Chapter 254: Kneel
Chapter 254: Kneel
Shen Jiusong and Chen Zheng were both a bit flabbergasted.
It was only just last night that Mu Xi and the others left the Greenplate Army’s encampment.?Yet now, here they were in the Imperatorial Provincial Capital!
The two of them looked at each other, but they’d already roughly guessed what had happened: as soon as Mu Xi and his companions left yesterday, they likely proceeded straight to the Imperatorial Province.
The grand hall fell into a heavy silence.
Mu Xi and the others’ arrival was like a storm, and Xia Houlin and the others didn’t quite know how to respond. They found it hard to wrap their heads around it; it seemed unbelievable.
“Mountain-Subduing King, are you planning to get mixed up in the Su Family’s affairs?” Xia Houlin said gravely, his gaze sharp and imposing.
“Quit trying to use the Su Family to intimidate me,” said Mu Xi flatly. “I said what I said. Today, Young Lord Su’s enemies are my enemies!”
The expressions of everyone present shifted erratically.
What exactly had Su Yi done to deserve this? What was so special about him that even the Mountain-Subduing King wouldn’t hesitate to offend the Jade Capital’s Su Family just to back him up?
But Xia Houlin only sneered contemptuously. “That so? But even added together, you cannot change what happens here today!”
He paused, then said gravely, “Brother Cai, didn’t you want to avenge your son-in-law? Please, come on out.”
As soon as he said this, an old man in linen robes emerged from a smaller room to the side of the hall. His hair and beard were pitch-black, yet he had a pair of long, thin white eyebrows.
He carried an enormous sword in a case on his back, and his cool gaze was filled with the vicissitudes of life. His appearance triggered an uproar throughout the hall.
The White-Eyebrowed King, Cai Jinghai!
He was a famed expert of the older generation, someone who’d stepped into the ranks of Xiantian Martial Ancestors over twenty years ago.
He was also the father-in-law of the former head of the Yu Family, Yu Baiting, and the maternal grandfather of Yu Shuangning.
“Mountain-Subduing King, are you still certain you want to test yourself against the Su Family?” Yue Qing asked with a laugh.
Mu Xi sneered. “There’s nothing I find more irritating than a grown man who relies on his backing to engage in wickedness. Do you?really?think that having the White-Eyebrowed King here is enough to fill my heart with dread?”
He rolled up his sleeves and swept his gaze across the room. “Anyone who wants to play with me is welcome to stand up now and say so!”
The entire hall was deathly silent.
However, it was then that Su Yi said flatly, “Step back. I want to resolve this myself.”
Mu Xi was briefly stunned. Then, he rubbed his nose and considerately stepped back.
Except that now, when he looked at Xia Houlin and the others, there was a newfound hint of pity in his gaze.
What Mu Xi found rather funny was that, after hearing Su Yi’s words, Xia Houlin and his allies’ expressions were inquisitive, a bit scornful, as well as… pitying.
Here I am, pitying them for not realizing they’re effectively throwing their lives away, while they’re pitying Su Yi for the same reason…..?Mu Xi’s expression grew increasingly strange.
Interesting! This is just too interesting!
The White-Eyebrowed King, Cai Jinghai locked onto Su Yi, his weatherworn gaze flashing like cold lighting. “Are you the one who killed Yu Baiting at the Western Mountain’s Tea Party?”
His tone was rife with murderous intent.
“Yes,” said Su Yi offhandedly. “Do you want revenge?”
Clang!
Cai Jinghai opened the case and drew a massive sword. “Of course.”
Xia Houlin’s eyes flashed, and he said warningly, “Brother Cai, this is the third young master of the Su Family. No matter how unseemly he may be, it is not your place to decide his life and death. Do you understand?”
Cai Jinghai was silent for a while before nodding. “Understood.”
As he spoke, his coarse linen clothes fluttered, and his willowy whiskers billowed. The distinctive and imposing aura of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor rose around him.
Those gathered in the hall instinctively distanced themselves for fear the shockwaves of their fight would reach them too.
“Third Young Master, it’s not too late to lower your head~~!” snickered the Heavenbrave Marquis, Yue Qing.
Su Yi glanced at him. “That so? Then how about I start with you?”
He then strode directly toward Yue Qing, who was visibly stunned
Cai Jinghai’s brow knit together, and he suddenly swung his sword. “I’m?your opponent!”
Boom!
The sword qi was vast and thick as a waterfall. It flashed with terrifying purple light and swept forth with great force and momentum.
The Purple Hell Lightning Sword Art!
This was the White-Eyebrowed King, Cai Jinghai’s ultimate technique. Rumor had it that an Earthly Immortal had transmitted it to him and that it was as mighty and unfathomable as a ghost or god. If practiced to its upper limit, it could manifest as towering lightning bolts and disintegrate an entire vast mountain into powder.
“This strike alone is enough to put the power of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor on full display!”
Many people were stunned and visibly shaken.
In the Great Zhou, Grandmasters were already akin to heavenly dragons, while Xiantian Martial Ancestors were terrifying existences that stood near the very pinnacle of martial arts!
Were Su Yi any other Grandmaster, he could never have blocked such a sword; he would have been slain instantly where he stood.
“This strike truly is extraordinary.” Xia Houlin nodded to himself.
Among the Great Zhou’s nine non-Zhou kings, the White-Eyebrowed King was among the oldest. However, he was deeply immersed in his cultivation, and his foundations ran deep; no one dared look down on him.
The image of Su Yi’s imminent plight when this strike inevitably suppressed him arose in many of the onlookers’ minds.
Only for Su Yi to utter but a single word: “Scram!”
His face showed neither joy nor sorrow, and he didn’t so much as look at his opponent. He just casually raised his hand and slapped the air.
A crystalline, transparent, crimson palm imprint appeared in the sky. It looked as if it were forged of red jade, and it was covered with numerous, dense, fluctuating threads imbued with the charm of the Dao.
The Xiantian Fire Hand Imprint!
This was a secret art. Su Yi had unleashed it by “using martial arts to control the spiritual.”
Boom!
It was as if a deity had lifted a mountain, only to slam it back down into the human world.
The crimson hand imprint struck with unblockable force, landing in an instant. That thick, coarse, explosive streak of purple sword qi split apart and shattered like glass.
But the force of that giant palm didn’t decrease. It slammed into the White-Eyebrowed King, sending both him and his sword staggering backward. He came this close to falling.
His aged face was flushed red. The veins bulged on his forehead, and his qi flowed in reverse. It hurt so much that he almost coughed up blood.
Shock arose on his face; it seemed he couldn’t even imagine that such power could belong to a mere youth.
The entire area fell deathly silent!
All of them—Xia Houlin, Yue Qing, Pei Wenshan, as well as the various big shots in attendance—stared, wide-eyed as they watched this play out.
Even though Mu Xi and the others had extraordinary confidence in Su Yi, they never would have guessed that a mighty and renowned Xiantian Martial Ancestor like Cai Jinghai would fail to block even a single attack, or that Su Yi would knock him directly back!
“This…. This….” The entire crowd was dumbstruck and tongue-tied.
No matter whether you looked at his cultivation, his status, or his strength, the White-Eyebrowed King, Cai Jinghai, didn’t seem like the type to get beaten back in a single attack.
He was a Xiantian Martial Ancestor!
And he even practiced the Purple Hell Lightning Sword Art, a world-shaking secret technique! His sword was massive, and it was a famous spiritual weapon, too. How could a single attack have forced him back?
As the crowd watched in a daze, Su Yi was already continuing toward the Heavenbrave Marquis, Yue Qing.
His eyes were calm and indifferent, as if he were on a casual stroll. However, although his movements looked unhurried, they were fast to the extreme.
Yue Qing’s expression shifted, and a strange cry escaped his lips. He raised his hands and beat his arms like a butterfly’s wings.
Fierce streaks of power emerged from his fingers, crisscrossing and streaking through the air. They wove together to form a massive, fiery-red net of true essence.
Threads of flame wrapped gently around Yue Qing’s fingers.
This was a peak heaven-grade martial art. The sharp forces originating from his fingers overlapped, and when they enveloped an opponent, the result was much like death by a thousand cuts; it turned his foes to mincemeat. This attack was as sinister and despotic as could be.
But in response, contempt flashed through Su Yi’s gaze. He pressed his fingers together, forming a sword, and…
Bang!
The incoming, fiery-red net split in two like paper mache, bursting in mid-air. Embers scattered and fell like rain.
This is bad!?Yue Qing’s expression changed dramatically. He immediately tried to dodge.
But it was then that a low shout left Su Yi’s lips. “Kneel!”
It was just one word, but it was like a strict decree, and Yue Qing felt as if a sword vast beyond limit had cut directly into his soul.
The Great Void Soul Sword Incantation
Beneath the onlookers’ stunned gazes, Yue Qing, the famously disagreeable Heavenbrave Marquis convulsed, and his knees thudded to the ground.
His cheeks distorted, and his entire body trembled violently. An agonized, hysterical groan escaped his lips, and bean-sized drops of sweat drenched his clothes.
The reason for this was simple: his soul had just taken heavy damage!
When he saw this, Xia Houlin could no longer remain calm. His face filled with shock.
According to his investigations, while Su Yi had the heaven-defying power to slay Grandmasters, he was still just a Qi Accumulation Realm youth.
Who would have thought that, in the blink of an eye, he’d send Cai Jinghai flying with a single slap?
Or that, in just one attack, he’d force Yue Qing to his knees?
Su Yi was nothing like how he’d seemed in their reports!
Finally, Xia Houlin seemed to notice something. His expression filled with shock and anger. “A Grandmaster! Third Young Master has actually already become a Grandmaster!”
Meanwhile, the others present were so shocked, their jaws practically fell clean off.
None of them could have imagined that Su Yi would be this terrifying. But now, who dared underestimate him?
Mu Xi, Shen Jiusong, and the others were calm by comparison. Still, when they saw the Heavenbrave Marquis so effortlessly suppressed, they felt their hearts shake.
As for Fu Shan, Nie Beihu, the Wen Family Dowager, and the others, they were already rooted in place. Their jaws hung slack, and their minds were totally blank.
Su Yi then gazed down upon the kneeling Yue Qing and said calmly, “Relax. Yesterday, I said I’d give you the opportunity to repeat everything you said and did at the House of Waveswept Rocks. I naturally won’t just kill you like this.”
Yue Qing’s face was ashen, and he quivered from head to toe. His face was full of terror and disbelief, yet he found it hard to speak.
Earlier, between his cheeky grin, brazen impudence, various eccentricities, and his mocking, cutting tone, he was just?begging?for a beating. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝘭.𝘯𝑒𝑡
Yet now, here he was, forced to kneel, and quite miserably at that. He’d just suffered an unprecedented humiliation, and his soul was gravely injured. He felt dejected and pathetic to the extreme, both in body and in soul.
“Die!” Suddenly, a voice boomed like a sudden clap of thunder.
It was the White-Eyebrowed King, Cai Jinghai. He attacked once more, swinging his massive sword with a flood of crackling electricity. The lightning fully merged into his slash.
He’d been forced back earlier, but he saw that as the result of his own complacency.
Furthermore, after Xia Houlin’s warning, he was worried he’d inadvertently kill Su Yi, which was why he held back much of his power.
But now, Cai Jinghai no longer held anything back.
Rumble!
The entire hall shook as lightning-like sword force spread outward, shattering the nearby furniture into powder. The entire audience jumped in alarm and hurriedly distanced themselves from the fray.
And amidst a patch of glaring light, a thirty-foot-long streak of lightning sword qi descended upon Su Yi.
Like a frenzied purple python or heavenly lightning striking the world below.