"The one who will destroy your Hehuan Sect!"
Zi Linling's tone was flat, devoid of strong emotion. Anger and rage seemed entirely unrelated to her at this moment.
Yet, even so, muffled thunder rumbled faintly in the sky, as if attesting to her words.
This was the terrifying power of a Heavenly Dao enforcer: their words carried the weight of law, capable of stirring the resonance of the Heavenly Dao at will.
Li Hehuan looked up at the sky, then at Zi Linling opposite him, who seemed to have merged with heaven and earth. The sense of foreboding in his heart grew stronger.
However, he would not lose face!
The Hehuan Sect had stood for a thousand years. Though over time it had lost its original essence and become a den of corruption, a thousand-year-old sect could not be destroyed by his hands.
Furthermore, he was already at the peak of the Lesser God realm, just one step away from the Greater God realm. Why should he fear a woman who was merely in the mid-Emperor realm?
Besides, his Hehuan Sect was not without its trump cards; they were simply not easily used!
"You? A mere girl in the mid-Emperor realm, dare to speak such arrogant words?" Li Hehuan's face was etched with mockery.
"And what makes you think I am speaking arrogantly? Because you are a peak Lesser God realm expert?"
Zi Linling's words remained devoid of any heat. However, to Li Hehuan, they took on a different meaning.
His pupils contracted slightly. "Mid-Emperor realm, yet you can see through this Sect Master's cultivation. You do have some capital for arrogance, but it is not enough!"
Zi Linling chuckled nonchalantly, "Whether it's enough isn't up to you to decide. We'll find out after a fight!"
Li Hehuan seemed to hear the greatest joke in the world. "Are you challenging me?"
Zi Linling waved her hand. "Not at all! As I said, I am here to destroy your Hehuan Sect. Therefore, you alone are not worthy of me making a move!"
Li Hehuan was enraged!
Zi Linling's words were a blatant humiliation. How could he not be furious?
"Arrogant words! Let this Sect Master gauge your strength!"
As his voice fell, a punch flew towards Zi Linling.
Any thoughts of tenderness, of dual cultivation furnaces, were incinerated by his burning rage.
"Hmph! I already said you weren't up to it, yet you insist on puffing yourself up. In that case, I won't hold back!"
Zi Linling said, raising her delicate fist to meet his.
Li Hehuan had not used his spiritual power or techniques, and neither would she. This was her pride, or rather, her immense confidence in her own strength.
"Bang!"
Two fists collided, a small hand meeting a large one.
The terrifying force generated a mighty gust of wind.
Stagger, stagger, stagger!
Li Hehuan retreated three and a half steps, while Zi Linling remained unmoved.
"This is impossible!"
Li Hehuan was shocked.
He couldn't comprehend how such immense power could reside within Zi Linling's slender frame.
Zi Linling stood with her hands behind her back, not pressing her advantage.
"In this world, nothing is impossible! So, do you still want to gauge my strength?"
The eight words, "So, do you still want to gauge my strength?" sounded even more mocking to Li Hehuan's ears.
"It was just luck, nothing to be arrogant about. Take another punch and see!"
Li Hehuan spoke, and another punch flew towards Zi Linling.
This time, the distance between them was only three and a half steps, not enough to gather much momentum.
But with the foundation of the first punch, the power of this second one increased by thirty percent.
Moreover, since Li Hehuan attacked first, he gained another slight advantage.
Yet, Zi Linling merely smiled faintly, raising her jade fist again, meeting Li Hehuan's punch at a steady pace.
"Bang!"
The sound of clashing fists echoed again, and the resulting gust of wind grew even stronger.
The wind kicked up dust from the ground, rustled the edges of their robes, and stung the eyes of the other Hehuan Sect members.
Stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger!
This time, Li Hehuan retreated five steps, while Zi Linling only took half a step back.
Of course, this half-step was not due to being forced back by Li Hehuan, but rather her way of dissipating the energy generated by the collision of their fists.
"Impossible! How can this be! Again!"
A trace of blood trickled from Li Hehuan's lips.
He had only just stabilized his footing before throwing another punch.
This time, he poured his full strength into it, one hundred percent.
Zi Linling smiled faintly. "As I said, anything is possible!"
She made no extraneous movements, simply lifting her jade fist again with effortless grace.
"Bang!"
The third punch connected, and the wind became even more violent.
Several disciples of the Hehuan Sect with lower cultivation, standing close by, were directly blown away by the gust of wind.
Stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger, stagger!
This time, Li Hehuan staggered back a full ten steps, while Zi Linling only retreated two steps.
Of course, her retreating these two steps was still to dissipate the energy from the collision.
"Pfft!"
Li Hehuan spat out a mouthful of blood.
Originally, his internal organs had been shaken, but far from reaching the point of spitting blood.
However, the successive shock and rage caused a knot of stagnant Qi to form within him, disrupting the flow of his blood and causing him to cough up blood.
And it was precisely this expulsion of stagnant blood that brought his rationality back from the brink of shock and rage.
He looked at Zi Linling with apprehension and asked, "Who exactly are you?"
Li Hehuan was not foolish.
Zi Linling, at merely thirteen or fourteen years old, possessed such terrifying strength and dared to charge into the Hehuan Sect alone. She must have a powerful background.
He even suspected that Zi Linling might be a heaven-defying genius from some powerful hidden family.
Zi Linling put her hands behind her back, discreetly moving her wrist which ached from the impact, and said indifferently, "Is there something wrong with your intelligence? Why do I have to repeat myself more than twice for every question? I already said I am here to destroy your Hehuan Sect. Why are you still asking?"
The suppressed rage in Li Hehuan's heart flared up instantly, almost engulfing his reason again.
But before he could ascertain Zi Linling's origins, he could only ask with suppressed frustration, "Young lady, is there some misunderstanding between you and our Hehuan Sect?"
Li Hehuan finally understood. Even when Zi Linling was defending passively, he had gained no advantage. If Zi Linling were to attack proactively, unless he used his trump card, no one in the Hehuan Sect could stop her.
"Misunderstanding?"
Zi Linling nodded. "There is a slight one, but more importantly, the people of your Hehuan Sect are rapists, plunderers, and cultivators of Yin energy to supplement Yang. They have incurred the wrath of heaven and man.
Coincidentally, your so-called Holy Son angered me, so I am simply acting on behalf of heaven's goodness and acting as heaven's executioner to eliminate the Hehuan Sect, this cancerous growth!"
Li Hehuan finally understood why the Hehuan Sect had attracted this harbinger of doom, Zi Linling.