Volume One: The Femme Fatale Chapter 56: Picking a Fight

"Brat! Come out right now, or I'll smash this cave of yours and leave you with no place to cultivate!" Outside the grotto, a bulky cultivator cursed loudly.

"Senior Brother, I am Jiang Hao." Before the words fully faded, Jiang Hao had already appeared before the cultivator. Cupping his fists, he asked politely, "I wonder how Jiang Hao has offended you, Senior Brother, that you have come all the way here to call me to account?"

"Jiang Hao? I've never heard of anyone by that name in Dragon Gate Academy." The cultivator froze for a moment upon hearing this, then spat on the ground and said with utter disdain, "Can just any stray dog or cat come to cultivate in the academy's forbidden back mountain nowadays?"

"Senior Brother, I must ask you to show some respect," Jiang Hao warned.

"Respect? Ha! You're killing me! In Dragon Gate Academy, who doesn't know that strength is dignity!" The cultivator laughed heartily before barking arrogantly, "I am Liu Jiang, ranked in the top ten of the Dragon Gate Roll. Who in the entire academy doesn't know my name?!"

"Brat, if you know what's good for you, kneel on the ground and kowtow three loud times to your Senior Brother Liu. Then I, being magnanimous, will let the matter of you snatching the spiritual Qi inside my cave just now slide," Liu Jiang continued to crow.

"Snatching spiritual Qi? Could it be that misunderstanding when I was setting up the Soul-Bewitching Array just now?" A realization dawned on Jiang Hao, and his expression shifted as he explained, "Senior Brother Liu, as for the matter of competing for the spiritual Qi in your cave just now, it was truly an unintentional consequence of Junior Brother setting up a spiritual array."

"You actually know how to set up spiritual arrays, kid?" Hearing this, Liu Jiang looked up and laughed aloud, evidently refusing to believe Jiang Hao's explanation.

"Forgive me if I make a fool of myself before you, Senior Brother, but I do indeed know a thing or two about setting up spiritual arrays." Jiang Hao smiled faintly, then continued, "Senior Brother, since it was all a misunderstanding, and we are fellow disciples of the same sect, isn't it going a bit too far to ask me to kneel and kowtow in apology?"

"Oh?" Liu Jiang furrowed his brow, a cold sneer curving the corner of his mouth as he threatened, "Does that mean Junior Brother would prefer to suffer some physical pain instead?"

"You have it wrong, Senior Brother. I originally intended to clear up this misunderstanding. Why must you be so relentlessly aggressive?" Jiang Hao replied, his expression gradually darkening.

"Hmph! Sophistry! I just hope your strength is as sharp as your tongue!" With that, Liu Jiang stepped forward and assumed a combat stance.

"Senior Brother, must it really come to this?" Jiang Hao asked once more, reluctant to embroil himself in unnecessary trouble right after arriving. After all, cultivation was the most urgent priority for him at the moment.

Right at that instant, his master Feng Ling'er's voice suddenly rang in his ear: "Brat, do you still have a way out given the current situation?"

Hearing this, Jiang Hao shook his head and explained, "Master, time for cultivation is extremely precious. I have no wish to waste it on insignificant people."

Unimpressed, Feng Ling'er reminded him, "Kid, if you blindly retreat, it will only make the other party increasingly presumptuous!"

Sure enough, before Feng Ling'er's voice had even faded, Liu Jiang opposite him began to circulate his spiritual power, seemingly preparing to launch the first attack.

"A mere brat who has only just broken through to the Spirit Spring Realm dares to talk back to me!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than Liu Jiang threw a punch, lunging fiercely toward Jiang Hao.

"It seems Master was right after all." Seeing this, Jiang Hao gave a helpless shake of his head and muttered inwardly, "Senior Brother, why must you force my hand?"

In the blink of an eye, Liu Jiang's fist arrived, carrying a violent, howling gale. Jiang Hao sidestepped swiftly, his footwork as light and nimble as a swallow, brushing past the formidable force.

His eyes flashed with a sharp, cool, and steady light. In the next instant, Jiang Hao countered with a palm strike, gathering his spiritual power as he lashed out at Liu Jiang's flank: "Senior Brother, take my palm!"

"Oh no!" Liu Jiang shouted, reacting swiftly as he spun around to parry. Their fists and palms intersected with a deafening crash.

"Boom!"

The collision of their spiritual energies was like a tempest; the surrounding air trembled, dust billowed into the air, and the scene descended into a chaotic blur.

"Cough, cough!" After the brief exchange, unable to fully withstand the impact, Liu Jiang felt a trace of blood seep from the corner of his mouth.

"A Tier 2 spell?!" Liu Jiang's expression turned solemn as internal astonishment washed over him: "I let my guard down! I never expected this brat to be so troublesome to deal with!"

"Senior Brother, since it's all a misunderstanding, let's call it a draw here!" Jiang Hao urged again.

"Hmph! How dare you look down on me? I am an expert in the top ten of the Dragon Gate Roll! If I can't even defeat a greenhorn like you today, how am I supposed to hold my head high in Dragon Gate Academy from now on?" Liu Jiang flew into a rage.

"Brat, today I'll let you witness Senior Brother's true strength!" Amidst his arrogant shouts, Liu Jiang retrieved a spiritual weapon from his spatial ring—a heavy, formidable broadsword.

"Watch out, that broadsword is a genuine two-star spiritual weapon!" Feng Ling'er warned.

"A two-star spiritual weapon?" Hearing this, Jiang Hao frowned slightly and declared, "Senior Brother, if that is how it is, then don't blame your Junior Brother for showing no mercy."

"Go to hell, brat!" On the other side, Liu Jiang had already raised his blade and brought it slashing down toward Jiang Hao's head, an onslaught clearly intended to be fatal.

As Liu Jiang's blade-intent closed in, a thought stirred within Jiang Hao. Spiritual power surged violently as he exerted his full strength, preparing to unleash the Mountain-Splitting Palm without holding back any longer.

With a flash of his figure, Jiang Hao deftly evaded Liu Jiang's lethal strike, instantly erupting with incomparable power like a fierce tiger breaking out of its cage.

"Mountain-Splitting Palm!" Jiang Hao let out a low cry. His palm gleamed with a brilliant spiritual radiance, heavy and unyielding like a towering mountain, as he smashed it fiercely toward Liu Jiang.

Before Liu Jiang could even react, an invisible, crushing pressure washed over him. A jolt of panic seized his heart, but there was nowhere left to retreat. In that exact fraction of a second, Jiang Hao's palm wind descended like a thunderbolt, striking Liu Jiang squarely.

"Boom!"

With a tremendous roar, Liu Jiang was sent flying like a kite with a snapped string under the force of that palm strike. He crashed heavily into a distant boulder, spitting a mouthful of blood as his features twisted in agony and he suffered severe injuries.

"You... what on earth is your cultivation realm?" Enduring the pain, Liu Jiang struggled to crawl back up from the ground, staring at Jiang Hao with an expression of utter disbelief.

"Senior Brother, just as you said, this Junior Brother has only just broken through to the initial stage of the Spirit Spring Realm." Jiang Hao stood tall amidst the wind, his gaze unwavering.

"You... you!"

"Puff!"

Flying into a rage, Liu Jiang coughed up another mouthful of blood.

"Brat, if you want to make an example of someone to frighten the rest, you'd better go finish him off right now," Feng Ling'er suggested.

"Ah? Did I hear that right?" Shocked, Jiang Hao replied, "Master, this is Dragon Gate Academy we're talking about. How can we take human life so casually?"

"Hmph, suit yourself," Feng Ling'er snorted coldly and fell silent.

Seeing this, Jiang Hao helplessly spread his hands, then turned to Liu Jiang and said, "Senior Brother Liu, let's put an end to today's business here. I trust you won't come to disturb my cultivation again." With those words, Jiang Hao turned and walked back into his grotto.

"Damn it!" Liu Jiang clenched his fists, consumed by fury.

Staring at Jiang Hao's retreating back with a ferocious expression, Liu Jiang barked viciously, "Jiang Hao, you just wait!" Having said that, he picked up the broadsword from the ground and staggered away toward a nearby grotto.