Returning after 10000 Years Cultivation - Chapter 144

In his past life, Jiang Tian had been a nobody, powerless to do anything but watch his prosperous family fall apart and be destroyed.

In this life, Jiang Tian had returned with overwhelming power, and he would absolutely not allow such a tragedy to happen again.

All those vile creatures who coveted the Jiang family deserved to die, every last one of them!

“Jiang Tian, you…”

Zhao Xueqing’s face paled with shock. She could feel a terrifying killing intent radiating from Jiang Tian.

Normally, Jiang Tian was calm and serene; even when facing formidable enemies, he remained unruffled, as steady as Mount Tai.

She had only felt this kind of dreadful murderous aura from him once before—when Li Pengtao had harassed her.

This was the second time.

“I’m fine…”

Jiang Tian reined in the deep-seated killing intent and gave Zhao Xueqing a gentle smile. “Is the luggage packed?”

“All packed. There are the Bafu bracelets for Grandpa and Mom and Dad, the elixirs, the tonics…” Zhao Xueqing listed them off one by one.

“Good, let’s set off then!” Jiang Tian nodded calmly, but inwardly, he was burning with impatience.

Truth be told, Jiang Tian had wanted to return to Qixia County much earlier. But before Jiangnan was secure, with that old fox Wei Shuofeng still lurking, he couldn’t rest easy.

Moreover, he hadn’t yet broken through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement himself, so he had forced himself to wait a few more months.

It had been a full ten thousand years since he’d last seen them!

Just thinking about his parents intensified the guilt and longing in Jiang Tian’s heart—emotions that had tormented him for ten thousand years.

Right now, Jiang Tian wished he could instantly teleport to his parents’ side.

When they were about to leave, Jiang Tian wanted to drive the Rolls-Royce Phantom, but Zhao Xueqing stopped him. “Mom has always worried about us spending money recklessly. If we show up in this, she’ll definitely hit the roof!”

“Hmm, Qing’er has a point. Let’s take your Chevrolet then!” Jiang Tian nodded.

Gui Jiaoti and Shen Mange loaded all the gifts Jiang Tian was bringing into the trunk. Then they asked, “Master, Mistress, shall we accompany you?”

“Gui Jiaoti, you stay and guard the house. Mange, you come with us!” Jiang Tian replied with a faint smile.

The Spirit Gathering Array contained many rare treasures from heaven and earth. If powerful individuals discovered it, they would surely covet it. It was better to leave Gui Jiaoti behind.

Afterward, Shen Mange drove, while Jiang Tian and Zhao Xueqing sat hand-in-hand in the back seat, heading towards Qixia County.

Lingnan was located in southern China, while Jinling belonged to Jiangsu Province on the eastern coast. The journey crossed through Jiangxi and Anhui provinces, covering over a thousand kilometers.

They traveled intermittently, and it wasn’t until the evening of the next day that the Chevrolet finally arrived at the Qixia County highway exit.

On the way, they received a call from Xiao Sun, his father’s driver, offering to send a car to pick them up.

Jiang Tian politely declined, “Brother Sun, it’s fine. I have my own car. Don’t worry about it!”

As they exited the highway, a Porsche Cayenne was parked by the roadside.

A tall, lanky young man in a leather jacket stood lazily beside the car. When he saw Jiang Tian’s car approaching, he waved vigorously.

Shen Mange stopped the car. Just as Jiang Tian got out, the young man rushed over quickly.

“Jiang Tian, you traitor!”

The young man gave Jiang Tian a tight hug, then thumped him hard on the chest with a fist. His eyes were red as he glared at Jiang Tian, roaring furiously, “I’m going to kill you! Where the hell have you been for three years? I’ve been looking for you for three years!”

Zhao Xueqing and Shen Mange were astonished.

They hadn’t expected the young man, who had just tearfully hugged Jiang Tian so warmly, to suddenly start throwing punches in the next moment!

Looking at the furious young man, Jiang Tian sighed inwardly, “Zhen Shuai, oh Zhen Shuai, it wasn’t just Linzhou I went to… I spent ten thousand years roaming the extraterrestrial stars!”

“Alright, Zhen Shuai, Jiang Tian’s circumstances are different now. It wasn’t convenient for him to come back before!” A mature, steady-looking young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses got out of a Volkswagen Golf nearby and tried to calm things down.

“What’s there to be afraid of? At least in Qixia County, this is our turf!”

Zhen Shuai brushed it off disdainfully, then shouted angrily, “I heard that bastard threatened to deal with you! Back then, I even took a knife and went to the hospital he was staying in, but unfortunately, he got away! Otherwise, I would’ve killed him! Did you really need to hide from him? I’m telling you, in Qixia County, who would dare mess with you!”

Memories came flooding back.

Zhen Shuai’s father was the County Public Security Bureau Chief. The mature, steady young man was Tan Guangxu; his father was also a minor official in the county. After graduation, Tan Guangxu had become a civil servant in the county government, working under Jiang Tian’s father.

Throughout his childhood and teenage years, before high school, Zhen Shuai and Tan Guangxu, who all lived in the County Government Compound, were Jiang Tian’s closest friends and partners-in-crime.

Before age five: stealing sunflowers from the kindergarten together; spitting on passersby from upstairs for fun.

Elementary school: these precocious ruffians watched risqué videos together, threw bricks into the teachers’ septic tank, climbed windows to peek into the girls’ shower room.

Middle school: they skipped class to go to the arcade and play “The King of Fighters,” got their parents called in by the teacher, stood punishment together…

High school: a dozen kids from the County Government Compound fought against a hundred from the County Party Committee Compound, brandishing knives and chasing their opponents down an entire street, winning against the odds.

“Out of all of us, I’m the most useless. Standing next to you guys, I feel ashamed of myself…” Jiang Tian said with a light sigh.

This had been the real sentiment of his past self during that time. Although he was a ruffian, he valued loyalty and didn’t want to drag his brothers down.

“Bullshit! Saying that means you don’t consider us brothers!”

Tears streamed down Zhen Shuai’s face as he pointed at Jiang Tian and yelled, “No matter how big the trouble, couldn’t the few of us handle it together? But you left Qixia without a word, without even leaving a phone number! Where were we supposed to find you?”

Jiang Tian remained silent, but a warm current surged in his heart.

“Zhen Shuai, don’t be angry.”

Zhao Xueqing stepped forward and said, “Actually, Jiang Tian never forgot you. He often talked about you guys to me… He wanted to make something of himself first before coming back to find you…”

“Was that necessary?”

Zhen Shuai suddenly turned and glared angrily at Zhao Xueqing. He was so upset he was lashing out at everyone. “Do we need him to prove anything to us? Even if he were a murderer, the three of us would fight for him, yell for him—at worst, we’d go to jail with him! If he were an addict, the three of us would supply him! If he were scum! The three of us would stand by his side and see who the hell dared say a word against him!”

Zhao Xueqing was momentarily stunned, unsure how to calm the furious Zhen Shuai.

Zhen Shuai glanced at Jiang Tian, pulled open the Porsche Cayenne’s door, plopped into the driver’s seat, and looked sidelong at Jiang Tian with a cold sneer. “You’re utterly boring, you know that?”

“You’re boring?” Jiang Tian retorted.

“You’re boring!” Zhen Shuai raised his voice a notch.

“You’re even more boring!”

Jiang Tian noticed the frost on Zhen Shuai’s face melting bit by bit, a slow smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He grinned, “You’re smiling! Smiling, I see it!”

“Who’s smiling at you!”

Zhen Shuai snapped coldly, but finally, he could no longer keep a straight face and let out a snorting laugh.

“Alright, buddy, don’t be mad!” Jiang Tian walked over to him and patted Zhen Shuai’s shoulder.

Tough as Zhen Shuai was, at this moment, he acted like a quarreling lover, shrugging off Jiang Tian’s hand in feigned anger. “Jiang Tian, don’t you touch me!”

“Alright, let’s go eat. I’ve reserved a restaurant to welcome Jiang Tian back!” Tan Guangxu checked the time and smiled.

The gathering was at the best hotel in Qixia County, the Qixia Hotel. It was only four stars, though. The decor was luxurious but had a strong nouveau riche vibe, nothing compared to Yangcheng, or even Linzhou.

Jiangsu’s economy had developed well in the 90s, but now it lagged far behind Lingnan and Zhonghai, not to mention Qixia was just a small county town.

Once everyone was seated, Zhen Shuai glanced at Shen Mange, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He clicked his tongue in admiration and said in a low voice, “Jiang Tian, looks like you’re doing pretty well in Linzhou! This secretary of yours is a real stunner! In our Qixia County, she’d definitely be the number one beauty!”

He gave a lecherous wink and chuckled, “During the day, the secretary works; at night, there’s no work, just the secretary!”

“Cut it out! Your sister-in-law is right here!”

Jiang Tian felt extremely awkward, afraid this guy would spill embarrassing stories about their past girl-chasing antics and ruin the shining image he had worked so hard to build in his beloved wife’s eyes.

Shen Mange, who was pouring tea for everyone, heard this and let out a light laugh. “Young Master Zhen, you’ve misunderstood. I am Young Master Jiang’s maidservant!”

“Maidservant…”

Hearing this archaic term, Zhen Shuai was stunned into disbelief.

Being a playboy himself, his mind immediately went to the gutter. He smirked and said, “Oh, a woman who ‘serves’ you at night, right? That kind of thing… you used to do that all the time back in Jinling!”

“Alright, alright, enough nonsense! Let’s eat and drink!” Jiang Tian broke out in a cold sweat. This guy really knew how to bring up the most inconvenient topics. He glanced at Zhao Xueqing, who merely smiled faintly without getting angry, and finally felt relieved.

Tan Guangxu, mature and steady, talked with Jiang Tian about his parents’ recent situation. But Zhen Shuai was all over the place, very talkative and holding nothing back.

“Jiang Tian, a while back, I successfully infiltrated the Jinling young master circle!”

Zhen Shuai, his face flushed from drinking, boasted, “I’ve even had drinks a few times with Sun Hao, one of the big young masters from Jinling! His business is huge! Compared to him, my little ventures are nothing!”

Zhen Shuai had a restless personality. He had previously served in the Armed Police. After leaving the service, instead of following his father’s arrangements to become a policeman, he started doing business in both Jinling and Qixia County.

He dabbled in whatever made money—earthwork, sand, hardware, pipes—a bit of this, a bit of that.

Hearing the name “Sun Hao,” Jiang Tian’s handsome face instantly darkened with frost. His fists clenched tightly, and with a crack, the glass in his hand shattered. Killing intent surged in his eyes.

In his previous life, it was the Sun family, one of the three great families, who forced the Yao Wang Group into bankruptcy. Moreover, the car accident his mother had on the highway might have been orchestrated by Sun Hao himself.

This hatred had tormented Jiang Tian for ten thousand years, haunting him countless times, filling him with overwhelming resentment and planting a deep-seated inner demon.

In this life, since I’ve returned, I will definitely strike you down until life is worse than death, until your family is destroyed and ruined.