The heavy Alloy Doors of Xu Mansion were not shut. Instead, they stood like the open throat of a silent beast.
Lu Jun's steps did not slow in the slightest before the formidable scene at the gate, nor did they quicken by a fraction. He simply walked as usual onto the path leading deeper into the residence.
The instant Lu Jun appeared, all the hidden Soul Tool monitoring arrays around the Xu Family estate raised their alarms to the highest level.
Invisible energy ripples, like a startled swarm of bees, transmitted every detail of the intruder—his image, energy readings, movement trajectory, and more—to the estate's core processors and decision-makers with an efficiency far surpassing the speed of light.
The Imperial Guards who had been patrolling the gardens and corridors in an orderly fashion completed their shift from normal operations to maximum combat readiness within a few breaths.
Dozens of elite Imperial Guards clad in pure black, streamlined, fully enclosed Soul Tool Battle Armor poured out from every direction like ink seeping from the shadows. With astonishing efficiency, they assembled in layers, forming an impenetrable wall of bodies and firepower that blocked Lu Jun's path.
The Soul Tool Firearms in their hands and the heavy Soul Tool Cannons on their shoulders glowed with dark blue charging light. Cold metal reflected the daylight, intertwining with the various Soul Rings lighting up one after another to spread a grim and dangerous curtain of energy before Lu Jun.
"Stop right there! Xu Mansion is forbidden ground. Trespassers—die!"
The leading Imperial Guard shouted sternly. Amplified by the sound-amplifying Soul Tool within his battle armor, his voice boomed like thunder from clear skies, slightly warping the air as visible sound waves spread outward.
The devastating sphere of energy at the muzzle of the terrifyingly large heavy