"So what if you're openly provoking me?" sneered one of the Jinling rich heirs, totally cocky and clearly not taking Ryan Ling seriously. He was only this arrogant because he had the numbers—and home turf—on his side.
The people around froze for a second. They were pissed, sure, but with so many Jinling rich kids acting tough, nobody wanted to stick their neck out.
And as the Jinling heirs spoke, powerful Void Realm auras started flaring up all over, like they were showing off just how badass they were.
Most of the Jinling heirs here tonight were from the city’s top ten families. Sure, they weren’t quite on the same level as the Four Great Clans, but every single one was tough—and more than twenty Void Realm cultivators popped up all at once, each one packing serious power.
Obviously, only Jinling’s top-tier families could afford to keep this many Void Realm experts around. Some of these heirs weren’t weaklings either—they’d made it to the Void Realm themselves.
"You’ve gotta hand it to Jinling’s rich kids—their strength is legit!" Even Master Troma from Tibet couldn’t help but sigh. No matter how strong the outsiders were, Jinling’s heirs were just on another level.
"Ryan Ling, we’ve all heard you’re pretty tough. Wanna go a round with us? Treasure duels are just kid stuff—real respect comes from actual strength!" Zelin Wang, who’d been a little nervous before, suddenly got bold when he saw everyone looking his way.
"So you guys are just straight-up breaking the rules about no private duels before the tournament, huh?" Ryan shot the crowd a cold, amused look.
"Rules? Heh, we’re the ones who set the rules here in Jinling. We do what we want—just hope you’ve got the guts to play for real!"
"Yeah, forget treasure duels—let’s go all in! The Martial Arts Tournament’s just days away, so let’s have a real wager and see who’s actually got skills."
"That’s right, Ryan Ling, we’ve all heard the hype. People say you’re almost as famous as Young Master Qin—the number one in Jinling. Well, tonight we’re taking back our pride and putting you in your place!"
The other rich heirs started shouting too, all cocky and fired up. Looked like a private duel was about to break out for real.
"You guys are asking for it!" Ryan didn’t hesitate for a second—he strolled right toward the pack of Void Realm heirs.
"Boss!"
"Ryan!"
His brothers and Serena Yan and the others couldn’t help calling out to him, worried.
You had to realize—the ones challenging Ryan right now were Jinling’s top heirs (except for the Three Great Clans). On their own, they weren’t much, but together? That force was nothing to sneeze at.
"Everyone, stay back—don’t come over here!" Ryan glanced behind him and barked out the order.
"He’s got guts! Guys, he wants to solo all of us—don’t hold back, just give him everything you’ve got!" Zelin Wang shouted, and the others got hyped, showing off their Void Realm power.
Everyone else stared at the scene. Ryan’s reputation was huge, but most had never seen him in action. Watching him challenge a whole crowd solo—nobody could really believe it, but damn if it didn’t get their blood pumping.
"You guys think you can take me on?" Ryan Ling didn’t even flinch—hell, he looked bored. His Foundation-Building aura exploded out, way stronger than before. After all that training and popping Foundation-Building Pills, he was still a ways off from Golden Core, but his power had multiplied several times. Dude was leveling up so fast, it was nuts.
Next second, something absolutely bonkers happened: all thirty-plus Void Realm heirs around him suddenly got yanked up by some invisible force, hanging in midair like puppets on strings.
The whole crowd just straight-up lost it. People were frozen, jaws on the floor.
"Wait, this is Ryan Ling’s real power? Holy crap, if I wasn’t seeing this with my own eyes, I’d never believe it! This is insane!" Some of the out-of-province Void Realm experts looked ready to bow down, and even Serena Yan was totally stunned—she’d thought she’d seen all Ryan’s tricks back at the Shadow-Soul Cult, but now she realized she’d been way off.
Victor Warren, the fat, pig-faced president, was so shocked he just collapsed to the floor, speechless.
All the Void Realm heirs dangling in the air couldn’t say a word, but their faces screamed "please, spare us!"
Ryan just laughed, "So, you finally get how trash you are? You Jinling rich kids love to act all high and mighty, bullying out-of-towners and breaking tournament rules. Sure, this is Jinling, but justice still matters. What, you think you’re gods and the rest of us are dirt? You fight when you want, kill when you want—seriously, you think you’re emperors now? If I don’t teach you a lesson today, you’ll never know what real power looks like!" As soon as he finished, he went straight for Zane Warren.
"I—I lost the bet, I’ll eat shit!" Zane Warren freaked out, totally panicking as he realized his life was on the line.
Ryan gave him a cold grin. "Too late. You can eat it in your next life." Then—crack—he snapped Zane’s neck without a second thought.
At the same time, all the other so-called rich heirs got slammed to the ground, totally wiped out.
One kill was all it took to scare the crap out of the whole pack. Besides, now wasn’t the time to go all-out against Jinling’s upper crust. Ryan figured he’d save the real fireworks for the tournament.
But right as Ryan snapped Zane’s neck, he thought he saw the giant stone lion outside twist its head toward him—like, actually move! He blinked, rubbed his eyes, but the next second, the lion was just standing there, totally normal.
Was he just seeing things? Ryan was honestly a little freaked out.
"Nice! Well done! Zane Warren had it coming, and he totally brought it on himself!"
"Master Ling, you’re now our undisputed leader. From now on, we’re following your lead—no questions asked!"
"Come on, everyone, bow to Master Ling! After what we just saw, there’s no doubt—he’s the champion of this year’s Martial Arts Tournament!"
The whole crowd was hyped, cheering like crazy. Serena Yan and her daughter Lily looked at Ryan with this soft, admiring gaze—like trusting their lives to him was the smartest move ever.
"Uh, President Warren, are we still doing the auction or what?" The chaos had totally wrecked the schedule.
"Of course we’re doing it! Killing one little ant won’t ruin anyone’s mood, right?" Ryan was only here for the auction anyway—he wanted to see that rumored Dao Artifact. If he could snag it, winning the tournament would be a breeze.
"Exactly! Now that the ant’s gone, everyone’s in an even better mood. President, let’s get this auction started!"
"Right! We’re fired up—we can’t wait to show off at your Jinling auction!"
"Didn’t those Jinling rich kids say we were broke? Let’s show them just how loaded us ‘paupers’ really are!"
The out-of-province Void Realm heirs went wild, shouting and cheering. Ryan had just taught a whole squad of Jinling rich kids a lesson, and honestly, it felt amazing. Every year at these treasure conferences, those jerks would strut around like they owned the place—bet they’ll keep their mouths shut from now on.
Victor Warren was drenched in sweat. With Ryan standing there, he felt like he was staring up at a mountain—no way was he gonna act tough now. Voice trembling, he shouted, "Quick, start the auction! Let’s go!"
His dark-skinned aide didn’t dare slack off—he kicked things off right away, and a bunch of strongmen rolled out the treasures.
The auction started up with everyone loudly chattering. Ryan just plopped down in the center seat—if he wanted to bid, nobody dared to compete.
But out of all sixteen auction items, not a single one was even close to a Dao Artifact. In the end, Ryan just bought some top-tier Void Realm battle armor for Jason Lin, Harvey Jin, and Warren Yuan—gotta prep his crew for the tournament, right?
Still, it all felt kinda empty.
"Ryan, cultivation’s tough, and lucky breaks are even tougher. Dao Artifacts are insanely rare and powerful—it’s crazy hard to get one. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll help you look elsewhere!" The Ghost Elder saw Ryan’s disappointment and jumped in to cheer him up.
"Guess that’s all I can do." Ryan shook his head—after all that effort, he’d come up empty-handed.
"Master Ling, looks like you didn’t find any treasures you liked. I’ve got some private stash items—if you want any, just take them as my apology." Victor Warren was trying to be smooth, but Ryan barely glanced at them; nothing caught his eye.
"Thanks for the offer, President Warren, but I’ll pass." Ryan waved it off and was about to leave, when suddenly the Ghost Elder yelled out.
"Wait! Hold up!"
"What’s up? Something wrong?" Ryan was startled by the shout.
"There’s something weird about that stone lion—I’m picking up the scent of Thunder Essence." the Ghost Elder said.
"Thunder Essence? What’s that?" Ryan had never heard of it and was super curious.
"You don’t know? That stone lion’s probably been hit by lightning a bunch of times, and it’s got a bit of spirit—so it absorbed all that thunder power and formed Thunder Essence inside. That stuff’s crazy valuable! If you can harness it, you could create lightning-element sorcery. Wood-element sorcery is the best for defense, but lightning-element is the king of offense. If you master it, it’ll be as powerful as a Dao Artifact!" The Ghost Elder finished, and Ryan nearly jumped for joy. Talk about finding treasure when you least expect it!
Ryan didn’t hesitate—he spun around and called out to President Warren, "Hey, didn’t you say you’d give me something as an apology?"
"Absolutely! Whatever you want, just take it!" President Warren replied, grinning like crazy.