How many years had it been?!
Ever since he had taken the seat of Great Elder of the Three Rivers Alliance, no one had ever dared openly defy his will like this.
What was more, no one had dared kill several of his sect's protectors right under the nose of a dignified Jade Liquid Grandmaster.
In his eyes, Zhang Chu was merely a newcomer who had only recently emerged in the Martial World, utterly insignificant—someone he could crush to death with a casual squeeze.
Yet this very brat he had looked down upon had slain Protector Duan He before his very eyes, massacred Three Rivers Alliance disciples, and treated him as though he were nothing!
"Buzz!" At that moment, the Great Elder's aura surged, nearly crushing the entire long street into dead silence!
He pointed through the air, his body swooping like a ferocious bird pouncing on prey, reaching the middle of the long street in an instant.
"What a lawless wretch—"
"What's so good about it?! Die!"
Before the Great Elder could finish, Zhang Chu suddenly struck, not giving him the chance to spout another word of nonsense.
"Boom!!"
Zhang Chu moved abruptly. Neither dodging nor evading, he charged straight toward the Three Rivers Alliance crowd!
Situ Junwen and the others were all dumbfounded.
That was the Great Elder of the Three Rivers Alliance, a genuine Jade Liquid Grandmaster! One of Lingnan Circuit's foremost experts, whose might had overshadowed the Seven Counties for decades—no one had dared meet his edge.
Not only did this Daoist Priest Zhang refuse to retreat, he actually took the initiative to attack and charge at him. This was no decisiveness in killing; it was naked contempt!
"Buzz, buzz!"
Gang Qi churned as Zhang Chu charged forward, and the Yellow Court Gang Qi within him erupted in an instant.
More than a dozen Three Rivers Alliance disciples did not even have time to scream before their bodies seemed to be struck by ten-thousand-pound hammers. With a muffled "bang," they were smashed straight into the bluestone bricks, blood spraying everywhere.
[Merit Points +800!] [Merit Points +1200!] [Merit Points +900!]...
Zhang Chu moved like the wind. Wherever he passed, no Three Rivers Alliance disciple could escape the coverage of his Gang Qi. Some were blasted away and killed by it, while others had their heart meridians shattered by the shock!
His strikes were ruthless, leaving not the slightest room for mercy!
At the roadside, Situ Junwen and the others stood frozen in place, staring wide-eyed in utter horror.
They had roamed the Martial World for years and met many senior experts, but they had never seen such a terrifying figure!
Someone secretly raised his eyes toward the Great Elder, only to discover that even this usually lofty figure wore a trace of bewilderment and disbelief on his face.
Clearly, even the Great Elder himself had not expected Zhang Chu to be this powerful!
"Hiss!!" Just then, a cold killing intent abruptly locked onto Zhang Chu from a dark corner.
A True Gang Realm assassin lurking in the corner seemed to have finally caught an opening while Zhang Chu was off guard.
A pitch-black steel needle as fine as a cow's hair shot out close to the ground, soundless and incomparably venomous.
This strike had been hidden deeply and delivered from a tricky angle. Even a Grandmaster could be struck and seriously wounded by one careless misstep.
Situ Junwen saw it clearly, and his expression changed at once. He was just about to open his mouth and warn Zhang Chu to be careful.
But in the next second, Zhang Chu merely lifted his foot slightly, then stomped down hard.
"Boom!!"
Violent inner force swept wildly through the ground, exploding all the way forward as bluestone bricks shattered and dust billowed.
The instant that venomous steel needle collided with the Gang Qi in the ground, it was blasted into powder.
The remaining force did not cease. Like an enraged dragon, it raced through the ground directly toward the hidden assassin.
The assassin's face changed drastically. He frantically retreated until his back slammed hard into a wall.
But before he could move again—
"Bang!" With a muffled blast, a mist of blood exploded.
[Merit Points +23000!]
The assassin did not even manage a scream before his body exploded in the corner, blood mist filling the air.
From beginning to end.
Zhang Chu did not even turn his head.
It was as though that True Gang Realm assassin who had launched the sneak attack was nothing more than an insignificant ant by the roadside, something he could crush with a casual stomp and not worth a second glance.
Such contempt.
Was even more despairing than killing someone in public!
The long street fell even more deathly silent.
The Great Elder's eyes nearly split apart. The Three Rivers Alliance had existed for nearly a century—how many True Gang Grandmasters had it produced in total?
These people were the pillars of the Three Rivers Alliance, the foundation that allowed them to stand in the Seven Counties!
But today.
In a single exchange, three had died in succession!
All of them had fallen to Zhang Chu's hands!
Watching his subordinates die one after another, the Great Elder could no longer suppress the towering rage in his heart.
Jade Liquid Realm Gang Qi surged violently around him, and his entire body resembled a humanoid savage beast on the verge of rampaging.
"You're not True Gang. You're—"
"Cut the nonsense. Take my palm!" Zhang Chu's gaze was indifferent and his voice ice-cold, without a trace of wasted words.
He had already forced the whereabouts of his senior and junior brothers from Duan He's mouth. This Great Elder no longer had any value to him; keeping him alive would only waste time!
Before his words had faded, Zhang Chu curled the fingers of his right hand into a seal.
Cold and flame intertwined in his palm as [Northern Cold Flame True Hand] erupted with full force, striking directly toward the Great Elder.
His palm wind howled, its power terrifying beyond measure!
The Great Elder's unfinished words were forcibly choked back. Already furious, he became even more enraged.
Casting aside his status as a Grandmaster and the bearing of a Martial World elder, he roared, "Good timing!"
Rather than retreat, he advanced. Gang Qi surged throughout his body in an instant, and his physique swelled by a full circle, as though a god of strength had possessed him!
After decades of bitter cultivation and with his full strength unleashed, the Great Elder's punch carried the might of a colossal beast awakening!
If this punch landed, even a small mountain peak would be blasted flat!
Even from far away, Situ Junwen and the others could feel the suffocating pressure of that fist intent. Every hair on their bodies stood on end, and they involuntarily retreated several steps.
If they felt this way, how terrifying must the pressure be for Zhang Chu, who faced that punch head-on?
"Boom!!"
In the next instant, fist and palm collided with a thunderous crash.
The massive explosion rang through the entire long street. Sound waves swept in every direction, and the houses were all pulverized by the gale!
Situ Junwen and the others struggled to raise their heads through the gaps in the raging Gang wind, wanting to see the outcome of the clash.
In their imagination.
No matter how strong Zhang Chu was, against a full-force punch from a Jade Liquid Grandmaster, the battle should at least have been evenly matched.
But the scene before them left everyone petrified!
Zhang Chu's robes fluttered and his aura remained steady, completely unharmed. Yet half of the Great Elder's body had vanished, leaving only crimson blood flowing!
The Great Elder was horrified to the point of death!
The supreme art that had made his name had actually achieved not the slightest effect before Zhang Chu!
The violent force of his full-power punch had been effortlessly crushed apart the instant they made contact.
Only Zhang Chu's incomparably terrifying Gang Qi pressed on with irresistible force, smashing through everything in its path and wreaking destruction without restraint!
He had no power to resist at all!
"What kind of monster is this person?"
"He... even if he had begun practicing martial arts in his mother's womb, it would still be impossible for him to possess such terrifying methods!"
With just one move, the Great Elder's courage shattered. At this moment, regret flooded his heart—regret that he had ever come!
Yet before he could think further.
The Gang Qi around Zhang Chu suddenly stirred!
"Buzz!" A vast, ancient, supremely majestic and terrifying Gang Qi abruptly descended upon the long street.
It was none other than: Phenomenon: Sea of Bitterness Sows Golden Lotus!
In an instant, it was as though countless Golden Lotuses from the Northern Abyss had descended upon the world. Rosy radiance shone everywhere, and its pressure seemed to dominate eternity.
At the sight of this, the Great Elder's soul nearly fled his body.
"A Manifestation!"
"A Martial Dao Manifestation!"
Who in the Martial World did not know that a Manifestation was a sign of reaching the pinnacle of martial arts, one in ten thousand? Only peerless geniuses who had touched the true essence of martial arts could give birth to a Martial Dao Manifestation.
He had cultivated bitterly for seventy years, never daring to slacken, exhausting the efforts of his entire life—yet not the slightest Manifestation had ever emerged.
But this young man before him, who appeared to be no more than twenty, had actually already cultivated a Manifestation!
Under the suppression of the terrifying Phenomenon: Sea of Bitterness Sows Golden Lotus, the Great Elder felt as if ten thousand towering mountains were pressing down upon him. His body was tightly bound, unable to move an inch.
Even the speed of his thoughts and reactions was drastically weakened, as though he were trapped in a mire, his mind sluggish.
"Thud!!"
The dignified Great Elder of the Three Rivers Alliance, a Jade Liquid Grandmaster who had once entered the Heaven Ranking decades ago, was forcibly beaten to his knees by Zhang Chu, bowing his head without the slightest struggle.
Zhang Chu's eyes were cold. With a casual grab, he precisely seized the back of the Great Elder's neck. His five fingers were like hooks, sinking deep into flesh and clamping tightly around a section of spine.
"Crack!!"
A crisp sound of dislocated bones rang out.
The Great Elder screamed as Zhang Chu lifted him into the air like a chick!
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