Fear

Silver saddle shining on a white steed, dashing swift as a shooting star. Killing a man every ten paces, leaving no trace across a thousand li. At this moment, whether it was Jiang Sheng, Lü Jianfeng, Li Cunyu, Xu Dengfeng, and Yue Xingzhou, or Liao Shanhe and Liao Ming, these verses flashed through all their minds at once. Smooth as floating clouds and flowing water! Unstoppable as splitting bamboo! Dashing and valiant! Facing two great Martial Saints, fighting one against two, he had actually slaughtered them both in the span of a spark, with such overwhelming force! Though the clash had seemed perilous, his fearless determination to charge straight ahead spoke volumes of Yaoguang's absolute confidence in his own strength! Such power! Such boldness! Such presence! And all of this was embodied in a nineteen-year-old youth. Blended together, it made everyone feel as though they were watching a rising sun vaulting into the clouds at blinding speed, casting tens of thousands of rays across the heavens, showering boundless light and searing heat into every corner of the world. The light he became would illuminate the world. *** Having killed Liao Zhenguo, Yaoguang withdrew his sword without the slightest hesitation, spun around in an instant, and charged toward Liao Shanhe. The chilling killing intent rolling toward him struck right to the bone, snapping the equally stunned Liao Shanhe awake. Just now... A Martial Saint of their Liao family had died! The very foundation that intimidated the surrounding lands and maintained their rule over the Kingdom of Dayu! Yet now was no time for grief or shock. Seeing Yaoguang charging with sword in hand, Liao Shanhe retreated frantically while barking orders at those around him: "Stop him! Stop him!" Those who resided in the Liao family's royal palace were fiercely loyal. Immediately, several Grandmasters and more than a dozen fully armored Martial Masters charged out. Yet before they could intercept Yaoguang, Lü Jianfeng, Jiang Sheng, Yue Xingzhou, and the other nine Grandmasters had already reacted, boldly surging forward to meet this elite force head-on. "Lü Jianfeng, Jiang Sheng! This boy is too dangerous to be left alive! If you kill me, you will spend the rest of your lives under his shadow!" Liao Shanhe bellowed as he retreated violently. However... The fully armed Lü Jianfeng, Jiang Sheng, and the others did not say a word in reply. It was one thing for Liao Shanhe to recognize them; whether they acknowledged it was another matter entirely. The nine Grandmasters went all out, colliding head-on with this elite force and the royal experts who arrived immediately after. Flashes of blades, shadows of swords, the roar of gunfire, and screams of agony instantly converged! Yet none of this slowed Yaoguang's striding advance. Sprinting at full speed, he crossed the gap of less than a hundred meters between him and Liao Shanhe in mere seconds. However, just as Yaoguang chased him into the building, Liao Shanhe bolted toward the opposite side. On the second floor inside, a set of double doors was thrown open, and a heavy pedestal-mounted Gatling machine gun—or rather, an autocannon—was quickly wheeled out. A burly man gripped the controls, aiming the barrels straight at the pursuing Yaoguang. "Fire!" Almost simultaneously, Liao Shanhe's voice rang out. *Whoosh!* In that split second, Yaoguang struck with his sword. A strike through the air. The tip of his blade pointed directly at the burly man operating the machine gun. Yet more than twenty meters separated them. No matter how powerful a Martial Saint was, none could strike a target dead across twenty meters of empty air. There wouldn't even be time to hurl the sword. To any onlooker, it looked like a futile, dying struggle. Yet this strike through empty air—which seemed incapable of harming anyone in Liao Shanhe's eyes—appeared to the Martial Master operating the heavy machine gun as a ray of sword light tearing through the void, hurtling toward him with a blazing, terrifying sharpness. "Ah!" Overwhelmed by a trembling terror welling up from the depths of his soul, he could not help but let out an uncontrollable shriek. The next instant... The scream abruptly ceased. The completely unharmed Martial Master collapsed backward. He crashed against the floor. Though not dead, his cognitive functions had practically ground to a halt. Such a method... "Spirit intent! Spirit intent! That's spirit intent!" Liao Shanhe's eyes widened, filled with disbelief. What that thrust had unleashed was neither sword astral nor sword qi, but spirit intent poured into the sword and detonated through the amplification of swordsmanship, forming sword intent that could strike down the soul itself. Transforming spirit intent into sword intent to kill a Martial Master twenty meters away with a single thrust?! That was a practically flawless application of spirit intent! Yaoguang had previously displayed Martial Saint might, fighting one against two to destroy Liao Zhenguo, the pillar of the Liao family, as well as Bian Liancheng, who was fiercely loyal to them. That had already made Liao Shanhe feel as if heaven and earth were collapsing. And now... He had actually demonstrated a technique of spirit intent that only a Divine Realm Martial Saint could perform! This... "How is that possible?!" *Whoosh!* Just as the Liao family patriarch felt his understanding of the world was about to shatter, a whistling sound cut through the air. The moment he heard it, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a faint silhouette. Yet the silhouette was so concealed, so transparent, that he could not track it accurately at all. Driven purely by a survival instinct, he twisted his body violently. Halfway through the turn, he felt as though a bullet had struck his waist. Even though he wore an undersuit that combined comfort, breathability, softness, bulletproofing, and fireproofing into one, an unprecedented pain surged through his entire body like an electric current. Spurred by that electrifying agony, he suddenly realized... He had lost all sensation in his lower body. Only then did he see a short sword, practically transparent at first glance, piercing through his waist, having ruthlessly and precisely severed his spinal cord. The Chengying Sword. This strike... had been aimed at his heart. Yet even as it flew toward his vital heart, it seemed to have anticipated every possible angle of evasion, sealing off all room to dodge. As a result, though he had dodged swiftly enough to keep the sword from piercing his heart, he still could not escape the fate of being struck in a vital spot. With his spinal cord severed, his twisting body lost all control and collapsed involuntarily to the floor. *Thud.* Liao Shanhe looked up in horror, only to see Yaoguang step forward, appearing right before him. "So, you fear the Rebirth Society, but you don't fear me?" His voice rang out at the same time. Liao Shanhe's pupils shrank. Before Zhao Sheng died, the Liao family could claim ignorance, but by killing Zhao Sheng, Yaoguang had already demonstrated his strength... Was he afraid? Of a nineteen-year-old Martial Saint?! Even... a Spirit Intent Martial Saint?! He was afraid. Yet the Rebirth Society... was even more terrifying. "You... you cannot kill me! Once you kill me, Dayu's peace will shatter, and the country will inevitably plunge into civil war! Countless people will lose their homes and their lives because of you..." He spoke rapidly. "Perhaps you overestimate the weight of your Liao family." Yaoguang expressionlessly raised the Shenying Sword in his hand. Seeing the resolve in Yaoguang's eyes, Liao Shanhe finally fell into despair. Why?! Why had it come to this?! To avoid offending the Rebirth Society, their Liao family had compromised time and again, humbling themselves and turning a blind eye to everything they did. Why had they still ended up like this? "I refuse to accept this! I can't accept this!" Liao Shanhe glared at Yaoguang, madness creeping into his eyes. "You think you can defeat the Rebirth Society? You are driving Dayu onto a path of destruction! You have no idea what terrifying existences you are defying! Hahaha... I will die, but you... you will die too! Everyone will die! Let it be destroyed, hahaha, destroy everything..." *Squelch!* The raised Shenying Sword plunged down in an instant, piercing straight through Liao Shanhe's skull. The mad shouting abruptly ceased. "I will see for myself." Yaoguang withdrew his sword, retrieved the Soul-Capturing Orb, and drew the residual soul of the Liao family patriarch inside. In theory, Liao Zhenguo would have known more. Because he was a Martial Saint. For top-tier factions, when it came to major conferences, an attendee's ability was secondary; status was what mattered. If your status was insufficient, they wouldn't bother speaking to you. And this so-called status had nothing to do with what post you held or what bloodline you carried; it depended entirely on strength. Or rather... life rank! In a Martial Saint-level conference, even the highest-ranking Grandmaster had no right to participate. Even if that Martial Saint was merely a cultivation fanatic who knew nothing of worldly affairs. However, the Liao family was relatively unified. Liao Zhenguo generally informed Liao Shanhe, as the family head, of whatever news he learned. Therefore, obtaining information from Liao Shanhe's soul fragments would not yield significantly worse results. *Tap, tap, tap!* Hurried footsteps approached. Lü Jianfeng, Jiang Sheng, and the others soon rushed inside. When they saw Liao Shanhe's corpse, they all froze for a moment. Even though they knew that with Liao Zhenguo and Bian Liancheng dead, the Liao family's cause was lost, those two Martial Saints... had still felt somewhat distant to them. Liao Shanhe, on the other hand, was the one they had dealt with and spoken to the most. Seeing him dead here, a feeling of melancholy welled up in their hearts. Who could have thought that the direct cause behind the downfall of the great Dayu royal family was not being overthrown over governing issues, but offending a mere nineteen-year-old youth? "All right, now is not the time to relax. Continue clearing out the remnants," Yaoguang said. At the same time, he turned to Jiang Sheng. "Where is Kong Fang?" "According to our intel, he is leading men toward the palace... seemingly coming to reinforce them..." Jiang Sheng paused, then continued, "Your Excellency Yaoguang, you killed Liao Zhenguo and Bian Liancheng too quickly. He probably still thinks the outcome is undecided and hopes to turn the tide." Yaoguang nodded. As a Martial Saint, it was natural to think that way. Especially in small and mid-sized nations, there were many historical precedents of a single Martial Saint turning the tide during internal coups. "I will go handle him, so he doesn't become a lingering threat," Yaoguang said. Then, thinking of something, he turned to Yue Xingzhou. "Take inventory of the palace. The rest of you, surround and eliminate the remaining core members of the royal family." Yue Xingzhou, Jiang Sheng, Lü Jianfeng, and the others nodded in unison. They had no objection whatsoever to Yaoguang having Yue Xingzhou take inventory of the palace's spoils. Yaoguang had just taken on two opponents at once, slaying two great Martial Saints with crushing ease. His terrifying might had thoroughly subdued these Grandmasters. More importantly... he was only nineteen! At nineteen, he already possessed such power. How far would he grow in the future?! The royal family's vaults certainly held many treasures, but offending such an incomparably promising, monstrous genius—someone far more terrifying than the Liao family—for the sake of material gain would be sheer folly. "Leave it to us." "We can't trouble Your Excellency Yaoguang to handle everything personally. Mopping up a few remnants is well within our abilities." "Rest assured, Your Excellency Yaoguang. We have already deployed men in ambushes at key positions. The Liao family members won't escape." Lü Jianfeng, Jiang Sheng, and the others spoke up one after another. Yaoguang nodded and walked out the door.