The Revenge of the Reborn Supreme Sovereign

"Young Master Ma!"

The six hedonistic youths chorused, seeming to sense the abnormal atmosphere as they watched Chen Shan grit his teeth and struggle to his feet.

Ma Yunhai, however, gave no response. He simply stepped forward.

He stared directly at Chen Shan, who straightened up inch by painful inch, and said, "Whether you’re a dog or a person, Chen Shan, you’ve reached a peak in life far beyond ordinary people. You should know that, today aside, the things you’ve done would warrant execution ten times over, so you should be satisfied with that. Every circle has its rules. Since you chose to enter this one, it was decided that you could only do so as a dog. Things have come to this, and I don’t want to get angry over your howling and barking. There’s gain and loss in this world. You chose the path of a dog yourself, and it’s that path that has allowed you to live so splendidly until today. Look around Beijing. Are there few people more capable than you? Why is it that you, of all people, climbed to a height that countless others look up to? Don’t you have a clue?"

HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...

After struggling to stand, the bruised and battered Chen Shan leaned against the Great Wall, gasping for air. Then, he suddenly burst into hysterical laughter. "Haha, hahaha! HAHAHAHA!"

"I admit it, you’re right! The things I’ve done are enough to get me shot ten times over. But if it weren’t for you sons of bitches, would I have done so many despicable things? Huh?! I know what you’ll say—that no one forced me, that my despicable acts have nothing to do with you. But have you bastards ever considered how many of those messes started because of you?! Haha, you told me to clean up your messes. How was I, an underworld figure, supposed to do that? By persuading them with reason and kindness? Fuck that! If anyone is clueless here, it’s you! All of you!

"All these years, when you pointed east, I never dared to go west. When you told me to bark like a dog, I never dared to roar like a tiger. Have you ever considered that I have dignity, too? Huh?! I admit, without you, I would have never reached this height. But if time could be turned back, I would rather die than ever enter your circle! My dignity, my backbone, my very spine... it’s all gone, all broken, all buried within that circle!

"Anyone can talk about being a whore while demanding a monument to their chastity! Anyone can fucking fake being a gilded beauty that’s rotten to the core! I’ve lived for more than forty years, only to be walked like a dog by you sons-of-bitching bastards! I’m fucking sick of it! Since my fate is sealed, since you want to annihilate me, since you want to offer a pledge of allegiance by bootlicking, fine! I accept my fate! But we’ll see if you even get the chance to make that pledge!"

From speaking slowly at first to a hysterical tirade at the end, this long speech laid bare all the humiliation, resentment, and regret Chen Shan had endured over the years. His roars became the narrative of this Chapter of his life.

As his final word echoed, he gave his arm a sharp shake.

Instantly, a miniature Browning pistol slid down from his shoulder and out of his sleeve.

Though his body was covered in painful wounds, Chen Shan’s movements were incomparably swift and practiced. He had clearly rehearsed this motion no less than ten thousand times.

The moment he grasped the miniature Browning and placed his finger on the trigger, the six hedonistic youths screamed in terror, "Young Master Ma, watch out!"

"I’ve been a dog for years. Today, Chen Shan will be the one to drag you all down with me!"

Amid the youths’ terrified screams, Chen Shan let out a ferocious, crazed laugh. The words had barely left his lips before he acted, leaving Ma Yunhai no time to react.

He pulled the trigger!

BANG!!!

Along with the acrid smell of gunpowder, a bullet shot precisely toward Ma Yunhai’s chest.

"AHHH!!!"

Hearing the gunshot, the tourists watching from a dozen meters away screamed and fled in a mad scramble. Chaos erupted amid the shouts and cries.

Faced with the bullet fired by Chen Shan, Ma Yunhai’s mind went completely blank. It was not that he did not dodge or forgot to; he simply could not react to the sudden violence. His brain short-circuited. After all, he had never experienced anything like this, nor had he ever imagined that he would.

Am I going to die?

In that lightning-fast instant, the thought of death surged through his mind.

"NO!!!" Ma Yunbin, who felt he had not lived nearly long enough and that death was a distant concept, shrieked hysterically. His cry sounded like a man’s final words.

But just as the bullet was a hair’s breadth from Ma Yunhai’s chest, at the most critical moment, a stream of air shot out from a distance.

With a soft whoosh, the bullet that was supposed to have pierced Ma Yunhai’s chest without question suddenly curved, veering straight toward the fleeing tourists.

"I’ve been spotted," Li Tiandao, who had not fled with the crowd, said with an amused chuckle as he watched the bullet head right for him.

He swiftly extended two fingers and caught the incoming bullet between them. Then, with a casual flick, he sent it flying over the Great Wall, where it vanished into the dense forest.

"Master!" Xiao Er exclaimed in a low, shocked voice.

"Calm down. It’s a trivial matter. Being exposed isn’t surprising. As long as he didn’t notice you, that’s enough," Li Tiandao said with a faint smile. He clapped his hands together but remained rooted to the spot instead of moving forward.

"Master, since he’s discovered us, why don’t we leave?" Xiao Er asked, baffled.

"Leaving now would be a dead giveaway. We’ll just wait for him to come to us."

With a light chuckle, Li Tiandao turned his smiling gaze back to the scene unfolding a dozen meters away.

The shot had missed, the bullet veering off course.

When this impossible scene registered in the eyes of the determined Chen Shan, he shook his head violently. "No, no, that’s impossible! How is that possible!"

As he stammered in disbelief, Ma Yunhai, who had no time to ponder what had just happened, roared, "Run! Find cover!"

At his words, the seven old-school toughs seemed to unleash their latent human potential, dashing like the wind to hide behind Director Wang’s attendants. Having spent time around the military district, even if only for recreation, Ma Yunhai and his friends knew that in a situation like this, not finding cover was a death sentence. Running across the dozen or so meters of open ground would just make them targets. Finding cover was the only way to survive.

As Ma Yunhai’s group scrambled, Chen Shan snapped back to his senses, his face twisted into a grotesque mask of fury.

He fired his Browning wildly in their direction without aiming. However, his moment of stunned disbelief had given them more than enough time to react. By the time he pulled the trigger again, Ma Yunhai and his six companions were already using Director Wang’s attendants as human shields.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

All seven bullets, including the one that had initially missed, had now been fired by Chen Shan.

PHUT! PHUT! PHUT!

PHUT! PHUT! PHUT!

Not a single shot missed its mark, but none of them struck a member of Ma Yunhai’s seven-man crew. The six attendants, used as cover before they could even react, had become scapegoats.

With each soft impact, an eerie mist of blood exploded from their bodies.