Pang Hu shook his numb right arm. The shock on his face faded, replaced by an even more primitive desire to conquer, ignited by the strength Su Yueli had displayed.
“No wonder you're so arrogant, being able to take a punch from me.”
Pang Hu cracked his neck, and his Fourth Realm blood qi erupted violently. The bluestone slabs beneath his feet cracked inch by inch. “I've broken plenty of wild fillies to death at the border, but you're the fiercest one yet!”
Before his voice could fade, his body lunged at Su Yueli like a charging rhinoceros, tearing through the air with a whistling wind.
He threw a punch straight at her face, showing absolutely no mercy.
Su Yueli frowned slightly. Facing this heavy, powerful strike, she did not retreat. Instead, she stepped forward, tilting her body slightly to dodge the brunt of the attack.
Immediately after, her right hand shot out, her fair fingers instantly clamping onto Pang Hu's wrist.
Second style of Mountain Splitter: Bone Entangler!
The blood qi inside Su Yueli's body reversed, and a short-range force erupted violently from her fingertips.
Crack! The sound of breaking bones echoed through the lobby.
Pang Hu's armored right arm—the very one he took such pride in—was twisted into a grotesque spiral by Su Yueli's seemingly effortless grasp. Pale bone fragments pierced through his flesh, exposing themselves to the open air.
“Ah—!”
Pang Hu let out a bloodcurdling scream. The excruciating pain made his knees buckle, and he collapsed onto the floor before Su Yueli.
In a single move, a Fourth Realm genius had been crippled!
Su Yueli released her grip and looked down at him.
She did not want to kill him. Traveling abroad, she knew Pang Hu was backed by the Pang family of the Great Li Imperial City and their Eighth Realm ancestor. Unless absolutely necessary, she had no desire to provoke such a powerful mortal enemy for no reason.
Crippling his arm was a warning, as well as a measure of justice for the young girl he had almost violated.
Su Yueli turned, preparing to leave. However, at that exact moment, a venomous, murderous light flashed in the kneeling Pang Hu's eyes. A dagger had appeared in his left hand out of nowhere.
“Die, you bitch!”
Pang Hu ground his teeth, summoning every ounce of his blood qi to drive the dagger toward her heart from behind.
This sneak attack was incredibly vicious, aimed entirely to kill.
“Watch out!” Lin Ye roared from where he lay in the distance.
Su Yueli sighed. She trained in the ultimate techniques of killing, and her perception of murderous intent far exceeded that of ordinary people.
The moment Pang Hu made his move, the blood qi in her body reacted instinctively.
She spun around and threw a punch.
This strike, launched second, landed first, smashing squarely into Pang Hu's chest.
The violent blood qi penetrated deep into his body. Pang Hu's sternum collapsed instantly, and the fabric on the back of his shirt tore open with a loud rip, leaving a gaping hole.
His lunging body froze in place, the dagger in his hand stopping a mere inch from Su Yueli.
Pang Hu's eyes stared wide, filled with utter disbelief.
“You... dare to kill...”
Before he could finish his sentence, blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs gushed from his mouth. His body crashed heavily to the floor, twitching twice before going completely still.
One punch had shattered his heart.
A deathly silence fell over the lobby, with only the sound of the rain pattering outside.
Looking at the corpse on the floor, its eyes still wide with lingering resentment, the onlookers felt a sudden chill rush from the soles of their feet straight to their heads.
After a brief moment, sharp gasps echoed through the crowd as everyone looked at Su Yueli, shaking their heads in dismay.
“He's dead... Pang Hu is actually dead!”
“The sky is falling! This girl has brought a monstrous disaster upon herself!”
“That's the second young master of the Pang family! If Pang Jinbiao finds out his most beloved son died in this backwater place, he will go absolutely insane!”
“Who can withstand the wrath of an Eighth Realm grandmaster? Forget this girl, even our inn might be razed to the ground!”
The whispers were endless, and not a single person believed Su Yueli could survive.
Offending a family with an Eighth Realm expert at the foot of the imperial city was practically a death sentence.
No matter how monstrous her talent was, she would surely not live to see tomorrow's sun.
Su Yueli ignored the doom-mongering. She flicked the blood from her hands and walked over to Lin Ye.
“Are you dead?”
Lin Ye clutched his chest, grimacing in pain as he struggled to scramble up from the floor.
“Cough, cough... Can't die yet. Broke three ribs, I'll be fine after resting for a bit.”
He looked at Pang Hu's corpse on the floor, then at the expressionless Su Yueli, his eyes filled with shock and complex emotions.
Beside them, the innkeeper, clutching his daughter who had just escaped death, hurriedly knelt before Su Yueli and kowtowed repeatedly.
“Thank you, Young Mistress, for saving our lives! Thank you, Young Mistress!”
The innkeeper wept tears of gratitude, but his face was also filled with panic. “But Young Mistress, you killed someone from the Pang family. You cannot stay in Lingshui City anymore. Run for your life tonight!”
“It is fine.”
Su Yueli's tone was flat. Without saying another word, she turned and walked up the wooden stairs back to her second-floor room.
We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Since things have come to this, there is no point in fearing.
In the middle of the night.
Su Yueli was sitting cross-legged in her room, meditating to calm her blood qi.
Knock, knock, knock.
There was a soft knock on the door.
“Come in.”
The door pushed open, and Lin Ye, looking pale with thick bandages wrapped around his chest, walked in.
He no longer had the talkative demeanor from earlier in the day. He kept his head lowered, looking extremely guilty.
“Miss Su.”
Lin Ye walked over to the table, gritted his teeth, and suddenly fell to one knee with a heavy thud.
“It was my reckless passion. I acted without considering the consequences, and ended up dragging you into this fatal disaster!”
Lin Ye's eyes were filled with self-reproach. “The Pang family is incredibly powerful in the imperial city, and an Eighth Realm expert has influence that can reach the heavens. Miss Su, you must leave first thing tomorrow morning. Do not go to the imperial city.”
“If the Pang family investigates, tell them I was the one who killed Pang Hu! Say I used an underhanded, poisoned hidden weapon to launch a successful sneak attack. A man must take responsibility for his own actions. I, Lin Ye, will never drag a friend down!”
Su Yueli opened her eyes and looked at the young man kneeling on one knee.
He was indeed responsible, but unfortunately, he was far too hot-headed.
“Get up.”
Su Yueli sighed helplessly. “I killed him in front of everyone. Dozens of eyes in the lobby saw it. Do you really think you can take the blame for me?”
“Besides, an Eighth Realm martial artist is no fool. You are only at the peak of the Third Realm. Even if you used every underhanded trick in the book, it would be impossible for you to break through the blood qi defense of a mid-stage Fourth Realm in one blow. The moment the Pang family inspects the fist print on the corpse, the truth will be clear as day.”
Lin Ye was left speechless, growing anxious. “But...”
“There are no buts.”
Su Yueli cut him off, looking out into the rainy night. “If he hadn't tried to kill me, I wouldn't have killed him. Since I did, we now share a blood feud.”
“Now that things have come to this, there is no use talking about it. This trip to the imperial city likely won't be peaceful.”
In front of a family like theirs, even if she didn't participate in the Martial Arts Tournament, they would surely track her down.
If she went back to Tie Tu, she might bring trouble upon them instead.
Rather than fleeing, it was better to proceed to the Martial Arts Tournament as planned. Perhaps she could find a way to resolve this enmity there.
Or, if she won the tournament, someone of high standing might step in to mediate.
Lin Ye stood frozen in place, staring at the girl's cold profile. Her face showed not a single trace of fear, and the shock in his heart was beyond words.
Faced with the death threat of an Eighth Realm family, she didn't even have the thought of running?
After chatting a bit more, Lin Ye had no choice but to head back to rest.
The next morning.
The heavy rain had stopped, and the sky was just beginning to brighten.
Su Yueli carried her bags downstairs. The inn lobby had already been cleaned, and Pang Hu's corpse was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a faint scent of blood lingering in the air.
The innkeeper and his daughter were waiting by the door early. Seeing Su Yueli come out, they thanked her profusely once more, stuffing a large bag of dried provisions and cured meat into her hands.
Su Yueli did not refuse. After accepting it, she mounted her horse and rode out of the city.
Before she had gone far, the rapid sound of hooves echoed behind her.
Lin Ye, clutching his chest, caught up on a black horse.
After yesterday's life-and-death ordeal, he had clearly restrained himself a lot, no longer as talkative as before.
But due to his innate personality, as the two traveled together, he still couldn't help but occasionally speak up and ramble.
Su Yueli did not find him annoying, treating it as a way to pass the time on the road.
The two traveled in haste, spending a full five days on the road.
At noon on this day.
At the end of the horizon, a magnificent, giant city finally came into view.
They had arrived at the Great Li Imperial City.
Towering black walls stretched endlessly into the clouds, and the city gates were incredibly wide.
Upon entering, the bustling prosperity that met her eyes caused a gleam of wonder to flash across Su Yueli's eyes.
The wide streets were crowded with horses and carriages, flanked by rows of restaurants and teahouses. Martial artists dressed in luxurious silks moved through the crowd.
Third and Fourth Realm martial artists could be seen almost everywhere.
Looking up, cultivators riding flying swords or spiritual beasts occasionally streaked across the sky with a whistling sound.
The intersection of the immortal and mortal worlds, along with a strict hierarchy, was perfectly on display in this imperial city.
Leading her horse, Su Yueli stopped a passerby on the street to ask for directions.
“Excuse me, brother, where is the registration office for the Great Li Martial Arts Tournament?”
The passerby sized up Su Yueli and Lin Ye. Seeing that they were dressed as out-of-towners, he was quite polite.
He pointed toward the center of the city. “Just follow this main street straight ahead. Go past three marketplaces, and after crossing Zhuque Bridge, you'll see the Royal Martial Arena. However, the imperial city is massive. Even if you ride your horses, it will take at least half an hour to get there.”
“Thank you.”
Su Yueli thanked him, feeling a wave of emotion in her heart.
To think it would still take half an hour even on horseback inside the city—the scale of this Great Li Imperial City was truly immense.
Half an hour later, the two finally arrived at the Royal Martial Arena.
At a glance, the area was already packed to the brim, with dozens of stages erected across the plaza.
The registration office was set up at the main entrance of the arena.
Several registration officials dressed in Great Li official robes sat behind long tables, recording entries on jade scrolls with brush pens.
All around were young martial artists who had rushed here from various provinces, each bursting with vibrant blood qi.
Many of them were accompanied by deep-breathing elders acting as Dao protectors, clearly children of prominent families with deep backgrounds.
Su Yueli could even sense several auras of the Fifth and Sixth Realms in the crowd.
These waters were indeed incredibly deep.
Su Yueli and Lin Ye lined up in the queue, and before long, it was their turn.
“Name, bone age, place of origin,” the official asked coldly, without even raising his head.
The Great Li Martial Arts Tournament was held once every thirty years. Participants had to be mortal martial artists, and their bone age could not exceed forty. This was an ironclad rule.
Lin Ye stepped forward first, handing over his identification documents. “Lin Ye, twenty, Lin family of Shuozhou City.”
The official verified his bone age and tossed him a wooden token carved with a number.
Su Yueli followed closely behind.
“Su Yueli, twenty, Iron Bone Dojo of Qingzhou City.”
Su Yueli did not state her true age. With her current appearance, if she claimed to have lived for decades, no one would believe her.
The official looked up at her, a flash of admiration passing through his eyes, but his hands did not stop.
After quickly registering her in the records, he handed over a similar wooden token.
“Take your token and return here in three days at the Hour of the Dragon to participate in the preliminaries.”
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