...What?
What White Jade City?
What stealing your Immortal Arts?
Hearing the words of the black-clothed person—or rather, Lin Yu—everyone present, including the Four Fiends of Youli, was utterly baffled.
The corner of Su Haoming's mouth twitched beneath his mask as he looked at Lin Yu with equal speechlessness.
None of this had been arranged beforehand. Lin Yu had made it all up on the spot...
Lin Yu paid no attention to their stares and continued his impromptu performance.
When traveling the world, your identity was whatever you said it was. Why fuss over such details?
Yuan Lai came back to his senses and frowned. "What White Jade City? What nonsense are you talking about?"
"...Still trying to deny it when death is at your door!"
Lin Yu snorted coldly, then raised his right hand and curled his fingers.
In an instant, a terrifying suction force appeared from nowhere. The Dwarf, the smallest of the Four Fiends, was yanked into the air. His chain hammer dropped to the ground as he flew toward the stone platform with terror written across his face.
Bang!
With a dull thud, the black-clothed person seized his head and lifted him into the air with one hand.
The next instant, light bloomed in the black-clothed person's palm. The Dwarf immediately let out a scream, his entire body trembling like a sieve.
What kind of demonic art was this?!
Everyone was shocked, and the other three members of the Four Fiends of Youli flew into a rage.
The injured man clutched his chest and glared at the stone platform, his eyes blazing with fury.
The other two roared and leaped high into the air, brandishing their weapons.
Seeing this, the other black-clothed person stepped forward and slashed downward with his sword.
Xun Feng Seal: Shaoze Gangfeng!
In an instant, surging Magic Power erupted from the Shaoze Acupoint at the tip of his finger, flowing along the blade and transforming into a rapidly spinning, slicing current of air.
To those watching, it looked as though an invisible sword aura had detached from the blade and shot toward the Great Axe Big Man below.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed everywhere. The Great Axe Big Man's chest burst open, and he crashed toward the ground.
Seeing this, the Chang'an Catchers exchanged uncertain looks.
The Hardening Secret Technique that even arrows could not pierce had actually been broken through by a single strike from this black-clothed person!
...What was that?
Could it be the legendary sword aura?!
For a moment, everyone, including Su Wuming and Lu Lingfeng, stared at him in shock.
Su Haoming could not help feeling secretly pleased, and he even itched to say a few lines himself.
But unfortunately, his Elder Brother had exceptionally sharp hearing. The moment he spoke, his identity would surely be exposed.
With no other choice, Su Haoming could only keep his mouth tightly shut and play the part of a taciturn, mysterious expert.
—No, even maintaining the act of an expert was becoming difficult.
There was barely any Magic Power left in his body. Those two wind blades just now had been his last ripples.
Thinking of this, Su Haoming quietly shifted his feet and moved behind Lin Yu.
At the same time, Lin Yu had already finished the Soul Search and obtained the Four Fiends of Youli's Hardening Secret Technique.
"Is that all?"
"It's far less valuable than Fan Xian's Overlord True Qi..."
Disappointment appeared on Lin Yu's face. He shook his head and casually tossed him aside.
In an instant, the Dwarf's body shot out like a cannonball, crashing into another hulking member of the Youli Clan in midair.
The two collided into a tangled mass. The Youli Clan brute, who had just leaped high into the air, plummeted to the ground even faster the next second.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the two smashed a crater into the platform, web-like cracks spreading across its edges.
Yuan Lai, who stood closest to them, saw clearly that the Dwarf's head had smashed through the brute's chest.
Both of them had twisted limbs and blood pouring from their seven orifices. No matter how one looked at them, they did not appear to be alive...
In the blink of an eye, two of the Four Fiends were dead and two were injured.
The entire cave fell silent. Everyone stared blankly at the two Black-clothed people, their understanding of the world utterly shaken.
Lin Yu leaped down from the platform and calmly walked toward the other two severely injured brutes.
From the Dwarf's memories, he had already learned what the Four Fiends of Youli were like. Each of them carried the blood of over a hundred people on his hands. Calling them indiscriminate killers would have been too kind.
Since that was the case, Lin Yu no longer intended to spare their lives.
The two brutes clutched their bloodied chests and gritted their teeth as they rose from the ground.
Just as they picked up their weapons, preparing to fight this unprecedentedly powerful foe to the death, Lin Yu's figure suddenly twisted and vanished. The next second, he appeared behind them.
"...Huh?"
The two stared blankly at the spot where Lin Yu had disappeared. Before they could understand what had happened, the world before their eyes sank into darkness.
Thud! Thud!
Two supposedly invulnerable bodies crashed to the ground.
Without even looking at the two men who had fallen behind him, Lin Yu continued forward at the same unhurried pace, calmly walking toward Yuan Lai.
Yuan Lai suddenly came back to his senses and looked at Lin Yu in utter terror.
"Y-you... who exactly are you?"
"Didn't you only want to capture the Four Fiends of Youli? I never stole your Immortal Arts. Don't... don't come any closer!"
Seeing the extreme terror on Yuan Lai's face, Lin Yu finally stopped and said in a ghostly tone:
"All these years, you were the one sheltering the Four Fiends of Youli?"
"..."
Yuan Lai's pupils shrank sharply.
Su Wuming came to his senses, and instead felt a trace of schadenfreude.
"N-no, it wasn't me!"
Yuan Lai retreated as he incoherently denied it.
Only when he had backed up to the edge of the platform did he cast off his earlier crazed state. He threw the Bone Flute in his hand at Lin Yu and roared, "Quick! Kill him!"
After saying that, he seemed to trigger some mechanism. He leaped down toward a Secret Tunnel that had somehow opened below.
Bang!
Before the thrown Bone Flute could even get close, it exploded in midair.
Lin Yu calmly watched Yuan Lai's retreating figure and lightly stamped his foot.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, the entire platform began to shake violently. The force not only spread a crack across the platform, but precisely collapsed and buried the Secret Tunnel beneath Yuan Lai's feet.
Yuan Lai stared in horror at the uneven pile of crushed stone below.
Before he could fall to the ground, Lin Yu had already reached the platform's edge and extended his five fingers toward him with an indifferent expression.
The next second, Yuan Lai's body froze in midair before suddenly flying upward, his neck delivered precisely into Lin Yu's grasp.
At that moment, a group of Black-clothed Death Warriors charged toward the platform under Yuan Lai's orders, only to be thrown into disarray by the force trembling beneath their feet.
By the time they finally regained their footing, the one they served had already fallen into the hands of that mysterious powerhouse.
The Black-clothed people stopped and looked at one another, at a complete loss.
Just then, Lin Yu turned and glanced at them.
In an instant, the Black-clothed people felt as though they had been struck by something heavy. It was as if their souls had been dragged from their bodies and submerged in the pitch-black depths of the sea. No matter how they struggled, they could not escape that suffocating, terrifying feeling.
In only an instant, every black-clothed death warrior's mind collapsed. They stood there blankly, having completely lost the will to resist.
"Urgh—urgh—"
Yuan Lai's struggling sounds came from below.
Su Wuming suddenly came back to his senses. Ignoring the fact that another black-clothed person stood beside him, he shouted:
"Stop!"
"..."
Lin Yu raised a brow behind his mask and looked at Su Wuming with some surprise.
Their eyes met. Su Wuming's heart skipped a beat, but he still forced himself to say:
"Your Excellency... this man is a wanted criminal of the imperial court. If Your Excellency has no reason that demands his immediate death, why not hand him over to Su? Su guarantees with his life that this man will receive the punishment he deserves!"
At those words, the Chang'an Catchers around them grew somewhat uneasy.
Only Lu Lingfeng came back to his senses, shame appearing on his face.
Then he gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and declared, "What County Lieutenant Su means is also what this general means. The Great Tang has its own laws. If you two consider yourselves people of the Great Tang, then please hand this man—"
Halfway through, Lu Lingfeng noticed Su Wuming frantically signaling at him with his eyes.
Lu Lingfeng was rather confused—had he said something wrong?
He had said something very wrong!
Su Wuming shot Lu Lingfeng an annoyed glare.
They were clearly the weaker side here. Did he not know how to be more polite when speaking?
After silently lecturing Lu Lingfeng, Su Wuming immediately composed himself and cupped his hands toward Lin Yu below. "Your Excellency's martial arts are peerless, and your bearing extraordinary. Su has lived thirty-six years, yet this is the first time I have seen someone like you!"
"Indeed, with Your Excellency's martial prowess, we are certainly no match for you."
"But this man has treated human lives as grass, abducted Brides and made them into red tea, and brought chaos to Chang'an. His crimes are utterly heinous!"
"As the County Lieutenant of Chang'an County, Su must bring him to justice."
"Therefore, Su humbly begs Your Excellency to grant this to Chang'an, to grant this to Su, and to grant this to the twelve innocent Brides who died tragic deaths, so that Su may give their families an answer!"
By the end, Su Wuming's tone was heavy. With his hands still cupped, he bowed deeply to Lin Yu.
Before you continue