"Hm?"
Inside the Divine Temple, Medusa was just about to go find Gu Shenge when she sensed a Dou Emperor expert's aura suddenly erupt in the city. It seemed rather familiar. She turned to look outside the temple, a hint of puzzlement in her beautiful eyes. Who had angered him now?
A flash of red, and Medusa vanished from where she stood.
In the city, Mo Basi looked at Gu Shenge, who was approaching at an unhurried pace and exuding a terrifying presence. A hint of panic flickered in his snake eyes, but he still released his own aura, not daring to show weakness as he tried to resist.
But a Dou Wang was still only a Dou Wang. How could he stand against a Dou Emperor? Faced with Gu Shenge advancing step by step, Mo Basi could only bear the pressure and keep retreating.
"I said to release these humans. Didn't you understand me? Or are you looking to die?"
Gu Shenge's gaze was icy, and his voice was like the bone-piercing wind of midwinter. Mo Basi instantly felt cold all over. A chill ran from the base of his spine straight to his brain, as if he'd fallen into an ice cave.
Even so, Mo Basi braced himself, forcing his body to hold steady as he challenged Gu Shenge with righteous indignation.
"Wang Fu, don't forget who you are. You're the Snake-People Tribe's Wang Fu, the queen's husband. Humans capture our Snake-people and enslave them. When we capture humans and enslave them, we're merely giving them a taste of what they've done to us!"
"Are we supposed to release these human slaves and ignore the harm humans have inflicted on our Snake-People Tribe just because you, Wang Fu, are human too? What about the members of our tribe who were captured and enslaved? Who's going to set them free?"
Mo Basi's impassioned speech struck a chord with the surrounding Snake-people.
They all nodded in agreement, and the way they looked at Gu Shenge shifted from awe to disgust.
As the Wang Fu of their tribe, he actually allowed humans to enslave Snake-people but wouldn't let the Snake-people retaliate. A man like that didn't deserve to be the queen's husband!
With the support of the surrounding Snake-people, Mo Basi's coarse, menacing face broke into a smug grin. He looked at Gu Shenge with mocking amusement.
Let's see how you get out of this one. Once word got around and the entire Snake-People Tribe turned against you, even with the queen protecting you, you wouldn't have an easy time here!
Yue Mei couldn't take it anymore. She angrily rebuked Mo Basi.
"Mo Basi, shut up! Don't think we don't know what you're up to. You're just taking this opportunity to ruin the Wang Fu's reputation in the tribe and make our people despise him."
"Setting aside the fact that the Wang Fu didn't know about the enmity between the Snake-People Tribe and Jia Ma and Chu Yun, if you saw Snake-people being enslaved among humans, would you really stand by and do nothing? The Wang Fu only did what was right as one of his own people. It's only human nature."
Yue Mei's retort froze Mo Basi's smile. His diamond-shaped snake pupils darkened, and a hint of anger showed in them.
He hadn't expected Yue Mei to defend Gu Shenge so fiercely. He cursed her inwardly as a shameless traitor who'd turned against her own people.
But Mo Basi's verbal attack hadn't affected Gu Shenge at all. He'd never cared about being the Snake-People Tribe's Wang Fu. He'd married Medusa, not the Snake-People Tribe. As far as he was concerned, the tribe was entirely optional.
Mo Basi had insulted him and made trouble for him again and again. He was sick of it. Since the man was so eager to get himself killed, Gu Shenge would grant his wish.
Gu Shenge swept his gaze over the Snake-people before returning it to Mo Basi. His voice was low and utterly indifferent.
"Finished? Then prepare to die."
"What?" Mo Basi froze. The next instant, alarm bells rang in his head, as if some terrifying presence had set its sights on him!
Gu Shenge slowly raised his fair, jade-like right hand and curled his long fingers into a fist. A trace of supreme, sacred yang aura gathered around it—vast and boundless, domineering beyond compare! It was like Hao Yang had descended upon the world, illuminating heaven and earth and compelling all to bow.
At the same time, the Snake-people and humans nearby felt an almighty divine pressure bearing down on their very souls. Their minds trembled, and panic filled their faces. It felt as if an ancient divine mountain had come crashing down on their backs, forcing them all to their knees—even the Dou Emperor experts.
With no flashy movements, Gu Shenge simply swung his right fist and threw a straight punch. The move was plain and simple, yet Mo Basi's expression changed abruptly. His eyes widened, disbelief and terror surging within them!
He seemed to see a sun that had endured since time immemorial and would never perish, bearing down on him with the supreme yang might of an emperor, crushing all living things and driving away darkness and calamity. His soul shuddered, his blood boiled, and his entire body felt as if it were about to burn.
Mo Basi wanted to beg for mercy, but no words would come. He could only watch helplessly as that sun crossed an endless distance with Gu Shenge's fist, burning away and annihilating his body and soul until he became a wisp of ash!
One punch. Instant death.
He was only a Dou Wang. Did Gu Shenge really need to fight him for three hundred rounds before killing him? What was this, a joke?
Medusa arrived just in time to see Gu Shenge reduce Mo Basi to ash with one punch. The terrifying divine might he'd displayed when he clenched his fist sent a trace of shock across her enchanting face.
She even had the feeling that not even she, a Dou Zong, could necessarily withstand that punch.
After killing Mo Basi with a single punch, Gu Shenge slowly relaxed his fist and lowered his hand. The terrifying pressure vanished with it. The Snake-people and humans crouched on the ground felt the weight lift from their souls, but they still didn't get up. They continued trembling in fear.
A familiar, fragrant breeze drifted over. He turned his head and saw Medusa flying toward him from a distance.
Seeing his beloved wife arrive, Gu Shenge smiled warmly and asked her, "My love, what brings you here?"
He wasn't the least bit nervous, as though the person he'd just killed hadn't been one of Medusa's trusted subordinates, but some insignificant ant.
The shock faded from Medusa's pretty face, replaced by deep displeasure. After all, one should at least look to the owner before beating their dog. Gu Shenge had executed one of her chiefs without even informing her. Even as her husband, he couldn't do that.
There had to be rules. His actions had made her lose face.
"You'd better give me an explanation," Medusa demanded coldly.
He asked Yue Mei to explain while he walked over to the humans who'd been enslaved. He pressed two fingers together, and a wisp of Morning Dawn Sword Radiance gathered between them. A golden flash, and the iron rings around the humans' necks and ankles were broken.
Feeling the weight lift from their necks and ankles, the humans could hardly believe it. Several of the older ones burst into tears. Two children stared with wide, bewildered eyes as they touched their little necks and feet, then broke into happy smiles. The rest all knelt before Gu Shenge, repeatedly bowing their heads to thank him.
The sight stirred something in Gu Shenge.
Medusa had also heard Yue Mei's account of what happened. She questioned a few Snake-people from the Mo Snake Tribe as well and learned the full story.
It had all been Mo Basi's own doing.
Mo Basi had originally planned to send a group of human slaves to disgust Gu Shenge and get revenge for the humiliation he'd suffered two days ago. But when he first entered the city, he spotted Gu Shenge wandering around.
So Mo Basi came up with a plan. He had his subordinates deliberately drive the humans over to Gu Shenge, hoping to stir his sympathy and make him step in to demand their release.
Then, when Gu Shenge called for the humans to be freed, Mo Basi would stand against him. He'd use the hatred between the Snake-people and humans to turn the other Snake-people against Gu Shenge, making them despise and resent him and ruining his reputation within the tribe.
Mo Basi simply hadn't expected Gu Shenge to care nothing for his reputation among the Snake-people. In the end, he'd gotten himself blown apart by a single punch.
But Medusa was still displeased. Mo Basi had been her subordinate, and she should have been the one to judge him—not Gu Shenge, acting on his own.
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