A Lasting Grudge

The young man had shoulder brown hairs and light green eyes. He wore a playful smile on his face as he clapped his hands, walking towards Ye Mo nonchalantly.

He was dressed in a black and green tiger martial suit with long wide sleeves revealing only the tip of his hands.

"You progressed surprisingly well with your pitiful talent, as if the heavens showered you in ressources. You must be blessed." The young man said sarcastically stopping 5 steps away from Ye Mo.

Although he seemed lighthearted, he had deep frowning brows and eyes radiating a subtle killing intent showing that beyond the appearances, he held a deep grudge over his interlocutor and took the situation very seriously.

He spoke ambiguously making the crowd wonder at the meaning of his words but Ye Mo immediately realized his identity.

"So it's a Liu clan member." Thinking so, Ye Mo circulated the qi in his body, preparing for combat.

The young man was manifestly refering to Ye Mo extorting the Liu clan with their own belongings. Beside Liu clan members, only he and Fang Jishen knew of this affair which became a deeply concealed secret that no members were allowed to ever mention. Ye Mo himself had no reason to talk about it and Fang Jishen has rarely been seen outside since he dealt with the trade hence outsiders weren't in the known.

The Liu clan has been established in Azure Water City for a long time and the Tiger Martial institute held a recruitment competition every year.

The Liu clan like many others would always send their best disciples take part in the competition of both the tiger and the sky martial institute each time and although they were subpar in terms of battle strength and cultivation compared to mid and big sized clans, there would always be two or three disciples by generation who were able to join them.

"Hey, isn't it Liu Sen?" Someone pointed out, identifying the Liu clan member.

"It looks like he has some grievances with the newbie."

"If he really wants this room, with his peak 7th layer cultivation, Ye Mo can only forget about it."

"Hmph, as if we need him. If Liu Sen didn't step out, i would have teached this kid a lesson myself!"

The whispers were like ripples on a calm lake as Ye Mo and Liu Sen faced each other.

"As long as im here, you can forget about cultivating in this pagoda!" Suddenly, Liu Sen raised his arms.

Inwardly he thought, "Ancestor charged me with finding Ye Mo and crippling his cultivation no matter what it takes. However i have been looking low and high in the institute for 6 months without so much as a clue of his position. I would have thought him joining the institution was a lie if i didn't see him during the mid-year examination. Yet he abandoned at the start and left while i still had fights up ahead, not giving me any chance to act."

"Who knew i would actually meet him in the pagoda where fights and injuries are customary. As long as i can cripple him, whatever the punishment is, it will be bearable. Ye Mo is one of the less promising disciples of the institute so the punishment won't be harsh, at the same time we would be getting rid of a growing threat and without any cultivation he would be thrown out of the institute leaving the clan all the leisure to deal with him. If it's necessary i will even kill him right away!"

From Liu Sen's wide sleeves, two green vines shot out like nimble green pythons and coiled around Ye Mo's body.

The vines instantly made a dozen circles around his arms, tightly binding his hands behind his back.

The students in the surroundings watched the contest with interest.

Ye Mo tightly clenched his fists and started putting strength.

His muscles contracted much, standing up even under his clothes.

"Hehe, you're trapped! Don't bother, even a mid-tier beast can't escape from my bindings." Liu Sen grinned, his eyes revealing a menacing light.

Immediately, he shot out towards Ye Mo surrounded by wind currents while brandishing a palm infused with qi and targeting his dantian!

Ye Mo gritted his teeth, going into a half squatting position as he exerted all his strength.

On his body, various big veins appeared like his arms and his forehead showing he was truly going all out as the vines were slowly being stretched out.

When Liu Sen was right in front of Ye Mo, ready to attack, the latter gritting turned into a low growl as his arms suddenly spread apart!

Snap!

The vines immediately snapped, their shreds sent flying in the surroundings.

"Impossible!" Liu Sen blurted out in shock as his desire to put down Ye Mo quickly grew.

His palm flew forward with destructive intent.

Ye Mo who just got free from his bindings threw a stone breaking punch right away, challenging the palm.

Both attacks collided and the shock traveled through their arm as Liu Sen retreated three steps while Ye Mo was sent rolling on the ground for nine steps before he recovered his footing.

The crux of the outcome was that one was attacking at full force, carried by momentum while the other just exerted all his strength to free himself from the bindings.

Without a good stance nor catching his breath Ye Mo couldn't bring forward more than half the power of the stone breaking punch.

After the outcome of their first clash, both students rushed towards each other like furious gales and when they met, their feets flashed as they raised their legs.

Bam!bam!bam!bam!bam!

In the blink of an eye, an uncountable number of kicks were sent countering each other in a violent deadlock!

"Wait, aren't they using the same battle skills?!" Someone in the crowd uterred dubious.

"How coult it be, a clan would never let an outsider like Ye Mo learn their battle skills!" Another said, assured, hinting he was from a clan himself.

"Maybe Ye Mo stole them and that's why Liu Sen has such hatred for him."

Once this suggestion was mentioned, many opened their eyes in revelation or nodded in silence feeling it's probably the case.

In the meantime, the bout between Liu Sen and Ye Mo continued with neither backing away one instant.

"Im losing too much qi. With my 6th layer cultivation i suffer the most in this situation, if the stalemate continue my defeat is assured!" Ye Mo thought in urgency as he suddenly pushed back Liu Sen with a powerful kick.

He jumped abruptly and used cyclone kick once again. In the air, he could use both his feets increasing the number of attacks by twice the amount as he quickly overwhelmed his opponent who couldn't follow the pace anymore.

Liu Sen was left vulnerable so he decisively raised his arms as vines coiled around them and protected his body from Ye Mo's onslaught.

On the exterior of the vines stood many sharp thorns that would cause any hand to hand attacks to injure the enemy and result in a massively growing blood loss.

However Ye Mo was cultivating a Star class high-tier body refining technique and all these thorns could do to him was prick his skin and cause light injuries at best.

He kept kicking incessantly, not leaving his foe any opportunity to change the flow of the battle.

Liu Sen instead smirked, his head curled up behind his arms, "I am a peak 7th layer cultivator while he is only a newly advanced 6th layer, prolonging this fight is to my advantage. I will just let him run out of qi before i switch the tables and dominate him, crippling his cultivation in one go!"

Ye Mo returned to the ground as he kept kicking. The speed of each leg was too fast and Liu Sen who was protecting himself didn't have the time to initiate any attack.

This situation resumed for several seconds and Liu Sen's arms started feeling heavy but he still held his position firmly when the barrage of hits unexpectedly stopped.

Even the gusts of winds produced by the movements of Ye Mo's legs disappeared.

At this distance, Liu Sen should be able to easily feel any gestures from his enemy even without his eyes but at this moment it was like he was alone in the middle of the crowd fighting with no one.

"What's going on?!" Liu Sen was perplexed and opened a small gap between his arms to look ahead but there was no one in front of him.

At this instant, a fist connected perfectly with his ribs!

Liu Sen instantly vomited a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying, the blood propelled in an arch in the air before it fell on the ground.

His flank caved in from the strike while he fell unconscious on the floor.

"My qi is almost completely depleted, i only have dozens of wisps remaining in my dantian." Ye Mo thought impassive as the surroundings turned into a scene of deep silence.

Among the crowd, many were flabbergasted!

Ye Mo profited from Liu Sen's obstructed vision to suddenly use shadow walk and circle around him, pulling his punch from a hidden angle.

However the spectators vision was clear and they could only see Ye Mo move around and hit Liu Sen but although his presence dimmed for an instant, they couldn't link it to a true concealment battle skill which effects would directly manifest on the user.

They didn't know this was the first phase of shadow walk and couldn't understand how his opponent was defeated this easily.

Many students stood dazed on the spot wondering if it was reality or if Liu Sen was faking it.

Ye Mo instead turned around and walked towards his room.

He had the urge to cripple the Liu clan member but he knew he couldn't handle it.

Liu Sen looked around 18 years old and was only a 7th layer cultivator making him a senior disciple that wasn't worth anything in the institute's view.

His background was nothing formidable either so if Ye Mo acted, he would probably only receive a light punishment.

However he knew he wasn't Shen Xue or any young master.

Wether he had to pay a fee or was temporarily forbidden to enter the pagoda, none of them were acceptable for him.

In any case with these injuries, unless he obtains the help of a good healer, they would last him for several months at least.

"Where do you think you're going?" As Ye Mo neared the room, a voice resounded in the distance.

Walking down the set of stairs, a teen with long black hair and a sword at his waist shouted accompagnied by several other members of the Li clan.

"Li Qiang!" His name immediately appeared in the mind of everyone's present!