"Teacher..."
After a year apart, Luo Feng was seeing his teacher again. His gratitude and excitement surged within him, and he couldn't help wanting to kneel and thank him, but Zhou Ze held him back firmly.
"Don't be so sentimental!"
Zhou Ze gave Luo Feng a faint smile. "You must be feeling pretty awful, right?"
"Yes!" Luo Feng knew what Zhou Ze meant and nodded emphatically.
"I didn't expect the Li Yao couple to be so ruthless!"
"They're even more ruthless than you can imagine!"
Zhou Ze reached out and tapped the Auxiliary Optical Computer on his armguard, sending some information directly to Luo Feng.
"An Auxiliary Optical Computer?" Luo Feng was taken aback. "Teacher, did you also unlock the 'Elite Passage' and join the Fallen Ink Star?"
"We'll talk about that later."
Zhou Ze said, "Take care of your own business first."
"You've been in there for so long. How are you feeling? Are you confident you can take on the Li Yao couple by yourself?"
"Of course!" Luo Feng's face was cold. Then, puzzled, he asked, "Teacher, what do you mean?"
"They're back."
"Finally, they're back."
The Li Yao couple smiled as they slowly descended the steps from the passenger plane.
"Li Yao, Vina!" a voice called out.
The Li Yao couple were startled. Four figures were approaching from not far away, apparently having waited for them.
The leader's face was as cold as ice. "Your crimes have been exposed. We're officially arresting you on behalf of the War God Palace!"
A large number of flying saucers and Smart Fighters were parked on the tarmac outside the Limit Martial Arts Hall's Global Headquarters.
More than thirty Councilors had arrived.
Around three in the afternoon, more than half of Earth's powerful Councilors, along with a few War Gods of some standing, gathered inside the Supreme Court in the headquarters' enormous spacecraft building.
As soon as Hong and Thunder God arrived, the trial began.
About an hour later, with the evidence and witnesses beyond doubt, the Li Yao couple were all but sentenced to death!
At that moment, Luo Feng raised his hand. After getting the approval of Hong, Thunder God, and the others, he spoke up. "First Speaker, Second Speaker, honorable judges, I request a life-or-death duel with the Li Yao couple..."
"That isn't in accordance with the law!" one of the judges said with a frown. "The Li Yao couple violated the laws of the War God Palace, so the court should hand down the verdict! You can't settle this with a private fight!"
Luo Feng glanced at everyone in front of him, then fixed his gaze on Hong and Thunder God.
"Approved!"
"Approved!"
Hong and Thunder God gave their approval one after the other.
Now that both of them had agreed, no one else's opinion mattered. They had special powers, after all.
Anyone who truly understood the law knew its purpose: the rules weren't there to restrain the strong, but often to protect the weak.
"Heh, Luo Feng, you're asking for death. I'll grant your wish!" Li Yao glared at Luo Feng viciously.
Vina sneered as well. "Even if we die, we'll make sure you suffer!"
Though the Li Yao couple knew Luo Feng was powerful, they would rather fight him in a life-or-death duel than face the humiliation of execution. Maybe they could seize the chance to kill him.
In the Wilderness Zone outside the Limit Martial Arts Hall's headquarters.
All the Councilors and martial artists who had come to watch gathered there.
Under these circumstances, it was the first time Zhou Ze had stood alongside Hong and Thunder God. Their presence together immediately set everyone talking.
They realized they had underestimated Zhou Ze...
The Li Yao couple understood why they had been arrested so quickly, without the HR Alliance's influence or any technological means coming to their aid.
Zhou Ze had laid a net long ago and waited for them to walk right into it.
"Hmph. You want us to be your disciple's whetstone? Then I'll show you which of us lives and which dies!"
Li Yao seethed with anger. Back on the Australian Continent, Hong had used him as a whetstone for Luo Feng. He couldn't believe he had to go through it all again before he died. He was utterly furious and aggrieved.
"Li Yao, Vina, when you put a ten-billion-dollar bounty on me, did you ever think this day would come?" Luo Feng's expression was icy.
"Your son tried to kill me for no reason! He had no idea I was a Spiritual Psychic. If you hadn't used such despicable methods against my family, maybe I really would have forgotten about two jumping clowns like you..."
"Enough talk. The two of you are dying today!"
"We're as good as dead, but you're dying too!" Li Yao said coldly.
Vina laughed maniacally. "You lowlife, living in a cramped apartment building with a whole family of lowlifes! Even after becoming a martial artist, you're still a lowlife. My son did you the honor of trying to kill you. You should have just accepted your death back then!"
Luo Feng didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled faintly. "But your son died—he died at my hands. And now you'll die at my hands too!"
Vina snorted and changed into her combat suit. Li Yao did the same.
At that moment, Luo Feng felt that it was all rather pointless. Still, he thought about how, if he and Xu Xin had children someday, he would need to raise them well. He believed his descendants wouldn't turn out like Li Wei.
"Begin!"
At Hong's command, Luo Feng controlled the sixteen flying knives hovering around him. They shot out like beams of death!
Vina, who wasn't wearing a Black God Suit, was riddled with holes in a single instant! Li Yao was sent flying far away, spewing blood in midair!
Everyone there was caught off guard by what had just happened, except Zhou Ze and Luo Feng himself.
"He made Li Yao spit out that much blood in a single strike?"
"With Li Yao's Senior War God physique and the Black God Suit, the impact must have been more than six million kilograms to leave him completely unable to fight back!"
"Luo Feng is a peak War God Spiritual Psychic. Each flying knife can reach an impact force of 520,000 to 560,000 kilograms. With sixteen knives, that's between eight and nine million kilograms! That's definitely on par with the average strength of a Beyond War God!"
"What did he get from the No. 9 Ruins? How did he improve so much in just a year?"
The crowd talked excitedly.
Hong and Thunder God looked at Zhou Ze at the same time.
Zhou Ze spread his hands. "He just got out."
On the other side, after killing Vina and sending Li Yao flying, Luo Feng didn't finish him off at once. Instead, he said coldly:
"When you used such despicable methods against my parents, did you ever think this day would come?"
Li Yao lay on the ground, his eyes vacant.
"I can't accept this! I can't accept it! I really can't accept it!"
Li Yao's emotions surged. He was furious and unwilling to accept his fate. Death itself wasn't terrifying; what was terrifying was the agony before it came.
An emotion he had never felt before made Li Yao's body tremble.
"Looks like he's about to break through!" Thunder God pointed at Li Yao.
"Mm." Hong's expression was indifferent.
The two of them looked at Zhou Ze again.
Thunder God rested a hand on his shoulder and chuckled. "This could get troublesome..."
"It's fine."
Zhou Ze knew what Thunder God meant. He wasn't worried that Li Yao could break through and turn the tables on Luo Feng. Rather, once Li Yao broke through and became a Councilor, his authority and status would change.
It was like a War God publicly killing another War God within a Base City. That was a capital offense!
But if a Councilor killed a War God in a rage to protect his family, he would at most be locked up for a few years.
Unlike in the original story, the Li Yao couple hadn't yet been sentenced to death. If someone stepped in to protect them, they might really escape the death penalty.
After all, they did have some grounds for going after Luo Feng's family. Luo Feng had killed their son, and no one could say for sure who was right or wrong. Back then, there had been no proof that Li Wei had tried to kill Luo Feng and been killed in return.
"Interesting..."
Zhou Ze looked at an old man with white hair that fell loose all the way to his waist.
Before you continue