Chapter 414: Chapter 146: The Might of Thunder, a Fist and a Saber to Awe the Crowd; Fusion: Nine Tribulations Blood Prison Saber and Twelve True Forms Fist

He froze, his left hand clamped tightly around his right wrist. Crimson blood seeped relentlessly from between his fingers, dripping onto the bluestone slabs of the Martial Arts Arena.

He slowly lowered his head, staring in disbelief at his trembling right hand as all the color drained from his face.

With his back to the man, Chu Fan slowly sheathed his saber. His voice was calm and emotionless, yet it carried a bone-chilling coldness. "Your saber is too slow."

The entire arena erupted in an uproar!

Everyone was stunned by the battle, which had been decided in the blink of an eye!

They hadn’t even seen how Chu Fan drew his saber, and yet Zhan Fei of the Celestial Blade Pavilion, a man famed for his speed, had already been utterly defeated!

Moreover, judging by the wound on Zhan Fei’s wrist, it was clear that Chu Fan had turned his blade at the last second, striking only with the back or the flat of the saber!

If he had used the edge... Zhan Fei’s hand would have been severed from his arm!

Zhan Fei was silent for a moment, the pride and sharpness on his face replaced by bitterness and dejection.

He turned, bowed deeply to Chu Fan’s back, and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you for showing mercy!"

With that, ignoring the ashen face of his own Celestial Blade Pavilion elder, he bent down to pick up his Long Saber, sheathed it, and staggered away from the Martial Arts Arena without a backward glance, his retreating figure a picture of desolation.

Chu Fan’s calm gaze once again swept over the remaining disciples from the various sects, the same ones who had been clamoring to challenge him just moments ago.

Wherever his eyes landed, not a single person dared to meet his gaze!

Ling Ruoshui was one thing; there were those among them who could defeat her.

But they were all well aware of how formidable Zhan Fei’s fast saber was!

Among everyone present, whether they used a saber or a sword, no one dared claim they were faster than Zhan Fei!

Yet even Zhan Fei had been defeated so thoroughly, so quickly...

If they went up, they would only be asking for humiliation!

Seeing this group, who had been so arrogant before, now silent as cicadas in winter with not a single one daring to step forward, Chu Fan’s lips curled into an undisguised sneer. His voice carried clearly across the arena, "What a bunch of trash."

"What did you say?!"

"How arrogant!"

"You think you’re invincible just because you won a few matches?"

The members of the various gangs instantly flew into a rage, their indignation boiling over.

The young disciples who had been waiting to fight were especially incensed, their faces flushed red with anger. They looked like they wanted to rush up and tear Chu Fan apart.

Chu Fan let out a cold laugh, his voice suddenly rising to cut through the clamor. "What, was I wrong?"

His gaze was like lightning as it swept over the crowd. "I am a Demon Suppression Guard of the Demon Suppression Bureau! You don’t dare make a scene at the gates of the Demon Suppression Bureau, so you run over to the Seven Stars Gang to cause trouble. Bullying the weak and fearing the strong—if that’s not trash, what is?"

"If you’re all so tough, why don’t you come to the Demon Suppression Bureau to challenge me, Chu Fan? Hmm?"

The entire arena was instantly silenced.

Everyone knew Chu Fan had come from the Seven Stars Gang, but his current identity was, indeed, a Demon Suppression Guard of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Provoking a Demon Suppression Guard was a completely different matter from provoking an ordinary gang disciple!

How could their bottom-tier gangs in Qing Province dare to poke the hornet’s nest that was the Demon Suppression Bureau?

Seeing things were turning sour, someone tried to smooth things over. "Chu Fan, where you can forgive, you should forgive. It’s best to be on good terms with people if you want to make it in Qing Province. The waters here run deep. Even a dragon must coil up, and a tiger must lie low..."

"Shut up!" Chu Fan cut him off without a shred of courtesy, his words as sharp as a blade. "First, who am I supposed to forgive? You came to our door with malicious intent. Do I have to stick my neck out and let you hit me for it to count as being on good terms?"

"Second, ’make it’? I, Chu Fan, am making it in the Demon Suppression Bureau now, not the Seven Stars Gang! If you have a problem, bring it to me. Come find me at the Demon Suppression Bureau!"

"Third..."

He paused, his voice filled with unquestionable resolve. "I’m not a dragon, and I’m not a tiger. I’m just a man! I won’t coil up, and I won’t lie low. I will stand tall! What the fuck can you do about it?"

...

Silence!

A deathly silence!

Chu Fan’s words struck everyone’s heart like a clap of thunder.

The disciples of the Seven Stars Gang, and even its leaders like Cao Feng, had complex, unreadable emotions in their eyes—excitement, passion, and above all, a profound sense of being moved.

They all understood. Chu Fan’s second point was a deliberate attempt to distance himself from the Seven Stars Gang, shouldering all the grievances and directing them toward himself and the Demon Suppression Bureau behind him.

This was his way of protecting the Seven Stars Gang, which had yet to find its footing!

But Chu Fan didn’t care what anyone thought.

His gaze swept over the disciples from the other sects once more, their faces flushing and paling by turns. The contempt in his voice grew even thicker. "A bunch of worthless losers dare to cause trouble here? You’re simply courting death!"

"Am I wrong?"

"What noble purpose brought you all here today?"

"Some of you were instigated by others, willingly acting as their attack dogs. You’re no different from common lackeys!"

"Some of you are just blindly following the crowd, hoping to use me, Chu Fan, as a stepping stone. You don’t have a single brain cell among you. It’s pitifully stupid!"

"And then there are those mixed in, hoping to fish in troubled waters and gain some cheap advantage. Despicable and shameless!"

"Calling you worthless losers is a compliment!"

Chu Fan’s voice was ice-cold. "Your gangs are nothing but bottom-of-the-barrel trash in Qing Province. You’re completely beneath notice."

"Even when you want to bully the newly arrived Seven Stars Gang, you have to come in a pack, relying on numbers for courage! And you get upset when I call you out on it?"

He suddenly raised his hand, pointing toward the Demon Suppression Bureau in the center of Qing Province, and bellowed, "If even one of you dares to go to the gates of the Demon Suppression Bureau alone and declare you’re challenging me, Chu Fan, I’ll admit you’re a real man!"

"Do you dare?"

"You don’t?"

"Then all of you can scram!"

That single word, "scram," thundered in all directions, carrying with it a sharp killing intent and an irresistible might.

The members of those other gangs couldn’t beat him in a fight, nor could they win a war of words.

Even their elders, who were at the Divine Power Realm, were wary of their own status and intimidated by Chu Fan’s title as a Demon Suppression Guard, leaving them unable to intervene.

In the end, under countless gazes filled with contempt, mockery, and glee, the challengers, their faces ashen like a flock of defeated roosters, tucked their tails between their legs and scurried away.