To be honest, Huang Ling's offer was genuinely tempting. If Laiyang City could remain peaceful, and if Huang Ling wouldn't target the people of Ox Demon Martial Arts School, Shen Fan might have agreed.
But there were no ifs. Huang Ling would never give up the chance to rule all of Laiyang, and the people of Ox Demon Martial Arts School were bound to become targets of his attacks.
Even the other Martial Halls would surely meet the same fate, vanishing into thin air.
This was a game of power. The victor ruled over everything; the loser was left without even a whole corpse.
So, for the sake of Ox Demon Martial Arts School, whose people he knew better and felt more warmly toward, Shen Fan could never submit to Huang Ling. As for the tempting price Huang Ling had offered, Shen Fan was very tempted.
But he felt that even without submitting to him, he had another way to get everything he wanted.
If he defeated him and killed him, wouldn't everything end up belonging to him anyway?
Faced with Shen Fan's refusal to appreciate his offer, Huang Ling finally erupted.
"You little brat! You really don't know what's good for you. Since you insist, let this old man teach you just how vast the sky is and how thick the earth!"
As Huang Ling spoke, he secretly gathered True Qi. He knew the fellow before him was no ordinary opponent. In that case, he might as well use his strongest technique right away!
He concentrated almost half his True Qi into his hand. It slowly shifted, taking on a trace of icy chill. This was the attribute of the cultivation method Huang Ling practiced.
Upon reaching the Xiantian realm, cultivation methods all had attributes, and those attributes determined a Martial Artist's path of development.
Huang Ling practiced a Xiantian Cultivation Method called Cold Shadow Art. Practicing it produced ice-attribute True Qi in his body. This True Qi had immense destructive power and was a typical combat attribute.
Flecks of blue ice crystals gathered in Huang Ling's palm. This effect only appeared when Cold Shadow Art was driven to its limit.
Taking advantage of the others' distraction, Huang Ling struck at Shen Fan with a palm.
Everyone jolted in alarm and couldn't help shouting, "Look out!"
In the eyes of ordinary people, Huang Ling, with his True Qi in motion, was so fast he left a trail of afterimages. No one could possibly dodge such a fierce attack.
Just as everyone thought Shen Fan was doomed, they didn't expect the young man to reveal a faint smile.
G: Shen Fan /c G: Huang Ling /c GENDER: Shen Fan = male GENDER: Huang Ling = female
Yes, Shen Fan was smiling. As he watched Huang Ling charge down like a ferocious tiger descending the mountain, he felt no fear at all. Instead, a powerful fighting spirit burst forth from him.
The instant Huang Ling made his move, Shen Fan had already noticed. As a Martial Artist, he could never afford to overlook even the slightest opening in battle.
Shen Fan hadn't known how great the gap between himself and an Innate Martial Artist was. But after feeling the pressure Huang Ling brought to bear, he realized that Xiantian Experts didn't seem all that impressive after all.
Though his opponent's True Qi gave him a slight sense of danger, that was all. It didn't feel as if he were about to die at any moment.
That meant the other man's True Qi couldn't kill him!
If so, what did Shen Fan have to fear? Without hesitation, he raised his fist and met the attack head-on.
A thick layer of vital energy wrapped around it as Shen Fan put all his strength into the blow.
Fist and palm collided. Just as Huang Ling was congratulating himself, he suddenly realized that things weren't going as he'd expected.
True Qi was normally far superior in quality to vital energy, and its attacks naturally carried much greater force.
But whether his True Qi was simply too thin or Shen Fan's vital energy too dense, the moment his Cold Shadow True Qi touched his opponent's vital energy, it began to melt away!
And as his opponent's vital energy surged, the Cold Shadow True Qi melted faster and faster. If he didn't replenish it soon, Shen Fan's fist would smash his head to pieces.
Huang Ling gritted his teeth and squeezed his already meager True Qi from his body. He stared at Shen Fan, whose face was still rosy, so furious his teeth nearly cracked.
"How could this be? Die, you brat!"
Huang Ling's roar made everyone present blanch, but Shen Fan, standing opposite him, didn't care in the slightest. He looked completely at ease.
"City Lord Huang, if you run out of True Qi, I wonder if you'll still be able to stop Shen's fist!"
Shen Fan taunted him. The vital energy in his own body was also rapidly draining, but compared with his total reserves, he hadn't lost much.
Huang Ling's eyes blazed. If he could, he would have poured all his Cold Shadow True Qi into the other man's body and made him experience the chill poison devouring his flesh.
Unfortunately, he was the weakest of the Xiantian Experts, and his True Qi was used up in no time.
When the True Qi in his palm was completely exhausted, Shen Fan suddenly felt the force of the other man's palm weaken considerably.
So he pressed forward with an unceremonious punch. Huang Ling's wrist twisted into a grotesque angle, and the crisp crack of breaking bones rang out.
Huang Ling couldn't help crying out in pain. The agony made his eyes redden. "Ah—You brat, I'll kill you!"
But Shen Fan wasn't about to indulge him. Without True Qi, Huang Ling was nothing more than an ordinary Peak Viscera Refining practitioner. At that level, he no longer posed the slightest threat to Shen Fan.
His ghostlike figure flashed once more. When he stopped, Huang Ling had been beaten to the ground again.
Shen Fan planted a foot on Huang Ling's head, his gaze indifferent.
The experts from City Lord's Mansion cried out in shock. They seemed unable to believe that their invincible City Lord had been defeated—and so quickly.
Pinned beneath someone's foot like a dead dog, Huang Ling felt a humiliation unlike anything he had ever known. Blood mingled with tears and streamed from his mouth.
But he hadn't given up hope. Yes, Huang Ling had lost the fight, but he still believed he had a chance. Decades ago, he had been defeated in just the same way, yet he had survived.
That was because he was a City Lord appointed by the Great Xia Dynasty!
"Young man, you've won, but I won't admit defeat. One day, I'll win it all back!" Huang Ling declared confidently.
Somehow, he still had enough confidence to threaten him.
"Hm? Why would you think that? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you? Shouldn't you be on your knees begging for mercy right now?" Shen Fan asked, puzzled.
"Kill me? Hahahaha! Boy, you really are a newborn calf that doesn't fear the tiger. Do you know why no one's dared touch me, even though I've been City Lord all these years?"
"That's because I'm an official of the Great Xia Dynasty, registered in its records. You dare kill me? Aren't you afraid the Great Xia court will hunt you down?"
Huang Ling looked as if he had Shen Fan right where he wanted him.
Zhang Longyun hurried over and said, "Shen Fan, forget it. Let him go. He is, after all, the City Lord of Laiyang City. Killing him will bring you a lot of trouble!"
"When my father and the other seniors founded the Martial Hall, they didn't dare do anything to this man either. It was his official status they feared."
"Hahahaha, hear that, you little bastard? Let go of this old man, or I'll petition the court to send people to wipe out your entire clan!"
Huang Ling was covered in blood, but that didn't stop him from beaming with pride.
But Shen Fan suddenly said, "The Great Xia Dynasty is doomed."
Then, before everyone's eyes, he crushed Huang Ling's skull underfoot. Even as he died, Huang Ling couldn't understand why this fellow didn't care about his status. Was he really not afraid the court would come after him?
Zhang Longyun stared at Shen Fan in stunned silence, at a loss for words.
Everyone else looked at him as if he were a god of slaughter. Only Steward Qian jumped out like a mad dog, shouting:
"Hahaha, you're dead! You killed my master, you're dead! The court will send people to kill you, hahaha..."
"Quiet!"
Shen Fan impatiently waved a hand. His powerful force snapped Steward Qian's neck. Just like that, a Viscera Refiner was swatted dead like a mosquito.
Everyone there was so frightened that they didn't dare breathe too loudly.
Zhang Longyun wiped the blood splashed across his face, glanced at Shen Fan, and said, "You should leave. Quickly!"
"Leave? Why should I?" Shen Fan asked, baffled.
Glancing at the corpses on the ground, Shen Fan gave a faint smile. "I don't understand you people. Just because of a title, you're all this afraid?"
"Who cares if he was a City Lord? Even if he'd been a prince, if he provoked me, he'd still die!"
"The Great Xia Dynasty is powerful, but so what? All these years, have any of you seen people from the Great Xia court?"
"No! It's been like this for decades. The Great Xia is already struggling to keep itself afloat. How could it send experts over for one City Lord?"
"Hall Master, you know the Warlords have risen everywhere, carving up the land among themselves. If the Great Xia court still held sway, how could those people act so brazenly?"
"So don't worry about me. The Great Xia is old and doesn't have the strength to stir things up anymore! In the world to come, it'll still be the fist that speaks!"
Everyone was dumbfounded by Shen Fan's rebellious words, but when they thought it over, his argument did seem to make sense.
So when they looked at Shen Fan, their fear was joined by a trace of admiration.
Before you continue