“Who… Who the h.e.l.l are you?” demanded Zhou Dedao with a spiteful look. He had stood up with the help of the guards.
Today, he had first been held hostage out of no reason. Next, he was slapped in front of everyone. And then, his son got beaten up and lost his legs in his presence. Either of those things was impossible to happen in normal days, let alone right in his mansion. However, today, they happened in a row. That made Zhou Dedao want to pull out his hair. The usually sly and resourceful merchant now almost freaked out.
“A father must hold himself responsible for what kind of man his son turns into. Since you’ve raised up such a vicious son, you’re not a good person, either,” said Li Mu in an icy tone as he gazed at Zhou Dedao.
He was here to find a maid today instead of coming for trouble. But when he saw Xia Ju had been tortured like that, he a.s.sociated it with the matter of last night. Naturally, he figured it out that Zhou Yu had taken out his rage on this innocent maid, which instantly made Li Mu flare up.
“Humph, mind your own business, you boy scarcely out of the sh.e.l.l yet! You broke into my mansion and injured my son. You won’t walk out of here alive.” grunted Zhou Dedao. He almost hissed all the words through his gritted teeth, because he could not find Li Mu any more abominable.
“Everyone has to take responsibility for his words. Can you, do that?” Li Mu stared at Zhou Dedao and continued, “Facing the absolute power, your wealth and influence are useless as rotten earth.”
He was unwilling to tangle with Zhou Dedao for one more minute.
Because it struck him that what happened on Xia Ju could probably repeat on Qiu Yi.
After all, Zhang Chuixue, the one claiming to be the Peerless Swordsman, did not seem to be a decent man.
At that thought, he turned to leave.
“Stop him! Don’t let him slip away!” growled Zhou Dedao.
He was determined to capture and kill Li Mu no matter what the cost was.
Throngs of more expert guards hurtled frantically towards him.
Meanwhile, some warlock appeared in the distance and were chanting mystical incantations. Strong and enigmatic magical power started to gather in the air. Clearly, they were preparing a certain formidable attack, and its power was intimidating.
Warriors holding bows and arrows also closed in from all directions. They aimed at Li Mu from roofs, behind rocks, and from all the high positions. In fact, the architecture in the mansion was well designed. Looking from the inside, it was practically a military fortress with a combination of function and beauty. There were some hidden holes in the stone-built constructions. Now, the holes opened and arrows stuck out…
Indeed, it was quite scary once the top consortium in Chang’an showed its power.
“Today, you can’t escape even if you have wings.” Protected by a large number of guards, Zhou Dedao finally recovered his usual demeanor. His eyes kept flas.h.i.+ng the blatant killing intent.
“Ridiculous!” sneered Li Mu, whose eyes were reflecting jets of lightning.
Supporting Xia Ju with his left hand, he reached out his right hand and grabbed. The finger movements were as flexible as blossoming petals. In an instant, traces of lightning emerged in his palm and entwined down the fingers.
“Thunder Magic… Secondary Thunder Traction!”
As Li Mu roared, the lightning wrapping around his fingers suddenly burst out. It grew rapidly and split into a slew of those as thick as a man’s arm before spreading in all directions. In no time, the sky turned overcast and dark cloud floated over. Shots of purple lightning, like serpents dancing feverishly, ripped the sky and descended upon the earth.
Immediately, the area within a circ.u.mstance of several hundred meters was turned into a sea of thunder and lightning.
Those armored warriors with bows and arrows, though were all at the Joint-qi level, stood no chance against the attack of such thunder and lightning. They instantly had a spasm and collapsed to the ground while breathing black smoke. And the warlocks who were gathering power by murmuring the incantations and ready to strike at any moment were burned crispy by the sweeping power of nature. The experts flooded in also found their hair was burning with smoke and fell down…
Also, the buildings in the surroundings were burned down to the ground by the thunder and lightning.
With the help of a few loyal guards, Zhou Dedao activated some magic weapon, which managed to protect the wailing Zhou Yu from the power descending from heaven.
At the center of the storm, Li Mu was holding his right hand to the sky, the palm breeding endless thunder and lightning. Silhouetted by the imposing purple light, this tall and robust figure looked just like the G.o.d of Thunder, and that image rendered everyone in the vicinity wide-eyed and made them lost their nerves.
That blow caused great loss for the defense of the mansion.
But this time Li Mu merely cast the Secondary Thunder Traction, and he took excellent control of the power so as to not kill anyone. Actually, those who collapsed to the ground were just stunned or got burned, but none of them lost their lives. Good heavens, Li Mu did show some mercy.
In case of more trouble, he decided to leave at once. After picking up Xia Ju, he dashed towards the gate of the mansion.
“d.a.m.n it! You let him escape like that?” yelled Zhou Dedao at the guards. He was so incensed that his teeth began to ache.
Having domineered Chang’an for so many years, he had never put up with such defy.
“Block him! I want him dead; I want him dead…” Zhou Yu had taken the treatment of the warlocks and felt the pain in his legs alleviated a little. Then, with bloodshot eyes, he started shouting like a mad man.
However, none of the guards, the leaders, or warlocks dared to go up and stop Li Mu.
Just as Li Mu was about to get out of the backyard of the mansion, all of a sudden, a change occurred.
Swoos.h.!.+
A jet of orange light fired at Li Mu from thin air.
This blow was cleverly angled at the vital part of Li Mu.
“Um? An expert from Master Realm?”
Li Mu’s expression hardened. He launched a punch at it and directly shatter the orange light.
But, at the same time, he was forced to stop galloping and landed on the ground.
Next, everyone saw a dazzling jet of orange light.
A heavyset middle-aged man materialized opposite Li Mu.
At the sight of the middle-aged man, Zhou Dedao immediately seemed ecstatic. He hollered, “Senior Lin, get him! Break his limbs! Capture him alive!”
The rest of the guards and leaders also showed a sign of relief on their faces.
It was their senior in the Master Realm!
His name was Lin Dong, one of the two seniors the Zhou Family hired. He was also a remarkable expert that was renowned in Chang’an, whose strength was even superior to that of Zhou Yiling, the General stationed at the government in the western region. Given that the senior enjoyed a high status, he did not have to stay at the Zhou’s mansion all the time. Thus, when Lin Dong heard of the news, it took him some time to get here.
“Senior Lin, get him! Don’t kill him. I want him alive!” Zhou Yu was still crying like a maniac.
Li Mu was still supporting Xia Ju, and his expression did not change even though an opponent in the Master Realm had just arrived.
“Back off!” He shot a fierce look at Lin Dong.
“Young man, you’re too reckless. You’d better stay and made amends for President Zhou,” said Lin Dong. He looked like he was in his thirties. He had a slovenly beard and very ordinary features. But his limbs were thick and muscular, which gave people an impression that he was steady like a mountain even though he was standing in a pile of ruins.
He was enveloped in rich orange light, as if he was burning.
It should be noted that an expert in the Master Realm could release his internal qi to form an intangible protective layer of energy. Now, the flames of orange light were full of thick and solid power. Like the earth and the mountains, Lin Dong stood there with perfect steadiness.
That was the internal qi of the earth element.
Among the five elements of gold, earth, water, fire, and earth, the internal qi of the earth element was the thickest and the most stable one. It was as strong as iron, so it was a good defensive power.
“I’m in a hurry. Get out of my way.” Li Mu inhaled deeply, sucked in his belly, and slightly withdrew his fists as he launched the Xiantian Skill. Power instantly poured into his spine.
“Well, have some patience. You’d better stay.” Lin Dong looked quite calm. He began to advance on Li Mu step by step.
Li Mu stamped. Holding Xia Ju, he darted forward like a fired arrow as he bellowed, “f.u.c.k off!”
“Haha, how naive.” Lin Dong broke into a fit of laughter. Then, he slowly lifted his right hand above his hip joints while putting his left hand down below it. His internal qi began to swerve and his palms drew circles at his chest and belly. Abruptly, he flipped his palms and launched a punch. Deafening howls of mountain wind burst out from his palms, and the orange light transformed into an array of mountains, which hurtled towards Li Mu to crash him. Lin Dong yelled triumphantly, “You can lie down now… Mountain-Herding Punch Skill, first movement—Enraged Mountains!”
The strike of the expert in the Master Realm made the earth start to quake.
However, Li Mu moved as fast as a flash of lightning. He swung a fist at Lin Dong, and the power it shot out crumbled all the mountains along the way as if a magic axe had chopped them up.
“What?” Blood drained from Lin Dong’s face.
From his view, a fist that had no aura of qi or flame was getting closer and closer, bigger and bigger.
“Mountain-Herding Punch Skill… Mountain Blockage!”
He urged the internal qi and s.h.i.+elded his chest with his palms before reaching out to block that fist. His feet already sank into the ground, which meant he had driven his earth element cultivation to the utmost. As such, he could draw support from the earth and be firmly rooted to the spot. Undoubtedly, among the internal qi cultivators of the five elements, those with the earth element internal qi had the lowest gravity center and the best stability.
Next second, a wave of copious energy surged over and drowned Lin Dong.
Boom!
In the rising dust, this Senior Lin who bustled here was sent flying by a single punch of Li Mu. He disappeared from sight, but a human-shaped hole emerged on the housed, the inner walls, and the outer walls of the mansion. Like a stack of dominoes, the line of those holes was what Lin Dong created when b.u.mping through the building. But no one could see where he landed, because the holes stretched too far away.
Then, with all the eyes fixed on him, Li Mu carried Xia Ju and leaped up before vanis.h.i.+ng from sight.
Zhou Dedao dropped his jaw, utterly at a loss for what to say.
Zhou Yu even forgot his pain or the urge to curse.
And those guards, leaders, warlocks, armored soldiers all heard their heart pounding violently in the chest, while chillness and cold sweat streamed down profusely.
Only then did they know what kind of monster they had been fighting with… He threw away a top earth element expert in the Master Realm with only a punch. How strengthful was he? A Great Master? The Zhou Family had provoked an expert in the Great Master Realm? That was astounding.
At that thought, cold sweat could not stop running down Zhou Dedao’s forehead.
“Great Master? No way… Gosh, now, we’re in deep trouble.”
He was seized by spasms of terror.
Although the ‘Great Master Realm’ had only one extra word compared with the ‘Master Realm’, the meaning it represented was way different.