20 Ferocity (1/2)
The human eye was one of the most important organs in the human body. The nerves in the eyes were abnormally concentrated. Once the eyes were injured, any martial artist would definitely experience a great reduction in his or her combat ability, or even completely lose his or her fighting strength.
The blood was boiling hot and normally alkaline in nature. Once blood entered the eyes, it would corrode the nerves within the eyes, leaving the opposing party temporarily blind and even causing damage to the eye itself.
Jiang Yi had borne the raw brunt of a single punch from that martial artist whose power level was in the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm—only to quickly get closer to Jiang Ruhu and spit blood into his face at that precise moment. That one action was a big gamble for him. After all, that martial artist, whose power level was in the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, had three horsepower worth of strength. If he had not chosen to increase the speed of his single punch by a notch and neutralized some of the power in his fist in the process, Jiang Yi's spine bone would have been completely broken right now. Additionally, with Jiang Yi in mid-air, if Jiang Ruhu had not rashly rushed forward and chose to continue avoiding any incoming attacks instead, Jiang Yi would have wasted all his efforts.
That was such a good opportunity!
Jiang Yi spat out a thread of clotted blood from his mouth and forcefully controlled his body figure whilst in mid-air. Circulating essence force on one of his fists, he smashed that fist towards the direction of the top of Jiang Ruhu's head. Having established such a good opportunity to strike, he would be an idiot if he did not fathom to grasp it.
”Phantom Punch!”
He shouted deeply and loudly as his fists transformed into three fist-like silhouette images, with each hitting in the direction of Jiang Ruhu's head, left shoulder, and lower abdomen.
Jiang Ruhu became temporarily blind in both his eyes; additionally, he felt a scorching sensation of agony, burning like a raging inferno in his eyes. Upon hearing the incoming Phantom Punch attack, his heart sank completely. Initially, he had thought of withstanding the attack; yet, at that moment, all he could do was to recklessly brandish both his arms and hit the air above him at random, in an effort to protect his own head.
A black flash circulated within Jiang Yi's eyes, allowing him to clearly and distinctly see Jiang Ruhu's every action. As such, he could easily determine Jiang Ruhu's attack trajectory. His fist, which had merged with a wisp of black essence force, drove straight and smashed heavily into Jiang Ruhu's left shoulder.
”Boom!”
Jiang Ruhu's obese body responded by flying backward. He crashed heavily into a small tree some thirty or forty feet away before ricocheting off into the ground, leaving him rolling on the ground for several rounds.
”Swish!”
Jiang Yi had also tumbled onto the ground, and yet he managed to immediately leap off the ground like a cheetah. Once again, he rushed towards Jiang Ruhu.
He was well aware that if he wanted to come out of the Western Hills completely unscathed this day, he had no other option but to take down Jiang Ruhu, thereby deterring the rest from attacking. He had already used up three wisps of his black essence forces. Once he completely consumed all of his black essence forces, he would have no other ending but be resigned to being beaten to death.
”Swish!”
The surrounding crowd of people had also started responding—every single person frantically raced towards that side, their eyes filled with an ominous glint. Their boss had been ambushed in a sneak attack; how could they dare to gawk and remain indifferent? Should Jiang Ruhu find out after the incident that happened this day, they would have to suffer some severe consequences.
”Snake Whip Leg!”
Both of Jiang Yi's legs attached themselves to Jiang Ruhu's body like a poisonous snake and continuously kicked downwards like a torrential downpour. On top of that, his kicks landed on all four of Jiang Ruhu's limbs. Even though he did not circulate any black essence force into each foot, each kick was nonetheless done with ample strength. The kicks were swiftly followed by the sound of bones cracking, as two of Jiang Ruhu's hands and one of his legs were broken instantly. This left Jiang Ruhu rolling on the ground as he started howled miserably due to his acute pain.
”Jiang Yi, how dare you!”
”Jiang Yi, how could you dare to break Brother Hu's hands and legs? You're done for!”
”Little bastard, take this…”
Upon seeing Jiang Yi act so brazenly and ferociously, the group of opponents who had rushed over was infuriated and enraged. They all sped up and raced frantically as they circulated their bodily essence force into their hands, rushing to attack Jiang Yi from three sides.
”Hmph!”
Jiang Yi gave a burst of cold laughter. Not only did he not retreat to avoid the incoming assault, but he also used his hand to grab Jiang Ruhu's remaining unbroken leg. He swung Jiang Ruhu's obese body around in a sweeping motion, directed to the incoming group of opponents.
”Oh no!”
”Retreat… don't you dare hurt Brother Hu!”
”You little bastard, you—how you dare use Brother Hu as a weapon?”
The entire group of opponents was so frightened by the sight of Jiang Yi brazenly swinging Jiang Ruhu around in a frenzied sweeping move that their faces turned deathly pale. They promptly withdrew their attacks and retreated backward in a flurry. They were scared that with their single attack, Jiang Ruhu would be beaten into a pulp even before Jiang Yi experienced any injury.
”Jiang Yi, you're finished! You're done for! If you have the guts, just kill me here and now! Otherwise, I swear I will rip you to shreds!”
Jiang Ruhu was blind in both eyes, had both his hands and legs broken by kicking. Worst of all, at that moment, he could feel his entire body flying around as Jiang Yi swung him around in a random sweeping motion like a wooden stick, with his head even brushing past the ground twice. He immediately flew into a wild rage—how could he continue being a boss to all these familial subordinates if he continued being in such a sorry state in front of so many of them?
”BANG!”
Jiang Yi's facial expressions remained ice-cold without a shred of change as he heard Jiang Ruhu's cries of warning. Both his hands ruthlessly swung Jiang Ruhu around in a circle before heavily smashing him onto the ground.
”If you don't want your Brother Hu to die, back away from me immediately!”
Disregarding Jiang Ruhu who had started screaming in agony once again, Jiang Yi's gaze was locked onto the crowd of opponents surrounding him. There was still some clotted blood on the corner of his mouth at that moment. Coupled with his stone-cold facial expression, he looked as though he had some sort of special power to enchant others.
”Jiang Yi, let Brother Hu go, and we'll all spare you from death!”
”Right! Jiang Yi, let Brother Hu go immediately! Otherwise, should something bad happen to Brother Hu, you would definitely only have one end-result—death!”
”Jiang Yi, quickly release Brother Hu! Or else, you'll have a big problem in your own hands…”
How could that group of opponents even consider retreating? Should Jiang Ruhu find out the identities of those individuals who tried to escape, would they not suffer a severe and deadly punishment as a consequence? On top of that, everyone in that group was all experiencing some fright in seeing Jiang Ruhu's appalling and agonizing state. Each of them was discouraging one another from taking action; all of them fearful of making a big mistake.
”BANG!”
What responded the group's threats was the scene of Jiang Ruhu's body being once again swung a high distance upwards before subsequently being smashed downwards into the ground. A cruel smile formed on the corner of Jiang Yi's mouth as though he were pressing his luck. He shouted coldly, ”Are you going to retreat or not?”
The group of opponents hesitated to respond as if they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Jiang Yi's hands moved again, sending Jiang Ruhu's body flying in mid-air in a splendid upwards arc before smashing it heavily on the ground once again.
”Retreat or not?”
”Retreat or not?”
”Retreat or not?”
He continuously questioned without stopping, each question being followed by him swinging Jiang Ruhu's body and smashing it onto the ground. As a result of these few rounds of random ground-smashing, Jiang Ruhu immediately started bleeding from the wounds on his head. He had also fainted from the multiple crashes onto the ground—the cries of agony had stopped. There were only acts of breathing in through his mouth and nose, without any act of breathing out at all…
”Retreat, fall back! We retreat!”
Everyone had been shocked and frightened by Jiang Yi's severe viciousness and ferocity. They were also scared that Jiang Yi would really smash Jiang Ruhu on the ground to his death in a fit of mad rage. That would make Jiang Yi's death penalty unavoidable, but they would also have to suffer the consequences of being punished by the Family clan.
As one person started to retreat, the rest followed suit in hurry. All of them stared in horror at the malevolent expression on Jiang Yi's face as a single thought appeared in their minds—was this person still that docile good-for-nothing Jiang Yi? How could he become so scary when he showed his ferocity?
”Huh….”
It was only when everyone had retreated backward that Jiang Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Having shocked and intimidated every single opponent that day, he would finally be safe. Otherwise, he would find difficulty escaping from ending up being attacked from all sides and beaten up by all his opponents.
Observing Jiang Ruhu who was lying limply on the ground like a crawling insect, a sense of elation flashed in Jiang Yi's eyes. After being bullied by this bunch of people from the Jiang Clan for so many years, he could finally claim to have earned some interest back from that day.
He muttered deeply to himself for a moment before letting go of Jiang Ruhu's leg. He raised his own leg and stepped down onto Jiang Ruhu's badly mutilated head. Moving his body close to Jiang Ruhu, he lowered his voice and quietly said, ”Jiang Ruhu, do you know what power level in the Cast Tripod Realm I am at right now? Do you know how I was able to send Jiang Ruying flying with just a single punch? Do you know why I dare to do this to you? To tell you the truth, I want to make things big and let the entire Jiang Clan know that… I, Jiang Yi, am not a useless good-for-nothing! You guys are the good-for-nothing wastrels!”
Finishing what he had to say, Jiang Yi raised his leg once again before viciously stepping down on Jiang Yi's remaining good leg. With one of his legs, he suddenly sent Jiang Ruhu's body heavily flying off with another kick. It was only then that he swept a gaze across the bodies of all his remaining opponents before deeply shouting, ”Heal Jiang Ruhu within the next hour; otherwise, he… would definitely die—no doubt about that! All of you better remember: if you ever see me, your Young Master, in the future, you must make a detour around me. Otherwise, should you dare to provoke me, your Young Master, you would meet the same fate as Jiang Ruhu today.”
Finishing his statement, Jiang Yi rushed off in a burst of quick speed in the direction of the foot of the Western Hills. Having taken in the supreme might of Jiang Yi's power, none of the Jiang Clan descendants, who surrounded him, actually dared to stop him in his tracks. Conversely, many of them looked at the figure of Jiang Yi's back as he raced away, revealing a look of pure horror on their faces.
”What are you waiting for? Hurry up and carry Brother Hu and me off the mountain for medical treatment! If Brother Hu dies, we would all have to die with him! Ouch… Jiang Yi, I am going to rip you to shreds…”
The group of people was still sending Jiang Yi off with their stares of horror when a bellow filled with incomparably violent rage rang out. The shout actually came from Jiang Ruying, whose leg had been broken by Jiang Yi right from the start.
”Quick, quick! Carry Brother Hu!”
”Quickly go and report it to the family clan Disciplinary Courts! Report this situation to the Chief Supervisor!”
”Right… report this to the Chief Supervisor, report to the Disciplinary Courts, and punish Jiang Yi by giving him the death penalty…”
In a flurry, the large group of people carried Jiang Ruhu and Jiang Ruying as they left the Western Hills. All of them clamored incessantly as they felt indignant with the injustice just inflicted on them, each of them itching to make mincemeat out of that viciously evil and violent criminal Jiang Yi just so they could be relieved of their bitter hatred.
”No… do not… do not tell my dad… do not tell the Family!”
Jiang Ruhu was finally revived and took in a breath of air as they were halfway down the mountain. With much difficulty, he opened his mouth and said, ”Jiang Yi's… power has improved so quickly… cannot… wait for my brother to return… I want him dead… everyone better remember whatever happened today… just say that we had to fight with the Ma Family…”
Jiang Yi's voice stammered out in dribs and drabs. All had a perplexed look on their faces—could it be that Jiang Ruhu's brain was injured as well? He himself had already been beaten to such a pathetic state; how could it be that he still wanted to help hide Jiang Yi's secrets?
”Right! That's right! We can't tell the family clan!”
Yet Jiang Ruying very quickly connected the dots. In a stern voice, he shouted aloud, ”Jiang Yi's power has improved so greatly—if the Family found out, not only would they not scold him, but they might even see him as someone valuable! On top of that, they might even offer him the position as a core descendant of the Family! By that time, we would have no other option but be pushed around and be bullied by him forever. We would never be able to get revenge for this.
”What Brother Hu said is right—we would have to keep this whole event a secret and say that we have a fight with the sons of the Ma Family. It's not the first time that has happened after all. We will wait for Brother Long to return from the Martial Arts Hall, and then we will let Brother Long take action… and punish Jiang Yi for this!”
”Brother Long?”
The hearts of all the people around turned coldly stern as they silently nodded their heads. That ”Brother Long” was none other than Jiang Ruhu's older brother Jiang Rulong. Positioned second in the list of most powerful persons within the young generation of the Family, his power level had reached the seventh stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. Recently, he had left for seclusion and training with the Great Young Master Jiang Henshui at the Martial Arts Hall. Should he return and find out that Jiang Ruhu had been beaten to this terrible state, he would definitely intervene in a fit of rage and kill Jiang Yi.