Chen Fan's words completely enraged Dai Renfeng.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. He said nothing more, only tilted his head slightly and shot Zhu Buchun a look.
The two of them were so in sync that no words were needed.
Zhu Buchun immediately understood. Her figure blurred, and she lunged straight at Chen Fan, leaving only a fading afterimage!
A Titled Douluo of the Agility Attack System at level ninety-five was so fast that the naked eye could scarcely follow her.
Xu Wensu and Chen Xin didn't even have time to react. Their vision blurred, and Zhu Buchun had already slipped past them, closing in on Chen Fan like a ghost.
Chen Fan still wore that same smile. He hadn't even had time to blink.
And then.
Just as Zhu Buchun's claws were about to touch Chen Fan's throat, her body suddenly froze in place!
A white line appeared at her neck.
Her body came to an abrupt halt in midair. Her claws, already transformed through Martial Soul Possession, were barely half a meter from Chen Fan's throat!
Yet that short distance might as well have been a chasm. She could go no farther!
Her eyes, once as sharp as a falcon's, suddenly clouded over, her pupils dilating rapidly.
She opened her mouth and made a hoarse "khh" sound, as if trying to say something, but only a mouthful of blood spilled out.
The next second!
Her body crashed heavily to the ground with a dull thud.
The sound wasn't loud, yet it struck everyone present like a heavy hammer to the heart.
"Thump—"
The back of Zhu Buchun's head hit the floor tiles. Her limbs twitched twice, then she fell utterly still.
A thin trickle of blood slowly seeped from the white line at her neck. But before it could run, a delicate layer of frost froze it in place, and not a single drop spilled out.
Only then.
Did everyone notice.
At some point, frost had spread across the floor beneath Zhu Buchun. Snowflake-like flecks of light silently crept outward from beneath their feet.
The entire hall sank into deathly silence.
Nobody spoke.
Everyone present seemed to stop breathing. They stared blankly at the corpse on the floor, their minds utterly empty, as if someone had plucked the ability to think right out of their heads.
Zhu Buchun!
A peak, level-ninety-five Titled Douluo of the Agility Attack System!
How could this...
How could she suddenly have dropped dead?
And...
Judging by the scene, had she been killed with a single strike to the throat?
Worse yet!
The strike had been so clean and swift, like slaughtering a chicken or a dog. She hadn't even had time to struggle or scream before she was dead!
"This..."
No one knew how long it took, but at last, someone in the crowd let out a single trembling syllable, like a pin popping a sealed balloon.
Then the entire Taihe Hall erupted!
"A Titled Douluo?! Lord Zhu Buchun... is dead?!"
"One... one strike?!"
"Who?! Who did it?!"
A chorus of horrified cries rose and fell. The ministers of the Star Luo Empire stared with eyes so wide their eyeballs seemed ready to burst from their sockets, their mouths gaping wide enough to fit a fist.
A few who couldn't take it dropped straight to the floor, their legs giving way, a dark wet patch spreading across their trousers.
Even Tang Wei sprang to his feet, Soul Power surging within him as he warily scanned the surroundings. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back!
He had sensed a sword intent just now.
Even he, a level-ninety-four Titled Douluo, had only managed to catch a vague afterimage!
If he had faced that strike...
Tang Wei didn't dare finish the thought. His throat felt dry, and he instinctively reached for his neck.
"What?"
Dai Renfeng's expression froze.
Staring at Zhu Buchun on the ground, he clutched his black cane and looked utterly disbelieving. "How is that possible?!"
Zhu Buchun was a level-ninety-five Titled Douluo of the Agility Attack System. How could she have been killed in an instant?
Just then.
Footsteps sounded from outside the hall.
They were unhurried and as light as steps on cotton, yet each one seemed to land on everyone's heart, making it tighten.
"This...?"
Dai Renfeng's pupils contracted sharply.
He felt an unprecedentedly terrifying aura slowly pressing in from the direction of the footsteps.
It was as if a peerless divine sword, hidden for countless years, were slowly being drawn from its sheath, inch by inch, its soul-seizing edge gradually revealed.
Oppressive.
Utterly oppressive.
It wasn't just Dai Renfeng. Every powerful soul master present above level seventy felt that aura, their expressions changing drastically.
The pressure made even breathing extraordinarily difficult.
It was as if someone had pinned their souls to a chopping block, leaving them unable to move.
"This aura..."
Chen Xin was the first to recover.
He slowly put away the Seven Kill Sword, the muscles in his chest relaxing. The tension left his face, replaced by a relieved smile.
Then.
He turned toward the entrance of the hall and bowed deeply, his voice full of reverence and joy. "Father!"
Those two simple words exploded through Taihe Hall like thunder, making everyone's heart tremble!
"F-Father?!"
Dai Li's eyes flew wide and his lips quivered. "Chen Xin's... father?!"
"Chen Jianjun?!"
"The Grand Sect Master of the Seven Kill Sect?!"
"Wasn't he only at the peak of level ninety-six? How could he kill a level-ninety-five Titled Douluo with one strike?"
"Could he have broken through?"
"But even a level-ninety-seven Titled Douluo couldn't possibly kill someone that quickly, could they?"
One stunned gaze after another turned toward the entrance.
The next moment.
A figure slowly walked in from the darkness outside.
He was a man who looked barely past thirty, with an eight-tenths resemblance to Chen Xin. Yet, on closer inspection, he somehow seemed even younger than Chen Xin, as if he were only in his early thirties.
But.
What stood out most was the sword in his right hand.
A closer look revealed a bead of scarlet blood on its blade. It slid down and fell onto the tiles, only to freeze solid beneath a snowflake of frost in an instant.
He stood there like a farmer with an unawakened Martial Soul, without the slightest trace of Soul Power.
But...
When people looked at the sword in his hand, then at Zhu Buchun's corpse on the ground, many swallowed involuntarily, a chill crawling over their skin.
He had killed a level-ninety-five Titled Douluo in an instant!
What... sort of strength did that take?
"Ch-Chen Jianjun?!"
Dai Renfeng's pupils shrank to pinpoints, his voice trembling. "You... your aura..."
Dai Renfeng clearly remembered.
Just a few days ago, Dai Li had reported that Chen Jianjun was only a level-ninety-seven Titled Douluo.
But this pressure...
Why did it feel like he was facing that Adjudicator Elder from Spirit Hall?
No!
This pressure was even greater than that of Spirit Hall's Adjudicator Elder!
The Six-Winged Angel was a Power Attack System Martial Soul, but the holy aura it carried was more an expression of divine majesty.
By contrast, Chen Jianjun's aura was like a sword ready to leap from its sheath at any moment, its edge fully exposed!
"Could it be..."
"Has he become a Peerless Douluo?!"
"But how... how is that possible?!"
"He, Chen Jianjun, is only a little over a hundred years old. How could he possibly..."
Chen Jianjun said nothing.
He didn't even acknowledge Dai Li's shock.
He merely turned his head and looked at Chen Fan, his tone mildly reproachful. "Fan'er, you were too reckless. Don't do that again."
"You're right to scold me, Uncle!"
Chen Fan had actually timed everything precisely before deliberately provoking Dai Renfeng. Otherwise, with only one life to spare, he wouldn't have been this reckless.
Chen Jianjun said no more. He lifted his head slightly and swept his gaze across the hall.
Whenever his eyes passed over someone, that person felt as if an invisible sword had been pressed to their throat. They stiffened, drenched in cold sweat, and some even felt as if their legs had turned to lead, unable to move at all.
At last.
Chen Jianjun's gaze settled on Dai Renfeng. "Was it you who wanted to lay a hand on my nephew?"
His voice was calm, but beneath that calm tone, Dai Renfeng keenly sensed tangible killing intent. A chill ran down his spine.
"A misunderstanding!"
Dai Renfeng forced out a strained smile, his voice trembling. "Well... Brother Chen, this—this was all a misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding?"
Chen Jianjun gave a soft laugh. "Then why didn't you call it a misunderstanding when you attacked my nephew just now?"
Dai Renfeng opened his mouth, still hoping to explain.
But.
Chen Jianjun had no intention of giving him the chance. "I don't want to waste any more words."
"Because you're not worthy of hearing them!"
As the last word fell.
Chen Jianjun raised his sword and sent a wave of sword energy toward Dai Renfeng.
"Not good!"
Dai Renfeng's expression changed dramatically. The instant Chen Jianjun raised his hand, his body reacted, darting sharply to the side.
At the same time.
Soul Power surged wildly within him. Both his hands transformed into enormous tiger paws, sharp steel claws springing from his fingers as he crossed his arms to block in front of himself!
"Roar!"
A deafening tiger's roar exploded through the hall. Dai Renfeng's Martial Soul Possession took effect, and one of the black Soul Rings farther back among the nine around him suddenly flared.
In an instant.
A thick white shield of light formed in the air before him.
It was Dai Renfeng's eighth Soul Skill, White Tiger Light Shield, obtained from a seventy-thousand-year-old Saber-Toothed Tiger.
Back when he was a Soul Douluo, he had relied on this Soul Skill to withstand the Martial Soul Avatar of a Titled Douluo. Its defense was astonishing.
"Whoosh!"
And yet!
Against this sword strike from Chen Jianjun—one that didn't even use a Soul Skill—
The White Tiger Light Shield and Dai Renfeng's steel-like tiger paws were sliced apart in an instant, as easily as blocks of tofu!
"Boom!"
In the blink of an eye.
Dai Renfeng was flung backward like a kite with its strings cut. He slammed into the wall of Taihe Hall, and a human-shaped dent appeared in the bricks with a thunderous crash...