Chapter 431: Chapter 246: The World is Shaken
"Too late."
WHOOSH!
The Hurricane Domain unfurled, swallowing Han Tiecheng with a roar.
CRACKLE!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Silent Extinction Thunder Realm followed close behind, merging with the Hurricane Domain. This Wind and Thunder Fusion obliterated Han Tiecheng’s Frozen Domain, grinding it away inch by inch.
"Kill all the others."
Gu Zheng’s indifferent voice echoed in the air.
"Yes, sir!!"
The answering shouts reverberated between the sky and the ground.
Bo Taixing, Sen Taibai, and the others swarmed forward, diving down to hunt the remaining members of the Han Family.
"No, no!"
Trapped within the Wind Thunder Domain, Han Tiecheng resisted desperately while roaring in anguish, "Gu King, I was wrong! I’m willing to lead the entire Han Family in pledging absolute loyalty to you! We’ll submit to you! From now on, we’ll be your dogs, and whatever you... AARGH!"
CRACKLE!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Bolts of lightning, infused with the Power of Silent Extinction, struck Han Tiecheng one after another. They completely shattered his Domain and blasted his body into several pieces.
’A Nine-Life Ice Demon? Nine lives?’
Gu Zheng scoffed. He controlled the Power of Silent Extinction, enveloping Han Tiecheng’s severed parts and continuing the onslaught, blasting the chunks of his corpse to bits.
"AAAAAAHHH!!"
A shrill, agonized scream suddenly erupted from the mouth of Han Tiecheng’s dismembered head.
Han Tiecheng wasn’t dead yet—he still had lives left—but he couldn’t escape his fate.
Trapped in the Domain, he endured bolt after bolt of lightning until his body parts were pulverized into dust and utterly annihilated.
And with that, Han Tiecheng, a cultivator at the first stage of the King’s Body, was completely and utterly dead.
On the ground below, not a single member of the Han Family escaped. All were slain.
"Search."
Gu Zheng retracted his Domain and stood poised in the air. His voice carried throughout the entire Ancestral Land Space. "Search every corner of this space for me. Leave nothing unchecked."
"Yes, sir!!"
The response from over a hundred Outsider Heroic Body Realm experts was perfectly uniform.
’Surrender?’
’Submission?’
’Since the Han Family dared to plot against the Gu family, they no longer have a reason to exist.’
’This is the perfect opportunity. I’ll use the destruction of the Han Family to intimidate the other Noble Families.’
’It will make the other Noble Families think twice and consider whether they can bear the consequences before they get any ideas.’
’Besides that...’
"How much longer are you going to hide?" Gu Zheng suddenly said, looking toward a low mountain a thousand meters to the right of the residential area.
"What, did you think I hadn’t noticed you? Or do you believe your Stealth Technique is unparalleled in this world?"
The low mountain remained utterly silent.
"Hah."
Seeing this, Gu Zheng flicked his wrist, and the Heaven-piercing Halberd appeared by his side.
"Wait, wait!"
A voice suddenly rang out from the low mountain.
The next moment, a section of the mountainside at its base abruptly split open. An old man with messy hair, a short stature, and an obsequious smile walked out from within.
"Han Tiesheng—oh, no, that’s not right—Xing Tiesheng pays his respects to the Gu King!"
The old man bowed deeply to Gu Zheng from a distance. "Gu King, please forgive me. Although I am in the Han Family’s Ancestral Land, I am not one of the Han family. My original surname is Xing. I’m a member of the now-extinct Xing Family."
"And yet, you became the Patriarch of the Han Family," Gu Zheng said calmly.
"Oh, that... Han Tiecheng did that on purpose," the old man’s expression tightened, and he explained hurriedly. "So the Gu King knows, although I became the Han Family’s Patriarch, I was just a figurehead for outsiders to see. The one who truly called the shots in the Han Family was always Han Tiecheng. That includes him working with the Medicine God Organization to move against your family, Your Majesty. I opposed it from the very beginning, but he wouldn’t listen to reason and insisted on doing things his way. And as a result... you came, Gu King."
Xing Tiesheng wore an innocent expression and sighed. "Han Tiecheng wanted to become stronger, but he refused to walk the righteous path, looking for shortcuts instead. And your rise, Gu King, was so swift that everyone in the world knew of it, so he couldn’t help himself..."
VMMMM!
Suddenly, the space around them trembled.
By the time Xing Tiesheng realized what was happening, the space around him had been sealed.
"Gu King!"
Xing Tiesheng jumped in fright, his voice turning shrill. "Spare me, Gu King! Everything I said is true! I surrender! I’m willing to submit..."
"If you’re surrendering, then open your mind and don’t resist," Gu Zheng interrupted coldly.
Xing Tiesheng was speechless.
"Alright, alright!"
Xing Tiesheng’s body tensed, but he didn’t dare make a single move, abandoning all resistance.
VMMMM...
An invisible, silent spiritual intrusion instantly flooded Xing Tiesheng’s mind.
The Nether Heart Slave Seal!
’Gu Zheng wouldn’t just believe someone because they babbled on.’
’Implanting the Nether Heart Slave Seal and turning him into a Seal Slave was the most foolproof method.’
’Han Tiecheng and the rest of the Han Family had to be exterminated.’
’But Xing Tiesheng, a Half-King, was someone Gu Zheng could keep as a Seal Slave.’
Having abandoned his resistance and opened his mind, the cunning that had been in Xing Tiesheng’s eyes quickly transformed into clarity and unwavering loyalty.
"Xing Tiesheng pays his respects to Master!"
Dropping to both knees, Xing Tiesheng faced Gu Zheng and kowtowed respectfully.
"Rise."
Gu Zheng replied indifferently, "Tell me about the Han Family’s situation. And how exactly did you become their Patriarch?"
"Yes, Master."
Xing Tiesheng no longer concealed anything. "This subordinate actually has half Han Family blood. My mother was a woman from a prominent family in the outside world. Coincidentally, my mother was a descendant of the Xing Family’s surviving bloodline. It was only after she got together with my father and gave birth to me that she learned of her true identity. But the Xing Family was already destroyed, while the Han Family still existed. And my father was already married to someone in the Han Family."
To put it bluntly, he was an illegitimate son.
One without any official standing.
It was only because Xing Tiesheng possessed the bloodlines of both families and had astonishing cultivation talent that he was able to slowly gain a foothold in the Han Family.
Even so, from childhood to adulthood, Xing Tiesheng had endured countless instances of abuse, mockery, and disdain.
He had never felt any goodwill toward the Han Family, including his own biological father.
Han Tiecheng was wary of him and made him the Patriarch to serve as a target for the other Noble Families to see—someone to be pushed out to take the fall when the time was right.
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