Chapter 171: Pummeling the Prince

Marrs, shrouded in black armor and towering like a Demon God, strode forward decisively. Beside him stood Beya, Black Horse Haus, and several dozen other young Nobles, some bedecked in full plate armor, others in Half-Armor. These young Nobles clearly followed Marrs’ lead. They were tall, exuding an aura of martial vigor, and their imposing momentum pressed forward like a wall towards Lin Qi’s group.

Marrs had removed his terrifying horned helmet, revealing a face that could be called handsome but held far more coldness and menace. As the eldest son of the Empire’s Eldest Prince, a horrifically savage scar bisected Marrs’s face. It slashed from his left eye corner down to the right side of his jaw. His nose bridge had clearly been broken, its apparent wholeness only maintained by the use of some Secret Elixir.

Even so, the scar traversed his nose like a huge centipede, lending his face an even fiercer and more domineering air.

Perhaps intentional, perhaps not, the armored young men moved in perfect unison as they ascended the stairs. Their steps were thunderous and synchronized, transforming the ordinary act of climbing stairs into the fierce charge of an army, echoing the clashing of arms of countless warriors.

Marrs, definitely towering over two meters tall, slowly advanced upon the group, looking down imperiously at Lartus and Tixiang seated on the sofa. He grinned broadly, and Lin Qi caught the hot, bloody stench wafting from his mouth. This guy definitely loves a rare steak swimming in blood, Lin Qi grimly noted to himself.

“Hey, Lartus,” Marrs growled, his voice thick with murderous intent and an icy coldness, the threat impossible to miss. As he spoke, his gaze deliberately avoided Lartus, instead slanting towards Lin Qi and Long Cheng, making his words feel even more raw and blood-soaked. “You really think if the guy you picked beats mine today, he’ll live to see tomorrow’s sun?”

Lin Qi spread his hands and shrugged impassively. He shook his head with a forced laugh. “Most Honorable Lord, we’re just humble craftsmen trying to scrape by. We’ve no stake in your quarrels. We only seek our daily bread!”

Marrs laughed, a viciously brutal sound. Right there in front of the entire third-floor hall, he slammed his hand down heavily on Lin Qi’s shoulder. “Just scraping by? Then follow me! How about this? Lose deliberately today to the one I sent. Then you’ll never worry about your next meal again! Heh, what good is hanging around a weakling like Lartus?”

A flush appeared on Lartus’s pale, gentle face. He rose slowly, lifting his head to look up at his cousin who stood over a head taller. He shook his head gently. “Marrs, this behavior of yours is hardly becoming.”

Marrs let out a grating cackle. His fingers dug fiercely into Lin Qi’s shoulder as he bellowed savagely, “This is who I am! Hey! Who complains? Who dares complain? You! Kneel down now and pledge loyalty to me, hahaha! I promise you rewards!”

His fingers pressing down with brutal force, power surged from Marrs’s arm as he sought to force Lin Qi to his knees in submission.

Lin Qi’s eyes abruptly burned crimson. No one had ever dared violently threaten and coerce him like this since he was a child! So what if you’re the son of the Imperial Emperor’s firstborn? Chop you up with random blades, and even an Imperial Emperor would just be rotten flesh!

A low growl escaped Lin Qi’s throat. His hand shot up and clamped around Marrs’s wrist. Terrible strength exploded outward. Crack! Caught completely off guard, Marrs almost had his wrist wrenched out of its joint by the force. Roaring with fury, Lin Qi surged forward onto his toes, both hands grabbing Marrs by the throat. He executed a savage bear hug and backflip throw, slamming Marrs head-first onto the floor.

The bear hug and backflip throw—this wasn’t a traditional War Knight’s technique from the Western Continent. It was the preferred execution method of the Bearmen, the strongest brutes among the Beastfolk tribes of the Five Great Archipelagos. A Bearman Warrior properly trained in this move could kill a true giant bear from the Odin Ice Plain effortlessly, the violent impact driving the beast’s skull deep into its own ribcage.

And Lin Qi’s strength? How should that be described?

It likely stemmed from the Black Tiger Family bloodline. Every male descendant of the Black Tiger Family was born with natural Divine Power, three to five times that of an ordinary person. And Lin Qi? He had consumed Master Kocha’s Magic Tiger Potion, boosting his overall prowess tenfold. His pure physical strength had swollen at least three times over.

Returning to Dun Er Ke, under Blackbeard deliberate tutelage, Lin Qi stewed in medicinal baths. This pushed his Combat Qi into the Lower Earth Rank while further enhancing his physical power. Blackbeard then forcefully cleared all his Meridians, and his strength soared once more. Then came the Leopard Muscle Pills, strengthening Lin Qi’s tendons, ligaments, and Meridians, triggering yet another powerful surge in his brute force.

The deadliest boost came within the Secret Vault of his family. Lin Qi acquired several potent pills designed to enhance Combat Qi cultivation and physical resilience. On the journey back from Dun Er Ke to the Imperial Capital, he diligently swallowed these pills according to Blackbeard’s strict regimen. His body was further forged into incredible sturdiness, as pure and unyielding as steel tempered a thousand times.

Piling it all together, Lin Qi’s current barbaric strength far surpassed his cultivation in Combat Qi. Measured purely against physical power, even massive beasts like bears or elephants might be utterly crushed by him. Therefore, the moment Lin Qi erupted, tragedy engulfed Marrs.

Though arrogant and cruel, Marrs, nearing thirty, hadn’t yet broken through to the celestial realms. His physique, hardened since childhood by countless expensive elixir treatments and potent concoctions, was undeniably incredibly tough and exceptionally powerful. But confronted by Lin Qi’s sudden, explosive assault, he was caught unprepared and floundered. How could he possibly be Lin Qi’s match?

The entire assembly witnessed Marrs enormous frame abruptly lifted off the floor. Lin Qi had him pinned as they tumbled through the air. Marrs landed upside down with a heavy Boom! that jarred the third-floor floorboards violently. Locking Marrs neck in a fierce cross-strangle with his arms, Lin Qi rammed the prince’s head repeatedly, with savage force, against the unyielding floor.

Just some damned Prince? Lin Qi seethed inwardly. Want me to pledge loyalty to you? Over and over, he smashed the crimson-faced, eye-rolling Marrs’s skull downward.

That single brutal bear hug and backflip throw had nearly ended Marrs. Had it not been for his lifelong hardening through countless rare elixirs, had his Combat Qi not already reached the Peak of Status tier, and without the automatic shielding provided by the Magic Array within his armor… Lin Qi would have already killed him outright.

Everyone present—frozen—could only stare wide-eyed as Lin Qi pounded Marrs’s head relentlessly against the floor. They were struck dumb.

A long, long moment later, after a lump swollen to the size of a palm had turned purple on Marrs’s forehead, Beya and Black Horse Haus finally scrambled forward in panicked alarm. Black Horse Haus, roaring in fury, drew his sword and lunged, thrusting the blade straight for the gap between Lin Qi’s shoulder blades.