“What. Do. You. Want?” the figure repeated the question, enunciating each word.

Zi Yu shivered in the presence of the young man before her. He was frightening for some obscure reason. However, she steeled herself before asking, “How would you like to be my fiancé?”

****

The young cloaked figure stared at Zi Yu for a few seconds, still trying to process the question that was posed to him.

The silence that ensued was palpable and gave rise to nothing at all, save for…

Shu, shu, shu…

The cloaked figure’s ears perked up. He could recognise that sound from anywhere. That was an elusive existence that he was profoundly interested in. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances that hung over him like a shadow, that interest was not enough to currently move him.

Suddenly, a tumbleweed rolled on through the window to mark this scene as a recounted moment of silence.

When the cloaked figure saw this, he was taken aback for a moment. ‘Hold on, we’re on the second floor. How did it get through the window? This thing is more profound than the dao, I swear.’

Yet, the tumbleweed did not stop to explain. Instead; it circled around Zi Yu a few times then left down the stairs.

The cloaked figure didn’t bother to answer Zi Yu and left in the direction of the tumbleweed. He wasn’t following the tumbleweed, but his mood wasn’t good, so he wanted to leave to finish his business in this place. He didn’t know why certain things were now put in motion, but he could feel that time was running out and he couldn’t waste it.

His sudden departure left Zi Yu in a daze. Were they not just having a conversation? Moreover, did she not offer herself up on a silver platter? Yet this brat didn’t even blink before he left without a word. The atmosphere on the top floor quickly became awkward.

She hurriedly left after the young cloaked figure. If he was who she thought he was, then he might be the only person who could help her.

Even though no information was disclosed to ascertain the identity of the cloaked figure, his mere acknowledgement of the tumbleweed made it obvious that it was none other than Long Di.

On the first floor of the restaurant, a tumbleweed went through the entrance and turned a corner before disappearing from view.

Shortly after Long Di and his group came out, an interesting scene greeted them.

“Hey!”

Looking where the muffled shout came from, Long Di’s group couldn’t help finding the scene a bit funny.

The two lackeys he slapped out the window ended up crashing into the shops on the opposite side of the street.

Their entire upper body up to their waist was embedded firmly in the walls of the shops. Their legs were stiffly sticking out the walls, as if advertising Viagra’s effect on another body part.

The most interesting part, however, was the source of the muffled yell. It was Zhen Song, whose head was currently buried in the street. In addition, except for his head that was hidden from view, his entire body was ramrod straight, pointing to the sky.

It could obviously be seen that after being slapped senseless by Long Di and flying through the walls, his senses were all over the place. Thus, being unable to get his feet under him after such an experience was normal. However, why was he straight?

‘Why is he so straight…? Hmm, now that I think about it, that’s a weird question to ask? Wait, how did he know I left the restaurant?’

“You piece of crap! You dare humiliate me like this!?” Zhen Song pulled his head from the dirt and from his current handstand pose, sprang up and landed on his feet, staring daggers at Long Di.

When he was slapped by Long Di, he saw the sorry state of his men earlier before he landed and imitated the noble ostrich and, as such, his rage nearly blinded him, much like the ground did. He kept his hand on his sword and charged towards Long Di in a mad dash.

When he did this, the group behind Long Di clicked their tongues and silently gave their condolences to this Zhen Song. Long Di was a man who rarely, if ever, showed his emotions, yet something happened recently that changed all that, and he refused to go into detail about it. However, everyone could tell he was in a bad mood and now that this Zhen Song repeatedly wanted to find trouble with him, what do you think would happen?

Before Zhen Song could reach far, Long Di disappeared from his original position and met him halfway there.

Zhen Song was flustered to see Long Di appearing so close and couldn’t even react properly, even with the sword in hand.

However, how could Long Di give him this chance? He quickly spread his palm and sent it flying towards Zhen Song’s face!

Pa!

‘Goodness gracious!’

This was the exclamation running through Zhen Song’s head after the first slap landed.

Pa!

‘Sweet lord!’

Pa!

‘I regret every decision that led to this point!’

Several thoughts ran through Zhen Song’s head following each successful slap. The pain from it was what caused Zhen Song to go through such an existential introspection.

Zi Yu only came out later but she was still able to catch Long Di treating Zhen Song like an unfilial son. Her mouth was frozen in the shape of an ‘o’ due to her shock.

Who was Zhen Song? He was the young master of the Zhen family, Due to his talent, they poured their resources into him and as such were able to have him reach the 2nd Core of the Core Formation realm!

Then what of now!? He was being manhandled by a child! How could anyone not be shocked!?

“Stop!”

A furious roar shot over, compelling Long Di to stop and look in the direction of the shout.

He could see a powerful-looking demon rushing over. The rage written all over his face was a clear indication of his current mood.

One of the other cloaked figures in the group stepped forward to assist Long Di, but the gaze Long Di landed in that person’s direction forced them to step back and observe.

He then turned his attention back to the new arrival while holding Zhen Song. The latter was slapped swollen into a pig’s face.

When Zhen Song saw who it was who arrived, his expression was like he found his savior, “P-Pwopeckuh Gang!”

Pa!

“Who’s Protector Gang?” asked Long Di.

Damn! If he wanted to ask a question, couldn’t he just ask and leave it at that!? Did he have to slap him to ask a question!? Zhen Song wanted to cry but no tears would come out.

“Little beast, release the young master now!” shouted Protector Gang.

“No,” answered Long Di.

“What do you want!?” Protector Gang was furious! He was supposed to guard Zhen Song. However, they were in Blackstone City and there should have been no one that was willing to offend the Zhen family.

So he had disappeared for a while to enjoy himself at a brothel. Yet, how could he predict that such a disaster would befall Zhen Song? No matter how this played out, he knew he wouldn’t be able to escape the punishment of the clan, so all of his anger was directed at Long Di!

If he was gonna suffer for this, then he was going to make sure that Long Di would suffer for this tenfold!

Dum!

Nine medial grade cauldrons erupted behind him, of which all nine were affixed with nine glittering pearls. However, only one was giving off a magnificent light that eclipsed the others. That marked him as an actual one-star core martial master!

Long Di released Zhen Song from his grip. It wasn’t because he was scared of their background or anything; it was simply due to the fact that he had a bottom line that he wouldn’t violate, no matter what.

Zhen Song may have been overbearing and arrogant, however, he never expressed killing Long Di or anyone he cared about. Plus, it wasn’t like he committed some serious crimes or anything, at least as far as Long Di knew. Since these taboos weren’t touched, he naturally wouldn’t kill Zhen Song, no matter who he was, or who he was affiliated with.

Plus, he already slapped Zhen Song into a pig head. The suffering of men had to have their line drawn at some point.

However, Protector Gang wasn’t aware of this, he simply believed that Long Di was scared of his power and thus listened to him.

“Hmph!” He snorted in disdain at Long Di when he saw this. “Now, hand the young master over! When you’re done, you can leave an arm and cripple your cultivation! You should know that there are some people you can never offend!”

What is up with these people and leaving an arm behind? Do they have an arm fetish? Do they have some depraved thoughts about arms when they see someone?

Protector Gang couldn’t sense Long Di’s cultivation either. Because Long Di’s spiritual force and mental power were being tempered before by the tribulation lightning, a sort of mutation had occurred that allowed him to be able to hide his cultivation from elites even a whole cultivation tier above him, not to mention someone who was lower.

Even though the mutation was put on hold due to the Destiny Scale hoarding all that divine energy for itself, the mutation had already taken place enough for Long Di to hide his abilities from others. Normal elites wouldn’t be able to penetrate his spiritual force or mental power.

When Zi Yu saw how Long Di easily released Zhen Song, the light in her eyes dimmed somewhat. However, her plan still involved him, so she naturally wouldn’t let him die.

However, Long Di’s next action stunned her.

Shing!

A bronze saber appeared in Long Di’s hand. He brandished it easily as if he was waving a wand. The weight that plagued him before was inconsequential at this point. He pointed it in Protector Gang’s direction and only uttered one phrase.

“Come get him.”

“What!” Protector Gang was furious! He had thought that Long Di was giving up. However, it seems the latter was simply done with Zhen Song and was not afraid of him in the least.

“It seems I need to teach you a lesson in place of your elders!”

“Let’s see if you’re qualified to teach me a lesson.”

There was nothing left to say after this. Protector Gang furiously circulated the somatic essence in his body. The veins on his legs bulged and pulsated like true dragons breaking the restraints of the realm!

Boom!

He shot towards Long Di in a mad dash! A huge crater was left in his wake but he couldn’t care less about his actions.

Krssh!

Lightning arcs danced all over the bronze saber.

‘The lightning element!?’ Protector Gang was a bit apprehensive at this thought. Lightning element cultivators had a terrifyingly high offensive power.

‘Crap!’ Protector Gang inwardly cursed both Zhen Song and himself for provoking such an existence.

Vrrmm!

A faint light covered the entire bronze saber, adding to it an extra aura of destructiveness, totally different from what the lightning was giving off.

‘Double crap!’ How could Protector Gang not know of the existence of saber intent? This was something only supreme geniuses devoted to the path of the saber were capable of manifesting. He couldn’t win against someone who was capable of wielding both lightning AND saber intent.

D-D-Dum!

Nine black crystalline cauldrons erupted behind Long Di. Two pearls exuded light that stood out proudly among the others. The lightning arcs that were dancing around his saber erupted in quantity and were lashing out furiously in the surroundings, tearing up the ground as they went along.

Protector Gang’s brain short-circuited for a split second before it went back to normal. Yet, the only thought it was capable of projecting, is as follows;

‘SHIT! I’M DEAD!’