The battle flags at the edge of the square snapped violently in the aura's wake, and countless Black Horse Iron Cavalry soldiers reached for the hilts at their waists in perfect unison.
The scrape of colliding metal sent birds fleeing from the distance.
Every guest felt as though a thousand-jin boulder had been dropped on their chest, making it terribly difficult even to breathe.
Some of the weaker city lords slumped in their chairs, their whole bodies trembling uncontrollably.
Tang Yu clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the edge of the raised platform.
Looking down at the leaders of the various powers seated at over a hundred tables, his expression was utterly cold.
Wherever his gaze fell, everyone lowered their heads. Not one of them dared meet his eyes.
"I'm very pleased that you could all attend today's banquet."
Tang Yu's voice wasn't loud, yet it rang clearly in every person's mind.
"Since you've come, as long as you follow my rules on this continent, you'll be able to live very well."
He paused, a trace of icy killing intent flashing through his eyes.
"However."
"The sects and families of those who didn't come today, along with every blade of grass and every tree they keep..."
"I'll remember them all."
"Before long, those names will no longer exist on Douluo Continent."
As his words fell, the temperature in the square seemed to plunge into an icy cavern.
Everyone felt a surge of fear and a chill run down their spines.
No one doubted that Tang Yu was serious.
Many sect masters who had hesitated before coming now congratulated themselves wildly.
Thank goodness they'd gritted their teeth and come today!
Even if they'd handed over most of their fortunes, even if they had to sit here and swallow their pride.
At least they'd kept their lives!
If they'd stayed away out of concern for their pride, by tomorrow the Black Horse Iron Cavalry would have trampled their entire families into pulp.
Just as the whole square sat in fearful silence, the atmosphere stifling beyond measure.
Yu Xiaogang suddenly stood up from a corner at the back of the square, trembling all over.
His eyes were bloodshot. He gripped the edge of the table before him, his chest heaving violently.
Seeing everyone bow and scrape before Tang Yu, seeing Ning Fengzhi kneeling on the ground like a dog.
The self-righteous sense of justice he cherished, together with his jealousy at having everything taken from him, shattered the last barrier of his reason.
"Tang Yu!"
Yu Xiaogang thrust a finger toward the raised platform, his voice turning shrill and hoarse with rage.
"You're far too tyrannical!"
"You're using your cultivation and military power to force every power in the world to submit, and slaughtering any sect that refuses to bow!"
"Your tyranny and disregard for human life make you nothing but a heartless demon!"
Yu Xiaogang's roar echoed across the broad square of the Blue Silver King Mansion.
The entire place fell silent.
The guests from every faction, who moments ago hadn't dared even breathe loudly, now stared at Yu Xiaogang with wide eyes, as if he were a monster.
Even Ning Fengzhi, a man who had weathered countless storms, was so shocked that his mouth fell slightly open.
The few heads of prominent families seated beside Yu Xiaogang scrambled away in both directions as if fleeing a plague, afraid of being implicated in the slightest.
Yu Xiaogang stood alone where he was, his chest still heaving from his outburst.
At a seat to the side of the raised platform, Xue Qinghe's hand, holding a teacup, stopped in midair.
She slowly set the exquisite white porcelain cup on the redwood table. It made a crisp clink.
Then Xue Qinghe rose to her feet.
She wore a luxurious crown prince's brocade robe and a golden crown. Her gaze swept past the layers of guests and landed directly on Yu Xiaogang.
"Who are you? How dare you!"
Xue Qinghe's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an imposing authority. In the deathly silent square, it rang out with exceptional clarity.
Her words immediately drew everyone's attention.
The Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire had stepped forward to speak at this very moment. The meaning was plain.
She was standing up for Prince Wuyang.
When Yu Xiaogang heard someone challenge him, he didn't retreat in the least. Instead, he raised his chin even higher.
He met Xue Qinghe's gaze, clasped his hands behind his back, and struck the pose of an otherworldly master.
"Number One Theory Master of the Continent, Yu Xiaogang."
He enunciated those words with resounding force.
Yu Xiaogang believed that announcing his name before all the heroes of the land would surely cause a sensation.
After all, the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul he had spent years researching was a peerless theory capable of transforming the Soul Master World.
Today, before all these people, he would use his wisdom and courage to show the world what it meant to refuse to bend under force.
Yu Yuanzhen, seated in a corner at the edge of the back rows, had just swallowed a mouthful of liquor when he heard those words. He nearly choked to death.
He whipped around and stared at the ramrod-straight figure, his eyes almost bulging from their sockets.
Yu Yuanzhen clutched the armrests of his chair, his fingernails digging deep into the wood as the veins on his forehead bulged one by one.
Was that wretch insane?!
At an event where even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had to kneel and kowtow, why was he jumping out to play the hero?
Did he want to die?
If he wanted to die, why drag the entire Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan down with him?
Yu Yuanzhen felt cold sweat break out across his back. His clothes were instantly soaked through.
He desperately lowered his voice and roared at Yu Xiaogang's back.
"Xiaogang! Shut up! Sit down, now!"
"Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
Yu Yuanzhen's voice was thick with fear and fury, even pleading.
Hearing his father's voice behind him, Yu Xiaogang not only refused to sit down obediently, but turned around and looked down at him.
A deep flash of disappointment and contempt crossed his eyes.
"You're too cowardly."
Yu Xiaogang shook his head, his voice full of anguished exasperation at his father's failure to live up to his potential.
"You're the sect master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects, yet you're wagging your tail and begging before some brat."
"Where's your backbone? Where's the dignity of your sect?"
"Just because he has tens of thousands of troops, you're so scared you can't even stand up straight?"
Yu Xiaogang pointed at Tang Yu on the raised platform, spittle flying.
"Look at how craven you are. Do you have even a shred of a Super Douluo's bearing?"
"You've disgraced the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!"
After scolding Yu Yuanzhen, Yu Xiaogang turned back toward the thousands of guests present.
He spread his arms, trying to rouse the people cowed by Tang Yu's pressure with a speech brimming with passion.
"Everyone!"
"You're all the leading figures of your respective powers, the greats of this continent!"
"Are you really going to let him bully you like this forever?"
"Today he forces us to bow. Tomorrow he'll put a butcher's knife to our throats and take everything we have!"
Yu Xiaogang swept his gaze over the faces of the sect masters and city lords, his voice growing more and more impassioned.
"Endless concessions will only bring ever-harsher oppression!"
"We have to learn to fight back!"
"If every sect, prominent family, and empire in the world joins forces, what can one little Prince Wuyang Mansion do?"
"Even if Tang Yu had three heads and six arms, could he kill everyone in the world?"
"Stand up! Don't submit to this brutal tyranny!"