Langya Aristocratic Family

At these words, a vicious glint flashed through the lean man's eyes.

Clenching his teeth, he squeezed out a cold sneer from between them: "Mu Bai, we admit we underestimated you, but do you have any idea what kind of power the families behind us wield?"

"It's beyond your imagination! Even if you're a Grandmaster of Martial Arts, you absolutely cannot withstand the retaliation of the Langya Aristocratic Family!"

"I advise you to let us go back. Let's pretend none of this ever happened."

"Moreover, there's no saying we can't find opportunities to cooperate in the future!"

"But if you dare kill us here, the Langya Aristocratic Family will never let you off. They'll slaughter every last chicken and dog in your Carefree Prince's Estate!"

The moment his words fell, a blur like lightning streaked across the space.

Before he could react, Mu Bai's figure had already appeared before the lean man like a ghost.

Mu Bai reached out his right hand, clamping down on the lean man's throat like a steel vise, then suddenly exerted force with his arm, lifting the entire man off the ground!

The lean man's face flushed from purple to a liverish hue, his limbs flailing wildly as if all strength had been drained from them.

Each struggle was accompanied by excruciating pain and suffocation, forcing gurgling sounds from his throat—sounds like the death rattle of a dying man, enough to make anyone's skin crawl.

His terrified eyes met Mu Bai's murderous gaze. What kind of eyes were those!

Cold, merciless, as if he faced not a man but a demon from hell.

For Mu Bai, the family of this life was his reverse scale, the bottom line he could never allow to be touched.

In his previous life, Mu Bai had been a lonely orphan, scraping through his studies with the help of kind-hearted people before finally becoming an online novelist.

Though he found some solace in the world of words, he had never truly experienced the warmth of family.

Thus, in this life, Mu Bai cherished his family all the more—they were the most important people in his existence.

"You threatened the wrong person..." Mu Bai's voice was eerily calm as his fingers tightened slightly, strands of true qi gathering at his fingertips like lightning.

In the blink of an eye, that true qi pierced straight into the lean man's throat like a sharp dagger.

The lean man's eyes flew wide open, his pupils contracting sharply as boundless terror spilled from his gaze.

He seemed utterly unable to believe that even invoking the name of the Langya Aristocratic Family couldn't save him from death.

His throat was instantly crushed by Mu Bai's true qi, blood spurting out like a fountain, splattering onto the ground and forming a horrifying pool of gore.

The next second, the light faded from the lean man's eyes, his body ceased all breathing, and he collapsed limply to the ground, all life extinguished.

After killing the lean man, Mu Bai stared expressionlessly at the corpse before him, his face utterly blank, as if he had merely crushed an insignificant ant.

He casually kicked the lean man's body aside, the dull thud of impact against the ground sending chills down the spine.

Mu Bai's gaze slowly shifted to the burly man, his eyes brimming with killing intent like a ferocious beast ready to tear apart its prey.

Yet in stark contrast to that icy stare, the corner of his mouth curled up slightly, letting out a contemptuous chuckle.

"Now there's only you left," Mu Bai said, his voice cold and flat. "No one's fighting you for this chance to live. But from the look of it, you don't seem to value the opportunity. What, do you want to end up like him?" His words carried a hint of murderous intent.

The burly man's legs went weak from Mu Bai's oppressive aura, unable to support him at all.

His body trembling, he scrambled and crawled toward Mu Bai, then dropped to his knees with a thud, as if all strength had abandoned him.

"Young Master, spare my life!" the burly man wailed, his face twisted in terror. "I'll talk! We come from the Langya Aristocratic Family, hidden for a thousand years—we are servants of Young Master Langya Xing! This mission to assassinate the Carefree Prince in Xiaoyao City was arranged between our Young Master Xing and the Great Yan Emperor."

His voice was thick with fear and despair, realizing that the man before him was utterly unafraid of threats, and his fate now rested entirely in Mu Bai's hands.

"Langya Aristocratic Family?" Mu Bai murmured the name, a wave of confusion rising in his heart.

This was the second time he had heard that name, yet he knew almost nothing about this so-called Langya Aristocratic Family.

Sensing Mu Bai's bewilderment, the burly man quickly explained, "The Langya Aristocratic Family is one of the hidden aristocratic families! Its influence is enormous—it practically controls over a dozen surrounding countries!"

"What?!" Mu Bai nearly cried out in shock.

His eyes widened as he stared at the burly man in disbelief, as if he had just heard the biggest joke in the world.

After all, from what Mu Bai knew, the Great Yan Kingdom's territory was already quite vast, spanning a full fifteen commanderies!

Even compared to the world he had lived in before, Great Yan's land was the size of a medium-sized nation.

Yet such an expansive kingdom, along with over a dozen other countries, was supposedly controlled by a single hidden family—it was utterly inconceivable!

This was a complete subversion of Mu Bai's existing understanding.

With such immense power, he naturally couldn't believe there were no Innate experts among them.

"What cultivation level is your Young Master Xing?" Mu Bai asked, looking at the burly man.

Without a moment's hesitation, the burly man replied, "Young Master Langya Xing is the same as you—both at the Great Perfection of Houtian realm of a Grandmaster of Martial Arts."

His tone was firm, as if he knew the Young Master Xing's cultivation inside out.

Hearing this answer, a heavy weight lifted from Mu Bai's heart.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief, his previously taut nerves relaxing slightly.

Because his greatest fear was that the enemy had already broken through to the legendary Innate realm—in that case, he would have had no chance of victory.

But since Young Master Xing was still stuck at the same Great Perfection of Houtian stage as him, it meant their strength was evenly matched, and there was still a fight to be had.