The silence following the headbutt was brief, shattered quickly by the rising murmur of the crowd. The spectators, fickle as the wind, began to jeer again. It was clear they had no loyalty to Xie Anhua or Ru Yan; they were vultures, eager to pick at the bones of whoever fell first.
“Y-You… what do you think you’re doing?” Ru Yan stumbled back two steps, her voice shrill. She tried to muster a facade of intimidation, but her trembling legs betrayed her inner terror. “Do you know who we are? You dare offend us?”
Smack!
Han Lie didn’t bother with words. He backhanded her across the face.
The impact was crisp and brutal. Ru Yan spun in place, stars exploding behind her eyes, before she collapsed to the dirt. Five bright red finger marks bloomed instantly on her cheek.
“You… you dare hit me?!” She clutched her face, her eyes bloodshot and wide with disbelief. Her chest heaved, not just from pain, but from the suffocating shame of being struck in public.
Han Lie looked down at her, his expression bored. “Do I need to consult the almanac to slap a bitch? Or perhaps wait for an auspicious date to kick a dog?”
He lifted his foot and drove it into her chest.
Thud.
Ru Yan gasped, the air forced from her lungs as she was stomped into the earth.
“You’re fucking dead!”
Xie Anhua, having shaken off the dizziness from the headbutt, roared and charged. His face was a mask of savage fury, his fist raised to crush Han Lie’s skull.
Han Lie didn’t move. He simply narrowed his eyes.
Boom.
A terrifying pressure erupted from his body—the aura of the Golden Core Perfection stage. It was heavy, suffocating, and reeked of ancient, bloody intent.
Xie Anhua’s charge halted instantly. The killing intent washed over him like a bucket of ice water, freezing the marrow in his bones. His fist stopped inches from Han Lie’s face. All strength drained from his limbs, leaving him trembling like a leaf in a gale. His knees gave way, and he slumped to the ground.
“Whoa—!”
The crowd exploded into an uproar.
“Golden Core Perfection… isn’t that the level of the Hall Masters’ direct disciples?”
“Yeah, only monsters like Qin Lan or Zhuo Hongyi are stronger, and they’ve already touched the Nascent Soul realm!”
“This guy… he’s a heavyweight.”
Xie Anhua, now fully aware of the disparity between them, felt his liver quiver with fear. “S-Senior Brother! We… we didn’t provoke you!”
“Didn’t provoke me?” Han Lie reached down, grabbing Xie Anhua by the collar and hauling him up until their noses almost touched. “Let me introduce myself properly. I am Han Lie. Han Feng’s older brother.”
The blood drained from Xie Anhua’s face. Ru Yan, still wheezing on the ground, went deathly pale.
“You seemed quite enthusiastic about cursing my parents earlier,” Han Lie said softly. His voice was devoid of anger, yet it carried a murderous chill that made Xie Anhua’s teeth chatter.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Xie Anhua screamed, abandoning all dignity. “Senior Brother Han, I swear on my life, I didn’t know he was your blood brother! If I knew, I wouldn’t have dared touch a hair on his head! Please, spare me!”
In the face of death, face meant nothing.
Han Lie released him, letting him drop back into the dust. “Compensation.”
Xie Anhua scrambled, his hands shaking violently as he stripped the storage ring from his finger. “Here! Take it all!”
He paused, realizing his own assets might not be enough to quell this monster’s wrath. He whipped his head toward Ru Yan, his eyes manic.
“You bitch! Hand over your Spirit Stones! Now!”
“Why should I?” Ru Yan cried, clutching her ring. “You were the one doing the cursing!”
“Slut!” Xie Anhua lunged at her, slapping her across the face with a resounding crack. He wrestled her hand, forcibly stripping the ring from her finger while she wailed.
“No! My stones!”
Ignoring her sobs, Xie Anhua frantically tallied the contents. He crawled back to Han Lie, offering the rings with both hands like a servant presenting a tribute.
“Senior Brother Han… t-there are one hundred and twenty thousand Spirit Stones here. It’s everything we have! Please, accept this as our apology to you and Han Feng!”
Han Lie took the rings, weighing them in his palm. A cold, cynical smile played on his lips.
“Hahaha. What a spectacular dog-eat-dog show.”
He looked down at the shivering man. “One hundred and twenty thousand is a pittance. But, since I am a man of boundless benevolence, I might overlook your offense today.”
Xie Anhua’s face lit up with hope.
” However,” Han Lie continued, his voice dropping, “I am not the victim here. I wonder… is my younger brother willing to forgive you?”
Han Lie stepped aside, revealing Han Feng.
Han Feng stood frozen, stunned by the sudden reversal. He looked from his terrifyingly powerful brother to the two bullies groveling in the dirt.
Seeing his hesitation, Xie Anhua dragged Ru Yan up and forced her to kneel alongside him.
“Brother Han Feng! Little Brother Han!” Xie Anhua banged his forehead against the ground. “I am sorry! I was blind! Please, treat me like a fart and let me go!”
“I’m sorry… Han Feng,” Ru Yan whimpered, trying to look pitiful. She bit her lip, casting a teary, seductive glance upward. “I shouldn’t have tricked you. I’ll make it up to you. If you want… I can accompany you tonight. Anything you want.”
The crowd whistled, eager to see if the young man would crumble. Han Feng looked at Han Lie, seeking guidance.
Han Lie turned his back, crossing his arms. “Don’t look at me. It’s your choice.”
Han Feng clenched his fists. The humiliation of the last hour burned in his chest. He looked at the weeping woman who had played him for a fool, and the thug who had insulted his mother.
“I…” Han Feng took a deep breath, his eyes hardening. “Brother Lie might forgive you because he is a great man. But that doesn’t mean I have to.”
Whoosh.
The color vanished from the kneeling pair’s faces.
“And you, Ru Yan,” Han Feng spat, his voice trembling with rage. “I trusted you. I thought… never mind. You are disgusting. Even if you stripped naked and lay in my bed, I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole!”
Han Lie turned back, a satisfied smirk gracing his lips. “You heard him.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to let you go,” Han Lie shrugged. “But the victim refuses to settle. So, I have no choice.”
He looked toward the darkness of the forest edge.
“Captain Zhuo!”
Crack!
Space itself seemed to tear open. A rift formed in the air, and a figure stepped out, radiating an aura of absolute, majestic authority.
It was a young man with sharp brows and cold eyes—Zhuo Hongyi, Captain of the Law Enforcement Hall’s Vermilion Bird Squad.
“The Law Enforcement Hall?!”
“It’s Zhuo Hongyi! He’s a Nascent Soul monster!”
The crowd scrambled back in terror. The appearance of a Law Enforcement Captain escalated this from a street brawl to a serious crime. Xie Anhua and Ru Yan collapsed completely, their eyes dead with despair.
“Han Lie,” Zhuo Hongyi said, his voice calm but resonant. “What is the situation?”
Han Lie gestured to the two piles of misery on the ground. “Han Feng, tell Captain Zhuo what happened.”
“Yes, Brother.” Han Feng straightened his spine. He recounted the events clearly—the seduction, the ambush, the extortion, and the insults.
Zhuo Hongyi’s expression grew colder with every word.
“You two again,” Zhuo Hongyi said, looking down at Xie Anhua and Ru Yan. “You possess Golden Core cultivation, yet you spend your days setting traps for new disciples.”
It was an open secret. Xie Anhua and Ru Yan were repeat offenders, preying on wealthy newcomers who were too afraid of retaliation to report them. They had grown fat on the silence of their victims. But today, they had kicked an iron plate.
“Captain Zhuo,” Han Lie interjected smoothly. “Given their history, what is the standard protocol?”
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