Inside the Liu Family courtyard, Liu Tianjue abruptly raised his hand and clawed at the air with all five fingers.
The blood-red threads connected above the Liu Residence instantly pulled taut.
"Kill him!"
At the command, Su Daqiang moved.
Boom!
The ground beneath his feet collapsed instantly, sending rubble shooting in every direction like bullets.
That grayish-blue body became a blurred afterimage, moving so fast the naked eye could barely follow.
Su Yu's nerves stretched to their limit at that moment.
Within his divine sense domain, his opponent's trajectory was clearly outlined.
A straight punch.
There was nothing fancy about it, only the crushing force of pure strength.
Su Yu tapped the ground with his toes, instantly unleashing Wandering Dragon Steps and shifting left by a hair's breadth.
The fierce wind scraped past the tip of his nose.
The wind pressure generated by that force actually cut a fine, bloody scratch across his face.
Bang!
That punch slammed into the stone lion behind Su Yu.
In that instant, the stone lion, weighing several thousand jin, exploded into a skyful of dust like a fragile block of tofu.
"Fall back!"
Su Yu barked at Tang Shan.
In a battle of this level, a Mortal Realm martial artist who so much as approached would have their internal organs shattered by the shock waves.
Lin Xiao moved as well.
His heavy sword swept up a swath of dark-red sword light, heading straight for Liu Tianjue's head.
"Commander Lin, your opponent is me!"
However, the black-robed man holding a white bone staff blocked Lin Xiao's path.
The skull atop the staff let out a piercing shriek, and a mass of green ghost fire surged forth, wearing away Lin Xiao's Sword Qi until nothing remained.
"Commander Lin, don't be impatient."
The black-robed man's voice was harsh and grating, like fingernails scraping sheet iron.
"This show has only just begun."
With Lin Xiao intercepted, the situation on the training grounds instantly became perilous.
Beneath the Liu Family courtyard, the green-haired zombies had fully crawled out and were locked in a bloody fight with the Demon Suppression Guard.
Screams, blades piercing flesh, and breaking bones intertwined into a symphony of hell.
Su Yu dodged another sweeping blow from "Su Daqiang."
His opponent's attacks grew faster and faster, each move accompanied by a heavy sound of tearing air.
That was pure physical strength.
"Body Refinement Spirit Realm!"
Su Yu swiftly reached his judgment.
This puppet had been infused with large quantities of demon essence blood while alive, and its physical defenses even surpassed those of ordinary Spirit Realm martial artists.
More troublesome still, it felt no pain.
He had just delivered a probing saber strike, leaving a wound on its arm deep enough to expose bone, yet no blood flowed, and its movements had not faltered in the slightest.
Su Yu gathered his divine sense and locked onto Su Daqiang, and a faint glow appeared on his back.
As long as he shattered that spot, this puppet would be completely disabled.
But getting behind his opponent was easier said than done.
The next instant, Su Daqiang lunged again, both hands curled into claws, stirring up ten streaks of pitch-black force.
If those claws landed, even armor forged from refined steel would be torn apart instantly.
"Huff!"
Su Yu drew a deep breath through his mouth.
The blood and Qi within him surged like boiling magma as Suppressing Prisons and Subduing Demons began circulating furiously.
A layer of dark-gold light surfaced across his skin, and his muscles tightened to their utmost.
Since he could not dodge, he would meet it head-on.
"Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist!"
Su Yu stepped back, twisted his waist, and punched.
All his strength converged on a single point at that moment.
The golden fist shadow collided violently with the pitch-black claws.
Clang-!
A deafening metallic crash rang throughout the grounds.
The ground within a three-meter radius of the two caved in with a thunderous crash.
Su Yu felt an overwhelming force, powerful enough to topple mountains and overturn seas, surge through his arm into his body. The web of his hand instantly split, and blood stained his knuckles red.
His punch also blasted three of his opponent's fingernails clean off.
"Su Daqiang" let out an inhuman growl. His body merely swayed before he pressed close again.
He opened his mouth, and a thick corpse stench assailed Su Yu's face.
"Su Yu, look. He's smiling."
Liu Tianjue sneered coldly from afar. "He's laughing at you, you unfilial son, for daring to throw a punch at him."
Su Yu's expression remained as still as water, as though he had not heard those words at all.
His divine sense remained firmly locked onto the corpse-controlling talisman's location.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the instant his opponent exhausted his strength and recovered.
Although the puppet did not breathe, the circulation of its power would inevitably fluctuate in cycles.
"Ugh!"
Just then, however, a muffled groan came from Lin Xiao's direction.
The black-robed man's white bone staff struck Lin Xiao's shoulder, leaving a large patch of charred blood.
"Su Yu, finish it quickly!"
Lin Xiao roared.
The black-robed man's bizarre attacks had entangled him, leaving him unable to break free for the moment.
The surrounding Demon Suppression Guards suffered mounting casualties under the green-haired zombies' encirclement. In these circumstances, he could only pin his hopes on Su Yu.
Saber in hand and face smeared with blood, Tang Shan was cutting down a zombie attempting a sneak attack. His breathing had already begun to grow ragged.
He could not drag this out any longer.
Su Yu's expression grew grave, and his left hand slowly settled on the hilt of his black-gold saber.
Spirit-Seizing Art, activate.
An invisible shock wave of divine sense shot out from between Su Yu's brows.
Although the puppet had no soul, the corpse-controlling talisman contained a strand of Liu Tianjue's divine will.
Boom!
The corpse-controlling talisman trembled slightly.
At that instant, "Su Daqiang's" movements paused almost imperceptibly.
It lasted only an instant.
But for Su Yu, that was enough. He stamped down and unleashed his perfected Wandering Dragon Steps.
Su Yu's figure instantly vanished from where he stood.
The next second, he appeared behind "Su Daqiang."
Ultimate realm killing move, Wind Falls Silent, Leaving No Trace.
There was no sound of wind.
No ring of a blade.
Only a thread-fine streak of black light flashed through the air and vanished.
Shick.
The black-gold saber pierced precisely into his opponent's third vertebra.
The dark-red paper talisman concealed deep beneath the flesh instantly crumbled to dust as the blade churned.
"Su Daqiang's" body froze.
The two eerie green ghost flames flickered violently a few times before slowly going out.
Thud!
That towering body slumped to the ground like a collapsing earthen slope.
"It's over!"
Su Yu spoke quietly.
He pulled the saber free with a reverse grip, drawing out a spray of thick black liquid.
[Slain: Spirit Realm First Level puppet. Slaughter Points gained: 100] [Current Slaughter Points: 220]
The numbers on the panel changed again, but Su Yu felt not a ripple within.
He raised his head, looking past the corpse kneeling on the ground toward Liu Tianjue in the grand armchair.