Chapter 74: I'm an Atant

  Bang!

  A dull crack of shattering b out.

  With a single punch, the solid pstic face-guard shattered, twisting half the man’s face sideways. Four or five teeth—mixed with blood—sprayed into the air, and he spun in pce like a top before colpsing with a thud.

  “Old Dao?!”

  Seeing An Jing knock Old Dao down with a single blow, the gang members froze for a moment.

  They had noticed An Jing, the young maed with Huo Qing, from the start. Even wheted the short bde out of Old Dao’s hand, they hadn’t sidered him a threat.

  After all, he was just a teenager—no matter how skillful he might be, how could he pare to these battle-hardened gang cultivators fresh from a bloody battle?

  Now, the answer was clear: he was indeed formidable.

  But within seds, they recovered from their shod silently spread out into a bat formation.

  Daqiang and his guard squad sisted of six men in total. An Jing had already knocked o with a single punch, leaving five. They formed a two-owement to fnk him. Leading them, Daqiang drew a staff from his waist, flicked it once, and it extended into a long spear with practiced ease.

  Such rea speed was nothing short of elite. And Daqiang himself possessed Vital Essence Like Tides. He resumably a cultivator without a Spiritual Root who could only cultivate up to the “Vital Essence Like Tides” level, but after so many years of training, he had refihat vital esseo an unusually potent degree.

  Yet An Jing was faster, and his power was even more trated.

  The moment Daqiang and his men struck, An Jing had already visualized the entire flow of battle. Regardless of the reason, these men inteo kill Huo Qing, and they would also see An Jing, who sat beside him, as a target—either to humiliate or to elimiirely.

  An Jing refused to let Huo Qing—who had just been rescued and already ted as a friend—be killed for no reason, nor would he allow these wretched thugs to determine his fate. So he skipped the pleasantries and rushed straight in to crush them!

  Thud!

  As the enemies scattered, An Jing stomped forward and lu Daqiang, driving a straight right fist into his chest.

  His Armor-Pierg True Force erupted, sending a surge of air into Daqiang’s face. Daqiang, who had just grabbed his spear, had no choice but to drop it and raise his arms to block.

  Boom!

  A dull smack of flesh resounded. Daqiang’s face twitched as he felt a peing force surge outward, nearly wreng his arms apart. Had his oppo’s overall cultivation not been slightly weaker, that punch alone might have id him out ft!

  Such martial skill, such explosive power… Was he really just a teenager?!

  But An Jing’s martial teique was even more formidable than Daqiang had anticipated. The moment his punch was blocked, An Jing pressed in, angling his right arm downward in an elbow strike. With a sed burst of force, he broke through Daqiang’s guard.

  —Not good!

  Daqiang realized the dahe moment his arms were forced apart. He tried leaning bad kig forward to shove An Jing away, but he was too slow: his was struck, snapping his face hard to the right.

  An Jing’s left fist nded squarely on Daqiang’s jaw.

  A violent cussion instantly knocked Daqiang unscious.

  After easily subduing the stro oppo, An Jing stepped forward and pnted his foot on the head of the kneeling, unscious Daqiang. He inteo use Daqiang’s skull as a springboard to evade any sudden gunfire.

  In truth, he had multiple tingens. For example, if the guards hesitated to shoot because of Daqiang’s life, An Jing would simply kick Daqiang’s body toward the rge man on the right, use him as a human shield to finish off a third enemy, and then draw a gun to take out the fourth.

  But the moment the remaining guard squad saw their leader fall, they froze mid-a. Two of them instinctively reached for the guns at their belts, only to stop themselves.

  —So guns aren’t allowed here?

  An Jing recalled how Daqiang had draear instead of a firearm at the start, and suddenly uood.

  Without hesitation, he picked up speed and charged the others.

  “We surrender!”

  At that moment, the tall, skinny man on the left raised his hands and dropped to his knees. “Master, we didn’t realize your prowess. Please just let us off like a fart in the wind!”

  Whoosh. The other three also k immediately, their speed and practiced submission outpag their boss’s spear draw. “Sir, we’re kneeling! We beg you, please have merd spare us!”

  Clearly, with guns forbidden and their stro fighter taken out in one blow, these four realized they had run into a brick wall. If they wao survive, they had no choice but to surrender.

  However, An Jing didn’t believe a word of it. What a joke—were they just spouting nonsense? With lightning-fast strikes, he knocked out all four men who had just surrendered.

  It was only after he khem all unscious that he realized, “They really were surrendering? And also…”

  —There’s probably no killing allowed in towher, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t have surrehis easily.

  And as for why they felt free to kill—or ‘subdue’—Huo Qing… maybe it was reted to that ‘i’ they mentioned?

  Either way, it no longer mattered—he had been careful enough not to kill them.

  Had these gang guards known that An Jing was clueless about the local rules, they would have been drenched in cold sweat. If they had realized soohat he was both so powerful and so unaware, they would have surrendered right away.

  The battle between An Jing and the Day-Tiger Gang members took only a few moments. A handful of moves was all it took to end it.

  Meanwhile, most of the bystanders who withe fight had already fled, leaving the soup-noodle stand area deserted.

  Their running skills were even more impressive than the gang members’ speed at dropping to their knees.

  Off to the side, Huo Qing—who had just grabbed a meat knife from Master Liu’s stall, intending to fight alongside An Jing—was left gaping in astonishment.

  “That’s—?!”

  He couldn’t help exg, “It’s already over?!”

  Indeed, it was already over.

  An Jing picked up the retractable spear Daqiang had dropped. With a flick, it colpsed into a short rod, which he then slung at his waist.

  The staff’s material was remarkable—flexible yet sturdy, finely wrought, and brimming with razor-sharp spiritual power. No doubt it was an excellent Magical Artifact.

  Even used as a ventional staff, it felt just right.

  “Who are these people, anyway? They’re quite well-off.”

  He rummaged through their belongings, turning up a det stash of pills. Then, looking up at Huo Qing with an intense gaze—like a prospector eyeing a lucky gem—he asked, “Huo Qing, what did you do? Why are they so determio kill you?”

  Huo Qing opened his mouth, as if he wao expin or crify.

  But in the end, he decided there was nothing else to add, so he stated one simple fact.

  “I’m an atant.”

  (End of Chapter)