"Judging by this brother's tone," Ken Gould said, raising an eyebrow with a smirk that was both amused and dangerous, "it seems you have absolute confidence in winning this match?"He looked at Jack Brooks like one might look at a chihuahua barking at a tank."You dog," Scarface sneered, spitting on the floor. "Do you think just because you beat up my useless subordinates at the Dragon River Bridge, you have the capital to challenge a true master? You are delusional."Jack Brooks ignored Scarface completely. He didn't even turn his head. He simply pointed a finger directly at the withered old man, Paul Zone, who stood silently in the shadows."If the person you are sending out is him," Jack said, his voice flat and expressionless, "I can fight ten of him at once. And I would only need to use thirty percent of my strength."The air in the room seemed to freeze.Ken Gould's eyes went cold. This kid wasn't just arrogant; he was seeking death.Claire L

Not far away, Claire Lynch was walking toward the exit of the courtyard, her head hung low. Tears blurred her vision, hot and stinging against her cheeks."Mom... I lost," she whispered, her voice choking with grief. "I lost the formula. I lost everything. I'm sorry..."She bit her lip until she tasted copper. The regret was a physical weight on her shoulders, crushing her. She blamed herself for being weak, for falling into Ken Gould's trap, for trusting a reckless ex-convict like Jack Brooks. She blamed the heavens for being unfair.She waited for the sound of bones breaking. She waited for Jack's scream. She waited for the triumphant laughter of Ken Gould.But it didn't come.Instead, the noisy mockery behind her abruptly ceased. The courtyard fell into a silence so profound it was deafening.Then, she heard a sharp intake of breath from Ken Gould. It was a sound of pure shock.Almost simultaneously, Goldman Galt, who was walking beside her with

"A bug? You have the audacity to call him a bug?"Diane Lee's eyes bulged, and the veins in her neck pulsed dangerously. The detonation of the "bomb" inside her was immediate and violent. She pointed a shaking finger—tipped with a manicured, blood-red nail—directly at Jack Brooks's nose."Mitch Lee comes from a prominent family! His cousin is a high-level executive at DragonGate Corp! He could crush you like an insect with a single stomp of his Italian leather shoe!"Diane shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria. "Look at you! You are the real bug here! You are a cockroach scurrying around my house, disgusting everyone you touch! You eat our food, live in our house, and bring nothing but filth!"She spun around, tears streaming down her face, and grabbed George Sutton by the lapels of his jacket."George! I told you! I begged you not to marry Tia to this piece of trash! But you wouldn't listen!" she wailed. "You insisted on honoring some dead

In the split second after Jack Brooks spoke the name "Lana Way," Ron Lee was no longer standing in the living room of the Sutton villa. His mind was violently yanked back ten years, to a desolate wasteland in Northriver Southside.The memory hit him with the force of a physical blow. It was a nightmare he had spent a decade trying to drown in expensive scotch and blood.He saw the sky turning black, not from clouds, but from the sheer density of killing intent. He saw the earth cracking open, trees uprooted and thrown like twigs.He saw the woman in white. Lana Way.She stood alone against an army. But this wasn't an army of soldiers; it was an army of gods. One hundred martial arts Grandmasters. Men who could shatter boulders with a touch, men who ruled their respective regions like kings. One hundred of them, united for a single kill.And she... she was slaughtering them.It was an apocalypse. The sun seemed to lose its light. Grandmasters fell like w

If the secret of the "Battle of Northriver Southside" were to reach the ears of the wrong people, it wouldn't just be the Lee Family that would be annihilated. The Sutton Family, and anyone else within a ten-mile radius of this conversation, would be reduced to ash.That battle was a curse. Ignorance was bliss; knowledge was a death sentence. Knowing about the Ring of Divine Retribution and the involvement of Tiger Ray meant living in eternal, suffocating fear.Ron Lee regretted it. He regretted coming here today. He regretted being born. But most of all, he regretted ever opening his mouth about that day to his father while Mitch Lee was listening."Grandmaster?" Jack Brooks sneered, his voice cutting through Ron's panic. "Just an ant. I will avenge my mother, Lana Way. I want to see which gods or buddhas in this sky dare to stop me!"Jack's eyes burned with a killing intent that seemed to lower the room temperature to absolute zero. He raised his foot and kicke