Chapter 675: Brought to Justice
But Xu Wuyi didn’t dodge. He simply raised his right hand and gently pressed it forward. A wisp of blue Flame rose from his palm, forming a thin curtain of light in front of him.
The moment Li Jingsong’s fist smashed into that light curtain, his expression changed. He felt his Power of Heart Image dissipating at an unimaginable speed. It wasn’t being blocked or neutralized; it was being incinerated. The golden light, formed from decades of his painstaking effort, curled, blackened, and turned to ash the instant it touched the blue curtain, just like paper meeting a raging fire.
He tried to pull his fist back, but it was too late. The blue Flame spread up from his fist, coiled around his arm, and then engulfed his entire body.
Li Jingsong felt an unprecedented surge of terror. It wasn’t because of pain or injury, but because he realized his control over his Heart Image was slipping away bit by bit. The power that had once felt like an extension of his own body, the abilities that seemed innate, and the defenses he thought were indestructible—all were shattered and reduced to fragments under the searing blue Flame.
He desperately tried to gather the broken power and re-condense his Heart Image, but he couldn’t. The Flame wasn’t burning his physical body; it was burning the Order within him. The Order of his Qi and Blood circulation, the Order of his Spirit’s fluctuations, and the Order of his Heart Image Manifestation—everything was descending into Chaos.
Li Jingsong’s face turned deathly pale. He stood there, trembling all over, large drops of sweat seeping from his forehead. He felt his Heart Image crumbling like a collapsing skyscraper—peeling away brick by brick, snapping beam by beam, on the verge of total destruction.
He looked at Xu Wuyi, his eyes filled with sheer horror. This kind of power was absolutely not something a normal Quasi-Grandmaster should possess. If it weren’t for the fact that the aura of the man before him clearly hadn’t reached the Grandmaster Realm, he would have believed he was facing a true Grandmaster.
He wondered, "Who exactly is this person?"
Xu Wuyi watched him and didn’t strike again. He simply withdrew his right hand, and the blue Flame vanished instantly.
Li Jingsong’s body shuddered slightly as he gasped for breath. He looked down at his hands, then at his body, and realized that his control over his Heart Image was slowly returning. However, the recovery was agonizingly slow and arduous, like painstakingly picking up broken bricks from ruins to rebuild a structure.
He looked up at Xu Wuyi with extremely complicated emotions in his eyes. He knew that in that brief moment, his life had completely slipped from his grasp. If the other party had wanted to kill him, he would already be dead.
Xu Wuyi looked at him, his voice calm. "Director Li, do you still wish to continue?"
Li Jingsong fell silent for a long time. Then, he shook his head, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible. "No... no."
Xu Wuyi nodded and turned to walk deeper into the station. Li Jingsong stood rooted to the spot, watching the retreating figure fade into the distance, unable to utter a single word.
The warriors on the Training Ground were all stunned by the scene. They had no idea what had just happened. All they saw was their director launching an attack, only to suddenly freeze, trembling all over with a deathly pale face, as if he had experienced something terrifying. Meanwhile, the masked man simply walked right past him, heading deeper into the station, and no one dared to stop him.
At the entrance of the small building, Zhou Tieshan had stepped out at some unknown point. He stood there, watching Xu Wuyi’s retreating back with profound shock in his eyes. He was a level forty-eight Quasi-Grandmaster, over a decade older than Li Jingsong, and had seen far more powerful experts in his time. But he had never seen anything like this.
That blue Flame, that ability to strip a person of all control—it was absolutely not something an ordinary Quasi-Grandmaster could contend with. He wondered what Realm this person was actually in.
Suddenly, he remembered something, and his expression grew solemn. He thought, "Could it be..."
Xu Wuyi ignored the stares directed at his back. He crossed the Training Ground, passed through the barracks, and traversed a small grove of trees before arriving at an independent courtyard nestled in the deepest part of the station.
The courtyard gate was tightly shut. He stood at the entrance, raised his hand, and gently knocked on the door. No response. He knocked again. Still no response.
Xu Wuyi stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking up. "Li Mingyuan, I know you’re in there. Come out."
The courtyard remained in dead silence. Xu Wuyi waited for a few more seconds before reaching out to push the door. It wasn’t locked and yielded to a gentle push.
The courtyard was very quiet. There was only an old locust tree and a stone table beneath it. A tea set sat on the table, and the water in the teapot was still hot, emitting curling wisps of steam. However, the yard was completely empty.
Xu Wuyi’s gaze swept across the area, eventually landing on the door of the main house. The door was tightly shut, but a faint sliver of light peeked through the crack.
Xu Wuyi walked up to it and raised his hand again. But before his hand could even touch the wood, the door opened on its own.
A man stood behind it. Li Mingyuan.
He was dressed in a dark gray martial arts suit, his hair combed meticulously, and his expression perfectly calm. However, upon closer inspection, one could spot a trace of thinly veiled terror hiding deep within his eyes.
He looked at Xu Wuyi and spoke with a helpless tone, "Captain Meng, you’re here."
Xu Wuyi nodded. "I’m here."
Li Mingyuan let out a bitter smile. He tilted his head and looked up at the sky. Although he couldn’t see anything, he knew that there was indeed a pillar of light right above his head. The feeling of being completely seen through was terribly uncomfortable.
He fell silent for a few seconds before asking, "Captain Meng, can you let me off?"
Xu Wuyi looked at him and didn’t answer.
Li Mingyuan continued, "I know I broke the law. Smuggling military supplies in such massive quantities is enough to warrant the death penalty. But I have my own difficulties.
"I need money, a lot of it. I don’t spend it on myself; it’s used to grease palms, cultivate loyal subordinates, and... do many other things.
"Captain Meng, let me off the hook." He looked at Xu Wuyi, his eyes carrying a trace of pleading. "If you ever need anything in the future, I, Li Mingyuan, will go through hell and high water for you without a second thought."
After listening, Xu Wuyi thought for a moment and said, "Li Mingyuan, do you know why I came to arrest you personally?"
Li Mingyuan froze for a second.
Xu Wuyi continued, "It’s not because of how big your case is, nor how severe your crimes are, or even because of who you are. It’s because I want everyone to see that no matter who you are or who is backing you, as long as you break the law, you must pay the price.
"This is Order." He looked at Li Mingyuan, his voice calm yet unyielding. "Order requires power to maintain it, and today, I am that power."
Li Mingyuan’s expression changed. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.
He knew he couldn’t escape. It wasn’t because Xu Wuyi was too strong, but because he suddenly realized that this masked man genuinely didn’t care about his identity, his background, or who he knew.
He was simply and resolutely acting according to his own Rules.