Overlord of the Wilderness

Watching Lee Liang slowly approach, Zhaang Ye’s brow furrowed. His mind was far more mature than that of his peers, and he always acted with purpose. With the Four Races’ youth tournament just around the corner, Zhaang Ye only wanted to quietly return to his Cultivation and improve his strength. He had no interest in getting into a pointless fight like this.

Releasing the green-clothed girl’s Long Whip, Zhaang Ye called out sharply, ”Wait!”

”Wait?” Lee Liang sneered as he stalked closer. He taunted, ”Kid, admitting your mistake already? Heh heh, it’s too late for that. Time for you to hit the ground!”

As he spoke, Lee Liang’s hand suddenly shot out, grabbing for Zhaang Ye.

Lee Liang’s lunge was incredibly fast. Before his words had even faded, his hand was already slicing through the air with a sharp whistle as it reached for Zhaang Ye. Though the move was simple, with no tricks, its sheer speed and the power in his grip were enough to injure a Martial Artist of the Martial Arts Fourth Layer.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was Zhaang Ye.

Zhaang Ye didn’t want a pointless fight, but he wasn’t afraid of one either. Seeing Lee Liang press his attack, Zhaang Ye sneered inwardly. He threw up an arm as if in a panic, a clumsy, artless block.

A smile touched Lee Liang’s lips when he saw Zhaang Ye’s reaction. His claws instantly shot toward Zhaang Ye’s shoulder; he planned to crush the bone and be done with it.

Crushing Zhaang Ye’s bones would both win the beauty’s favor and cripple a young expert from the Zhaang Family. It was killing two birds with one stone; Lee Liang had no reason not to do it.

His fingers whistled through the air and clamped down hard on Zhaang Ye’s shoulder. At that moment, Zhaang Ye seemed scared stiff, not even showing an instinctual reaction. A vicious glint flashed in Lee Liang’s eyes as power surged into his hand, ready to shatter Zhaang Ye’s shoulder bone.

But just then, the hand Zhaang Ye had held in front of him coiled out like a venomous snake. Its speed was beyond description; the backhand motion created its own whistling gust. Before Lee Liang could even begin to react, Zhaang Ye had seized his wrist!

’This kid was hiding his strength!’ The shock that shot through Lee Liang was no small matter. His combat instincts took over, and he counterattacked without a second thought. His arm trembled violently as he tried to shake off Zhaang Ye’s grip. Simultaneously, his other hand balled into a fist and smashed toward Zhaang Ye’s nose.

In close combat, reaction speed and strength are paramount. Lee Liang’s reaction speed and strength were both first-class. The fist he aimed at Zhaang Ye’s nose struck like an Iron Hammer, moving too fast for the naked eye to see. If that punch landed, not only would Zhaang Ye lose his nose, but his skull would be cracked wide open.

Lee Liang was quite pleased with his reaction, but he had no idea it was exactly what Zhaang Ye had anticipated. Zhaang Ye’s expression remained unchanged. The hand gripping Lee Liang’s wrist suddenly tensed, instantly neutralizing the force traveling up Lee Liang’s arm. Then, his palm shook once and whipped outward.

With that one shake from Zhaang Ye, Lee Liang felt as if every bone in his body had been rattled loose, and the True Qi within him was thrown into utter chaos. Zhaang Ye’s follow-up throw nearly scared him out of his wits; he discovered that his own body had been sent flying, and the punch aimed at Zhaang Ye’s nose lost all its power mid-flight!

Lee Liang couldn’t help but let out a cry of alarm.

The green-clothed girl watching the fight from the side was also startled. Her almond-shaped eyes widened, and she covered her small mouth with one hand. She couldn’t believe that someone with Lee Liang’s strength had been subdued by Zhaang Ye in a single move!

Just then, something even more shocking happened. Zhaang Ye’s arm flexed, and after swinging Lee Liang around three times like a scarecrow, he viciously slammed him into the wall.

BOOM!

Amidst the green-clothed girl’s gasp, Lee Liang’s body slammed viciously into the wall. The alley walls were built of thick bluestone, several feet thick. Yet this single impact cratered the wall, sending fist-sized chunks of stone tumbling down.

After being slammed like that, Lee Liang felt pain in the soles of his feet, his calves, his thighs, his ass, his waist, and his back. A tidal wave of agony washed over him, forcing an involuntary groan from his lips.

”Haha, groaning in pleasure?” Zhaang Ye laughed heartily. Amidst the green-clothed girl’s shrieks, he once again swung Lee Liang’s body and smashed him against the wall.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Zhaang Ye swung him again and again, smashing his body into the wall. Defeated in a single exchange, Lee Liang’s heart flooded with humiliation. The look he gave Zhaang Ye was like that of a little girl who had been brutally gang-raped—humiliated to the extreme, yet utterly helpless. He struggled desperately, but Zhaang Ye seemed to have limitless strength. The more he resisted, the harder Zhaang Ye smashed him, making his body sting with fiery pain, and his heart burn with a fiery shame.

As Lee Liang was being brutally slammed, his heart was filled with humiliation. The onlooking green-clothed girl’s mind, on the other hand, was a complete blank. She had lost all of her elegant composure. Her eyes grew wider and wider as she muttered over and over, ”Impossible... impossible... Senior Brother Lee is the second-strongest member of our Lee Family’s Inner Sect! How could he be defeated in one move? How is this possible? How is this possible?”

Zhaang Ye didn’t go too hard on Lee Liang. After five or six slams, he finally stopped. As if tossing aside a bag of trash, he casually threw Lee Liang several dozen feet away.

Lee Liang was a pathetic sight. His once-dashing yellow robes were now tattered and bloodstained. He looked like a beggar who hadn’t bathed in a decade, or a savage mauled by a Fierce Beast. He struggled to prop himself up, wanting to say something. Just then, Zhaang Ye chuckled and said, ”Thinking of spouting some tough words? Want to threaten me? If so, I’d advise against it. If you piss me off, I don’t mind smashing you a few more times.”

”You!” Lee Liang had been defeated in a single exchange and beaten half to death in front of the green-clothed girl. The immense humiliation made him pass out right then and there.

Having dealt with Lee Liang, Zhaang Ye laughed and turned to the green-clothed girl, about to say a few words. Suddenly, the girl reacted as if she’d seen a monster, leaping several dozen feet away and putting a great distance between herself and Zhaang Ye.

It turned out that Zhaang Ye’s brutal treatment of Lee Liang had terrified the girl.

Zhaang Ye shook his head helplessly and said, ”Miss, is that really necessary? If I wanted to harm you, it wouldn’t matter how far you ran!”

The green-clothed girl watched Zhaang Ye warily and said, ”I think I’m better off keeping my distance. Don’t get any ideas about me, or I’ll tell Sister Yue Mei.”

Zhaang Ye had a very sharp eye, and he noticed an unusual expression flicker across the girl’s face when she mentioned Zhaang Yumei. It was a look of longing, mixed with a hint of shyness—the kind of look a young girl has when speaking of her lover.

’Lover?’ A possibility occurred to Zhaang Ye, and everything suddenly clicked into place. His gaze turned a little strange as he stared at the green-clothed girl, making her skin crawl, until he finally spoke, ”Miss, are you... fond of Sister Yue Mei?”

The green-clothed girl nodded and said, ”Of course I’m fond of her.”

Zhaang Ye slowly shook his head and gave a knowing smirk. ”The way you’re fond of her... it’s not the way one friend is fond of another. It’s the way between lovers.”

”Ah!” As soon as the words left Zhaang Ye’s mouth, the green-clothed girl cried out in shock, her pretty face turning deathly pale.

Seeing her reaction, Zhaang Ye was now completely certain. Zhaang Yumei and this green-clothed girl were actually in a same-sex relationship. Zhaang Ye could hardly believe it!

Influenced by memories from his previous life, Zhaang Ye felt no revulsion toward a relationship between two women. He looked at the distraught girl, shook his head, and said, ”Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about this. But a relationship like yours will be difficult to maintain. You should watch out for yourself.”

With those words, Zhaang Ye turned and walked out of the alley. He was striding back toward his family’s compound when he suddenly saw a young man in cyan robes standing ahead, as if waiting for him.