Chapter Fourteen: Conflict

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Blamed by Zhou Yuan, Shi Wansan’s anger toward Yu Qi grew even fiercer. He slammed his hand onto the table. “Boy, did I say you could leave? Get back here!”

Hearing this, a chill flashed across Yu Qi’s face. He had repeatedly shown Shi Wansan restraint, yet the man continued provoking him again and again. Even a clay figure would lose its temper, let alone a living person.

“This is Huang Kui’s banquet. I don’t want to ruin it, so you’d better stop forcing me.” Yu Qi cast Shi Wansan a cold look, dropped the words icily, and continued toward the exit.

“I told you to stay! Didn’t you hear me?”

Seeing that Yu Qi had ignored him, Shi Wansan felt his dignity slipping. He abruptly rose to his feet, stamped against the floor, and shot forward, reaching out with his left hand to seize Yu Qi.

Sensing the gust of force behind him, Yu Qi’s expression turned cold. He sprang backward into the air and avoided the grab.

Shi Wansan’s hand closed on empty air. The next moment, he felt a powerful palm press down on his shoulder. With a bang, his entire body was forced into the ground. Cracks spread across the floor where he struck, and a sharp pain shot through his shoulder. The bone had already broken.

Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his face grew pale. Before he could recover, Yu Qi’s cold voice sounded beside his ear.

“I told you, I don’t want to ruin Huang Kui’s banquet. If you insist on this, you won’t be getting away with just a few broken bones.”

With that, Yu Qi stepped around Shi Wansan, who lay sprawled on the ground, and walked out the door.

Mo Feng and Wu Zhirou, seated at the table, watched Yu Qi’s movements with stunned expressions. They knew Shi Wansan’s strength better than anyone, yet the young man had pinned him to the ground with a single palm. It was obvious that Yu Qi’s power far surpassed theirs.

Zhou Yuan was less surprised than the other two. She had already heard from Zhou Changshan that Yu Qi’s strength was at least on the same level as theirs. At first, she had not believed it, but after seeing how effortlessly Yu Qi had dealt with Shi Wansan, she no longer had the slightest doubt about his abilities.

Lying on the ground, Shi Wansan watched Yu Qi’s retreating figure with eyes full of disbelief. He could not accept that he had been defeated so easily—and by a youth even younger than himself at that. Humiliation flooded him, and his fury toward Yu Qi rose to its peak.

Shi Wansan gradually lost all reason. With a furious roar, he climbed to his feet and drew the axe from his back. Then he charged at Yu Qi.

“Boy, go to hell!”

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As Shi Wansan rushed forward, the axe in his hand trembled faintly. When he drew close to Yu Qi, a pale-white aura wrapped around the blade before he brought it crashing down.

“Yu Qi, watch out!”

The sudden turn of events caught Zhou Yuan off guard. She had wanted to stop him, but Shi Wansan was already behind Yu Qi, leaving her no choice but to shout a warning.

Yu Qi gave a cold snort. He had sensed Shi Wansan’s outburst the instant it began. His right hand swiftly reached into his robes and retrieved an object. Turning around, he raised it to block the descending axe blade.

There was no violent clash. Shi Wansan merely felt his axe strike an object of astonishing hardness. The force rebounding through his arm left it slightly numb, while the pale light covering the blade dispersed into the air upon impact.

Following the axe with his eyes, Shi Wansan saw that the attack had been blocked by a sword hilt. Its hardness had even left a deep dent in the axe blade.

“He blocked Shi Wansan’s killing blow with nothing but a sword hilt.”

Mo Feng and Wu Zhirou stared in shock at the object in Yu Qi’s hand, their curiosity about him deepening.

Even now, they still could not see through the young man. They had assumed that, at most, his strength was comparable to theirs. Yet he had casually produced a sword hilt and effortlessly blocked Shi Wansan’s killing strike—something neither of them could have accomplished.

Mo Feng also practiced swordsmanship. When he looked at the hilt in Yu Qi’s hand, curiosity stirred within him, for he sensed an aura that did not belong to the righteous path.

“Could this be the hilt of a demonic sword? But why does the aura I sense not resemble demonic energy?”

Mo Feng wondered inwardly. His eyes remained fixed on the strange hilt, as though he were trying to reconstruct its complete form in his mind.

“I never wanted trouble. You forced me into this.”

Yu Qi’s cold words reached Shi Wansan’s ears, and his mind suddenly cleared. At last, he understood the gulf between them. Regret filled him, and he wanted to flee, but it was already too late.

Dozens of strange gray streams of energy erupted around Yu Qi. In an instant, half of the sinister aura outside his body rapidly surged within him, while his originally black pupils gradually turned gray.

Before Shi Wansan could make a move, Yu Qi’s right hand clenched into a fist. Carrying the surrounding air with it, the punch thundered toward Shi Wansan.

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Just before striking Shi Wansan, however, Yu Qi’s fist suddenly opened. The punch became a palm strike that slammed forward.

Bang!

Shi Wansan felt a terrible pain explode across his chest. A surge of air rushed up his throat and into his mouth. With a splutter, he vomited a mouthful of blood, and the force sent him flying into the wall behind him. He slid down and collapsed onto the floor.

“You should thank Huang Kui. Otherwise, you would have lost your life.”

Yu Qi tossed him the words indifferently before walking out alone. He had changed his fist into a palm at the last moment because he did not want to kill anyone there and ruin Huang Kui’s banquet.

In truth, Yu Qi did not dislike Huang Kui. The man’s character was fairly decent. It was simply hard to understand how someone like him had ended up with a tyrannical son such as Huang Huai.

After Yu Qi left, four figures suddenly rushed in from the other side. One of them bore a striking resemblance to Shi Wansan, whom Yu Qi had sent flying. He was Shi Mingfeng, master of Ironstone Manor.

Among the others, two were people Yu Qi knew: Huang Kui and Zhou Changshan. The remaining man wore a dark yellow embroidered robe, decorated with a white crane standing atop a pine tree. Mist coiled around the image, making it appear lifelike and exceptionally luxurious.

“Father.”

Seeing him, Wu Zhirou hurried over.

While Huang Kui was still searching for Yu Qi’s figure, Shi Mingfeng spotted his son lying on the floor and immediately rushed toward him.

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