Settling It

"You crafty brat!"

The two Men in Black barked coldly.

As they spoke, they suddenly attacked, one from the left and one from the right, each slashing a blade at Chu He.

"Honestly!"

"There's a road to heaven, but you refuse to take it!"

Chu He shook his head.

He did not want trouble, but that did not mean he had no temper.

For them to dare attack him first was simply courting death.

Chu He raised a hand and casually swept it forward. The blade lights the two Men in Black had unleashed dissipated inch by inch. Even the sabers in their hands shattered with a crack, breaking apart like glass and falling to the ground piece by piece.

"How—"

"How could this be!"

The two Men in Black stared at the sword hilts crumbled to powder in their hands and their split, bleeding palms, their expressions changing drastically.

The power of that casual strike—

was even stronger than the Innate Ninth Level experts they had fought before.

Could such power belong to a Half-step King Realm expert?

To hell with playing tiger to bluff people—the other party had been a real tiger all along!

At that thought, endless terror surged in their hearts.

This time, the two Men in Black did not exchange looks to discuss things. Instead, they leaped up in unspoken agreement and shot off in two different directions.

They wanted to flee.

"I already gave you a chance to choose just now, but your choice has made me very unhappy."

Chu He shook his head. His left hand remained behind his back while his right hand clenched into a fist.

Bang! Bang!

Two domineering fist shadows blasted out.

The savage fist force tore through the air, plunging hearts into an abyss of despair.

It was as though no matter how powerful an existence was, it would be shattered by those two punches.

"No!"

"Spare us, Senior!"

The two Men in Black cried out in terror.

They felt death closing in.

But their pleas did nothing.

The fist shadows struck them, piercing through their backs.

Tyrannical, violent power exploded within their bodies.

Their bodies burst apart in midair like two blooming blood-red fireworks, spraying blood everywhere.

Until their lives ended, the two Men in Black were steeped in regret.

If they had just listened when they were told to leave and obediently gone, how good would that have been?

Why did they have to try to be clever for no reason?

What regret.

Chu He dusted off his sleeves and calmly walked into the library pavilion.

He continued cultivating.

At the top floor of a teahouse two streets away from the Lin Family residence.

It was already deep into the night, yet the room at the very top of the teahouse was brightly lit.

Two figures dressed in brocade robes stared intently in the direction of the Lin Family residence.

"Something happened! Tiger Shark has sent a distress signal."

Suddenly, one of them cried out in alarm.

"Go! Let's take a look."

The two leaped down from the teahouse. After several swift bounds, they arrived outside the Lin Family residence.

They did not dare enter directly. Instead, they climbed a large tree and secretly observed from above.

"What's going on? Tiger Shark has already sent a distress signal, which means they were exposed and clashed with the Lin Family's experts. So why is there not a single sound here?"

"Did Tiger Shark send the wrong signal? Or have they already been dealt with by the Lin Family?"

One of them spoke in a low voice.

"Impossible. The Lin Family is at its weakest right now. Some of their experts were buried in Annan, while others are stationed elsewhere. At present, aside from that half-dead old fossil, the strongest person in the Lin Family is only at the Innate Eighth Level. Tiger Shark and the other man are both skilled Innate Seventh Level fighters. Together, they could even contend with an Innate Eighth Level expert. How could they have been dealt with so quickly?"

The other brocade-robed man shook his head as he spoke.

"Then Tiger Shark must have sent the wrong signal. But that should not be possible. Tiger Shark is not stupid enough to make that kind of mistake. Otherwise, the Lin Family must have other experts hidden away."

The man who had spoken first opened his mouth again, his voice low.

"The Lin Family is also a great clan with several centuries of history. It is possible that they have hidden foundations. The main issue now is that we do not know the cultivation of their hidden experts. To deal with Tiger Shark and the other man so quickly without causing a huge disturbance, they must at least be Ninth Rank, and there must be more than one of them. Or perhaps it was a Half-step King. Could that old fossil's injuries be less severe than reported?"

"Is that so?" The other brocade-robed man's expression turned exceedingly ugly.

"Then what do we do now?"

He asked his companion.

"Wait!"

"Wait until tomorrow, confirm things properly, then report tonight's events and our suspicions. Let the Cult Master decide everything."

Lin Family residence, library pavilion.

Chu He noticed that experts from the Lin Family had arrived. They cleared away the two corpses that had been beaten into minced flesh along with the bloodstains, after which other experts began patrolling in secret.

Under such circumstances, it was not suitable to cultivate.

He could be interrupted at any moment.

He returned to his room and lay down properly on the bed.

Although, at his level, there was little difference between sleeping and not sleeping,

it still felt nice to lie in bed for a night every so often.

What was more, sleeping would not waste his time either.

Before closing his eyes, Chu He took out a handful of Pills and stuffed them into his mouth. He crunched and swallowed them like candy beans.

As his eyes closed,

his body instantly grew scorching hot, as though he had been placed inside a furnace.

Within his hazy consciousness, the Nine Transformations Golden Body Technique began operating on its own. Streams of power melted away, beginning to transform and strengthen every organ, every inch of muscle and bone in his body.

His strength slowly yet steadily increased.

"Mm, comfortable."

With his eyes closed and already drifting into dreams, Chu He smacked his lips and murmured in his sleep.