Are There Still Experts?

Lu Xuanchen's expression remained calm, as though the other party's threat was no more than a breeze passing his ears.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze finally settling seriously on Nangong Huo.

At this moment, Lu Xuanchen was no longer the gentle, refined old man from before. His aura had turned razor-sharp.

"Young Master Nangong, I have already explained myself. Since you did not hear clearly," Lu Xuanchen said. His voice was still not loud, yet it entered the ears of everyone present with unmistakable clarity, carrying an irresistible conviction. "Then I shall repeat it once more."

He paused, and his tone suddenly sharpened, exploding like thunder. "Nangong Lie and Nangong Yan abused their strength to bully the weak. Within my Eastern Xuan Academy, they intended to harm my academy's disciples. Their crimes warrant death!"

"As the Academy Lord of Eastern Xuan Academy, it is my duty to safeguard the academy and instruct its disciples. Anyone who dares offend the academy, regardless of identity or backing, shall be severely punished without mercy!"

Lu Xuanchen's words rang loud and firm.

At the same time, his declaration directly placed Eastern Xuan Academy on the side of absolute righteousness.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Nangong Huo laughed in extreme fury, his voice brimming with chilling killing intent. "Lu Xuanchen, do you truly think that a mere Eastern Xuan Academy can contend with my Nangong Family?!"

His voice abruptly rose, erupting like a volcano as a terrifying pressure descended like something tangible, blanketing heaven and earth.

At the same time, he retreated behind the others, yielding the space before him.

Nonsense. Though his talent and status were exceptional, how old was he? His Wu Xiang Realm cultivation made him outstanding among his peers, but before the older generation, it was far from enough.

"Old Ancestor, make your move."

An elderly man with white hair and beard stepped out of the void.

"He is... Old Ancestor Nangong?!" An elder recognized the old man.

"That is a Saint King! A supreme figure who has faintly touched the threshold of the Supreme Realm! Even he has been dispatched—how could things have come to this..."

Old Ancestor Nangong was expressionless. Yet upon closer inspection, one could see strange patterns pulsing within the flames around his body.

Old Ancestor Nangong threw a punch, carrying eerie Purple Flame with it.

Eastern Xuan Academy's Mountain-Protecting Array violently trembled beneath that blow, its light flickering uncertainly!

The might of a Saint King was terrifying indeed!

Many disciples within the academy were crushed by that dreadful pressure until they could barely breathe. Those with weaker cultivation even spurted blood from their mouths and noses.

When a Saint King raged, a million corpses fell and blood flowed for a thousand miles!

This was no empty boast!

Yet even in the face of Old Ancestor Nangong's overwhelming might, Lu Xuanchen remained unmoving, standing tall in the air.

An invisible force slowly rose around him, blocking all of Old Ancestor Nangong's pressure outside.

That force was formless and intangible, yet vast as an abyss and unfathomably deep, as though it contained the ultimate truths of heaven and earth and the laws of the Great Dao.

Before that power, Old Ancestor Nangong's pressure was like a clay ox entering the sea, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

It was unmistakably the aura of a Saint King as well!

"I underestimated you."

"However, do you think that with such little ability, you can act wildly before me? You are being far too naive!"

Old Ancestor Nangong slowly raised his right hand.

An even more terrifying aura erupted from within him. His physical body was like a volcano that had been slumbering, awakening in an instant and sweeping across heaven and earth.

The Flame Warship behind him also burst forth with dazzling light. Countless runes lit up across its hull, intertwining into profound formation patterns that emitted a heart-palpitating aura.

Several enormous beast statues at the warship's prow, resembling Huo Dou, seemed to come alive. They opened their blood-filled maws and let out earth-shaking roars, spewing boundless flames that scorched the void.

The Nangong Family's Heaven Burning Battle Array!

Old Ancestor Nangong was getting serious.

"Lu Xuanchen, hand over that girl from the Mu Family and that little brat. Today, I can let bygones be bygones!" Old Ancestor Nangong said coldly.

"Otherwise, after today, there will no longer be an Eastern Xuan Academy in the Eastern Wasteland Domain!"

A threat!

A naked, undisguised threat!

Old Ancestor Nangong's words were incomparably domineering and arrogant, as though he were the master of this stretch of heaven and earth, able to decide the life and death of others at will.

Hearing Old Ancestor Nangong's outrageously arrogant words, the elders of Eastern Xuan Academy burned with fury, each one wishing they could immediately charge forward and fight him to the death.

But they also knew that as a peak Saint King empowered by the Heaven Burning Battle Array, Old Ancestor Nangong indeed had the strength to say such things.

Their gazes involuntarily turned toward Lu Xuanchen. As the only Saint King among them, the Academy Lord's words carried considerable weight.

Lu Xuanchen remained calm. Facing Nangong Huo's threat, there was not the slightest fear on his face. Instead, a faint smile appeared.

"Nangong Old Freak, you are far too confident." Lu Xuanchen chuckled, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. "Do you truly think that as a Saint King, you can do whatever you please in my Eastern Wasteland?"

"If I had not been tied up with important matters, I would have come looking for you a hundred years ago.

"Since you have delivered yourself to my doorstep today, I shall let you know that a Saint King... is nothing more than this!"

As Lu Xuanchen's words fell, the aura around him abruptly changed.

Hmm? Were there still experts?

If Lu Xuanchen's aura had previously been restrained and unfathomable, like the surface of a calm lake, then at this moment, he was like a slumbering colossal dragon awakening, unleashing heaven-shaking power!

Rumble!

Heaven and earth shook violently, and the winds and clouds changed color!

An indescribably terrifying aura erupted from Lu Xuanchen's body, instantly enveloping the entire Eastern Xuan Academy and even spreading throughout Tian Yong City, and beyond that, the entire Eastern Wasteland!

Before this aura, Old Ancestor Nangong's Saint King pressure instantly paled into insignificance, like the glow of fireflies before the bright moon.

The Flame Warship, which had been arrogant and overbearing just moments ago, was also battered by that aura like a lone skiff amid raging waves, swaying violently as though it could capsize at any moment.

The Nangong Family elders behind it were crushed pale by this aura, their entire bodies trembling, their eyes filled with disbelief.

If he were merely a Saint King, he could not possibly have placed such pressure upon them.

The feeling was as though what they faced was not a Saint King, but a... deity!

"How... how is this possible?!" Old Ancestor Nangong's eyes widened as he stared at Lu Xuanchen in disbelief. Even his voice began to tremble. "You... you are not a Saint King?!"

He had finally realized what a terrifying mistake he had made!

He had always believed that Lu Xuanchen had only just entered the Saint King realm a hundred years ago and that even now, he was likely only barely getting started within that realm.

But now, it seemed that Lu Xuanchen's strength had far exceeded his imagination!

Lu Xuanchen's true realm was absolutely not Saint King!

Then what realm was he truly in?

Above Saint was...

Supreme?!

Old Ancestor Nangong did not dare believe it, nor was he willing to believe it.

What kind of existence was the Supreme Realm?

Across the Three Thousand Dao Domains, Supreme Realm experts were few and far between. Every one of them was an unparalleled figure capable of suppressing an entire region, possessing power to destroy heaven and earth.

How could a Supreme Realm expert appear in a remote place like the Eastern Wasteland Domain?

Not to mention completing the entire path of the Saint in merely a few hundred years!

Yet the aura emanating from Lu Xuanchen at this moment had truly surpassed that of a Saint King, reaching a level he could not comprehend!

"What realm I am in has nothing to do with you." Lu Xuanchen smiled faintly, his eyes filled with disdain. "You only need to know that before me, your so-called Nangong Family is nothing but chickens and dogs made of clay, unable to withstand a single blow!"

Arrogant!

Utterly arrogant!

Yet Old Ancestor Nangong was unable to refute him.

Because he knew Lu Xuanchen had the right to be arrogant!

"Lu Xuanchen, so what if you are a Supreme?!" Nangong Huo panicked from the rear of the battlefield. He shouted fiercely though his heart was weak, trying to bolster his own Old Ancestor's courage.

"My Nangong Family has profound foundations and is far more than you imagine! If you dare become enemies with my Nangong Family, you will surely pay a painful price!"

"A price?" Lu Xuanchen seemed to have heard some great joke. The corners of his mouth curved upward in a mocking smile. "Then I would like to see what price your Nangong Family can make me pay!"

As he spoke, he slowly raised his hand, spread his five fingers, and lightly clenched them in Old Ancestor Nangong's direction.

A strange hum suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.

It was as though the entire space had frozen beneath Lu Xuanchen's grasp.

Old Ancestor Nangong only felt an irresistible, terrifying power descend upon him in an instant, locking him firmly in place. He could not move, and even breathing became difficult.

The Spiritual Power within him circulated madly as he tried to break free of the restraint, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree—utterly futile.

The shadow of death instantly descended.

He finally understood just how vast the gap between himself and Lu Xuanchen was—or rather, the gap between a so-called Half-Step Supreme and a true Supreme!

It was not merely a difference in realms. It was more like... a difference in the level of their very lives!

"No... don't!" Old Ancestor Nangong finally became afraid. He let out a desperate howl and pleaded, "Prefect Lu, spare me! Spare my life! I was wrong! I should not have offended Eastern Xuan Academy! I am willing to compensate you! You, you, you... you cannot kill me. I can tell you..."

"Too late." Lu Xuanchen calmly uttered two words, cutting Old Ancestor Nangong off. His tone was filled with indifference.

Crack!

A crisp sound of shattering bones rang out.

Under Lu Xuanchen's grip, Old Ancestor Nangong's body cracked apart inch by inch like porcelain, turning into a cloud of blood mist that dispersed into the void.

Old Ancestor Nangong, a Saint King realm expert, had fallen just like that!

He died so easily, so decisively, that he did not even have time to cry out.

The entire scene fell deathly silent.

Everyone was completely stunned by the sight before them.

The elders of Eastern Xuan Academy stood dumbfounded, as if turned to stone. Then their faces filled with shock and wild joy.

They knew their Academy Lord was powerful, but they had never imagined that he was powerful to such a degree!

Before the Academy Lord, a Saint King was like an ant, crushed at will!

What kind of existence was their Academy Lord?!

The Nangong Family elders aboard the Flame Warship were frightened out of their wits.

They had watched with their own eyes as their Old Ancestor was effortlessly erased by Lu Xuanchen, as though he were crushing an ant. The fear in their hearts had reached its peak.

Flee as far as possible!

That was the only thought in their minds at this moment.

Without the slightest hesitation, they immediately activated the Flame Warship, seeking to flee Eastern Xuan Academy.

But how could Lu Xuanchen let them escape so easily?

"Since you have come, then all of you may as well stay." Lu Xuanchen's voice rang out again, like the whisper of a death god pronouncing the fate of the Nangong Family.

He slowly raised his other hand and lightly waved it toward the Flame Warship.

An invisible enormous force instantly descended upon the Flame Warship.

The incomparably sturdy Flame Warship was like something made of paper before that force. It instantly broke into pieces, becoming countless fragments scattered through the void.

The Nangong Family elders aboard the warship did not even have time to scream before the enormous force crushed them into dust, erasing them completely.

In the blink of an eye, the aggressively arriving members of the Nangong Family were all wiped out by Lu Xuanchen alone!

The entire process was clean and decisive, like rotten wood being smashed apart, without the slightest delay.

He was so similar to that person from several days ago!

"Hmm?"

Lu Xuanchen looked toward the distant void, his brows furrowing slightly. "He still got away."

"Never mind. With my disciple there, that brat will not be able to jump around for much longer."

Lu Xuanchen slowly withdrew his hand, and the aura around him receded as well. He returned to his former calm and indifferent appearance, as though the person who had acted just now had not been him at all.

His gaze swept across the stunned crowd below as he said calmly, "Elders, clean up the battlefield and pacify the disciples. Let this matter end here. There is no need to discuss it further."

With that, Lu Xuanchen flashed away and vanished into the void.