A Brawl

"Hey, 'Island Master' actually has a nice ring to it! From now on, let's call him Island Master Min!" The pirates jeered and sneered in a cacophony of mockery. Qiu Hu and his men stood motionless. Wang Fubao, the youngest among them, was burning with indignation and wanted to retort, but Qiu Hu glared at him, forcing him to swallow his words in sullen silence. *Save it for later, and we'll settle the score all at once.* Seeing them stay silent, the pirates clamored even more aggressively. Filthy curses poured from their mouths, and one of them even made suggestive faces at Wang Fubao, blowing a lewd whistle in his direction. Only then did Min Tianxi wave a hand. "All right, all right, give the island master some face. I'd like to hear Island Master He explain: what does leaving look like, and what does staying look like?" "Either you surrender—I happen to be short of hands and have plenty of work for you to do," He Lingchuan said with an even expression, "or you get out. I'll give you a deadline: you must clear out of the Yangshan Archipelago and its surrounding waters within seven days." The pirates instantly erupted in an uproar. This time, Min Tianxi didn't stop them. He clenched his hand into a fist the size of an earthen crock and waved it at He Lingchuan. "Brother He, take a piece of advice from me: the Yangshan Archipelago is a place where might makes right. Even the Bailie people have no pull with us. That deed in your hand—heh, as far as I'm concerned, it's just a scrap of waste paper!" He leaned forward slightly. "As for the rest of the Yangshan Archipelago, play around however you like; but the territory of the Second Channel remains the territory of the Second Channel! If anyone dares shift it by a hair, we'll take their life!" With that, he snatched the wine flagon from the table, crushed it flat in a single grip, and hurled it onto the sand. Fragrant wine spilled across the ground, red as blood. Spittle flew as Min Tianxi bellowed, and He Lingchuan raised a hand before his eyes, wary of getting sprayed. His voice remained steady. "What if the yin hui continue their sneak attacks on you?" "That's our business, nothing to do with you," Min Tianxi sneered. "You stick to prancing around on your own tiny plot of land. Don't come looking to get yourself killed here." He Lingchuan slapped his hands against his knees and stood up. The bandits behind him instantly tensed on high alert. Yet he merely bent down, picked up the crushed flagon, turned it over twice in his hand, and muttered, "What a waste. This flagon was rather expensive." He casually kneaded it a few times, and the crumpled vessel was actually bent into an irregular, flat silver disc. No matter how malleable silver was, it could never be kneaded like a lump of dough in the hands of an ordinary person. Min Tianxi's expression darkened. He Lingchuan looked back at the bandit chief. "So, as long as my fists are harder than yours, you'll fall in line, won't you?" The moment those words were spoken, Min Tianxi knew a fight was inevitable. He sprang from his chair and lunged straight at He Lingchuan, bellowing at the same time, "Get them!" The surrounding pirates had long been champing at the bit. Brandishing their gleaming weapons, they hacked toward Qiu Hu and the others. "Show no mercy!" Qiu Hu's grip was like an iron vise. He seized the wrist of the nearest pirate and twisted hard; the man buckled, his hand no longer able to hold his saber. Before the blade hit the ground, Qiu Hu punched him squarely in the throat. With his index finger knuckle protruding in a "phoenix-eye" strike, it slammed directly into the apex of the bandit's Adam's apple. With a sharp *crack*, the cartilage shattered. Though made of soft cartilage, under the amplification of Qiu Hu's immense power, it pierced backward through the windpipe. The man collapsed onto the sand, his legs twitching incessantly as he clutched his throat with bulging eyes, emitting raspy, choking gasps. With Qiu Hu's strength, he could have effortlessly delivered a fatal blow, but he had held back. *This bastard mocked us earlier, so let him suffer a bit longer.* Seeing another pirate sneak attack Lü Qiuwei from behind, Qiu Hu gave a flourish in the air, his wrought copper staff already in hand, and slammed it directly into the base of the attacker's neck. The deft force sent the man flying a full zhang away. When he staggered to a halt, his ears were ringing violently. Instinctively, the bandit reached up to cover his ears, but felt a chilling breeze on his hand—two of his fingers were gone. Before his shriek could fully escape, his upper lip was sliced away. Only then did he realize Wang Fubao had closed in with a frosty glare, blood dripping from his blade. This was the very cur who had whistled at him earlier, and Wang Fubao fully intended to gouge out his tongue! Meanwhile, Min Tianxi pounced straight at He Lingchuan, who casually hurled the silver vessel at his face. *Child's play?* The flying flagon nearly blocked his sight, so Min Tianxi tilted his head to dodge, sweeping a hand-ax straight toward He Lingchuan's belly. He Lingchuan failed to evade, and the dark-gleaming ax drew a precise horizontal line across his abdomen. *A hit!* Min Tianxi felt an initial surge of triumph. His hand-ax had two distinct traits: once it wounded an enemy, even if it drew a mere drop of blood, the pain would be magnified tenfold! The difference was comparable to a tiny pinprick versus the sting of a giant hornet. The second trait was sluggishness. A wounded foe's movements would slow down, leaving them entirely defenseless before Min Tianxi. Yet a moment later, shock took over, for the ax had met none of the satisfying resistance of cutting into flesh and blood! *An illusion? Damn it!* At the same time, he heard a subordinate cry out in panic nearby, "Chief, watch—" He spun around frantically, but it was too late. A heavy kick landed squarely behind his knee. The force of the blow was inhuman. Min Tianxi felt as though he had been stomped on by an elephant; his leg bone let out a low groan. Two flashes of red light erupted from his body, followed by two soft pops— Two protective magic artifacts had burst in succession! Had they not absorbed the brunt of the impact, his leg would have snapped on the spot. Experienced as he was, Min Tianxi swung his hand-ax in a backhanded sweep toward the enemy behind him even as he dropped to one knee. Yet his opponent was faster. A snow-bright saber flashed past from the flank. Min Tianxi felt a sudden chill at his neck, the edge of the blade already resting against his throat. His ax was effortlessly deflected by a buckler. The chilling blade aura was so piercing that goosebumps erupted across his skin. Before the blade had even pressed in, a cut opened on his neck. Blood began trickling down, and he dared not even swallow his saliva. Immediately after, an agonizing pain seized the wound. The sensation raged like a wildfire, burning all the way into his internal organs. Min Tianxi gritted his teeth and barely held out for ten breaths before buckling over from the agony—his lungs and nasal cavity felt as if they were on fire, and every breath scorched him inside out! He Lingchuan stepped heavily onto his back, pressing his upper body down until it nearly flattened against the sand, then angled the blade to force his chin up. "Open your eyes wide and take a good look!" Chaos raged all around, but anyone with eyes could see that He Lingchuan's men held the upper hand. In particular, the towering man wielding the wrought copper staff clearly relished cracking heads open, having already battered at least four bandits into a colorful, bloody mess. One of the bandits was a spellcaster. Seizing an opening, he formed hand seals and summoned a water snake technique. Surrounded by the sea on all sides, the man gestured, and several transparent, colossal water serpents surged from the waves, hurtling straight toward the men of Mount Rong. Seeing this, Qiu Hu planted his copper staff into the ground, drew a deep breath until his chest and abdomen caved inward, and unleashed a thunderous roar: "Tai—!" The roar burst like a bolt from the blue, jolting the blood and qi of everyone present and leaving them dizzy and disoriented. Those with weaker cultivation or shaky resolve instantly clutched their ears and doubled over, vomiting. The water snakes bearing the brunt of the blast were the most wretched. Having almost reached the men of Mount Rong, they were shattered into mist by the raging sonic shockwave, collapsing with a loud splash as harmless water onto the white sand. Behind Qiu Hu, a dark shadow flashed past.