It was Sheng Qi—whose ferocity everyone had just witnessed—yet before Goku he'd been felled with a single flick. The chill that swept the ranks was bone-deep; helplessness flooded every face.
"Number One under Heaven… not an empty title after all."
Even Li Si felt cold sweat soak his back. To make such an enemy was disaster itself.
"Was His Majesty's decision truly wise?" Doubt flickered—then hardened. "If such a man cannot be used by Qin… he must be removed."
....
"What kind of monster walks this earth…"
Sheng Qi staggered upright, his gaze on Goku raw with shock. The fighting spirit and arrogance were gone. A single finger had crushed his confidence; he couldn't withstand even that.
"They say the Sword God can sweep the realm alone. I thought it boasting. Today I see it for what it is." Fu Nian exhaled, shaken. Even he had no certainty facing Sheng Qi—yet that man had not lasted a tap. Such strength could overturn the world's balance.
"So this is what 'Number One' looks like…" Shi Lan stared, composure wavering. The way Goku had ended the fight was too unreal.
"You're Li Si, aren't you?" Goku looked up the steps, voice mild.
"I am. Your legend precedes you. To meet you in person—Li Si counts it a great fortune." His tone was calm. With tens of thousands of soldiers and siege bows, he believed he could at least survive this meeting.
"Burning books and burying scholars… and you dared to carry it out. Let them go—and I'll spare your life." Goku's gaze slid to the Confucian disciples, most already buried to the chest, and his voice cooled.
"This is His Majesty's order. I cannot comply. If you wish to save them, do it by your own skill." Li Si's eyes were steady. "They say you alone can topple Great Qin. Today, let me see whether rumor is truth."
"Is that so…"
The insolent poise in an ordinary man's voice irked Goku. In a blur, his palm cracked across Li Si's cheek.
Smack.
The Chancellor spun through the air and smashed into a stone wall, then tumbled headlong down the steps.
"Lord Chancellor!" Guards scrambled to him, hauling his scraped, dazed body upright. Around them, blades came free with a hiss.
Li Si's head rang; rage roared up. He, the Chancellor of Qin—one beneath the Emperor and above all others—had been slapped from the dais before his own men.
"Loose! Loose, damn you! Kill them!" he screamed, temper snapping.
In an instant, tens of thousands of arrows swarmed the sky and shrieked toward Goku.
"Ants," Goku said, bored. "I'm done playing."
He lifted a sleeve. A silent wave rippled outward and froze the sky; the storm of arrows hung motionless—then, before the watching eyes could blink, thinned and vanished, as if time itself had eaten them.
Goku glanced at the aghast Chancellor. "You wished to witness my strength? Don't blink."
He tapped a toe to the earth.
The world lurched.
Even Fu Nian and the other top masters pitched sprawling as the ground convulsed. Cries split the air.
That was only the beginning. Buildings cracked and folded. Flagstones yawned open. A bottomless rift tore across the estate like a black maw that could swallow all things. One glance into that depth chilled the marrow.
Qin soldiers slid, stumbled—and fell. Screams ripped away into the dark.
Xiao Sheng Xianzhuang became fear itself.
"Help! I'm slipping—ahhh!"
"He's not human—he's a demon! Help!"
"Let me go! I—I quit the army—ahhh!"
"Please! Mercy! I'll do anything—just—"
Tens of thousands buckled at once; even the firmest spirits cracked before such a truth.
"How… can this be?" Li Si clutched a jut of rock, eyes wide with animal fear. The stone crumbled in his hand. Pupils shrinking, he rolled—helpless—over the lip and into the abyss.
'He's no… man…' was his last thought. 'Your Majesty, you were wrong. Great Qin… is finished.'
---
Gold radiance bloomed; iridescent mist flowered across the sky. A woman in rainbow robes stepped from the air itself—serene, impossibly beautiful: the Goddess, Ling yue.
She took in the ruin below, brow creasing, then shot Goku a look equal parts reproach and fondness. "Goku… you've gone too far."
"You said I could do as I pleased. Why stop me now?" he grumbled, flashing to her side.
"If I hadn't come, I'd have returned to find my world broken," she said, giving him a sidelong glare.
"Am I so terrible? I merely taught them a lesson." Goku's mouth quirked. "Consider yourself punished. I forgive you."
Color touched the Ling yue's cheeks before she mastered it. Forgive her? The nerve of him. Yet despite herself, a warm, strange flutter unfurled in her chest.
Held in Goku's arms above the void, Shi Lan flushed scarlet, heartbeat skittering; she had never been this close to any man. She longed to ask him to set her down—but Ling yue's presence humbled her into silence.
The three drifted to solid ground. Goku released Shi Lan; she let out a tiny breath, still pink to the ears.
All around, the surviving Qin soldiers crawled from rubble—and knelt, foreheads thumping the stones. Whatever pride they had left was dust; one stomp of this man's foot had torn the earth open. Only gods could do such things.
Gai Nie and the others arrived to find a broken estate, a fracture to the world's core, and Qin troops prostrate like worshipers. They sucked in the same sharp breath.
"What… happened here?" Tianming blurted, eyes round. It was too much to grasp.
"brother Goku… did you do this?" Dao Zhi asked, staring at the chasm. Could a man truly do such a thing?
Goku nodded to Shaoyu and the rest. "I'm going to stroll through Xianyang Palace. Be ready."
Before Shi Lan could react, he swept her into his arms and vanished into the sky.
Ling yue shook her head fondly. Skirts whispering, she rose wreathed in color and drifted away.
Leaderless, the Qin soldiers watched Goku disappear, stared at the gathering Mohists—then broke and ran, flinging away helms and shields as they fled the shattered Xiao Sheng Xianzhuang.
..
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