Staring at the familiar face in the newspaper—a face that looked even younger than it had five years ago—Chen Yuyu felt the sting of regret for the very first time.
’If only I hadn’t betrayed him... If only I had just stayed with the Lu Family... If only...’ But alas, there were no "if onlys."
This retribution had come far faster than they ever imagined.
People swarmed in from every direction, a dense, motley crowd. Figures from every walk of life, from both sides of the law—anyone with a shred of skill had shown up.
First, her family, young and old, was slaughtered by the crowd. Then, before she and her partner could even struggle, they were slammed to the ground and bound tightly.
Lying on the ground, Chen Yuyu looked up at the figures outside. They were Grandmasters of Huajin—powerful figures she could normally never even hope to meet. Now, they stood before her, waiting to decide her fate.
It was no surprise, really. She and her partner were the key to an audience with the man known as Daxia’s first Grandmaster of Divine Intent. Not only that, but they also came with the promise of a single wish.
A wish from a Grandmaster of Divine Intent... That was an opportunity no amount of money could buy, a blessing that years of bitter cultivation could never earn.
The four Grandmasters of Huajin in the courtyard each held their ground, none willing to yield an inch.
Finally, someone’s patience wore thin.
"Enough talk! Let’s settle this with our fists!" Leng Mingye roared, striking first!
His body flickered, blurring into an afterimage as he lunged straight for Elder Monk Huishan. Mid-lunge, he shaped his hands into claws, Qi swirling around his fingertips.
Seeing the attack, Master Huishan pressed his palms together before thrusting one out in a swift counter.
On the other side, Zhou Lie let out a furious roar. His muscles bulged, and he charged toward Lingxu Daoist like a human battering ram!
A body honed to perfection by Horizontal Training was the ultimate weapon!
Lingxu Daoist flicked his duster. The once-soft fibers instantly stiffened, launching a blast of concentrated Qi straight at Zhou Lie!
The four Grandmasters of Huajin clashed in a chaotic melee. For a moment, blasts of Qi crisscrossed the courtyard as the wind howled around them.
Just then, someone on the periphery pulled out a gun and began firing indiscriminately into the panicked crowd!
The entire estate erupted into utter chaos. The onlookers crowded outside the gates forgot about the spectacle and fled for their lives, terrified of being caught in the crossfire!
At the height of the chaos, the crisp, rhythmic sound of marching footsteps echoed from the distance.
Everyone froze, instinctively halting their actions and turning as one toward the sound.
The grounds of the estate were surrounded by a black sea of soldiers—at least a thousand of them!
All of them were clad in identical blue military uniforms, each man armed with a rifle.
At their head was a man in his forties, dressed in a formal blue uniform. The three gold stars on his epaulets identified him as the Military Governor of Shun’an Province.
Everyone’s expression changed drastically—everyone except for Zhou Lie. As he watched the army draw closer, he threw his head back and roared with laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
A moment later, Zhou Lie turned to the other three Grandmasters of Huajin and grinned. "Gentlemen, it seems I win this round! My brother-in-law has arrived, which means these two rightfully belong to me today!"
"HAHAHA!"
The faces of Leng Mingye and the other two were as black as thunder. They had considered every possibility, planned for every contingency, yet they had completely overlooked this.
Zhou Lie’s younger sister was married to none other than the Military Governor of Shun’an Province. The burly man had always seemed reckless and simple-minded. Who would have thought he had an ace like this up his sleeve!
The onlookers began to understand, staring at one another in utter disbelief.
’Damn! This Zhou fellow always seemed like the most straightforward of the bunch, and here he is, showing up with an entire army!’
The entire military force of the Governor’s Mansion! A thousand rifles!
No matter how powerful a Grandmaster of Huajin is, can they fight a thousand rifles? No matter how nimble you are, can you dodge tens of thousands of bullets?
Seeing the three livid Grandmasters of Huajin, Zhou Lie’s laughter grew even heartier. "Gentlemen, thank you for your cooperation! I’ll be sure to pay each of you a personal visit to express my gratitude in the future!"
With that, he strode into the main hall, grabbing the two captives from the floor and lifting them as easily as if they were chicks.
「Inside the Wa Country Consulate」
Consul Yamamoto Ichirō gripped the newspaper in his hands, his pupils constricting behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
"The Daxia New Country’s first Grandmaster of Divine Intent! What..."
He knew better than anyone what those four words—"Grandmaster of Divine Intent"—implied. It was a realm beyond Huajin, an existence that surpassed mortal limits. It was a legendary state, said to be the closest a person could get to becoming an Immortal.
’How could such a figure possibly appear in Daxia?’
As he pondered this, another thought struck Yamamoto Ichirō.
The bizarre deaths of Lieutenant Colonel Kameida and the leader of the Cyan Dragon Gang... a case where the killer was never found.
’Could it have been this Lu Yun?’
He slowly raised his head to look at the man sitting on the large sofa across from him.
The man was middle-aged, dressed in the uniform of the Wa Country military. The three cherry blossoms on his epaulets denoted his rank: Colonel.
His build was lean and powerful, his features stern, and his eyes were as sharp as a falcon’s.
The man’s name was Watanabe Takeshi, a colonel dispatched from the Wa Country mainland. He, too, was casually flipping through a copy of the same newspaper.
Moreover, Watanabe Takeshi was a descendant of Imperial Courtiers and hailed from one of the most prominent Martial Arts Families in the Wa Country.
His family had placed high hopes on him from a young age. He reached the Ming Jin realm at fourteen, entered the Dark Force realm at twenty, and by thirty, he was already a Grandmaster of Huajin.
Among Martial Artists under the age of forty in the Wa Country, Watanabe Takeshi was in a league of his own.
He practiced the Divine Water-Snapping Soft Fist, a style passed down through the Watanabe family for generations. It was said that a master of this art could part flowing water with a single punch, a technique of immeasurable power.

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