Chapter 54: Who Says Only the Gifted Count as Geniuses?

At the courtyard gate, Liu Xiujie froze for a moment, then forced out an extremely strained smile: "Captain Fang, this is... we... he..."

He pointed at Shen Yi, his words stumbling.

He looked just like a child caught red-handed by an elder while looking for a playmate at their house.

Apparently unable to bear watching him embarrass himself here, a hand yanked Liu Xiujie back.

Li Xinhan, who had been leaning against the outer wall, straightened his expressionless face and stepped forward to the courtyard gate.

The two were both Three-Stripe Demon-Suppressing Captains, so they should have been fairly familiar with each other.

But he frowned tightly, hesitated a moment, then cupped his fist with obvious reluctance, his tone quite distant: "I've been ordered to investigate the demons and depart immediately. Shen Yi already arranged to travel with me long ago. I hope you'll do us the favor, brother."

Liu Xiujie silently stepped back, standing together with the other three.

Besides the beggar, there was a man with a small, child-like frame, and a voluptuous woman with a ponytail.

Counting Li, their boss, these five people were their entire remaining crew. Everyone else had stayed behind in Bai Yun County and couldn't return anytime soon.

Precisely because of this, even though Li Xinhan was unwilling to meet Fang Heng, he had to suppress his temper and step forward now.

"..."

Fang Heng did not turn around, nor did he look at the people at the courtyard gate.

He simply spat out a single word, crisp and clean.

"Scram."

The moment those words fell, Li Xinhan's hands, which had just been lowered, unconsciously clenched tight, his breathing quickening.

He came from a martial arts family, gifted since childhood—when had he ever suffered such contempt?

The aura around him gradually grew restless.

Li Xinhan took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions once more: "I only want to take the person and leave. I don't want trouble."

"Don't want my ass. If the Commander blames us, go home and get your old man to apologize." The ponytailed woman yawned, slapped the back of his head with one palm, and said bluntly: "Grab him."

As she spoke, Old Liu's fingers already held several poison-coated hidden weapons, the beggar's body tensed, the short man hunched his frame, all fixing their gazes on Shen Yi.

"Naturally, whatever you need you can ask your family for. For instance, the moment you enter the Jade Liquid Realm, you can request a mid-stage of Jade Liquid Realm... subordinate from home to help you rise to Deputy Commander. Meanwhile, I'm just a common mortal who came out of a medicinal bath."

Fang Heng turned around slowly, a hint of mockery appearing in his expression.

Then that mockery turned to cold cruelty: "But you can try stepping through this gate. Try and see how pathetic your family background is before my talent."

"Tch, I'm so scared."

Li Mujin patted her ample chest, her alluring face languid, her body just stepping one pace across the courtyard gate, the short sword at her waist already gripped in her palm at some unknown moment: "Hey, kid, where are you going? Come here, quick."

At her reminder, everyone looked over at once.

Only then did they realize that while they had been confronting Fang Heng, Shen Yi had somehow already walked to the room door, unhurriedly going inside to fetch his saber.

Under Fang Heng's indifferent gaze, he hung the jet-black scabbard at his waist, stepped past Fang Heng, and came to stand beside the group: "All packed. Let's go."

Li Xinhan was stunned. So... it was this simple?

Had he just overthought things? There was no need to report to anyone. The other party had just arrived at Zhen Mo Si and had no assignment—naturally free to come and go.

Li Mujin: "..."

Oh no.

A simple clash and completely enraging the opponent were two entirely different concepts.

She turned her head to look not far away.

Fang Heng's expression was utterly placid; only the muscles across his entire body slowly rippled.

The next instant, his figure vanished on the spot.

Even the woman, also at mid-stage of Jade Liquid Realm, was dazed for a moment.

When he reappeared, Fang Heng was already less than a foot in front of the group. He reached out, as casually as grabbing a chicken, toward the back of Shen Yi's neck—no martial arts used, pure suppression by raw power.

Casual, yet absolutely irresistible!

Li Xinhan's pupils contracted. He knew there was a gap between his strength and the other's, but he hadn't imagined the gap could exceed his wildest expectations.

"I told you, until you've learned it, you may not step half a pace outside."

"Are you deaf?"

Fang Heng's palm pressed in forcefully.

Shen Yi tilted his body slightly. His right hand, hanging at his side, instantly rose, his fingertips weaving past the other's palm with an uncanny, ingenious trajectory, lightly prodding Fang Heng's arm.

It couldn't be called any fierce momentum.

It didn't even look like a fight.

"..."

The instant Shen Yi raised his hand, Fang Heng's eyes flickered upon catching that inexplicable sense of familiarity—though he still hesitated, unwilling to believe it.

But when the other's fingertips touched him, the wavering in his eyes turned into vexed, furious rage.

He already understood just how great a price he would pay for his earlier carelessness.

"Hah!"

Fang Heng roared, forcibly pulling back his strength, his foot slamming hard into the ground, his entire robust, burly body shooting backward like an arrow.

More than ten zhang away from Shen Yi, he quickly steadied himself, evening out his breathing.

Everyone was somewhat baffled.

What was he doing?

Charging over, then leaping back...

"..."

Fang Heng stood with lowered eyes, his entire body perfectly still, silent for a long time.

Only Li Mujin sensed something was off.

She looked at him curiously—what was this surnamed Fang hiding?

Though Fang Heng had tried hard to conceal it, the right arm he deliberately kept behind his back, trembling slightly, still drew Li Mujin's gaze.

Though there was not a single wound on it, it hung limply and listlessly, as if it had no bones.

"Any other questions?"

Shen Yi rested his hand on the scabbard once more—if the other party wanted to keep asking, he could still go on answering.

At those words, a flush born of surging qi and blood rose on Fang Heng's lowered face.

He clenched his jaw so hard his cheeks bulged, until a faint metallic sweetness gathered on the tip of his tongue.

Fang Heng was not afraid to fight—even now, with his entire right hand sealed, he still had sixty percent of his strength to fall back on.

But there was no point…

The talent he was proudest of had already been calmly trampled and ground to dust beneath the other's feet.

To be able to seek out the meridian pathways in an instant after only seven or eight days was no simple matter of basic entry; had the palm force been slightly stronger, his right arm might not have been merely temporarily sealed, but turned forever into a slab of dead flesh.

Faced with such a horrifying thing, Fang Heng discovered that, apart from standing there and playing dead, there seemed to be nothing else he could do—even lifting his head made him feel ashamed.

"When are you coming back?" His voice was hoarse.

"When did I ever say I was coming back?" Shen Yi looked over in confusion.

"You—!" Fang Heng suddenly raised his eyes, anger mingled with a trace of panic.

This small courtyard was the holy ground of the entire Zhen Mo Si—how could anyone be unwilling to stay here?

If…

If he truly would not stay, how was he to explain it to Jiang Shijie! A person with such terrifying comprehension absolutely could not be let slip through his hands!

"This is Jiang Shijie Lin's intention—don't push it too far!"

Watching Fang Heng's furious appearance, the crowd was all somewhat dumbfounded.

When had this braggart, brimming with arrogance all over, stopped throwing punches and started trading barbs instead?

Only Li Xinhan nodded thoughtfully.

He vaguely remembered that in his own childhood, when faced with things he could not handle, he too would habitually drag out his older sister.

But…what was it the other party could not handle?

Surely it couldn't be Shen Yi?

He turned his head to look at the youth beside him.

(End of Chapter)