Those Who Come Mean Harm

Giant Whale Gang, Dragon Snake Crossing branch. Council hall.

Bang!

A coarse porcelain teacup was hurled viciously to the floor, shattering into pieces.

"That old bastard Wei Tuo sure puts on airs! He expects this Hall Master to wait for him?" A burly man with a face full of flesh, dressed in fitted black clothes, snorted heavily. He sat in the seat of honor with the bearing of a general astride his horse.

This man was Xiong Tai, Hall Master of the Blood Saber Sect's Black Tiger Hall, known as the Bear of the Broken Back.

Nearly twenty men stood behind him. Every one of them exuded a fierce air, weapons hanging at their waists, making the entire hall bristle with murderous intent.

Several Giant Whale Gang stewards and members stood below with their hands hanging at their sides, their faces alternately pale and green, yet no one dared to speak.

One steward forced a careful smile. "Hall Master Xiong, please quell your anger. Our Branch Master has just finished dealing with urgent gang matters and is on his way back. He'll be here at once, at once."

Xiong Tai grinned, revealing his ghastly white teeth. "At once? Since when did the Blood Saber Sect have to wait for others to say 'at once'? I hear your Giant Whale Gang has been quite impressive around Dragon Snake Crossing lately, spreading word everywhere that Black Wind Village was destroyed by some nameless righteous hero?"

His tone suddenly shifted, carrying a trace of chill. "Black Wind Village being wiped out is none of the Blood Saber Sect's business."

"But Li Batian's son, Li Mo, is now one of the Blood Saber Sect. What do you mean by doing this? Are you slapping the Blood Saber Sect in the face?"

Cold sweat seeped from the steward's forehead. "Hall Master Xiong, you misunderstand. There must be some misunderstanding here..."

"Misunderstanding?" Xiong Tai slammed his palm onto the table, making the teacups jump wildly. "I think you're tired of living!"

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the doors.

"Hall Master Xiong, your honored arrival has not been properly welcomed. Please forgive us, please forgive us!" Wei Tuo strode into the hall with Lu Shaoyou and several trusted aides.

At a glance, he saw the mess strewn across the floor and Xiong Tai's openly hostile face.

Seeing that their own Branch Master had finally returned, the stewards and gang members breathed sighs of relief.

Xiong Tai lifted his eyelids and glanced at Wei Tuo. "Branch Master Wei, you finally came back. I thought you intended to make this Hall Master wait until nightfall!"

The muscles in Wei Tuo's face twitched. He cupped his fists and said, "Hall Master Xiong jests. May I ask what brings Hall Master Xiong here today?"

Xiong Tai sneered. "You know perfectly well! Wei Tuo, tell me: was it your Giant Whale Gang that spread all those rumors across Dragon Snake Crossing, saying Black Wind Village was destroyed and Li Batian was executed?"

Wei Tuo answered calmly, "That did happen. But we merely told the truth. These are rumors of the martial world, not fabrications invented by the Giant Whale Gang."

"What a fine 'telling the truth'!" Xiong Tai abruptly rose to his feet, a savage aura pressing down on Wei Tuo. "Li Mo is now one of the Blood Saber Sect! You spread the news that his father was killed—what are your intentions? Are you trying to provoke the Blood Saber Sect?"

Wei Tuo's expression did not change. "Hall Master Xiong, that is not right. Black Wind Village harmed an entire region; everyone had the right to punish them. Their destruction delighted the people. How did that become a provocation against the Blood Saber Sect? Could it be that the Blood Saber Sect intends to openly shelter such villains?"

"Insolence!"

Xiong Tai roared, "Wei Tuo, stop twisting words and putting on a glib face here! Li Mo is a member of the Blood Saber Sect. His family's affairs are the Blood Saber Sect's affairs!"

"I don't care about Black Wind Village or White Wind Village. Today, you must give me an explanation! Hand over that so-called nameless righteous hero! Otherwise, don't blame me, Xiong Tai, for refusing to give the Giant Whale Gang any face!"

Wei Tuo frowned deeply, anger rising within him as well. "Hall Master Xiong, you are making things difficult for others. That hero comes and goes without trace. How am I supposed to hand him over?"

"Besides, what does this matter have to do with the Giant Whale Gang? If you insist on this, are you trying to provoke an all-out conflict between the Giant Whale Gang and the Blood Saber Sect?"

"All-out conflict?" Xiong Tai burst into wild laughter. "With nothing more than your tiny Dragon Snake Crossing branch? Wei Tuo, you think far too highly of yourself!"

"Don't think that just because Li Changge broke through to the Innate Realm, your Giant Whale Gang can sit on equal footing with the Blood Saber Sect."

"I'll lay it out plainly today: if you don't hand him over, then wait for your Dragon Snake Crossing branch to be trampled flat!"

The Giant Whale Gang members behind Wei Tuo glared furiously, tightening their grips on their weapons.

Li Changge, the Giant Whale Gang's leader, had only just entered the Innate Realm. Compared with the Blood Saber Ancestor, however, the gap was far too great.

The atmosphere was taut as a drawn bowstring, ready to erupt at any moment.

"Xiong Tai, is it? There is no need to make things difficult for Branch Master Wei." A calm voice came from behind Wei Tuo.

Lu Shaoyou slowly stepped forward and came to stand beside Wei Tuo.

Xiong Tai narrowed his eyes as he sized up Lu Shaoyou. "What the hell are you? Is there a place for you to speak here?"

Lu Shaoyou ignored his rudeness and merely spoke calmly.

"I destroyed Black Wind Village. I killed Li Batian."

The instant those words fell, the entire hall was stunned!

Wei Tuo was stunned as well. He had not expected Lu Shaoyou to admit it so readily.

Xiong Tai froze for a moment, then threw back his head in loud laughter. "Hahahaha! After wearing out iron shoes in a fruitless search, I found it without any effort at all!"

"Boy, you've got guts! I've seen plenty of cowards who dare act but dare not own up to it. You're the first one like this!"

He looked Lu Shaoyou up and down, a cruel smile on his face. "You were the one who destroyed Black Wind Village? Who killed Li Batian?"

Lu Shaoyou nodded. "That's right."

"Very good!" Xiong Tai said with a vicious grin. "Li Mo is now one of the Blood Saber Sect. To be precise, he is one of the Blood Saber Sect's Blood Shadow Guards. Killing his father means making an enemy of the Blood Saber Sect!"

"Still, I never expected you to dare swagger all the way to Azure Province to hunt him down."

"There is a road to heaven, yet you refuse to walk it; hell has no gate, yet you charged right in!"

Lu Shaoyou's tone remained calm. "Li Mo committed countless evils and was drenched in blood debts. He must die. If the Blood Saber Sect insists on sheltering him, then it will become my enemy."

Suddenly, Lu Shaoyou's gaze turned cold, and his voice became iron-hard. "Let me offer one warning: sheltering an enemy responsible for exterminating a family will bring a calamity of annihilation upon the Blood Saber Sect."

"Calamity of annihilation? Hahahaha!" Xiong Tai looked as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world. "You? A mere greenhorn?"

One Black Tiger Hall expert behind him could no longer hold back. He shouted sharply, "You arrogant brat! You dare disrespect the Blood Saber Sect? You're courting death!"

Before the man's words had faded, his body flashed forward like a starving tiger pouncing on prey. He clawed at Lu Shaoyou's face, the wind from his fingers razor-sharp.

"Overestimating yourself." Lu Shaoyou did not even look at him. He casually raised a hand and lightly pointed with his index finger, firing a stream of faint golden inner force.

Puff!

A nearly inaudible sound rang out.

The charging Black Tiger Hall expert came to an abrupt halt. His momentum carried him forward, but his body toppled stiffly to the ground. A tiny bloody hole had appeared between his brows. He was already dead.

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching the author—it may simply have been renamed!

Silence.

The entire hall was deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden scene.

A single finger strike had killed a First-rate Master? What kind of terrifying strength was that!

Not even a Super First-rate Master could accomplish that so effortlessly.

The smile on Xiong Tai's face instantly froze, replaced by a livid pallor. He stared fixedly at Lu Shaoyou and squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth. "You... who exactly are you?"

Lu Shaoyou did not answer. He simply asked, "Is the Blood Saber Sect truly willing to fight me to the death over a Li Mo?"

"You bastard! You dare kill a member of my Black Tiger Hall!" Xiong Tai finally snapped out of his shock and flew into a rage.

His aura erupted, and a violent scent of blood spread through the hall. "If this Hall Master does not tear you to pieces today, I swear I am not a man!"

"Roar!" Xiong Tai bellowed and stomped hard against the floor. The hard bluestone slabs cracked inch by inch.

His fan-sized hand transformed from a palm into a claw, inner force tearing through the air as it shot straight for Lu Shaoyou's chest!

A Super First-rate Master! Wei Tuo's heart tightened. Xiong Tai seemed even stronger than the rumors had suggested.

Lu Shaoyou neither dodged nor retreated. A cold glint flashed through his eyes.

He did not want to waste time.

System, consume 2,000 Slaughter Value to upgrade the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill!

Ding! Upgrade successful. Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill Tenth Layer (40%). Current progress: Power of Fourteen Dragons and Fourteen Elephants.

A force far more immense than before instantly filled every limb and bone in Lu Shaoyou's body! Fine explosive cracks rang from his muscles and bones, and his clothes fluttered without wind!

Facing Xiong Tai's thunderbolt-fast claw, Lu Shaoyou advanced instead of retreating, meeting it with a simple punch!

There was no flashy technique—only power in its purest, most extreme form!

"Aang!"

Faintly, a soaring dragon's roar and a deep elephant's bellow intertwined. It was as though phantoms of fourteen divine dragons and fourteen giant elephants flashed behind Lu Shaoyou, then vanished!

Fist and claw collided!

Boom—!!!

A dull, thunderous crash like a giant hammer striking a war drum exploded through the hall!

A visible shockwave spread madly outward from the two of them. Tables, chairs, and benches were all flung away and torn apart!

Wei Tuo and the others hurriedly circulated their cultivation to resist, but their blood and qi still churned as they staggered backward again and again.

Looking back at the center of the hall—

Lu Shaoyou did not move in the slightest. Faint golden inner force flowed endlessly around his right fist.

Xiong Tai, meanwhile, wore utter disbelief and terror across his savage face.

The right claw that could split steles and shatter stone was twisted at a grotesque angle. White bone fragments had even pierced through his skin, blood streaming down!

"No... impossible..." Xiong Tai muttered. His right arm felt as though it had been struck head-on by a mountain, while his internal organs seemed to have shifted from their places.

"You..." He had just begun to speak.

Lu Shaoyou's second punch had already arrived.

It was still that simple and direct, yet incomparably fast and incomparably heavy!

Crack!

The protective inner force before Xiong Tai's chest shattered like thin ice, followed by a dense series of bones breaking.

Puff!

As though struck by ten thousand bolts of thunder, Xiong Tai spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. His huge, burly body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into a wall several yards away with a deafening bang. He then slid limply to the ground, never making another sound.

Killed a Super First-rate Martial Artist. Obtained 1,000 Slaughter Value.

Xiong Tai, Hall Master of the Blood Saber Sect's Black Tiger Hall, the "Bear of the Broken Back," died!

The entire hall fell into dead silence once more.

Wei Tuo's mouth hung open. He could scarcely believe what he had seen.

One punch to grievously injure him, two punches to take his life!

Was this even human?!

The Black Tiger Hall experts Xiong Tai had brought all turned ashen-faced, their entire bodies trembling like sieves.

Their Hall Master—Xiong Tai, the famed Blood Saber Sect master—had just... died?

After the brief dead silence came complete madness!

"Hall Master!"

"Avenge the Hall Master!"

"Kill him!!"

The nearly twenty remaining Black Tiger Hall experts completely lost their minds under the weight of extreme fear and rage.

Howling, their eyes bloodshot, they brandished their weapons and lunged at Lu Shaoyou from every direction like rabid dogs!

Among them were more than a few First-rate Masters!

Wei Tuo's expression changed. He hurriedly shouted, "Young Hero Lu, be careful! I'll help you!" As he spoke, he drew his blade and prepared to step forward.

"No need."

Lu Shaoyou's voice remained as calm as ever. He slowly raised the Qi Mei Cudgel in his hand and held it horizontally before his chest. "Branch Master Wei, trouble yourself and your men to surround the area. Don't let a single one escape."

He paused, a trace of icy killing intent in his voice.

"These people—I will personally send them on their way."