Chapter 47: Su Tianhao's Strength
"A Peak Stage Martial Apprentice and a 1st level Martial Disciple want to rob me. Tell me—are you worthy?"
Hearing those eerily calm words, both Ye Jianping and Gao Min's expressions darkened.
'He can see through our cultivation bases,' Ye Jianping thought, his instincts screaming a warning that made his blood run cold. 'Which means either he possesses terrifying perception—or he's stronger than us.' Although he didn't want to accept the second possibility, his instincts already had.
Gao Min felt equally unsettled. He shifted quietly into a defensive stance as something dangerous radiated from Su Tianhao's seemingly relaxed posture.
Ye Jianping's frown deepened. Every instinct told him he wasn't this person's match—and yet his pride absolutely refused to accept that conclusion. He was a four-star talent genius of the Ye family. Su Tianhao had awakened with zero measurable stars at his testing ceremony. The mere thought of feeling intimidated by someone he had always considered beneath him was a severe blow to his ego.
"Together! Attack together—he can't handle us both!" Ye Jianping shouted, desperation bleeding through the rage in his voice. His spiritual aura exploded outward, revealing the cultivation base of a 1st level Martial Disciple.
Gao Min's expression turned grim. He released his own restraint simultaneously—the momentum of a 9th level Martial Apprentice surging forth. The two auras collided and merged, building an oppressive pressure intended to crush Su Tianhao's composure entirely.
He remained utterly unfazed. His expression carried an unsettling calm that was somehow more threatening than anger. "Since you're going all out, it would be disrespectful not to return the favor..." His voice trailed like frostbite winter, "just try not to die."
The moment the words left his mouth, his previously restrained aura erupted—shattering the combined pressure of both opponents like fragile glass meeting a sledgehammer.
"W-What—" Ye Jianping's confident expression crumbled. "How is this possible?"
Gao Min's eyes narrowed sharply as he analyzed Su Tianhao's fully unrestrained aura. "1st level Martial Disciple Realm! But this—this isn't the spiritual pressure a normal 1st level Martial Disciple should possess!"
Ye Jianping's eyes lit up as he identified the cultivation level. A surge of triumph partially restored his shattered confidence. He stepped forward with renewed arrogance. "So you've broken through to the Martial Disciple Realm as well. Your spiritual aura is surprisingly strong—but so what? You're still only at the 1st level! It's two against one. You can't possibly win!"
Gao Min's expression brightened considerably. "Even if his aura is unusually strong, he's still only at the 1st level. We definitely still have a chance."
"Two against one?" Su Tianhao smiled coldly, his tone heavy with contempt. "You honestly think numerical advantage is enough to defeat me? Think again."
"Don't get cocky!" Ye Jianping shouted with mounting frustration. "I don't know what unorthodox methods you used to advance so rapidly, but today we'll deal with you properly and teach you a lesson for the Su family's sake!"
Su Tianhao's eerie calm broke.
"Feigning righteousness!" His aura surged violently, the controlled indifference gone in an instant. "How dare you accuse me of using unorthodox methods?!"
Unorthodox methods were forbidden cultivation techniques that rapidly elevated strength at a terrible cost—slowly erasing the practitioner's humanity, compelling them toward increasingly evil acts. Cultivators who walked that path were universally condemned throughout the cultivation world as sinners against the heavenly dao itself. To be falsely accused of such practices was not something Su Tianhao could absorb with cold amusement.
"Just speaking the obvious truth," Ye Jianping said with a mocking smile, pressing the wound deliberately. "Without forbidden techniques boosting you artificially, how could trash like you grow this powerful in such a short time?"
"Exactly! With zero cultivation talent, you couldn't have reached the Martial Disciple Realm even if you had a million years of intense training!" Gao Min sneered with open disdain.
"Enough!" Su Tianhao exploded forward with terrifying momentum—dust kicked up, the ground cracking beneath his explosive launch.
"Hahahaha! Don't overestimate yourself!" Ye Jianping laughed arrogantly, completely misreading what was coming. "Gao Min—together!"
"Yes!" Gao Min's expression turned serious despite Ye Jianping's laughter. Even with the numerical advantage, he couldn't fully shake the deeply unsettling feeling radiating from Su Tianhao's charging figure.
He committed everything he had.
"Stone Pulse Fist—Stone Echo Strike!"
Gao Min's voice thundered through the narrow alley as he surged forward to meet the charge. The ground cracked beneath his explosive leap. His fist clenched bone-white, prominent veins surging along his straining arm as stone-like density visibly gathered at his knuckles—spiritual energy condensing with absolute focus into a single devastating point.
He thrust forward in a perfectly executed straight-line punch. A dull, resonant boom followed the impact, as if a massive boulder had slammed against solid steel. Close behind it came the technique's true essence—a rippling secondary force mirroring the initial blow like a delayed echo. If the first strike failed to land cleanly, the trailing shockwave could still catch an unwary opponent completely off-guard.
Faced with this, Su Tianhao remained utterly unfazed. He met the strike head-on without executing any technique of his own—simply throwing a casual, unenhanced punch.
Ye Jianping's lips curled with cruel satisfaction. 'Trash is still trash. He hasn't even cultivated a proper martial arts technique. Even if he reached the Martial Disciple Realm through forbidden shortcuts, without a technique to draw out his strength he cannot utilize his full potential. Gao Min might not finish him—but he'll definitely inflict serious injuries. After that, crushing this arrogant fool will be easy.'
Gao Min's grin widened as he saw Su Tianhao coming with nothing but a bare fist. His momentum surged to its absolute peak, fully committed to delivering a devastating blow.
Hmph.
Su Tianhao snorted coldly as their fists collided.
BOOM!
A thunderous impact sent shockwaves rippling through the alley in all directions. Ye Jianping's eyes lit with eager anticipation, fully expecting to watch Su Tianhao crumple.
What he saw instead shattered every expectation he had.
Gao Min was sent flying backward even faster than he had charged forward—his body launched like a broken ragdoll, crashing violently into a pile of rubble with a sickening crunch. A bloodcurdling shriek tore from his throat, echoing through the desolate alley like the tortured wail of a mortally wounded beast.
Ye Jianping turned toward Gao Min's crumpled figure in absolute horror.
Gao Min's right hand—the one that had collided directly with Su Tianhao's punch—was completely shattered. His fingers twisted at sickeningly unnatural angles, blood and mangled flesh dripping from the destroyed appendage. He clutched the ruined hand desperately, face deathly pale and distorted with unbearable agony, eyes bulging red with tears and impotent hatred as he glared weakly at the distant figure of Su Tianhao. There was nothing he could do. He was far too broken. He collapsed unconscious moments later, finally overwhelmed by pain and burning frustration combined.
"NOOO!!!"
Ye Jianping's voice cracked with genuine anguish, his eyes turning bloodshot as the full weight of what he had just witnessed crushed heavily on him.
With Gao Min's dominant hand crippled, his future in martial arts was severely hindered. Even expensive treatment couldn't restore what had been lost—and by the time any recovery was possible, every peer he had trained alongside would be hopelessly far ahead.
Gao Min was his childhood friend. They had come from humble backgrounds together, shared the same dream, taken the Ye family entrance examination side by side and passed together. At the talent awakening ceremony, Ye Jianping had emerged with four-star talent while Gao Min had awakened only three stars—relegated to ordinary disciple status with limited resources. But Ye Jianping had never forgotten where he came from. Even as he rose to prominence, earned the Ye surname, and was granted access to superior resources, he had always brought Gao Min along on every opportunity he could—eager to see his childhood friend rise alongside him.
Seeing that hand destroyed now consumed him entirely.
He turned toward Su Tianhao with eyes blind with rage, face flushed crimson. "How dare you! You filthy, demonic bastard—if I don't take revenge for him right here and now, I'll never be able to face him again!"
Su Tianhao looked at him with cold indifference. "He attacked me with lethal intent. I defended myself and retaliated. What kind of twisted logic says I'm the one in the wrong?"
"You—" Ye Jianping pointed at him with a trembling fist, his face red and contorted as his own hypocrisy was thrown back at him with surgical precision.
"Did you really think you could constantly provoke, offend me... and walk away freely?" Su Tianhao's voice dropped to something that froze the air between them. "I don't think so."
"AAAAH!"
Ye Jianping's maddened roar tore through the alley like a primal battle cry.
"DIE!!!"