Chapter 161 How dare you!

Lu Hui naturally possessed his own pride. Faced with the fierce offensive, he did not choose to evade the sharp edge. With his strength, dodging the piercing finger attack would have been more than enough to defeat Lu Ting head-on.

Lu Hui assumed a stance with both palms, which was precisely the opening posture of the "Golden Light Palms." With a flick of his will, his palm wind formed a tangible surge of vital energy. The formidable palm force rushed straight toward Lu Ting. The two engaged in a blindingly fast and fierce battle within the martial arts arena, and gradually, Lu Ting began to fall behind.

Under the watchful eyes of the numerous Lu family disciples and Qian Santong's group, the two figures separated from time to time, only to violently collide again moments later.

Lu Ting resorted to a desperate, life-risking style of combat.

Watching the battle unfold in the arena, the Lu family disciples could not help but reveal looks of worry, for they could all see that Lu Ting was steadily losing ground.

Lu Hui also frowned slightly, as he had not expected Lu Ting to be able to unleash such formidable combat strength.

"Foolish!" Lu Hui sneered softly.

"Starting to risk your life now? Did you think you could defeat me this way?"

Suddenly, brilliant golden light erupted around Lu Hui, and a storm-like assault poured down upon Lu Ting. Not about to let up while holding the advantage, Lu Hui rushed right up to Lu Ting and landed a heavy punch on him.

Faced with this immensely forceful blow, Lu Ting did not dodge at all. At this moment, he had been completely consumed by rage.

The clash between the two was extraordinarily intense. Their finger strikes and palm blows exchanged rapid-fire blows. Under Lu Hui's tempestuous attacks, Lu Ting had already been struck several times, and his clothes were ripped to shreds by the shockwaves.

Another palm imprint struck squarely at Lu Ting's chest.

"Bang!"

Lu Ting took the blow dead-on, stumbling back several steps, his complexion turning increasingly pale.

"Humph, how foolish!" Lu Hui sneered.

"Roar!"

Disregarding the pain in his body, Lu Ting charged forward once more, only to be sent flying by Lu Hui yet again.

The Elder Patriarch of the Lu family and Lu Tianhong exchanged a glance, and both involuntarily looked toward Qian Santong. Qian Santong's eyes narrowed as he muttered, "Boiling the frog in warm water—what a ruthless heart!"

At this moment, Lu Hui felt an incomparable sense of exhilaration. This feeling of trampling someone beneath one's feet was simply too wonderful. He could have defeated Lu Ting in one fell swoop, but he chose not to do so. He wanted to torture Lu Ting and completely break him.

By this point, Lu Ting had lost count of how many times he had charged at Lu Hui. He lay on the ground, struggling and trying to crawl back up, but now he found it difficult even to prop his body up.

"Big Brother Lu Ting, let it go! Just admit defeat!"

The Lu family disciples began to urge him.

"Yes, Big Brother Lu Ting!"

"Big Brother Lu Ting..."

Lu Qian sat on the ground with hollow eyes, paying no attention whatsoever to the battle between Lu Hui and Lu Ting.

"My dantian is destroyed; I can no longer cultivate..."

Lu Qian kept repeating these words over and over.

Ignoring everyone's persuasion, Lu Ting once again managed to stagger to his feet. By now, he was completely spent, stripped of all strength to continue fighting.

Yet Lu Ting still gently clenched his fists and charged toward Lu Hui.

Though it was called a charge toward Lu Hui, in the eyes of the onlookers, Lu Ting's speed was immeasurably slower than before—inferior even to disciples in the Post-Heaven Realm.

Lu Hui gently sidestepped, and Lu Ting rushed right past him, tumbling heavily to the ground. By this time, Lu Ting's garments were utterly in tatters, with trails of blood hanging from the corners of his mouth.

Lu Hui slowly walked over to Lu Ting and planted his foot squarely on Lu Ting's face.

"Don't you all feel utterly resentful?"

Lu Hui asked indifferently, glancing at the surrounding Lu family disciples before pressing his foot down with even greater force.

Although Lu Ting was in agonizing pain, he still refused to cry out.

Already severely injured, Lu Ting could no longer endure such humiliation at Lu Hui's hands, and a mouthful of fresh blood spewed forth.

"Lu Qian, what is wrong with you? Since when have the disciples of our Lu family acted like this? So what if your dantian is crippled?" Lu Hai blurted out, unable to contain himself any longer.

Lu Qian still ignored everyone.

"Slap!"

Unable to hold back any longer, Lu Hai struck Lu Qian across the face.

"Snap out of it! Why do you think Big Brother Lu Ting is risking his life like this? It's entirely out of guilt! He believes he's the one who ruined you! If you keep acting like this, he will only carry that guilt forever, and he will never utter the words 'I admit defeat'—not even if it kills him!"

"Big Brother Lu Ting..."

A spark of vitality gradually returned to Lu Qian's eyes as he watched Lu Ting being trampled under Lu Hui's foot, coughing up blood yet refusing to yield.

"Big Brother Lu Ting, please admit defeat! I, Lu Qian, have hands and feet; even if I can't practice martial arts, I can still survive! Please, just surrender!" Lu Qian cried out at the top of his lungs.

With great difficulty, Lu Ting cast a glance at Lu Qian not far away and said, "Lu Qian... Big Brother has failed you!"

With those words, Lu Ting lost consciousness and passed out.

Lu Hui lifted his foot. Catching the scent of blood in the air, a wisp of blood-red fiendish qi reappeared on his hands and vanished in a flash, so swiftly that even he failed to notice it.

Seeing that Lu Ting had fainted, many of the Lu family disciples prepared to rush forward.

"Oh? It seems you have all forgotten the rules!" Lu Hui remarked.

"Lu Hui, leave a way out for others! Big Brother Lu Ting is already heavily injured; what more do you want?"

A Lu family disciple stepped forward and demanded.

"What do I want? Even if I killed him right now, what could you possibly do about it?" Lu Hui said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"You dare!"

An explosive shout resounded across the entire City Lord's Estate!

Two figures in white leaped through the air and swiftly landed in the martial arts arena of the City Lord's Estate.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Several other figures also arrived in rapid succession.

They were none other than Lu Han, Bing Yan, Uncle Fu, and several elders.

"Han'er, why have you returned?"

Lu Tian宏 asked in astonishment upon seeing Lu Han.

Previously, Lu Tianhong had prayed every day for Lu Han to return, but now...

"Han'er!"

Not far away, Meng Wan'er rushed over with Xing'er in tow.

"Wife? Why didn't you leave with them?" Lu Tianhong asked, a mix of shock and anger in his voice.

Earlier, to allow the women and children of the Lu family to evacuate safely, Lu Tianhong and the Elder Patriarch had fought desperately to hold off Tian Heng.

"I couldn't bear to leave you behind!"

Meng Wan'er's single sentence left Lu Tianhong utterly unable to scold her.

*Indeed, if it were me, I wouldn't have abandoned her either,* Lu Tianhong thought to himself.

Fortunately, Qian Santong had appeared; otherwise, had Lu Han and the Lu family elders returned at that exact moment, the losses would have been catastrophic.

"Father, let us deal with the matter at hand first," Lu Han said.

Though Lu Tianhong was brimming with questions and doubts, he knew Lu Han was right: Tian Heng and Lu Hui were the absolute priorities right now.

"I was wondering who it was; turns out it's just the brat from back then. What? Do you think coming back makes any difference?" Lu Hui laughed.

Looking at Lu Qian and Lu Ting lying on the ground, Lu Han felt his rage ignite like blazing fire.

Lu Ting was the eldest of their generation. Whenever they completed missions outside, he would always return to tell the younger ones about the outside world. Lu Han had been one of those eager listeners, and from the bottom of his heart, he had always regarded him as an elder brother.

"Whether it makes a difference or not, we'll only know after trying!"

Suddenly, everyone in the vicinity felt a biting chill wash over them.

Lu Han slammed his foot fiercely against the ground, and right where his boot struck, a plume of white frost began to slowly rise—this was the terrifying might of the "Heaven-Frost Chill."

"Innate Realm!"

"The Young Patriarch has actually broken through to the Innate Realm!"

"Even Lu Hui was only at the Post-Heaven Realm at the Young Patriarch's age, wasn't he?"

"This is simply too terrifying!"