You Only Know You're About to Die!

"Heh heh heh, not bad, not bad—vicious enough!!!"

In the darkness!

Chen An sat upright in his chair. Listening to the savage words of the leading black-clad thug across from him, not only did he feel no fear whatsoever, a cold, indifferent smile even curled at the corners of his lips.

"Hmph! At death's door, and you still put on airs!"

Seeing Chen An's unruffled demeanor, Ding Heng, who believed he had gauged the other man's cultivation, assumed Chen An was merely forcing himself to hold on at the end of his rope.

The vicious gleam in his eyes surged. With a cold snort, true qi around his body suddenly roiled like raging waves. The full power of late-stage Qi Condensation erupted as he drove a savage punch at Chen An.

At the same time, Gao Laosan beside him immediately tensed his body and circulated his true qi. A ruthless glint flashed through his eyes as he likewise pounced toward Chen An.

"Hmph!!!"

Chen An gave a cold snort as he watched the two rushing at him.

The next instant, a terrifying pressure burst from his body, like a towering divine mountain suddenly collapsing. It instantly spread across the entire courtyard and came crashing down heavily upon Ding Heng and Gao Laosan.

Thud!~~

Thud!!!~~

Ding Heng and Gao Laosan, who had been shooting forward with vicious looks on their faces, suddenly stiffened. Their blood and qi froze in an instant, and their limbs felt as though they had been filled with ten thousand pounds of lead and iron.

Before either could react, that terrifying pressure brutally pinned them to the ground. Their knees smashed heavily into the bluestone bricks with two dull booms.

Beneath their masks, their faces turned pale as paper. Their internal organs shook violently, and a sickly sweetness rose in their throats. The Qi Condensation true qi flowing through their bodies directly collapsed into chaos. Then, with a pfft, they spat out mouthfuls of blood, washing away their masks and staining the ground before them red.

"Y-you..."

Ding Heng and Gao Laosan's eyes bulged as they stared, pale-faced, at the figure still seated motionlessly in the chair before them. Their faces were filled with horror and disbelief.

At this moment, to Ding Heng and Gao Laosan, the figure seated in that chair was no longer some weakling at the second level of Qi Condensation, but an existence like a god or demon.

Such terrifying pressure, capable of suppressing everything, was far beyond that of an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator. Even a Houtian Realm expert could never possess such vast, weighty force.

There was only one possibility—the Xiantian Realm!

The man before them was actually a Xiantian Realm expert!

At this thought, an icy chill pierced their bodies, and they instantly felt as though they had fallen into a bottomless ice pit!

Just moments ago, they had boasted wildly that they would break this man's limbs, shatter his dantian, and cripple the cultivation of a Xiantian expert. How laughable. How suicidal!

Bai Family!!

Damned Bai Family!!

This was the utterly harmless second-level Qi Condensation student of the county academy they had sworn there was no threat from?!

Overwhelming regret and despair instantly swept through him. Ding Heng clenched his teeth hard, inwardly cursing the Bai Family that had hired them.

If they survived this time, they would definitely make the Bai Family pay!

"Sp-spare us, my lord..."

Ding Heng was scared out of his wits. While bitterly hating the Bai Family's viciousness, he gritted his teeth, raised his head, and begged, "We failed to recognize greatness before us. We deserve ten thousand deaths. But we were acting under another's orders, and in a moment of madness, we lost our way. Please show mercy, my lord, and spare our worthless lives!"

"Y-yes, yes, yes! Spare us, my lord!"

Gao Laosan had long since been frightened into incoherence. Trembling like a sieve, he lay on the ground and repeatedly kowtowed, his voice thick with sobs. "We were both acting under orders! None of this had anything to do with us from beginning to end! Someone paid to hire us—we were only trying to scrape out a living! Please, my lord, have mercy and let us off like a fart!"

"Acting under another's orders?!"

Facing their pleas, Chen An remained indifferent. His silver-glinting eyes regarded them as though they were two ants as he said calmly, "Tell me. Who sent you to cripple me?"

"M-my lord, if I tell you, can you spare us?!" Enduring the intense pain throughout his body, Ding Heng looked at Chen An and cautiously tried to bargain.

"Hmph!!!"

Chen An gave a cold snort, and an even more terrifying pressure descended from the heavens.

Bang!!~~

With two dull impacts, the two men, who had merely been kneeling, were viciously crushed flat against the ground like frogs, their heads split open and bloodied.

"I'll give you one more chance. If you don't speak, die!!!" Chen An said flatly.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! I'll tell you! Spare us, my lord!!!"

Feeling the utterly terrifying pressure on him, as though it would crush him to pulp the next moment, Ding Heng's face was full of horror. He used all his strength to raise his blood-covered head and said in a trembling, hurried voice, "It was the Bai Family! The Bai Family sent us!"

"Oh?~~"

After hearing this, Chen An looked calmly at the two men before him. He neither flew into a rage nor questioned them. It was as though he had already known the answer.

At his words, Chen An calmly looked at the two of them. There was no fury, no outrage, not even the slightest surprise. He looked as though he had known this answer all along.

"It's true, my lord, absolutely true!"

Thinking Chen An did not believe him, Ding Heng hurriedly said, "Just last night, someone came to find us. He told us to cripple you, my lord, and specifically said that your cultivation was only at the second level of Qi Condensation, telling us to strike without worry. He also gave us five hundred yuan crystals as payment!"

"Because this lowly one has always been cautious, afterward I secretly followed that man. In the end, I saw him meet with an old man, and I recognized that old man—he was the Bai Family's steward!"

"Bai Family!!!"

Chen An lightly tapped the arm of his chair with his fingertips. His gaze flickered, and a cold gleam flashed through his eyes as he asked, "Do you know the Bai Family's background?"

"My lord, we are merely ordinary Qi Condensation martial artists, without power or influence. How would we dare pry into the secrets of a family like the Bai Family in our daily lives?!"

Hearing Chen An's question, a bitter smile crossed Ding Heng's face, but he still said, "However, we have heard that not only is the Bai Family quite wealthy in the city, but it is also said that the Bai Family's brother-in-law is the county commandant of the county yamen. I only heard this from others, so I do not know whether it is true!"

"The county commandant!!!"

Chen An's gaze flickered slightly at those words.

Wurong County's county commandant was a military official second only to the county magistrate. He oversaw the county's security, bandit-catching, prisons, and military affairs. His strength was formidable; at the very least, he was a late-stage Houtian Realm martial arts expert.

If what this man said was true, it was no wonder the Bai Family could establish itself in Wurong County. It was no wonder Bai Yifan was usually arrogant and domineering, running roughshod over others and acting without restraint.

"M-my lord, we were only doing a job for money. We had no choice!"

As Ding Heng coughed violently and spat out bloody foam, he desperately kowtowed, his voice mournful and terrified. "This lowly one has an eighty-year-old mother at home to support, as well as a three-year-old child crying to be fed. If we die, our entire families will be unable to survive! Please show mercy, my lord, and spare our lives. From now on, we will turn over a new leaf and never dare do such a thing again!"

"Y-yes, my lord! We'll never dare again!"

Gao Laosan desperately kowtowed, tears and blood smearing his entire face as he wailed without end, "I still have three children to raise at home, and my wife is pregnant! My whole family depends on me to live! Please be merciful, my lord, and spare us this once!"

The two lay prostrate on the ground, making themselves as pitiful and miserable as possible as they begged for mercy.

In their eyes, Chen An was ultimately only a teenager. Although his cultivation was powerful, his heart might not be as hard as iron as those decisive martial artists who killed without hesitation.

As long as they put on a pitiful appearance of having nowhere to turn, burdened by dependent family members, he would surely take pity on them and ultimately spare their lives.

"You don't not dare anymore. You only know that you're about to die!"