No one paid attention to Xiao Bao’s muttering.
Even if someone had, they would have likely only received mockery.
The scene became eerily silent, deathly quiet.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the writhing, dragon-shaped phantom.
By now, the nine dragon-shaped phantoms had completed their final squeeze. They coiled together, like pythons strangling their prey, emitting horrifying crunching sounds as they pulverized something invisible into fragments.
Though unseen, everyone knew that whatever was being crushed was most likely Ying Chen!
Meaning, Ying Chen was likely dead at this moment!
Reduced to a pile of minced flesh and shattered bone, buried beneath Nine Dragons Mountain!
Becoming nourishment for the Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon’s dojo!
“Heh heh, it’s over.”
“Weren’t you so strong when you bullied me? Why aren’t you strong now?”
“Hmph, in this Jianghu, low-key is paramount. Acting so high-profile, you’d either fall into my uncle-master’s hands today or someone else’s tomorrow! I hope you learn your lesson in your next life and bury your head in the sand like an ostrich!”
He Chongxu said triumphantly.
He Chongxu’s words instantly eased the hearts of Li Fengcheng and the others.
They couldn’t truly discern what was happening in the arena, whether Ying Chen was alive or dead.
But He Chongxu certainly could.
After all, no matter how inferior, He Chongxu was still Hong Kong’s foremost Feng Shui master and the nephew of the Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon.
“Mr. Li, congratulations! You’ve secured the Mirage Realm formula and an additional fifty billion. I’m afraid no one will be able to contest your position as Hong Kong’s richest man from now on!”
Someone immediately stepped forward to congratulate Li Fengcheng.
Though Li Fengcheng was filled with pride, he dared not show it excessively.
He merely waved his hand, “It’s all thanks to the Immortal of the Hidden Dragon’s might. How could I dare claim the credit? Besides, the profits from the Mirage Realm formula need to be shared with the Immortal of the Hidden Dragon and Master He; it’s not mine to monopolize alone.”
“However, the fifty billion earned by risking my life is indeed a profit.”
After speaking, Li Fengcheng walked towards Ming Ju.
At this moment, Ming Ju’s expression was beyond terrible.
He never imagined that Ying Chen, who had been so powerful and devastating in their Feng Shui Bureau, would die so quickly!
He hadn’t even lasted two moves before being suppressed and killed on the mountaintop by the Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon’s Nine Dragons Suppression technique!
Could it be that, as the Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon claimed, martial arts inherently had a weakness compared to Xuanmen sorcery?
“Director Ming, how do you plan to repay that fifty billion?”
“If I recall correctly, your monthly salary is only tens of thousands, a few hundred thousand a year. Tsk tsk, calculated like this, even repaying it for ten or a hundred lifetimes wouldn’t be enough!”
“Shall I offer you a repayment plan?”
Li Fengcheng asked mockingly, looking at Ming Ju.
Ming Ju shot Li Fengcheng a cold glance and asked, “What repayment plan?”
“It’s very simple. From now on, the Hong Kong Feng Shui Branch will be at my disposal! It’s as if I’m spending fifty billion to buy the Hong Kong Feng Shui Branch!”
Upon hearing Li Fengcheng’s words, Ming Ju’s face instantly changed.
Then, without hesitation, he resolutely refused, “Impossible! Never!”
“You are merely a vulgar rich man, yet you want to buy a county office? What qualifications do you have? What right do you possess?”
“Do you really think money can make you do whatever you want, blinding the sky with one hand?”
“Let me tell you, no way!”
Li Fengcheng’s expression turned grim, and he sneered, “Very well, very well. Then don’t blame me for resorting to ruthless means to make you pay the price for this fifty billion!”
“Tomorrow’s newspaper headline will be that the head of the Hong Kong Feng Shui Branch owes a gambling debt of fifty billion! Let’s see how you explain that to Beijing!”
“And I won’t rule out hiring assassins to kill you and your entire family and dumping your bodies into the sea. We’ll claim you defected and fled, not only ruining your reputation but also cementing you on the pillar of historical shame!”
… Hearing Li Fengcheng’s threats, Ming Ju’s body trembled with anger, and he pointed at Li Fengcheng, unable to speak for a long time.
If Li Fengcheng truly acted on his threats, Ming Ju would be utterly ruined!
Ming Ju’s wife and children would also be utterly ruined!
“I’m giving you one last chance, yes or no? Answer me!”
Li Fengcheng’s eyes were sharp as he pressed Ming Ju.
A hint of hesitation, panic, shock, and worry flashed across Ming Ju’s face.
Just as Li Fengcheng thought Ming Ju would surely yield, Ming Ju unexpectedly shook his head and uttered a single word: “No!”
“I admit I’m not exactly a good person; I’ll resort to any means and disregard consequences to achieve my goals. But at least I’m not a bad person. At least, the goals I strive for are always for the country and its people!”
“And your demand would not only prevent me from being a good person but would directly turn me into the worst of bad people! I’d rather die than agree!”
“So forget about it!”
Li Fengcheng’s face changed drastically, a flicker of rage igniting in his eyes, “Good, good, good! Then congratulations, Director Ming, from this moment on, your reputation is ruined, and your family is destroyed!”
Just as a hint of anger and worry flickered in Ming Ju’s eyes, Xiao Bao, who was standing nearby, suddenly spoke, “No! That brother isn’t dead!”
Everyone present froze upon hearing this.
Li Fengcheng’s eyes flickered as he stared coldly at Xiao Bao, “What nonsense are you spouting? What, you don’t want to stay in Hong Kong either?”
“Don’t think that just because your master is Old Master Hong, I won’t dare to do anything to you!”
“Old Master Hong is deaf and crippled! He’s no longer the leader of the Triad Gate! If I want him dead, he dies!”
Xiao Bao’s father quickly covered Xiao Bao’s mouth, “How many times have I told you: don’t talk nonsense!”
Then, with a fawning smile, he looked at Li Fengcheng, “I apologize, Mr. Li. Children speak without thinking, please don’t hold it against a small child.”
“Hmph,” Li Fengcheng snorted coldly and was about to turn away.
Unexpectedly, even with his mouth covered, Xiao Bao refused to be silenced, “I can feel it… the fist intent… that brother’s… fist intent…”
“He’s… not dead…”
“Why don’t you… believe me?”
Upon hearing this, Ming Ju’s eyes instantly filled with a flicker of surprise. He quickly stepped forward and removed Xiao Bao’s father’s hand, “Xiao Bao, are you sure Mr. Ying is not dead?”
Xiao Bao nodded solemnly, “Certain!”
These two words instantly turned Ming Ju’s worry into joy.
Hu Sansheng and Liao Yifan, who had been slumped on the ground, also simultaneously saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes.
As for Li Fengcheng and the others, they scoffed repeatedly, “You actually believe the words of a child! Truly, when people are desperate, they’ll grasp at straws.”
“Exactly, instead of believing a professional like Master He, you believe a child. How laughable, how laughable…”
“If that mainland kid surnamed Ying isn’t dead, I’ll kneel down and kowtow to you three times, calling you a living prodigy!”
Facing everyone’s mockery, Xiao Bao remained unmoved.
He simply insisted on his judgment, “That brother isn’t dead, he’s just not dead…”
“If he’s not dead, wouldn’t that make my Nine Dragons Suppression useless?” The Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon also spoke at this moment.
Even he said so, implying that Ying Chen’s fate was beyond doubt.
Ying Chen was truly dead!
But the moment the Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon finished speaking, a voice suddenly rang out.
“Your Nine Dragons Suppression was already useless! Do you really think it’s powerful?”
Upon hearing this voice, everyone’s expression changed drastically!
Because this voice belonged to no one else but Ying Chen!
Then, a figure slowly emerged from the darkness where the nine dragons had coiled.
With every inch the figure emerged, one of the coiled dragon-shaped phantoms would disintegrate.
By the time the figure was fully revealed, all nine dragon-shaped phantoms had completely disintegrated and shattered, not a single one remaining intact!
Rumble…
The earth trembled, and the wind and clouds churned.
Ying Chen, as if nothing had happened, stood with his hands behind his back, leisurely appearing before everyone!
His demeanor suggested that it wasn’t him who had been subjected to the Nine Dragons Suppression just moments ago, but someone else!
“Impossible!”
Seeing this, the Taoist Immortal of the Hidden Dragon cried out in disbelief.
“How… how could this be…” He Chongxu even took two steps back, his expression horrified.
As for Li Fengcheng and the others, they simply collapsed onto the ground.
They looked at the re-emergent, lively Ying Chen with disbelief.
They couldn’t believe their eyes.
Ying Chen, ignoring everyone’s stunned expressions, walked directly to one person.
“You seemed to say earlier that if I wasn’t dead, you’d kneel before Xiao Bao and kowtow three times?”
The man trembled, his face ashen, “I… I…”
“So, what are you waiting for?” Ying Chen asked mockingly, looking at the man.
The man hesitated, clearly unwilling.
But ultimately, driven by the desire to survive, he plopped down and knelt before Xiao Bao.
He respectfully kowtowed three times.
While kowtowing, he said, “Greetings, living prodigy, greetings, living prodigy…”
It was as comical as it was humiliating.
Ying Chen glanced coldly at the man and ignored him, then walked towards Xiao Bao, “You are the only one who could sense my fist intent, so I shall give you a small gift.”
As he spoke, Ying Chen clenched his fist in the air and then suddenly punched out towards a distant spot!
Boom!
A loud noise echoed.
Dust billowed.
No one knew what had happened.
Ying Chen did not stop; he clenched his fist again and punched out in another direction.
The same booming sound echoed.
Ying Chen repeated this action a total of nine times.
Each time, he faced a different direction.
After completing the nine repetitions, Ying Chen retracted his fist.
“This boxing technique is called Mountain Shatter. Subsequently, there is a technique called Sea Boil, and after that, a technique called Sky Ascend.”
“These three boxing techniques combined are what you desire – fists reaching beyond the heavens, fist intent ascending to the heavens!”
“When you can achieve the same effect I have with the Mountain Shatter technique, I will teach you the remaining ones.”
Ying Chen said to Xiao Bao.
Just as everyone wondered what Ying Chen’s so-called “effect I have” entailed, someone suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted, “Quick… quick look!”
“How can this be? How is this possible!”