Wu Family's Provocation

"Tomorrow is Wuzhou City's annual Genius Summit!"

Over the past few days, Li Ye had raised his cultivation to the peak of Spirit Martial Tier Five. He was just a thread away from stepping into Spirit Martial Tier Six. Yet that final thread had kept him from breaking through for days.

"Looks like I need an opportunity!"

In less than two months, he had gone from a cripple unable to cultivate to the peak of Spirit Martial Tier Five. Everyone believed that Li Ye had deliberately kept a low profile for the past few years, only to encounter a miracle and gradually erupt into brilliance.

But only he himself knew that these changes had all been accomplished within merely two months!

The excessive string of breakthroughs had nearly made him forget how difficult cultivation was. Now that his progress had suddenly slowed, it was perfectly normal.

But where was the opportunity that could help him break through?

Just then, Li Ye heard a commotion outside.

"What happened?"

His courtyard was quite close to the residences of the other Inner Disciples. The moment he opened the door, he heard shouting outside, along with the sounds of fighting.

When he went out to look, he saw several familiar faces glaring furiously at a few strangers. Among them, Li Ye even spotted Li Yuan Jia, whom he knew relatively well. Seeing blood at the corner of his mouth, Li Ye was startled!

"Li Yuan Jia, you're still as useless as last year. You can't even take ten of my moves. I advise you not to attend this Genius Summit. The top ten has no place for you!"

An arrogant, domineering voice rang into Li Ye's ears with utter brazenness. Looking carefully, he saw three unfamiliar youths standing opposite a group of Inner Disciples led by Li Yuan Jia.

The one speaking was a pale-faced youth among them. He wore a cold smile, his gaze lofty and proud.

When Li Ye came out, he happened to see the victor decided between him and Li Yuan Jia. Li Yuan Jia had been outmatched and injured.

"Wu Hao! If you have the guts, face me in a decisive battle at the Genius Summit!"

"That's right! You used underhanded means to launch a sneak attack just now. What kind of heroes does that make you?"

At once, someone among the Inner Disciples began complaining. But the youth merely sneered. "What a joke. Sneak attack? Your own vigilance was simply too weak! And you call yourselves descendants of a Lineage? You don't even understand such a simple principle! What a disgrace!"

Those words immediately made the Li Family's Inner Disciples glare in fury. Unfortunately, they clearly held deep apprehension toward the three men and did not dare act rashly.

"What's going on?"

Li Ye walked closer and casually pulled someone aside to ask.

That person was about to flare up, but when he turned around and saw that it was Li Ye, the formidable newcomer among the top ten Inner Disciples, he immediately fell silent. Then he began explaining.

Only after listening did Li Ye learn that the three men were from the other two of Wuzhou City's Three Great Families. The one who had just fought Li Yuan Jia and injured him was the Wu Family genius, Wu Hao. Of the other two, one was also a Wu Family disciple, while the last was from the Yu Family.

"That Wu Hao is one of the top geniuses among the Wu Family's many talents. His strength is second only to Wu Batian, one of the four great geniuses of Wuzhou City's previous generation. He holds a pivotal position throughout the Wu Family!"

Li Ye looked toward the pale-faced youth who had injured Li Yuan Jia. He appeared to be around twenty and was sweeping his mocking gaze across the Li Family crowd, utterly unconcerned that he stood within the Li Family's grounds.

"Are there any decent ones left? Trash like Li Yuan Jia is actually your Li Family's second-ranked Inner Disciple? What a crushing disappointment! It seems that apart from that Li Mo, there's truly no one in your Li Family!"

Wu Hao spoke with wild arrogance, not placing the Li Family at all in his eyes.

"Wu Hao! Don't go too far! This is the Li Family, not your Wu Family!"

An Inner Disciple shouted angrily, but he did not dare make a move. Li Yuan Jia had been injured after only a few exchanges with the other party. They did not believe they had the strength to step forward.

Only after Li Ye questioned them carefully did he learn that Wu Hao, another Wu Family disciple, and a member of the Yu Family had come to the Li Family not long ago and immediately challenged the Inner Disciples.

"Wu Hao truly deserves to be one of the top ten at the previous Genius Summit. None of us can last even three moves against him."

The Inner Disciple Li Ye had questioned wore a bitter expression. As for Wu Hao, Li Ye could sense that he was around the peak eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm, not yet having broken through the Martial Dao Master realm and entered the Martial Dao Grandmaster realm.

It turned out that Wu Hao had ranked sixth in Wuzhou City's previous Genius Summit. He was considerably stronger than Li Ji, who had once been the Li Family's second-ranked Inner Disciple. This time, he had come straight to the Li Family to forcefully challenge Li Yuan Jia.

"Li Yuan Jia, you and I are both the second-ranked Inner Disciples of our respective families. Unfortunately, you're far too weak. There's no challenge at all! Why don't you have that so-called number one genius, Li Mo, crawl out here? Let me see just how much one of last year's four great geniuses has grown over the past year!"

Arrogant! Incomparably arrogant!

Yet no one on the Li Family's side dared answer him. Wu Hao might have been exceedingly arrogant, but his strength was equally awe-inspiring.

"Wu Hao, you aren't worthy of making Li Mo act! I alone am enough to deal with you!"

Li Yuan Jia forced himself to draw a breath and shoved away the others supporting him, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. But in the next moment, a hand pressed down on his shoulder, and a voice sounded by his ear. "Yuan Jia, tend to your injuries first. Leave this man to me!"

The one holding him back was Li Ye. Li Ye had already seen that although Li Yuan Jia looked all right, their clash had injured his internal organs. If he did not immediately regulate his breathing, his injuries would worsen, perhaps even affecting tomorrow's Genius Summit!

"Li Ye, his strength isn't something you can handle!"

When he saw it was Li Ye, Li Yuan Jia relaxed slightly, but soon shook his head. Li Ye had performed brilliantly before, even overpowering Li Wei and Li Xuan, two seventh-level Spirit Martial Realm Martial Masters, to become the seventh-ranked Inner Disciple. But the gap in cultivation was simply too great!

He could tell at a glance that Li Ye was only at the peak of Spirit Martial Tier Five. Although he had improved tremendously over the past few days, at a speed that left Li Yuan Jia utterly shocked, the gap was still far too vast!

"Your strength may allow you to contend with seventh-level Spirit Martial Realm Martial Masters, but the gap between a Martial Master and a Martial Dao Master is not as small as you imagine!"

"Don't worry. I know my limits."

Li Ye smiled faintly. If it had been ten days ago, he might truly have lacked the confidence to fight a Martial Dao Master, especially one who had entered the top ten of Wuzhou City's previous Genius Summit.

But things were different now. Cloud-Turning Palm, Frost Fist, and Gale Legs had all reached the Minor Success stage, increasing his strength by more than threefold. In addition, Phantom Step had directly reached the Major Success stage. He was confident that as long as no Martial Dao Grandmaster appeared, very few people could threaten him.

Of course, if things truly went wrong, he still had Sword Control Technique and Blood Eyes, two trump cards in hand. He had nothing to fear!

Li Yuan Jia hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying in a low voice, "Be careful!"

For some reason, Li Yuan Jia was infected by the confidence in Li Ye's eyes. He actually began to faintly anticipate Li Ye creating another miracle, just as he had during the Inner Disciple battle.

"Your opponent is me."

Taking Li Yuan Jia's place, Li Ye directly faced Wu Hao. Only when truly standing before him did Li Ye understand why Li Yuan Jia had tried to stop him. The aura of a Martial Dao Master imposed deadly suppression on those of insufficient cultivation. It was a kind of suppression through presence, like encountering one's natural predator. Being able to unleash seventy or eighty percent of one's full strength would already be impressive, and the greater the gap in cultivation, the stronger this suppression became.

But Li Ye felt no discomfort whatsoever. The other man's imposing aura was child's play before him, unable to affect him in the slightest.

"Who the hell are you? Get lost! You dare challenge me, Wu Hao, at the peak of Spirit Martial Tier Five? I really can't tell whether you're truly stupid or courting death!"

The moment Wu Hao saw Li Ye, he was utterly disdainful and could not even be bothered to fight.

"He's Li Ye, ranked seventh among our Inner Disciples this time!"

Someone immediately shouted from the side. Although many among them disliked seeing Li Ye, once a cripple, surpass them and stand above their heads, at this moment, faced with an outsider, they still carried hopeful expectations that Li Ye could create another miracle.

"Seventh-ranked Inner Disciple? A kid who's only at Spirit Martial Tier Five?"

Upon hearing that, Wu Hao revealed a strange expression, then burst into laughter. "Are you joking? Or has your Li Family already declined to such a state? Leaving aside how useless Li Yuan Jia, your second-ranked Inner Disciple, is, you actually let a Spirit Martial Tier Five brat enter your top ten Inner Disciples?"

The two men behind him also sneered repeatedly, their eyes full of contempt.

The Li Family crowd did not know how to refute him. Were they supposed to say that Li Ye's combat strength was even more monstrous than that of ordinary seventh-level Spirit Martial Realm Martial Masters? That he could learn a High-Grade Yellow-Tier Combat Technique after seeing it once?

Not only were they unwilling to tell people from the Wu Family and Yu Family, even if they did, no one would believe them!

"Are you fighting or not? If not, get out of the Li Family!"

Li Ye frowned, but inwardly thought, The Three Great Families of Wuzhou City have fought endlessly for centuries. Each wants to dominate Wuzhou City, yet they have always kept one another in check. From the looks of it, the Wu Family and Yu Family have now both turned their spearheads toward the Li Family?

If that was truly the case, then even if the Li Family was known as the foremost of Wuzhou City's Three Great Families, facing the other two would still leave them surrounded by peril!

After all, the three families were roughly equal in strength. Once two joined forces against the third, they could very well shatter the balance that had endured in Wuzhou City for centuries!

"What are you supposed to be? A piece of trash at Spirit Martial Tier Five dares speak to me like that?"

Wu Hao's expression turned cold as a tangible killing intent burst from his body.

"Trash? Indeed. You Wu Family people don't even dare accept the challenge of someone at Spirit Martial Tier Five. You really are trash!"

Li Ye's sharp retort immediately made it impossible for Wu Hao to save face. With an angry roar, he directly struck out with his palm!

"Brat! You're courting death!"

A terrifying palm wind howled as it surged forth with wild force! Li Ye's expression grew slightly solemn. He might have spoken lightly, but he knew in his heart that this was the strongest opponent he had faced so far. Wu Hao's strength even felt no less formidable than Li Huangran's!