"Little thief, do you really think you're invincible?"
"The majesty of the top three families isn't something you get to provoke!"
The speaker was Liu Yue — loud, brazen, reverent toward the aristocracy. If not for the apocalypse, he'd never have had such brazen backing. Now, he finally had his moment to show off.
Before he could finish, an ominous pressure wrapped him like ice. Space around him cracked — and in an instant the air shredded into countless razor-shards.
[Eight-Directional Annihilation].
"Puchi!"
Liu Yue was impaled where he stood, the space-shards collapsing him into a heap. Dead — instant, absolute.
Li Yunqi snorted coldly. "Let's see who you are," he said, eyeing the newcomer with a challenge. He triggered his own technique — [Carp Becomes Dragon] — and surged forward, magic roaring around him. He was about to strike when Old Master Li grabbed his sleeve.
"Yunqi, don't be impulsive — wait!"
"Wait? Are you kidding me?" Li Yunqi spat.
A cold gaze fixed on him like a winter blade. Fear rolled up from somewhere deep and made his limbs heavy. Then another cyan-blue halberd sliced the sky like a falling star — blinding, merciless — and it stabbed straight at Li Yunqi.
"Zekai, save my grandson!" Old Master Li screamed.
Jun Zekai — a hidden powerhouse ranked fifth on the Capital Combat Power List — reacted instantly. SSS-rank talent [Majestic Bear Form], a living fortress of defense. He leapt to block.
The halberd kept coming, unstoppable. It pierced Li Yunqi — then Jun Zekai — and hammered them both into the stone. "Boom!" Dust filled the air. When it settled, the two young lions lay pinned beside Li Taixuan's fallen form — a double kill that froze the crowd.
"My grandson! My grandson!" Old Master Li staggered, eyes wide with grief. Across the city wall, the cyan-blue halberds gleamed like executioners; the old man couldn't imagine such a force existing in the world. Far worse than any monster—this was annihilation directed at people.
"How is this possible? That's the Li family's young master!" someone muttered. "Fifth and sixth on the combat list… killed by a single halberd?"
"Who is that man?"
The crowd's minds spun. This was supposed to be the Yang family's grand wedding — not a massacre. Old Master Zhang crouched behind Zhang Yinbai and whispered a prayer; the Zhangs had not openly offended the one who'd descended. But in a past life they had tangled with him — and Zhang knew vengeance didn't stop at one lifetime.
Jiang Yunhan lay in Jiang Chuxue's arms and watched, disbelief and awe warping his voice. Even he couldn't reconcile how fast things had escalated. Li Taixuan's blade had nearly killed him — and now stronger forces felled those who stood against this newcomer in a breath.
The Little Monk sighed: "For the world's sake, my strength is small. We can only rely on Chen Xiao."
Dashan patted Chen Changqing's shoulder. "Uncle, Brother Xiao is incredible."
Chen Changqing's eyes were wet as he nodded.
Old Master Li, furious and desperate, barked the command: "Firepower coverage!" He tried to rally the defenses, but Old Master Yang only shook his head.
"It's over… all over," Yang said. "He has no weakness."
"Now he can even fly!" Old Master Li ground his teeth. His grandson and Jun Zekai were dead — his cards were gone. He exhaled, voice raw. "Li Yichen — strike!"
Li Yichen — the Li family's hidden ace — stepped forward. He'd never been on the list, but Old Master Li had always insisted he matched any supreme shield. If someone could halt a god of slaughter, it would be Li Yichen.
But space itself bent against him. Divine sword-phantoms formed inch by inch, filling the air with a terrible chorus. [All Things Water] + [Eight-Directional Annihilation] — the combination dropped like a heavenly curtain. A blinding cascade of light engulfed Li Yichen.
"Die!"
He was torn apart in an instant. Old Master Li's hands shook to the point of uselessness. He stared at the distant wall where cyan-blue spears still stood, unable to process that someone could erase Li Yichen in the blink of an eye.
Chen Xiao had taken four lives in quick succession, moving as though he strolled through clouds. He hovered above the stage, a true god descending. Beneath him, the assembled figures onstage trembled.
"He's one of yours… Li Shangyan." Old Master Li's face drained. How did the man know his name?
"Chen Xiao — we mean no offense—" began Li Shangyan, but he never finished. Chen Xiao blinked out of sight. One heartbeat later, a shadow of a fist loomed at Li Shangyan's throat.
No scream. No time. Chen Xiao's fist smashed through him. Blood and bone scattered. Li Shangyan — the Li family's head, a man who had dominated the capital for decades — was dead in a single, brutal strike.
"This… he's a ruthless monster!" someone cried. "Old Master Li, killed by a single punch? That's him — the head who's ruled this city for thirty years!"
"He intends to take the top three families to the grave," another whispered. "Who is he? Powerful and—oddly—so damn handsome."
"Don't get distracted. His power is perverse."
Offstage, those who had once sat tall on the combat list staggered backward. The god of slaughter killed without hesitation. Chen Xiao reappeared in the air, hands still stained with blood, expression cold and detached — as if the carnage were someone else's problem.
Panic rippled. Retreat was impossible; with Old Master Li dead, the capital's power map would redraw itself on the spot.
"Together! Don't give him a moment's breath!" someone shouted.
From the crowd, a brown-clad figure stepped forward — thin, unassuming, aura like a shadow. If he didn't reveal himself first, no one would have noticed the hidden expert in the throng.
Wang Chaoyang — ranked ninth on the Capital Combat Power List. SSS-rank talent [Frog Slaughter], A-rank talent [Hiding] — the city's true assassination king. For a heartbeat, he mirrored Chen Xiao's vanishing act and disappeared into thin air.