So when Ye Xuan learned that Xie Shunan paid so much attention to Lu Ding,
he was deeply displeased.
But when he later heard that Lu Ding had turned down the dinner because of urgent business, he was happy again.
Deep down, he secretly grumbled that Lu Ding didn't know what was good for him.
He looked forward to Xie Shunan arriving with the demolition team and opening the burial chamber with him.
While he was busy fantasizing,
Lu Ding had already rounded the bend and spotted Ye Xuan sitting on a folding stool in the middle of the road.
That bandit air of his spilled out uncontrollably.
He sat with his legs spread wide, looking every bit like he meant, "I opened this mountain road, I planted these trees. If you want to pass, leave your toll."
Yan Feifan leaned closer and said cautiously,
"Brother Lu, this guy was in the qi refiner files Director Gao just sent over. His name is Ye Xuan. He came out of the bandit den on Great Black Mountain and has close ties to the Four Seas Group. He's also the one who killed the White-Haired Hou and fought two opponents to seize the development rights to the ancient tomb in the subsidence zone."
"But meeting him doesn't live up to his reputation. No matter how I look at him, he seems a little dim."
Lu Ding felt the same. What normal person sat in the middle of the road in broad daylight, grinning like an idiot?
Lu Ding couldn't be bothered with him.
He headed straight past him.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey! I'm talking to you two! Can't you see someone's here? You're just going to walk right in? Think this is your own heated brick bed at home? Out, out!"
Ye Xuan didn't even rise. He sat on his folding stool and waved them away.
He looked very much like an old security guard at an aging residential complex stopping a delivery guy.
"Bureau 749 business. Bystanders, clear out."
Yan Feifan took out his credentials as he spoke.
Ye Xuan stood up, sensing the aura of fellow qi refiners coming from the two of them.
"Bureau 749? Aren't you two from State Security?"
Lu Ding was utterly speechless. Had this guy come down from the mountain without learning any common sense at all?
Ordinary people saw Bureau 749 credentials as State Security credentials, but qi refiners saw Bureau 749.
"Whatever. Whether you're State Security or Bureau 749, your Bureau 749 patrol officer in Baofan District lost this site's development rights to me. This place belongs to me now. State Security or Bureau 749, neither, gets, in."
Seeing Ye Xuan's arrogant attitude,
Yan Feifan took a step back.
He knew this guy was in for trouble.
Brother Lu couldn't stand anyone acting more arrogant than he did.
Just as he expected, Lu Ding spoke the next second.
"So you're saying you won this place?"
"That's right." Ye Xuan folded his arms.
Lu Ding's tone was indifferent. "Then can I snatch it from you, too?"
Ye Xuan's expression turned serious. At this point, how could he fail to understand? These two were here to recover lost face and pick a fight.
"If you've got what it takes, you're welcome to try. But let's get this straight first. If anything happens to you, say you bumped into something yourself."
They were all qi refiners. The skills they trained were meant to be used.
There was no need for so much reasoning. If you weren't convinced, fight.
Ye Xuan took his stance, tiger claw in front and crane beak behind. Watching his movements, Lu Ding remarked, "Tiger and Crane Dual Forms? You've got a little showmanship, at least."
Lately, whenever Lu Ding had time, he read the bureau's various records and documents.
He knew that learning had no end. Learning a little more couldn't hurt.
As it happened, Lu Ding had read about Tiger and Crane Dual Forms not long ago.
But compared with the old master's Tiger and Crane Dual Forms recorded in the bureau's files, Ye Xuan fell rather short.
Hearing this man call his skills mere showmanship,
Ye Xuan couldn't help feeling annoyed. "They're enough to beat you!"
The tiger form was fierce and powerful, the crane form nimble. He probed forward with his tiger claw, and Lu Ding raised his hand into a claw to meet it head-on.
Ye Xuan sneered inwardly.
His tiger claw could leave marks even in refined steel.
Was this man out of his mind, meeting it with his bare palm?
Fine, then. I'll teach you a lesson and let you understand what it means for disaster to come from the mouth!
He also made up his mind. Once his tiger claw had a firm grip, he would immediately exert force a second time, shattering this man's finger bones and giving him a lesson he wouldn't forget.
But imagination was beautiful, and reality was cruel.
The instant their palms collided,
Ye Xuan felt as though a huge pair of iron pincers had clamped down on his hand.
His expression changed.
"Wait!!"
Lu Ding wasn't going to wait.
After securing his grip on Ye Xuan's hand, he exerted force again, applying tens of thousands of jin of terrifying strength with a deft twist and wrenching swing.
Several cracks rang out.
Every bone in Ye Xuan's arm was dislocated on the spot.
The bones of all five fingers were pulverized outright.
Snake catchers of the older generation had a trick. After catching a highly venomous snake, they would hold it by the tail and swing it. After several swings, a skilled snake catcher could use deft force to dislocate its entire body, leaving the snake alive but unable to move.
That was the trick Lu Ding used.
Although he had never learned it, he had seen a video in the miscellaneous discussion section of the Bureau 749 App.
With That Which Is Called Forgetting Form allowing him to enter a state of Unity of Heaven and Humanity, Lu Ding had grasped most of it after a single look.
After all, it wasn't anything profound.
It was merely the application of deft force.
Lu Ding followed up, pulling Ye Xuan toward him by the arm with tremendous strength and driving an elbow across his chest. That single blow sent Ye Xuan's blood and qi surging upward.
His entire body flew backward.
He tumbled and rolled more than ten meters across the ground before steadying himself and climbing to his feet.
A trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
His right arm hung limply at his side, his fingers twisted into a braided mess.
Forcing himself to endure the pain, Ye Xuan said, "Wasn't that a little too vicious of you? We were only sparring."
"Spare me that bullshit. Don't think I couldn't tell what you were trying to do. If I were weaker than you, I'd be the crippled one now."
The instant their hands met, Lu Ding had sensed this man's intentions.
He was simply too weak.
He couldn't wrench Lu Ding's hand out of place.
Calling him vicious now was nothing but a joke.
Yan Feifan rubbed salt in the wound from the sidelines. "Vicious? If Brother Lu hadn't shown mercy, you'd already be in pieces scattered all over the place. Just count yourself lucky you kept your life."
Ye Xuan gritted his teeth.
"I've experienced your impressive skills. The mountains are high and the roads long. Please leave your name. I, Ye Xuan, will be sure to repay you another day."
It's over.
This guy has a death wish.
Yan Feifan sighed silently.
You lost. Just accept it. Why insist on saying something like that?
You really think you've lived too long.
"Then you probably have no future!"
Lu Ding's killing intent spilled out, and an oppressive force that left no room to breathe closed around Ye Xuan from every direction.
At that moment, he felt as though he were drowning in the bottomless abyss of a canyon.
With no chance of ever seeing daylight again.
If Ye Xuan had simply retreated, Lu Ding would have acted as though nothing had happened.
But of all the things he could have done, he should never have said those words.
Lu Ding exploded into motion, shattering the ground beneath his feet.
Like a savage beast from ancient times, he lunged forward to kill and crush him.
Ye Xuan felt only that his death was at hand.
His life flashed before his eyes.
"Patrol Officer Lu, please spare him!!!"
Someone shouted.
The ground shook, and hard earthen walls rose out of nowhere, blocking Lu Ding's path.
As he charged into them, the walls shattered instantly like crumbling tofu. Although they couldn't stop his assault, they could slow him down.
And in that brief interval,
a short old man appeared in front of Ye Xuan.