On the floor, Lei Gang lay curled up, unconscious, like a dying man. The intense pain had knocked him out cold on the spot.
Because he was unlucky enough to be lying at Jiang Tian’s feet, no one dared to approach and help him up.
Jiang Tian had effortlessly taken down the notoriously vicious Lei Gang, and that had clearly scared off his usual gang of bullying cronies.
It wasn’t that these dozens of burly men weren’t tough or daring enough to fight—rather, these brawny guys with enough brains to match their brawn understood one thing: provoking someone way above your weight class never ends well.
Lei Gang was a skilled martial artist, his fists could shatter stone, and he possessed tremendous strength—but he wasn’t even a match for a single round against Jiang Tian. Clearly, this kid had some real skills too.
“Master Lei, thank goodness you’re here! This isn’t my fault today—I tried to stop him, I really did…”
The ambulance and local police arrived one after another, and Yang Lili walked over to report, rubbing her cheek that Jiang Tian had slapped swollen.
Everyone present clearly saw Jiang Tian, who had assaulted someone, as public enemy number one, completely ignoring the fact that Lei Gang had been trying to force himself on Huang Ling’er.
“Chief Huang, you must lock this brat up! Better yet, take care of him inside the station!”
Lei Ming whispered viciously to the lead officer, pulling him aside to give his instructions.
Lei Gang’s despicable behavior of bullying men and harassing women was notorious throughout Jinling—how could Lei Ming, as his father, not know about it?
Like father, like son, this family had grown accustomed to throwing their weight around, treating their shameless, infuriating behavior as some sort of display of status and privilege.
And Chief Huang, despite wearing a police uniform, had long been in cahoots with them—nothing more than a dog they kept on a leash.
“Scum, and you think you can arrest me?”
Watching Lei Ming’s aggressive, overprotective display, Jiang Tian laughed in pure anger, his face full of arrogance and disdain.
“Heh, he’s still laughing—the idiot doesn’t even know he’s dead!”
“Master Lei rules over Mingyue Town like a king, and even in Jinling there aren’t many who dare cross him. Just wait—today he’s going to die for sure!”
Many of the rich heirs, socialites, and wealthy bosses present looked at Jiang Tian as if he were a fool, whispering and gossiping among themselves.
Little did they know that in Jiang Tian’s eyes, Lei Ming wasn’t even a local big shot—at best, he was just a stinking bug or a lowly earthworm.
“Brawling and injuring people in public—do you have any respect for the law?”
Chief Huang had his police cap askew, wore lazy slippers, his uniform shirt untucked, and swaggered over with a drunken stagger, breath reeking of alcohol. He tilted his head and glared at Jiang Tian, shouting loudly.
“Scram!”
Jiang Tian shot him a contemptuous sneer and, without another word, slapped him right across the face.
With a piercing scream, Chief Huang went flying sideways like a scarecrow, blood spraying from his mouth as he crashed to the ground, unable to get back up.
Against such an insignificant ant, Jiang Tian didn’t need to waste words—just swat him away.
“This is absolute lawlessness! He’s assaulted an officer—shoot him dead on the spot!”
Lei Ming let out a sinister laugh and roared at the top of his lungs, signaling the police officers to execute Jiang Tian right there.
“Get down on your knees! Or we’ll open fire!”
Several officers also sensed the danger and drew their guns and batons, pointing them at Jiang Tian with threatening bluffs that barely concealed their fear.
“You’re Lei Ming?”
Jiang Tian’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as he looked at Lei Ming with indifference. “Get out of Jinling this instant. From now on, don’t let me see you in this city again.”
“Who the hell do you think you are? Watch me tear you apart today!”
Lei Ming nearly choked with rage—who in Jinling would dare speak to him like that?
“He’s done for—Master Lei’s about to go all out. It’d be a miracle if this kid survives!”
“Yeah, I hear Master Lei is a real martial arts master. In Jinling, only Xu Zhenlei can keep him in check!”
“This kid’s still running his mouth, what a poser. Isn’t he afraid of getting struck down by lightning?”
The crowd buzzed with schadenfreude, gossiping as if they were already looking at a dead man.
“Hmph, a worthless beggar like him dares to cause trouble at Imperial International? He must have a death wish!”
Yang Lili was thoroughly fed up with Jiang Tian. She crossed her arms, chin held high with arrogance, and couldn’t even be bothered to watch his pitiful ending.
Sure enough, Lei Ming rolled up his sleeves and lunged toward Jiang Tian in a flash—a fight was about to break out.
But just then, a commanding voice cut through the air: “Lei Ming, have you lost your damn mind?!”
Everyone turned to look and saw a group of distinguished young men escorting a suave, handsome man striding over quickly.
The man at the front wore custom-tailored shirts and trousers from an old Italian tailor, paired with pointed European-style leather shoes. Tall and impeccably built, with handsome features, he carried himself with an imposing presence that rivaled even Lei Ming’s as he strode forward like a dragon among men.
What’s more, he exuded an air of noble arrogance, like royalty born to privilege—the kind of aura that could only be cultivated by the wealthiest and most powerful families, impossible to fake.
“Oh my god, it’s Young Master Bai Choufei from Yangcheng!”
“The boss of Tiange Entertainment!”
“I heard Guo Jizhang and Li Huiyan are both artists under his label! And he’s even rumored to be involved with Guo Jizhang!”
“Even Jinling’s own Young Master Yu Qiang and the Underground Queen Xu Ruocheng are following behind him—his influence is insane!”
At that moment, countless young women in the crowd cast admiring, worshipful gazes at the man in front.
“Young Master Bai is so overwhelmingly domineering! Now that he’s here, Jiang Tian will have to kneel…”
Yang Lili’s face was filled with adoration as she stared at Bai Choufei, her eyes burning with desire.
Women crave the protection of powerful men—unfortunately, someone at her level didn’t even have the qualification or opportunity to climb into Bai Choufei’s bed.
With overwhelming presence, Bai Choufei strode forward as if no one else existed. Those who stood in his way scattered like startled birds—a scene straight out of a gangster movie, the kind that sets young boys’ blood on fire, playing out vividly before everyone’s eyes.
“Young Master Bai is here!”
The crowd instantly grew restless; countless people craned their necks and widened their eyes, terrified of missing this rare spectacle.
When Lei Ming saw him approach, he trembled all over and hurried forward with tiny, shuffling steps, bobbing and bowing. “Young Master Bai, if you were coming to have some fun, you should’ve told me—I’d have loved to keep you company!”
They say martial artists hold a special status, but that depends on their level. Sometimes, even they can’t escape the pull of money and power.
Now that Bai Choufei had joined forces with Xu Ruocheng to take control of Jinling, Lei Ming had barely a handful of men under him—he simply couldn’t compare.
Even more frightening was the fact that Bai Choufei had teamed up with the legendary Grandmaster Jiang to defeat the Nie family and two other powerful clans, becoming the right-hand man of the Grandmaster Jiang who now shook Jinling to its core. Lei Ming feared him even more and could only look up to him in awe.
By now, Lei Ming had already ceded Mingyue Town to Bai Choufei, hoping only that Bai would introduce him to Grandmaster Jiang.
Yang Lili glanced back at Jiang Tian and saw that he remained completely unfazed, his expression calm and composed.
“Why? Isn’t he scared? Or is he simply too low-level to even grasp who Bai Choufei really is?”
She sneered inwardly, mocking him while also feeling utterly perplexed.
But what happened next quickly gave Yang Lili her answer—
Bai Choufei and Yu Qiang, ignoring the stunned and bewildered stares around them, strode briskly up to Jiang Tian. They bowed with utmost respect and called out in the most reverent tones of their lives: “Young Master Jiang…” “Grandmaster Jiang!”
Their voices weren’t especially loud, but to everyone nearby, it was like a thunderclap exploding right next to their ears—shocking them to their core and short-circuiting their brains.
“G-Grandmaster Jiang!”
Lei Ming’s entire body shuddered, his face instantly changing colors—from pale to ashen to livid, a truly spectacular sight to behold.
Jiang Tian merely gave a faint, expressionless nod. His clear eyes radiated boundless arrogance; he couldn’t even be bothered to greet them.
And Bai Choufei and Yu Qiang, without a single complaint, very tactfully stood behind Jiang Tian, perfectly content to play second fiddle.
?? Even the slowest-witted person finally understood what was going on. The true protagonist, the real power player of the night, was that young man whom some had dismissed as a clueless poser—talk about dramatic irony.
Yang Lili quickly covered her mouth, barely stifling a gasp.
She had just witnessed the most unbelievable scene in her twenty-odd years of life.
“Young Master Jiang…” That seemingly overused title, when spoken by someone as formidable and imposing as Bai Choufei, carried an unparalleled weight—a thousand times more shocking than Jiang Tian beating up Lei Ming’s son in public.
Even with Yang Lili’s wealth of life experience, she couldn’t for the life of her imagine what kind of background or illustrious family could make a top-tier young master like Bai Choufei grovel like a servant.
“Young Master Jiang, did someone provoke you?”
Bai Choufei had already spotted Lei Ming and his men yelling at Jiang Tian on his way down. He narrowed his cold eyes and stared at Lei Ming, who stood there like a wooden chicken.
A chill ran down Lei Ming’s spine. He stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
His entire entourage, along with the police officers, collectively wilted. Offending someone before whom even Bai Choufei and Yu Qiang would bow and scrape—the consequences were beyond their wildest imagination.
“Xiao Bai, Yu Qiang, are you blind or what…”
Jiang Tian’s displeased tone made it clear he couldn’t be bothered with nonsense.
That one casual remark from him would cost Lei Ming, Chief Huang, and the others dearly.
This was how the powerful turned the world upside down with a flip of their hand!
“Provoking Grandmaster Jiang? You’re asking for death!”
Xu Ruocheng let out a sharp cry, fury blazing on her beautiful face. Bai Choufei and Yu Qiang’s eyes grew colder and colder as they fixed them on Lei Ming.
“Grandmaster Jiang… I truly didn’t know it was you…” Lei Ming’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
“Kill them…”
Jiang Tian transmitted his voice directly to Xu Ruocheng and the other two, casting a cold, indifferent glance at Lei Ming with a look of disgust.
He had always despised spineless men. Lei Ming, who bullied the weak and cowered before the strong, wasn’t even worthy of being called a martial artist.
Besides, from the way Lei Gang had forced himself on Lin Monong, it was clear the Lei family were no good. And today they’d done the same thing all over again—killing him would be no injustice.
Done wasting words, Jiang Tian took Huang Ling’er’s hand and strode away.
Meanwhile, Xu Ruocheng and her people began clearing the area. Chief Huang and his officers not only didn’t interfere but even helped. Everyone retreated into private rooms or scattered upstairs and downstairs.
Yang Lili had just reached the stairwell when she heard a series of bloodcurdling screams and pleas for mercy behind her. She instinctively turned back—
She saw Xu Ruocheng, as if pulling a magic trick, draw a long blade and bring it down in a single, devastating chop.
With a light crack, a spray of crimson blood splashed across the corridor wall. Lei Ming’s head rolled across the floor, and his headless corpse crumpled forward onto the ground.
Crack!
Another flash of icy light streaked down like lightning—this time for Lei Gang…
Yang Lili’s body shuddered. She didn’t dare look anymore. But as she turned away, she caught a glimpse of Jiang Tian hurrying downstairs, casting a cold, indifferent glance her way.
