Li Chonglou stared intently at Tian Shan, who was cowering behind the load-bearing wall, a faint red glow flickering in his eyes.
His Heavenly Eye was opened to its extreme, his expression as calm as a frozen lake.
Wu Zhengjiang's thoughts were half right, half wrong.
He didn't want Wu Zhengjiang to kill Tian Shan, firstly because he didn't want to push Tian Shan into a corner where he'd fight desperately.
More importantly, he didn't want to directly involve Wu Zhengjiang in this case. Guan Jian and Xiao Da were police officers, and Wu Zhengjiang was also a member of the task force.
It was natural for them to apprehend Tian Shan, but if Wu Zhengjiang directly killed someone, it would be a crime.
Furthermore, if he owed the Wu family a favor, it would be difficult to ask for anything later.
That was why he was determined to personally avenge Xu Lie.
In fact, if Wu Zhengjiang hadn't used that "Silk Winding Force" to pull Tian Shan down from the air just now, Tian Shan would already be a corpse.
The sniper on the opposite building was an "Eagle Warrior" personally arranged by Zhou Jiao. A hundred-pace accuracy was their basic skill.
No matter how skilled Tian Shan was or how vigilant he was, in the air with no leverage, he would surely die.
But if that happened, he wouldn't be able to personally avenge Xu Lie.
It was as if everything was predetermined, with a balance for every gain and loss.
Heaven had not turned a blind eye; it had given him another chance.
"These knuckle dusters were left by Brother Xu. Today, I'll use them to kill you." Li Chonglou slowly took out a pair of bronze knuckle dusters from his pocket and put them on.
These were weapons Xu Lie used when practicing boxing. As his strength grew, he no longer needed the knuckle dusters.
He had given them to Xu Qianqian for self-defense. After Xu Lie's accident, Xu Qianqian had gifted them to him.
He had always carried them with him, waiting for this day.
"The difference between a wild pheasant and an eagle cannot be bridged by a single item," Tian Shan sneered. He knew it would be very difficult for him to escape today.
There was a sniper waiting outside the door, and inside, there was a master like Wu Zhengjiang.
His only chance was to take Li Chonglou hostage. Once he got out of the Han Palace, he would be free as a bird.
At that point, Li Chonglou would just be a stray dog.
Therefore, Li Chonglou's intention was exactly what he wanted.
"Li Chonglou, why are you wasting so much time with him? Shoot this scoundrel dead, and I'll write the report when I get back!" Xiao Da, anxious by his side, couldn't help but shout.
Guan Jian's expression changed slightly, but he didn't reprimand him.
After all, lives were at stake. When Li Chonglou had no advantage, it was the correct approach to shoot the suspect dead on the spot.
"Don't interfere, this is my battle alone!" Li Chonglou glared at Xiao Da, his eyes sharp and his resolve firm as a mountain.
Xiao Da shivered in his heart, wanting to persuade him further but unable to speak.
He could only suppress the urge to open fire.
The next second, Li Chonglou adopted a horse stance, imitating Wu Zhengjiang's previous movements, his body moving but his shoulders still, as he lunged at Tian Shan.
"Good kid, you learned fast." Wu Zhengjiang's eyes flashed with brilliance, full of admiration.
This movement technique was not from Tai Chi but was a blend of Baguazhang and Wing Chun, a technique he had personally created, possessing strong deceptive qualities.
When used in combat, it could make an opponent lose focus for a split second.
In a duel between masters, even a 0.1-second lapse in concentration could become a fatal flaw.
He hadn't expected Li Chonglou to learn it so quickly after seeing it only once, achieving sixty percent of its likeness. This lad was teachable.
At this moment, Wu Zhengjiang retracted his assessment of Li Chonglou's lack of martial arts comprehension.
However, in reality, the ability to instantly learn the movement technique was not Li Chonglou's achievement, but that of his Heavenly Eye that saw through everything.
It was precisely this Heavenly Eye that gave Li Chonglou a sliver of hope against the vast difference in skill between him and Tian Shan.
"You think you can trick me with this?" Tian Shan's eyes flashed with fierce light. He swept his hand forward like a whip, forcing Li Chonglou back the moment he approached.
Wu Zhengjiang's movement technique would make him falter, but Li Chonglou was too far behind him to make it effective.
However, Li Chonglou did not give up. After stepping back, he immediately sidestepped and lunged, his body like a ghost as he threw a punch from below.
It was the modern combat technique taught by Xu Lie.
*Crack!*
Tian Shan retracted his palm and accurately pressed it onto the punch, twisting and turning it.
Li Chonglou immediately lost his balance, tumbling twice before staggering to his feet.
Fortunately, he was wearing knuckle dusters, otherwise, Tian Shan's move would have likely broken his wrist.
Even so, his face was extremely grim. His internal injuries had not yet healed, and now his blood was churning, making him feel an urge to vomit.
Li Chonglou knew that was a sign of internal bruising.
He couldn't vomit. If he did, his vital energy would dissipate.
It would then be as difficult as ascending to heaven to kill Tian Shan again.
The unyielding look in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest as he lifted his knee and charged.
These moves were all self-defense techniques Xu Lie had taught him. While the cultivation method on the sheepskin scroll was powerful, it was an internal art, and without technique, its power was difficult to unleash.
Li Chonglou had never had the opportunity to practice in his previous fights, either because his opponents were too strong or too weak.
Now, he was able to unleash them all to his heart's content.
"A mere trifle. Come here." Tian Shan reached out and slapped Li Chonglou's knee from top to bottom, forcefully pushing him down from mid-air.
With his other hand, he reached out and grabbed Li Chonglou's shoulder.
With a slight exertion of force, his grip became like iron pincers, embedding into Li Chonglou's shoulder bone. A searing pain, like a knife cut, invaded Li Chonglou.
His vision went black, and he almost fainted from the pain on the spot.
Fortunately, his true qi protected his heart, preventing him from overloading and going into shock.
But the pain still caused him to groan, and his body was uncontrollably pulled towards Tian Shan.
"This is bad!" Xiao Da cried out, raising his gun to shoot, but Guan Jian pressed him down.
Li Chonglou's situation was extremely perilous. Even the two ordinary men could see that if Tian Shan managed to restrain him, the situation would immediately reverse.
Not only would his revenge be hopeless, but his life might also be in danger.
Even Wu Zhengjiang's expression turned grave, showing signs of intervening.
It happened in a flash.
Just as Li Chonglou was about to be dragged in front of Tian Shan, he gritted his teeth against the intense pain and raised his hand, smashing his knuckle dusters towards his own clamped shoulder.
He was willing to heavily injure his shoulder to smash through Tian Shan's backhand.
The knuckle dusters had sharp, mountain-shaped protrusions. Although not sharp, their force was enough to easily smash through a door, let alone a hand.
No matter how powerful Tian Shan was, he didn't dare to gamble whether his hand was harder or the knuckle dusters were harder, and gritted his teeth in anger, releasing his grip.
Although Li Chonglou's strength was far inferior to his, when fighting for his life, he was no less fierce than that guy named Xu Lie.
He was like a desperate desperado.
The fierce feared the stubborn, and the stubborn feared those who were fearless.
He had already lost a sliver of his dominant aura, and with Wu Zhengjiang nearby, he dared not engage in a head-on collision.
But while he didn't want to engage, Li Chonglou had no intention of letting him go.
Instead of retreating, Li Chonglou moved forward on his own, imitating Tian Shan's previous plow-like charge. His injured shoulder angled out, using all his accumulated force, and leveraging the momentum from being pulled by Tian Shan.
He was like a charging bull.
*Bang!*
At such close range, Tian Shan had no way to change his move and defend. His chest took the full impact.
His chest bone was nearly broken. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, stepping back five paces and bracing against the wall to barely dissipate the force.
His face changed drastically, filled with disbelief. "You actually managed to make me retreat!"
"Not just retreat, I'm going to kill you." Li Chonglou pressed his advantage without pause.
Wu Zhengjiang's expression, however, changed drastically. "Not good... kid, you've fallen for it..."