Chapter 59: Countdown (1)
Chapter 59
There was silence... The silence, in fact, stretched for a very, very long time before it was finally broken by a small chuckle from the man sitting upon the seat that could only belong to the leader of the Dark Reapers.
The seat itself looked more like a throne than an ordinary chair; it seemed to have been carved from some extremely sturdy rock, its surface rough yet imposing.
Human skulls hung around the armrests of the throne, their hollow eye sockets staring outward as if silently watching everyone present.
It was obviously meant to invoke dread in anyone standing before the leader of the Dark Reapers, but that was obviously not going to work on Liyu. The leader of the Dark Reapers was a massive man; he was easily twice Liyu’s size, if not three times larger.
And that was not all: a large scar stretched across one side of his face, running from his forehead all the way down to his jaw, and one of his eyes had turned completely white... evidence of some brutal battle in the past that had cost him his sight.
Yet even that was not the most intimidating thing about him; his thick hair hung wildly behind his back in a tangled and scattered pattern, and his aura radiated a savage and bestial presence.
Most people would have mistaken him for an actual beast if they had not been seeing with their own eyes that the man was indeed human.
And there was still more: resting beside him was a massive single-bladed axe that was by no means an ordinary weapon; it possessed an unusual sheen and faint spiritual fluctuations. It had to be an artifact of some sort.
If anything, the man truly possessed both the appearance and the strength worthy of being the leader of a rogue terrorist cultivator group, and even his aura promised nothing short of destruction and doom.
The man remained seated; his expression had been neutral as he watched the two Body Refinement cultivators beat each other senseless earlier.
Even when they wounded themselves in their struggle, his face had not changed; even when the two were instantly killed by the green-haired rookie, he had remained calm.
But when the rookie confidently uttered words that no child should be saying... well, that was different. How could a kid who had barely learned how to speak properly be telling him... the great Ozaki... that he would decide whether he lived or died? Yeah... that was amusing.
Ozaki smiled, then the smile became a chuckle, and seeing the serious look on the kid’s face, he could no longer hold it back; he burst into loud, healthy laughter: "Hahaha!"
The other members of the Dark Reapers, who had been too stunned to react after watching two of their own die so quickly, were pulled from their thoughts by their leader’s booming laughter; a moment later, they began laughing as well.
Only now did they remember something important: the kid standing before them was merely at the Peak Body Refinement Realm.
Yet here he was, standing before their leader and confidently declaring that he would kill him... their leader, a fearsome cultivator at the Third Stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Everyone knew the difference between those two realms; it was basic knowledge.
The gap between them was comparable to the difference between an ant and a tiger; the kid had practically walked into their base and signed his own death contract. At least that was what every Dark Reaper present believed.
And the funniest part? It was the confidence... the sheer confidence with which the young man casually declared that he was going to kill their boss. Liyu watched the boss and his stupid minions laugh; a slight grin appeared on his face.
They truly had no idea what kind of trouble had just entered their lair. Just imagining what he was going to do to the Dark Reaper leader and all his pathetic subordinates was enough to make him chuckle, then the chuckle slowly transformed; it became a crackling laugh... a laugh filled with pure savagery, pure madness: "Wahahaha..." The laughter echoed throughout the cave.
The Dark Reapers immediately stopped laughing; every single one of them turned their gaze toward Liyu because Liyu was laughing too, and there was absolutely nothing normal about that laugh.
They did not know why, and they could not explain it, but hearing that laugh made chills crawl up their spines. Even the Dark Reaper leader could not help but frown; there was no joy in that laughter, no amusement, no happiness.
What he felt instead was something far more disturbing: dense killing intent, a killing intent so thick that it seemed almost tangible. And he, of all people, was especially sensitive to such things; after all, he had slaughtered countless humans and beasts throughout his life.
The moment he heard that laugh, he understood something: this kid was no ordinary person. He had killed people before... a lot of people. No, not just a lot... an absurd amount.
The Dark Reaper leader slowly stopped laughing; the amusement vanished from his face; his remaining eye narrowed as he fixed his gaze upon Liyu.
Liyu had also stopped laughing; he stood there calmly amidst the corpses, a crazy smile curled across the side of his face as he stared directly back at the Dark Reaper leader. Neither of them looked away. "What do you want?"
The Dark Reaper leader asked in a low voice. He was starting to believe that this kid might be far more powerful than he had initially assumed.
This much killing intent, coupled with the display of strength from the beginning, meant that despite still being at the Body Refinement Realm, the kid might very well possess power comparable to high-stage, if not peak-stage, Qi Gathering cultivators.
Although the man was not the slightest bit afraid of killing him, he believed that if he managed to recruit Liyu into the Dark Reapers, then with how much bloodlust was pouring from him, he would make an excellent addition to the organization.
"What I want?" Liyu raised an eyebrow. "Haven’t I already told you? I want all of you dead. No... let me rephrase that."
A grin spread across his face. "Before the sun rises, all of you will be dead, because I will be taking your lives. And the one I will be killing first..." his eyes locked onto Ozaki, "...will be you."
He paused before adding another sentence: "And right now, don’t even think about trying to pledge your allegiance and serve me, because I would still kill you. No matter what you offer. You will die." The Dark Reaper leader’s eyes slowly darkened.
Was this brat serious right now? Did he even know who he was talking to? Did he know he was standing before a Qi Refining expert capable of crushing him without much effort? And yet this brat was arrogant enough to think that he would someday beg for his life if they fought.
Those words had undoubtedly damaged his pride; worse still, if his subordinates heard this and he did nothing, they might start believing he wasn’t as terrifying as they had always thought.
With that thought, the Dark Reaper leader abandoned the idea of settling things peacefully and recruiting Liyu into the Dark Reapers; now, he was going to give this arrogant brat exactly what he wanted. He would rip off his head and add his skull to the armrest of his throne.
A small grin touched his stoic face as the leader of the Dark Reapers slowly rose from his seat; standing up, his build appeared even larger and more terrifying than most would have imagined.
The very ground beneath him cracked slightly as he rose to his full height. "Well... since it is death you wish for... I shall honor your last wish in this world." His grin widened. "And I will grant you a death so painful that even your soul would not be able to bear it, should an afterlife truly exist."
With that, he jumped from the elevated platform and landed roughly five meters away from where Liyu was standing. Boom! A powerful wave of Qi exploded outward; the ground shook violently as spiderweb-like cracks spread across the cave floor.
A large wave of suppressive Qi erupted from the Dark Reaper leader and spread throughout the cave; soon, every Dark Reaper member present dropped to their knees, their heads lowered instinctively. Even the few Late-Stage Qi Gathering cultivators among them were no exception.
Nobody needed to explain it to them; they could clearly feel that this level of power was far beyond their own. It reminded them of the sole reason none of them had ever dared challenge Ozaki for the position of Dark Reaper leader.
The raging waves of Qi filled the cave; anyone below the Qi Refining Realm would immediately feel weak and pressured beneath it. Yet when those waves reached Liyu... nothing happened. He remained rooted in place; his posture did not change; his expression remained the same.
The crazed smile still rested on his face while his eyes remained deathly cold. He stared directly at the man, then he spoke: "If you’re done with that little charade... you should attack."
The man froze; so did the hundred or so Dark Reapers kneeling around them. For a moment, everyone wondered if they had heard correctly: did that crazy rich kid just tell their boss to stop showing off and attack already? Their minds went blank.
The audacity! The Dark Reaper leader was stunned as well, though not for the same reason as his subordinates; instead, it was because of something entirely different: did that kid just resist his Qi Domination?
Unlike what most of the Dark Reapers believed, the violent Qi currently ravaging the cave was not merely the passive release of his aura.
No, it was the result of a skill... Qi Domination. A powerful pulse of refined Qi would erupt outward from his refined Qi bead, spreading in every direction with force comparable to several kilograms of crushing pressure.
Yet it didn’t seem to affect Liyu at all; he stood there as calm and composed as ever. The Dark Reaper leader closed his eyes, then reopened them; a glimmer of acknowledgment flashed within his remaining eye.
"I have to admit... I’m impressed. To be able to resist my aura despite only being at the Peak Body Refinement Realm." His gaze sharpened. "I can only imagine how powerful you would become if you ever reached my level."
Liyu continued staring at him with an unchanged expression; even now, he radiated dense killing intent. The only reason he had not immediately attacked and ended the man’s life was because he was trying to think of a suitably painful way to kill him.
He wasn’t going to let this man die easily; simply killing him wouldn’t satisfy his thirst for vengeance.
Even killing him in an extremely painful manner didn’t seem enough; so while he stood there appearing to listen, his mind was actually busy imagining countless ways to make the Dark Reaper leader suffer before finally ending his life.
The Dark Reaper leader continued speaking, completely unaware of what Liyu was thinking: "Because of your talent and the potential I see in you... I will grant you one final chance to live. Bend your knee. Kowtow a hundred times until blood flows from your forehead. Then I shall show mercy and allow you to join me. So make your choice. Choose wisely." His voice became commanding.
Unbeknownst to him, Liyu hadn’t been listening at all; after finally coming up with what he considered the perfect way to make the Dark Reaper leader’s life a living hell before killing him, his eyes lit up slightly. Then he spoke: "I’ll give you five minutes."
The entire cave went silent. Liyu smiled. "If you manage to touch even a single strand of my hair... I’ll only slice off your manhood and both of your legs."
The Dark Reapers blinked. Liyu continued calmly: "If you manage to touch any other part of my body... my face, hand, or anything else... I’ll only slice off all your limbs, your manhood, both your ears, and then hang your body outside for beasts to feed upon." The Dark Reaper leader’s face twitched.
Liyu continued without pause: "And finally... if you manage to leave even a scratch on me... I’ll only cut off your manhood, one leg, and both your arms." He tilted his head slightly: "Fair, right?" He said it so casually that it sounded as if he were discussing the weather.
The face of the Dark Reaper leader instantly turned cold; every option was practically a death sentence. Liyu slowly raised his eyes; the playful look within them had completely vanished, and only icy coldness remained.
"But... if those five minutes pass and you fail to touch me..." the atmosphere became heavy, "...then forget all those childish punishments."
His smile widened. "I’ll let you scream in terror while I skin you alive. I’ll make your death the most gruesome death anyone here has ever witnessed. I’ll drain away every last bit of your hope. I’ll fill your soul with terror. I’ll drown your mind in dread. And only then... will I allow you to die."
Silence engulfed the cave. Liyu slowly raised one hand, his emerald eyes locked onto Ozaki, then he spoke the final words: "Your countdown has started."
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— Ultra
