151. Victory

Everyone was looking at Qi Fei with surprised eyes. No doubt, the onlookers were all pondering a single question: was this Qi Fei actually confident, was he just putting up a front, or was he merely borrowing someone else's authority to intimidate others? It was hardly fair to blame everyone for jumping to such a hasty conclusion, because Qi Fei was simply too young. Nobody would ever believe that a mere teenager possessed the strength of the Third Layer of the Innate Realm.

How could Qi Fei possibly fight a battle without being fully prepared? He offered Zhang Lang a word of reassurance, regardless of whether it would actually instill any confidence in them. With a calm and composed expression, he took a step forward, cast a glance at the immensely smug Han Mengde, and said with a helpless sigh, "Ah, how truly boring. I actually thought you would be a bit smarter, but it turns out you are still as blind as ever."

What kind of person was Han Mengde? He was an "old fox." Seeing that Qi Fei had already taken the bait, he wanted to fill Qi Fei's mind entirely with rage. Catching sight of Qi Fei stepping forward out of the corner of his eye, he naturally did not back down in the slightest. He likewise took a step forward to stand at a distance, locking eyes with Qi Fei in a standoff. Moreover, Qi Fei's question evidently made him believe that it was fraught with insecurity. Striding forward a few steps, he looked Qi Fei up and down and burst into hearty laughter, saying, "What is the matter, are you scared? Kid Qi, if you are afraid, why don't you just surrender right now, and shout three times, 'Grandpa Han is mightier than me, and this kid willingly admits defeat,' and Grandpa here will just let you off like a fart. How about it?"

As soon as Han Mengde's voice faded, the expressions on the faces of Zhang Lang's faction turned entirely furious, while the people on Han Mengde's side all burst into wild, uproarious laughter. It was abundantly clear that the present situation led everyone—even those on Zhang Lang's side—to increasingly conclude that Han Mengde would not need to expend much effort to defeat Qi Fei beneath his palm. After all, the disparity in their ages was far too vast. Even if they were to fight purely based on momentum, Han Mengde could crush Qi Fei to death.

As the saying goes, the victor is king and the vanquished is the bandit. In the mindset of Han Mengde's followers, no matter how harshly the victor insulted the loser, it did not matter. Anyway, you could not defeat him in a fight, so if you were humiliated, you were humiliated. What could you possibly do to return the insult?

Not only them, but even Zhang Lang's fellows, upon hearing those words, grew even more enraged on the surface. Yet, it was obvious that under such circumstances, they could only temporarily endure it and had no way to retort with words. Of course, the opinions of these bystanders were completely negligible to Qi Fei, nor did he ever need to care about other people's attitudes. Even when Han Mengde uttered such insulting remarks, he did not show the slightest sign of anger. On the contrary, he said with utter calmness, "You must usually rely entirely on your mouth when fighting others, which explains why you talk so much. The people you knew in the past must have been talked into submission by your glib tongue and directly surrendered without a fight. Do you dare say that is not true?"

Although Qi Fei spoke very blandly, it was easy for others to hear the implicit mockery that Han Mengde possessed nothing more than a silver tongue, while his actual abilities were utterly worthless.

"Kid, you are courting death!" Han Mengde was also a veteran of the pugilistic world; how could he fail to hear the underlying meaning in Qi Fei's words? Without concealing his anger in the slightest at this provocation, he let out a loud shout and directly lunged toward Qi Fei. As his palms danced through the air, he unleashed his lifelong ultimate techniques, vowing to defeat Qi Fei within three or two moves so as to flex his prestige and simultaneously prove to everyone that his leadership over these fifty-odd men was not achieved through empty boasting.

After all, Han Mengde was a martial artist of the Second Layer of the Innate Realm. Although he was usually domineering and arrogant, he was not the least bit careless when it came to a real fight. Especially as this palm strike was unleashed, while it looked utterly ordinary, the hidden force contained within it was surging and turbulent. Anyone could tell that when this palm strike was fully exerted, it would surely force all those present who fancied themselves experts to retreat three hundred paces, not daring to meet its fierce edge head-on.

Noticing the subsequent power hidden within this move, the men behind him instantly joined in with cheers of acclamation. In stark contrast, the expressions of Zhang Lang's faction turned grim the moment they saw this palm strike. Although Han Mengde had been stalled at the Second Layer of the Innate Realm for a full eighteen years—a character utterly not worth mentioning if placed in the Divine Mainland, and perhaps barely able to make a decent showing in Yunshan City—among this crowd of martial artists who had only attained the second-rate realm, his decades of cultivation were by no means ordinary. His proud claim that his strength ranked among the top three hired martial artists of the escort agency was truly not a case of bragging.

Sighing on one side while cheering on the other, the respective reactions of the two factions seemed as though they could already pre-judge the victory of this conflict. However, the truth was clearly not quite like that. Seeing Han Mengde's palm momentum descending upon him, Qi Fei merely muttered to himself, "To foolishly trade blows head-on with me, a practitioner of external martial arts—is this old fool out of his mind?"

The moment his voice trailed off, he too struck out with a direct palm thrust. Although no visible true energy seemed to wrap around his palm, the sound of his fist tearing through the air produced a sharp, jaw-dropping whistle. On the surface, it appeared to carry an even more formidable momentum than Han Mengde's palm technique.

Of course, even so, in the eyes of the onlookers, this palm momentum was merely flashy and superficial, lacking any substantial foundation.

"Bang!"

The moment their palms collided, the men on Han Mengde's side were just about to burst into cheers to celebrate their impending first victory.

Yet, that sound—which should have resonated like a collapsing mountain or a roaring tsunami—did not ring out at the expected time. On the contrary, just as the sound was beginning to sprout, it was cut short like a duck whose neck had been choked, abruptly halting mid-air. Moreover, those fifty-odd faces that were about to reveal expressions of excitement were suddenly struck by an entirely different expression. That rising excitement and intense horror were kneaded together, making those fifty-odd men look as bizarre as could be.

For, in the eyes of everyone, Han Mengde—who should have held an overwhelming advantage—not only failed to gain the upper hand, but right after their palms clashed, this top-tier expert among Zhang Long and Zhou Hu's subordinates suddenly let out a heaven-shaking scream. The next instant, his entire body flew backward like a reversed bolt of lightning, sliding through the air for several zhang before slamming heavily onto the ground with a loud thud. Although Han Mengde managed to crawl back up from the ground eventually, looking at his limp, dangling right arm that seemed entirely devoid of strength, it was evident that under that single strike, the vital joints of his arm had been shattered and fractured.

Such a spectacle left everyone in the entire arena frozen and utterly incapable of twitching so much as a muscle for a long moment.

Then, after a brief pause, the entire scene erupted into complete uproar.

Whether it was Han Mengde's faction or the martial artists on Zhang Lang's side, after recovering from the shock, they could not help but burst into heated discussions. The scene before their eyes had completely defied their expectations; no matter how calm or resolute a fellow might be, their expressions had all altered drastically in unison. Probably none of them had anticipated beforehand that Han Mengde would fall into a disadvantageous position, let alone that he would be temporarily crippled in his right arm by Qi Fei after merely a single move.

"I admit defeat."

After the wave of disappointment and astonishment subsided, once Han Mengde uttered those words with a bitter expression, the clamorous atmosphere of the entire arena instantly froze back down to the freezing point.

Especially the martial artists led by Han Mengde; after exchanging blank glances with one another, their faces turned the color of withered vegetables. Their very first match had resulted in the defeat of their faction's foremost expert—how were the remaining duels supposed to be fought? One had to know that when it came to the top-tier experts within the escort agency who had reached the Second Layer of the Innate Realm, there were a mere nine of them in total, and six of those nine worked under the command of Leader Li.

Realistically speaking, now that Han Mengde had been defeated, they only had two other Second Layer Innate martial artists left who could be considered experts. But clearly, relying solely on those two individuals could never reverse the current disadvantage, let alone turn defeat into victory. Therefore, by this time, after Han Mengde retreated back into the crowd under Zhang Long and Zhou Hu, those fifty-odd people immediately swarmed around him in a flurry, frantically asking what they should do next.

Turning to look at the people around Zhang Lang, upon seeing Qi Fei unexpectedly defeat Han Mengde and walking back toward the crowd, those fellows immediately burst into a wave of roaring cheers. Even Zhang Lang hurried over with a radiant smile on his face, giving Qi Fei's shoulder a hearty pat as he chuckled, "Not bad at all, brother! To be able to cultivate external martial arts to this sort of level, you are simply even more formidable than those legendary geniuses. Tsk tsk, previously, I truly couldn't tell at all!"

Ma青山 also rushed over to flatter him at this moment, extending a thumbs-up and shaking it toward Qi Fei as he said, "That is right! Little Brother Ma, you were truly incredible this time! Heheh, given your talent, even though you cultivate external martial arts, your future prospects are still boundless!"

To the well-intentioned praise of these two fellows, Qi Fei merely offered a slight nod of acknowledgment, said, "If there is nothing else, I will head back first," and without paying any further attention to how the scene would proceed, he turned and walked back amidst the gaze of the crowd.

From the very beginning, Qi Fei had never intended to make a move. His original intention was merely to come and lend Zhang Lang some support, and if he saw him or Ma青山 in danger, to covertly step in and help out. Standing out to fight in public was entirely due to someone calling him out by name with provocative taunts, leaving him with no choice but to display a shred of his true strength and show a tiny glimpse of what he could do.

Of course, someone might argue that if he truly wanted to remain in hiding, he could have completely ignored Han Mengde's challenge. But obviously, Qi Fei was not the kind of person to swallow his anger and take a beating without retaliating when pushed to the limit. If he had acted like that, people would probably have assumed he was easy prey and would constantly single him out for trouble in the future—something he truly wished to avoid. Therefore, delivering a slight deterrent to petty individuals at this juncture was indeed necessary.

True to expectation, once he used a single palm strike to force Han Mengde back, those fellows who had previously looked at him with disdain immediately restrained their expressions until not a shred of contempt remained, as if acting out of fear that if he noticed, he might single them out to settle scores. Having achieved this effect, Qi Fei naturally had no intention of lingering any longer. As for whether the subsequent nine matches would be won or lost, Zhang Lang would naturally recount the details upon his return, so there was genuinely no need to stay at the scene to watch.

Leaving the dueling grounds, he returned to the inn shortly thereafter. Estimating that Zhang Lang and the others would not be returning for a while, and figuring he had nothing better to do on either side, he stepped into his spatial dimension and began practicing the Draw-Blade Technique. Ever since he had entered the Innate Realm, he had not had the chance to properly practice this ultimate skill. Now that he had some free time, he naturally wanted to ponder over it for a while. After all, according to Tong He, the technique he could currently execute—sixteen strikes in a single draw—had only reached a very low level.

Putting everything else aside, regarding even the advancement Tong He had spoken of—cultivating the blade momentum to the point where a single strike carried the force of ten thousand jun—Qi Fei still had not grasped any inkling of how to achieve it. Yet, the Draw-Blade Technique was notoriously difficult to practice. Aside from the initial stage where one could make progress through diligent practice, the subsequent phases—whether executing sixteen moves in a single blade-draw or mastering the force exceeding ten thousand jun—required a profound realization akin to a martial artist breaking through to the Innate Realm before one could find the doorway to a breakthrough.

After practicing the sixteen moves within a single draw countless times inside the spatial dimension, Qi Fei realized that it would be difficult for him to attain any profound insights in the short term. With a sense of quiet disappointment, he stopped his practice and exited the spatial dimension. Although he currently had an urgent need to enhance his strength so as to qualify for walking openly across the continent, it was obvious that breakthroughs were not something you could summon just by wishing for it, nor were they mysteries that could be glimpsed merely by practicing casually for a bit.

Qi Fei changed into a comfortable posture, lay down fully clothed to prepare for rest, when he suddenly heard excited footsteps approaching from outside the door. Opening his eyes, he happened to see Zhang Lang pushing the door open with a beaming smile on his face. Noticing that Qi Fei had not yet fallen asleep, the fellow immediately grinned and said, "Little Brother Ma, thanks to your assistance this time, we fought ten consecutive matches and won all ten! This battle has completely stripped Han Mengde and his crew of all their arrogance."

"Indeed. At the time, Han Mengde could only declare that they would never bother us again and that they would defer to us in all matters moving forward," said Ma青山, who walked in right behind him with a somewhat more composed expression, though a hint of joy still laced his words. Presumably, this fellow had held a considerable amount of resentment toward Han Mengde's crowd in the past, and being able to make them submit like this meant that they would likely encounter far fewer troubles along the rest of their journey.

Regarding their joyful expressions, Qi Fei did not express any particular attitude. In his view, since they had not completely crushed Han Mengde and his followers once and for all, those fellows would inevitably revert to their old ways under certain circumstances. As the saying goes, rivers and mountains are easy to change, but a man's nature is hard to alter; it was much like a dog unable to stop eating feces. Some traits were deeply ingrained in one's bones and blood—while one could hide them temporarily, it was utterly impossible to maintain that disguise permanently.

However, since Han Mengde and his crew had suffered a total defeat this time, he wondered what kind of methods they would resort to next time to try and save face.

"Still, they had better not provoke me personally; otherwise, I wouldn't mind genuinely wiping out a few troublemakers."

Harboring this thought, Qi Fei chatted casually with Zhang Lang and Ma青山 for a little longer before pulling the blankets over himself and falling fast asleep. For him, during this journey, aside from taking a detour to visit Ma Xiaofang at Three Dragons Mountain, the only other purpose was to wait for Tong He to find him. As for all other matters, he would do his utmost to avoid entangling himself in them whenever possible.