Arrogant.
Extremely arrogant.
The muscle hired guns Sun Yaowei had brought along were all strong and burly, nothing like ordinary gang members. They were clearly experienced, likely seasoned fighters who often took part in one-on-one bouts and brawls.
"Kid, you're one damn arrogant bastard."
The hired gun with a shaved head and a scar at the corner of his eye swung his hand with all his might, intending to slap the clueless fool before him senseless in one blow.
Lin Fan decisively swung the chair leg in his hand. He had no interest in wasting words now. All he wanted was a fight, and he also wanted to test just how many people his body could handle at its current level of toughness.
A chair leg was a stick, too. As far as he was concerned, anything he could swing could be used to practice staff techniques.
With a thud.
The bald man let out a scream, clutching his bleeding head as he sprawled on the ground, howling.
"His head's split open! He's bleeding!"
Sun Yaowei, sitting there with a beauty in his arms, narrowed his eyes slightly, but remained calm. He had absolute confidence in his hired guns. He'd fed them meat and rich food to build them up, had them carry heavy loads every day to increase their muscle, and often let them fight each other.
They were already a group of seasoned hired guns.
The men closing in clearly hesitated. They hadn't expected blood to be drawn right from the start. That instantly roused their ferocity, and they lunged viciously at Lin Fan.
On the second floor, Chen Liang sneered. "Does he really think he's somebody?"
The other spectators nodded in agreement. Two fists could hardly stand against four hands. No matter how capable a person was, the result would be the same.
And seeing a fight like this had them incredibly excited. It wasn't something they got to witness every day.
Gradually, something seemed off.
Bang!
Bang!
One scream after another rang out.
Lin Fan was swinging the chair leg like a club, ruthlessly beating the hired guns. He didn't dodge at all, letting their fists land on him.
It didn't hurt much.
It would be a lie to say he couldn't feel anything.
But it really didn't hurt much—not even a tenth as much as being struck by the club.
The hired guns clung to him like dog-skin plasters, making it hard for him to move freely. He threw the chair leg aside, clenched his fists, and swung. Every punch landed with a meaty thud; his elbows smashed into jaws, and blood sprayed everywhere.
Wang Changhai clenched his fists until his nails dug into his flesh. His body trembled as he watched Lin Fan fighting the crowd, his eyes bloodshot.
Every time Lin Fan was hit, Wang Changhai's heart bled with pain. But when he saw Lin Fan punch back, smashing an opponent's face beyond recognition, he wanted to roar, That's it! Give it to him!
This was his man.
The trusted subordinate he had promoted.
And now, his trusted subordinate couldn't bear to see him, the hall master, humiliated in public. He was risking his life, fighting desperately against the others.
Wang Changhai wanted to cry. He really did.
He was already in the gang, and had even become a hall master. How could he cry?
He remembered someone once telling him that if he wanted to thrive in the gang, he had to be ruthless and merciless. No one had any loyalty anymore.
But he wanted to say: there was. There always had been.
This was damn loyalty.
The underlings guarding the entrance so not even a fly could get out watched Brother Lin's ferocious fighting style, their blood boiling with excitement as they shouted in their hearts:
Brother Lin, keep it up! Beat the hell out of these bastards!
Sun Yaowei's men kept falling, their screams ringing out one after another. The atmosphere in the room quietly shifted. All the spectators stared with their mouths agape, their faces full of shock.
Was this guy a monster?
Of the eighteen burly hired guns, only a handful were still standing. The floor tiles beneath them had been stained red with blood, while Lin Fan, at the center of the room, looked like a raging, bloodthirsty God of War as he strode toward the one hired gun still on his feet.
"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"
The last hired gun's face was pale, his legs weak. He had never seen anyone this terrifying in his life.
Lin Fan walked up to him, lifted him high over his head, then hurled him at a nearby table. The crash of breaking tables and chairs mixed with the man's wails, reaching the ears of everyone present.
At that moment, the room fell completely silent. It was so quiet that even breathing could be heard.
Lin Fan stood proudly without moving, letting the blood drip from his fists onto the floor. Of course, it wasn't his blood. It was theirs.
Beginner Body Refining was incredibly tough. He didn't feel any pain now, and he didn't even have a bruise.
The benefits of strict martial arts regulation.
They were on full display at this very moment.
There wasn't even half a man who could fight.
Feeling everyone's shocked gazes on him, Lin Fan was in an especially good mood. He grabbed his torn clothes and gave them a slight tug. With a ripping sound, he tore off his shirt, revealing perfectly toned muscles that ordinary people could hardly hope to build.
His physique hadn't been this perfect some time ago. As his body-refining proficiency increased, his body had quietly changed as well.
Things had already come to this.
Showing off his physique didn't seem like too much, did it?
Sun Yaowei looked calm, but in truth, he wasn't. His legs, hidden under the table, were trembling violently. The sight before him had completely terrified him.
What was going on?
Was he dreaming?
The eighteen ruthless fighters who protected him, the men supposedly unrivaled in Yong'an City, had been beaten to a pulp just like that?
He's coming.
Holy shit!
That guy's coming over here.
Sun Yaowei nervously swallowed. Remembering who he was, he managed to steady his racing heart a little.
He was the son of the Fierce Tiger Gang's leader.
The other guy shouldn't go too far, right?
Thinking this, and seeing all the spectators around them, he knew he couldn't lose face. He pretended to be calm and said, "Good, good, you're impressive. I never expected someone like this to be by your side, Wang Changhai. But what good is being able to fight?"
"One hundred men, two hundred men—can you hold them off?"
Sun Yaowei stared defiantly at Lin Fan.
He couldn't back down. Absolutely not. Otherwise, he'd be utterly humiliated.
Lin Fan circled Sun Yaowei once, his eyes full of mockery. After the other man finished speaking, Lin Fan suddenly grabbed him by the hair, yanked his head backward, and looked down at him.
He raised a hand and playfully patted the man's cheek.
"I don't know if I can hold off a few hundred people, but I do know that right now, you've got nothing that can make me hold back."
Sun Yaowei didn't feel any pain from the slap, but his face burned as if it were on fire.
The woman leaning against him yelped and darted away in fright.
"How dare you treat me like this? I..."
Sun Yaowei was just about to threaten him when Lin Fan dragged him over to Wang Changhai, kicked the back of his knee, and made him kneel in front of the hall master.
"Hall Master, what should we do with him?" Lin Fan asked.
"Huh?"
Wang Changhai stared blankly. Each thing that had happened before his eyes felt like a dream, and he still hadn't come to his senses.
Wait, had their roles just been completely reversed?
When he had been humiliated, Lin Fan, whom he had promoted, had appeared like a hero. If Wang Changhai had been a woman, he would have married him on the spot.
"Waaah." The hall master's kept woman wept like a flower in the rain. "Changhai, I was forced into this. You have to forgive me. I know you love me most."
Wang Changhai stared impassively at the woman kneeling before him, begging desperately.
She had once been the kept woman he loved most.
He had given her everything she wanted, except a title.
But who could have imagined that she...
Just as Wang Changhai was about to speak, a leg shot out in a blur. With a thud, it kicked the woman in the face, knocking her unconscious.
"You cheap tramp. Don't dirty our hall master's eyes." Lin Fan cursed, then said, "Hall Master, let's talk about what to do with this guy."
Sun Yaowei, who had tried to resist, was held down firmly.
He didn't beg for mercy.
He didn't believe Wang Changhai would dare do anything to him.
Sure enough, when Wang Changhai had to decide what to do with Sun Yaowei, he found himself in a real bind. The other man's status was right there for all to see. He couldn't actually cripple him, could he?
If he did, then even as the head of Loyalty Hall, he wouldn't be able to withstand the gang leader's revenge.
More importantly,
he couldn't drag Lin Fan into the most dangerous situation.
Seeing that the hall master didn't say a word,
Lin Fan suddenly pulled Sun Yaowei's hand onto the table and looked at one of the underlings. "Bring me a knife. We'll chop off one of his hands and see if he still dares insult our hall master."
They had come this far.
He had to do what needed to be done.
Although he wanted to keep a low profile, avoid trouble, and focus on raising his proficiency, he knew that after tonight, everyone would know his name. The whole city would hear about a ruthless man who, in a fit of rage, stood up for his hall master, took down eighteen men, and was now going to chop off Sun Yaowei's hand.
So he didn't mind making an even bigger fuss.
As for whether this would draw the revenge of martial arts experts, that was a joke. He might as well stop dreaming. Their hall master could at least be called a tyrant in Yong'an City, yet he had been humiliated without the slightest ability to fight back.
The Martial Way was hidden deep.
It wasn't something the people here could come into contact with.
"Brother Lin, we don't have a big blade. Will a dagger do?" Wu Yong promptly handed him a dagger.
Lin Fan nodded. "Sure. We might not cut it off in one go, but after another eight or ten chops, we'll get through."
How cruel.
Sun Yaowei was truly terrified now. "Hall Master Wang, I was wrong. I really was. Please say something for me. Don't chop it off! Please, don't!"
He now felt that this guy really would chop it off.
If he lost a hand, he'd be done for. And this guy looked like he was going to cut off his right hand—the one he used most. He was clearly trying to turn him into a cripple.
His pants were wet.
He had pissed himself.
But that wasn't shameful. Anyone would have pissed themselves.
Damn it, Yuan Jiang, you bastard! Why didn't you tell me beforehand that there was a monster by Wang Changhai's side?
Just as Lin Fan was about to bring the dagger down,
"Lin Fan, wait," Wang Changhai said.
Lin Fan grew anxious and protested, "Hall Master, wait for what? Let me chop off one of his hands!"
Wang Changhai seemed to have finally come to his senses. He picked up his teacup, calmly took a sip, and said softly, "I often teach you that you can't be too ruthless. You can't just chop off someone's hands and feet whenever you disagree. That's no good. This bastard may have gone too far, but as the hall master, I'm still magnanimous."
To Wang Changhai, his God of War had already arrived. If he didn't show off now, when would he?
"The hall master is right." Lin Fan nodded and set down the dagger.
Sun Yaowei instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Hall Master Wang."
Smack!
"Thank your mother!" Wang Changhai slapped him hard across the face.
Sun Yaowei didn't dare speak after being slapped. He lowered his head, trembling with fear.
Suddenly,
Lin Fan, who had been doing nothing, spun around and looked toward the second floor.
"Who laughed? Who was laughing just now?"
Huh?
Wang Changhai, who had just been about to lift his teacup for another sip, froze too.
Did someone laugh?
He hadn't heard anything.
The spectators on the second floor all shook their heads. Nobody had laughed.
"You. Yeah, you. You were laughing." Lin Fan pointed toward a spot on the second floor.
The fat man he was pointing at said, "M-Master Lin, I wasn't laughing."
The fat man was a local merchant, and he was deathly pale with fright.
"I'm not talking about you. I mean that toad behind you, the one with a face full of pockmarks."
In an instant, everyone's eyes turned to Chen Liang.
They were all sure it was him.
Because aside from him, there was nobody else there who looked like a toad.
Chen Liang looked completely screwed.
What the hell are you talking about?
He had seen how ferocious and ruthless Lin Fan was and had already been planning to run.
You've got to be doing this on purpose.
At first, when Lin Fan had been a nobody from Loyalty Hall, Chen Liang hadn't given him a second thought. His uncle worked for the government office.
But now... forget having an uncle who worked for the government—even his own father wouldn't help.
Just then,
The spectators around Chen Liang immediately shouted, "Well, look at you, kid, laughing at a time like this! Brothers, take him downstairs and hand him over to Master Lin!"
"Sure."
"Come on, lend a hand. Let's carry him down."
Smack! Chen Liang was slapped across the face.
"Stay still! How dare you laugh at a serious occasion like this? You're showing disrespect to Master Lin and Hall Master Wang. You're practically asking to die."
Before long, the crowd carried Chen Liang down.
Facing Lin Fan's wicked grin, Chen Liang inexplicably began to panic.
"You... What are you going to do?"
He was genuinely afraid now.
Lin Fan had just been about to slap Chen Liang a few times, but when he saw the bumps all over his face, he immediately lost his nerve. He was afraid one slap would make the other man's face burst like a ripe melon.
"Go on. Kneel over there and slap yourself. Don't stop unless I tell you to." Lin Fan pointed toward the corner.
"You..."
"Hmm?"
Seeing Lin Fan about to fly into a rage, Chen Liang fearfully knelt in the corner. Smack, smack—the crisp sounds rang out.
Lin Fan returned to the hall master's side.
Wang Changhai asked curiously, "Did he really laugh just now?"
"Yeah. He laughed."
"All right, then. Let's say he laughed."
Just then, the main doors swung open, and a figure slowly walked in.
Sun Yaowei, still kneeling, saw the newcomer and looked as if he'd found his savior. His voice trembling on the verge of tears, he said:
"Father."
Before you continue