Chapter 256: Heads Roll
Xia Houlin immediately chose to dodge.
Boom!
As the sword qi descended, it split open the walls, scattering fragments of stone.
“All of you, attack at once! Get him!” bellowed Xia Houlin.
Clang!
As he spoke, a long saber that shone like snow appeared in his hand, and the aura of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor billowed into the surrounding air.
At the same time, the other big shots in attendance took action, their energies surging around them.
It didn’t matter that Su Yi had just slain the White-Eyebrowed King. All of them were keenly aware that if they refused to obey Xia Houlin’s orders, both they and their families would suffer the Su Family’s wrath.
Thus, even if their hearts were full of dread, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and enter the fray.
These were all influential figures. Some hailed from the provincial capital’s five peak-level clans, while others were from factions subordinate to Xia Houlin, Pei Wenshan, or Yue Qing. All of them were Grandmasters at the very least.
Now, all of them took action. The structure of the grand hall couldn’t bear that level of force, and the ceiling suddenly collapsed, scattering dust.
Everyone immediately dodged.
Just like that, the situation descended into chaos.
“Keep an eye on the surrounding area.” Su Yi’s calm voice arose from within the dust. “If anyone tries to run, block their path.”
Mu Xi, Shen Jiusong, and the others instantly got to work, keeping an eye on the periphery.
“Kill!” Xia Houlin bellowed and gripped his snow-white saber, slashing through the air. Boundless Dao Light poured down like a waterfall, carrying despotic, overbearing force.
At the same time, the nearby experts took action, charging into the fray. All of them wielded spiritual weapons.
They formed a dense circle around Su Yi. He was surrounded!
Boom!
Various experts’ Astral Force surged like a torrent, blanketing heaven and earth. The sight alone would have been enough to cast any of the world’s other Grandmasters into despair.
And yet, Su Yi’s gaze merely flickered with disdain. He made no attempt to dodge. His sleeves billowed as he suddenly swung his sword.
Clang!
Sword hums rose like the tide.
In an instant, a streak of sword light fell. It was so radiant, it seemed as if the river of stars had descended to earth. It poured down from the sky, covering the ground and cleansing the mortal world.
The Rejoicing Sword Sutra, Pulling Galaxies!
Rumble~!
Sword qi slammed into the ground, then spread in all four directions. The nearby skies burst, and churning currents of sword qi intermixed with the profound charm of the Dao scattered. Dazzling sparks fell like rain.
The combined attacks of over a dozen Grandmasters, plus Xia Houlin, a Xiantian Martial Ancestor, shattered and broke beneath this sword.
Some of the higher-ups staggered back, their expressions brimming with shock.
Even Xia Houlin’s expression filled with unprecedented seriousness
“Kill him!” he bellowed, then led the charge.
Unlike the White-Eyebrowed King, a long-established Xiantian Martial Ancestor of the older generation, Xia Houlin was in his prime. Furthermore, he cultivated a true peerless inheritance. Both his foundations and his strength were first-rate.
When he attacked, saber force arced like a rainbow, as imposing as the sea. He was like a god, or a warrior with the courage to fight off ten thousand men.
Were he still in the Qi Accumulation Realm, Su Yi would have had to go all out to deal with such an opponent.
But now…
Su Yi flicked the flat of his sword, and a clear and melodious hum rang out as he advanced.
He raised his sword, as if demarcating purity and filth, separating yin and yang, or dividing heaven and earth. Everything tore beneath his blade.
Vast swathes of sword qi swept forth, followed by a blast. Sparks scattered like rain, and Xia Houlin was sent flying, saber and all.
His face was flushed red, and his energy churned.
Su Yi seized the opportunity and—
His robes fluttered around him as he arced about like a rainbow, darting throughout the hall like a blue blur. Every time he struck, his attack looked simple, direct, and understated, yet every time, another head rolled to the ground.
When they saw one bloodied head after another flying from their companions’ necks, the hall filled with shrieks and alarmed cries. Shouts rang out continuously.
In just a few blinks of an eye, nine Grandmasters had fallen like lambs to the slaughter, their heads separated from their bodies!
Who knew how many people were shaken upon witnessing this bloody spectacle? Everyone’s expressions changed dramatically.
“Scoundrel!” Xia Houlin roared, his hair and beard bristling with anger as he attacked once more.
Clang!
The deafening impact of metal against metal followed, and Xia Houlin was once more sent flying through the air. He staggered back, his face alternating white and green.
Su Yi, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to decapitate three more people.
That clean, crisp killing technique made even Su Yi’s allies gasp. They were repeatedly shocked.
What did it mean to be unstoppable?
This was it!
One man and one sword, as ethereal as a lone goose shrouded in mist. He flickered in and out of view, but each time he reappeared, he severed another head. From beginning to end, no one could block him. He slew his foes as if they were dogs and chickens.
And Su Yi himself? His blue robes were pristine, without the slightest filth. He looked just like a fallen immortal traversing the mortal world, armed with nothing but his sword, as unfettered as the wind!
“Take this!”?Suddenly, a figure appeared strangely and out of nowhere. His danger swung at Su Yi’s back with unbelievable speed.
It was the Jade Mountain Marquis, Pei Wenshan!
He was a peak fourth-level Grandmaster, but he seemed more like the most dangerous assassin around. He’d seized this tiny sliver of an opportunity to launch an ambush, and he was both ruthless and quick.
However, despite everything, his stab hit nothing but air.
It was as if Su Yi had precognition. He shifted to the side, dodging that ruthless blow, then turned to face Pei Wenshan.
Pei Wenshan was startled, and his hair stood on end. He felt as if he were staring down a primordial savage beast.
Of the Great Zhou’s eighteen non-Zhou marquises, Pei Wenshan was the most adept at assassination.
He’d once achieved illustrious merit in wartime, on a battlefield near the border. He slew a Xiantian Martial Ancestor of the Great Wei, becoming famous overnight.
Yet now, facing Su Yi, he sensed a fatal threat.
This is bad!?Pei Wenshan turned to flee. He had incomparably firm faith in his intuition, so he immediately shot off, blurring into a streak of black light.
Whoosh!
Su Yi was already chasing him. His gait seemed unhurried, yet unbelievably, he reached Pei Wenshan in an instant, like a flickering light.
Pei Wenshan lived up to his reputation as a marquis adept in assassination. Despite his dire predicament, he showed no signs of fear.
His black dagger blurred, striking Su Yi from an unimaginable angle.
As he unleashed this attack, he visibly paled, as if that single stab had drained him of all his energy.
The Contradictory Light Stab!
This was Pei Wenshan’s trump card. It came at the cost of his vitality, but it increased the power of his attack several times over.
Kch!
The air split with a shrill wail.
The black dagger was so fast, it was unbelievable; all the onlookers saw was a blur.
However, Su Yi didn’t even react. He made no attempt to dodge; he just let the dagger pierce directly into his chest.
Pei Wenshan rejoiced.?Did I hit him?
But a moment later, his expression changed dramatically.
That dagger contained enough force to pierce the flesh of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor, yet when it hit Su Yi’s chest, it let out a low thud. It was as if it had slammed into an impenetrable hunk of iron.
Never mind killing Su Yi; Pei Wenshan couldn’t even push the blade forward by a hair.
“How is this possible?” Pei Wenshan’s eyes widened; he dared not believe this!
His dagger could cut through iron as if it were mud. It could slice gold and dice jade. Even Xiantian Martial Ancestors, with their well-refined bodies, dared not take it head-on.
Yet now, Su Yi had blocked it with the power of his fleshly body alone!?
How terrifyingly powerful must his body be??Waves of shock coursed through Pei Wenshan’s heart, but he had no time to think, because Su Yi’s palm was already coming right toward him.
“Kneel.”
Whap!
Su Yi’s left hand was fair, with long, slender fingers. His slap was casual, like a light, airy touch.
However, when it pressed down on Pei Wenshan’s shoulder, the non-Zhou marquis most proficient in the art of assassination knelt, as fragile as if he were made of tofu. He’d been forced to kneel!
Throughout his body, who knows how many bones broke and tendons snapped?
One palm, and Pei Wenshan knelt, unable to get up!
Since the start of the combat, over a dozen big shots had already fallen at Su Yi’s hands. Even the mighty White-Eyebrowed King had taken a sword to the throat.
But now, the Jade Mountain Marquis, Pei Wenshan, had suffered the same fate as Yue Qing. He, too was forced to the ground!
Throughout the wreckage of the hall, those still alive gasped.
The White-Eyebrowed King, the Heavenbrave Marquis, the Jade Mountain Marquis. Who among them wasn’t an expert famed throughout the empire?
Yet against Su Yi, they seemed as fragile as paper mache, unable to take even a single hit!
Yet in Su Yi’s hands, they seemed as weak and fragile as paper mache!
“Kill!” The infuriated Xia Houlin struck with intent to kill once more. The crackling electricity in his gaze surged, and wind and thunder boomed around him.
“An ant trying to shake a tree. How ridiculous.” Su Yi struck with his sword.
Bang!
Xia Houlin struck quickly, but fled even faster. He was sent flying once more, and his tall frame trembled as if he were being electrocuted.
That sword shook him to the point that his qi almost went into disarray!
But this time, Su Yi didn’t let him off.
Whoosh!
Su Yi shifted, then appeared directly before Xia Houlin, his gaze utterly cold.
This is bad!?It was at that moment that the lofty Firedome King of the Great Zhou felt fear rise within his heart for the first time.
Facing the Su Family’s third young master, someone he’d looked down on not long ago, this long-famous and influential Xiangtian Martial Ancestor felt his legs quiver.
“You kneel too,” said Su Yi flatly. He raised his right hand and pressed down leisurely once more.
“Break!” Xia Houlin lived up to his reputation as a Xiantian Martial Ancestor. In the face of life and death, he fully activated his qi and vital essence.
It was as if his entire body were forged out of steel. The sound of wind and lightning rang out, like the long roar of a heavenly dragon, and his entire body was bathed in searing, dazzling Astral Force.
He was like an arhat, a transcendent mystic bathed in gold. He looked holy beyond comparison.
In the world of the mundane, Xiantian Martial Ancestors were the closest to joining the ranks of true cultivators. Their bodies were firm and durable, immune to both water and fire. Daoists referred to this physical state as “flawlessness”, or Anāsrava.
Buddhists described Xiantian Martial Ancestors as those with “Golden Vajra Bodies.”
Demonic sects, meanwhile, described Xiantian Martial Ancestors as having “Untainted Demonic Origins.”
Xia Houlin?was currently erupting?with the full latent power of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor. His churning, torrential Astral Force was radiant gold, and layers of rosy clouds billowed around him.
He roared, raised both hands, and crossed them in front of himself.
“A mantis trying to block a chariot.” There was no trace of emotion in Su Yi’s gaze. His palm and long, slender fingers suddenly turned crystalline and translucent, like jade glass. Streaks of energy imbued with the charm of the Grand Dao revolved around his hand.
The Dao Astral Force he’d condensed was supported by his first-level Grandmaster cultivation and his terrifying foundations. How could his palm strike possibly be ordinary?
Wham!
Beneath the onlookers’ flabbergasted gazes, Xia Houlin took Su Yi’s palm head-on. His body didn’t so much as waver; it seemed he hadn’t been damaged in the slightest.
He blocked it?” As Mu Xi and the others watched on in confusion, a bewildered look arose on Xia Houlin’s face. It was as if he’d suffered an enormous shock. He lost control of his thoughts, and his mind went entirely blank.
“This… What… What kind of power is this?” Xia Houlin muttered to himself, sounding bitter and confused. Suddenly, the sound of cracking bones appeared throughout his body, and bloody streaks appeared all over his skin like a spiderweb.
He shattered like a dropped vase.
Finally, he collapsed to the ground.
It turned out that he?hadn’t?blocked that attack. Rather, Su Yi’s palm shook his bones and tendons, shattering them and splitting his flesh! But the application of force was just so exquisite that it took several breaths of time before the wounds split open.
One palm, and the Firedome King, Xia Houlin, had been forced to the ground!
The entire venue fell deathly silent. Only about seven or eight Grandmaster’s remained. All of them were frantic, panicked, and terrified.
From beginning to end, Su Yi had fought entirely on his own, yet he seemed entirely invincible.
So what if you were a Xiantian Martial Ancestor?
You still couldn’t stop the power of his sword or endure the force of his palm!
But Su Yi showed no signs of stopping. He raised his weapon and strode back into the fray, without even the slightest ripple of emotion.
Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!
He killed in the time it took to snap his fingers. Heads flew through the air with waterfalls of blood.
It wasn’t that they weren’t trying to dodge, and it certainly wasn’t that they didn’t try to resist. It was simply that in the face of Su Yi’s attacks, they looked pathetic; he snuffed them out as easily as if they were ants.
Some of them attempted to flee, only for the Mountain-Subduing King and the others to block their path. In the end, they couldn’t escape death beneath Su Yi’s sword.
Before long, all of the gathered experts had been capitated. Heads rolled across the floor, and blood gathered into pools.
The entire hall was deathly silent.
This was the main hall of the provincial governor’s estate, yet now, it was nothing but a pile of blood-smeared wreckage.
Fu Shan, Nie Beihu, the Wen Family Dowager, and the others were crouched in a corner, so terrified that they collapsed to the floor in a daze.
This bloody spectacle shook even Mu Xi, Shen Jiusong, and the others, sending waves through their hearts. Try as they might, they couldn’t calm down.
He was just too strong!
Only a few minutes had passed since the start of the battle, but the formerly valiant and imposing experts had already been slaughtered. Now, the Heavenbrave Marquis, Jade Mountain Marquis, and Firedome King knelt. Without exception, the others were headless corpses scattered throughout the rubble.
And Su Yi? His blue robes were pristine, without the slightest trace of dirt. He stood there, sword in hand, jarringly out of place amidst the carnage.
Further away, the soldiers stationed nearby were startled into action, but when they saw what was happening, they froze in place and trembled.
None dared approach!
Then, they watched as Su Yi stepped into the wreckage and picked up the discarded Mortal Edge. He wiped the blade clean, then put it away.
Afterward, he took out his wicker chair, placed it before the kneeling Xia Houlin, Yue Qing, and Pei Wenshan, then leaned back.
Su Yi thought for a moment, then said calmly, “I can give you all a chance. Let the people connected to me go.”
“If we do that, will you let us go?” asked Yue Qing, his voice raspy.
“No, all of you have to die. I need your heads as offerings.” Su Yi shook his head. “However, so long as you cooperate, I guarantee that your mistakes won’t implicate those closest to you.”
His tone was casual, but the implications made the three of them feel as if they’d been struck by lightning. Their faces were ashen.
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