Chapter Six: Heroes of the World—Who Can Withstand This Finger?

Yuan Tiangang risked his life in a desperate struggle, buying Jiang Ziyue a precious moment. Her long, alluring legs moved in frantic haste as she seized the chance to escape the private room. Before leaving, Jiang Ziyue grabbed Jiang Yu’s arm. “Hurry, are you waiting to die?”

Jiang Yu replied with a faint smile, “You go first.”

Jiang Ziyue hesitated, then cursed, “Idiot.” With that, she dashed out of the room.

If they didn’t leave now, none of them would get out tonight. In her panic, Jiang Ziyue had no time to explain the gravity of the situation to Jiang Yu.

Bang!

Yuan Tiangang was sent flying once more, slamming hard into the wall.

The pack leader strode forward, his expression fierce and wrathful. The technique he had mastered was surely the Indestructible Vajra Method—his entire body as hard as iron. In this era, aside from experts above the Convergence Stage and firearms, nothing could harm him; an ordinary person’s blow was like punching a steel plate.

This very technique was something Jiang Yu had once handed to Li Hao. In Jiang Yu’s eyes, it was no better than trash.

Yuan Tiangang struggled upright, his face dazed. He hadn’t expected to be so badly beaten, while his opponent was left unscathed.

“If only the captain were here!” he muttered with a bitter smile.

The two other middle-aged men hastily flattered the pack leader. “Didn’t expect you to have perfected your technique, Brother Wolf—impressive, truly impressive.”

The pack leader approached Yuan Tiangang, intending to deal with this boy first before turning to Jiang Yu. He knew Yuan Tiangang’s background and dared not cripple his cultivation—at most, he would teach him a lesson and throw him out the door of Azure Sea Clouds. If Longteng learned their team member had been crippled, they’d descend in force to exterminate Li Hao.

“Yuan Tiangang, give me one million, and I’ll save your life,” came Jiang Yu’s calm voice from within the private room, just as Yuan Tiangang was sinking into despair.

Everyone froze.

Was Jiang Yu truly a fool, or only pretending?

Yuan Tiangang suddenly calmed, a self-deprecating smile on his lips. “Save me? Jiang Yu, you have no idea what you’re up against. Forget it—with your understanding, explanations are pointless.”

Jiang Yu smiled. “Three seconds to decide. One million.”

Yuan Tiangang glanced at the pack leader before him, terror flooding his heart. He hadn’t expected to encounter a master so soon after entering the mundane world. His trump cards had been instantly crushed by the pack leader.

He looked at Jiang Yu; for a moment, the smile at Jiang Yu’s lips brimmed with unshakable confidence.

So be it. One million it is. Even if Jiang Yu couldn’t save him, the result would be the same. He was curious to see just how far Jiang Yu’s bravado would go.

Only the pack leader frowned. He had reached his position through caution, never underestimating anyone. Besides, Jiang Yu didn’t seem like a fool—after witnessing so much, he maintained such composure. Did he really have something to rely on?

“Fine. I’ll give you one million,” Yuan Tiangang said through gritted teeth, leaning against the wall.

The pack leader seethed with rage. Was everyone daring to boast in front of him now? Or had his long silence made people forget his name?

He laughed uproariously, stepping before Jiang Yu. “Kid, don’t say I’m bullying you. Come, I’ll let you have two punches.”

After all, in his eyes, Jiang Yu was already a dead man. The only reason he hadn’t killed him yet was to see what cards this arrogant youth might have.

Under everyone’s puzzled gazes, Jiang Yu looked around, then picked up a cleaning towel and wrapped it several times around his hand.

“What are you doing?” the pack leader asked curiously.

Jiang Yu looked down at his towel-wrapped hand and spoke softly, “I’m afraid I might kill you.”

A stir swept through the room.

“You’re mocking me,” the pack leader snarled, eyes wide. Today, this man must die.

Jiang Yu ignored his anger and walked up to him. “You just said, as Yuan Tiangang did, that you could kill me with one finger. I’ll use his words: if you can withstand one finger from me, I’ll spare your life.”

With that, Jiang Yu extended his towel-wrapped index finger and lightly tapped it toward the pack leader’s forehead.

Yuan Tiangang and the two other men in the room all looked on in amusement. But Yuan Tiangang could only muster a bitter smile; was he really pinning his hopes on a fool?

Moments later—

The pack leader shrieked, his pupils contracting in terror. As Jiang Yu’s finger drew closer, he felt locked in place, an overwhelming sense of doom rising within him.

Such a presence—he’d only felt it when facing Li Hao himself.

Finally, the finger neared his forehead.

Of all the heroes in the world, who could withstand this finger?

Bang!

Around the pack leader, a shockwave exploded like a jet breaking the sound barrier. A visible vortex of air rippled outward from his forehead.

He screamed in agony, his body thrown back; the Indestructible Vajra Method was instantly shattered, skin cracking in gruesome layers.

The first thing to give way was the towel wrapped around Jiang Yu’s hand, which disintegrated into dust, like a weathered bag bursting into powder at a mere touch.

The room fell deathly silent. Yuan Tiangang, as if seeing a ghost, cried out, “A Master of Force Convergence? No—an expert at the Grand Mastery of Integration?”

The pack leader, heedless of his pain, scrambled to escape. His two companions stared at each other in shock; the man who had commanded the room a moment ago now fled like a beaten dog.

Just as the pack leader was about to reach the door, Jiang Yu opened his mouth, and a stream of icy white mist shot forth, piercing straight through the pack leader’s back.

It bored through his body and struck the door of the room.

With a crisp crack, the door—like soft tofu—gaped open with a hole the size of a bowl. The white beam, fading only slightly, drilled into the corridor wall beyond, embedding itself deep.

Another scream rang out, and the pack leader collapsed, barely clinging to life.

“An expert at the Grand Mastery of Integration?” Yuan Tiangang stared at Jiang Yu in disbelief.

Was this really the cripple once abandoned by the Jiang family?

Jiang Yu looked down at his finger, shook his head in dissatisfaction, and murmured, “Alas, without my former cultivation, even with the Heaven-shaking Force, he still had the strength to escape.”

A fragment of ancient memory flickered through Jiang Yu’s mind.

In ages past, it was said that an immortal among mortals once used the Heaven-shaking Force to point at the sky, piercing the firmament itself. The heavenly waters poured down, flooding seven provinces.

Later, in the legends of Huaxia, it was written: Nuwa patched the sky with stones, repairing the very breach made by that immortal’s finger.

“If I were at my peak, a single finger could turn half of Cloud City to dust,” Jiang Yu thought silently.

Li Hao’s right-hand man, the pack leader, a master of condensed force, was now dead?

Yuan Tiangang’s eyes widened in fear. He knew Li Hao’s temperament—fiercely protective, always siding with his own. Rumor had it Li Hao was a master on the verge of the Dissolving Force, ready to break through at any moment. His true terror lay in his vast network of connections.

Moreover, the pack leader had once saved Li Hao’s life; the two were as close as brothers.

Yet Jiang Yu stood there, composed and unperturbed.

This was bad; things had gotten out of hand.

Yuan Tiangang’s heart pounded—if Li Hao was enraged, not a soul in North River would know peace. Even a Grand Master of Integration like Jiang Yu was no match for firearms and weapons in the mortal world.

With Li Hao’s resources, if he truly wanted to kill a Grand Master of Integration, he could exhaust his own fortune to do so.

And the pack leader was just that sort of man for whom Li Hao would risk everything.

Jiang Yu’s gaze settled on the fat man who had harassed Jiang Ziyue. The man, terror-stricken, collapsed to his knees with a thud.

“Spare me, master!”

Jiang Yu couldn’t be bothered to raise a hand. “Tomorrow, prepare ten million and deliver it to Jiang Ziyue of the Jiang family. If the money is paid, you may live. If not, not even the ends of the earth will save you.”

With those words, Jiang Yu turned to leave. He had already lingered too long.

As for the one million Yuan Tiangang had promised, surely, after witnessing his abilities, the man would pay up—unless he was a fool.

There was no one in the world who could steal Jiang Yu’s money and live to enjoy it.

“Jiang Yu, wait!” Yuan Tiangang called, stopping him as he was about to leave.

Jiang Yu turned his back. “What is it now?”

Yuan Tiangang clenched his teeth, resolve hardening. “The pack leader won’t last much longer, and I have my own connections. If he dies and you just walk away, when Li Hao comes to settle accounts, not only the Jiang family but my Yuan family will be destroyed.”

Jiang Yu turned, amused. “Oh? Then, what do you propose?”

Yuan Tiangang gritted his teeth. “Let’s go all the way—kill the pack leader and silence the witnesses. Before Li Hao can mobilize his powerful connections to hunt us down, we strike first: assassinate Li Hao. Then none of us will be in danger. You’ll even inherit all of Li Hao’s fortune and influence. You’ll be the next Li Hao of Cloud City!”

Jiang Yu looked at Yuan Tiangang. “Very well. I’ll wait here for Li Hao to come and settle the rest.”

With that, Jiang Yu calmly sat down on the sofa and poured himself a glass of red wine.