Chapter 114: A Single Punch

As Kui Hu and his companions fought, Li Hao summoned the white jade flute gifted to him by Lu Xuemei. He pressed it to his lips and began to play a stirring, impassioned melody.

The tune started subtly, but as time passed, Li Hao’s pitch climbed higher. The surging, undulating notes stirred a faint sense of melancholy in the hearts of Lin Xueyou and Lu Yao. Zhen Ba, hearing the music, felt his inner desires ignited—a longing for battle, a craving for strength, a yearning for peace in the world, free from scheming and treachery.

Lin Xueyou and Lu Yao, flowers sheltered from the world’s harsh winds, imagined everything to be beautiful and thus remained largely untouched by the deeper complexities of Li Hao’s melody. Zhen Ba, however, was a young man who had already tasted the vicissitudes of life, and the music resonated deeply with him. The combatants, too, felt their spirits emboldened, and the battle grew more intense.

The intent behind Li Hao’s flute playing was to suppress the dishonorable conduct of the four young men in black. Their actions were despicable, and the music exerted a psychological weight upon them. Under this pressure, their ability to channel the laws of heaven and earth was hampered, their movements grew sluggish, and an inexplicable fear began to take root in their hearts.

In a battle where both sides are evenly matched, the shifting of morale is decisive. One side grew increasingly valiant, while the other felt their spirit wane, eventually giving rise to thoughts of retreat. The disparity in their fighting intent turned the tide of the battle completely.

Kui Hu and Li Zhan, who had been locked in a stalemate, suddenly found their opponents faltering, forcing them to retreat step by step. The young man in purple had already driven his opponent into a corner, leaving him with no choice but to dodge and flee. Qin Zhen’s opponent, meanwhile, found himself fruitlessly chasing Qin Zhen, who—influenced by the music—refused to engage directly, leaving the attacker frustrated and disheartened.

Qin Zhen felt as though his opponent was a long tail attached to him. He led the man, who was three minor realms his superior, in circles. The longer he ran, the more exhilarating and vindicating it felt. Unable to catch him, the opponent shifted his fury toward the flautist. "You brat!" he shouted at Li Hao. "Where is your integrity? Didn't you say no one would interfere?"

The music ceased. Li Hao offered a faint, indifferent smile and replied, "Ask them if any of them said I was helping. Does the music only reach their ears and not yours? Or are their ears functional while yours are deaf?"

Lu Yao covered her mouth to hide a giggle at Li Hao’s shameless logic. Lin Xueyou and Zhen Ba also smiled. Though the opponents were seething with resentment, they could find no leverage against Li Hao’s indirect, brazen interference, and were forced to swallow their rage.

Everyone knew Li Hao was being roguish, but no one could call him out on it. Kui Hu, Li Zhan, and Qin Zhen were filled with absolute admiration for him. Even the young man in purple found Li Hao intriguing; though Li Hao hadn't joined the fight, he felt a genuine affinity for him.

When the attacker accused him of being untrustworthy, Li Hao revealed a strange, eerie smile that sent a shiver down even Zhen Ba’s spine. "I am a man who keeps his promises," Li Hao said. "But since you insist I am not, I shall fulfill your wish and be exactly the untrustworthy person you claim me to be."

Li Hao instantly gathered the laws of heaven and earth within a thousand-foot radius into his body and lunged at the young man in black. The attacker, seeing that Li Hao was only at the early stage of the Traveling Realm, was ecstatic. He had been nursing his rage, and with the flute music adding to his misery, he saw this as the perfect chance to vent his fury on the arrogant boy in red.

"Courting death!" the young man sneered, looking down on Li Hao.

Li Hao charged forward, not bothering to summon his Nine-Dragon Halberd, opting instead to fight with his bare hands. Those familiar with his strength merely smiled at the opponent's folly.

*Boom!*
*Crack!*
*Agh!*

A crisp sound of snapping bones rang out, followed by a scream. The young man in black collapsed to the ground, unable to even speak, his mind racing with a singular, agonizing question: *Why are you so strong?*

Shock, fear, and bewilderment washed over the others. In their eyes, this boy in red was unnervingly, impossibly powerful. The other three men in black were struck dumb with shock. The young man in purple was equally astonished to see a mid-stage Traveling Realm cultivator defeat a peak-stage master with a single blow.

The fallen youth, coughing up blood, could not comprehend how the smiling boy before him could be so monstrous. Li Hao was like a young evil god. It wasn't a case of hiding his strength; the opponent had simply been too arrogant, relying solely on his physical body to block the blow without even invoking the laws of heaven and earth.

Had the opponent not been so careless, Li Hao would have dodged and countered with a kick to the neck. But given the disparity in their true combat prowess, this match-up was trivial.

Seeing their comrade incapacitated, the other opponents faltered. Kui Hu, Li Zhan, and the young man in purple seized the moment to strike, pinning their foes to the ground. They dragged the captives before Li Hao.

As they gathered, Lin Xueyou, Zhen Ba, and Lu Yao drifted down to join them. The young man in purple watched, stunned by how these young geniuses centered themselves around Li Hao.

"Young Master," Kui Hu asked, "how shall we deal with these four?"

Li Hao turned to the young man in purple. "Why were they giving you trouble?"

"I found a ten-thousand-year-old medicinal herb, the Saint Fire Orchid," the youth explained. "A boy tried to extort it from me, and when I refused, he sent these four to deal with me."

It was the root of all evil: greed.

"I am Ling Guanghan," the young man said, bowing with gratitude. "Thank you for your righteous aid. If there is ever anything I can do for you, pray name it, and I shall do my utmost."

Li Hao smiled. "Think nothing of it. It is my honor. Let me handle these fellows first, and then we shall talk."

"Very well," Ling Guanghan replied, deeply impressed by Li Hao's demeanor.

Kui Hu looked at the captives. "Young Master, what shall we do with these bastards?"

The others chuckled at the insult. The captives, though humiliated and furious, could only bite their tongues, praying to survive the day so they might seek revenge later.