeping toward the short knife tucked behind his waist.

Qin Tian kept advancing. “Five years ago, my family fed you, clothed you, and gave you resources. You lived off us for three years. And today you brought men to steal our ancestral home.

“You beat a man over seventy years old.

“Tell me, how generous would I have to be to call that a misunderstanding?”

His voice turned icy on the last words. An invisible pressure spread outward, as though the air itself had been drawn away.

Liu Dongsheng’s chest tightened. His legs shook, and every cell in his body screamed at him to run.

Then the instinct to survive overcame his fear. “Die!”

He whipped out his knife and launched himself at Qin Tian, the gleaming blade aimed straight at his throat. He had practiced this strike for twenty years: fast, precise, and vicious. At least ten powerful fighters in Jiangcheng’s underworld had died by it.

Qin Tian’s expression remained unchanged. He didn’t even break stride.

Just as the blade was about to touch his neck, a metallic clang rang out. Liu Dongsheng’s killing strike stopped dead.

“No! Impossible! How?”

His face twisted as he desperately circulated his qi, but the knife wouldn’t budge. Qin Tian had casually caught the sharp blade between two slender fingers.

Without any visible effort, he snapped it in half. The force of the recoil split the web of Liu Dongsheng’s hand, and blood poured from the wound.

“H-how did you become so strong?” Liu Dongsheng’s voice shook with disbelief and terror.

Qin Tian dropped the broken blade. It clattered against the ground.

Liu Dongsheng flinched, his legs buckled, and he fell to his knees, sobbing. “Second Young Master, I… I was wrong. Please, don’t kill me! Xie Tianlang forced me to do it. I… I had no choice!”

“Don’t worry,” Qin Tian said without expression. “I’m not going to kill you now. I need you to take a message to Xie Tianlang.”

Liu Dongsheng’s face lit up. He knocked his forehead against the ground. “Whatever you say, Second Young Master! I’ll deliver every word exactly!”

Qin Tian narrowed his eyes, murderous intent rising in them. “Go back and tell Xie Tianlang the Qin ancestral home is beyond his reach. Tell him to get ready to die and wait for me.”

Silence fell over the residence.

Liu Dongsheng’s cheeks twitched. Had he heard that right? Get ready to die and wait?

Xie Tianlang was the leader of the Heavenly Wolf Gang, a genuine Grandmaster. Was this boy insane?

Recovering himself, Liu Dongsheng nodded repeatedly. “Yes, Second Young Master! I’ll make sure he hears it!”

Qin Tian nodded, bent down, and helped him to his feet. Then he gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

“Go on. After all… you only have half an hour.”

“Huh?” Liu Dongsheng frowned in confusion. “Second Young Master, what do you mean?”