His voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
For a moment, almost everyone nearby turned their eyes toward Ye Xuan, their faces filled with shock.
"Who is this brat? Does he have a death wish?"
"Look at his age. He hasn't even grown all his hair yet. Is he tired of living?"
"Hahaha, there really are plenty of people courting death these days. This must be his first time here. We're in for a good show."
After a brief moment of shock, countless people began murmuring.
The looks they gave Ye Xuan were filled with pity, mockery, or disdain.
The gatekeeper cultivator also froze for a moment, then turned to look at Ye Xuan.
When he saw that Ye Xuan was only a young man, a disdainful, vicious grin immediately spread across his face.
He tossed the female cultivator in his hand onto the ground, then strode toward Ye Xuan.
As he walked, he laughed. "Brat, you dare meddle in my business? Looks like you're tired of living!"
As his words fell, he suddenly accelerated!
A series of booms suddenly rang out as his Essence Condensation Realm Third Layer presence erupted.
Then, like an enraged wild beast, he charged straight at Ye Xuan to kill him.
"Since you want to meddle, I'll let you meddle!"
His low, savage voice echoed through the surroundings, making many of those nearby shiver all over.
"This is bad! He's gone berserk!"
"Ah, that boy is finished. What a pity for such a young lad."
"Heh, who told him to meddle? Is a greenhorn like him in any position to interfere with these people's business? He deserves it!"
"Exactly. Of all those fellows who dared meddle before, which one met a good end? Every one of them had their cultivation crippled and their limbs broken, and their corpses were hung from the city walls."
The watching cultivators scattered as they discussed, but they were not particularly panicked. Clearly, they were used to such sights.
Ye Xuan watched the enraged gatekeeper charge at him without the slightest fear, his expression frighteningly calm.
He could already thrash someone at the Origin Condensation Third Layer while he was in the Meridian Opening Realm. Now that he had entered the Essence Condensation First Layer, this fellow was naturally even less of a match for him.
While Ye Xuan stood in a daze, the gatekeeper had already rushed up to him.
Without another word, the Spiritual Qi throughout his body surged wildly. He leaped into the air and used his downward momentum to smash a fist viciously at Ye Xuan's head.
Spiritual Qi swirled around his knuckles, making even the trembling air give off faint hissing sounds that sent hearts quaking.
"Ah, he's dead. He's definitely dead!"
"Even now, he doesn't know to dodge. Has he been scared senseless, or is he an expert?"
"At his age, does he look like an expert? He's done for."
Seeing that Ye Xuan still made no move even now, everyone could not help sighing and discussing again.
But just then, all their discussion stopped abruptly, as though the power had been cut.
Ye Xuan, who had stood as immovable as a mountain, suddenly extended his right hand.
His right hand merely reached forward lightly. The movement looked extremely slow, yet it caught the gatekeeper's wrist with unerring precision.
The next second, before the gatekeeper could react, Ye Xuan jerked his wrist forward, then raised his foot.
Bang-!
A tremendous crash rang out.
"Aah-!"
Accompanied by an ear-piercing scream, the gatekeeper was sent flying backward.
His dantian was shattered, his face deathly pale, and his eyes dull.
His cultivation had actually been crippled.
At this sight, everyone's eyes widened. They could scarcely believe what they were seeing.
One move.
Just one move.
And he had instantly defeated an Origin Condensation Third Layer cultivator?
"You... you dared cripple me?"
After coming to his senses, the gatekeeper raised his head viciously and stared fixedly at Ye Xuan, his face filled with venom.
He could hardly believe that he had actually been crippled.
He belonged to the city lord's manor, and the city lord was a Golden Core cultivator! How had this young man dared?
"Cripple you?" Ye Xuan said disdainfully. "What's crippling you? I even dare to kill you!"
As he spoke, he had already rushed to the man's side.
He swung his fist.
Bang!
One punch burst the man's head apart.
Blood instantly splattered everywhere, and cries of shock filled the scene!
"Aah!!!"
"This... this..."
Crippling him had not been enough-he had actually killed him too?
How ruthless!
The rescued female cultivator also froze.
When Ye Xuan had first stepped forward, she had been delighted.
But now, she could not feel delighted at all.
The city lord was a Golden Core cultivator, and the city lord's manor had more than a dozen Wheel Sea Realm cultivators.
Although Ye Xuan had instantly defeated an Origin Condensation Third Layer cultivator and was already very powerful, could he match someone at the Wheel Sea Realm or Golden Core?
At such a young age, that clearly seemed unlikely.
For a moment, a hundred emotions welled up in the female cultivator, and she lowered her head in shame.
Ye Xuan had saved her, yet she did not dare speak to him at all, not even to thank him.
She was afraid of being implicated.
"You... you've got some nerve!"
"You actually dared kill one of our men! You're courting death!"
"Kill him!"
Meanwhile, the other seven or eight gatekeeper cultivators had also come to their senses.
They immediately abandoned their posts, all grabbing their weapons and charging at Ye Xuan, baring their fangs and claws.
Waves of Essence Condensation Realm presence rose one after another, their killing intent towering to the heavens!
Ye Xuan looked at them but did not immediately attack. Instead, he asked, "He tried to defile an innocent woman. Didn't he deserve to die?"
But those gatekeepers would not listen to reason at all. They merely sneered disdainfully.
"Deserve to die? You're the one who deserves to die!"
"For killing one of our men, you deserve to be sliced into a thousand pieces!"
"I'll cripple you first, then hang you from the city walls and whip you!"
Grinning viciously, they unleashed their powerful Essence Condensation Realm presence, then all charged at Ye Xuan to kill him.
Seven or eight Essence Condensation Realm cultivators surrounded and attacked Ye Xuan, who was only at the Essence Condensation First Layer.
The surrounding spectators retreated farther away in fright once more, terrified of being caught in the crossfire.
The anger in Ye Xuan's heart also grew fiercer.
He had originally intended to reason with these people, but since they refused to listen to reason, they could not blame him for using his fists.
As this thought crossed his mind, all one hundred and eight meridians in Ye Xuan's body opened fully, and all the Spiritual Qi in his dantian surged violently like an ocean tide.
Powerful strength flooded his entire body. He stamped directly on the ground, and with a boom, the paving cracked and shattered as he shot forward like a cannonball.
Two Origin Condensation Fifth Layer cultivators led the charge, grinning viciously as they rushed at Ye Xuan to kill him.
Spiritual Qi swirled around them as they brandished a saber and a staff.
One held the saber and slashed sideways at Ye Xuan's head.
The other swept his staff horizontally, aiming straight at Ye Xuan's lower body.
Seeing this, Ye Xuan merely tilted his head slightly and evaded the slashing saber.
The next second, his right hand shot out, his palm striking toward the saber-wielding cultivator's head.
Boom!
A tremendous crash, like evening drums and morning bells, deafeningly thundered in the hearts of everyone nearby.
The saber-wielding cultivator's head was smashed to pulp, and his corpse fell limply.
Without pausing in the slightest, Ye Xuan raised his left leg slightly, then brought it down, the tip of his foot landing precisely on the iron staff smashing toward him.
With just that light touch, he borrowed its force to rise a little higher, then drew his right leg back slightly before whipping it out.
Bang!
Another dull impact rang out, and the staff-wielding cultivator's temple instantly burst apart!