Why did you provoke that old man? He's a reincarnation of a deity!

"What did you just mean? Were you threatening me? Are you trying to make me regret this?"

Li Jun had long disliked Xiao Nian. He couldn't stand that there was someone in Mizhou Prefecture who was even more pretentious than him!

The atmosphere in the arena was tense. Seven or eight of Li Jun's henchmen had already surrounded him, their hands on the short swords at their waists, staring at Xiao Nian with hostile eyes.

Xiao Nian didn't retreat a single step, looking at Li Jun calmly with a smile on her lips.

"Brother! Haven't you made enough of a scene?!" Li Mingmei finally couldn't hold back any longer, spurred her horse forward, and shouted sharply.

"You've cultivated for ten years and are still only at the Body Tempering stage. Instead of thinking about how to improve yourself, you're always thinking about how to bully others. Is that interesting? Why don't you go bully Martial Emperor Xiao Nian? Oh, I remember now, you bullied him, but you hid behind his back for fear of retaliation. How laughable."

Upon hearing his sister's words, Li Jun felt both ashamed and angry. These were taboo topics he had always wanted to avoid mentioning, and his sister had actually revealed his past for an old man.

"Mingmei, how can you speak to me like that for an outsider? Fine, Old Meng, kneel down and apologize to me, and I won't beat you to death today." In Li Jun's eyes, he had already given in.

Xiao Nian looked at Li Jun with her calm, unwavering eyes: "Make me kneel down? What a novel line. Can you? You couldn't before, and you can't now."

"You couldn't do it before, and you can't do it now? What do you mean?" Li Jun shouted.

"You don't deserve to know, your people are here to take you in."

A series of rapid footsteps and hoofbeats came from outside the forest, mixed with the clanging of metal.

In the blink of an eye, a large group of burly men in black emerged from the forest, numbering thirty or forty. Each of them carried a stick or a knife. The leader was a tall man in a black short jacket, standing 1.9 meters tall, with thick eyebrows, a dark face, and fierce eyes. He walked with a powerful gait and had a muscular build.

Standing next to him was the young man from the Shen family who had just been chased away by Li Jun.

"Brother, it's them!" Shen San pointed at Li Jun and the others, gritting his teeth. "I clearly shot that fox demon, but they took advantage of their numbers and snatched it away, even breaking my arrow!"

The burly man with a bushy beard, Yu Hu, glanced at the scene, paused for a moment on Li Jun, then looked at the three-tailed fox demon and the broken black arrow on the ground, grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Hello, Young Master Li? I've heard you're quite the big shot."

"Does having a large number of people make you great? Look at me here, aren't there a lot of people? Isn't that great enough?"

Li Jun's expression changed drastically.

He recognized Yu Hu, the underground emperor of Mizhou City, a figure who had connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, and who was said to have the Xia people backing him up.

Although his father was the prefect, Yu Hu was a man with nothing to lose, and he was capable of anything if provoked.

"Yu Hu?" Li Jun's voice was a little weak. "What are you doing here?"

"How did I get here?" Yu Hu laughed loudly, shaking the leaves in the forest.

"My sworn brother, Shen San, was bullied, and as his elder brother, of course I have to seek justice. Young Master Li, I heard that you stole his prey and broke his arrows?"

Li Jun's forehead began to sweat: "That was a misunderstanding. Xiaoyun and I clearly shot the fox demon first."

"Bullshit!" Shen San roared. "I've been watching that fox demon for half a month, and I shot it through the eye! And you? You think you can just take it after it's dead? That's blatant lying!"

Yu Hu's smile vanished, his gaze fixed coldly on Li Jun's face:

"Young Master Li, what's your explanation? This is the fox pelt my wife, Li Qian, has always wanted. My brother, Shen San, has been waiting for it for half a month. You're just going to reap the benefits like this? That's not right."

Li Jun's lips trembled slightly. The few henchmen behind him who had been so aggressive just moments before were now shrinking back, wishing they could disappear into the ground.

The thirty or forty men behind Yu Hu were far more ruthless than them; each one was a vicious character who had lived a life of extreme hardship.

"Master Yu, as you know, my father is Li Weigang." Li Jun revealed his last trump card.

"Snapped!"

A resounding slap landed on Li Jun's face without warning, sending him spinning around in place, and half of his face instantly swelled up.

Yu Hu waved his hand dismissively and said, "Your father? Even if your father came, we'd still have to reason with him. When you were breaking someone's arrows and stealing their prey, why didn't you think about your father?"

Li Jun covered his swollen face, not daring to utter another word.

Yu Hu stopped looking at him and turned to ask Shen San, "San'er, besides this kid, who else has bullied you?"

Shen San pointed to Duanmu Yun and Li Jun's henchmen: "These guys were all involved, and so was that woman. She touched the fox demon's fur and even cursed at me."

Yu Hu nodded and waved his hand: "Apart from Li Jun, everyone else who participated in bullying my brother, beat them all up! Make sure they can't get out of bed for at least a week!"

"Alright!" Thirty or forty men pounced on them like wolves and tigers, instantly surrounding Li Jun's henchmen and Duanmu Yun.

Screams, pleas for mercy, and the muffled thuds of punches landing echoed throughout the room. The henchmen who had been so arrogant just moments before were now rolling on the ground, their faces bruised and swollen.

Duanmu Yun was held up by two burly men, her face turning pale with fright. She screamed, "What are you doing! I am a young lady of the Duanmu family! My father is Duanmu Ningyong!"

"You dare to utter the name of a mere merchant!" Yu Hu said coldly. "Even if the King of Heaven himself came today, he'd still have to give my brother an explanation!"

A moment later, all the henchmen collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain, each with at least two broken ribs.

Duanmu Yun wasn't beaten, but two burly men held her arms, which frightened her so much that tears streamed down her face and her makeup was ruined.

Yu Hu's gaze swept over the remaining people. Li Mingmei was feisty enough, which he liked. And who was this pretty boy? And what was this old man doing riding on my Black Cloud Steed?

He grinned and stroked his short beard:

"The little beauty is indeed pretty. How about this, you stay and keep me company at the hunting grounds for a few days, and this matter will be over. Otherwise, at least the Li family boy's father will have to come and ransom him, and as for the others, I can't guarantee their life or death."

The underlings present had never suffered such a blow before. They had always lived a life of luxury following Young Master Jun, but today they had encountered a formidable opponent. They all looked at Li Mingmei with pleading eyes.

Everyone understood what he meant. Playing along with him for a few days—what kind of game could that be?

Li Mingmei's face turned deathly pale, and she said in a trembling voice, "I'm also Li Weigang's daughter! You can't do this."

"Another one from the Li family?" Yu Hu raised an eyebrow. "Then play with me for now, I'll redeem them later. As for the rest, take them all away and beat them up, especially that pretty boy, take good care of him. I can't stand men who are whiter than me."

"Understood."

Two burly men stepped forward to pull Ye Tianming away.

Xiao Nian was moved.

His hunched figure had already blocked Ye Tianming's way.

The two burly men reached out halfway, only to feel a blur before their eyes and a numbness in their chests. They were sent flying, crashing heavily onto the grass five steps away, unable to get up for a long time.

Everyone in the room was stunned.

Yu Hu's gaze sharpened as he looked Xiao Nian up and down. The old man was so withered he looked like a dried corpse; he didn't seem like the type to throw someone away with his bare hands.

"Old man, who are you? What gang do you belong to?" Yu Hu asked in a deep voice.

"You are not worthy to know my name," Xiao Nian said calmly.

"You fucking don't want to live anymore?" Yu Hu had never seen such an arrogant person in his life, especially since the other party was a decrepit old man with all his life force gone.

"Yu Hu, is it? You've come here, vented your anger, and taken the demon fox. There are some things you shouldn't have done. Give me some face, and let's just let this matter go today."

Yu Hu laughed angrily. "Give you face? You? Who do you think you are?"

"Me?" Xiao Nian thought about it seriously for a moment. "If we're talking about something, it's something you can't afford to offend."

These words caused an uproar in the room, and everyone looked at Xiao Nian as if he were a madman.

Li Jun was inwardly devastated: "Don't drag me down with you if you're looking to die! And when Yu Hu gets his fill of killing, don't he just kill me too?"