Settlement (Thanks to Ye Xun for the Alliance Leader's reward)

Everyone present thought the dust had settled, yet no one expected the situation to take such a sharp turn.

Wu Qi and his two companions had actually managed to pull off such a maneuver in their final moments before death.

That throwing dart condensed the very last of the red-browed man's strength.

After he flung the dart, faint sounds of dislocation echoed from his arm and shoulder.

It was the aftermath of exerting power that exceeded his body's limits.

But he did not care.

The red-browed man watched his dart fly out, piercing straight toward the mastermind, Wang Yiyang. A trace of gratified pleasure finally appeared on his face.

"I... finally..."

Clang.

A crisp, deafening sound of a parry interrupted his thoughts.

In the split second that caught everyone off guard:

The dart had indeed struck Wang Yiyang.

And then... it passed through him without the slightest obstruction, only to be deflected by a Limit Martial Artist behind him using a dagger.

Only then did everyone realize that the bodies of Wang Yiyang, Lei Wei, and the others were merely illusory 3D holographic projections.

Wang Xinlong and his two companions let out a heavy sigh of relief; the models were made so realistically, possessing body heat, physical substance, and sound transmission—everything they should have had.

Coupled with the distance and the large crowd surrounding them, they had no way to carefully verify the authenticity of Wang Yiyang.

It seemed they had worried for nothing.

Swish.

Wang Yiyang's figure projected and appeared once more.

He looked at the red-browed man, who had already been finished off with several shots, and observed his expression of despair.

"It's a pity. You bet wrong."

Since the poison had taken effect, he no longer wasted words on them.

"Kill them," he commanded with a wave of his hand.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!

In an instant, countless dense bullets rained down from every angle, BOOMING as they struck Wu Qi and his two companions.

Machine guns from drones, snipers in the distance, and dozens of submachine guns arranged in a fan formation around them.

A massive volume of bullets turned the ground where the three stood into a mud pit within seconds. Great clouds of dust and smoke rose, obscuring the vision of those nearby.

But it didn't matter; there were plenty of thermal imaging devices in the vicinity.

Even a Grand Justice-level martial artist as formidable as Wu Qi was defenseless under the combined assault of poison and heavy weaponry.

Soon, his body was bent out of shape, blood spraying everywhere, until finally, his corpse was even severed into several pieces, collapsing into the pit, lifeless.

At the same time, more than a dozen gun barrels turned toward Zhong Can on the ground.

Unlike the others, the bullets fired from these barrels were high-penetration, specialized rounds laced with a potent anesthetic.

Already poisoned and severely wounded, Zhong Can only managed to dodge half the bullets before his legs went numb and he collapsed to the ground.

Where the bullets struck, the anesthetic—enough to knock out an elephant—was rapidly injected into his bloodstream.

Soon, his consciousness grew hazy and dim, until he finally lost all sensation.

The dust settled; it was all over.

Wang Yiyang finally relaxed and smiled toward his grandfather, Wang Xinlong.

"Grandpa, your senior activities are certainly stimulating enough."

Wang Xinlong's hands trembled slightly, but he did not respond to his grandson's jest. Instead, his gaze remained fixed on the spot where Wu Qi and his companions had been killed, his mood heavy.

Wu Qi was stronger than him—far, far stronger.

He reckoned that if they were to face off one-on-one, he wouldn't last five moves under Wu Qi.

Yet, such a top-tier martial artist, powerful to the extreme, appeared incredibly fragile when facing a barrage of thermal weapons. He was no different from an ordinary person.

Moreover, who exactly were these people Wang Yiyang had brought? Had he anticipated the current situation all along? Was that why he brought so many people in advance?

But the question remained: where did he get so many men, and even Limit Martial Artists!?

"Teacher... don't overthink it, it's over. Next, we should properly consider how to handle the matter of Zhong Can," Nicholas, standing to the side, suppressed the emotions in his heart and whispered a word of comfort.

Xiao Hong helped Wang Xinlong up, watching as soldiers quickly moved in to clean up the aftermath.

Several medical personnel in protective gear loaded Zhong Can onto a stretcher, placed him into a pre-prepared ambulance, and sped away into the distance.

A large number of armed soldiers dispersed, leaving only a small squad to guard the perimeter.

Several Limit Martial Artists glanced toward them from afar before silently withdrawing.

Wang Yiyang's image slowly flickered out.

As for the man himself, he was currently sitting inside an armed helicopter several kilometers away from the martial arts hall.

The helicopter was ready to take off at a moment's notice.

He was simply afraid that some mastermind might attempt a direct assassination.

Therefore, the moment Wang Yiyang gave the order to strike, he immediately retreated, hiding in the distant armed helicopter to command the outcome remotely.

Now that the dust had settled and the main force of the Mantis had been dealt with, there was naturally no need for him to remain ready to leave at any time.

Regarding this incident, Wang Yiyang still harbored quite a few doubts and concerns.

After a brief moment of thought, he stepped off the helicopter and headed straight for the Yuekong Martial Arts Hall.

Twenty minutes later.

Wang Yiyang and Wang Xinlong sat opposite each other in the martial arts hall's study. No one disturbed them; it was just the grandfather and grandson.

Wang Xinlong's aged face had relaxed, stripped of its usual sternness and gravity.

He stared at his grandson across from him, his mind filled with a thousand tangled doubts and concerns, yet he had no idea how to begin asking.

He had strived and struggled for decades, yet now, the disciple into whom he had poured so much heart and soul had attempted to strike him down simply because of a difference in philosophy.

Compared to this, everything else suddenly became unimportant.

The person he firmly believed would never betray him had turned against him at the most critical moment.

That shock and heartache made him feel as if he had aged a decade in an instant.

The wrinkles on Wang Xinlong's face seemed to deepen and wither like tree bark. His once proud, straight spine slumped forward involuntarily.

"Grandfather. What kind of power does martial arts possess that could cause someone like Zhong Can to change so drastically?" Wang Yiyang, dressed in a white suit, wore a complex expression.

Zhong Can was someone who had watched him grow up; he was like family.

Although their relationship wasn't particularly close, years of living together made him more familiar than some distant relatives.

When someone familiar suddenly tries to plot against you, the suddenness and shock were enough to stir even him, let alone his grandfather, Wang Xinlong, who was the one directly involved.

He still remembered when he was very young, back when his grandfather was teaching him to practice martial arts.

He had been training in the courtyard against the biting wind until he was exhausted, and when he finally collapsed, a hand not much larger than his own had pulled him up from the ground.

"Thank you, Brother Zhong Can." The young Wang Yiyang looked at Zhong Can beside him and thanked him weakly.

"No need," Zhong Can replied woodenly.

"Brother Zhong Can, is there a trick to this basic stance? I feel like I haven't made any progress after practicing for so long." Wang Yiyang couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Zhong Can looked at Wang Yiyang with his dark face.

"This is very simple. If you practice persistently for two months, you can..." "I can master it??"

Wang Yiyang was instantly excited.

Zhong Can gave him a faint look. "No, you can then learn the trick."

"..."

The memories were like faded old photographs; the scenes from his childhood slowly blurred and faded in Wang Yiyang's mind.

His eyes softened slightly as he picked up the tea in front of him and took a gentle sip.

He liked the feeling of the steaming, fragrant tea.

It made him feel as if he were surrounded by warmth.

"Martial arts..." Wang Xinlong sat in silence across from him.

What kind of martial arts could cause such a massive shift in a person's character?

He had no answer to his grandson's question.

Perhaps no martial artist could ever provide a unified answer.

"Let's not talk about that. What do you plan to do next? Those mercenaries and martial artists were all called by you, and I saw their attitude toward you..." Before Wang Xinlong could finish, he saw Wang Yiyang raise a hand.

"That's enough, Grandfather. Don't worry about the rest. You only need to know that I have my own career and my own ideals."

Wang Yiyang said calmly.

"I originally treated the martial arts hall and this place as my final safe harbor, but unfortunately... it seems I was too naive."

"In this world, there is no place that isn't surging with undercurrents. What is called peace is merely being forcibly suppressed by a greater power." Wang Xinlong sighed, no longer pressing for his grandson's secrets.

He only needed to know that Wang Yiyang's identity was definitely not just that of an ordinary white-collar worker, and that was enough.

Suddenly, Wang Xinlong felt a sense of listlessness.

He had struggled for most of his life, only to end up seemingly empty-handed. His life's work had turned into a blade that pierced his own heart.

If not for his grandson's intervention, he and everyone in the martial arts hall would likely have been dragged into the disaster.

Just as Wang Yiyang had said before, the martial way was already a thing of the past. It was perfect for cultivating one's character, but to think it could be used for anything else was nothing more than a pipe dream.

"Perhaps I should also start thinking about how to pass the time in my retirement," Wang Xinlong said with a bitter, low chuckle.

"Grandfather still remembers what I said earlier?" Wang Yiyang laughed. "Those words were merely meant to provoke Wu Qi, to accelerate his blood flow and trigger the poison's effect as quickly as possible. In truth, the martial way isn't as useless as I made it out to be. Otherwise, the Federation military wouldn't still retain hand-to-hand combat courses."

"..." Wang Xinlong remained silent.

"Don't overthink it, Grandfather. I will handle the matter regarding Zhong Can. Although his heart has changed, he didn't actually harm anyone in the martial arts gym.

On the contrary, he killed quite a few of those Mantis martial artists who showed up later. Therefore, there is no trouble worth pursuing regarding him," Wang Yiyang said casually.

He was now basically certain.

Before his rebirth, the fire at the martial arts gym and the car accident he was framed for had nothing to do with Zhong Can.

Zhong Can was clearly killing the Mantis people as well. Furthermore, his strength was not enough to sweep the entire field.

The final outcome was likely that Wu Qi would have swept everything.

The Mantis people would have killed everyone in the martial arts gym, then finished off Zhong Can, and burned the entire gym to the ground.

"What happens next?" Wang Xinlong asked.