Chapter 172 - 168: Just You?

Chapter 172: Chapter 168: Just You?

Chen Yue looked back down at the two men in black, his gaze sweeping over their faces.

"Is there any way to settle this peacefully?"

Upon hearing this, a trace of resentment unconsciously flickered in the eyes of the man who had just been tortured, but he quickly concealed it.

"We can’t make the call on this,"

his voice was still a bit hoarse. "You can talk to our master. We just follow orders. Something like this needs our master’s approval."

The other man in black quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, yes, we’re just the errand boys. If you want to reconcile, you’ll have to speak with our master. Our master is right here in the Prefecture City, not far. How about we pass on a message for you?"

"No need to ask!"

A voice suddenly rang out from beyond the courtyard wall, cold as ice and filled with condescending arrogance.

"Settle this? What right does he have to settle anything with me? On the grounds that he’s been in the Panshi Sect for a mere two months?"

As soon as the words fell, three figures leaped into the courtyard, their movements clean and crisp, landing without a sound.

The leader was a young man in his twenties, tall and slender with a stern face, dressed in a deep cyan brocade robe.

He was the one who had just spoken. His voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried clearly to the ears of everyone present.

The most eye-catching thing about him was the aura he exuded—that of the Refining Organ Realm.

Two men followed behind him. One was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, burly and rough-featured, wearing a dark gray robe with a broad-bladed saber at his waist. He gave off the air of a savage bandit.

The other was also a young man in his twenties. He had delicate features and a somewhat scholarly air, dressed in a moon-white robe that made him look like a gentle and refined scholar.

But his aura had already reached the Marrow Refining Realm, and it was deep and restrained.

At this moment, he was holding a person in one hand—it was Shen Dujiang, who hadn’t been seen all day.

Shen Dujiang’s head hung low, his face covered in so much blood that his expression was indiscernible. The front of his robe was torn open, revealing a wound beneath.

"Master! Young Master!" Seeing the three figures, both men in black grew excited, the fear in their eyes instantly vanishing.

Xu Jichuan glanced at his two subordinates on the ground, his eyes filled with undisguised disgust and impatience.

"You two are truly useless. I told you to grab one person, and you couldn’t even manage that. Now I have to come here myself."

The other young man stepped forward and carelessly tossed Shen Dujiang to the ground with a dull thud.

Shen Dujiang’s head lolled to one side, a trickle of blood spilling from his mouth as he slowly regained consciousness.

The young man dusted off his hands, raised his head to look at Chen Yue, and offered a gentle smile.

"This junior brother... from the Panshi Sect?"

He tilted his head slightly, then cupped his fists. "I am Si Kouyan, and this is my senior brother, Xu Jichuan."

Si Kouyan pointed a finger at the stern young man behind him and continued:

"Today’s matter is a private grudge from my senior brother’s family past. It has nothing to do with outsiders. It would be best for you, junior brother, not to get involved. Otherwise, if relations are soured, it won’t be good for anyone."

Xu Hanjiang stepped forward and looked at Chen Yue.

He was taller than both Xu Jichuan and Si Kouyan, standing there like a solid wall. His gaze swept up and down over Chen Yue.

"I have no wish to involve others in this matter. Young friend, it would be best not to bring trouble upon yourself!"

’No wish to involve others?’

Chen Yue’s gaze wavered slightly. ’Then what was that about sending two men to kidnap Lin Quan tonight?’

’What does Lin Quan have to do with your grudge at all?’

Chen Yue’s gaze shifted from Xu Hanjiang to Shen Dujiang on the ground.

Shen Dujiang now had visible wounds on his face, chest, and arms, some of which were still oozing blood.

Judging by the color and state of the wounds, they must have been recent.

In other words, after leaving the courtyard during the day, Shen Dujiang had indeed gone into hiding.

But in the end, he was still found, beaten severely, and brought to this courtyard.

Chen Yue’s lips tightened slightly. ’If I hadn’t happened to be here today, I might never have seen Shen Dujiang again.’

Seeing Chen Yue remain silent, Xu Jichuan’s brow furrowed, the impatience in his eyes growing stronger.

On the ground, Shen Dujiang stirred. He struggled to lift his head and found Chen Yue.

A bitter smile appeared on his face. His lips moved slightly, and he said in a hoarse voice, "I’ve dragged you all into this..."

As he spoke, he struggled to glance at Lin Quan and Hu Shaoyu, the guilt and self-blame in his eyes practically overflowing.

"This has nothing to do with them. I can only say I was blind back then and trusted the wrong person, leading to today’s calamity!" Shen Dujiang turned his head to look at Xu Hanjiang.

Hearing this, Xu Hanjiang’s figure blurred, and in an instant, he was beside Shen Dujiang.

"It would have been one thing if you’d hidden away in some backwater country, but you just had to come to Celestial State Prefecture. One can only say that even the heavens want me to take your life!"

Chen Yue’s brow twitched. He raised his head, his gaze passing over Xu Hanjiang to land on Xu Jichuan’s face.

"Can we settle this?"

His voice was still calm. "These two men for him. How about it?"

Xu Jichuan was stunned for a moment, then pointed at Chen Yue and burst out laughing.

"Kid, are you deaf?"

When he’d had his laugh, he lowered his head, his gaze like a knife boring straight into Chen Yue. "I just said all that, and you didn’t understand a word?"

"On what grounds do you think you can negotiate a settlement? Because you’re a disciple of the Panshi Sect?"

The moment his voice fell, Xu Jichuan’s figure suddenly vanished from his spot.

The bluestone slab beneath his feet shattered from the force of his step, sending shards of rock flying as a shadow appeared before Chen Yue.

Xu Jichuan threw a punch.

There were no fancy moves, just a simple punch. But the power contained within it was like a mountain flash flood, surging toward Chen Yue with overwhelming force.

The wind from the punch arrived before the fist itself, like an invisible sledgehammer smashing brutally toward Chen Yue’s face.

In Celestial State Prefecture, the major sects appeared to coexist peacefully on the surface.

But in private, clashes and conflicts between disciples of the various sects were not uncommon. As long as no one was killed, the sects generally wouldn’t interfere.

Even if someone was killed, as long as there was no conclusive proof, the matter would ultimately be dropped.

Xu Jichuan was well aware of these rules.

In his view, he had already given Chen Yue enough face.

If Chen Yue hadn’t been a disciple of the Panshi Sect, he wouldn’t have wasted a single word on him and would have just ended it with a slap.

But this person, Chen Yue, was simply clueless.

’A mere Marrow Refining Realm cultivator dares to bargain with me? Dares to talk about settling things? Dares to offer my two subordinates in exchange for Shen Dujiang?’

Xu Jichuan’s eyes were fixed on Chen Yue, waiting to see what kind of expression would appear on the face of this arrogant young man who didn’t know his own limits after the punch landed.

Chen Yue’s eyelids twitched upward. The Vast Heart Rock Skill began to circulate rapidly within him, pushing his Perception to its absolute limit. The entire world seemed to slow down.

A withered leaf, blown from the distant courtyard wall by the night wind, froze in mid-air, the veins on its surface clearly visible.

Every detail of Xu Jichuan’s fist was captured by Chen Yue’s Perception, laid bare for him to see.

At the same time, the Ten Thousand Forms Tiger Roar Golden Bell thundered within his body.

Power surged like a tide from his bones, muscles, and skin, intertwining with the Inner Strength from his Vast Heart Rock Skill to form an unstoppable force.

A faint halo of light appeared beneath Chen Yue’s skin—a sign that the Ten Thousand Forms Tiger Roar Golden Bell had been pushed to its absolute limit.

Chen Yue struck out with a palm. His right hand was open, five fingers spread, his palm slightly concave, like a mountain about to topple.

The wind from the palm and the fist collided in mid-air with a low, muffled boom. The air visibly distorted under the pressure of the two forces.

Seeing Chen Yue’s response, Xu Jichuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’A Marrow Refining Realm Martial Artist is meeting a full-power strike from a Refining Organ Realm expert head-on?’

Xu Jichuan snorted coldly. A new surge of power erupted from his Dantian, coursing through the meridians in his arm and into his fist. The skin on his knuckles turned slightly red from the immense force, his veins bulging.

’I’ll cripple this kid’s right arm first.’

’Let’s see if he can still stand there and talk tough to me about settling things.’

"BANG!"

A violent explosion erupted at the point of impact between fist and palm, rattling the paper on the courtyard’s windowpanes. A few loose tiles on the eaves were shaken loose by the shockwave, shattering as they hit the ground.

The air, compressed to an extreme degree in that instant, suddenly expanded outward, creating a visible ripple of air that billowed out in all directions with the two of them at its center.

Hu Shaoyu, standing under the eaves, was forced back a step by the shockwave, his robes flapping wildly in the wind.

Hu Shaoyu wanted to take the opportunity to rescue Shen Dujiang, but a single glance in Si Kouyan’s direction extinguished his hope.

Si Kouyan was standing less than three steps from Shen Dujiang, his body constantly poised to erupt into action. His right hand hovered at his waist, exactly where the hilt of his thin sword rested.

It was a combat stance honed through countless battles.

’Compared to disciples from a major sect like this, we Loose Cultivators are too weak.’

The next moment, a muffled groan reached Hu Shaoyu’s ears.

He quickly turned his head to look, and his eyes couldn’t help but widen slightly.

In the center of the courtyard, the dust had not yet settled, but the result of the battle was already clearly displayed before everyone.

Xu Jichuan, the Refining Organ Realm Inner Sect Disciple from the Flame Palace, was stumbling backward again and again.

A full seven or eight steps, his footing messy and hurried. Each landing stomped heavily on the bluestone ground, shattering the slabs and sending debris flying.

He tried to regain his balance, but the force was too strong—so strong that he couldn’t stabilize himself in such a short time.

This scene not only astonished Hu Shaoyu, but also caused the eyes of Xu Hanjiang, who had been watching the show from a distance, to bulge.

Xu Hanjiang had thought his son would send that arrogant Panshi Sect kid flying with a single punch, then leave with his men. Everything was supposed to be under control.

’But now, his son had been knocked back? Knocked back by a Marrow Refining Realm cultivator?’

Si Kouyan’s expression didn’t change as dramatically as Xu Hanjiang’s, but his pupils contracted sharply in that instant.

His right hand subconsciously gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist, his thumb pressing against the guard and pushing the thin blade half an inch out of its sheath.

Si Kouyan had no intention of attacking; it was purely an instinctive defensive reaction to an unknown threat.

’Xu Jichuan, at the Refining Organ Realm, was knocked back by someone in the Marrow Refining Realm?’

’How is that possible?’

After Xu Jichuan finally stopped, he raised his head and stared at Chen Yue in disbelief.

His right arm was still trembling slightly. So much force had surged into it that his muscles and meridians were still struggling to resist the immense power.

Even now, that tremendous force had not been fully suppressed.

’Is this Chen Yue really in the Marrow Refining Realm?’

The question surfaced in Xu Jichuan’s mind, and he himself found it absurd.

He had cultivated for so many years and seen so many Martial Artists, but he had never seen a Marrow Refining Realm cultivator capable of unleashing such power.

This wasn’t the kind of power a Marrow Refining Realm cultivator should have. What the hell kind of Marrow Refining Realm cultivator had this level of strength?

’And he’s been in the Panshi Sect for less than two months?’