Demonstration

A Grandmaster? Su Huaiyue froze slightly. A Grandmaster? Who did he mean? Her gaze fell upon Yaoguang. *How could that be possible?!* Compared to Su Yaoyu, she understood far better what weight the title of "Grandmaster" carried. She knew equally well what a Grandmaster represented. It meant... Across the entire Tiannan Province, every single person would sit down politely and reason with you through facts and logic. It meant no one would dare resort to underhanded, under-the-table schemes against any faction backing or backed by him. It meant everyone in a major family could sleep soundly with absolute guarantees for their personal safety. It also meant possessing the ultimate leverage to overturn the table at any moment anywhere in Tiannan. Only... *Yaoguang?!* It couldn't be him. He had indeed taken up martial arts recently. Yet hadn't he been practicing for only a year or two? She didn't know the exact duration, having never paid much attention, but it was unquestionably a recent development. He couldn't possibly be a Grandmaster. Then... There was only one explanation! Had he become the disciple of some Grandmaster, coming on that Grandmaster's behalf to negotiate a partnership with the Su family? "Go on," Yaoguang said to Secretary Lin. "See whether Patriarch Su wishes to enter into this partnership. If not, I can just find someone else." Not daring to take this lightly, Secretary Lin hurriedly replied, "Please wait a moment, Young Master Yaoguang. I will inform the chairman immediately." With that, she bustled away. "Yaoguang, what did you mean by those words?" A trace of caution crept into Su Huaiyue's tone. Yet Yaoguang offered no explanation. He simply extended his perception through the entire Buzhou Group building once more. There were no red dots within the Buzhou Group premises. That made sense. Although demons were not few in number, they were not so ubiquitous as to be found everywhere. Typically, only one or two would be entrenched within a city of millions. That was precisely why, upon sensing three demons in Yulong International, he had deemed it a demon's den. "Yaoguang..." Seeing that he didn't answer, Su Huaiyue did not lose her temper. Instead, she spoke again, intent on asking further. Right then, Secretary Lin, who had just left, hurried back and said briskly, "Young Master Yaoguang, the chairman requests your presence." Yaoguang gave a slight nod and followed her out of the lounge. Seeing this, Su Yaoyu stepped forward to follow, but Secretary Lin tactfully held her back. "Miss Yaoyu, the chairman wishes to speak with Young Master Yaoguang alone." "Oh." Su Yaoyu looked on with some concern. Meanwhile, Su Huaiyue leaned in close beside her and asked in a low whisper, "Yaoyu, Yaoguang... has he taken some Grandmaster as his master? Who is it? Xie Yusheng? Feng Dong? Or Xia Wuyuan?" "Xiaowei only said he's had some success in martial arts... As for whether he's taken a master, I really don't know," Su Yaoyu replied. By now, she had realized Su Huaiyue's attitude was somewhat unusual. The weight of a Grandmaster seemed vastly greater than she had imagined. Among the Ten Tigers of Tiannan, quite a few were also called martial arts masters or martial arts grandmasters by the public. But those people... Even Long Daoqi, the foremost of the Ten Tigers of Tiannan, had to fight life-and-death matches and rely on a promotional management company behind the scenes just to rake in a hundred million. Those near the bottom earned a few tens of millions a year. Compared to ordinary people, that was naturally remarkable. Yet compared to the middle generation of the Su family... Which of them didn't pull in hundreds of millions annually? How could the two even be mentioned in the same breath? Yet from the look of things now... it seemed that wasn't the case at all. Was it because Yaoguang was young and possessed greater potential? Because of these uncertainties, she did not give Su Huaiyue a definitive answer. Hearing this, Su Huaiyue sighed inwardly. She vaguely understood that if Su Yaoguang truly came carrying the cooperative intent of a Grandmaster, her hopes of succeeding Su Huaifeng as a board director of the group would become tenuous. Still, it wasn't a foregone conclusion. A Grandmaster... Single-handedly, such a figure rivaled an entire prominent clan. Her father would certainly have to weigh the risk of inviting a wolf into the house. If the other party's demands were too steep, her father would undoubtedly shut the door in their face. Everything hinged on how the negotiations played out. *No wonder he waited until now to return. Turns out he found a backer and grew bold,* Su Huaiyue muttered to herself. *** Chairman's Office. Secretary Lin led Yaoguang into the spacious eighty-square-meter room, which was decorated in an imposing, luxurious style. Su Chiming did not rise from his seat on the sofa. He looked levelly at Yaoguang as the youth walked in. Besides him, a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties stood by his side, his gaze likewise falling onto Yaoguang. Once the two entered, Su Chiming waved a hand toward Secretary Lin. Secretary Lin immediately withdrew and shut the door behind her. Excellent soundproofing sealed out every trace of noise from the corridor. "Yaoguang," Su Chiming murmured the name. "Named according to the generational order of our Su family." He studied Yaoguang up and down. "This counts as our first meeting in all these years. Ah, the grievances between parents—why must they ever embroil their children?" Yaoguang cast an eye over Su Chiming. He could tell that the elderly patriarch had a foundation in martial arts. However, at over seventy years of age, compounded by decades of pampering and luxury, that foundation had long since deteriorated into near ruin. At best, it merely granted him a bit more vigor and better health than other elderly men. Yet this came as no surprise. Forty or fifty years ago, the path of martial arts had flourished far more than today. Only with the blistering advances of modern technology in recent years had aircraft and heavy artillery squeezed the living space of martial practitioners. Add to that social stability and improved living standards, and fewer and fewer people were willing to endure the bitter toil of martial training, causing the martial arts circle's influence to decline. Decades ago, during the world-shaking period when the Xuelong Empire and the Chixing Federation were locked in total war, which patriarch of a major faction wasn't a renowned Martial Grandmaster? Su Chiming was in his twilight years. Yet the middle-aged man beside him possessed remarkably robust qi and blood. With Yaoguang's insight as a Martial Saint, a single glance at that qi and blood told him that this man was a top-tier Martial Master with fully tempered sinews and bones. Even stacked against figures of the caliber of the Ten Tigers of Tiannan, he would not pale in comparison. "That makes things simple," Yaoguang remarked. He extended a hand toward the middle-aged man. "Shall we cross hands and see where we stand?" A flicker of surprise crossed the middle-aged man's eyes, his brow furrowing in confusion. Beside him, Su Chiming was equally at a loss. After a brief pause, Su Chiming cut straight to the point: "Which Grandmaster do you represent in coming to discuss cooperation? Xie Yusheng? Feng Dong? Xia Wuyuan? Or is it Zhang Tianji or Yue Xingzhou?" Of those five names, Yaoguang had heard of the first three. The latter two... he was hearing for the first time. Yet upon a moment's reflection, it was hardly strange. Although Ye Yuhe was a member of the martial arts circle, not every Grandmaster sought fame in the public martial arts community. Perhaps the circles they occupied no longer required relying on martial arts fame. "I represent no one," Yaoguang replied. "I represent only myself." "Yourself?" Su Chiming froze slightly. Immediately grasping the true implication of those words, his brow knitted tightly. The middle-aged man was astonished. "Don't tell me you mean..." "Thousands of words are never as convincing as crossing hands in person. So why not simply test it out?" Yaoguang extended his hand in an inviting gesture. The middle-aged man glanced at Su Chiming in surprise, his eyes seemingly asking for a decision. A look of amazement appeared in Su Chiming's eyes as well, though it was overshadowed by disbelief. Yet Yaoguang stood there brimming with utter confidence... With brief consideration, Su Chiming quickly made up his mind. Just as the boy said, thousands of words could never match an actual exchange in persuasiveness. "Hold back a little. Don't hurt the boy," Su Chiming instructed. "Understood." The middle-aged man turned toward Yaoguang and offered a faint smile. "My name is Leng Jun. By relation... I am your third uncle-in-law. I have practiced martial arts since the age of eight, and now, at thirty-nine, my cultivation has borne fruit. I am proficient in Muay Thai and the Thirty-Six Heavenly Astral Hands. If I wished to test for the rank of seventh-level Grandmaster among the ten martial ranks, I could pass it. After all, Feng Dong would not personally step into the ring to examine me, and with the exception of him, I fear none within the Martial Arts Association in the slightest." "Yaoguang. The art I practice is Formless Boundless. As for martial certificates, I've never tested for one. However, the Grandmasters I have slain..." Yaoguang paused mid-sentence. Many Martial Masters could unleash the combat power of a Grandmaster once possessed by demons. Someone like You Long had even reached the pinnacle of internal organ tempering, yet in the eyes of ordinary people, they were still classified as Martial Masters. Therefore... "In life-and-death combat, I have killed a few Martial Masters," he rephrased instead. Yet even though he had phrased it with as much tact and modesty as possible, Leng Jun was still left speechless. Killed Martial Masters? And *a few*? How many Martial Masters were there in the entirety of Tiannan? It wasn't even certain whether the total reached triple digits. Where could he have possibly found so many Martial Masters to kill? Did he mean top-tier martial artists who pulled strings to obtain a fourth-level Martial Master certificate? Or charlatans who lacked even a fourth-level credential and merely proclaimed themselves Martial Masters after training for a few years? Still, Leng Jun didn't call him out. Young men often aimed too high; that was only natural. As long as he possessed the strength of an ordinary Martial Master, he would be well worth the Su family's dedicated cultivation. Just like himself back then—the only reason Old Patriarch Su had been willing to allow him, a man of common birth, to marry the third young miss of the Su family was that he had demonstrated the strength of a Martial Master at the young age of twenty. "You first," Leng Jun said. "It's merely crossing hands." Yaoguang shook his head and reached directly toward Leng Jun's hand to seize it. Leng Jun had originally intended neither to dodge nor parry, letting him take hold freely. But the moment Yaoguang actually made his move, Leng Jun discovered... it wasn't a matter of whether he wanted to dodge or not; he simply *couldn't* dodge. Almost the instant he saw Yaoguang's hand reaching out, five fingers had already locked onto his right hand. This abrupt turn of events immediately alerted Leng Jun. *This junior of Su Huaifeng's line... has real skill!* Amidst these thoughts, his reaction was lightning-fast. The bones and sinews throughout his body chimed in unison. With a sharp shudder of his torso, a burst of jin surged into his arm, intending to twist free and forcefully shatter the grip of Yaoguang's fingers. Yet almost at the precise moment his jin erupted, Yaoguang's right hand pressed down slightly. A burst of jin penetrated inward, seeping straight into his sinews and bones. Leng Jun felt a sudden numbness wash through his entire arm. The jin he had painstakingly gathered was completely shattered on the spot. Not only that, but this strike of jin seemed to originate from Yaoguang's very viscera. After scattering Leng Jun's gathered jin, it resonated through his body, setting his internal organs booming in resonance. Accompanied by the violent disruption of his qi and blood, that booming reverberated through his mind like a great bronze bell. It was as though he had been squatting for far too long and suddenly stood up—his vision went black, and he was struck by overwhelming dizziness. *It's over!* The change in that single instant made Leng Jun realize that if this were a life-and-death struggle, his life would already be entirely at Yaoguang's mercy. It took him two to three full seconds to recover from the vertigo. When he did, he realized Yaoguang was still holding him, though the tight grip had shifted into a steadying support. Remembering his shameful display just now—having his internal organs rattled and his qi and blood thrown into complete disarray—Leng Jun's face flushed crimson. His lifelong reputation was ruined in an instant! Seeing that Leng Jun had regained his senses, Yaoguang released his hand. "What was that?" Su Chiming was momentarily unable to fathom the depths of what had just transpired. He had only seen Yaoguang grab Leng Jun's arm, whereupon Leng Jun immediately acted as if struck by an electric shock, his body swaying so violently he nearly collapsed before Yaoguang steadied him. At first glance... it looked almost as if the two were merely playing around. "It is over," Yaoguang said. "Yes, it's over," Leng Jun replied with a bitter smile. Yet in the very next moment, realization struck him like a thunderbolt. Yaoguang's jin just now had not only shattered his own force, but it had also vibrated his internal organs and thrown his qi and blood into chaos with pinpoint precision, plunging him into vertigo. The five viscera resonating as one! Jin penetrating through to the organs! A Grandmaster! That was the method of a Grandmaster! At this moment, he finally understood what Yaoguang meant by "I represent only myself"! Staring in sheer shock at the youthful face before him, his eyes brimmed with utter disbelief. "That Grandmaster... is you?!"