But given Young Master Lin’s usual way of doing things, it was more likely he would just pack up and leave.
Lin Yan fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "And if I don’t leave?"
"Not leaving?"
Chen Zheng’s eyes narrowed, the smile completely vanishing from his face. "Then you’ll have to lie down."
"Young Master Lin, perhaps we should just call it off..."
Xia Mingtang advised in a low voice. Lin Yan’s behavior today had surprised him, but when he thought about Lin Yan’s background, he knew it wasn’t easy for a Humble Family to produce a Third-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist. If he were to truly fall here, the new future the Lin Family had fought so hard to achieve would be crushed.
’It would be better to send a message to the Boss and have his people handle this.’
But before he could finish speaking, Lin Yan, under the astonished gazes of the crowd, walked off to the side. He didn’t stop until he reached an open space about fifty yards away, where he made an inviting gesture to Chen Zheng.
At first, all the Martial Artists present stared at Lin Yan, their faces full of confusion. But when they saw his gesture, an uproar erupted.
Lin Yan’s intention was clear: he was going to fight the second master of the Chen Family.
Xia Mingtang wore an odd expression. According to the rules of the Martial Arts Community, territory disputes were settled with strength. The two sides would duel, and the winner would claim the land.
If it had been anyone else, choosing to duel would have been perfectly normal. But coming from Lin Yan, it just felt... off.
"So he thinks my Chen Family is inferior to the Wei Family!"
A harsh glint flashed in Chen Zheng’s eyes as he watched Lin Yan’s actions. He remembered how Lin Yan had cowered like a turtle in its shell when facing pressure from the Wei Family. Yet now, he dared to challenge the Chen Family. It was a clear sign of contempt.
"If you’re looking to die, then I’ll be happy to oblige."
Chen Zheng followed him, stopping about ten yards from Lin Yan. For a Third-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist, such a distance was negligible.
Their eyes met, and a palpable killing intent flowed between them.
"Everyone stay put. Don’t come any closer. Fists and feet have no eyes, and I wouldn’t want any of you to get hurt."
Seeing Xia Mingtang and the others about to move forward, Lin Yan spoke to stop them. He was deliberately creating distance from everyone else. This way, the details of his fight with Chen Zheng wouldn’t be clearly visible to all.
On the way here, he had already learned from Xia Mingtang that the Chen Brothers cultivated the Wind-Breaking Fist, a particularly domineering Fist Technique. Chen Zheng’s skill in this technique was said to be very high, and he had used it to defeat opponents of the same Realm on multiple occasions.
The results displayed by his Martial Arts Tree after his gesture had confirmed this. Chen Zheng’s Wind-Breaking Fist had already reached the Great Success stage. As for his Martial Arts Tree’s height, it was three feet and three inches—one inch shorter than his own.
’It wasn’t that he looked down on Chen Zheng. With his overwhelming advantages in both Cultivation Technique proficiency and Qi Blood, defeating Chen Zheng wouldn’t be difficult. The hard part was figuring out how to hide his strength.’
’If it weren’t for the incident with the Wei Family, he could have used overwhelming force to defeat Chen Zheng quickly and intimidate everyone else. But he had only just managed to clear his name. If he revealed too much of his strength, he feared he would once again attract the attention of the Inspection Bureau.’
"He can barely save his own skin, yet he has the luxury of worrying about others."
Veins bulged at Chen Zheng’s temples, his face twisting into a ferocious expression. He crouched slightly, swinging his arms until his bones crackled and popped. The thick veins on his arms coiled like serpents as his eyes locked onto Lin Yan.
Lin Yan lowered his center of gravity and raised his right fist, assuming the opening stance of the Mountain-Splitting Fist.
The two men faced off, their eyes locked and their auras clashing.
Dozens of yards away, the Martial Artists from both sides stared, their gazes fixed, waiting for the thunderous battle to begin.
But what no one noticed was that during the few seconds of the standoff, Chen Zheng’s expression had grown darker. He realized that the stance Lin Yan presented was completely unassailable.
He had been immersed in the Wind-Breaking Fist for nearly a decade and wasn’t far from developing Fist Momentum. In the past, when facing other fist-style Martial Artists, he could spot the flaws in their stance the moment they raised their hands.
Yet Lin Yan’s opening stance was flawless. It even gave him an absurd sense of familiarity, as if he were facing the Hall Master of the Cyan Pine Martial Arts Hall, a man who had already developed Fist Momentum.
’How is this possible?’
’The Hall Master of the Cyan Pine Martial Arts Hall is a Fourth-Time of Skin Smoothing powerhouse who has been immersed in Fist Techniques for over twenty years. How could Lin Yan possibly compare?’
’It must be an illusion!’
Chen Zheng let out a furious roar to bolster his own courage. He stomped his foot and shot forward like an arrow, his right fist blasting through the air with a whistling wind as it aimed straight for Lin Yan’s chest.
Lin Yan sidestepped, and the punch grazed past the front of his robes.
He retreated a step.
Chen Zheng’s second punch followed immediately, even faster than the first.
Lin Yan raised his arm to block.
BANG!
Both men retreated a step.
Chen Zheng’s eyes lit up. ’It really was just an illusion.’
His third and fourth punches followed in a continuous barrage, a flurry of shadowy afterimages.
Lin Yan was hard-pressed to defend, forced back again and again until he looked to be in a sorry state.
On the Tang Family’s side, Xia Mingtang and the others felt their hearts leap into their throats.
"It looks like... Young Master Lin is at a disadvantage?"
"Chen Zheng reached the Third-Time of Skin Smoothing several years before Young Master Lin. Considering that, this situation is already quite impressive."
Chen Zheng’s attacks grew fiercer, unleashing the full, domineering power of the Wind-Breaking Fist. He forced Lin Yan to retreat step by step, though the direction of his retreat was leading them farther and farther away from the crowd.
Ten moves.
Twenty moves.
Thirty moves.
Chen Zheng’s expression slowly began to change.
’Something’s wrong.’
’He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something just felt off.’
’He clearly had the upper hand, and Lin Yan was being beaten so badly he couldn’t even fight back. Yet, after all this time, not a single punch had actually hit a vital point.’
’Every single time, it missed by just a little.’
’The front of his robes, his shoulder, his arm... the blows would graze past, but they never managed to cause any real harm.’
’What unsettled him even more was Lin Yan’s breathing.’
’After fighting for this long, his breathing wasn’t the slightest bit disordered.’

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