Chapter 163: Conflict
"Spare me the high-sounding rhetoric."
"If everyone in your Dragon Squad is cut from the same cloth, I suggest you all stop pretending to be the guardians of the Dragon Kingdom. It's utterly embarrassing just to hear it."
"You should go work in the bureaucracy instead—it suits you."
Ye Tian gazed coldly at Chen Guang, causing the latter to instantly feel a piercing chill ripple through his body, making him thoroughly uncomfortable all over.
In an instant, Chen Guang felt his hair stand on end!
What was going on?
He was a Tier 3 Martial King, yet he was chilled to the bone just by a glare from a mere Northern Dipper realm cultivator!
But he quickly consoled himself, thinking perhaps the man's gaze merely resembled their boss's, playing tricks on his mind.
Chen Guang still looked down on Ye Tian from his lofty vantage point and reprimanded him without the slightest courtesy:
"Ye Tian, you are far too full of yourself."
"Since you have no idea what reverence means, allow me to teach you a lesson today."
Right, so it boiled down to wanting a fight no matter what!
Listening to the other man's provocative nonsense, Ye Tian finally understood.
When one wants to condemn someone, excuses are never lacking; this guy wasn't simply stupid, he was genuinely malicious.
He coveted the Senior Sister, but she was completely cold toward him, so he decided to vent his frustration on Ye Tian instead.
A jealous fool.
So what if he was a Tier 3 Martial King? He would beat him all the same!
"Are we fighting now or what? If you're itching for a beating, make it quick; I don't have all day to waste here."
"Don't be so arrogant!"
Chen Guang was just about to flare up when a young man stepped forward. "Gu Wen, Tier 1 Martial King, my martial art is the ancestral Bone-Severing Blade."
"Please enlighten me!"
As the words fell, the youth leaped forward, turning into a blur as he charged straight at Ye Tian, delivering a vertical palm strike directly onto Ye Tian's shoulder.
Crack!
A teeth-grating sound of fracturing bone echoed out. Amidst the gasps of the onlookers, Ye Tian's entire shoulder caved inward, twisting into a grotesque shape.
"That's way too ruthless!"
The female squad members present couldn't help covering their mouths, letting out various cries of alarm.
The Bone-Severing Blade was, true to its name, a lethal skill meant for shattering bones, but this martial art could only be unleashed through the arms. The bones in the arms of a martial artist who mastered this technique were far harder than alloy!
Combined with a special exertion method, a single palm strike meant that upon contact, bones would snap and tendons would tear—leaving the victim either dead or crippled.
Even a Martial King of a higher tier would not dare to take that blow head-on.
Yet Ye Tian had chosen to withstand this strike purely with his Northern Dipper realm physique.
It was hard to tell whether to call him daring or simply profoundly ignorant.
But clearly, judging by the severity of the indentation in his shoulder, half of his body was already ruined.
Without prompt medical treatment, his life would likely be in jeopardy.
"What are you standing around for? Save him!" someone shouted loudly, and several people immediately rushed forward, wanting to support Ye Tian.
Having successfully landed his blow, Gu Wen also retreated three steps with a smug expression, laughing from a distance:
"You're the first person ever to take the Bone-Severing Blade head-on. What a fool!"
However, before he could laugh a few more times, the smile vanished entirely from his face.
"Not bad at all. A martial art with some real interest to it!"
Seeing Ye Tian raise an eyebrow and give his caved-in shoulder a vigorous shrug, accompanied by a low, crunching sound, his collarbone—which had clearly broken into two pieces—visibly knitted back together at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After a series of subtle cracking noises, his shoulder completely returned to its original position.
The entire process took less than a minute!
Giving his shoulder a casual roll, Ye Tian nodded in satisfaction. "This martial art is indeed decent; it actually managed to break my initial Golden Light Incantation."
"I have a question."
Ye Tian asked with genuine interest, "Can the power of this martial art increase alongside your martial cultivation realm?"
This...
Watching the other party act as if nothing had happened, Gu Wen felt his jaw dropping open.
Was this guy even human? Such a terrifying recovery ability was something even Martial Kings above the sixth tier couldn't achieve...
"Hey, I'm asking you."
"Oh, oh! Yes, it can, it definitely can!"
That wasn't bad at all.
Ye Tian raised an eyebrow. Martial arts were truly fine treasures; since everyone else had them, he couldn't afford to miss out. That being the case, perhaps he shouldn't leave just yet.
He would wait for the Dragon Squad leader to arrive and chat with him about where one could acquire martial arts techniques!
"So, are we still fighting?" he asked the young man again.
"No, no, I'm done. You're too much of a freak. My Bone-Severing Blade requires half an hour of rest after a single use, and I can't cast it anymore," Gu Wen answered honestly.
Ye Tian chuckled upon hearing this. The people from the Gu family were indeed cut from the same cloth—utterly honest folks who never lied.
"Anyone else want to fight? Make it quick," Ye Tian said, scanning his surroundings and eyeing the male squad members who had been shouting so boldly just moments before.
Silence fell over the crowd.
Damn it, who the hell could fight this monster?
He took a head-on blow known as a Profound-grade martial art—the Bone-Severing Blade—without dying, and could even restore himself instantly. Who in their right mind would dare try to deal with him after that?
One had to know that Gu Wen's Bone-Severing Blade was fierce enough to make even a Tier 3 Martial King steer clear and refuse to parry.
Let alone just standing there and letting him hack away.
My goodness, yet this guy had simply shrugged it off!
In an instant, all the Dragon Squad members present turned their gazes toward a dazed Chen Guang.
"Captain, didn't you say you were going to teach him a lesson? Step on up."
"Ah... I know! Do you need to teach me?"
Recovering from his shock, Chen Guang cast another involuntary glance at Ye Tian, feeling a boundless wave of awe and dread in his heart.
This kid wasn't just putting on a show—he could actually withstand the Bone-Severing Blade completely unscathed... No wonder the boss had said he wanted to meet him!
Besides, the old man valued the recruitment of talented individuals above all else. If he actually managed to scare away such a genius, would the boss kill him?
No, no, he couldn't let the situation deteriorate any further.
With this thought, Chen Guang hurriedly forced a laugh and said:
"Actually, let's forget it."
"After all, we're all going to be one big family eventually, and fighting among ourselves isn't good. Harmony is precious, let's value harmony!"
"Don't do that. Just now, I distinctly heard someone say that Ye Tian was arrogant and thought too highly of himself, and that he was going to teach Ye Tian how to behave."
"Who said that? Was it you, or was it you?"
Li Qingfeng was exceedingly mischievous, deliberately tossing the question back and forth until Chen Guang's face flushed red with embarrassment.
"Haha, I was just joking earlier."
Stared at by countless eyes, Chen Guang had no choice but to force a smile, putting on the benevolent expression of an elder full of rapport, and awkwardly slipped his hands into his suit pockets.
However, he regretted it almost immediately.
The moment he raised his hands, Ye Tian lowered his head and, with lightning-fast reflexes, reached into the pocket of Chen Guang's suit, pulling out a small medicine bottle.
Picking up the vial, Ye Tian frowned, reading the label aloud syllable by syllable while trying desperately to suppress his laughter:
"Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pills?"
"Even Martial Kings suffer from kidney deficiency?!"
"Pfft!"
"Give that back to me!"
Chen Guang's voice cracked in panic as he lunged forward toward Ye Tian like a starving tiger pouncing on its prey.
Stifling his laughter, Ye Tian allowed the man to snatch the medicine bottle back.
Someone failed to hold back a snort, and instantly, a wave of uproarious, exaggerated laughter erupted across the small courtyard.
Clutching the medicine bottle, Chen Guang stood flustered in the wind, feeling his mind go blank and harboring a sudden, overwhelming urge to climb up to the roof and jump.