The Pang Family of the Imperial City Makes Its Move

Su Yueli stood at the stairway entrance. Seeing the scene before her, she raised an eyebrow.

This guy really was brimming with chivalry.

She herself bore a blood-deep vendetta and acted with restraint, never meddling lightly in such affairs.

But speaking fairly, she did not dislike people like Lin Ye, who had a warm heart for the old ways.

The world was murky. Having a few fearless hotheads willing to step forward was not a bad thing after all.

Su Yueli stopped and quietly stood where she was, watching.

In the main hall, the burly man halted his movements and slowly turned around, his pair of ferocious eyes settling on Lin Ye.

"Where did this stray dog come from, daring to stick its nose into my business?"

The burly man rolled his neck, his bones cracking loudly.

The onlookers huddled in the corners saw someone step forward, and a wave of hushed whispers immediately rose around them.

"That young man has too much nerve. Does he have a death wish?!"

"He probably has no idea who he is facing! That is Pang Hu, the second young master of the Pang Family from the Great Li Imperial City! They say Pang Hu is brutal by nature. A few years ago, the Pang Family head threw him into the border army to temper his killing intent. With the Martial Dao Tournament approaching, he was only summoned back to the Imperial City to compete!"

"Once you provoke the Pang Family, this kid's life is over!"

Listening to the fearful, reverent discussions around him, the flesh on Pang Hu's face twitched as he revealed a savage grin of great satisfaction.

He thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of these ants fearing him like a tiger.

Pang Hu released the young girl's arm, walked before Lin Ye, and sneered. "Kid, did you hear that? Since I'm in a good mood today, kneel down and kowtow three times, then get the hell out of this inn. I'll let you go like a fart."

Lin Ye spat, his eyes blazing with fury.

"What bullshit Pang Family! Just because you're from the Great Li Imperial City, you can ignore the law? Bullying an unarmed woman, and you dare call yourself a martial artist?!"

"Courting death!"

Pang Hu's face abruptly darkened.

Lin Ye did not waste words either. The blood and qi throughout his body erupted, revealing the foundation of a peak Third Realm martial artist.

He drew the long saber from his back. Its blade gleamed coldly beneath the inn's lantern light as he unleashed a Mountain Splitter strike, the sharp howl of wind accompanying it as it cleaved straight toward Pang Hu's face.

He had wanted to show Su Yueli some of his strength.

Clang—!

The next moment, the clash of metal rang out.

Pang Hu did not even draw a weapon. He merely raised his right arm, covered in iron armor, and forcibly blocked Lin Ye's full-power slash.

Lin Ye felt his tiger's mouth shudder violently, and his saber nearly flew from his grasp.

"Peak Third Realm? Is this the confidence behind your chivalrous heroics?"

Pang Hu gave a savage laugh. The blood and qi within him instantly overwhelmed Lin Ye's, and he spun around with a heavy punch that smashed into Lin Ye's chest.

Lin Ye did not even have the right to dodge. He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, smashed through two tables, crashed onto the floor, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

It was a crushing defeat without the slightest suspense.

The path of Martial Dao, like the Immortal Dao, was one step, one heaven.

Between the Third Realm and the Fourth Realm lay a heavenly chasm, one that could never be bridged by sheer hot blood alone.

Lin Ye curled up on the ground, feeling several ribs in his chest had broken. He gritted his teeth, his eyes full of unwillingness and despair.

Through his blurred vision, he instinctively looked toward the stairway.

Su Yueli was still standing there quietly, and Lin Ye's heart suddenly clenched.

His eyes fixed on Su Yueli as he desperately signaled: Don't make a sound! Don't come over! Run!

If his attempt to show off had failed and gotten him killed, then so be it. He absolutely could not drag this young woman into it too.

Yet that inadvertent glance made Pang Hu, standing opposite him, notice something unusual.

Following Lin Ye's gaze, Pang Hu looked up toward the stairway.

In the next instant, Pang Hu's eyes went completely wide.

A pale blue dress, a peerless immortal beauty, and that icy, proud temperament—she was more soul-stealing than even the noble daughters of the Imperial City's great families.

"Hehe..."

Pang Hu licked his lips, a greedy and lecherous gleam flashing through his eyes.

Turning toward Lin Ye on the floor, he said with a grin, "Kid, not only are you gutsy, your luck with women is not bad either. You actually brought along such an exquisite, peerless beauty."

"Since you're going to die, I'll take this beauty off your hands!"

With that, Pang Hu could not even be bothered to look at Lin Ye again and walked toward Su Yueli at the stairway.

"Stop! Don't touch her!"

Lin Ye's eyes nearly split apart. In his heart, he cried out that it was over—he had gotten Miss Su involved!

He did not know where he found the strength, but he suddenly lunged up from the ground and wrapped both arms tightly around Pang Hu's leg.

"Miss Su! Run! Run!" Lin Ye roared at Su Yueli, blood still continuously spilling from his mouth.

Pang Hu's steps were held back. He frowned, and a flash of killing intent passed through his eyes.

"Annoying fly, die!"

This time, Pang Hu did not hold back. Veins bulged across his right fist as it carried the terrifying blood and qi of a Fourth Realm martial artist, smashing viciously down at Lin Ye's head.

If that punch landed, Lin Ye's head would undoubtedly burst like a watermelon on the spot.

At the stairway.

Su Yueli looked at the blood and qi fluctuations Pang Hu had unleashed. Mid Fourth Realm.

Judging by his appearance, Pang Hu was at most a little over thirty.

Reaching the mid Fourth Realm at that age, with the Imperial City's resources and foundation combined with his own talent, he truly was formidable.

After all, Tie Tu of Ironbone Martial Hall had trained in martial arts his entire life. He was already sixty-five, yet he had only barely reached the late Fifth Realm. He had never been able to break through to the Sixth Realm, and even his lifespan was nearing its end.

Among mortals, Pang Hu absolutely counted as a genuine genius.

Unfortunately, he had picked the wrong person to provoke.

Sigh.

Su Yueli sighed helplessly in her heart.

She had not wanted to meddle in idle affairs, but she could not exactly stand by and watch this foolish man, who had acted chivalrously, have his head smashed apart.

Besides, he had offended her as well.

Just as Pang Hu's punch was about to fall, Su Yueli's figure vanished from the stairway.

Almost at the exact same instant, a fair hand caught Pang Hu's fist.

Bang—!

The dull sound of blood and qi colliding exploded through the main hall, kicking up a gale that forced the surrounding onlookers to stagger back again and again.

Pang Hu's expression changed drastically.

He felt as though his punch had struck an iron mountain. Not only had it failed to move her in the slightest, but an even heavier surge of blood and qi rebounded from that seemingly delicate hand!

"Get lost."

Su Yueli's expression remained blank. With a slight turn of her wrist, the inch force of Mountain Splitter's first form erupted without warning.

Pang Hu's feet skidded backward across the floor for a full seventy or eighty feet. Only after smashing through the inn's front doors did he barely steady himself.

His right arm shook violently, his blood and qi churning endlessly within him. He stared at the icy young woman before him, his face filled with horror.

The entire inn hall fell into a dead silence so complete that a needle dropping could be heard.

Lin Ye, sprawled on the ground, stared wide-eyed at Su Yueli as though he were looking at a monster.

His mind was completely blank.

This was... Miss Su, whom he had wanted to protect?!

She had sent Pang Hu, a mid Fourth Realm martial artist, flying with one move? What kind of monster was she?!

After the brief dead silence, the crowd of onlookers instantly erupted.

Every face was filled with shock, but once that shock faded, their expressions changed in unison.

No one cheered. Their eyes held only fear and pity.

"Mad... She actually dared to attack Pang Hu!"

"This girl may be incredibly strong, but she was too impulsive! So what if she drove Pang Hu back? That is the Pang Family of the Great Li Imperial City!"

"Exactly! Pang Jinbiao, the Pang Family head, is a genuine Eighth Realm grandmaster! And he keeps countless martial artists under his command!"

"It's over, it's over. No matter how strong this girl is, can she fight an entire Imperial City noble family? Today, she has disgraced the Pang Family. Once they reach the Imperial City, the Pang Family will definitely have a hundred ways to make her wish she were dead!"

"What a pity for such peerless beauty and talent. Before even entering the Imperial City, she has already walked herself onto a dead road..."

The discussions around her were all certain that Su Yueli would meet a miserable end, all suppressing her with those predictions.

In everyone's eyes, no matter how strong an individual's martial might was, it could never contend against those colossal forces in the Imperial City whose roots were tangled and intertwined.

Listening to the surrounding voices predicting doom, Pang Hu shook his numb right arm. The shock on his face gradually faded, replaced by an even more crazed, savage grin.

"Good! Very good!"

Pang Hu stared at Su Yueli as though she were the freshest, most succulent prey.