Lin Yi didn't stop his movements.
In the stunned silence of the crowd, the youth in white suddenly leaped up. His hands closed around the falling great hammers.
He heaved them backward with impossible force—then, as if the weapons were extensions of his own limbs, he swung them with all that momentum and drove them straight down at Li Yuanxiao.
Li Yuanxiao's pupils constricted, panic flashing across his face. One thought erupted in his mind:
Run!
Thud!
But before he could scramble clear, the hammers came down. The earth shuddered violently; stones exploded outward in a spray of dust and rubble.
In that choking cloud of debris, Li Yuanxiao's body detonated—flesh and shards of bone tearing outward in every direction. He was gone; the life snuffed from him in an instant.
[Killed a Meridian Clearing Realm cultivator. Violence Points +600.][Violence Points: 10,000.]
The square fell into a dead, hollow silence. Everyone stared at the white-clad figure, hearts hammered and faces drained of color. Before this moment, no one had believed the scrawny-looking boy could be a match for a Meridian Clearing Realm fifth-layer commander like Li Yuanxiao. To dare challenge the City Guard Division was to invite death.
Yet in the span of a single move, the boy had crushed Li Yuanxiao to death.
Fang Yu and Fang Qiong stood frozen, eyes vacant, minds reeling. A fifth-layer Meridian Clearing Realm commander—reduced to nothing by this teenager.
Not far off, Commander Shen Lin's cold composure had vanished. His countenance went ghastly pale; sweat trickled from his temples. He and Li Yuanxiao had been nearly matched in strength. If Li Yuanxiao fell so easily, Shen Lin stood no chance against the youth either.
Fear gripped him.
Lin Yi's gaze drifted lazily in Shen Lin's direction. His tone was flat as winter air: "I said I'd kill anyone who stopped me."
He paused, then finished: "So you must die too."
Shen Lin felt as if he'd plunged into an ice cellar; his whole body convulsed. His voice trembled with dread: "You… you slaughter my City Guard! Aren't you afraid of our retaliation?"
Before he could finish, Lin Yi's figure blurred and was suddenly before him. Shen Lin had no time to react—Lin Yi's fingers had already plunged into his throat.
"Not afraid," Lin Yi said calmly.
He withdrew his bloody fingers, shook them once, and did not spare Shen Lin another glance. Cradling the wooden box, he strode into the city.
Seconds later, a dull thump sounded from behind.
Shen Lin's body collapsed to the ground. A ragged hole gaped at his throat, blood bubbling and spilling; his eyes stared wide and lifeless.
[Killed a Meridian Clearing Realm cultivator. Violence Points +600.][Violence Points: 10,600.]
By the time Lin Yi's figure vanished from view, the crowd seemed to draw its breath back as one. Bystanders slowly exhaled, trembling—their backs slick with cold sweat. No one in Qingfeng City had imagined anyone could openly execute the City Guard Division's officers.
Fang Yu let out a helpless sigh as Lin Yi's retreating silhouette faded. "If he's truly offended the City Guard completely…There won't be anywhere left in Qingfeng City for him to hide."
Fang Qiong's voice was small. "Brother—do you think he can survive this?"
Fang Yu shook his head. "Almost no chance." He fell silent for a moment, then explained, "Never mind the City Guard commander himself—the four grand commanders who oversee the East, West, South, and North garrisons are said to have already broken through to the Breath Condensing Realm. Even if this young man is strong, he's still only at the Meridian Clearing Realm. Against Condensing Realm power… there's no way to survive."
Fang Qiong hugged the three Crimson Jade Fruits in her robes and let out a resigned breath.
They could offer the Lin family no help. They were out of their depth.
"Wasting time—time to go to the Tang estate," Lin Yi murmured to himself after leaving the gate. He didn't loiter. After asking a passerby for directions, he headed straight for the Tang family mansion.
Not long after, he stopped some dozens of meters from the Tang compound and looked up at the sprawling estate—far grander than the Lin family's by several magnitudes. He smirked inwardly. The Tang family really knows how to eat well.
He walked toward the main gate. At that moment, two young women stepped out.
One was tall and composed; her eyes perpetually squinted, giving her a petulant, unapproachable air. The other was younger—bright-eyed and lively, her gaze like twinkling stars.
The taller girl was Tang Wan, daughter of the Third Elder Tang Qiu—one Lin Yi had already slain. The lively girl was Luo Luo, daughter of the top-tier Luo family of Qingfeng City.
Tang Wan sized him up and, seeing he wasn't a recognizable scion of the city's great houses, lifted her chin in haughty disdain.
"Who are you? What business have you at the Tang estate?" she demanded.
Lin Yi cut straight to the point. "I suffered some wrongs at the hands of your clansmen. I came to the Tang house for an accounting."
Tang Wan's eyes flickered with surprise—then turned icier with contempt. So he's just some insignificant brat from a smaller family, come to make demands. How laughable.
"You say the Tang family wronged you, and now you come to demand justice?" Tang Wan mocked. "You poor little thing."
Her expression soured further, venom in her tone. "What can you even do to the Tang family? You come to our gate to make a fuss—who do you think you are?"
The girl sneered, seeing only a boy who hadn't even come of age—foolish enough to stand before the Tang household and demand recompense. She expected nothing but humiliation for him.