It Is Your Turn!

"Gentlemen, with demons currently surrounding Taiping City, I intend to establish the Taiping Martial Alliance. Using my Feng family's Xifeng Army as a foundation, we shall protect the peace of Taiping and eradicate all demons and ghosts together!"

Feng Wuque looked toward the crowd and spoke in a resonant voice, "The events at Chishui Village are still fresh in our minds. My Feng family has petitioned the heavens; our ancestral motto is to protect the peace of the common people. At a time like this, we must draw our swords!"

"Only by joining the Taiping Martial Alliance and accepting unified command can we restore peace to this land!"

"Gentlemen, are there any who share this aspiration?"

"Taiping Martial Alliance..." Madam Shen's eyes narrowed, and she whispered softly, "So that is the method they have chosen... It seems your Feng family is plotting for more than just this peace..."

Suddenly, Madam Shen glanced at the Demon Sealer beside her.

Those deep eyes were like a vast ocean, bottomless and impossible to read, yet they reflected every scene unfolding before them.

It was as if he had foreseen everything.

The battle began.

Feng Wuque, standing on the platform, became the protagonist of the moment.

"Aunt Yun, does this mean that whoever wins becomes the boss of this Taiping Martial Alliance?" Shen Qingchan asked.

"..." Madam Shen.

"You could interpret it that way," Madam Shen said. "Once you join, you must accept unified command. It means you belong to him, and if you don't join, they won't lift a finger no matter what happens to you."

"Then we'll just leave. We won't join."

"If you don't join..." Madam Shen looked around, "you will be isolated in Taiping City. Isolated and without support, you won't be able to take a single step. Do you understand?"

Shen Qingchan understood.

The battles on the platform continued, wave after wave.

"This Chi Haolong seems to be holding back..." Shen Qingchan frowned.

"Have you crossed blades with him?"

"No, but I can vaguely sense it."

Madam Shen thought to herself, then that must be correct.

After watching five consecutive matches, Shen Qingchan shook her head slightly:

"Only that Chen Tianshang at the end, with his Wind-Breaking Spear, managed to trade blows with Feng Wuque... As for the others, it feels like they are all holding back to some degree..."

"Although I don't understand their secret martial arts, but..."

"Can you beat them?"

"If I fought all five in a row, I probably could, but this Feng Wuque..." Shen Qingchan shook her head. "They won't go easy on me. My stamina consumption will be far greater than Feng Wuque's. If I have to fight him at the end, the outcome is hard to say."

At this moment, Feng Wuque had finished his bout on the stage. The guests around them wore various expressions—fear, shock, and restlessness. Those who had been wavering now chose to join the Taiping Martial Alliance one after another.

Soon, the scene fell into a deathly silence.

Feng Wuque's gaze landed on the side of the Shen Mansion, and he was about to speak.

"I'll go." The Demon Sealer standing to the side stepped forward, his voice hoarse and low.

With that, he walked onto the stage without a moment's hesitation.

Madam Shen was stunned.

His back was so resolute, without a hint of doubt.

"No wonder he could become a brother to young hero Mu Xinghe..." Although Shen Qingchan did not like the Demon Sealer, she could not help but remark at this moment.

"..." Madam Shen.

The Demon Sealer walked onto the stage.

"Demon Sealer Mu Xinghe, I know..." Feng Wuque narrowed his eyes.

Before he could finish, the Demon Sealer interrupted him:

"Less talk."

Feng Wuque's voice paused:

"How do you wish to challenge me?"

"Whatever."

Feng Wuque frowned slightly.

"To become the head of the Taiping Martial Alliance, I fought five third-rank experts in a row. If you..."

"You want to fight them, right? Should they come at me together, or one by one?" The Demon Sealer turned to look at the five people below the stage, his voice like a spring thunderclap that startled everyone present.

"..." Feng Wuque.

This man had issues. Feng Wuque's eyelids twitched.

Something was wrong.

The five third-rank experts below the stage all wore different expressions.

Attack together?

What a big mouth!

The guests all around were startled, looking at this mysterious Demon Sealer with expressions of astonishment.

"Isn't this guy being a bit too arrogant?" Shen Qingchan muttered, looking toward Aunt Yun beside her, only to find that Aunt Yun's eyes were shining with a brilliant light as she stared at the Demon Sealer on the stage.

Shen Qingchan was stunned; she rarely saw Aunt Yun looking so serious.

Within those eyes, there was a glow she had never seen before.

On the stage.

Feng Wuque swept his gaze around and said calmly:

"Then let us follow the rules. Everyone, please."

Off the stage.

"Then I shall go first." Huan Lei, from the Martial Guard Office, wearing the bird-patterned uniform of the Martial Guard, slowly walked onto the stage.

He was in his early forties, with an ordinary face, a hooked nose, and sunken eye sockets, looking like someone who would inexplicably inspire fear. He wore a pair of silver-threaded gloves on his hands; who knew how much blood had been stained beneath them?

Huan Lei walked onto the stage with his hands behind his back.

"You are quite the expert at dealing with demons..." Huan Lei said, "but a martial artist is not a demon; we are not restricted by your strange powers..."

"Therefore..."

In the next second, he lunged forward, his hands shifting like clouds and mist, coordinating with his ghostly figure to strike at the other man.

The Demon Sealer did not move an inch until the man was right upon him.

The Entangling Silk Hand was a secret martial art adept at close-quarters combat. Once entangled, and combined with specific footwork, it would make an opponent feel as if they were trapped in a spider web, unable to break free from control, and ultimately suffer internal injuries from those peculiar pulses of Entangling Silk Force.

However, just as those masterful Entangling Silk Hands were about to make contact, the Demon Sealer tilted his body slightly, dodging with the natural grace of an antelope hanging its horns.

No movement technique, no secret martial art.

Immediately after, the Demon Sealer threw a casual punch. Amidst the myriad shifting shadows of the Entangling Silk Hand, the punch struck the man's wrist in an instant.

Crack.

A crisp sound rang out.

Carried by the remaining force, Huan Lei's wrist was shattered in one blow. He retreated explosively, drenched in sweat, looking at the other man with a terrified expression.

"Entangling Silk Hand..." The Demon Sealer shook his head slightly. "Training the hands but not the wrists—nothing more than this."

"You...!" Huan Lei took a deep breath, staring at his trembling palm.

He could hardly believe it. In that split second just now, it felt as if he had been stripped bare, completely seen through.

Impossible...

He hadn't even used his secret martial art... He had relied purely on combat instinct... to find the opening and weakness in his Entangling Silk Hand...

If it were a coincidence, that was a one-in-a-thousand possibility...

Could it be that he also practiced the Entangling Silk Hand?

And perhaps... his level was even higher than his own?

"What kind of strength does this guy actually have?" Huan Lei glanced at Feng Wuque, his eyes darkening.

The other third-grade experts exchanged glances, equally unable to comprehend what they had just seen.

"Let me try!" Chi Haolong, the leader of the Chishui Gang, stepped onto the stage.

He wore a tank top, his body covered in thick, blocky muscles. He looked to be in his early thirties. His palms were bare, without gloves, yet they were snow-white—a stark contrast to his rugged appearance.

They were as smooth and well-maintained as a woman's.

This intense contrast created a striking visual impact, yet no one dared to underestimate him.

"You are a Demon Sealer, yet you don't seem like one..." Chi Haolong's voice was rough and carried a sense of bravado. "A few years ago, I had the honor of sparring with a Demon Sealer. That man took one of my palms and lasted half a day longer than an ordinary person before dying. It was truly extraordinary."

"I hope you can hold out a bit longer, Excellency."

The Demon Sealer remained silent. The long blade at his waist and the long sword on his back showed no movement at all.

Chi Haolong laughed heartily:

"Underestimating others will lead to a miserable end, kid!"

With that, he drifted forward like a wave. His snow-white palms began to shimmer with swirling water-like light, resembling clouds and mist.

It was poison.

"Taste my Mist Over the Sky!"

Chi Haolong struck out with a palm from a distance. Amidst the shimmering water, clouds and mist spread, coalescing into the shape of a palm as it blasted forward.

It already carried a hint of externalized internal energy.

But the very next moment...

The Demon Sealer had already vanished from his spot.

"Hmm?" A sense of unease stirred in Chi Haolong's heart.

He looked up to see a figure already descending.

A fist slammed down onto the crown of his head. He raised his hands in a panic, but was struck by a powerful force that drained all the strength from his body, causing the billowing smoke to dissipate instantly.

"Water Smoke Palm—useless." The Demon Sealer delivered a plain, unremarkable kick, striking the latter in the chest and abdomen and sending him flying off the stage.

"You..." Chi Haolong struggled to his feet, his gaze dark. "How do you know the style of my Chishui Gang's Water Smoke Palm? Who exactly are you?"

At this, the other three were stunned.

No wonder Huan Lei had been taken out in a single move earlier...

Good grief, it turned out the guy knew their styles; every move they made was practically within his expectations...

The crowd was shocked.

Feng Wuque frowned deeply and signaled the other two.

Immediately after, Tie Longgang of the Iron Leg Sect and Yue Hanshan of the Nanyue Blade Sect took the stage one after another, both defeated in a move or two.

The Demon Sealer hadn't even been forced to draw a blade or sword, nor had he used a single secret martial art. They hadn't even touched the hem of his clothes. Throughout the entire process, he remained calm and composed, his strikes and kicks delivered with effortless ease, dodging every secret technique the opponents threw at him with simple, casual movements.

It was... simply absurd and unfathomably bizarre.

The last one, Chen Tianshang, voluntarily conceded.

It was just too damn weird. This Demon Sealer—he didn't want to humiliate himself...

At this point.

A strange sense of powerlessness welled up in their hearts.

A terrifying pressure spread across the entire banquet.

The Demon Sealer looked toward Feng Wuque.

"It's your turn."

Under that demonic gaze, Feng Wuque's heart hammered against his ribs. Before the fight had even begun, he felt an inexplicable tremor of cowardice...