Chapter 144: Grandmaster from a Humble Background

At this moment, Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun had also reached the same conclusion. The gazes they cast toward Lin Le were filled with dread. Gone was their previous arrogance; they were now like frightened little beasts, their faces pale with cowardice and their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Under the terrified stares of Xie Xinglong, Xie Dong, and the others, Lin Le, who had been facing away from them, slowly turned his head, his peripheral vision cold and piercing.

That single, simple movement caused their shoulders to shudder as if struck by lightning. Qin Zhong, who had been shouting about killing Lin Le just moments before, instantly clamped his mouth shut.

"If there is a next time, his fate will be yours!" Lin Le said in a flat, indifferent tone.

Xie Xinglong and his companions were so terrified their hearts felt as though they were being torn apart, their souls nearly fleeing their bodies in panic. Lin Le had already shown mercy to Qin Zhong, who had attempted a sneak attack from behind. As for why he didn't hold the mastermind, Xie Xinglong, accountable, the reason remained the same: Lin Le did not want to make things difficult for his mother.

After delivering that sentence, Lin Le got into his car. Though it was severely damaged, it was fortunately still drivable. He started the engine and continued driving toward the mountaintop.

It was not until Lin Le had been gone for nearly half a minute that Xie Xinglong, Xie Dong, and the others finally dared to heave a long sigh of relief, as if they had just been granted a pardon.

Xie Xinglong collapsed onto the ground. Looking at Qin Zhong, who lay beside him, the lingering fear remained; he had come so close to being reduced to a crippled state just like him. Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun were also unable to snap out of the shock, staring blankly for a long time, their spirits seemingly shattered.

"What kind of person is that guy?" Xie Ziyun asked, her voice trembling with tears and fear. Her arm had been dislocated by Lin Le, and the pain was excruciating, yet compared to the shock of what had just transpired, she barely registered the agony.

"Damn it, I never should have provoked such a disaster! We’ve completely crashed and burned today!" Xie Dong was filled with immense regret. Had he known the opponent’s strength was so terrifying, he would never have dared to slander or target him, even if it meant his own death! He had assumed the boy was just an ordinary commoner, someone beneath his status as a young master of the Xie family, whom he could bully at will. He never imagined that a boy from such a humble background could possess such astonishing power.

Xie Xinglong stood there, his face gloomy and his brows tightly knit. The incident had left an indelible mark on him; the sense of superiority he had cultivated over the past twenty years as a "favored son of heaven" had completely collapsed in that instant.

He had always believed that as a member of the Xie family—the premier household of China—he was born with the capital to stand above others, that the world existed for them to traverse at will, and that everyone should look up to them in awe and subservience. They were, for all intents and purposes, akin to royalty. Yet today, three legitimate scions of the Xie family had been thoroughly trampled underfoot by a nameless boy from an ordinary family.

For them, this was an immense humiliation.

"Bastard!" Xie Xinglong growled viciously.

"Brother Xinglong..." Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun looked at him with bitter, helpless expressions.

"Listen to me, I, Xie Xinglong, swear today: as long as I live, I will make that boy suffer every conceivable agony!" Xie Xinglong’s face was twisted with malice as he ground his teeth.

Hearing this, Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun exchanged glances. They felt the same desire to tear the boy to pieces, yet they knew his strength had reached a level beyond their comprehension. Even though their brother, Xie Xinglong, was a martial arts prodigy, he appeared as nothing more than a joke in the face of that boy. Even if Xie Xinglong spent his entire life, could he truly ever surpass him? Might he end up with a fate even more miserable than Qin Zhong’s? They dared not imagine.

"Xinglong, stop. With our abilities, even if we spent our whole lives, we would never be a match for that man," Qin Zhong said, enduring his pain just as Xie Xinglong was working himself into a fervor.

"You dare say such things to me!" The cold water poured on his desire for revenge sent Xie Xinglong into a fit of rage, and he roared at Qin Zhong.

Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun were startled; in their eyes, Xie Xinglong had always been a composed elder brother, but he was now so stimulated by the event that his temperament seemed to be unraveling.

Qin Zhong, though surprised by the reaction, said with a grim face, "I say this for your own good! My strength, Qin Zhong, is ranked even within the capital. Not even the likes of Fourth Master Gu or Zhang Tianzong are necessarily much stronger than me."

Though his words sounded boastful, the others knew they were true; otherwise, Qin Zhong would never have been accepted into the Xie family as their personal bodyguard.

"And even with my cultivation at the peak of the Internal Force stage, I was thoroughly defeated by that boy in a single move. You are all practitioners of martial arts—do you not yet have a clear understanding of his cultivation?" Qin Zhong’s words were heavy with deep, unconcealed dread.

Hearing this, Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun gasped, their scalps tingling.

"Qin Zhong, are you saying that the boy’s cultivation has already reached... the Transcendent Realm?!" Xie Dong stammered, his voice filled with impossible terror.

"If he were not a Transcendent Grandmaster, how could I have been defeated in a single move?" Qin Zhong’s eyes were filled with awe.

Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun gasped again, their heads spinning. A Transcendent Grandmaster! They had just offended a Transcendent Grandmaster!

They felt as though the world were turning upside down; they were filled with gut-wrenching regret. As members of the Xie family who had practiced martial arts since childhood, how could they not know the power and terror of a Transcendent Grandmaster?

A Transcendent Grandmaster transcended the realm of ordinary humanity, a supreme existence towering over all living things, akin to a deity walking the earth. Every one of them was a terrifying force capable of holding off an entire army—how could ordinary martial artists hope to contend with them? Even the Xie family, with all their immense wealth and power, would not dare to offend such a person lightly.

If a Transcendent Grandmaster wanted someone’s life, it would be as easy as reaching into a pocket. No bodyguard, no weapon, could withstand them. How could they dare to offend such a person?

Thinking of whom they had just offended, Xie Dong and Xie Ziyun felt a chill run through their hearts. All humiliation and anger were swept away, replaced only by the desperate relief that they had survived an encounter with such a being.

Xie Xinglong remained silent, his face dark, the expressions in his eyes shifting rapidly.

"A Transcendent Grandmaster? What a joke! My master, Gongshu Ye, comes from an inner-sect martial arts family and is a rare genius, yet he only reached the Transcendent Realm in his forties. That boy is younger than me—how could he possibly be a Transcendent Grandmaster!" Xie Xinglong scoffed.

He refused to believe that he, a young master of the Xie family and a recognized martial arts prodigy, could be inferior to a boy from a humble background!