More than a dozen names from the Combat Power List circled him, each body radiating oppressive might. These were the hidden heavy hitters the top three families had kept for moments like this—single figures capable of leveling a city when unleashed. One by one they revealed their trump cards. Today they had only one goal: kill Chen Xiao. They had one shot.
Energy pillars shot into the sky, blinding and tall. The congratulatory guests at the edge of the hall shrank back, whispering frantic counsel.
"No matter how strong he is, he can't take ten alone, right? Those faces are all familiar.""Keep low, everyone—get under the tables!""These people… are monsters.""Ninth, tenth, thirteenth on the list… fourteen of them in total."A full complement of top-ranked killers. If they cooperated, they could crush a city.
They charged like a storm.
"Die!"
A razor-sharp phantom blade coalesced out of nothing—a cold, lethal edge that promised to cut through anything. It screamed toward Chen Xiao.
He didn't flinch. He kept that same calm, faint smile.
"Hum—"
A low, resonant pulse split the air. Just as the blade reached him, ripples of water radiated from Chen Xiao in concentric circles, neutralizing the edge as if it had hit a surf. The blade collapsed into nothing.
Wang Chaoyang's face drained of color. With [Frog Slaughter] and [Hiding] he was the city's top assassin—he had never been stopped like this. The monster in front of him hadn't even moved, and still he'd been countered. Panic clawed at Wang's chest; the instinct to run flared up.
The watery ripples tightened, snapping into an invisible death-vortex—an interlaced, tenacious web that wrapped around Wang Chaoyang's calf. Then the vortex pulled with animal ferocity. A tearing, sickening sound filled the night as Wang's leg was wrenched away. He fell, shrieking, thigh in hand, blood spattering the stone.
Chen Xiao didn't finish him; more attacks came from all sides like a hail of blades.
"All Things Water!" "Eight-Directional Annihilation!"
Chen Xiao didn't hesitate. He triggered his team-battle weapon. Space itself began to tear—"zi zi," a sound like fabric ripping—and cyan-blue energy fountains burst upward like cold, divine fireworks.
"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!"
Divine-light shards slammed into the tearing field. They detonated against it, breaking apart one after another. But not all fragments were halted. Sharp lights punched through with ear-splitting whistles and the wet ripping of flesh. Blood fog bloomed and spread, staining half the sky red.
[Eight-Directional Annihilation]—activated again.
"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!"
Wave after wave detonated. Agonized screams filled the air. Blood rained down in a gruesome curtain. When the noise died, none of the attackers remained standing. Not one. Chen Xiao had not so much as shifted his feet.
"It's unreal.""He didn't move—and they all died?""He's a cultivator, not an awakener—what did I wake into? Have I transmigrated into a fantasy novel?!"
Under the tables, people stared with terror. Above them, the crimson fog drifted, and Yang Yueru's face caught splatters of blood as she stared, unbelieving.
"You… are Chen Xiao?" she whispered. "The Tang girl's lover?""Do you know what you're doing? We're the top three families—we are the overlords of this apocalypse—"
"Yueru! That's enough!" Old Master Yang barked, grip tightening. He was suddenly, very tired. How had his juniors been so arrogant as to provoke this demon? The killing had already begun—and yet they'd still pressed the attack.
Chen Xiao's mouth twitched. He stepped down on the wind's ripples and descended toward Tang Shirou with deliberate slowness.
Tang Shirou's tears had soaked her face. Her lips parted, fragile and trembling—beautiful even in ruin. Chen Xiao… hadn't died. For a moment she thought she'd lost her mind.
"I said I'd save you." His voice was soft, low. "Now I am here."
Water surged from his arms like an inverted river torn from the sky. In an instant it became a gigantic, brutal hand that seized Yang Yueru by the throat, yanked her forward, and slammed her to the ground.
"What do you think you're doing!" Yang Yueru screamed. "I'm Yang family—do you know who I am? You can't touch me!"
Arrogance had been her habit; submission was not in her vocabulary. Chen Xiao's intention, however, was simple: teach her to bow.
A long, narrow blade of water condensed in his palm, cool and deadly.
"How dare you treat me like this?" he asked, voice thin and cold.