"Boom."
The void shook. Power tore out in a straight line, dragging an invisible tide across the air. The nine Great Qin Imperial Guards who had just burst from the gate with halberds raised stiffened at the same time. Their pupils shrank to pinpoints. In the next breath, crimson fog scattered like torn silk above the stone road.
Nine Grand Sea Realm guards, erased in a heartbeat.
A hiss rose from ten thousand throats. Even those who had been whispering a moment ago forgot to breathe. The invisible weight that pressed down from the sky grew several times heavier, as if the city itself had sunk by a few inches.
"All beneath Soul Transformation are ants," someone muttered in a dry voice. "The ancients did not deceive us."
The old man from the Gu Clan of Fengzhou lowered his sleeve, eyes like cold stars. He did not even look at the drifting blood mist. In his view, this was not slaughter, merely the correction of a tone.
What he had unleashed was not a palm or a sword. It was pure intent. One word. Destroy.
Qin Wucheng watched from the side of the road, hands behind his back, expression calm. The white robe fluttered a little. In his heart he sighed. So early and already killing. He glanced at Wang Ming. The guard's eyes were half lidded, neither anger nor joy within. If the Sect Master spoke, one finger would be enough.
Fear ran outward like ripples. The casual cultivators closest to the city wall staggered back, faces pale. Some who were only at Qi Gathering fell to their knees, clutching their chests, sweat running in lines. Even among the envoys of the overlord clans from other states, several Soul Transformation experts frowned.
"What is he doing?" a Yunzhou envoy said in disbelief. "We came to shake face, not to provoke war."
A Yuezhou elder's mouth twitched. "Does the Gu Clan want to die on Qin's doorstep?"
On the warship of the Sky Martial Dynasty, Yang Shan held his breath and then slowly let it go. Beside him, the young man in a black gold python robe leaned in his seat, eyes half closed, cold light at the bottom of the pupils. Jiang Taixu's voice was very faint.
"Clumsy."
He had wanted to suppress Great Qin's spirit, not break the dam in one stroke. Once you crossed this line, you had to be prepared to pay in blood. The auction had not yet opened and already people had died. The direction of the wind changed with this moment.
The crowd was not stupid. They looked up at the shattered mist and then at the unmoving gates and understood at once. It would not end like this.
"It's over."
"They will strike back."
"Run, run, I still want to see the auction, I do not want to be crushed by stray waves."
Nervous laughter broke and died. Even the ambient spiritual light around the walls seemed to dim, as if waiting for a roar from the depths.
The roar came.
It did not come from one place. It rose from every brick and every pillar of the ancient city, like a massive beast opening its eyes. A dozen auras, two dozen, more, stacked one atop another, neat as formation plates. Each breath was steady. Each was at least Grand Sea Realm. The ground trembled very slightly, dust shaking from the carved reliefs on the gate towers.
"Fengzhou Gu Clan, how brave."
The voice fell and the sky turned gold.
A man walked out of light. He wore dragon scale armor that reflected the sun in sheets. His eyebrows were like blades. He did not shout. He only lowered his hand and the air grew heavy at once, as if a mountain had leaned forward.
"Hiss. That is the Great Qin Guard Commander, Zhang Han."
Someone recognized him and forgot to speak softly. The name ran along the crowd like fire along dry grass.
The old man of the Gu Clan stiffened. He lifted his head, felt that oppressive tide, and the blood in his chest sank at once. The difference of two sub-realms within Soul Transformation was a cliff. He was at seventh level. The man before him was at Ninth Heaven. Between them, there was no crossing.
Zhang Han's eyes were very cold. He looked up once at the broken red above the city road. He did not scold. He did not sigh. He raised his palm.
Golden lines lit up on the armor and ran along the edges of his fingers. A dragon figure coiled on the back of his hand as if alive. The palm pressed down very slowly. The sky answered.
"Kneel."
It was not spoken to a man. It was spoken to a state's arrogance.
The Gu Clan's warship groaned. The runes along its hull flared and went dark one after another like lamps going out in a storm. The deck boards arched, nails popping up and then flattening under the pressure. The few Gu disciples standing near the rail felt their souls twist and could not even cry out.
Gu Yanshan tried to stand straight and found his knees bent at once. Bones creaked. He gathered his Soul Transformation power like a man cupping water in both hands. It leaked through his fingers. His mouth opened.
"Commander Zhang, this old man was reckless. I…"
"Your arrogance ends here."
The golden palm fell.
Boom.
It did not feel like force. It felt like law. The warship's silhouette collapsed into a sphere and then into a line. It did not smash into the ground. It ceased returning sound. Where the Gu Elder had stood there was only a smear of light like the remaining shadow burned onto white silk.
Silence again. This time the silence was heavy and did not move for a long time.
Zhang Han withdrew his hand. The gold around his armor dimmed, but the lines of runes still flickered faintly, like breathing. He stood alone above the gate. He did not chase a second palm. He did not look around to count heads. He said, very evenly, "The Great Qin Dynasty cannot be insulted. If any of you dare provoke my Great Qin again, even if you are overlords of a state, Great Qin will erase you."
No one laughed.
In the face of that Ninth Heaven aura, even those who had brought Soul Transformation experts as escorts tasted bitterness under their tongues. The crowd swallowed. The high decks fell quiet. On the Sky Martial warship, Yang Shan's expression was respectful. He knew what a Ninth Heaven meant in this land. Jiang Taixu had no expression at all. Only the corner of his mouth lifted a fraction, like a man putting a note aside to read later.
The first to step out was an elder in a blue robe from Yuezhou. He bowed deeply, voice smooth. "Commander Zhang, you misunderstand. Elder Gu acted suddenly. We did not know. We would not dare offend Great Qin."
A man with a whisk from the Liu Family followed at once. "Yes, yes. Our clans came for the auction. How would we dare to provoke your city. It is truly an accident. Gu Yanshan was too impulsive. We were shocked as well."
Several more spoke over each other, eager to cut clean. "We will obey Qin's arrangements." "We only seek to present ourselves at the Primordial Commerce Pavilion." "Our juniors are foolish. Please forgive the noise at the gate."
They had to bow. This was Qin's capital. It was not their own base camp. Fengzhou had more than one overlord, but Huangzhou had more than one as well. In Qingzhou there was only Great Qin. The more one thought, the more one understood the mistake.
Yang Shan cupped his fist. "Commander Zhang, the Crown Prince of Sky Martial bears no hostility to Great Qin. Elder Gu overstepped. This matter has nothing to do with my dynasty."
He spoke carefully. His eyes did not move toward Jiang Taixu.
Jiang Taixu smiled faintly and finally looked up at Zhang Han. "Commander's strength is worthy of respect."
There was no fear in his tone. It did not need fear. Respect could be real and still at a distance.
Zhang Han's gaze slid across them like a blade across cold water and did not stop. "If there is a next time, there will not be a next time."
The golden spirit haze around the walls lowered slightly, the oppressive weight relaxing by a thread. The lines of light along the gatehouse dimmed. The breath that had been gathered within the city receded again, like a great beast turning and lying down to sleep with one eye open.
People exhaled. Only then did they realize that at some point their backs had soaked with sweat.
Someone whispered, almost reverent, "Qin is still Qin."
Beside Qin Wucheng, Luo Jingtao's fists had clenched and loosened without realizing it. He did not speak. He only looked up at that figure in dragon armor and then glanced sideways toward the white robe in his own field. His heart steadied for no reason.
Qin Wucheng's gaze did not change. He had not moved since the first word shattered the nine guards. He had not smiled when gold crushed the warship. He only kept his hands behind his back and watched the dust in the light. In his mind a very unimportant thought walked by. The Primordial Commerce Pavilion's security formation would be interesting.
Around the ruined air where the Gu Clan had been, talk rose again like insects after rain. Panic drained out of expressions and turned into polite smiles and strolling gestures, as if everyone had only paused to admire a performer's trick. The tone shifted so quickly it made one's teeth itch.
"Commander Zhang, we truly dare not."
"Commander Zhang, Gu Yanshan has himself to blame."
"We are here to buy, not to make enemies."
"Yes, that is right."
The men in the gatehouse did not answer. The Great Qin Imperial Guards who still stood on the wall kept their halberds straight. Below, the blood at the foot of the stone had already been washed away by a pass of golden light. No trace remained. Only the scorched smell in the air told what had occurred.
No one mentioned the nine Grand Sea Guards again. This was how the world was. If you were high enough, you did not need to explain. If you were low enough, there was nothing to say.
On the Sky Martial warship, Jiang Taixu looked once at the sigil on Lingxiao's spirit ship and then folded his eyes. Yang Shan did not know what he was thinking. He did not ask. He knew better than to ask.
Several overlord envoys who had been holding back their pressure drew it in properly now, faces composed. The Han elder smiled at someone across the way. The Liu elder adjusted his whisk. The Fengzhou vessel that had flown in behind the Gu Clan turned its prow away by a few degrees.
From somewhere within the ancient city, a deep bell tone rolled out and dispersed, long and even. It was not loud. It reached every ear. It said nothing more than time.
No one moved toward the gates yet. They all turned once more to Zhang Han in the sky. He had put his hand down. He did not look at any of them again. He turned, stepped forward, and his figure fell back into the golden lines of the wall and vanished.
The cold wind outside the city blew once. Cloaks shifted. Someone laughed twice too loudly to cover a tremor and then sighed with relief as if nothing had happened.
"Commander Zhang misunderstood. Gu Yanshan acted alone. We were also confused."
"Yes, yes, we will certainly keep order."
"We are here to participate in the auction. How would we dare provoke Great Qin."
"Yes, that is right."
Their words piled up, each trying to ride the last, each one like a foot searching for stone in the dark.