Chapter 109 - 94: Meeting Tie Cheng Again
His tone was no longer as icy as before, just a bit flippant.
Jiang Ran didn’t pay him any mind. After a moment’s consideration, he flickered out of sight, heading toward Tie Cheng.
Li Tianxin didn’t move, staying put with the blade cradled in his arms, looking like he was settling in for a good show.
But then he saw Jiang Ran suddenly turn back, closing the distance between them in just two steps.
Li Tianxin froze.
"Not going?"
"Forgot something."
"What is it?"
The moment he asked, Li Tianxin saw Jiang Ran suddenly reach out and snatch the blade from his arms.
A powerful force yanked it away, and Jiang Ran’s voice drawled into his ear.
"Forgot my blade."
Li Tianxin stared at his now-empty arms, took a deep breath, and forced himself not to get drawn into an argument with Jiang Ran.
The little courtyard wasn’t very big to begin with. In just a few strides, Jiang Ran reached the yard where Tie Cheng was.
At that moment, the fake Monk was strutting about, a picture of arrogance.
The men Master Ma had brought to the inn to cause trouble for Jiang Ran the other day were all present.
But now, with the exception of Master Ma himself, the rest of them were no longer able to fight.
Master Ma was barely holding his own in the center of the yard, shouting as he fought.
"Sir, I don’t know how we’ve offended you, but if there’s anything we’ve done wrong, please just tell us... I’ll kowtow and beg for your forgiveness!
"You can kill me if you want, I just beg you not to harm my brothers!"
’That sounds just like Master Ma,’ Jiang Ran thought with a chuckle.
"HAHAHAHAHA."
Tie Cheng laughed before he spoke. When he was finished, he said:
"How amusing. Keep trying. Don’t even think about begging for mercy."
"If you manage to hurt me in the slightest, I’ll kill one of your brothers."
"Huh?"
Master Ma froze, feeling like something about that wasn’t right.
"And if you can’t hurt me, I’ll also kill one of your brothers!" Tie Cheng added.
Hearing this, Master Ma was completely dumbstruck. For a moment, he had no idea whether he should attack or not.
In that moment of hesitation, Tie Cheng thrust out a palm, slapping Master Ma’s hands aside. A fleshy, fat hand then swept across Master Ma’s chest.
With the sound of tearing cloth, the front of Master Ma’s shirt was ripped to shreds. He was sent flying backward, tumbling onto the steps of the doorway.
He struggled to his feet, glaring at Tie Cheng through gritted teeth.
"What... what the hell do you want?"
"You didn’t manage to hurt me."
Tie Cheng, however, just glanced at his hand and suddenly grinned.
"Your skills are pathetic. You can only lord it over others in a backwater place like Benma County, a frog in a well."
"When faced with a true expert, all you can do is submit."
"I told you, if you couldn’t hurt me, I’d kill one of your brothers. And I wasn’t bluffing... So, tell me. Which of these three do you want to die first?"
At these words, Master Ma could only shake his head.
"Sir... Sir, please, raise your noble hand."
"Raise my noble hand?"
Tie Cheng roared with laughter.
"That’s easy enough."
As he spoke, he hefted the great iron hammer in his hand, raising it high. He then asked Master Ma:
"Is this high enough for you?"
While Master Ma was still stunned, Tie Cheng, hammer held high, walked over to the man who used the short blade.
The man’s pressure points had been sealed, leaving him immobilized. All he could do was grit his teeth and glare at Tie Cheng.
Master Ma realized what Tie Cheng was about to do. His pupils constricted violently.
"No... NO!!"
But Tie Cheng’s face was a mask of excitement as his raised hammer came crashing down.
His hammer was incredibly heavy; a blow like that would smash the man into a bloody pulp.
Master Ma’s eyes burned with such fury they looked ready to split, but he was too grievously injured to move.
He could only watch, helpless.
But just as the hammer was about to connect, Tie Cheng’s expression suddenly changed.
His body leaped into the air, the hammer in his hand whipping around with a WHIR. He violently changed its direction, sweeping it horizontally toward the spot right behind him.
BOOM!!!!!
An incredibly muffled thud echoed out.
The hammer hung frozen in mid-air, caught firmly in a single hand.
Jiang Ran glanced at the hammer, then at Tie Cheng standing before him, and smiled faintly.
"Quite a bit of force."
"Who are you?"
Tie Cheng’s face changed. The force behind that swing was far greater than what he’d used against Master Ma, yet this man had caught it casually, making it look effortless, as if it were nothing at all.
’He looks so young. Where did an expert like this come from?’
Jiang Ran ignored his question. Instead, he looked at the hammer in his hand and suddenly channeled his Barbaric Dragon Strength. His five fingers clamped down like a vise. A teeth-grinding screech echoed out as Jiang Ran crushed the iron hammer in his bare hand, bending it out of shape.
Tie Cheng’s face paled. He heard Jiang Ran chuckle.
"So, it’s hollow... Let go!"
With a single-handed yank, Jiang Ran pulled backward. Unwilling to let go, Tie Cheng gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, trying to wrest it back.
But his strength vanished as if a clay ox had plunged into the sea, disappearing without a trace.
The hammer was pried from his grasp, inch by inch.
Seeing this, he changed his footwork and circulated his internal energy. With a series of HISSES, a line was gouged into the ground, shooting straight for Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran glanced down, a thoughtful look on his face. With a flick of his hem, he unleashed the power of the Creation Heart Sutra.
At first, it was but a single thread of energy.
But as that thread shot forward, one became two, the two energies merged and became four, four became eight, multiplying endlessly as if commanding infinity itself!
If Tie Cheng’s attack was a mere stream of Inner Strength, then Jiang Ran’s blast from the Creation Heart Sutra was a tidal wave, a tsunami.
Tie Cheng’s internal energy was instantly crushed by the overwhelming force, unable to put up any resistance.
After annihilating it, Jiang Ran’s power surged directly toward Tie Cheng.
Tie Cheng’s features scrambled in terror. He scrambled to let go of the hammer’s handle—what did a weapon matter now?
The most important thing was to run for his life.
But just as he tried to let go, would Jiang Ran allow it?
Jiang Ran’s internal energy shifted, and the force he was exerting instantly changed.
Tie Cheng felt as if his hands were glued to the hammer’s handle, making it impossible to break free.
That slight delay was all it took. Jiang Ran’s ’wave’ had already completely engulfed him.
A muffled grunt escaped his lips as he was sent flying.