The old man watched helplessly as the middle-aged man’s head rolled to the ground, hot blood splashing onto his black robe, a thick stench of blood instantly filling the air.
“Insolence!”
The old man roared, his voice thundering like a storm before the palace, his demonic aura surging violently around him.
The already gloomy sky seemed drenched in ink, fierce winds carrying shattered stones howled past, and the air grew thick and cold.
His sunken eye sockets gleamed with terrifying red light, glaring at Chen Ping as if he wanted to devour him alive.
“How dare a mere junior like you act so arrogantly in the Black Demon Palace!”
At some point, a dark green bone staff appeared in the old man’s hand, its tip embedded with a pulsating blood-red crystal. “Seize this madman and tear him to pieces!”
As his words fell, the four black-armoured cultivators wielding long spears roared in unison.
They unleashed the aura of first-grade Earth Immortal Realm, their spear tips glinting with eerie cold light, thrusting fiercely towards Chen Ping.
Their movements were perfectly synchronised, their spear shadows weaving an impenetrable net of death, clearly the work of seasoned warriors who had trained together for years.
Hu Mazi instinctively grabbed a handful of talismans, his heart pounding uncontrollably.
The aura of these four armoured warriors was even stronger than that of the elder killed earlier. Even a second-grade Earth Immortal Realm cultivator would have to retreat temporarily against their combined might.
Yet, there was no trace of panic on Chen Ping’s face.
At the very moment the spear tips were about to pierce his robes, he moved.
There was no earth-shaking momentum, no obvious motion, only a dazzling golden sword light, like the dawn breaking through the gloom, flashing briefly across the darkened world.
“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”
Four almost simultaneous soft sounds rang out, as crisp as slicing through tofu.
Hu Mazi couldn’t even discern how Chen Ping had struck, only catching a glimpse of golden light flashing before his eyes.
The next moment, the heads of the four black-armoured cultivators fell like ripened fruit, blood spurting from their necks like four fountains, staining the white jade steps before the palace red.
The four headless bodies swayed briefly before collapsing with a thud, their long spears clattering harshly on the silent plaza, the sound piercingly stark.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
The old man’s hand, still gripping the bone staff, froze mid-air, the rage on his face solidifying into stunned disbelief.
Those four warriors were his personally trained confidants, battle-hardened over years of fighting, capable of holding their own even against second-grade Earth Immortal Realm foes. Yet now… they hadn’t even touched the hem of their opponent’s robe before they were dead?
He hadn’t even seen from which direction Chen Ping’s sword had struck!
Chen Ping slowly sheathed his sword, the bloodstains on the Dragon-Slaying Sword vanishing instantly, restoring its plain, unadorned appearance.
He raised his eyes to the old man, his gaze as calm as a fathomless, icy pool, his voice devoid of any emotion: “I’m very angry.”
Those simple four words sent a chill through the old man, as if he were being stared down by a venomous snake.
“Ever since I set foot in these Nine Coiling Mountains, there’s always someone looking to cause me trouble.”
Chen Ping advanced step by step towards the old man, each step causing the ground to tremble slightly, an invisible pressure spreading like a tide. “I cut off his arm earlier as a warning. I killed him now because he didn’t learn his lesson.”
He stopped ten paces from the old man, his gaze settling on the elder’s wrinkled face. “You have two choices now: either stand there quietly, or… the next head to roll will be yours.”
The old man’s throat bobbed, his fingers gripping the bone staff so tightly they turned white.
He had lived for nearly a millennium, seen every kind of storm and turmoil.
Yet never had he felt fear like this.
Chen Ping’s gaze was too calm, calm as if stating an inevitable fact, and the killing intent behind that calm was far more terrifying than any hysterical roar.
