Three days flew by in the blink of an eye.
At the far western edge of Great Wind Snow State lay Cold Dragon Blood Abyss.
There was no light from the sky here.
Before them yawned a vast, bottomless fault, like a black fissure cleaved into the earth by a giant axe.
A level black stone plaza stretched along the edge of the abyss.
At its very center stood a huge bronze table.
The table was piled with exceptionally precious demon-beast meat. A fifth-tier demon ox leg, as big as a millstone, sizzled as it roasted, while fine spirit wine gave off a rich, exotic fragrance from a jade flask.
Three men stood behind the bronze table.
Xiao Tiannan, Prefecture Lord of the Prefecture City, wore a purple-gold Cloud Pattern Official Robe.
Li Xuekuang, the Blood Saber Gate Master, rested a hand on his top-grade blood saber.
Tie Zhan, Fortress Master of Iron Clothes Fortress, wore heavy steel armor from head to toe.
These three were the most powerful figures in Great Wind Snow State, at least on the surface. Now they had all reined in their auras, wearing smiles so false and stiff they could barely pass for smiles.
Behind them stood more than a dozen elderly men in fine clothes.
They were the Ancestors of the powerful Aristocratic Clans throughout Great Wind Snow State, every one of them at the peak of the Blood Washing Realm.
"Prefecture Lord, will that brat really come?" Li Xuekuang stared at the open ground ahead, lowering his voice. The veins on the hand gripping his saber stood out.
"He'll come." A trace of malice flashed in Xiao Tiannan's eyes.
"Extreme martial artists like him burn through an enormous amount of blood and energy. The Heavenly Sword Sect's pills can't fill his appetite. The high-tier meat on this table, along with that evil dragon at the bottom of the abyss, make bait he simply can't refuse."
Xiao Tiannan's toe ground lightly against the black stone floor.
Directly beneath the bronze table, the Formation Eye of the ancient Seal Mountain Great Array had already been fully activated.
The moment Sun Yu stepped within three zhang of the bronze table,
the array would close.
He would be hurled straight into Cold Dragon Blood Abyss behind them!
Just then,
"Tap, tap, tap."
Steady, forceful footsteps sounded from the edge of the plaza.
Everyone abruptly lifted their heads.
At the far end of their sight,
a young man in a cool-white brocade robe strode toward them, his black hair falling over his shoulders, his hands empty.
Sun Yu.
Sun Yu hadn't raced at full speed during the three-day journey.
Like an ordinary traveler, he had measured the earth one step at a time.
Yet over those three days, a world-shaking transformation had taken place inside him.
[Eight Desolations Prison Suppressing Technique (Minor Achievement)]!
The bottomless black hole in the depths of his dantian had collapsed inward to a terrifying degree.
His Prison Suppressing Force Field had expanded from ten zhang to thirty!
And the gravity within the field had surged from tenfold to a brutally overwhelming fiftyfold!
Fiftyfold gravity!
It was enough to press solid steel into an iron pancake.
Under this extreme pressure, Sun Yu's Asura Undying Body had passively grown denser in flesh and stronger in bone.
He was walking across the black stone plaza.
He wasn't even activating his force field, yet every step sent a deep, mournful groan through the black stone beneath his feet.
"Lord Sun!"
The moment Xiao Tiannan saw Sun Yu, the malice vanished from his face, replaced by a hearty laugh as warm as a spring breeze.
He strode forward, but stopped with impeccable precision at the edge of the Formation Eye beneath the bronze table, clasping his hands in greeting.
"Lord Sun, your peerless bearing is every bit as magnificent as the rumors say! That old bastard Chu Jue relied on his cultivation to throw his weight around in the Prefecture City for years. Lord Sun's righteous act has been a blessing to all of Great Wind Snow State!"
Xiao Tiannan put on a show of extreme deference.
Li Xuekuang and Tie Zhan forced smiles as well, bowing along with him.
"Lord Sun, please, have a seat!" Xiao Tiannan turned aside and gestured toward the high-tier meat piled across the table.
"This is a banquet of apology the Prefecture City prepared especially for you. Once you take your seat, the rules of Great Wind Snow State will be yours to make!"
He was waiting.
Waiting for Sun Yu to step into the deadly three-zhang killing ground.
Sun Yu stopped.
He was still ten zhang from the bronze table.
His dark eyes, deep as the starry sky, passed over the roasted meat, then the strained smiles of Xiao Tiannan and the other two.
At last, Sun Yu's gaze fell on the black stone seams beneath the bronze table, where faint ripples of an array's power seeped through.
A laughably crude trap.
A cold curve touched Sun Yu's lips. He said nothing and started forward again.
Nine zhang.
Eight zhang.
Xiao Tiannan's smile grew brighter. Beneath his wide sleeves, his hands had quietly formed the Dharma Formula to trigger the array.
Just then,
three Ancestors of Aristocratic Clans standing behind Xiao Tiannan suddenly stepped out from the crowd.
All three were at the peak of the Blood Washing Realm and were the undisputed masters of their own cities.
They didn't know the true details of the Heavenly Sword Sect's destruction. They only knew that the young man before them was a tough opponent.
But now,
the Prefecture Lord was here! The two Sect Masters were here!
And behind them stood more than a dozen Clan Heads of the same rank!
This heaven-sent chance to prove their loyalty was one they refused to let slip by.
In their eyes, no matter how well Sun Yu could fight, faced with the top forces of all Great Wind Snow State, he would have to tuck his tail between his legs.
The Prefecture Lord had honored him by calling him "Lord." Did he really think he was some sort of Ancestor?
"Stop!"
The Wang Family Ancestor slammed his pure-steel cane down, the blow striking the ground with a muffled clang.
He pointed at Sun Yu and bellowed furiously.
"You insolent wretch! Prefecture Lord Xiao is an Imperial Court official who personally arranged a banquet to welcome you, and you dare remain silent, without even the slightest courtesy?!"
Beside him, the Zhao Family Ancestor drew the long sword at his waist. His peak Blood Washing Realm True Qi erupted, the sword's gleam aimed straight at Sun Yu.
"Peasant through and through! A little brute strength, and you think you can defy heaven and earth! Get on your knees and give thanks at once!"
The Li Family Ancestor folded his arms and sneered. "Young man, don't mistake our courtesy for weakness. You'll eat at this banquet whether you want to or not!"
The three formed a fan-shaped barrier in front of the bronze table, blocking Sun Yu's way.
Xiao Tiannan frowned.
He cursed the three idiots for ruining his plan. But then he reconsidered: he could use them to test Sun Yu's current strength. So he said nothing.
Sun Yu stopped seven zhang away.
He slowly raised his head,
looking at the three buffoons before him.
Then, with utter casualness, he clasped his hands behind his back.
And then,
deep in his dantian,
the bottomless black hole abruptly reversed!
[Eight Desolations Prison Suppressing Technique], Minor Achievement Force Field!
"Vmmm!!!"
There was no blinding astral energy, no deafening sonic boom.
Centered on Sun Yu,
the space within thirty zhang twisted with brutal violence in an instant!
A teeth-grating "crack" rang through the air, as if even the void had buckled beneath the weight of this invisible force!
Fiftyfold gravity!
Without warning, it slammed down on the heads of the Wang, Zhao, and Li Family Ancestors like an entire mountain of cast iron!
"Bang!"
The pure-steel cane in the Wang Family Ancestor's hand could withstand a force of a thousand jin. The instant it touched the force field, it snapped in two!
The broken steel shaft was instantly crushed into an iron pancake and smashed onto the ground.
"Ughhh!!!"
The Wang Family Ancestor's eyes bulged, and the capillaries around them burst on the spot. Two streams of bloody tears shot down his face.
His peak Blood Washing Realm protective True Qi was no better than a sheet of paper against this unreasonable, absolute gravity. It collapsed instantly.
"Crack! Crack!"
The sharp snap of breaking bones rang across the plaza.
The Wang Family Ancestor's kneecaps couldn't bear the sudden, terrifying fiftyfold weight of his upper body. They shattered to pieces!
His pale shinbones tore through his flesh and stabbed into the black stone floor below.
In a ghastly posture, he crashed down on both knees and bowed to the ground before Sun Yu.
Blood gushed from all seven of his orifices.
The other two fared even worse.
The instant the gravity struck, the Zhao Family Ancestor's raised arm was ripped from its socket.
The flesh on his arm was forcibly peeled away from the bone, sliding down along it!
"Thud!"
The Zhao Family Ancestor's knees burst apart, and he slammed down hard. His upper body was crushed against the ground, his spine letting out an explosive crack under the strain.
The Li Family Ancestor didn't even manage to scream.
Under the crushing gravity, his internal organs ruptured and bled.
"Wah!"
He spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with pieces of his organs. Both his legs were broken, and he lay on the ground like a frog flattened underfoot, his whole body convulsing violently.
The entire plaza fell silent!
So silent you could hear a pin drop!
The dozen or so Clan Heads who had been ready to watch the spectacle were now so terrified their guts turned to ice. Their legs gave way as they staggered backward again and again.
The Dharma Formula froze in Xiao Tiannan's hands.
Li Xuekuang and Tie Zhan sucked in sharp breaths. Cold sweat instantly soaked through the backs of their undershirts.
He hadn't attacked!
He hadn't even released his True Qi!
He had simply stood there.
And three peak Blood Washing Realm masters hadn't even been able to remain standing. Their kneecaps had been crushed, and they'd been forced to kneel?!
What kind of demonic art was this?!
The force field was controlled with astonishing precision.
It covered only those three flies and didn't touch the bronze table behind them.
With his hands behind his back and his expression unchanged, Sun Yu started walking.
"Tap."
He stopped before the kneeling Wang Family Ancestor.
The Wang Family Ancestor was crushed so badly he couldn't lift his head. With bloodshot eyes, he could only glimpse Sun Yu's cool-white brocade boots from the corner of his eye.
"P-please... spare... me..."
The Wang Family Ancestor forced out a broken plea from his throat.
Sun Yu didn't look down.
He casually raised his right foot,
aimed it at the Wang Family Ancestor's head,
and stamped down.
"Bang!!!"
It was like stomping on an overripe, rotten watermelon.
The Wang Family Ancestor's head burst apart. Before the red-and-white brain matter could even splatter, fiftyfold gravity crushed it against the ground, smearing it into a flat mass of gore.
Sun Yu stepped over the headless corpse.
He walked up to the Zhao Family Ancestor.
Raised his foot.
Stamped down.
"Bang!!!"
A second head burst apart.
He walked up to the Li Family Ancestor.
Raised his foot.
He stomped down.
"Bam!!!"
The third head exploded.
Three steps.
Three kicks.
The three Blood Washing Realm Peak Ancestors who had once held sway over Prefecture City were reduced to three heaps of minced flesh, too mangled to piece back together.
Sun Yu withdrew his right foot.
Not a trace of blood stained his cold-white brocade boots.
The dark red Asura Gang Qi swirling around him burned away every last bit of filth.
He stopped three zhang from the bronze table.
He was just beyond the dead zone of the formation Xiao Tiannan had laid out.
Sun Yu raised his head.
His pitch-black eyes looked across the bronze table, fixing on Xiao Tiannan's completely rigid face.
He didn't question the formation.
Nor did he pay any mind to the Aristocratic Clan heads around them, who were so terrified they were nearly pissing their pants.
Sun Yu's voice was flat, radiating a chilling indifference that treated life and death as child's play.
"I came to eat meat."
"And this is how you welcome me?"
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