Three days later.
The atmosphere in Qingyang City had become oppressive to the extreme.
The standoff between the Wang, Li, and Zhao Families had ultimately come to nothing under the City Lord's Mansion's forceful mediation.
Yet anyone could see that the alliance of the three families had long existed in name only. Mutual suspicion and hatred had already been buried deep in their hearts.
The Wang Family had completely become an isolated island.
The mansion gates were tightly shut, and every guard had withdrawn inside, no longer daring to step out even half a pace.
The entirety of Qingyang City was waiting.
Waiting to see where the vengeful ghost named "Chen Chen" would appear next, and what kind of bloody storm he would stir up.
Yet for two straight days, Chen Chen seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth, without the slightest trace.
Rather than letting the Wang Family breathe a sigh of relief, this eerie calm made them even more terrified.
The calm before a storm was often the most frightening.
On the morning of the third day.
When the first ray of sunlight illuminated the Chen Family estate, which had long since been reduced to ruins.
A solitary, proud figure had somehow already appeared at the highest point of the ruins, atop the roof of the ancestral hall that had burned down to nothing but its frame.
He wore a gray cloth robe, his body as straight as a spear, allowing the morning breeze to stir his black hair.
He wore no conical hat and had made no attempt to disguise himself.
Just like that, with his true face, he openly appeared before everyone's eyes.
Chen Chen!
"It's Chen Chen! He's appeared!"
No one knew who had been the first to cry out.
Like a boulder cast into a tranquil lake, the news instantly raised a thousand waves throughout Qingyang City!
Countless windows were thrown open, and countless gazes converged upon those ruins from every corner of the city.
There was shock, curiosity, fear, and... gloating.
Chen Chen ignored those gazes.
He merely stood there in silence, his eyes crossing half the city as they locked fiercely onto the distant, luxurious yet oppressive Wang Family Mansion.
He slowly raised a hand and pushed the Nine Nether Soul Refining Art to its limit.
An invisible, immense Spiritual Power spread outward in all directions with him at its center.
The next instant, an icy, indifferent, yet incomparably clear voice resounded beside every person's ears in Qingyang City.
"Wang Wei!"
"Get out and die!"
The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to possess a strange magic, piercing through every wall and obstruction to ring directly inside everyone's mind.
The entirety of Qingyang City instantly fell into dead silence.
Everyone was left dumbfounded by this godlike method.
What... kind of ability was this?
Within the Wang Family Mansion, Wang Wei, who had been cultivating in the blood pool, suddenly opened his eyes!
That voice was like a demonic sound from the Nine Nether, exploding directly in the depths of his soul!
"Pfft!"
His mind trembled violently as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Even the blood-colored demonic heart before him shuddered fiercely.
"Chen! Chen!"
Endless resentment and killing intent erupted from Wang Wei's eyes.
He had never imagined that Chen Chen would challenge him in such a manner!
This was an open scheme!
A naked, blatant open scheme!
Before the entire city, Chen Chen had challenged him to a fight to the death!
If he refused, hiding away like a turtle, then Wang Wei and the entire Wang Family would become the laughingstock of Qingyang City, never able to hold their heads high again!
"Family Head! This is bad! That... that little bastard is challenging you from the Chen Family ruins!" A guard stumbled and crawled into the forbidden grounds.
"I heard him." Wang Wei's voice was cold as ten-thousand-year black ice.
He slowly rose from the stone platform, the aura radiating from his body more evil and more powerful than it had been three days ago.
Half a step into the Qi Condensation Realm!
With the blood pool's power, he had already touched the threshold of the Qi Condensation Realm!
"He thinks this can force me out?" A cruel sneer surfaced on Wang Wei's face. "He thinks too little of me, Wang Wei! And he thinks too highly of himself!"
"Pass down my order! Activate the lineage-protecting grand array! All elders, guards, and Blood Guard, gather at the Training Ground!"
"If he wants to play, then I'll play with him to the bitter end!"
"Not only will I kill him, I'll rip out his soul before the whole city and use the blood pool's demonic flames to burn it day and night, ensuring he can never be reborn for all eternity!"
The Chen Family ruins.
Chen Chen stood quietly, waiting.
He knew Wang Wei would definitely come out.
A ruthless overlord driven into a corner would never tolerate having his dignity trampled like this.
What he wanted was to lure every last bit of the Wang Family's strength out of that turtle shell in one stroke!
Then...
Catch them all in one net!
A quarter of an hour later.
The gates of the Wang Family Mansion finally opened with a rumble.
Wang Wei emerged first, dressed in a blood-red robe, his face pale and his gaze sinister.
Behind him followed the Wang Family's four elders, each an expert at the Eighth Level of Body Tempering or above.
Further behind were thirty elite Blood Guards and nearly two hundred Wang Family guards!
A vast, mighty force, their killing intent soaring to the heavens!
The entire Wang Family had come out in full force!
They crossed the long streets and advanced step by step toward the Chen Family ruins.
The whole of Qingyang City held its breath.
Countless people poured into the streets, watching from afar.
They knew that an ultimate battle that would decide Qingyang City's future balance of power was about to erupt!
From the tall buildings of the Li Family and Zhao Family estates, the two Family Heads watched the scene with equally complicated expressions.
"Mad. They've all gone mad," Patriarch Li muttered.
"Wang Wei is gambling his entire Lineage's fate on this battle. If he wins, he will completely control Qingyang City. If he loses..." Patriarch Zhao did not finish, but the meaning was obvious.
If he lost, the Wang Family would be completely erased from Qingyang City!
Before long, Wang Wei's army reached the outskirts of the ruins and faced Chen Chen from afar.
"Little bastard, I have to admit, you've got guts." Wang Wei looked at Chen Chen atop the ancestral hall roof and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Unfortunately, courage is worth less than a penny before absolute strength."
Chen Chen looked down at him, his gaze indifferent, as if he were looking at a dead man.
"Wang Wei, the blood debt of my Chen Family's three hundred and sixteen lives will be settled one by one, beginning with you today."
"Hahahaha!" Wang Wei seemed to have heard the greatest joke in the world and threw back his head in wild laughter. "Just you alone? You want to settle accounts with my entire Wang Family?"
His laughter abruptly stopped. He swung his arm forward, killing intent blazing in his eyes!
"Go! Chop him into minced meat!"
He had no intention of observing any martial code or fighting Chen Chen one-on-one.
He wanted to use absolute numerical superiority to bury Chen Chen alive beneath sheer numbers!
"Kill!"
Behind him, the four elders, thirty Blood Guards, and nearly two hundred guards surged madly toward Chen Chen in the ruins like a burst dam, releasing an earth-shaking roar!
Blade light and sword shadows flashed, blood and qi thundered!
The terrifying killing intent nearly dyed the sky blood-red!
Yet facing an assault like an army of thousands, Chen Chen's face still showed no trace of fear.
Instead, a strange smile curled at the corner of his lips.
"Finally... they're all out."
He muttered to himself.
The next instant, he stamped his foot fiercely!
"Boom!"
The ancestral hall ruins beneath his feet collapsed with a thunderous crash!
But this was not the end. It was the beginning!
As his foot came down, it was as though some switch had been triggered.
"Rumble—!"
A series of muffled explosions erupted from beneath the ruins of the entire Chen Family estate!
Columns of fire shot into the sky from deep underground!
They were Fire Luring Thunder!
Over the past two days, Chen Chen had buried every one of the more than a hundred Fire Luring Thunder Uncle Fu had obtained beneath these ruins!
Using his familiarity with the terrain, he had arranged them into an interlocking chain-explosion formation!
Now, the formation had been activated!
The earth shook violently and cracked apart!
The ground beneath the dozens of Wang Family guards charging at the front instantly collapsed, swallowing them whole—along with their screams—within raging flames and rolling earth and stone!
A carefully prepared feast of death had begun!
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