Kill Them All!

The instant the ripples from the jade talisman rippled outward, Cao Zhennan seemed to find newfound confidence. He swung his hand, severing his own arm to wrench himself free of Xiao Chen's grasp! His figure retreated several hundred zhang in a frantic burst. Swallowing a medicinal pill, he reattached the severed arm. A sneer of cold mockery tugged at the corner of Xiao Chen's mouth. With a deft flick of his wrist, he shook the shredded flesh from the Blood God Spear, then stepped back, stride by stride, to stand behind Li Guanqi. Li Guanqi spoke in an eerily calm voice. "I am the eldest brother of your nephew, Cao Yan." *Boom!* The moment the words fell, the bare bone of the old man's arms, bound within the coffin, was ground to powder inch by inch! Excruciating agony caused the old man to writhe frantically within the coffin. He opened his mouth to scream, but a heavy fist crushed his throat into bloody paste before he could make a sound. Cao Zhennan's face changed drastically upon hearing those words. His eyes darted rapidly left and right, his thoughts churning with fierce calculations. Paying no heed to what the man was thinking, Li Guanqi said softly, "Second Brother, shatter the realm!" At those words, Ye Feng took a violent step forward, the void beneath his foot shattering into fragments! Immediately after, the wailing shrieks of ghosts echoed in everyone's ears. A black-and-gold sword light shot straight from the earth into the sky! The sword intent imbued within this sword light had already reached the half-step Sword Heart realm! The terrifying sword light swept across in a horizontal slash. Every mountain peak caught in its path was sheared clean through. At this moment, the realm was filled with assembled guests and friends; how could Cao Zhennan possibly allow this strike to land true? *Boom!* Icy blue flames ignited around the man. A mysterious ripple abruptly surged from him as an icy-blue hue climbed onto the blade in his hand. With a slight shift in his sword momentum, a bizarre sword light of ice and fire flared to life! Yet, just as the crowd expected that strike to cancel out Ye Feng's sword light, the woman standing beside Li Guanqi vanished on the spot. Meng Wanshu's eyes remained untroubled by even a single ripple. Even when gazing upon Cao Zhennan, the Southern Heavenly King, her gaze was filled only with sovereign disdain for heaven and earth. She did not even draw her sword. She merely extended her right hand, spreading five slender fingers. "What is that woman doing?! Has she lost her mind?!" "What sheer arrogance! Catching the full-force strike of a middle Void Refining cultivator bare-handed?" "What a stunning beauty she is—what a pity she's so foolishly overconfident!" Yet the expected scene of the sword light cleaving through her palm never came to pass. On the contrary, the instant the sword light made contact with her palm, it was frozen solid by a terrifying force of frost! The frightening sword light was sealed on the spot into a hundred-zhang blade of ice! Meng Wanshu applied slight pressure with her fingers. In a single breath, the frozen sword light shattered into fine icy powder, drifting across heaven and earth. "Purgatory: Abyssal Ghost!" The sword light howled as though fierce ghosts were shrieking. A ferocious phantom of a malicious ghost clung tightly to the blade light. This strike was as swift as lightning, flashing and vanishing through the air! *Boom!* In that instant, heaven and earth trembled, and even the torrential curtain of rain veiling the sky paused for a heartbeat. The space behind Cao Zhennan abruptly collapsed! *Boom! Rrrrrrumble!* Amid flashing lightning and rolling thunder, the Southern King Realm was torn wide open! Inside what had once been a lively domain realm, towering mountains were cleaved to pieces by that sudden, arriving sword light. Innumerable guests fled in all directions. The ghostly aura of purgatory spread out toward every quarter, driving everyone to scatter in panic like startled birds. "*Gulp*... A single strike... tore the realm open! Who is that blond youth? Does anyone recognize him?" "Never seen him. He probably isn't from the Xuanmen Domain. If he were, his name would have resounded far and wide long ago!" "When did so many monstrous geniuses emerge from the other domains?" "What kind of blood feud do they have with Cao Zhennan to make such a forceful intrusion right on his birthday banquet?" That was perhaps the burning question on everyone's mind. *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* Four figures bearing profound, heavy auras materialized in rapid succession! The pressure radiating from each of them was formidable; clearly, they were close acquaintances of Cao Zhennan. One of them, a woman, scanned her surroundings before fixing her gaze intently upon Li Guanqi. Swallowing hard, she actually bowed deeply toward Li Guanqi beneath the bewildered stares of the crowd, asking in a gentle voice, "Dare I ask if you, young friend, are surnamed Li?" Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes at her and said bluntly, "I am. If you don't wish to wade into these muddy waters, leave at once." Hearing that, the woman sucked in a sharp breath of cold air and spun on her heel to leave without another word! There was no other reason—she had frequently had dealings with Mingchuan in the past. The only reason she knew of Li Guanqi was because Mingchuan had ceased to exist that very day. The remaining three men were utterly bewildered. Yet when their eyes fell upon the dying Cao Weiyi, their expressions shifted slightly! The attackers had stripped the old man naked, clearly intent on humiliating Cao Zhennan! Unless Li Guanqi and his companions died today, there was no way this matter could be laid to rest. By now, the other three Heavenly Kings were probably hiding in the dark, watching the show unfold. The three also hesitated over whether to leave. After all, their relationship with Cao Zhennan was based purely on mutual profit. The intruders had arrived with terrifying momentum; getting tangled up in this mess was not going to end well! The three exchanged glances, each seeing the reservations deep in the others' eyes. Just as they were about to voice their farewells, Cao Zhennan gritted his teeth and whispered something to them. The look in the trio's eyes shifted gradually from disbelief to sheer greed. *Boom! Boom! Boom!* In an instant, the three unleashed terrifying pressure, choosing to stay after all. Li Guanqi looked on impassively and said, "Since you're staying... you can leave your lives behind as well!" The moment his words landed, three more pitch-black spatial rifts tore open behind Cao Zhennan! "*Hiss*... Cao Zhennan called for reinforcements! One wonders what price he had to pay!" "Seven great Void Refinement masters! Cao Zhennan truly possesses formidable means!" "Tsk, I think the other side isn't worried in the slightest. The strength of these youths is absurdly terrifying!" Li Guanqi sneered coldly. "No more?" Cao Zhennan mocked him, "Seven in the Void Refining Realm are more than enough to slaughter you!" Li Guanqi lightly flicked his wrists. Red Lotus and Yanluo released a chorus of clear sword cries. Fierce, razor-sharp sword energy sliced through the void. Li Guanqi's aura erupted as he spoke in a bone-chilling voice. "Didn't you ask what my purpose here was?" "Then let me tell you..." "To collect a debt!" *Boom!* Cao Zhennan burst into wild laughter. Tearing open the void with a swipe of his hand, he dragged out a figure whose breath hung by a thread! A young man hung suspended in midair, his hands tightly bound. His entire body was drenched in blood. His skin had been meticulously flayed away with small knives. His clothes hung in bloody rags, and all four limbs had been snapped, pale white bone puncturing through mangled flesh. A bloody cavity was gouged into his dantian. His eyelids had been brutally torn away, leaving his bloodshot eyeballs swollen with bruised congestion. The spiritual root that had once belonged to Cao Yan had been ripped from him through the most vicious, sadistic methods imaginable. Cao Zhennan glared at Li Guanqi with a grotesque, twisted snarl, roaring like a madman, "You want to talk about cruelty?! Everything you do is what I've already tossed aside! "If you dare touch my father today, I will kill him!" *Boom!* Ghostly qi surged wildly around Ye Feng's arm. "Big Head!" As if hearing Ye Feng's voice, the frail youth gathered every ounce of strength remaining in him to slowly raise his head. Through his blurred vision, he could only make out two indistinct figures. All the grief and grievance bottled up within Cao Yan's heart seemed to burst free in that single instant. In a voice raspy beyond recognition, he whispered in faint murmurs, "Eld...est Brother... Se...cond... Brother..." Seeing the youth before him tortured beyond human recognition, blood vessels instantly spiderwebbed across Li Guanqi's eyes. Li Guanqi slowly closed his eyes. His chest rose and fell in shallow breaths as he whispered through clenched teeth, "Kill them all!" *Boom!*