Chapter 873 — Not a Scratch

"Who are you people? Why are you after Miss Gu and Xiaoshu?" Uncle Qing fixed his eyes on the man in white as he asked, though even as he stared at him, the corner of his gaze stayed on the two men in black behind him, and on Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

"Stand here like a good boy and wait until we've gone, and I won't hurt you." The man in white did not answer Uncle Qing's question; he spoke with lofty disdain instead.

Uncle Qing frowned. Since the man plainly had no intention of saying anything, there was no point in asking further. The only thing Uncle Qing had to do now was keep these people from carrying Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu away. Which meant he had to deal with this man in white first. As for the two men in black behind him, Uncle Qing judged them no threat at all—merely two somewhat sturdy ordinary men, easy enough to handle.

So Uncle Qing moved. He raised his right hand and drove a palm strike at the man in white, but it was a feint; he meant to force the man back with one blow, then spin around and go to the rescue of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. He could not yet gauge the white-robed man's strength, and he had no wish to trade blows with him head-on. If he could just make him retreat, that would buy him time.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the two men in black herding Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu into the Land Rover behind them. Uncle Qing had already worked out the timing: once he forced the man in white back, he could make short work of those two men in black, seize their Land Rover, and drive away.

But no plan of man's outdoes Heaven's. Uncle Qing had thought one palm would drive the man in white back, yet he never expected that the man would neither dodge nor flinch. Instead, a mocking sneer flickered across his face.

That smile made Uncle Qing's heart clench. He already sensed something was wrong. Either this man in white possessed strength far beyond his own, so far beyond that he could simply ignore the palm—or he was a fool who had no idea what that palm would do to him.

Of course, Uncle Qing did not take the man in white for a fool. He refused to believe that anyone undertaking such a deed would not have investigated his strength beforehand.

"Bang!"

Uncle Qing's palm landed squarely on the man in white. Uncle Qing had trained in external martial arts, and how domineering that palm was—even the recoil left his own hand numb and tingling. Yet the man in white seemed entirely unharmed, gazing at Uncle Qing with mild indifference.

"Done hitting? Feels good, doesn't it?" The man in white looked at Uncle Qing with a touch of mockery. "Bang! My, how loud!"

But Uncle Qing was in no mood for banter; his heart was filled with dread. His palm had landed, and even against a Mystic-rank expert it could not have left the man completely untouched. Even if it failed to wound him gravely, it should surely have sent him flying. Yet the man in white was utterly unscathed, and even chatting and laughing as though nothing had happened.

Just what was this man's strength? Had he already surpassed the Mystic rank? But that was impossible, surely? Earth-rank experts were all but extinct in the secular world.

"Are you from the Yu family?" That was the only possibility Uncle Qing could think of. The only people he had offended lately were the Yu family.

Uncle Qing did not think the man before him had been sent by Zhao Qibing. If the Zhao family were willing to send experts, they would not have waited until now—they would have sent them long ago, and would not have let Wei Zhao bring down two of their towers.

"The Yu family? You have a feud with them too?" The man in white gave a faint smile. "Seems you've made a good many enemies. What a pity—I'm not one of them."

"Then you are..." Uncle Qing knew that today he would not escape with his life.

"Li Fu, is it? An external expert at the peak of the late Yellow rank." The man in white looked at Uncle Qing and spoke calmly. "You are still no match for me. But courtesy demands a return for every gift, and I gave you your chance—I told you to stand quietly and wait for us to leave, and you would not listen. So now you may go and die."

As he spoke, the man in white raised his hand and struck Uncle Qing in the chest. Before Uncle Qing could even dodge, his whole body was sent flying backward.

Fast—far too fast. Uncle Qing felt as though his chest had been smashed in, and the searing pain told him exactly what manner of man had come for him. Peak of the mid Mystic rank. Only one thing Uncle Qing could not fathom: even if the man was an expert at the peak of the mid Mystic rank, how could he be completely unharmed after taking a palm from him?

Uncle Qing's body crashed heavily to the ground, and blood burst from his mouth. He knew he was finished. A palm from an external expert at the peak of the mid Mystic rank was more than an external expert at the peak of the late Yellow rank like himself could withstand. If the man meant to kill him, how could he possibly survive?

"How... how is it... possible that you're unharmed?" Uncle Qing clutched his chest, staring in horror at the man in white, who did not have a scratch on him.

"Uncle Qing..." The young miss wept. She had seen with her own eyes Uncle Qing sent flying by the man in white, seen him cough up blood once he hit the ground.

Shen Yushu was frozen with terror too, staring blankly at the scene before her, at a loss for what to do. How could two young girls ever have gone through anything like this? Even the bank robbery last time, shielded as they were by Wei Zhao, had never been so bloody.

"Shut up!" Hearing Gu Mengyao's cry, the man in black who had gotten into the car pulled out a towel and swept it once before the faces of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. Both of them fainted dead away.

"Drive!" Having knocked Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu unconscious, he ordered the driver in the car.

"Aren't we waiting for Master Ma?" the driver asked.

"Young Master Jun gave his orders—Master Ma will follow on his own, we're to go on ahead!" the man in black said.

"Understood!" The driver nodded and started the engine. The Land Rover tore away from the scene and vanished around the corner in the blink of an eye.

Uncle Qing watched the departing Land Rover in something close to despair. He spat out a foul breath, and his gaze toward the man in white grew blurrier and blurrier... He could not hold on much longer.

"Do you know why I let you keep that one breath?" The man in white lowered his head, looking down at Uncle Qing the way one looks down at all living things, and said coldly, "I'll let you die with your eyes open—I'm here to clear up your confusion!"

Uncle Qing did not speak. He was breathing out far more than he took in now, and he had no breath to waste on words. In his heart he could only pray that Wei Zhao would discover it soon and bring Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu back.

"My name is Ma Zhu. I cultivate the Golden Bell Shield, and I have broken through the eighth layer—I have reached the realm where blade and bullet cannot harm me!" The man in white spoke with great pride. "Killing you is no different from crushing an ant! Hahahaha!"

With that, Ma Zhu turned and climbed into the Land Rover in front. The engine started at once, and the car sped swiftly away from the place.