Chapter 86: A Savage Beating

Lin Xingyun looked rather awkward, clearly having not expected Gu Sha to be so blunt. In his mind, such covert provocation should have drawn only a passive counterstroke; no one would lay things out in the open, for that would only make all pretense impossible and tear the mask clean away.

After a brief flicker of surprise, Lin Xingyun let go of his hand, his face still carrying that easy, unruffled smile, and said, “Mr. Gu, my apologies. We are all extraordinary people, and you, being of the first rank with such a formidable reputation, gave me a sudden itch to test my own measure. I was presumptuous. I am truly sorry.”

Gu Sha glanced at Lin Xingyun, then at Lu Shanyou beside him, and said, “I know exactly what you’re plotting. I have no interest in playing your little games. I’ll say this only once: whether you want to establish authority or complete your mission, do not come looking for trouble with me. Otherwise, the consequences will be severe.”

Both Lin Xingyun and Lu Shanyou looked somewhat embarrassed.

“Mr. Gu, you’ve misunderstood,” Lin Xingyun said hastily. “This mission is of great importance, and you did not attend yesterday’s meeting, so we simply wanted to explain the rules we set. We—”

Gu Sha cut him off at once. “What do your rules have to do with me?”

Lin Xingyun’s expression froze.

At that moment, the burly man beside him could no longer hold back and barked, “What kind of attitude is that? You didn’t come to yesterday’s meeting yourself. This is teamwork, and you—”

In that very instant,

Gu Sha moved.

Like a wraith, he appeared before the burly man and snatched him by the throat. The man’s words stopped dead in his throat.

“Do you even have a place to speak?”

Gu Sha lifted him by the neck, his expression indifferent and his voice cold.

At once, the atmosphere turned tense.

The extraordinary people from the Capital team and those from the Northwest team moved in, and the situation became instantly fraught and ready to explode.

Crash.

Mad Blade suddenly pulled the huge saber from his back and slammed it to the ground. Standing behind Gu Sha, he roared, “What are you doing? Closing in like that—looking for a fight?”

With Mad Blade’s bellow, the members of the City S team all stepped forward as well, standing behind Gu Sha.

Seeing the mood worsen, Lin Xingyun hurriedly went forward. “Mr. Gu, please calm down. We’re all teammates…”

“Teammates?”

Gu Sha snapped his head around to look at Lin Xingyun, then smashed the burly man to the floor. The stone beneath cracked apart, and the man coughed up blood, unable to rise.

Gu Sha looked at Lin Xingyun and said in a deep voice, “You think you’re worthy of being on my team?”

Humiliated like this by Gu Sha, even Lin Xingyun’s good breeding could no longer hold. His expression turned ugly.

“Mr. Gu, that’s a bit too far,” Lin Xingyun said coldly.

“Too far?”

Gu Sha said icily, “I only wanted to go and do one damn thing in peace, and you had to jump out and pick a fight. Isn’t it just because you want to put me down and take control of the team’s authority? Oh, and right—you also want to knock me off this first-rank title.

If you want to say it, then say it straight. Why not be honest? Why play all these tricks? Disgusting. I look down on nothing more than people like you, acting all high and mighty with your so-called sophisticated methods. Get lost.”

As he spoke, Gu Sha swept his gaze across the people from the Capital team and the Northwest team and said coldly, “Enough nonsense. All of you come at me together.”

As soon as he said that, the faces of the people from both teams turned extremely ugly.

Lu Shanyou, who had remained silent until then, could not help but say, “Mr. Gu, you may have misunderstood. We don’t mean anything of the sort, it’s just—”

“Get lost!” Gu Sha barked coldly. “If you want to fight, then fight. If not, then get out. Get as far away as you can!”

Lu Shanyou’s face stiffened.

Lin Xingyun took a deep breath. The anger inside him was already on the verge of breaking loose, but as a son of the Lin family, he had to preserve appearances and could not afford to give anyone leverage. Straining to contain his fury, he said, “Mr. Gu, you are being far too aggressive…”

“Damn it!”

Gu Sha threw a punch straight at Lin Xingyun.

Lin Xingyun was a seventh-rank warrior; his reaction speed was naturally far beyond that of ordinary people, and he immediately raised his hands to block.

Bang.

A massive impact rang out.

Lin Xingyun was sent flying backward at once and slammed heavily to the ground.

“That’s all?”

Gu Sha mocked him and strode straight toward Lin Xingyun.

“Do it!”

The moment the Capital team saw Gu Sha move, someone shouted. In an instant, a crowd surged forward, using every means at their disposal. The ability users were especially active, unleashing their powers—some spewed fire, others froze the air and more besides.

Heh.

Gu Sha let out a cold snort and stamped hard on the ground.

The power of the inscriptions erupted. The earth trembled at once as though an earthquake had struck, and a terrifying force burst directly from the ground like an invisible tidal wave, flinging every member of the Capital team into the air.

And in the next instant,

Gu Sha’s figure vanished. Then a streak of afterimage began flashing through the air.

Bang. Bang bang. Bang bang bang.

One collision after another echoed out as more than a dozen members of the Capital team were sent flying like broken kites, spitting blood and crashing to the ground in miserable cries.

Then, in the next instant,

Gu Sha appeared directly in front of Lin Xingyun.

Lin Xingyun had just struggled to his feet, blood still leaking from the corner of his mouth. A trace of panic flashed in his eyes, and he immediately activated his ability, causing a wall of ice to condense in the air.

Yet the ice wall had barely formed before a sharp crack rang out, and Gu Sha shattered it with a single punch.

Then Gu Sha seized Lin Xingyun by the throat and smashed him violently into the ground. Like hammering a sack, he drove a huge crater into the floor, then kicked Lin Xingyun away as easily as if kicking a football, sending him flying straight toward Lu Shanyou.

Lu Shanyou, his face full of shock, hurriedly reached out to catch Lin Xingyun.

But the tremendous force hurled both of them backward. They coughed blood and slammed to the ground in utter disarray.

“Who else?”

Gu Sha looked around at the others and said coldly, “I am the first-rank Gu Sha. I’m currently number one in the world. My name is right here. Anyone not convinced can challenge me one-on-one, or call your people to gang up on me. Anyone?”

Wherever Gu Sha’s gaze passed, the people he looked at all hurriedly lowered their heads.

Gu Sha took a step forward and appeared directly before Lin Xingyun and Lu Shanyou again. He kicked Lin Xingyun over onto the ground and said, “None of you are worth me using even one hand. What kind of courage do you have to come provoke me?”

As he finished, Gu Sha turned to the battered Lu Shanyou, seized him by the throat, and lifted him up. Lu Shanyou was also a seventh-rank warrior and tried to resist, but he had no strength to fight back at all. Gu Sha held him aloft by the neck, and terror filled his eyes.

“I hear you think you’re qualified to be first rank?”