A Battle That Shook Wuzhou City

As though he had awoken from an incomparably terrifying nightmare, Li Yue's face nearly twisted into an expression of utter terror. Even the Profound Yin Palm lost all its force, becoming limp and utterly without threat.

"Li Ye! How dare you!"

Li Huangran, who had been locked in fierce combat with Xiao Qing, suddenly saw Li Yue standing there dazed and lost. Then Li Ye sent a punch crashing into his chest, knocking him more than thirty feet away. Li Huangran cried out in shock!

"How dare I? Watch and see whether I dare! Third! Uncle!"

It would have been better if Li Huangran had kept his mouth shut. The instant he spoke, the resentment in Li Ye's heart erupted!

Why?!

Li Yue's father and Li Huangran were both his father's blood brothers. They should have loved and supported one another. Even if there was conflict, it should have been nothing more than normal competition within the Lineage. But when had they ever treated him as one of their own?

Perhaps because he had fused with the memories and soul of the former "Li Ye," he had been affected to some extent as well.

Crack!

With a single punch, a crisp cracking sound rang out. Li Yue, the renowned young genius of Wuzhou City, the Li Family prodigy who had entered the seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm before even reaching seventeen and become one of the rising stars of the younger generation, now let out a scream like a slaughtered pig!

"This punch is for my father! No matter how favored you are in the Lineage, remember that my father is the family head!"

That punch had broken two of Li Yue's ribs!

Everyone was stunned, including Li Huangran.

One had once been a good-for-nothing whose name had stirred up the entire city; the other was a genius riding high on the crest of fame. Yet now, the genius screamed like a slaughtered pig, while the one who had reduced him to such a state was the worthless trash everyone had once despised!

What a biting irony!

When Li Ye turned his gaze toward Yu Wen Tianhua and Wu Wenhao, both men felt a chill creep down their backs, and a hair-raising terror rose within them.

"Li Ye, this has nothing to do with us!"

Yu Wen Tianhua said in a deep voice, his face filled with vigilance. Neither he nor Wu Wenhao had figured out how Li Yue had been defeated, and that was precisely why they felt such deep apprehension.

Once upon a time, they would never have taken the worthless trash before them seriously. But now, they felt a trace of fear.

"Get lost!"

Li Ye had no interest whatsoever in those two. The Wu Family and Yu Family were not his targets for now. His greatest goal was to return to that wolf-hearted Lineage and let those people see clearly that they had been utterly blind back then!

Li Yue was merely the first step! He would make those people regret just how wrong their decision had been! As for the cold looks Yu Wen Tianhua and Wu Wenhao gave him when they left, he did not care in the slightest.

Bang!

Because he had been distracted, Li Huangran gave Xiao Qing an opening. Xiao Qing's fist slammed into his shoulder, but Li Huangran used that chance to break away in an instant. His face twisted viciously as he lunged toward Li Ye.

"You little beast! You dared to injure your own clansman! You are utterly lawless! I will cripple one of your arms and destroy all your cultivation under the family rules right now!"

Seeing his nephew beaten so badly, how could Li Huangran not be enraged?

But he had forgotten that Li Yue was indeed his nephew, yet the little beast he spoke of was also his nephew!

Little beast! Li Ye laughed, and his smile was somewhat bleak!

The man before him was his own third uncle! His blood-related third uncle!

For some reason, he suddenly understood why Li Kainian had left this home. This Lineage had no sense of belonging at all, no familial affection whatsoever! At least, he could not feel any!

Bang!

Li Ye did not resist at all. Li Huangran's palm struck solidly against his chest.

Pfft!

A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, splattering directly across Li Huangran's face. Yet Li Ye was smiling, and his smile was icy cold.

"Li Huangran! Consider this palm strike a gift from your nephew!"

After taking that palm strike head-on, Li Ye felt as if his entire body were on fire, burning fiercely. His chest tightened until he could barely breathe, and the thick stench of blood filled his mouth.

Yet he stood firmly where he was and did not fall.

"Hmph! You are so ruthless toward your own clansman and brother that you cannot be allowed to remain! But for the sake of the Li Family blood flowing through you, I will first cripple one of your arms and destroy all your cultivation. Once I take you back, the elders of the Lineage can pass judgment on you!"

The look in Li Ye's eyes caused an inexplicable ripple to pass through Li Huangran's heart. Unfortunately, he quickly suppressed it. With a cold snort, he reached out to seize Li Ye by the shoulder.

"Stop!"

With an angry roar, Xiao Qing strode forward in great strides like a savage bull. His punch blasted out with such force that it tore through the air and produced a sonic boom!

Facing Xiao Qing, whose strength was not the least bit inferior to his own, Li Huangran did not dare turn his back on him. Left with no choice, he abandoned his attempt to capture Li Ye, flew over to grab the fallen Li Yue, and then shot Li Ye a vicious glare before turning away.

"You little beast! Someone is protecting you today, but unless you flee Wuzhou City and never return, there will no longer be a place for you anywhere in Wuzhou City!"

After saying that, he ignored everyone else and departed directly with the unconscious Li Yue.

There was no emotion or familial affection in that final glance. It was as though he were looking at an enemy. It thoroughly shattered Li Ye's last shred of illusion, but he also caught sight of the faint trace of red at the corner of Li Huangran's mouth. It seemed that Li Huangran had actually been injured in his fight with Xiao Qing just now?

"I'll be waiting!"

It felt as though a breath were lodged in Li Ye's chest, and he desperately wanted to roar and vent it. But he knew that his condition was not good right now. Although his Vampire physique, far stronger than that of ordinary humans, kept him stable for the moment, taking a palm strike head-on from Li Huangran, an eighth-level Spirit Martial Realm expert, had still injured him severely.

"This injury won't heal in less than two or three days."

Fortunately, he had long since become a Vampire. His metabolism was hundreds of times faster than that of ordinary people. He had once wondered whether Vampires' formidable recovery and near-immortality were related to this.

Had an ordinary person suffered such serious injuries, getting out of bed within three to five months would have been nearly impossible!

But he needed only two or three days at most to make a full recovery! That was why he had dared to let Li Huangran land that palm strike. He was no fool; he would never make a losing deal.

"Heh, kid, you're quite stubborn. You're somewhat different from what I heard. But this is what a man should be like. If you really were the frail, weak-willed coward people described before, I wouldn't have cared whether you lived or died!"

Xiao Qing slapped Li Ye's weakened shoulder, nearly sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Why did you help me?!"

Li Ye was deeply puzzled. Xiao Qing chuckled, glanced around, then lowered his voice. "This isn't the place to talk. Where are you staying now? We'll talk once we get there!"

"Fine!"

Li Ye was not one to drag his feet, and he nodded.

"Can you still walk?"

"I won't die!"

As the two quickly departed, word of what had just happened spread through all of Wuzhou City in less than half a day.

For a time, the frenzy sparked by the approaching year-end and the Three Great Families' annual contest among the younger generation gained an entirely different flavor.

"Have you heard? That useless trash from the Li Family back then, no one knows what happened to him, but not only can he cultivate now, his strength has advanced by leaps and bounds! He even broke two of Li Yue's ribs, and scared off Yu Wen Tianhua and Wu Wenhao of the Yu Family and Wu Family!"

"I know! I know! I was there that day too! The whole Virtue Moon Tower was nearly overturned! You have no idea, but Li Ye probably obtained the peerless secret manual his father left behind back then. He mastered some divine art and now wants to prove himself! What? You don't know who his father is? You must be from out of town, right? You've never even heard of Li Kainian, the ghostly genius of Wuzhou City's generation? That's right! That useless trash... ah, no, that Li Family Li Ye is his son!"

As more and more people spread the news, the rumors became increasingly fantastical, until several versions emerged. The most exaggerated tale claimed that someone had smashed Virtue Moon Tower into ruins with a single slap, that Li Ye had sent the three geniuses of Wuzhou City's Three Great Families flying with one palm, then fought fiercely against the Li Family's Third Master, an established eighth-level Spirit Martial Realm expert, and finally beaten the Third Master into fleeing in panic.

In any case, the tale grew more outlandish with every retelling, until it sounded utterly unbelievable.

After the Three Great Families learned of the matter, their reactions differed. The Yu Family and Wu Family, in particular, seemed to have fallen completely silent, and no one knew how they had responded.

As for the Li Family, a huge uproar broke out!

Of course, those were matters for later. At this moment, in Li Ye's shabby little courtyard, Xiao Qing clicked his tongue as he watched Aunt Yun emerge from the house, peerlessly graceful and gentle as water. He winked at Li Ye and said with a grin, "Didn't expect you, kid, to be hiding a beauty in a golden house! This woman has flavor! She may be a little older, but compared with those young girls, she has far more mature feminine charm! You've got good taste, kid!"

"Get lost!"

By now, Li Ye had more or less seen through Xiao Qing's character. He appeared rough and boorish, but there was finesse beneath that roughness. On the way back, his mouth had run like a runaway train, yet Li Ye could tell that this was simply his way of comforting him.

Understanding was one thing, but Xiao Qing had actually said that his beloved Aunt Yun was a beauty he kept hidden away. How could he tolerate that?

Xiao Qing merely chuckled without speaking. As for Aunt Yun, she was only slightly surprised by the sudden appearance of a stranger. She did not take Xiao Qing's suggestive words to heart. Instead, she gave Li Ye a gentle smile, while traces of reproach and heartache flashed through her bright eyes.

"You went out fighting again? How old are you already, still acting like a child! Come, let Aunt Yun have a look!"

Only in front of Aunt Yun could Li Ye lower all his guard. Perhaps it was the influence of the other soul within his own, but in any case, he was gradually beginning to feel as if he belonged in this world.

"Aunt Yun, I'm fine. Oh, right, this is my friend. We have some matters to discuss."

Aunt Yun did not ask anything. She simply nodded gently. "You two talk. I'll make you something to eat."

With that, she drifted away. Looking at her retreating figure, Li Ye honestly felt somewhat guilty. Such a breathtakingly beautiful woman ought to have had a good home, so why was she wasting her youth caring for worthless trash like him? Could it really be some old romantic debt his missing father had incurred all those years ago?