Novel Square
Chapter 30
Chapter 30 Iron Sand Palm
William didn’t head home Instead, he remained at the square to open up the second meridians on his arms because the place was spacious and there wasn’t anyone else.
And it wasn’t until 5.00AM the next day when the sun had just begun to rise that he returned home.
Melisenna had already awoken at this point and was making breakfast.
Meanwhile, William was brushing his teeth when he found Gwendolyn coming out of her room to answer
a call. However, she turned grim very quickly. “Where? Alright, I’m coming over now!”
At that, William’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?”
“Grandpa’s seriously injured,” the young woman bawled.
“Where is he at?” William asked, to which Gwendolyn said, “At Kreim. My dad’s already on his way.”
“Get your things. We’re going as well,” he said.
“But my dad won’t let me go,” said the young woman while wiping her tears away. “He said to wait until it’s
William narrowed his eyes at that. Looks like things are much crazier than I thought. At that, he reassured her. It’s fine. I’ll go with you. Come on!”
With that, they headed off to Kreim in Gwendolyn’s Audi S5.
“So, what happened? Are you really clueless about it?” he asked.
“Now that you mention it,” Gwendolyn revealed after a moment of pondering. “I think I remember something. We would move from time to time when I was little, and Grandpa changed his name a few times. Even my dad changed his name twice.”
“So, they’ve been running away from someone?” William asked, to which Gwendolyn shook her head in response. I’m not sure. All I remember is that Grandpa would force me to practice martial arts when I was little. I actually didn’t like it in the beginning, but with time, I got used to it.
Then, William fell silent for a moment before turning to the young woman.
Give your dad a call. Find out what injury exactly it is your grandfather’s suffering from. Tell him I can treat it.”
Gwendolyn nodded firmly at that and dialed a number. Instantly, an authoritative–sounding middle–aged man’s voice came from the speaker. “Don’t worry about it, Gwen. I’m already looking after your grandpa.”
“Dad,” the young woman interjected. “How serious is Grandpa’s injury?”
“He was struck down by a palm,” said the middle–aged man. Tm thinking of a way to treat him now.”
“What palm are we talking about?” Gwen asked at once.
“The Iron Sand Palm. The man sighed after a moment’s silence.
William heard the conversation loud and clear, so he gave a prescription right then, then told the man to note it down and get the faedication ready at once.
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Chapter 30 Iron Sand Palm
“Who’s this?” asked the man on the other end of the line.
“He’s William, Dad, Gwendolyn said at once. “He’s the one who saved Grandpa and me.”
“Mr. Barrett, is that really you?” asked the middle–aged man. “I have heard a lot about you. Can your prescription save my father?”
“I can only arrive in Kreim in another two hours. You have to find all the medicinal herbs I mentioned in half an hour, muddle them into a paste, and apply it to Old Mr. Zuch’s chest. Wait for me to get there before you do anything else,” William instructed, and the man thanked him at once. “Alright! Thank you, Mr. Barrett. We’ll be awaiting your arrival!”
After ending the call. Gwendolyn turned to William, asking. I’ve heard about this Iron Sand Palm, and word is that the force of the palm contains poison. Is it true?”
“It’s not poison per se, but a kind of terrifying Qi energy with intense penetrating power. One gentle palm strike is enough to crush the heart. Your grandfather’s injury is dire. If he’s not given medical attention, he won’t last for half an hour.”
Alas, tears rolled down the young woman’s cheeks like a never–ending waterfall after she heard William’s words. “Does Grandpa still have a chance?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll be fine,” William reassured her. “I happen to know the moves of this Iron Sand Palm, and I’m actually preparing to learn the technique as of late. But who’d have thought we’d stumble upon it?”
“Do you think the person who injured my grandpa is a Qi State master?” Gwendolyn asked:
“He must be,” William affirmed. “A person can’t master the Iron Sand Palm without Qi, or his hand would be busted after a few days of training.”
As they were pressing for time, William sped through traffic at breakneck speed, driving at 110 miles per hour. This was only possible because of his superhuman senses, or he could never have been able to maintain at such a speed.
As a result, the originally two–hour drive ended up becoming half an hour, and they pulled the car up in front of an ordinary–looking residence after entering an alleyway
The door was wide open, and two middle–aged men approached the pair as soon as the latter entered. One of them, the one who looked authoritative, shook William’s hand at once. “I’m Cooper Zuch, Mr. Barrett, and this is my younger brother, Jordan Zuch.”
“Where is he?” William cut to the chase after a quick greeting nod.
“Inside.” The two men hurriedly led William to Walter, who was lying on the couch in the middle of the room. Though the elder was wide awake, he was frail, and his face was terribly pallid.
At the sight of William, he forced a smile and said, “I hadn’t wanted to trouble you, Mr. Barrett. Alas, you still came.”
After telling the elder not to speak anymore, William lifted Walter’s shirt to find a black–green bruise in the shape of a palm slightly beneath his chest. On top of the bruise was a layer of medicinal herb paste. Cooper had done exactly as William instructed.
Then, the young man read Walter’s pulse before using his vision to check the elder’s internal injuries. It was then that he discovered many muscle fibers in Walter’s heart had tom from the impact. If it weren’t
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that the elder was hanging onto dear life using Qi coupled with the medicinal herbs, he’d long be dead.
Can you save him, Mr. Barrett? Cooper asked anxiously
William nodded in response. It’s difficult but not impossible. It’ll just take time.”
With the, he pulled his golden needles out and pierced them around Walter’s heart. Very quickly, the elder’s beanbeat slowed down, pumping about a dozen times per minute.
Followingly, he prescribed a new medicine and asked Jordan to prepare at once while he asked Cooper to follow him out. “His cardiac muscles are torn. The injury is very serious; I can only do my best. It’s all up to Old Mr. Zuch now to make it through this,
To that, Cooper sighed and bowed. “Please do whatever you can, Mr. Barrett.”
Do we know who did this?” William asked, leading Cooper to smile wryly. “I shall not hide it from you since you’ve asked”
It turned out that Walter loved martial arts when he was younger and would ask masters of various martial arts to teach him. Just like that, he became a renowned master of martial arts with many disciples before reaching thirty
One day, a man named Aurelius John went to Walter and asked to spar. Young and full of beans, Walter wounded Aurelius severely using concealed bursts of energy. In the end, Aurelius died three days after returning home. He had a sori named Kyle, who was barely an adult when the incident happened.
Filled with hatred, Kyle swore to get even. Hence, he went into the mountains to learn the Iron Sand Palm from a master. As he was gifted in martial arts, he managed to master the Iron Sand Palm within five years. With that, he left the mountain to avenge his father.
As Walter received the news in advance, he fled his hometown and took his family with him, after which he changed his name and lived a life away from his hometown since then. While Walter had been hiding and running away, Kyle’s fame only grew by the day. Now, thirty–plus years later, Kyle became a Qi State master who took in many disciples. But he never stopped searching for Walter.
Despite being super low–key, the Zuches were still found, and the assassin incident was Kyle’s attempt to learn about Walter’s abilities in secret
This time, he finally personally showed up and wounded Walter gravely. Not only that, he even vowed to annihilate the entire Zuch Family, sparing no one.
William couldn’t help frowning in response. “This man is too merciless. Why wipe out an entire family when he has already avenged his father?” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“His hatred for us has become too deeply rooted.” Cooper smiled wryly. “That’s why I don’t want Gwen to be here. I don’t want her to get dragged into this. I’m also done running away, having been doing it for decades. It’s time we put an end to this. Between you and me, I’ve already sought help from a few masters.”
“Looks like there’s really no way of sorting this out peacefully.” William nodded. “It’ll be a fight to the
death”
Cooper nodded in agreement. “There’s no turning back now. We can only fight to the death.”
At that, he pleaded seriously, “Mr. Barrette, if we die, please take care of Gwen for us.”
Chapter 30 Iron Sand Palmy
“No need to be so down in the dumps, encouraged William. “We don’t know for certain yet.”
However, Cooper continued to sigh. “Word is that Kyle also asked a few masters to join his league. This will be a bloody battle that I don’t think we’ll win.”
William sighed under his breath as well. There weren’t definite rights or wrongs when it came to such fends, and an outsider like him couldn’t do much about it either.
Very quickly, Jordan returned with the medicine, and William focused on treating Walter. In fact, he even used the Ultimate Resurrection Needle, which was very Qi–consuming, Couplerl with the rare medicinal herbs. Walter was finally out of danger for now,
Worn out by the end of the treatment, William sat down aside and meditated. By the time he opened his eyes again, the skies were already dark.
Gwendolyn had been staying by his side the whole time, and seeing that he had returned to reality, she offered some assistance. “I’ll get you some food.”
William nodded at that. He was indeed feeling a little hungry.
Walter’s condition had become much stabler at this point, and as long as he could make it through the next three days, there wouldn’t be anything they had to worry about.
The Zuch brothers were nowhere to be found, and William figured they had gone to deal with the issue. Now, there was only him, Gwendolyn, and Walter in the house.
Very quickly, the young woman returned with some simple food, which William gobbled down. After he was done, he asked, “What’s the situation now?”
“My dad asked a reputable martial artist to step in and mediate. We still don’t know what’s the result, Gwendolyn said, to which William asked, “Is this Kyle John so famous?”
The young woman nodded in affirmation. “Word is that he’s a rather famous master in Northedge, and because his Iron Sand Palm precedes him, he took in many students and opened many dojos. He is now the chairman of Iron Sand Corporation and has over billions worth of assets.”
William shook his head in response. “For a man with such a high status, he sure doesn’t spare anyone
mercy.”
To that, Gwendolyn said, “Rumor has it that he’s very bad–tempered and had once beaten his own son to death.”
“You guys will have to keep your eyes peeled, then,” William cautioned. “It’s likely the mediation will be a failure.”
Just then, a series of noises came at the main door. Cooper had returned. His left arm was drooped, though, no doubt injured.
“Dad, what happened to your arm?!” Gwendolyn exclaimed in shock while Cooper’s face was enveloped in malice. “I’ve already gone down on my knees to beg, yet they still want to kill us all. Gwen, run away with Mr. Barrett now. Hurry!”
“No! If we’re going to die, we’re going to die together!” Gwendolyn shook her head.
“Nonsense! You’ll only die for nothing if you stay. Liten to me. Live!” the man beseeched, his eyes
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bloodshot.
However, she wouldn’t leave, no matter what, just bawling her eyes out.
William, on the other hand, was troubled as well. He couldn’t leave just like that when his patient still needed him.
After a moment of silence, he asked Gwendolyn a question no one expected. “Gwen, do you have a boyfriend?”
Naturally, the young woman was stumped. “No.”
To that, William nodded. “In that case, from now on, you’re my girlfriend, and as your boyfriend, I can’t sit back and do nothing when your family is in trouble.”
“Mr. Barrett, you Cooper was delighted.
“Mr. Zuch, please, call me William,” said the young man plainly.
At that, Cooper took a deep breath and said, “You really don’t have to do this, William. Kyle is a powerful foe. I don’t want anyone else to be dragged into this.”
“I’m no outsider now.” At that, William looked at Gwendolyn. “Am I?”
To that, Gwendolyn nodded firmly while biting her lip before throwing herself into William’s arms.
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