'These imbeciles…' Li Gong fumed internally, trying to maintain his composure.
But the rumors were like daggers stabbing at his pride.
"You fools dare to slander me?! Don't you dare the wrath of our Li family anymore?" Li Gong finally snapped, his voice booming like thunder, eyes blazing with rage.
The crowd fell silent for a moment, only to start whispering even more furiously.
"I heard he barely passed his last breakthrough. If this little brother so much as sneezes, he might topple over!" someone whispered, poorly stifling a snicker.
Another voice chimed in, "No wonder he's too scared to fight! He probably still has to nurse his qi after that pill!"
The fire in Li Gong's eyes grew fiercer as the voices around him chipped away at his dignity. He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. 'Curse these ignorant peasants!' His thoughts were in turmoil, suspicion gnawing at him. 'Could he really be hiding something?'
Meanwhile, Su Xiaobai, noticing the cracks in Li Gong's composure, allowed a faint smile to dance on his lips. 'These rumors... perhaps they're more useful than I thought.'
With an almost theatrical sigh, Su Xiaobai raised his voice. "Young Master Li, it's no wonder you need others to do your dirty work. After all, with a foundation like yours, even a light breeze might knock you over!"
Li Gong's eyes blazed with fury. "You dare mock me?!" he roared, but even as he lashed out, the seeds of doubt had been planted deep within his heart.
"Good, good!" Li Gong sneered, his voice filled with venom. "Today, you will be the first to witness the true power of my Sword Gale technique! If you manage to survive even a single strike, I might consider letting you crawl away with your life!"
The crowd gasped, some in awe, others in fear.
The Sword Gale technique, a rare mid ranked profound technique was infamous across the region, its reputation earned through countless battles.
It was a sword technique that harnessed the very essence of wind, amplifying the user's qi into a devastating storm of blades.
As Li Gong infused his sword with his qi, the blade began to glow with a fierce, azure light.
The air around him crackled with energy, the pressure building as he summoned the technique's power.
Swish! Swish!
Wind began to whip around the square, not naturally, but as if being summoned by the sword itself, bending to the will of its master.
The technique's brilliance lay in its simplicity and deadly efficiency.
By merging his qi with the element of wind, Li Gong could generate a vortex of cutting force around his sword.
When unleashed, this vortex would explode outward, forming countless invisible blades that could tear through flesh, bone, and even stone with ease.
Each blade was a precise extension of his will, directed with the intent to maim and kill.
As the wind gathered strength, the crowd felt it too—an invisible force tugging at their clothes, biting at their skin.
The atmosphere grew heavy, as if the very air had turned into a weapon, ready to strike.
Li Gong's sword, now enveloped in a swirling tempest of energy, looked like a blade forged from the heart of a storm.
His eyes gleamed with cruelty as he prepared to unleash the technique. "Prepare yourself! When this gale is unleashed, not even your bones will remain!"
Whoosh!
The moment Li Gong's sword reached its zenith, he brought it down in a sweeping arc.
Swoosh!
The wind howled as the Sword Gale was unleashed, a brilliant arc of azure light tearing through the air.
Swoosh!
The energy condensed and exploded outward in all directions, creating a deadly storm of wind blades that surged toward Su Xiaobai like a crazy beast.
Bam!
The ground beneath the attack cracked and split, small stones and debris being shredded as the storm advanced with terrifying speed.
The onlookers could only stare in shock, feeling the sheer power of the technique wash over them.
Even those with no cultivation could sense the immense danger that this attack represented, the hairs on their arms standing on end.
But in the face of this overwhelming force, Su Xiaobai remained still, his expression calm, almost indifferent.
As the storm of blades closed in, his eyes narrowed, focusing on the incoming attack.
His qi began to circulate, gathering in his core, at the dantian near his abdomen, preparing for the moment of impact.
'So, this is the extent of his so-called genius technique?' Su Xiaobai mused as the pressure of Li Gong's Sword Gale dissipated around him.
'I was concerned for nothing.' Relief washed over him, and a faint, almost mocking smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
The world seemed to slow as the deadly blades approached.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a blinding brilliance erupted from Su Xiaobai's core, a radiant light so intense that it seared the eyes of everyone present, forcing them to turn away or risk blindness.
Kacha—
In the next heartbeat, the sword qi disintegrated into dust, shattering harmlessly against Su Xiaobai's invincible body.
[Invincible body]
The moment was brief, but as Li Gong shielded his eyes from the overwhelming flash, he caught a glimpse of Su Xiaobai standing unscathed.
The sight sent a tremor of disbelief through him, and his lips quivered uncontrollably.
"Impossible!" Li Gong roared, his voice cracking with fear and outrage. 'How could this be possible, even father can't do that!'
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, their astonishment clear.
"Did you see that? He shattered Li Gong's technique as if it was nothing!"
"Could this little brother really be this powerful? Or… could he be hiding an even greater secret?"
"That light… it was like a divine radiance! Who is this man?"
Su Xiaobai didn't waste a moment. 'Now's my chance!'
"Watch closely!" Su Xiaobai shouted, his voice echoing with the authority of a judge delivering a death sentence. "This is what true power looks like!"
With a swift motion, Su Xiaobai released his invincible form.
A single second was all it took to nullify the attack.
Seizing the opportunity while his enemies were paralyzed by shock, he leaped into the air with lightning speed, the blazing red Infernal flames in his hands.
"Young Master!"
"Watch out!"
The two Meridian Expansion Realm experts, battle-hardened through years of conflict, instantly sensed the deadly aura radiating from Su Xiaobai.
It was an aura of death!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
They darted forward to shield the now-pale Li Gong, but they were already a step too slow.
This was exactly what Su Xiaobai had planned—to eliminate the three strongest opponents in one swift, decisive strike.
BOOM! BOOM!
His fists, cloaked in searing Infernal flames, crashed into the abdomens of the two Meridian Expansion experts.
The impact was like a star exploding, sending shockwaves rippling through their bodies.
The flames surged into them, igniting their insides with unbearable heat.
"Aaaargh!" They screamed in agony, their bodies convulsing as the flames consumed them from within.
Their dantians shattered under the pressure, their cultivation reduced to nothing but ashes.
"Argh!"
"Argh!"
Blood spewed from their mouths, their once-mighty forms crumbling to the ground.
"Did he just… cripple them both with a single strike?" someone in the crowd gasped, their voice trembling with fear.
"Those were the Li Family's core guards! This is… this is unbelievable!"
But Su Xiaobai wasn't finished.
He spun toward Li Gong, who was frozen in place, his face twisted in terror.
'How… how could this be happening? He is obviously only an ant at Qi refinement realm' Li Gong's mind raced, trying to comprehend the horror before him.
Su Xiaobai moved like a shadow, a streak of flames and fury.
He descended above Li Gong's shoulders like a vengeful god, landing on his shoulders with a bone-cracking impact.
Kacha!
"You think you can take my life?" Su Xiaobai roared, his fury reaching a boiling point.
All the pent-up rage surged through his veins—whether it was the betrayal of Su Lingxi, an obvious plot he saw yet still fell into, or the torment from Sun Liang—everything had been nothing but defeat after defeat!
His body trembled from the strain, his skin tearing open in multiple places as blood began to spurt from the wounds.
But right now, all his focus was on channeling the frustrations of the last thirty days.
Defeating two Meridian Expansion Realm experts had drained half of his strength, even though he had taken them by surprise.
His voice dripped with venom as he gripped Li Gong's head with both hands. "Know your place!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhh—"