The death of Liu Qingtian

Liu City, the capital of the Liu Domain.

The City Lord's Mansion stood at the very center of Liu City, its sprawling halls covering more than sixteen acres.

Black tiles, vermilion walls, sweeping eaves, and interlocking brackets lent it extraordinary grandeur. Two stone sculptures of ferocious beasts stood on either side of the entrance, each over ten feet tall, their fangs bared and their eyes glaring savagely.

Inside the council hall, lamps blazed brightly.

Liu Qingtian sat in the seat of honor, dressed in a black robe and jade belt, his face dark and sinister.

He propped his forehead on one hand, rhythmically tapping the armrest of his sandalwood chair with his fingertips, producing soft, hollow knocks.

Below him to the left, his younger brother Liu Ming sat with his hands lowered, anxiety showing on his face.

"Brother," Liu Ming finally could not help asking, "is it really all right for us to skip the Nine Domains Conference? Those rules were agreed upon by all Nine Domains. If we don't attend, I'm afraid we'll give people ammunition against us..."

"Rules?"

Liu Qingtian scoffed, his tapping fingers coming to a halt.

He raised his eyes, his gaze sharp as a blade. "That old bastard Mu Feng is merely trading on the empty fame his son earned by returning from the Spirit Road. Now he wants to climb up our noses and onto our faces, calling some Nine Domains Conference."

Liu Ming opened his mouth, then stopped himself.

Liu Qingtian rose and paced over to the window. Several black ironwood trees grew in the courtyard outside, their branches gnarled like dragons, their sparse leaves rustling in the wind.

"Father was already at the pinnacle of the divine soul realm before entering seclusion." Liu Qingtian turned, a trace of fervor flashing in his eyes. "He'll soon emerge from this retreat!"

At those words, Liu Ming's eyes immediately lit up. "Father really is about to break through?"

"Almost certainly."

Liu Qingtian returned to the seat of honor, his fingers gently stroking the armrest, his voice brimming with certainty. "If he succeeds in entering the three heavens realm... never mind the Mu Domain-even if the other eight domains of the entire Northern Spiritual Realm joined forces, what could they do to our Liu Family?"

He paused, a cold smile curling his lips. "So what difference does it make whether we attend that Nine Domains Conference? Once Father emerges, who holds sway over the Northern Spiritual Realm will be for our Liu Family alone to decide."

Liu Ming felt completely reassured. All the anxiety vanished from his face, replaced by excitement. "You're right, Brother! Once Father breaks through, the Mu Domain, the Tang Domain-all of them will have to bow their heads and pledge allegiance!"

"Oh, right." Suddenly remembering something, Liu Ming spoke again. "There's also the matter of the Black Nether Abyss..."

Before he could finish, Liu Qingtian abruptly raised a hand, signaling him to be silent.

Almost at the same moment, hurried footsteps sounded outside the council hall.

The footsteps were heavy and disordered, drawing closer before finally stopping outside the doors.

"Report!"

The newcomer's voice was hoarse, shaking uncontrollably.

Liu Qingtian frowned, an ominous foreboding rising in his heart. "Come in," he said gravely.

The doors were shoved open.

A middle-aged man wearing the Liu Domain's black armor stumbled inside, his armor covered in dust and his face utterly bloodless.

He dropped to his knees, pressing his forehead hard against the cold stone floor, his voice trembling so badly that he could barely form the words:

"Domain Lord! The Mu... the Mu Domain is attacking! They've reached the outskirts of Liu City!"

"What?"

Liu Qingtian sprang to his feet, sending his sandalwood chair sliding half a foot backward with an ear-piercing scrape against the floor.

His first reaction was disbelief.

Where did the Mu Domain get the nerve? Where did they get the strength?

Even if Mu Chen had returned from the Spirit Road, he was only a junior. At the absolute most, he could have broken through to the divine soul realm.

How could that old bastard Mu Feng possibly launch a war at a time like this?

But before he could question the man further-

Boom!!!

An indescribably terrifying pressure descended without warning!

It was as though the entire sky collapsed at that instant, crashing down above the City Lord's Mansion with the weight of countless tons!

The flames of the dozens of lamps in the hall abruptly shrank, flickering violently, their wicks crackling as though they would be extinguished completely at any moment.

The landscape paintings hanging on the walls stirred without a breeze, their scroll rods striking the walls with muffled slaps.

The sturdy sandalwood tables and chairs groaned beneath the unbearable burden, their mortise-and-tenon joints creaking.

The dark azure stone floor tiles visibly sank half an inch, dust rising in streams from the gaps between them.

Everyone in the hall, including Liu Qingtian, a late-stage divine soul realm expert, suddenly felt an immense weight settle over them!

It was as though a hundred thousand mountains had materialized upon their shoulders and backs. Every inch of bone wailed, and every strand of muscle trembled.

The air grew thick as a mire. Even breathing became a luxury.

"Argh!"

Liu Ming bore the brunt of it.

He was only at the late stage of the spirit wheel realm. Before that overwhelming, irresistible pressure, he could not endure even a single breath.

His muffled groan was forced back down his throat almost as soon as it escaped, and his entire body was slammed to the ground as though struck by an invisible giant palm!

His cheek pressed against the cold floor tiles, his features twisted out of shape, and the bridge of his nose cracked faintly.

He wanted to struggle, wanted to raise his head, but he could not lift so much as a finger. He could only open and close his lips in vain, like a dying fish.

Liu Qingtian could barely remain standing, but his sinister face had already turned purple-red. Veins bulged across his temples and neck like writhing earthworms.

He desperately circulated all his spiritual energy to resist. Powerful currents surged through his meridians, yet he was like an ant trying to shake a mighty tree.

A figure stepped into the hall at an unhurried pace.

Black clothes, ink-black hair, a figure straight as a pine, and a handsome, refined face-it was Mu Chen.

Mu Chen calmly swept his gaze across the hall.

Liu Ming lay sprawled on the floor like a dead dog, blood seeping from his mouth and nose, already unconscious.

His gaze settled on the black-robed man before the seat of honor, who was barely standing and trembling like chaff in a sieve.

"Domain Lord Liu," he said, his voice clear, "since your Liu Domain wouldn't attend the Nine Domains Conference, I had no choice but to come here personally and have a proper talk with you."

"Mu... Chen?" Looking at his face, Liu Qingtian forced the two syllables through clenched teeth, each tasting of bloody froth.

He stared fixedly at the figure before him, his eyes filled with shock and fear, but above all, bewilderment he could not resolve.

He could not understand! He could not understand at all!

How could a boy who had only just returned from the Spirit Road possess such power?

How could he be this overwhelmingly strong?

Merely releasing his pressure had rendered the entire City Lord's Mansion-and Liu Qingtian himself, a late-stage divine soul realm expert-as motionless as insects trapped in amber!

What kind of joke was this?

"It seems you don't particularly welcome me, Domain Lord Liu." Mu Chen smiled.

It was a faint smile, the corners of his mouth barely lifting, but his eyes held nothing except icebound indifference.

To Liu Qingtian, that smile was more bone-chilling than the coldest wind in the Northern Spiritual Realm, and far more despair-inducing!

"But that doesn't matter."

Mu Chen took a step forward.

Just one step.

Boom!

The pressure surged again!

Every bone in Liu Qingtian's body groaned beneath the unbearable burden. His knees buckled, and he could no longer hold himself up, dropping to the floor with a heavy thud.

Both knees struck the dark azure stone tiles, instantly cracking their surface. Fractures spread like a spiderweb.

He wanted to raise his head, wanted to roar, wanted to fight with everything he had.

But he could not.

Before that utterly crushing power, even moving a single finger became an impossible hope.

He could only watch helplessly as the black-clad figure slowly approached, like the god of death descending.

"The Liu Family bloodline."

Mu Chen stopped before Liu Qingtian and lowered his eyes to look at him.

"I won't leave a single one alive!"

Pfft.

A soft sound rang out.

Liu Qingtian's entire body jolted violently, and the light in his eyes instantly dimmed.

He opened his mouth, seemingly trying to say something, but only strange rasping sounds came from his throat.

Blood poured from all seven orifices, flowing down his cheeks and neck and staining the front of his black robe crimson.

The next second, as though every last support had been stripped from him, he collapsed limply to the ground.

Not a trace of life remained.

Liu Qingtian, ruler of the Liu Domain and a late-stage divine soul realm expert, was dead!