Arrogant! Bai Ye Makes His Move!

The leading Middle-aged Man was named Li Yun, an Imperial collateral branch of the Skywind Dynasty.

Though he was not of the direct line, he had still been raised in the imperial household since childhood.

At the age of forty-five, his cultivation had already reached the Fifth level of Primordial Core. Among the dynasty's middle generation, he was considered a noteworthy figure.

At that moment, Li Yun stood with his hands behind his back, his sky-blue standard-issue dynasty uniform glinting coldly beneath the morning light.

His gaze swept over the cultivators outside the entrance as though he were looking at a swarm of ants, the arrogance curling at the corner of his lips nearly overflowing.

The Skywind Dynasty was one of Azure State's ten great powers. In terms of foundation, it was even somewhat deeper than the Azure Cloud Sect. What ordinary sect or Rogue Cultivator would dare provoke it lightly?

For a time, the discussions outside the entrance gradually died down.

Those Primordial Core Realm Rogue Cultivators who had been eager to make a move also quietly reined in their Spiritual Energy.

They were not afraid of Li Yun, but of the Skywind Dynasty behind him.

If they truly came to blows, even if they won, they would inevitably be hunted down by the dynasty's experts afterward. The loss would outweigh the gain.

Just then, the Ninth Prince, who had been standing to the left of the entrance, stretched lazily. Even that languid motion carried the noble air of one accustomed to power.

He glanced at Li Yun and said indifferently, "Uncle Yun, I'll go in first."

Before his words had even faded, his figure shifted. It was as if a gentle breeze had borne him up, and he drifted lightly past the edge of the light screen without stirring the slightest ripple, vanishing from everyone's sight in an instant.

Almost at the exact moment the Ninth Prince stepped into the Secret Realm, Bai Ye moved as well.

He had originally been leaning beneath the Old Locust Tree, utterly inconspicuous. Yet when he stepped forward, his body shot out like an arrow released from the string, heading straight for the Secret Realm entrance.

His blue-gray robe billowed in the wind. He did not move quickly, yet he carried an unstoppable momentum.

"Insolence!"

Li Yun's brow furrowed sharply, a cold gleam flashing through his eyes. "What wild cultivator are you, daring to disregard the rules of my Skywind Dynasty? You're courting death!"

Before he had finished speaking, a burly Black-robed Cultivator beside him had already lunged out like a leopard.

This cultivator was at the Third level of Primordial Core, and faint explosive crackles rang out as his Spiritual Energy circulated!

His right fist clenched, gathering an ochre fist seal that bore the force to collapse mountains and split stone as it smashed toward Bai Ye's back!

"You don't know the difference between life and death!"

The burly cultivator let out a low roar. Before the fist wind even arrived, it had already sent the loose stones on the ground tumbling.

It was as if Bai Ye had eyes in the back of his head. Without slowing his steps, he simply threw a backward punch.

There were no superfluous movements. He did not even turn around to look.

Yet the instant his fist rose, a scorching surge of Spiritual Energy erupted!

In an instant, invisible flames seemed to ignite in the air, condensing into a crimson fist seal like molten lava!

Sparks curled around the edge of the fist seal. Wherever it passed, the air was scorched into issuing sizzling sounds, and even the light itself warped!

This was Sky Burning Fist at the level of Peak Mastery!

BOOM—!

The instant the two fists collided, a deafening explosion erupted!

The ochre fist seal melted away like ice and snow meeting fire. The crimson fist seal, however, did not lose any momentum, smashing fiercely into the burly cultivator's chest amid a surging heatwave!

"Aah—!"

The brief scream was cut short.

The Third level of Primordial Core cultivator's body was pierced through by the scorching Spiritual Energy as though he were a sheet of paper set ablaze.

Before he could even finish screaming, he became a charred afterimage and crashed heavily to the ground, dead on the spot!

One punch—an instant kill of a Third level of Primordial Core cultivator!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Outside the entrance, where whispers had still lingered moments ago, it instantly became so silent that a pin dropping could be heard.

Everyone's eyes were wide and their mouths slightly agape, their faces filled with incredulous terror.

Those cultivators who had just been discussing the Ninth Prince now stared fixedly at Bai Ye as if they had seen some monstrous creature.

"On... one punch killed a Third level of Primordial Core?"

A young cultivator at the Late Meridian Condensing stage swallowed instinctively, his voice trembling. "That was a Primordial Core Realm cultivator! Even someone at the Primordial Core Fourth Layer would need to put in some effort to kill someone at the third level, wouldn't they?"

"H-how is that possible? He looks like... he only has the aura of the Primordial Core Realm!"

At the back of the crowd, several Primordial Core cultivators who had just been planning to challenge the Skywind Dynasty quietly retreated half a step, fine beads of cold sweat seeping across their foreheads.

They asked themselves: if they had faced that punch just now, they likely would not have been able to withstand it either.

The arrogance on Li Yun's face instantly froze, replaced by intense shock and fury.

He pointed at Bai Ye, his voice trembling. "Y-you... who are you? You dare kill a man of my Skywind Dynasty—do you know the consequences?!"

His words were fierce, but his tightly clenched fists betrayed the fear in his heart.

He was at the Fifth level of Primordial Core, two minor realms above the cultivator who had just been killed. He had been confident he could defeat him with ease as well.

But defeating someone and killing them in a single blow were two entirely different things!

The speed, power, and refinement of Spiritual Energy behind that punch had all far surpassed his understanding. Let alone the Fifth level of Primordial Core—even someone in the Late Primordial Core might not be able to strike so cleanly and decisively!

This young man in the blue-gray robe was definitely a vicious wolf in sheep's clothing!

"Hmph."

Bai Ye could not be bothered to waste words on him.

He lightly ground his left foot against the ground, and his figure abruptly turned into an afterimage.

[Wind Chasing Shadow Stepping], brought to its pinnacle, activated in an instant!

With only a faint sound, his figure seemed to melt into the wind. He had been dozens of meters away just moments ago, yet in the next instant, he was already standing before Li Yun!

He was so fast that even the protective Spiritual Energy Li Yun instinctively summoned had not fully unfolded!

"You!"

Li Yun's pupils shrank sharply, his face filled with horror. He tried to retreat, but it was already too late.

Another punch blasted forth!

This punch was even swifter and fiercer than the last. Faint golden spiritual light actually curled around the crimson fist imprint—an indication that Spiritual Energy was faintly resonating with Heavenly Law!

The fist imprint landed on Li Yun's chest. There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a dull "pff."

The protective Spiritual Energy around Li Yun shattered like paper. His whole body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, a mouthful of blood spraying from his lips as the light of life vanished from his eyes midair.

He slammed heavily into a distant stone wall, slid to the ground, and fell completely silent.

A Fifth level of Primordial Core—also killed in a single blow!

Deathly silence fell outside the entrance once more.

Even the rustling of wind through the leaves sounded exceptionally clear.

Everyone seemed to have been frozen in place, staring blankly at that blue-gray figure.

Twelve Primordial Core cultivators from the Skywind Dynasty—two had died in the blink of an eye!

One of them had even been at the Fifth level of Primordial Core!

The remaining ten cultivators of the Skywind Dynasty were pale as paper, their entire bodies trembling.

Looking into Bai Ye's utterly placid eyes, they felt a chill shoot from the soles of their feet straight to the crowns of their heads!

Was that even the gaze of someone looking at people? He was clearly looking at a pile of corpses waiting to be dealt with!