The two of them were in disarray.
Ye Hao glanced at the unfamiliar, formidable man who had appeared without warning. He lowered his voice and asked Ye Yu, "Yu'er, who is this?"
Ye Yu smiled faintly and replied, "He's one of us, Father. I'll explain later."
At that, Ye Hao decided not to probe further.
"I don't know this fellow Daoist's name or origin," Elder Liu said cautiously, adhering to the principle of knowing one's adversary before acting.
The man in black responded with contempt, spitting out eight words: "No name, no surname, no sect, no school."
A rogue cultivator!
The revelation made Elder Liu's expression shift. A rogue cultivator daring to act presumptuously before the Kaoshan Sect? The sheer audacity!
Elder Liu's demeanor turned haughty, his earlier caution evaporating. He addressed the man in black with condescension: "Fellow Daoist, I understand how difficult it is to cultivate alone. Don't meddle in others' affairs. You may be a Martial King, but you are still insignificant before the Kaoshan Sect. Leave now, and the Kaoshan Sect will consider taking you on as an ally."
His words dripped with scorn, as though he were offering charity. He clearly did not take the man in black, presumably a second-grade Martial King, seriously in the slightest.
After all, Elder Liu had assessed the man's aura. He had concluded that the man was not significantly stronger than himself, likely just a second-grade Martial King.
While Elder Liu was only a first-grade Martial King, he was at its peak, with one foot already in the second grade. He believed his superior martial arts from the Kaoshan Sect, far beyond anything a rogue cultivator could possess, would more than bridge the gap.
But the man in black scoffed. "A mere first-grade Martial King dares to raise his voice before me? And the Kaoshan Sect, it is beneath my notice."
The moment the words landed, Ye Yu gave a slight nod, and the man in black struck with his palm.
The strike carried pure spiritual energy, no sophisticated techniques, no martial flourishes, just a single straightforward palm.
Elder Liu felt a flicker of reassurance. As he had suspected, the strike was unembellished. But the overwhelming aura that accompanied it made his heart seize with dread.
The pressure from that palm alone drove members of the Wang and Liu families to their knees, vomiting blood. Some fainted outright, unable to bear the oppressive force.
Elder Liu, consumed with his own survival, had no attention to spare for them. He poured everything into his defense.
He channeled his spiritual energy and summoned a tortoise-shell barrier. This shield had saved his life countless times before, and he trusted it completely.
But his confidence crumbled almost instantly. The man in black's palm, seemingly light and casual, bore down on the shield as though countless mountains were pressing upon it.
In half a breath, Elder Liu's spiritual energy was spent and the tortoise shell shattered. The crushing force transferred directly onto him.
Blood burst from Elder Liu's mouth as he was hurled dozens of meters back, slamming into the ground before the City Lord's Mansion and carving a pit three meters deep. Dust billowed into the air, and the guards at the gate scattered in terror.
The outcome was decided in a single move.
Elder Liu had been utterly defeated, completely and without contest.
He lay in the pit, his earlier composure replaced by misery and despair. Blood dripped from his lips, his meridians shattered. He could not even lift his arms.
Confusion clouded his mind. How had his vaunted defense failed to stop an ordinary palm strike? He had faced second-grade Martial Kings before and managed to exchange several blows. Yet this defeat was unlike anything he had ever known. The man in black had used no martial arts, no advanced techniques, only raw power.
Despair settled over Elder Liu, and a crushing loneliness pressed down on him. He felt as though he had aged ten years in a single moment.
An invisible force yanked him from the pit and flung him down heavily before the Wang and Liu families. He spat another mouthful of black blood, his injuries worsening.
Wang Long and Liu Xi moved to help him up, but the oppressive aura radiating from the man in black froze them in place.
"I... I refuse to accept this..." Elder Liu choked out, his voice trembling with fear and despair.
"Kill him," Ye Yu said coldly.
The man in black advanced in silence, spiritual power gathering in his palm, ready to end it.
Feeling the killing intent descend on him, Elder Liu panicked. He did not want to die. He had assumed his survival was guaranteed, surely the man in black would hold back out of fear of the Kaoshan Sect's retribution.
He had planned to return to the sect and exact his revenge, summoning stronger members to annihilate this man and raze the City Lord's Mansion to the ground.
But the man in black had no intention of sparing him.
"No! No! No! This isn't how it's supposed to go!" Elder Liu screamed inside.
Abandoning all dignity, he mustered his remaining strength and shouted, "You can't kill me! Let me go, or the Kaoshan Sect will not forgive you!"
The man in black remained unmoved. His palm came down with quiet precision and snuffed out the last of Elder Liu's life.
Elder Liu was dead.
The Wang and Liu families stared in stunned silence. Their once-mighty backer had been reduced to a corpse.
What were they to do now?
How had it come to this?
Why did such a powerful figure stand at the side of Ye Yu, the supposed good-for-nothing?
Before they could process the shock, Ye Yu rose to his feet. His gaze was cold and unhurried as he looked down at the Wang and Liu families kneeling before him.
"Have you decided how you want to die?" he asked, his tone calm and almost bored, making it difficult to believe the words had come from a boy of fifteen.