Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The old man was smiling in amus.e.m.e.nt as he glanced at Chu Li. He shook his head and said, “You may be able to protect one person, but can you protect them all?”

The crowd was watching the two of them curiously.

They found the situation rather odd.

Supposedly, all martial arts masters in the Ji River Valley should know that they were not allowed to fight inside the town. Otherwise, their cultivation would be crippled and they would be banished from the town. Regardless of the cause, once they started a fight, the High Duke's Public House would never show them mercy.

It had been a long time since anyone had used martial arts in Ji River Valley, so the people were excited to watch the fun and see how the protectors from the Ji Public House were going to cripple their cultivation!

Chu Li huffed with a frown. “I'll protect as many of them as possible. You, as an Asura, should know that everyone is against you by now, but instead of finding a place to hide, you're parading yourself blatantly through the streets. Aren't you afraid of running into someone from the Tempest Temple?”

“You know about the Tempest Temple too. I see you have quite a deep understanding of our Divine Church!” the old man said. “The monks of the Tempest Temple may have a few skills up their sleeves, but it would be a futile attempt to try and capture me. They'll just be wasting their efforts. After I've ma.s.sacred this Ji River Valley, I would have nothing to fear even if the Tempest Temple monks were to come.”

Chu Li said, “There are many martial arts masters hidden in this town. I'm afraid things won't go as smoothly as you imagine.”

“They're just a flock of sheep without a shepherd.” The old man scoffed lightly as a look of indifference appeared on his face. “What's there to fear about a bunch of stragglers and disbanded soldiers!”

Chu Li raised an eyebrow at this and scoffed. “A bunch of stragglers and disbanded soldiers may not be scary, but an army would be daunting, right?”

“You're very clever.” The old man let out a laugh. “With such a bright mind, it'll be such a pity for you to die just like that. How about you tell me your name?”

“I'm Chu Lingfeng!” Chu Li huffed.

“Chu Lingfeng…” The old man slowly nodded and then muttered. “I've never heard of this name!”

Chu Li replied, “I've always been a n.o.body!”

“Impossible.” The elderly man shook his head. “With such a cultivation level at your age, how can you possibly be a mere n.o.body! … The South has Du Feng while the North has Chu Li. There's probably nothing more than this. Could you be one of them then?”

Chu Li chuckled.

The old man glanced at him and shook his head. “Chu Lingfeng, your surname is also Chu. Could you be using an alias?”

Chu Li burst into laughter. “You imagine the wildest things!”

He secretly felt amazed at how astute his mind was. Such intelligence was truly fearsome.

The old man fell silent and sized him up before nodding to himself. “You're Chu Li, right?”

“Even if I'm Chu Li,” Chu Li said, “what difference does it make? Take another punch from me!”

He threw out a punch with a rock-solid fist force at the old man.

The old man swiftly countered the attack with a Shura Palm.

It was the same old Shura Palm, yet it felt rather uncanny and seemed to carry a sense of elegance and grace when performed by this old man.

“Bang!” As an explosive sound reverberated, the crowd felt their bodies quiver at the magnitude of the battle. There was also a sudden unsettling sensation in their chests that was making them feel nauseous.

Chu Li swung another fist with his left hand to disperse the remaining force of the Shura Palm since his back was pressed against the pillar, giving him no s.p.a.ce to back away from the force.

“Good, take another palm attack from me!” The old man vanished all of a sudden before appearing in front of Chu Li and gently stretched out his palm.

Chu Li leaped out of his chair and appeared behind the old man.

“Bang!” The Shura Palm suddenly changed its direction as the old man turned around and charged at Chu Li. His Shura Palm collided with Chu Li's Cloud Slas.h.i.+ng Palm, which then caused another explosive sound.

The people around them moved backward involuntarily to keep themselves away from this thunderous noise.

“Hmm?” The old man looked at Chu Li in shock.

As soon as his inner energy entered Chu Li's body, he could feel it disappear.

Chu Li's body was like a bottomless pit that could not be filled no matter how much inner energy he poured into him. This intrigued the old man immediately and he wanted to try and see if he could actually fill up this pit.

He prompted his inner energy forward continuously, attempting to overwhelm Chu Li.

However, Chu Li did not budge and stared at him with an expressionless face while the Heavenly Demonic Orb gladly devoured the inner energy. He then feigned a strenuous look as he opened his mouth to speak. “You're here on your own?”

“Hehe, is it not enough for me to be here by myself?” the old man replied with a smile.

He urged his inner energy forward at a faster speed. It seemed like he was not giving Chu Li enough pressure seeing as Chu Li could still manage to speak.

Chu Li said, “If there's only you here, you may not be able to defeat me.”

“Hehe…” The old man laughed and shook his head before pressing on with his inner energy once more.

Suddenly, his left palm came charging at Chu Li.

Chu Li raised his left hand and pointed his index finger in the old man's direction.

The old man stiffened all over for a moment with a red light radiating from his face. Yet, as Chu Li stretched out his finger again, the old man had dodged out of the way and was already swinging his left palm forward.

“Bang!” Chu Li disappeared and a table behind him was blown into pieces.

He sighed to himself. The effects of the Petrifying Finger had only lasted for a short moment on the old man. There was not enough time to even make another move.

Chu Li used the Petrifying Finger again but could not hit the old man.

His movements were surprisingly fast as his figure flashed like a shadow. While Chu Li was able to see his figure, there was nothing he could do since the old man was moving about too fast within a very short distance of where Chu Li was.

The old man sensed the powerful force of this Petrifying Finger and frowned as he asked, “You're a disciple of the Tempest Temple?”

A murderous desire surged in his heart. All disciples of the Tempest Temple had to die!

Nonetheless, his calm expression betrayed none of his intentions as he continued to speak, “It seems like I've been mistaken then. You're not Chu Li after all!”

Chu Li smiled as he threw out a finger force with his left hand and a Divine Light Fist with his right, putting the old man in such a position that he would not be able to get close to him.

The old man scoffed lightly. His initial teasing att.i.tude had slipped away and was replaced by an intense murderous desire.

In a sudden flash, he instantly moved closely in front of Chu Li but Chu Li had already predicted this and landed a Petrifying Finger and a Divine Light Fist on him simultaneously.

“Bang!” The old man had swung his palm forward to receive the Petrifying while ignoring the Divine Light Fist attack, allowing it to hit him.

A strong wind sprang up and blew in all directions. The Shura Palm had actually blocked the Petrifying Finger.

Chu Li frowned. The purity of the Shura Palm had reached a certain level where the palm energy was close to taking a material form. How horrifying!

“Not bad, young lad. Now, die!” The old man did not seem to care that he had been hit by a Divine Light Fist. Nonetheless, the friendly smile on his face had vanished. Then, in a flash of green mist, he suddenly appeared like a ghost behind Chu Li.

Chu Li spun around and launched a Spear Finger Strike.

“Bang!” The Shura Palm broke through the finger force of the Spear Finger Strike and landed on Chu Li.

“Bang!” Chu Li was sent flying away.

He spat a mouthful of blood in midair.

The old man caught up with him immediately and struck Chu Li again on the chest with his palm.

Chu Li gave a loud groan and spat out blood again as his back flew through the closed window and fell to the ground.

Chu Li's figure flickered twice in the air and appeared ten feet away.

The old man laughed coldly. “Trying to escape? You better stay where you are!”

He appeared behind Chu Li and threw out a Shura Palm again.

However, Chu Li vanished in a flash and reappeared ten feet away once more.

The old man relentlessly chased after him.

If it was before, he would have ignored Chu Li and killed everyone around them first, but now that he had guessed that Chu Li was a Tempest Temple disciple, he did not hesitate to focus his murderous intentions on Chu Li, wanting to kill him off first before moving on to everyone else.

Chu Li's body movement technique was exceptionally fast, but the old man was moving at a ghostly speed as well. As the two of them flashed and flickered away, they disappeared from the view of the crowd at the restaurant in the blink of an eye.

“Who is he?” someone asked in a whisper.

“Could it be Asura?” A middle-aged man was pointing at the ground where Chu Li had left a few words written with his fingers. “Asura. Fetch High Duke Ji at once!”

When the people saw these words, they looked at each other in dismay.

“Can this be true?” someone asked.

“Let's report this to the Ji Public House first. In any case, they've started a fight on town grounds. The protectors of the Ji Public House will have to be dispatched!”

“That's right. Let's report this first!” Everyone started talking all at once as the crowd hurried over the Ji Public House.