Chapter 454: Who Are You Really?

The air in the Imperial Palace grew thick with tension. Li Xiaofei glanced at the heavily armed Haisha Gang elites surrounding him. His smile remained calm and dismissive, as if they were nothing more than blades of grass.

"Scared?" He asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked at the powerful man before him. "Bringing so many people... are you afraid to face me one-on-one?"

"And who do you think you are?" Qin Xiaotian replied with a faint smile. "What makes you worthy of challenging me?"

"So you’re scared?" Li Xiaofei’s unrestrained laughter rang out.

Qin Xiaotian chuckled in return.

"You’re young. I’ve been your age, and I know what’s going through your mind. But taunts like that won’t work on me. In this world, it’s always the wise who survive. Being reckless and hotheaded means nothing. The winner is always the last one standing, not the one who wins an exchange of words," Qin Xiaotian said mockingly.

His words resonated with the gathered crowd of revelers. In the slums, survival had always been for the fittest, and the brutal gang rivalries laid bare the law of the jungle. A man like Qin Xiaotian may have risen from a past filled with reckless brawls by carving his way to power. But now that his authority had solidified, he had no need to personally lower himself to fight a younger challenger.

For someone in his position, influence alone could kill. There was no need to get his hands dirty.

"The slums house nearly ten million people," Qin Xiaotian continued, his voice laced with disdain. "They struggle and fight for survival every day like ants and mad dogs. Hundreds, even thousands, of young men like you who think themselves self-righteous and boast some martial talent emerge daily with the idea that they can achieve fame in one stroke. But only one in ten thousand succeed. Accept your fate, kid."

Without waiting for a reply, Qin Xiaotian gestured decisively. "Kill him."

The Haisha Gang elites surged forward like a tidal wave, closing in on the young man standing atop the throne.

But the boy simply turned to the dancer beside him with a grin. "See? I told you, he’s a complete fool."

Before his words had even landed, he disappeared.

Whoosh!

He shot forward like a sharp blade, cutting through the air with a sonic boom.

Qin Xiaotian blinked, his vision blurring. The only thing reflected in his widening pupils was a fist rapidly growing larger. Panic seized him. He had no time to draw his weapon, to retreat, or dodge. All he could do was desperately raise his arms to block the strike.

A dragon’s roar echoed through the hall.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The force radiated outward like a hurricane sweeping through the room. The shockwaves from the clash reverberated like thunder, each explosion of energy pushing air with crushing intensity. The overwhelming pressure slammed into the revelers and the Haisha Gang elites, forcing them to pale and stagger backward.

But in the blink of an eye, the battle was over. Li Xiaofei’s shadowy figure reappeared on the throne. Qin Xiaotian remained where he stood, motionless. His face was expressionless, betraying no emotion.

Li Xiaofei leisurely reclined in his seat, lifting his glass for another sip of water. "You see? You brought all these men back, but did it change anything? No. In the end, you still have to die."

As the crowd gaped in stunned silence, still processing what had happened...

Pfft.

Qin Xiaotian, Vice Leader of the Haisha Gang, spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.

He let out a guttural cry, "Dragon... Subduing... Eighteen... Palms?!"

Shock and disbelief filled his face. The lessons of Grandmaster of Heaven as he began streaming and teaching ancient martial arts, spreading true legacies like the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms had caused a nationwide sensation.

This was especially true of places like the slums. For those who couldn’t afford the costly procedures of New Martial Arts surgery, and for the impoverished youth with no resources or connections, the lessons of the Grandmaster of Heaven had become a beacon of hope. Without hesitation, many joined his following, becoming his disciples.

Cheap herbal decoctions and free access to ancient martial arts legacies! The slums of Haijing City had countless individuals who had embarked on the martial path through the Grandmaster's streams, eventually earning fame as martial artists.

Even established experts poured themselves into studying the true legacies shared in the Grandmaster of Heaven streams. It wasn’t entirely surprising that this mysterious young man had mastered the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms.

The technique, a mythical-grade martial art, had been openly shared and taught online by the Grandmaster of Heaven not long ago. But to refine the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms to such an extraordinary degree that it broke through Qin Xiaotian's Golden Body Realm defenses with a few devastating strikes was an accomplishment that bordered on the miraculous.

The crowd was in utter disbelief.

The Vice Leader of the Haisha Gang, Qin Xiaotian, injured?

But the shocks weren’t over yet.

"You... who... are you?" Qin Xiaotian roared once more, his voice trembling with fury and desperation.

The next moment, his tall, lean body collapsed with a thunderous crash. Blood pooled beneath him, spreading rapidly as his life force faded entirely.

Qin Xiaotian, the Vice Leader of the Haisha Gang, a dignified Golden Body Realm powerhouse, had been slain in front of hundreds of Haisha Gang elites and as many witnesses among the revelers by the overwhelming force of a nameless young man’s palms.

The room was deathly silent as a myth unfolded before their eyes. The gazes of everyone present, which had been fixed on Qin Xiaotian's lifeless body, slowly shifted back to Li Xiaofei.

Not a sound could be heard; even the fall of a pin would have been deafening. The young man they had dismissed as reckless and suicidal now radiated a terrifying pressure that seemed to suffocate everyone in the room.

Li Xiaofei lowered his head, his piercing gaze falling once again on the pale and trembling dancer.

"Who won?" he asked.

Even a woman like Nan Hua, seasoned by years of navigating the turbulent tides of the world and having witnessed the rise and fall of powerhouses, found her usual composure cracking. Her smile faltered, stiffening slightly.

"You won," she answered, the words reluctantly slipping from her soft, full lips.

Li Xiaofei erupted into laughter once more, his voice echoing like thunder. It swept through the entire Imperial Palace with a force that seemed to shake its very walls.

"Kill him!" A sudden shout shattered the oppressive silence.

It came from a Haisha Gang soldier, an expert of the Five Spirits Realm. His voice was filled with fury and determination. In the chaotic and brutal world of the slum gangs, there was never a shortage of those who thrived on bloodshed and blind loyalty. As the Vice Leader of the Haisha Gang, Qin Xiaotian had commanded a group of fiercely devoted followers who now burned with vengeance.

Once they overcame their initial shock, several powerful Haisha Gang experts surged forward with weapons drawn.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Sword qi flared and vanished in an instant. Li Xiaofei casually extended his fingers, each movement precise and effortless. The ethereal and divine sword qi of the Six Meridian Divine Sword swept through the air.

Every Haisha Gang expert who leaped toward him was struck down mid-leap, their bodies crumpling to the ground in showers of blood.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Instant kill.

This was absolute domination. Even those clad in the most advanced combat suits and wielding the most powerful power weapons couldn’t come within ten meters of Li Xiaofei. The remaining Haisha Gang experts froze in place. They dared not move.

Li Xiaofei laughed heartily, wrapping an arm around Nan Hua’s slender, supple waist and pulling the stunning beauty close to his side. He leaned in slightly, inhaling the faint fragrance of her hair.

He smirked. "Let’s go. It’s time for you to fulfill your promise."

He retrieved the Inscribed Treasure Bone from the table, then, with Nan Hua held intimately at his side, walked leisurely toward the doors of the Imperial Palace.

Tcrowd instinctively cleared a path like a deity were passing through. Only after the pair, one striking man and one breathtaking woman, disappeared into the dark night outside did the air in the Imperial Palace begin to flow again, as though the oppressive spell had finally lifted.

The Haisha Gang elites, previously frozen in fear, sprang into action, locking down the entire venue. No one was allowed to enter or leave.

Messages were sent rapidly to the Haisha Gang’s headquarters. Everyone understood the importance of what had just happened. This wasn’t just the death of their Vice Leader. A massive storm was brewing, one that would soon engulf not just the Eastern District but potentially the entire slum.

The death of the vice leader of the most powerful gang sent shockwaves through the slums. The chain reaction of events was like a meteor crashing into an already turbulent lake, instantly creating massive waves of chaos.

The news began to spread and exploded across public discourse. Countless influential figures were alarmed.

Meanwhile, in a relatively well-kept apartment within the slums, Li Xiaofei sat in front of a mirror, watching the dancer in the room. She seemed to have resigned herself to her fate, silently unfastening the outer layer of her dress.

Li Xiaofei cleared his throat lightly. The dancer paused, her eyes lifting in confusion to meet his.

He smiled faintly. "To sacrifice for one’s country, to face death as if returning home."

A single sentence. Twelve words.

Nan Hua’s delicate frame trembled. Her previously soft and resigned expression transformed in an instant to something sharp and fierce. Her once gentle and alluring eyes now glinted like blades, locking onto Li Xiaofei with unyielding intensity.