Beyond the thorns of the Wasteland, the long-absent sunlight was dazzling. The warm sunlight made Li Chunfeng feel that everything outside was wonderful—until he caught sight of the grandfather and granddaughter in the teahouse not far ahead.
In an instant, his memory was yanked back seven years, to the day someone shattered his sternum with a single strike. Had it not been for the magical treasure his grandfather had given him to protect his life, he likely would have perished right there, a corpse left to rot in the Wasteland.
"What bad luck, ruining such a fine view," Li Chunfeng said indifferently.
Without another word, Li Chunfeng strode forward, untying his Silver Panther cloak as he walked.
Meanwhile, the grandfather and granddaughter, still retching, sensed that the man approaching them was acting strangely. In the blink of an eye, they shed their disguises, their bodies suffused with Ling Yun; no longer were they the mediocre tea vendors they appeared to be.
Moving with swift and decisive resolution, Li Chunfeng scooped up the Silver Panther cloak with one hand, twirled it above his head while infusing it with Illusion Power, and spun it around a few times. The clumps of mud and dried faeces stuck to the cloak were flung loose, swirling into the air.
With a mighty heave, Li Chunfeng hurled the Silver Panther cloak at the grandfather and granddaughter opposite him. Like arrows released from a bow, the mud and dried faeces shot straight at the two of them with lightning speed, accompanied by a sharp whistle through the air.
The grandfather and granddaughter reacted quickly. Moving with nimble agility and fueled by Ling Yun, they swept their palms across to conjure an Illusion Realm barrier for protection. But Li Chunfeng struck with the full force of the Tenth Realm, leaving his opponents no chance whatsoever to fight back.
The old man's cultivation was merely at the Seventh Realm; he was utterly incapable of withstanding the might of the Silver Panther cloak. In a split second, the grandfather and granddaughter were blasted dozens of meters backward, and the teahouse itself was caught in the shockwave, instantly collapsing into a heap of rubble.
Both coughed up a mouthful of blood, the old man clutching his chest as he wondered how many of his ribs had broken. The girl named Qiwei managed to struggle to her feet, her cultivation being on the verge of stepping into the Eighth Rank.
"Grandfather, how are you...?" she cried out, rushing over to help him up.
"I'm fine. Qiwei, kill him," the old man said coldly, showing no concern for his granddaughter's survival or any thought of telling her to run.
Qiwei stared straight at Li Chunfeng. The moment he had launched his attack, she recognized that this was the very man they had hunted down into the Wasteland years ago.
What puzzled her was how he had managed to survive the Wasteland and return with such astonishing cultivation. Though she had a multitude of questions, Li Chunfeng did not give her the slightest opportunity to speak.
Striding forward, Li Chunfeng formed an illusionary sword in one hand, looking as though he meant to cut them down with a single stroke. Yet suddenly, he withdrew the sword qi, switching instead to fist techniques.
*Let you two also taste the agony of a shattered sternum,* Li Chunfeng thought silently, a tempest of emotions churning in his chest.
At that moment, Qiwei launched a swift counterattack. A seductive sword hidden at her waist materialized out of thin air, radiating a bone-chilling aura that struck terror into the heart.
Not far away, the old man forced himself to draw a deep breath and summoned a three-inch-long purple scimitar. It was crystal-purple throughout, flashing with Ling Yun that instantly overshadowed the glow of Qiwei's sword—clearly no ordinary weapon.
Yet the old man's cultivation was insufficient to unleash the true power of the purple scimitar; it was only good for intimidating cultivators of lower rank.
Completely unfazed, Li Chunfeng punched forward with absolute certainty. Though someone had instructed him in this fist technique and he had grasped its essence, this was his very first time using it in actual combat.
The punch carried the weight of the Five Sacred Mountains, the momentum to overturn the earth, and an intimidating might that defied all. It instantly shattered the seductive sword, sending the Ling Yun-imbued scimitar and the grandfather and granddaughter flying hundreds of meters away.
Their meridians severed and their internal organs pulverized by the shockwave, the grandfather and granddaughter died on the spot.
As the two of them breathed their last, the blazing fury in Li Chunfeng's eyes slowly faded away.