A Lun was puzzled and asked curiously.
"Is Your Excellency lamenting Li Xian of the Cao Gang?"
Yuan Benyu nodded. "That's right!"
"He's only a small-time Hall Master. Why are you paying so much attention to him?"
A Lun felt that the Cao Gang had a great reputation throughout Qingzhou, but it had only grown and flourished under the leadership of its successive Gang Leaders.
Li Xian, a mere nobody, had nothing to do with it. There was no need to devote much attention to the life or death of someone so insignificant.
A Lun's gaze fell on Yuan Benyu's face. He said nothing.
Yuan Benyu thought for a moment, then said, "It's rare for Qingzhou to produce such a promising young talent. What a pity. I'd been hoping to invite him to join the Demon Suppressing Division!"
"Oh? So that's it!" A Lun suddenly understood.
"But it's too late to say anything now!"
If nothing unexpected happened,
they would witness Li Xian's death today.
Meanwhile,
by West Lake in Yangzhou City,
RUMBLE!!!
A succession of deafening crashes rang out in every direction.
They were the sounds of Li Xian and the Buddha Son fighting.
At the center of the battlefield, the two clashed so fiercely that sand and rocks flew and the sun and moon were eclipsed. Countless shards of stone shot in every direction like bullets.
Martial artists of even slightly lesser ability had no right to approach the battlefield.
The slightest misstep could leave them dead or injured, even if they were only caught by the shock waves of the fight.
The people watching from hiding were terrified. They felt that they still weren't far enough away, so they all fled to even more distant hiding places.
Both men had worked themselves into a frenzy and chose not to dodge, meeting each other head-on in a bloody battle.
Another boom rang out like muffled thunder.
Li Xian let his guard down for an instant, and the Buddha Son punched him away. His body crashed into West Lake like a cannonball, sending water spraying into the sky.
"Amitabha!"
The Buddha Son steadied his slightly turbulent breathing and pressed his palms together.
"Benefactor Li, it's not too late to turn back and reach the shore!"
The Buddha Son now looked nothing like the immaculate white-robed monk he had been at the beginning.
A faint golden light covered his body. He seemed enveloped in a mysterious, unfathomable aura, and his frame had grown taller and more powerfully built.
On closer inspection, his once mild, gentle features had become hard and sharply defined, just like the Wrathful Vajra described in Buddhist scriptures.
This was the Buddha Son at full strength.
From beneath the churning waters of West Lake came Li Xian's muffled chuckle.
"Heh, heh, heh..."
"Benefactor Li, if you remain stubbornly deluded, I fear I'll have no choice but to kill today!" the Buddha Son said, his voice full of helplessness.
Above West Lake,
a white column of water shot into the sky!
"Hahaha... With skills like that, you think you can kill me?!"
Li Xian's wild laughter rang out from within the curtain of water.
"Stop your cheap theatrics!"
The Buddha Son's eyes flashed like lightning. Through the pale water mist, he saw a huge, strange figure hurtling toward him.
"Know your place!"
He snorted, unconcerned. Gathering his strength, he punched toward the figure.
But this time, it was different.
In an instant, a vast, surging force exploded from the pale mist.
A hand as large as a palm-leaf fan, black as ink, reached out from the mist. With an almost casual grab, it caught the Buddha Son's fist.
"You... How is this possible?"
His full-power strike had been caught with ease. The sight left his mind in turmoil.
Then the mist swirling before him dispersed.
The figure within emerged into view.
His exposed skin was black and hard as metal. His towering frame stood more than two meters tall, as powerfully built as a moving fortress. His eyes were scarlet, and long red hair streamed through the air. His fierce, savage face looked like that of a demon crawling out of hell!
This was Li Xian!
"You're... a Demonic Evil?"
The Buddha Son couldn't help crying out when he saw how utterly Li Xian's appearance had changed.
It wasn't just him. Liang Haisheng, watching from nearby, and all the others who had been too afraid to show themselves were left dumbfounded by Li Xian's appearance.
The scene before them was mercilessly shattering everything they had ever believed.
"Hahahaha..."
Li Xian spread his jaws and exhaled a breath of searing heat.
"Look carefully. I'm human. I'm Li Xian of the Cao Gang!"
The Buddha Son quickly composed himself.
His tone was calm as he said, "Trying to scare people with your appearance is meaningless!"
"You're right!"
Li Xian took a deep breath. The surrounding air seemed to be sucked dry, letting out a series of shrill whines.
He didn't assume any particular stance. He simply sank his hips, twisted his waist, and threw a straightforward punch.
But in the Buddha Son's eyes, that punch was anything but simple.
All things fell silent!
The only thing in the world before him was that punch!
That punch filled his entire world!
There was nowhere to dodge, nowhere to retreat!
It seemed slow, yet was swift as lightning!
The Buddha Son could only watch helplessly as the punch grew larger and larger in his vision...
Larger and larger...
Just like that, Li Xian's fist struck him squarely in the chest.
"AAAH!!!"
The Buddha Son screamed. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he was sent flying like a tattered sack. He slammed violently into a small hill beside the lake and was buried beneath the rubble and dirt.
"This..."
"So strong!"
"What kind of martial art was that?"
"Since when has the Cao Gang had such a demonic technique?"
The people watching nearby were so shocked that they nearly bit their tongues off.
A blast erupted at the foot of the hill.
"Li Xian, prepare to die!"
The Buddha Son roared as he burst through the dirt and leaped into the air.
His profound art turned, and most of his injuries healed.
His eyes blazed with boundless fury.
Ever since he had mastered his divine skill, he had never encountered an opponent who could humiliate him so thoroughly.
The injury was a small matter. He simply couldn't accept being left in such a filthy, disheveled state.
"Hahahaha... Now that's more like it! That's more like it!"
Li Xian grinned and laughed recklessly.
The two clashed once more.
They became streaks of black and white light, twisting and darting like Flood Dragons, soaring through the sky!
This time, both men went all out, fighting with such force that heaven and earth were overturned and rivers flowed backward!
As the battle spread farther and farther, the entire mountain beside West Lake was flattened.
The grotto Liang Haisheng had spent so much effort constructing was reduced to ruins in the blink of an eye.
He felt like crying.
But he wasn't the unluckiest one.
A martial artist whose origins were unknown had been watching the fight from nearby. He let his attention wander for a moment, and a flying stone struck him squarely on the head.
His entire head was smashed into a bloody pulp, and he died on the spot!
That poor fellow had been struck by disaster just for watching the commotion. He really had the worst luck.
Before you continue