The Supreme God of Martial Arts

After hearing Herbert's news, Austin rushed right over.

On his way there, he had a run in with two monster beasts that were level two, and still arrived just when the Evil Ape Hunting Team was gearing up for some action.

When Austin showed up in front of them, they were all surprised. However, instead of saying anything, they glanced suspiciously at Austin.

They were wary of Austin because his true strength was not known.

It wasn't that long ago that the team had turned away a lot of underachievers who wanted to join.

It made no sense to include weaker members when what they needed were people with real strength.

The consensus was that the only ones qualified to share the earth spirit fruit they would reap were those who showed real strength.

"He's the grunt disciple we met at Beast Mountain!” said Lara.

She was sarcastic when Austin handed the Jade Badge to the mountain keeper.

Even though she hadn't seen him in a long time, and Austin was tanner now, Lara recognized him immediately.

The grunt disciple?

When Lara referred to him like that, everyone else realized who Austin was.

As Austin looked at each of them, he was met with sneering, disdainful and even angry expressions.

The disdain Marvin felt towards Austin wasn't a secret as he said sarcastically, "Boy! What do you think we're here for? To play some game? We're going to kill the diabolic beast! The diabolic beast! Do you even know what that is? Huh? Aren't you afraid those evil apes will finish you with one bite?"

Marvin glared scornfully at Austin.

"Get out of here! Go fuck yourself and leave us alone!" snapped William angrily while he waved his huge palm in Austin's direction, dismissively. Ralf stared at Austin coldly but didn't speak. Mindy and the others scoffed at Austin too.

Apparently, they all thought Austin was stupid and didn't know what was happening.

They were the five strongest outer disciples, so they were insulted that a grunt disciple thought himself good enough to join them.

"You want to join us? Bah! Look at yourself. You are nothing but a grunt disciple. You are good for nothing but the menial chores. Don't you know your limits? What a fool you are!" scorned Lara maliciously, frowning contemptuously.

With Austin there, Lara was suddenly grumpy.

"Shut-up!" said Austin callously. As his words were clipped out, he moved, and was right in front of Lara.

Over time, as Austin came to understand the wind in a more meaningful way, he had also become much more proficient in wielding the Wind-Commanding skill.

"Smack!" echoed the crisp sound, as the slap shocked Lara, stinging her pride as much as her tender cheek. Next, a bright, red mark of Austin's palm appeared on Lara's flawless skin.

To show his strength in front of the team, Austin slapped Lara so hard. It was also because he really hated Lara mocking him like that.

The rest of the surprised team stood there with their breath caught in their throats. They were frozen momentarily, as they waited.

"Ow!" screeched Lara as she tenderly placed her hand over her inflamed cheek.

"Marvin! This whelp hit me!" whined Lara indignantly as she cradled her cheek.

With the right half of Lara's face swelled, she looked funny.

Since Marvin had always thought of Lara as his woman, he was fuming to see that a grunt disciple dared to raise a hand and strike his woman, and worse, he did it in front of the team and him!

Marvin's reaction was out of character. He glared menacingly, and through gritted teeth seethed, "Whelp! You're going to regret doing that!”

Folding his jade fan with a snap, Marvin turned it into a short stick.

In the blink of an eye, intense energy rushed from Marvin's body. As the power surged, invisible pressure filled the area, and Marvin's white clothes shot up, making him appear specter-like

As he felt the strength of Marvin's energy growing, Austin’s face turned grim and severe, and his eyes narrowed to slits.

Sensing that the energy coming off Marvin was eighth level in the Energy Gathering Realm, Austin pondered, “Marvin achieved that level already?"

When the other three team members, Mindy, William, and George saw the force Marvin wielded, they were visibly scared.

Even though they had known Marvin was stronger, they didn't realize just how much stronger he was until then. Ralf stared at Marvin, transfixed.

Yet, it didn't seem to matter to Austin how strong Marvin was. He was there to prove himself, so he wouldn't shrink back.

Besides, even if he wanted to back down, he knew this group wouldn't let him get away with what he'd done.

"Ssh..." metal scraping slowly along the leather scabbard rang as Austin unsheathed his sword that was hanging on his waist. He raised the blade and steadily pointed the tip at Marvin as he said in a bored manner, "I'm sorry, but, I won't regret what I've done.”

The group was so shocked when they saw Austin still presented fearless and stood there as cool as a cucumber, no matter how intimidating Marvin was.

It was perplexing to them how brazen this humble grunt disciple was acting!

While the others found his behavior puzzling, Austin's relaxed demeanor and indifferent expression irritated Marvin to no end.

As his ire increased, the wind was getting stronger. It whipped in a frenzy around Marvin and lifted leaves and twigs as it whirled violently, like a tornado. The wind around Marvin grew larger and stronger from the force of his energy until a two feet area was a swirl of ominous chaos, with an enraged Marvin at its center.

An icy chill tore through the onlookers, and they shivered slightly as their hair and clothes flapped angrily in the blustering whirlwind.

They suddenly felt sorry for Austin.

What possessed Austin to provoke Marvin like he did? It was obvious that his fate would be a miserable one.

"No, never mind. You can lament your actions when you get to hell!" shouted Marvin venomously right before forcibly raising his jade fan as if it was a spear.

Driven by Marvin's energy, the long spear transformed into a fierce dragon as it flew at Austin.

The potent force shrouded Austin instantaneously.

It looked like Austin's fate would be that of the dead leaves in the energy storm, and he would be shredded to bits at any moment. Staring into the eyes of the dragon hurdling at him, Austin remained motionless.

Viciously glaring at Austin, Lara knew he was about to die at Marvin's hand. At the thought of that, she couldn't help smiling gleefully. "You're going to regret your arrogance, you dolt!"

roared Marvin.

The dragon darted through the sky, swooping down on Austin. However, he still stood steadfast, which stunned everyone.

Could it be that Marvin's aura terrified the grunt disciple so much that he was frozen to the spot and unable to dodge?

But, right before the dragon impaled him, Austin evaded it, quickly, yet peculiarly.

Being surrounding by the violent wind caused by Marvin, Austin's body suddenly became weightless. He wafted through the air like a lifeless remnant.

Although the dragon was cutthroat, it failed to pierce Austin or even brush his clothes.

Marvin threw attack after attack, and each one was stronger and faster. But Austin was faster, and dodged every one of them. Consequently, Marvin's attacks failed, proving to be nothing.

Having defended against all of Marvin's attacks, Austin smiled confidently as he prepared to take the offense.

"Swish!" cutting through the silence, Austin’s sword slashed as he skillfully wielded it, slicing the air in front of Marvin gracefully.

All five members of the Evil Ape Hunting Team recognized the Cloud Swordsmanship, which was the second grade swordsmanship.

Any outer disciple with enough credits could trade this swordsmanship for practicing. After all it was not such a rare martial art form.

Even so, Austin's movements were natural, flowed flawlessly, and fully demonstrated the Cloud Swordsmanship's charm and grace.