The gaunt old man's offer to take Hong Yuan as his disciple was merely a ploy to lull him into complacency. In truth, he had already secretly gathered his force, churning it between his chest and belly before unleashing it in an earth-shaking roar.
The roar erupted like a sudden thunderclap. In an instant, the air before the gaunt old man seemed to blur, twisting into an enormous wave that swept outward, blotting out the sky.
The glazed roof tiles buzzed and trembled. Dust showered down from the hall's beams and pillars, and the wave lifted tiny stones from the floor.
The gaunt old man's voice was piercing and shrill, scarcely human. It seemed to bore straight into the mind, carrying a strange power that shook the spirit and threatened to scatter the soul.
The two Seed Jade Sect experts, one in black and one in red, were still screaming. Struck by the tremendous roar, their eyes rolled back, and they immediately lost consciousness.
More than a dozen disciples had mustered their courage and charged forward with swords in hand, ready to rush into the hall and fight the fiend destroying their sect to the death. Now they clutched their heads in agony, staggered, and tumbled down the long flight of steps.
Hong Yuan stood where he was, his brow deeply furrowed.
"Boy, how does this old man's Soul-Shaking Bell taste?"
Before the roar had faded, every joint in the gaunt old man's body crackled in a dense barrage like beans popping in a pan. That was the sound of his force exploding.
His frail body swelled as though engorged with blood. Muscles bulged along his arms, legs, and torso, and in a flash, he became a powerfully built man.
His graying hair bristled outward. Far from looking old, he