In an instant, the two village committee thugs moved with lightning speed. Their strength was clearly top-notch, and you could tell from how practiced they were at forcing people to kneel that this wasn't their first rodeo.
They went straight for Ryan Ling’s knees. Ryan’s face showed pure helplessness as he was forced to kneel down.
With a crisp "thud," the sound echoed—so loud that even the stone tiles on the ground cracked.
“Ha! Hurts, doesn’t it? Your knees are toast, huh? Serves you right for cursing our chief—saying he’d drop dead? Are you out of your mind?”
“Yeah, crush his bones! Let him feel real agony, show him how tough Little Hades is. Chief, just give the word—should we snap his fingers first, or his toes?”
The two committee thugs held Ryan down, laughing smugly, both looking to the chief like they were trying to score brownie points.
But right then, just as they turned their eager eyes toward Tony “Tiger” Wang, his face suddenly changed. That ferocious, man-eating look vanished, replaced by an expression like he’d swallowed a hundred pounds of bitter medicine—wanting to cry but not daring, wanting to laugh but unable, looking utterly miserable.
“Chief, what’s wrong? You feeling sick or something?”
“Yeah, is it that old hemorrhoid acting up again?”
The two thugs were quick on the uptake, immediately chiming in.
“Honestly, if I get up now, maybe your chief still has a shot. But if I keep kneeling for a few more seconds, he’s definitely going to end up a dead tiger. Saving your beloved chief is up to you.” Ryan shook his head, totally speechless. He could feel the power of his kneeling divine art kicking in, and this time it was even stronger—the chief had way too much ego, and now his whole body probably felt like he was getting stabbed with needles.
“Bullshit! Our chief is Little Hades’s strongest, respected by everyone and praised for generations. No way he’s as useless as you say!”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine! He’s fiercer than a real tiger! You think your little tricks can fool him? He saw right through it ages ago. What, you think you’re some soul-hooker? Our chief’s soul is solid as steel—keep dreaming!”
The two thugs glanced at the women’s league ladies, who instantly caught on and started roaring like a pride of lionesses.
“Go chief! Chief is invincible!”
“Chief, we love you like our first crush!”
“Forget husbands—chief is the real love!”
......
One wild slogan after another rang out from the crowd.
Maybe it was all those fangirl chants, but the chief suddenly sucked in a deep breath. For a man, saving face is everything, so he had to tough it out. All at once, his gang-qi and corpse-qi surged out, and he gritted his teeth, yelling, “Hell yeah! Who do you think I am? I’m Little Hades’s top dog! You think one kneel is enough to kill me? Dream on!”
“Way to go, chief!”
“That damn kneeling divine art finally failed! Little Hades is unbeatable, chief is unbeatable!”
“Kill this punk! Finish him off right here at the ancestral hall so every martial artist in the province remembers—Little Hades is a forbidden zone, don’t even think about messing with the Grandmaster Cemetery!”
......
Seeing all this, hearing those shouts, the surrounding martial artists froze, chills running down their spines. Everyone knew Tony 'Tiger' Wang was insanely strong—countless people had tried to kill him over the years, but every assassination attempt, open or secret, ended in failure.
Sure, Ryan Ling’s kneel killed King Bonebreaker and Second Uncle, but taking out Tony Wang? That sounded way less believable.
Just then, Ryan finally spoke up: “You think forcing your chief to keep toughing it out is helping him? You’re actually killing him, you know? Since you asked for it, I’ll use my ultimate move. You all know my kneeling divine art is strong, but my kowtow is even deadlier. If I slam my head down, your chief is toast!”
“Go ahead, kowtow! If you’ve got the guts, do it! Our chief, the hero of Little Hades, fears neither kneeling nor kowtows!”
“Yeah, go for it! Our chief’s divine art is unbeatable. You could smash your head to bits and it wouldn’t matter!”
The two committee thugs sneered, totally unfazed. But Tony Wang’s face suddenly turned green. He knew better than anyone how freaky Ryan’s kneeling divine art was—he was already burning through every ounce of strength just to hang on. One more push and he’d cough up blood. Hearing Ryan talk about the kowtow, Tony couldn’t help but wave his hand, wanting to stop it.
“See that? Chief’s waving his hand—he doesn’t care at all! Go on, kowtow! We actually want to see how hard your head is!” The two committee thugs kept egging him on.
Ryan didn’t hesitate for a second—he slammed his head hard onto the ground.
Tony Wang squeezed his eyes shut, too scared to watch.
But a few seconds passed—and he seemed totally fine!
His face lit up, and the women’s league ladies started gearing up to cheer again. But right then—BOOM! A huge crash sounded as the massive Little Hades ancestral hall behind him collapsed. Tony Wang spat a mouthful of dark blood, his clothes exploded, and he shot through the air like a burst balloon, landing hard on the ruins of the hall.
Instantly, every villager in Little Hades was stunned, collapsing limply to the ground.
“You two were shouting so loud just now—want me to kowtow for you too?” Ryan swept his eyes over the two committee thugs.
The two guys turned ashen, dropped to their knees, and started kowtowing to Ryan, babbling, “Kneel-and-kowtow god, spare us! Please, please don’t kowtow to us—we’re begging you!”
(Chapter not finished yet~.~ Click next page for more!)
“Scaredy-cats. Anyone else want to try?” Ryan turned to the trembling villagers. Everyone shook their heads furiously—a few had already wet their pants.
“Great God, so mighty!”
“Great God, unbeatable!”
......
Seeing all this, the bullied martial artists and the county joint-defense officers who’d suffered under Little Hades finally broke into cheers.
Little Hades had been a malignant tumor here for years—everyone wanted it gone, but it was just too strong for anyone to touch.
Now that Tony Wang, the murderous menace, had been blasted away, it was like everyone finally got to vent their rage. Naturally, the crowd went wild with celebration.
And Ryan Ling? He was just unreal. Nobody else could break through, but he did it with nothing but kneels and kowtows—talk about the strangest thing ever.
“Master is insane—he’s got so many skills, I could spend lifetimes learning them all!”
“Totally! Master Ling is bottomless. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t believe it. With skills like this, why should we fear those Wuzhou bastards? If they show up, we’ll kneel one, kneel them all to death!”
“Exactly! When we hit the tournament stage, forget everything else—just kneel and kowtow. Those stuck-up Wuzhou punks are doomed!”
......
Right then, Warren Yuan, Harvey Jin, and even the four formerly timid tournament fighters started daydreaming out loud.
Ryan Ling just shook his head. This kneeling-and-kowtow divine art was probably unique to him, and it only worked on the lowest underworld ranks—wouldn’t be nearly as effective on anyone else.
“Alright, enough fantasizing. Time for real business—let’s get to the Grandmaster Cemetery before dark. Warren, you lead the team and start soul-ferrying those restless spirits!” Ryan sighed. Even though Tony Wang was dealt with, the real mission hadn’t even started yet.
But right at that moment, thick black mist started pouring out of the Grandmaster Cemetery, lifting Tony Wang’s battered body from the ruins.
“Crap, all those old grandmaster ghosts are possessing Tony Wang at once...” Warren Yuan’s hair stood on end as he watched.