The Supreme God

Bates was really taken aback, seeing the two grunt disciples had no power to fight back when Austin beat them.
His cultivation base was higher than the two grunt disciples and he was sure that he could also beat them. But it was two on one,
and he knew well that he could never beat them as easily as Austin just did.
"Hey losers! Get out of here!" Bates shouted to the two grunt disciples.
After thinking for a moment, Bates thought they'd better leave this place ASAP. He was a cunning and crafty man—a keen
strategist adept at sizing up the situation.
"Um, leaving so soon? I don't remember giving you permission," Austin said with a cold look.
"Idiot! You..." Bates retorted angrily.
But he was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.
"I'm not going to let you go, unless you crawl away," Austin said, staring at Bates with cold eyes. He was tired of the man's
insults, all the contempt Bates had for him, and all the times he'd given him the cold shoulder over the years. It all came flooding
back into his mind.
"Idiot! I'm not frightened of you," replied Bates.
Although he tried to be bold and straightforward when he said those words, he was unsettled by the cold look on Austin's face.
An inexplicable sense of fear loomed in his heart.
"You'd get on the ground now and start crawling. Or do I need to make you? I'll be sure to enjoy that." Austin smiled mirthlessly.
Hands clasped behind his back, he walked towards Bates casually, as if he were just taking a walk in his garden.
Bates had always been arrogant and bossy, haranguing anyone of lesser rank. So Austin treating him this way was unbearable.
In a moment of anger, Bates wasn't afraid of Austin anymore. He yelled angrily, "Don't push your luck! I'll kill you!"
He then jumped up sharply, shaping both of his hands into tiger fists. As he jumped out, a whistling gale suddenly came out of
thin air and rushed in Austin's direction.

As he stirred his spiritual power, Bates looked like a vigorous tiger and a pair of tiger fists with prominent bones and joints flew to
Austin at breakneck speed.
But the spiritual power hurried to Austin first before the fists hit him.
"Tin! Be careful!" Evan shouted.
He recognized the Tiger Fists, Bates' signature move.
It was a set of fist positions inherited from Bates's ancestors. With these moves, Bates once defeated a disciple who was at level
four of the Energy Gathering Realm, a higher level than him.
Before Bates's fists touched him, Austin threw out a Spiritual Sense Flying Needle at Bates and moved his foot at the same time.
He was at Bates's left side in a second. That was exactly the Fish Swimming Pace of the Sun Sect.
Bates suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head before his fists got to Austin. It seemed that there was an iron needle piercing his
skull.
The pain was so intense; he brought his hands to his head. He couldn't concentrate on the Tiger Fists, so they vanished.
Next, he felt a fierce and strong palm coming to his left. He dropped his hands and tried to evade.
But it was too late. He heard a sharp snap when he felt his bones crack.
He felt a burning pain in his left shoulder. His muscles were torn apart and the blood splashed his uniform. His bones were
shattered, and his left hand hung limply, now useless.
Austin disabled Bates's left hand in a single move!
Holding his bloody left arm, Bates stared at Austin in horror and asked in disbelief, "You regained your cultivation base! I take it
back, you're not an idiot!"
Of course, Bates was thinking that this would be a one-sided fight at first. He didn't know that Austin had his powers back. He
wouldn't call him "idiot" anymore.
Even though he hated to admit it, Bates had to accept the fact that Austin was no longer the "idiot" he could bully whenever he
wanted.

"I-I'm sorry man," he said through gritted teeth, fighting against the pain. "Let's not fight anymore," Bates continued.
Bates knew that he would never be able to bully Austin anymore. He was cunning though. He realized his next best option would
be to get the hell out of here. He straightened up and held his arm to keep it from moving and causing more pain.
"You want to leave? You remember what I told you? You're going to pay for trying to fight me! Who the hell do you think you
are?"
Austin spat out a few questions coldly.
"I told you the only way you'll leave is if you crawl on your belly, like the worm you are," Austin continued.
Without a word, Bates suddenly turned around and bolted.
Austin burst into laughter and followed Bates as quickly as a fish in the water.
Wounded as he was, Bates was still extremely fast. He'd gotten more than 100 meters in a few seconds.
Fortunately, Austin could still make use of his spiritual sense at that range, and he immediately threw out another Spiritual Sense
Flying Needle, attacking the fleeing man.
At the same time, he moved his foot and started the Fish Swimming Pace again. He immediately caught Bates like a quick fish.
Under the attack of the Spiritual Sense Flying Needle, Bates felt a burst of stabbing pain in his head. His eyes squeezed tight in
agony and he was almost out of his mind. He screamed, hoping to find relief.
Tormented, he couldn't concentrate on his bodily movement skills. Instead of running, he now staggered, like a drunken man.
Austin caught up with him in a few seconds. Without saying a word, he suddenly grabbed Bates's broken left shoulder.
Immediately, Bates let out an anguished shriek. His face was pale like a dead man's, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Are you going to crawl or not?"
Austin asked with an expressionless face.
He squeezed harder as he asked and inserted his fingers into the broken part of Bates's left shoulder, between two bones.
Bates howled again and he almost fainted from the pain.

"Give up yet?"
His cold voice seemed to come from hell.
Bates couldn't help feeling an intense dread after he heard Austin's cold voice.
But he felt superior to others since he was a child, and he was used to being domineering and overbearing.
What's more, he always regarded Austin as a disgusting idiot before, so there was no way he was going to humiliate himself in
front of him.
"Crawl, you disgusting worm!" Austin pushed harder on Bates's bare shoulder bones once again.
"I... I will crawl..."
Bates replied in a weak voice. He finally surrendered under the torturous pain. He couldn't stand it anymore. He was always
more fragile than he let on.
"Tin, don't do that. Just let him go."
Evan tried to dissuade Austin. He felt sorry for Bates as he heard his screams and saw the sweat on his pale face.
"Let him go?" Austin repeated Evan's words in surprise.
When he saw the sympathetic expression on Evan's face, he was shocked. The man always looked rude and haughty, but now
he knew his buddy was really a compassionate man.
Since his best friend interceded on Bates' behalf, Austin decided to let him be.
He let go of Bates's shoulder and commanded, "Get the hell out of here! Before I change my mind!"
It was clear that Bates had a great cultivation base of vital energy since he didn't faint despite the pain.
After he heard what Austin said, he finally felt relieved and tried to get up and leave. At the same time, the two grunt disciples
who had been groaning on the ground got up too.
The three men then supported each other's arms over backs and went away in dejection. They didn't even have the courage to
look at Austin before leaving.

"Evan, you have to remember that you can't be kind to your enemies. Did they stop bullying me just because I asked? A weak
man will be bullied forever. The bullies won't see reason, but only strength and cruelty. If our enemies are cruel to us, we need to
be ten times crueler!"
After Bates and his two fellows went away, Austin began to preach to Evan. He felt he needed to know.
'If our enemies are cruel to us, we need to be ten times crueler!'
Evan went over what Austin had said in his head. He remembered all the terrible things that he and Austin had endured over the
past three years, and he thought Austin was right.
'Was I wrong to stick up for Bates?' Evan thought again.
Austin and Evan then swam in the Clearing Lake on the back hill of Sun Mountain, as if they were two happy fishes.
They stretched their bodies and swam freely, and their laughter spread all over the lake.
"Tin, you know, I'm happier than I have been in years. Haha...I loved it when I saw the backs of Bates and his buddies as they
limped away. They bullied you a lot," Evan said.
"Man, I am glad you have your strength back. No one's going to bully us from now on. That's fantastic! We finally can be proud. If
someone messes with us, we'll beat him down. Just like today," Evan continued.