"I'm being unruly?" Meng Wuya seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world, unable to close his mouth. Then his face turned cold as he shouted: "So what if I'm being unruly?"
As he spoke, he casually swung his palm.
"Dodge!" Hu Man's expression changed. He was about to pull Long Jun behind himself, but Meng Wuya's strike was as fast as lightning. The moment he raised his hand, a crisp slap rang out across Long Jun's face.
Two teeth flew out on the spot. Long Jun's entire body spun several times in the air before he landed on the ground with a thud.
Everyone from the Blood Battle Gang was instantly horrified, and Hu Man felt a chill run through his body.
They hadn't even seen how the old man in the sky had made his move. From a distance of over fifty zhang, a single slap landed exactly as he pleased, giving no one any time to react.
Was this something a Shenyou Realm expert could do? Even at the peak, he shouldn't be able to make everyone here feel so helpless, right?
Hu Man felt that if the Sect Leader of Lingxiao Pavilion had thrown this palm strike, he would have had a ninety percent chance of blocking it.
Both were at the peak of the Shenyou Realm — so why was there such an enormous gap?
Long Jun had also been stunned by the slap. After falling to the ground, he staggered back to his feet, spun around several times to find his bearings, and then looked at Meng Wuya again, his face now full of wariness and terror.
His right cheek was swollen high. Although there was no internal injury, as the saying went — when insulting someone you don't bring up their faults, and when hitting someone you don't slap their face. Being publicly slapped across the face by Meng Wuya was a humiliation beyond words.
"So what if I'm being unruly? What are you going to do about it?" Meng Wuya calmly waited for him to steady himself, then flung another slap down.
"Slap..." Just like before, Long Jun went flying again. None of the Blood Battle Gang's experts had time to react.
"Damn it! You dare call me unruly? Know your place!" Meng Wuya cursed, shaking his hand as though he'd just touched a pile of filth, his face twisted in disgust.
Hu Man could hold back no longer. He angrily said: "Senior, you're a great expert — to lay a hand on a junior like this, aren't you afraid of others laughing at you?"
"Hmph! If I'd really laid a hand on him, would he still be alive? This was just a small lesson." Meng Wuya let out a cold laugh and gave a sharp command: "Come here!"
He spread his hand, and Long Jun, still lying on the ground and unable to get up, was pulled away by an enormous suction force, flying through the air. Flailing wildly in midair, Long Jun's face was filled with panic as he screamed: "Gang Leader, save me!"
"Senior!" Hu Man stepped forward and shouted in a stern voice.
Meng Wuya completely ignored him. He simply grabbed Long Jun by the neck, his face dark, and said: "Every grudge has its source, every debt its owner. I've come today only for Long Zaitian! Boy, since you're Long Zaitian's grandson, you'd better tell me where he is — and behave yourself!"
After taking two slaps, Long Jun had become more obedient than a rabbit. Gone was his youthful arrogance. Clenching his teeth against the pain in both cheeks, he stammered: "Grandfather... Grandfather isn't in the gang."
"Where is he?"
"At the mining district!"
"Point the way!"
"This direction!" Under the threat to his life, Long Jun wouldn't dare hesitate. Meng Wuya asked a question and he answered it, and despite his swollen cheeks, he spoke remarkably fast.
Meng Wuya's figure flickered, and he was already over a hundred zhang away, carrying Long Jun as he headed straight for the Blood Battle Gang's mining district.
"Gang Leader!" A crowd of people all looked at Hu Man, waiting for his decision.
"Follow them," Hu Man said. He was seething with rage. He truly had no idea how Long Zaitian had provoked such a powerful expert, and the other party hadn't said.
The anger in Hu Man's heart was immense. First, he was furious at Meng Wuya's sheer unreasonableness and abuse of power. Second, he was furious at Long Zaitian's blindness for offending such an expert and dragging the flames back into the gang.
The Long family's petty schemes over the years — it wasn't that Hu Man hadn't noticed. But the Long family had always been the Blood Battle Gang's left and right arm. Hu Man had wanted to cut out this tumor, but hadn't dared to make a move. Once he moved against the Long family, the Blood Battle Gang would immediately fall apart, and its overall strength would plummet.
If only Hu Man had a son — this kind of situation would never have arisen in the gang. Even having just one son would have allowed Hu Man to cultivate him as a counterweight to the Long family's young generation, and things wouldn't have come to this.
This time, Long Zaitian had provoked such a powerful expert, and Hu Man saw a sliver of opportunity in it. If he could use this to strip away the Long family's power within the gang, that would actually be a good thing.
So no matter what, Hu Man had to follow and see for himself.
Inside the Black Wind Market, the bustling crowds continued unabated.
Yang Kai, with twenty thousand taels of silver bills tucked away in his bosom, walked a full circuit through the market. First, he spent ten thousand taels buying some Yangyan Stone, keeping the rest for emergencies. Then he found an empty spot and sat down cross-legged on the ground, picking up an abandoned signboard that someone had thrown away. He wiped the writing off and casually penned a few words.
"Buying seeds of Yang-attribute spirit herbs and spirit fruits!"
He planted the signboard in front of himself, paid it no further attention, and immediately began circulating the True Yang Technique, secretly absorbing the energy from the Yangyan Stone tucked in his robes.
Last time, Li Yuntian had also helped Yang Kai collect seeds, but to no avail — a testament to just how rare these seeds were.