Mercenary Tao Flees

Bu Chen glared at Mercenary Tao with eyes full of murderous intent, as if he could kill him with a mere gaze. Looking at the fallen Bu Fan, Bu Chen seemed to see the scene from his childhood when his parents entrusted Bu Fan to him, urging him to take good care of his younger brother. Under his care, Bu Fan had not lived an unhappy life; on the contrary, he had grown up lively and mischievous.

In his view, his brother did not need to be overly outstanding, so he never placed too heavy a burden on him. It could be said that Bu Chen had given everything to his brother, ensuring he had a wonderful childhood.

His brother's lively personality made Bu Chen feel he had done right by his parents in the afterlife. Even a hundred years later, he could proudly say to them that he had taken good care of his brother.

But now!

His brother had been killed by someone, which filled him with regret for leaving him to face such a terrifying enemy as Mercenary Tao alone. What he had not expected, however, was that the Crane School would be so shameless as to actually strike at a junior, completely lacking the martial virtue expected of a martial artist.

"Mercenary Tao! As a senior in the martial arts world, you have openly attacked a junior. Are you not afraid of being ridiculed?" Bu Chen shouted sternly.

"Ridicule? What is that? Hahaha!!!"

"To think someone is still so naive. In this world, power is the truth. As long as I possess power, how would they dare to ridicule me? They will only fear me and dread me!" Mercenary Tao said maniacally.

In reality, people in the martial arts world generally did not attack juniors unless there was a life-or-death feud. It was clear that the Martial Alliance and the Crane School had not reached that level, but Master Shen sending Mercenary Tao to kill a disciple of the Martial Alliance was clearly shameless to the extreme.

Bu Chen knew that Mercenary Tao had no bottom line, but he had not expected him to be this shameless. He stopped talking; there was no point in wasting words with someone like him. It was better to let their skills do the talking.

Looking at his brother, whose life or death was uncertain, Bu Chen did not want to waste any more breath. He said impatiently, "Don't talk to me about your crooked ways. We walk different paths, so let's settle this with our strength!"

Ha!!!

In two strides, Bu Chen reached Mercenary Tao and threw a heavy punch. Mercenary Tao gauged Bu Chen's energy and found it was only slightly higher than that of the boy from before; there was no way he could be his match. However, Mercenary Tao had forgotten that if others could use secret techniques to boost their strength, why couldn't Bu Chen?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged dozens of blows, and loud sonic booms echoed through the air. Although Mercenary Tao's combat power was higher than what Bu Chen had displayed, he could not take him down quickly. Mercenary Tao began to think of a dirty trick; he used one of Bu Chen's side kicks as an opportunity to put some distance between them.

Then, while everyone was still smugly thinking that Bu Chen had the upper hand, Mercenary Tao repeated his old trick!

He quietly took a bomb out of a Universal Capsule, intending to blow Bu Chen to pieces, and threw it at him while everyone watched in disbelief.

Boom!!!

A loud explosion rang out, followed by a massive cloud of dust.

"Hahaha!!!"

"Damn brat, this is the price for offending me, Mercenary Tao!"

Mercenary Tao laughed triumphantly. Just then, a voice came through: "Is that all you've got?"

One could hear a hint of anger in the voice; clearly, he had been provoked by Mercenary Tao. If Bu Chen hadn't instantly doubled his combat power, he would have been dead or at least severely injured. Mercenary Tao's insidious behavior made Bu Chen decide he was done playing around.

He had intended to toy with Mercenary Tao, but the recent events made him decide to go for the kill. With his full power unleashed, Bu Chen sent Mercenary Tao flying with a few strikes. He landed an elbow strike, then instantly appeared above him, clasping his hands together to deliver a heavy hammer blow. Mercenary Tao spat out a mouthful of blood and hit the ground, lying motionless.

As Bu Chen approached, Mercenary Tao suddenly lunged up, trying to ambush him. But Bu Chen's reflexes were incredibly sharp; he grabbed Mercenary Tao by the throat and slammed him back into the ground. Another mouthful of blood sprayed out. Within a few exchanges, Mercenary Tao was already severely wounded.

"Brother!"

A voice full of surprise rang out. Bu Chen looked toward the sound and saw Bu Fan standing there, full of life.

Mercenary Tao also looked toward the voice, stunned. How could that brat be unscathed after taking a Dodon Ray from me!

But he couldn't dwell on it. Taking advantage of Bu Chen's distraction, he pulled out a smoke bomb, threw it on the ground, and tried to flee. However, this action was meaningless in Bu Chen's eyes.

Yet, Bu Chen did not move at all, watching helplessly as Mercenary Tao escaped.

It turned out that Jiang Yun, who had been hiding in the shadows, had seen Bu Chen lose his composure after Mercenary Tao killed Bu Fan and had gone to fight him. Since Bu Fan could still be saved, Jiang Yun, worried that Bu Chen might die, had rushed over and used a Senzu Bean to save the critically injured Bu Fan.

That explained the scene just now. But why had Bu Chen remained indifferent when Mercenary Tao escaped? The reason was that Jiang Yun had used telepathy to tell him to let him go. As for why Jiang Yun wanted to let Mercenary Tao go, Bu Chen did not know, but he assumed Jiang Yun must have his reasons.

As for the telepathy technique, it was something Jiang Yun had researched based on the various novels from his past life. Qi had many wonderful uses; some people could use Qi to learn mind-reading, so why couldn't Jiang Yun use Qi to learn a Dragon Ball version of telepathy?

"Alliance Leader, you've come. We're sorry, we let you down!"

Seeing Jiang Yun suddenly appear, the disciples felt deeply ashamed. Jiang Yun had taught them so many techniques, yet they still couldn't defeat the enemy; they felt they had failed the Alliance Leader's cultivation.

"You don't need to say anything. You've done very well. Your opponent was Mercenary Tao, who has roamed the martial arts world for years. You haven't been training for long, so it's no surprise you were defeated by him. However, when you go back, double your training. Remember today's helplessness. If you want to protect yourselves and others, you must have sufficient strength! Do you hear me?"

With just a few words, Jiang Yun lifted the atmosphere and gave everyone a lesson.

"Bu Chen, there is a reason I let Mercenary Tao go. I hope you can understand." Jiang Yun looked at Bu Chen, who had just finished the battle.

"I trust you. You wouldn't be wrong!" Bu Chen said firmly.

Jiang Yun hadn't expected Bu Chen to trust him so deeply. The reason he let Mercenary Tao go was that he was a major training target for Kid Goku in the future. Although he didn't really need to worry about these things, Jiang Yun still hoped not to interfere with Kid Goku's journey—at least not before King Piccolo. As for why, he would know in the future.

"Right, all disciples of the Martial Alliance, regarding this incident, our Martial Alliance is not to be trifled with. Since the enemy dared to come, we dare to fight. We will drive them out of West City! And we will make them compensate for our losses! Furthermore, issue an ultimatum to the Crane School: they can avoid being held accountable for Mercenary Tao's actions, but they must pay our Martial Alliance compensation of one billion. If they cannot pay on time, their entire sect will cease to exist!"

Jiang Yun's tone turned tough, and cheers erupted from the Martial Alliance disciples around him!