Lu Chen chuckled: "If you're scared, I can let you go, but only if you let me take my sister."
A simple thought: Gong Jiu's sister was his sister.
These words brought a surge of emotion to Gong Xiaoyi's eyes, who was slumped on the stage.
Bald Qiang looked at Lu Chen with a mocking gaze: "Kid, don't be so arrogant. You have to believe one thing: today, you'll crawl out of this place."
Lu Chen's eyes were playful, and he uttered three words: "You're really funny."
Bald Qiang smiled coldly, shouted, and lunged at Lu Chen, his fist whistling through the air as it struck.
Lu Chen took two steps back, and with a thought, his Cursed God ability was unleashed again. This time, he amplified the power in his mind, no longer as casually as when he dealt with the two thugs.
Only one word remained in his mind: Stop!
But this word carried a powerful spiritual force; Lu Chen even felt a surge of energy emanating from it.
Immediately afterward, Bald Qiang's fist froze in mid-air. It felt as if a large, invisible block of ice had suddenly appeared in the void, freezing his fist. Furthermore, this freezing sensation rapidly spread from his arm to his shoulder, radiating outwards.
Bald Qiang was startled and quickly took a deep breath, his dantian energy erupting instantly, rapidly dispersing through his meridians to his limbs and bones. His entire body shuddered violently, emitting a loud thud, immediately dispelling the freezing sensation.
This frozen state lasted approximately three seconds.
For a master, three seconds is enough; for Lu Chen, who wasn't exactly a master, three seconds was roughly enough. He dodged the sharpness of Bald Qiang's punch, clenched his own fist, and slammed it towards Bald Qiang's abdomen.
This was only the first strike. The second followed immediately, an elbow strike, and Lu Chen raised his left leg, his knee slamming into Bald Qiang's abdomen.
Having suffered two heavy blows to his abdomen, Bald Qiang's face paled, and he lost his balance, staggering several steps backward. On the fifth step, he pushed off with his left foot, finally regaining his footing.
He slowly exhaled, rubbing his abdomen, while staring sharply at Lu Chen. His eyes gleamed with an even more ferocious light, and he nodded: "Not bad, you do have some skills. No wonder you dared to cause trouble here; so you're a Xuan cultivator. However, kid, your cultivation is too weak. I've seen stronger people than you, and I still managed to wipe them out!"
Lu Chen's heart skipped a beat.
He knew, of course, what Bald Qiang meant by "Xuan cultivator."
China is a land of countless strange phenomena, myths and legends abound, many of which are based on true stories. The two main groups are martial arts cultivators and mystical cultivators. As the names suggest, martial arts cultivators are practitioners of martial arts, while mystical cultivators are practitioners of mystical arts. Mystical cultivators primarily cultivate using various bizarre and fantastical techniques.
In modern society, martial arts cultivators are becoming increasingly rare, and mystical cultivators are even rarer.
Clearly, this bald-headed man had mistaken him for a mystical cultivator.
However, Lu Chen's Seven-Life Flower ability was indeed very close to mystical cultivation.
In fact, hearing what the bald-headed man said, Lu Chen even had a strange thought. Shangguan Wan had said that the Seven-Life Flower ability represented seven peak expressions of life; could this be manifested through mystical cultivation?
At this moment, responding to the bald-headed man's words, Lu Chen grinned, "Although it's not that great, it's enough to deal with you. Come on!"
As he spoke, he habitually beckoned to the bald-headed man with his finger.
Feeling looked down upon, Bald Qiang was furious. He clenched his fists and lunged at Lu Chen again.
Immediately, the two clashed once more.
In terms of martial arts skills, Lu Chen was like a mantis trying to fight a wheel compared to Bald Qiang. However, he possessed the supernatural power of a curse god, allowing him to continuously issue mental commands and control Bald Qiang's attacks.
However, Bald Qiang's internal strength was not to be underestimated. Lu Chen's supernatural powers were always shattered by him within two or three seconds. Therefore, Lu Chen was also struggling considerably.
Soon, he had been kicked in the shoulder and thigh, feeling incredibly numb and tingling.
This Bald Qiang's leg techniques are incredibly sharp!
Liu Li watched with bated breath.
A little further away, in a private room on the second floor, two people were looking out the window, frowning as they watched the fight below. Standing in the center of the window was a tall, well-built young man, around thirty-four or thirty-five years old, with a perpetually nonchalant smile on his face. He held a glass of red wine, swirling it slightly, watching the commotion.
Behind him stood Brother Dong.
Brother Dong looked anxious. He said, "Brother Ling, I think Mr. Lu can hold off Bald Qiang for a while, but in the end, I reckon he'll have a hard time defeating him. Bald Qiang's skills are among the top twenty in Yunzhou City. Besides, there are so many thugs. Shouldn't we quickly gather the brothers and help Mr. Lu out?"
It turned out that the guy with the red wine was Brother Ling.
Ling Zi looked on casually, then said just as casually, "The power behind Golden Coast is Golden Hall, one of the four major halls, even higher in ranking than my Hongqing Hall, you know that, right?"
"I know, but..." Dong Ge's forehead was slightly sweaty.
Ling Zi continued, "Shen Tian, the owner of Golden Coast, is Huang Jian's most favored mistress, and she's very capable. I have to avoid her. If I go to help that Lu Chen out of this predicament and offend Shen Tian, it won't be fun at all. Dong, what do you think?"
Dong Ge's forehead was completely covered in sweat. He said softly, "Yes, I understand."
"No." Ling Zi held up one finger and waved it lightly, "You don't understand." He then patted Dong Ge's shoulder. Xiaoxiao said, "Dongzi, that Lu Chen is really good at getting things done, isn't he? You went to his door to bully him, and he used my godfather to slap you in the face, making you tremble with fear. Then he gave you 20,000 yuan. He used the carrot and stick approach very well! He got you all under his thumb right away."
Dongzi was sweating profusely. "Brother Lingzi, you…you don't need to overthink it. We're absolutely loyal to you! If you're unhappy, we'll return the money to him immediately!"
Brother Lingzi laughed heartily. "Are you stupid? Why wouldn't you accept the money? Besides, it's from my godfather's brother. What's there to be afraid of? Would he try to steal my people? I just think my godfather's brother is very interesting. Look, he even managed to beat Bald Qiang at the beginning. Such an interesting young man, plus he's my godfather's brother, how could I not help him? Phew, I have no choice but to risk offending Huang Jintang."
With that, he downed the glass of red wine in one gulp.
On the side of the stage, Lu Chen felt increasingly unlucky as the fight progressed. *Damn, this Bald Qiang is definitely a master!* I remember my family had a ranking system for modern martial arts practitioners, fifteen levels in total. Judging by Bald Qiang's skills, he's easily at level five.
And me? Back home, I only reached level two after testing. Now, in Yunzhou City, even though the Seven-Life Flower's power has stimulated my training, I'm only at level three at most, right?
If it weren't for my Curse God power, I would have been beaten to a pulp by this guy long ago.
*Bang!*
Lu Chen was kicked hard in the chest by Bald Qiang, his body flying backward and crashing into the side of the stage before sliding down. It hurt terribly! Lu Chen grimaced; his chest and back were burning.
At the same time, he felt weak and breathless; his Curse God energy was somewhat depleted.
* A gasp escaped her lips, and a slender, sexy figure rushed over, immediately grabbing Lu Chen's shoulder. A trembling voice cried out, "Chen, are you...are you alright?"
It was Liu Li, who had seen Lu Chen kicked and rushed over to check on him.
Lu Chen, wincing as she was helped up, groaned, "Ouch, hey, Sister Li, be gentle! My chest...ouch...that guy kicked really hard! My ribs feel like they're broken! I mean...I wish my chest were as full as yours!"
As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance down at the two large, full mounds that Liu Li was pressing against her shoulder.
"You're still in the mood to say that at a time like this!" Liu Li said, half-laughing, half-crying, and gently patted Lu Chen's head.
Meanwhile, Bald Qiang's eyes lit up when he saw Liu Li, and he laughed loudly, "Tsk tsk, kid, so you have such a beauty? Having one is one thing, but why are you trying to steal another? Trying to have two on your hands? You'll choke yourself! You're finished tonight, you'll crawl out of here. This beauty will be lying there for us to enjoy tonight!"
"What do you say, brothers?" he waved his hand.
The thugs cheered, their wicked eyes fixed on Liu Li's taut, incredibly alluring figure. It must be said, Liu Li was exceptionally well-developed, far surpassing those glamorous dancers from before. Perhaps it was because she was still a virgin at twenty-six, which had somehow sculpted her into such a sexy and seductive physique.
Lu Chen, enduring the pain, gave the bald man the middle finger: "You bastard!"
The bald man's eyes flashed with malice, and he gritted his teeth: "You brat, still so cocky even when you're about to die, hehe, watch me cripple you!" With that, he raised two fingers and swung them at Lu Chen.
The thugs immediately understood, and two stepped forward, wielding batons, and aggressively pounced on Lu Chen.
Although the batons were made of rubber, they were still quite lethal; a few more blows could easily break a thighbone. The bald man saw Lu Chen fall and seemed unable to retaliate, so he didn't bother to attack again.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen rubbed his chest where he had been kicked, secretly channeling his healing power to heal himself.
The energy from his healing power slowly flowed out, and as it passed over Lu Chen's chest, another cool spiritual energy merged into it, seeping into the area where Lu Chen had been kicked.
Soon, the burning pain subsided, and his chest gradually felt more comfortable.
Lu Chen was somewhat surprised. He sensed that the spiritual energy mixed with the healing god's power was clearly emanating from the black pearl pendant. This was truly interesting; the black pearl could even aid in healing?
At that moment, the two thugs, wielding batons, lunged at Lu Chen, aiming to smash his head and shoulders—it looked like they were trying to kill him.
Liu Li screamed and straightened up to block the blow.
Then, Lu Chen gently pushed her away.
This time, Lu Chen didn't use his curse god ability. He braced himself on the floor with his hands, then his legs shot out.
Thud! Thud! Two screams followed.
The two thugs' eyes widened, their faces flushed red. Their batons fell to the ground, and they clutched their groins, crouching on the ground in inexplicable pain. It hurt so much that the veins on my forehead were bulging.