Chapter 164: Chapter 164: Waking Up Su Xing

Su Xing struggled to get up, but the immense pain wracking his body left him powerless, and he failed.

The scene seared itself into the minds of the crowd. Their mouths hung open, wanting to shout, to scream, to give voice to the shock in their hearts. Yet, no sound came out. All they could do was stare blankly at Shen Haoran.

Su Xing laboriously raised his head. His eyes were hollow.

’One punch. Just one punch, and I didn’t even have a chance to fight back!’

He was a Tier Five Spirit General who risked his life in Cultivation every day, yet he couldn’t even take a single blow from Shen Haoran. At that moment, Su Xing was plunged into a daze. A question echoed in his mind: ’Have all these years of Cultivation been meaningless?’

Zi Mo also stared at Shen Haoran in disbelief. When his gaze met Su Xing’s hollow eyes, his heart twisted in pain, and his look toward Shen Haoran filled with fury.

With that single blow, Shen Haoran hadn’t just defeated Su Xing the man; he had brutally crushed his very beliefs.

’I don’t get it. How could the Shen Haoran who seemed so harmless, so loyal and righteous, do something like this? I must have been blind to misjudge him so badly. And I even wanted to call him a brother!’

Shen Haoran, however, paid no mind to Zi Mo’s thoughts. He took a deep breath, suppressing the roiling Spiritual Power within him. The black flames enveloping his body slowly died down, and his explosive aura receded.

SSS... As his power returned to normal, sharp pains pulsed through his body, making Shen Haoran hiss and draw a sharp breath. The Heaven-Dominating Tribulation was as tyrannical as ever; even using it for a mere instant had inflicted considerable injuries on him. But when he saw the fallen Su Xing, Shen Haoran smiled. ’The injuries don’t matter. At least I got the result I wanted.’

Enduring the pain shooting through his meridians, Shen Haoran walked toward Su Xing.

SWOOSH! Just as Shen Haoran reached Su Xing, Zi Mo suddenly appeared and blocked his path.

"You’ve already won this match," Zi Mo said coldly, looking at Shen Haoran as a faint pressure radiated from him. "On account of you saving my life, I won’t stop you from leaving Thick Earth Hall. Go! Before I change my mind!"

Shen Haoran, however, merely shot Zi Mo an indifferent glance before walking around him to stand before Su Xing.

Seeing the look in Su Xing’s eyes, Shen Haoran’s brow furrowed slightly.

"Have you lost your will to fight?" With those words, Shen Haoran’s aura erupted once more, enveloping Su Xing within it.

Seeing this, Zi Mo flew into a rage. "Shen Haoran, you’re going too far!" He lunged forward to stop him, but a tyrannical Spiritual Thought instantly locked him in place.

As for Su Xing, feeling Shen Haoran’s oppressive aura, he was jolted back to his senses, his face filled with bitterness.

"Is this all you’ve got? You waver after a single failure? What kind of worthless faith is that? You’re not worthy!

I thought you were a real man, but now I see you’re nothing special. What’s the difference between you and a coward right now?

I’ve always hated it when people called me trash, but today, I’m telling you, you *are* trash! No, you’re worse than trash. At least trash knows to fight back when it gets hit. But you? All you’re fit for is lying on the ground, doubting yourself! I’m so disappointed in you!"

Shen Haoran’s words were scathing and cruel. To the onlookers, they were almost too vile to listen to.

Nearby, Zi Mo’s eyes were bloodshot. Su Xing had been his benefactor, and now Shen Haoran was humiliating him like this. Zi Mo couldn’t take it. Furious, he snarled, "Shen Haoran, you son of a bitch! I was fucking blind to misjudge you! To think I wanted to be brothers with you! Ptooey! A mongrel like you... from now on, I’ll kill every last one I see!"

If Zi Mo hadn’t been restrained by Elder Yan’s Spiritual Thought, he would have already lunged forward to kill Shen Haoran.

Shen Haoran paid no attention to Zi Mo behind him. He kept his eyes locked on Su Xing, observing his reaction.

’I came here today to snap Su Xing out of it, even if it meant using the self-damaging Heaven-Dominating Tribulation right from the start! If Su Xing really is this fragile, then I won’t waste any more time on him. I want to recruit Su Xing, but I have no use for a spineless weakling!’

Shen Haoran’s words struck his Heart Spirit like a sledgehammer. The words ’trash’ and ’coward’ grated on Su Xing’s nerves, and his gaze sharpened once more. He looked at Shen Haoran, fighting spirit surging in his eyes, and snarled, "I’m not trash, and I’m not a coward! I will defeat you!"

Seeing Su Xing’s fighting spirit rekindled, a grin spread across Shen Haoran’s lips, and he chuckled softly. ’Good. Looks like my efforts weren’t wasted on this Su Xing after all.’

"Good. I’ll be waiting for your challenge," Shen Haoran said calmly, retracting his aura at the same time.

"However, I hope that next time, you’ll be the one issuing the challenge, and not because of *someone else*," Shen Haoran finished, his gaze shifting to Chai Hui.

Feeling Shen Haoran’s icy gaze, Chai Hui’s heart trembled, and he fell to his knees. Shen Haoran’s Demon God-like image from moments before was now seared into Chai Hui’s mind. It would likely become a nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Kneeling before Shen Haoran, Chai Hui kowtowed repeatedly, begging, "Brother Shen, First Master Shen, I was wrong! I never should have provoked you! It’s all my fault for being so blind! Please be the bigger person and forgive my lowly transgression! Let me go, please... From now on, I’ll be your slave. If you tell me to go east, I’ll never go west! I’ll do anything you say! Please, I’m begging you, spare me!"

Chai Hui wailed, snot and tears streaming down his face. The surrounding disciples watched him with contempt, thoroughly disgusted. ’How could I have ever stood on the same side as someone like that?’ they thought.

After a cursory glance at Chai Hui, Shen Haoran looked away and turned back to Su Xing. "See that? This is the man you’ve been protecting. How pathetic. Your so-called sense of duty is nothing but a joke. Is someone like Chai Hui really worthy of it? You should think about that."

With that, Shen Haoran turned to leave. As he passed Zi Mo, he shot him a disdainful look and walked away without looking back.

Zi Mo watched Shen Haoran’s retreating back, momentarily speechless. ’So... I was wrong about him.’

Meanwhile, Su Xing slowly pushed himself up. He looked at Shen Haoran’s retreating back, then at Chai Hui, who was still kowtowing ceaselessly. A wave of disgust washed over him. ’Have I really been protecting someone like this all along? Chai Hui is nothing like his older brother. The difference is night and day! Shen Haoran was right. Chai Hui... he isn’t worthy of my protection.’

"Brother Su, are you okay?" After Shen Haoran left, Zi Mo’s mobility returned, and he leaped to Su Xing’s side.

"I’m fine." ’Shen Haoran’s control over his power is meticulous. That punch only took away my ability to fight; it didn’t harm my meridians or organs. It seems he never intended to truly fight me from the very beginning.’

"You were wrong about him," Su Xing said calmly, looking at Zi Mo.

Hearing this, Zi Mo gave a bitter smile. ’Looks like I’ll have to pay him a visit to apologize soon.’

"Let’s go. I’m about to have a breakthrough." Su Xing struggled to his feet and, ignoring Chai Hui, left the dueling grounds with Zi Mo....