Capturing the Barbican

Yan Nu was acting according to plan, still considering how to deal with him.

However, the young prodigy of the Zhang Family had truly exquisite moves.

Suddenly, with a sidestep, he appeared behind Yan Nu before he could react.

Everything happened too fast.

In an instant, the entire venue fell into a deathly silence.

Standing with his hands behind his back below the stage, Zhang Feng, who had been delighted to gain another fierce warrior, had his smile freeze as if it had been flattened against a wall.

The Wandering Knights were also as stiff as wooden carvings, staring blankly at the limp corpse.

Huang Banyun tensed up instantly, his toes curling and gripping the ground.

The atmosphere in the venue solidified as if everyone had stopped breathing.

Finally, Yan Nu was the first to break the silence.

I really didn't mean it, Yan Nu thought, feeling wronged.

"..." Old Ghost Feng stopped thinking.

Yan Nu was actually very weak. If he didn't use Fierce Blast from the Sky, his opponent could have toyed with him without him being able to touch their clothes.

Emperor Tai's White Jade Technique had automatically counterattacked. It wasn't inherently strong, but with forty-six thousand, one hundred and seventy years of Cultivation's reactive trigger, it was not something an ordinary person could provoke.

What's more, it was a chilling, soft True Qi... If that young man had practiced a righteous True Qi, it would have vanished like a mud ox entering the sea, and he wouldn't have died.

It was just that Yan Nu didn't know Martial Arts.

"Nephew..." Zhang Feng finally came to his senses, calling out to the young man on the stage in a trembling voice.

However, the young man's meridians had already been severed, his blood qi had reversed, and he had bled from all seven orifices and died, due to his own accelerated Yin-element palm strike.

He became furious. The Zhang Family was recruiting soldiers and buying horses, and their young prodigies had joined the army. They were about to achieve great things in this chaotic world, and now he was dead like this?

Yan Nu claimed it wasn't intentional, who could believe that?

To repel a top-tier expert to death, who would dare say he didn't use his full strength!

In fact, if the fight had been evenly matched, and he had accidentally killed someone in the heat of the moment, Zhang Feng could have tolerated it. He would have used the opportunity to show both kindness and might, and subdued a fierce general.

In this way, the Zhang Family would have lost a young prodigy, but gained an even stronger one.

But how could the situation just now be considered an accident?

In Zhang Feng's eyes, it was more like Yan Nu had intentionally taken a palm strike to counterattack with internal energy.

Then, he seized the opportunity to counterattack with full force, killing the opponent with exquisite techniques.

What was this? This was a trap! This was premeditated!

"You bastard, daring to use dirty tricks!"

With a swish, Zhang Feng leaped onto the stage. True Qi could be seen visibly flowing around his body, clearly indicating Three Essences Body Tempering.

With a clang, he drew his treasured sword. The blade lit up with a green light, extending a three-foot sword aura that condensed without dispersing!

"Speak! Who sent you!"

Zhang Feng reasoned that since it was premeditated, someone must have sent Yan Nu to kill a Zhang Family prodigy on stage.

However, Yan Nu said with some helplessness, "I went on stage to gain your favor, so that you would invite me for a banquet in your tent..."

Zhang Feng laughed in extreme anger, "You killed my nephew and now you want me to treat you to a meal?"

"...Do I still have a chance?" Yan Nu gazed at him calmly.

"Too late!" Zhang Feng's eyes were cold.

He thrust his sword straight, determined to heavily injure Yan Nu first and drag him to the dungeon for slow interrogation.

The green sword aura cut a straight path through the air, then exploded into Goose-Shaped Sword Qi, sealing off all of Yan Nu's evasion angles.

"Boom!"

The stage shattered, and a powerful shockwave instantly expanded.

Zhang Feng's vision blurred, and a hand appeared before him.

Everyone saw Yan Nu unleash an astonishing burst of energy, suddenly advancing two zhang and appearing beside Zhang Feng, unleashing a terrifying punch.

It's over! This was Zhang Feng's last thought.

At this moment, all he saw was an enlarged fist and a terrifying shockwave.

Then, the fist stopped in front of him.

It turned out Yan Nu had unleashed another burst of energy forward, intending to slow down while killing Zhang Feng.

In an instant, Zhang Feng felt a roar in his head, his vision went black, his feet left the ground, and his body was uncontrollably sent flying backward.

He tumbled dozens of times like a falling leaf in the wind, flying across the distance.

The surging qi wave swept out for several zhang, spreading forward in a visible fan-shaped gust of wind.

Huang Banyun, standing behind Zhang Feng, was also affected.

He first recoiled, flying back several dozen feet. Then, his waist dipped, and he stumbled back dozens of steps before finally stopping with his foot against the city wall.

Looking to the side, Zhang Feng had already slammed into the base of the city wall, which was covered in red cracks, like a spiderweb dripping blood.

After a while, blood actually began to flow from the cracks.

"Hiss!"

The Wandering Knights present felt their scalps go numb and broke out in a cold sweat.

Their eyes were almost popping out as they stared at Yan Nu, who was still maintaining his punch posture and sliding backward.

Yan Nu skidded for thirty feet before finally stopping.

"This, this, this, this!"

"A World-Shocking Martial Artist?"

The Wandering Knights couldn't even speak properly. In their eyes, someone who could kill a top expert with a single punch had to be a World-Shocking Martial Artist.

At this moment, Yan Nu's hair was flying, his clothes were trembling violently, and a fierce whirlwind was blowing around him.

"Is this the legendary... aura soaring to the heavens, celestial phenomena appearing, dragon and tiger converging?"

"Has he already reached Five Essences Body Tempering?"

Most of them were low-grade, some were third-rate, and only a very small number were second-rate experts.

Seeing Yan Nu's imposing aura, they, lacking experience, even suspected this was the so-called 'Presence Like Dragon and Tiger.'

"Bullshit Five Essences Body Tempering! He hasn't even reached Two Essences!"

"This kid just has too much True Qi! He'll be exhausted soon, fire the arrows!"

A middle-aged scholar with a pale, beardless face exclaimed in shock and anger. He could tell Yan Nu merely had an excess of True Qi, but he didn't know how much.

Some factions used special methods to cultivate monstrous prodigies with hundreds of years of cultivation.

Back then, Wang Siwen, the foremost expert in the world, had five hundred years of cultivation. Not only that, but he also achieved Five Essences Body Tempering, making him terrifyingly strong. And to top it off, he was from Swift Sword Manor and had learned the incredibly fast 'Sudden Sword Dao,' which allowed him to slay six Immortals with a single sword, earning him the title 'Immortal Longevity, I Am Invincible.'

In comparison, Yan Nu hadn't even reached Two Essences Body Tempering. Though his True Qi was abundant, it was being wasted severely. If they fought him using a military formation, they might still be able to kill him.

The East City Training Ground was located on the inner edge of the city, enclosed within a barbican.

Besides the stairs leading up to the city wall and battlements, the only outward passages were two small city gates.

In the training ground, besides the hundreds of Wandering Knights and militia who had come to enlist, there were also five hundred armored Elite Soldiers.

On top of the city wall, there were an additional two hundred archers.

The middle-aged scholar forced himself to calm down and immediately ordered his men to fire.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

As the arrows rained down, Yan Nu's qi surged again, forming a visible shockwave that radiated outward.

"Spare me!"

"It's none of my business!"

"I just came here to make a living."

The Wandering Knights were also caught in the arrow attack and tried to flee.

However, the exits were blocked by the Elite Soldiers. Upon closer inspection, they were all third-rate martial artists.

"Kill!" This unit, forming a military formation, advanced menacingly, step by step.

With Elite Soldiers in front and Yan Nu behind, the Wandering Knights were trapped in the middle, utterly helpless.

Just then, Yan Nu took a step forward, his fist swinging backward.

His body suddenly turned red, like a hot iron, until it glowed brilliantly.

"Zhang Family members, kneel! Those who surrender, lie down! Those who don't fear death, come and block me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged forward like a meteor, the air behind him like soaring wings.

Seeing this, everyone was terrified. What was this? Was he a monster?

The middle-aged scholar was aghast. He no longer knew how to gauge the amount of True Qi involved.

"Block him! Quickly block him!" the middle-aged scholar repeatedly ordered.

The Wandering Knights ignored him and scrambled to the ground.

The five hundred Elite Soldiers, despite their strict discipline, felt their scalps tingle and dared not engage him head-on. They spread out to the sides.

Instantly, the formation shifted, forming two square formations on the sides and clearing the space in the middle.

However, Yan Nu wasn't just charging straight. Midway through his charge, he began to spin!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Yan Nu spread his arms, drawing arcs of crimson energy, and simultaneously unleashed powerful bursts of qi from his sides, causing himself to rotate like a screw.

At the same time, a stream of water descended from the sky, causing the Vine Armor to secrete oil, and his body instantly ignited.

The stream of water also vaporized, expanding violently.

Yan Nu used his internal energy to propel flames and steam, creating a whirlwind of fire.

"Ah?" The elite soldiers, who had been radiating killing intent moments ago, had their faces contort.

Caught off guard, they couldn't dodge far in their formation and were mostly swept into the rapidly approaching inferno.

"Boom!"

A rock formation suddenly rose up, blocking Yan Nu and forcing him to crash into it.

The astonishing impact further ignited a shockwave, scattering debris in all directions.

Scorching flames, searing steam, swirling debris, and dust mingled with the Zhang Family's martial artists.

One by one, they tumbled, engulfed in flames and sent flying, their armor and flesh blooming like flowers.

The center of the collision was a scene of utter devastation.

It lasted for several breaths before slowly dissipating.

Amidst the lingering aftermath of the whirlwind, Yan Nu was tattered, his hair disheveled, and his feet bare.

He walked out slowly, piercing through the smoke and dust.

"You... are you Tu Fa Yak?"

The middle-aged scholar's face changed repeatedly, contorting in disbelief. Who else would attack the Zhang Family's army these days if not the Tu Fa Clan?

Seeing Yan Nu's combat prowess, he suddenly recalled the terrifying Battle of the Ji River in the north.

He had dismissed it as an exaggerated legend from a defeated army, but now, he felt it might be true.

"The Tu Fa Clan has actually attacked this far? How is there no news..."

"Why hasn't the alarm bell rung yet?"

The middle-aged scholar trembled and turned to flee.

But outside the passage behind him, two squads of grim-faced, cold-eyed Vine Armor Soldiers marched in, blocking his escape.

Looking up at the city walls, the archers who had been loosing arrows had inexplicably collapsed.

And the alarm bell was tightly ensnared by a vine.

"Ah..."

"There's a cultivator!"

Those present saw this scene and felt their hearts turn ice cold.

A cultivator had attacked and taken the barbican, disregarding the mortal world's fires?

In the north, some monsters and Hu barbarians had joined forces, attacking cities and seizing territory. The Tu Fa Clan, it was truly the Tu Fa Clan that had arrived!

"You, you, you..."

The middle-aged scholar saw there was no escape, and as Yan Nu approached step by step, he finally couldn't bear the pressure.

He quickly knelt down, "I am a Rear Army Sima of the Zhang Clan, in charge of all provisions and armaments for the city's defenders. I wish to surrender to the Tu Fa Clan and aid in your royal cause!"

"I beg for my life! Your Highness, I beg for my life!"

Yan Nu stopped, glanced around, and then actually turned and walked away.

The middle-aged scholar rejoiced and quickly stood up to follow.

Seeing Yan Nu heading towards the remaining martial artists who hadn't been caught in the whirlwind, the middle-aged scholar shouted, "Why aren't you paying respects to the prince of the Tu Fa Clan!"

The remaining martial artists no longer dared to fight. Seeing their superior surrender, they could only kneel and bow their heads.