The naked threat, coupled with the murderous look in his eyes, was all taken in by Li Chonglou.
He immediately understood that this guy was not alone.
"What if I force you?" Li Chonglou asked, his expression unchanged.
Let alone someone like Zeng Qiang, even if a few more burly men showed up, he wouldn't bat an eye.
He could deal with them either verbally or physically; they could choose.
"Li Chonglou, don't think I don't know who you are." Zeng Qiang's eyes grew more ferocious, and he directly called out Li Chonglou's name.
After being scared away by Li Chonglou last time, he had spent a lot of money to have someone investigate him.
Just a son-in-law of a third-rate family.
He didn't know how he managed to get close to the Lu family, but it still didn't change the fact that he was looked down upon every day.
And recently, he heard that the Jiang family had gone bankrupt, and the Lu Group was also not doing well.
He was afraid of Li Chonglou not because of his identity, but because Li Chonglou possessed evidence of his crimes, holding a leverage over him.
If things really came to a head, he could simply make sure Li Chonglou could never speak again.
In his line of work, they wouldn't resort to murder unless absolutely necessary, as the consequences would be far greater than smuggling cultural relics.
But Li Chonglou's relentless pursuit and aggressive pressure had left him with no room to retreat.
"You investigated me?" Li Chonglou's eyes flashed with coldness.
The fact that Zeng Qiang dared to investigate him meant that he had also investigated Jiang Yuxin and his mother.
He himself didn't care, but his wife and mother had returned to Qin Zhou, and his senior sister couldn't look after them twenty-four hours a day.
If Zeng Qiang, in a cornered state, decided to cause trouble for them, it would be a tremendous nuisance.
He knew very well what kind of person Zeng Qiang was; he was best at low-class tactics.
He had to be wary.
"Scared now? If you're scared, then get lost!" Zeng Qiang, thinking Li Chonglou was hesitant, showed a hint of smugness and provocatively shouted, "I know who you are. We originally had no dealings, you go your way, and I'll go mine."
"But you insisted on provoking me. However, I'm a magnanimous person."
"As long as you don't have any intentions towards the Shi Qiang Pan, and you leave my sight now, we can still be at peace."
"Otherwise..."
His words were filled with blatant threats.
And he was using Li Chonglou's family as leverage.
This point undoubtedly touched Li Chonglou's bottom line.
He hated it most when people brought up his mother, yet Zeng Qiang had deliberately crossed that line.
Since that was the case, he couldn't let this tiger return to the mountains.
For a moment, the coldness in his eyes became palpable, and killing intent surged within him: "You're asking for death!"
"You're the one asking for death." Zeng Qiang, seeing Li Chonglou's expression change, felt even more triumphant, knowing he had found Li Chonglou's weakness, and deliberately shouted loudly.
Immediately, several middle-aged men dressed as farmers selling vegetables near the entrance of the residential area stood up.
They all wore masks and held cleavers, and they began to surround the two of them.
The security guards, realizing the situation was not good, quickly retreated indoors.
Other passersby also quickly moved away, fearing they might be accidentally injured by these men with cleavers.
In an instant, the atmosphere was filled with murderous intent.
Yet, no one took the initiative to call the police; they all watched from a distance, enjoying the spectacle.
As the saying goes, onlookers never find the show too big, and not meddling in other people's affairs is the principle of ordinary citizens.
Zhao Xiaogang, the owner of the pancake stall sitting in his car, his face pale with nervousness as he watched the crowd gather outside.
He quickly locked his car doors, as if that would make him safer.
As for Li Chonglou, he paid no attention to these people, his expression as usual, not even bothering to look at them.
Staring at Zeng Qiang, he said, "It seems I've returned just in time. If I had come a few days later, you would probably have made your move."
This scene, this lineup, was clearly aimed at Zhao Xiaogang.
Anyone with eyes could see that Zeng Qiang could no longer suppress his eagerness and intended to use force.
It was just unfortunate that he stumbled upon it by chance.
"You know too much, kid! Originally, you could have lived your life as a live-in son-in-law, just eating soft rice, but why did you have to provoke me?" Zeng Qiang's eyes were filled with ferocity as he gnashed his teeth and demanded, "You forced me into this, you know?"
"If it weren't for you, I would have already acquired that artifact."
"You've ruined my plans twice. If I let you walk away today, I won't be surnamed Zeng."
"Brothers, take care of him!"
This place had no surveillance cameras, and everyone was wearing masks, so unless someone knew them well, it would be impossible to recognize their true faces.
Therefore, they would go all out.
One of the "farmers" with a crooked collar and a limp raised his cleaver and slashed towards Li Chonglou.
There was no hesitation at all.
These people were all skilled tomb raiders and were not afraid of ghosts, let alone killing people.
It was common for them to shed blood for profit.
Li Chonglou had blocked their financial path, making him their mortal enemy.
*Pa!*
Almost simultaneously, Li Chonglou turned his head and glared at the person holding the cleaver, and at the same time, he raised his hand, striking before the opponent.
He slapped the man fiercely across the face.
The immense force, unreserved, sent the man and the cleaver tumbling several somersaults in mid-air before crashing to the ground with a *thud*.
Two front teeth, along with blood, were spat out of his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot, and he lay twitching on the ground, unable to get up.
He showed no mercy to these criminals involved in tomb raiding and smuggling.
Not killing him with a single slap was already an act of mercy.
"I'll f*** your mother!" The others, seeing their companion beaten, roared curses.
They attacked in unison, intending to hack Li Chonglou into mincemeat with their cleavers.
The skills of these men were not bad either.
Although they were far inferior to the likes of Ayuo Qubi, they were still several times stronger than ordinary people. If Li Chonglou had not practiced the techniques from the sheepskin scroll, he would surely have suffered a great loss today.
As the saying goes, no matter how high your skill, you can't withstand a cleaver.
Let alone so many people.
But reality was not so simple. Li Chonglou was not an ordinary person. Ever since his techniques from the sheepskin scroll broke through to the second level, he could no longer be strictly considered a martial artist.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it cultivation.
With a slight concentration, the world in his eyes appeared to be in slow motion.
He could clearly see the muscles on the trembling half-faces of these people, and the trajectory of their cleavers was predicted by his subconscious.
With a slight sidestep, without any grand movements, he caused several cleavers to miss their mark simultaneously.
Then, with unhurried grace, he walked towards Zeng Qiang.
"Impossible, haven't you guys eaten? Take him down!" Zeng Qiang's eyes bulged, he couldn't believe what he was seeing and shouted menacingly.
Those men, having missed their strike, were shocked.
They only reacted after being yelled at.
Just as they were about to strike again, their vision blurred.
A large foot landed directly on their faces.
Several of them, regardless of who was in front or behind, were sent flying backward, crashing to the ground. Their nasal bones were directly shattered, and blood mixed with snot spurted out.
The pain rendered them unconscious.
Li Chonglou's movements were so fast that ordinary people couldn't see them clearly. Even some people filming with their phones captured only a blur.
The next moment, Li Chonglou was standing in front of Zeng Qiang.
He reached out his left hand and grabbed the hair on top of Zeng Qiang's head.
*Slap, slap, slap!*
With his right hand, he slapped Zeng Qiang's face as if swatting flies.
The force was not great, but the humiliation was immense.
With each slap, Zeng Qiang's dignity was ruthlessly ground into the dirt, crushed and torn apart.
He was slapped so hard that his pupils dilated, and he stood there stunned.
However, he was someone who would stoop to being a beggar for treasure, so he only had pride, not dignity.
After being slapped four times in a row, he finally came to his senses.
His eyes were filled with panic, and enduring the stinging pain of his hair being pulled, his expression changed as he pleaded for mercy: "I was wrong... I was wrong, Grandpa..."
"Let me go, we'll stay out of each other's way from now on, and I'll definitely take a detour when I see you."
As he spoke, he clasped his hands together in a gesture of supplication.
There was no other way; he knew he had underestimated Li Chonglou.
This was no useless son-in-law, but a violent maniac.
His companions who were holding cleavers were all taken down in the blink of an eye, which was unbelievable.
With all of them defeated, what use was he?
If he didn't beg for mercy now, he was dead.
"Able to bend and stretch, a true man." Li Chonglou's eyes were neither happy nor sad; he stopped slapping Zeng Qiang's face.
He gently pulled up Zeng Qiang's right hand and glanced at it: "These hands have smuggled many cultural relics abroad, haven't they?"
"To put it nicely, it's smuggling cultural relics; to put it crudely, it's selling out the country."
As Li Chonglou held his hand, Zeng Qiang's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes filled with fear: "You... what do you want to do..."
"Ah..."
Before he could finish speaking, a scream echoed through the entrance of the residential area.
It drowned out the crisp sound of bone cracking.
His hand was crushed into pieces in his palm by Li Chonglou.
A comminuted fracture was not enough to describe the severity of Zeng Qiang's hand injury; it should be called a pulverized fracture.
No matter how sophisticated the medical technology, it could not save his hand.
But this was not the end.
Just then, his other hand was treated the same way by Li Chonglou.
It was directly crushed into a pulp.
Only then did he release Zeng Qiang's hair, allowing the terrified and contorted Zeng Qiang to collapse on the ground, his body twisted.
Every finger was connected to his heart; it was unimaginable how much pain that caused, yet it didn't make him faint.
Instead, it made him suffer constant pain.
From now on, he would never be able to appraise antiques with these hands.
Murder merits death, and Li Chonglou was not about to risk his own life for such a scumbag.
However, self-defense did not require such caution.
With so many pairs of eyes watching, Zeng Qiang had ordered his subordinates to attack him with cleavers, and he had merely accidentally injured Zeng Qiang's two hands in a moment of excitement.
To deal with dirty people, one must use dirtier tactics.
"If I see you again, it will be your two legs," Li Chonglou said, then turned to leave.
He walked back to his car and pulled the handle, only to find it locked.
He knocked on the car window. Zhao Xiaogang finally came to his senses and unlocked the door from the inside.
The security guards dared not stop this formidable figure and immediately opened the gate to let the car through.
As for Zeng Qiang and his companions, they didn't even dare to report to the police. They helped each other up, scrambling away in a state of panic.
"Boss... you're too ruthless," Zhao Xiaogang said from inside the car, giving a thumbs-up, his forehead covered in a cold sweat.
Zeng Qiang had almost driven him to a nervous breakdown, and he still didn't know that Zeng Qiang had ambushed him and planned to use force against him.
He only saw Li Chonglou quickly subdue all these people.
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
Fortunately, Li Chonglou was not his enemy; otherwise, he would have been dead for sure.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had decisively transferred the Shi Qiang Pan to Li Chonglou, not only receiving ten million but also avoiding this immense trouble.
After bringing him home and wrapping the Shi Qiang Pan in something before handing it over to Li Chonglou,
He tightly locked the main door.
Li Chonglou drove away with the item, his heart filled with joy.
This national treasure had finally been obtained. Of course, he would not give it to Zeng Wang directly, but would store it in his museum.
If Zeng Wang ever mistreated the national treasure, he would not hesitate to retrieve it.
With the major task completed during this trip back to Qin Zhou, it was time to go home and see his mother and wife.
Then, he would pay his respects to his master!