Chapter 611: The Trembling Shenhuang Army
Feng Huwei was not only a peerless powerhouse at the Overlord Emperor realm, but also a seasoned general who had bathed in enough blood to fill a boundless sea. At some point, he had completely forgotten what "fear" felt like.
But this voice, coming from nowhere... just the voice alone made every hair on his body stand on end, and a bone-chilling cold shot straight up his spine.
Riiip!!
An extremely harsh tearing sound screamed through the air. In Feng Huwei's pupils, he vaguely caught a glimpse of the black scar where space had been violently ripped apart... Among everyone present, only he could see that momentary spatial rift. A young man in all black, his face stiff and cold as a corpse, appeared like a ghost in front of the girl. His utterly lifeless eyes stared indifferently at Feng Huwei atop the Fire Mastiff Beast.
In that instant, the entire world seemed to freeze solid.
Under the gaze of this young man, the fear that Feng Huwei had not experienced in over a century suddenly surged like a waking demon in his soul, growing and swelling wildly. He felt as though a mountain ten thousand feet tall was pressing down on his chest. His heart had completely stopped beating, his blood had stopped flowing, his entire body felt as if it were thrown into an icy hell, every single cell trembling violently... This terror even affected his five senses, making it so that even as he stared directly at the young man, his vision was blurred and hazy, unable to make out his face.
Beneath him, a violent tremor came—it was the Fire Mastiff Beast trembling! His mount, the Fire Mastiff Beast, was an incredibly powerful King Xuan beast that had been with him for a full century. It had charged countless times across battlefields, trampled over countless mountains of bones and seas of blood, and under its claws had died no fewer than a hundred thousand men and beasts. It had never known what fear was. Even when facing an unconquerable Overlord Xuan beast, it would pounce without hesitation and bite, never retreating or showing fear.
But now, it was trembling violently!
As an Overlord Emperor and the renowned Huwei General of the Shenhuang Kingdom, Feng Huwei was certainly no fool. Although this place was a lowly region in his eyes, where it should have been impossible for anyone to exist who had the right to oppose him... or even anyone worthy of his direct gaze, he clearly understood what it meant for mere aura and gaze to instill such terror in both him and his Fire Mastiff Beast.
Not even the oppressive pressure of Feng Hengkong, the Emperor of Shenhuang, had ever made him tremble.
"Yo! This tiny Liuyun City actually has a clueless Cangfeng commoner daring to stand in front of our Grand General. Looks like you're tired of living!"
As Feng Huwei's mind trembled, a contemptuous voice rang out. The speaker was none other than his first deputy general, Feng Qianjun, also a member of the Fenghuang God Sect. Feng Huwei was shocked and was about to stop him, but he saw the black-clothed young man's figure flicker as he suddenly lunged forward, a pale, unnaturally white hand—seemingly shrouded in black Qi—reaching straight for Feng Qianjun's throat.
His movement and striking speed were extremely fast to ordinary eyes, but to the eyes of experts, especially an eighth-rank King Seat like Feng Qianjun, it was exceptionally slow, so slow that Feng Qianjun couldn't even be bothered to dodge. He let the hand grab his throat... When the black-clothed youth's hand locked around his neck, aside from a faint coolness, there was no suffocation, no pain, not even the slightest discomfort. In the next instant, even that faint coolness was gone. And as far as Feng Qianjun was concerned, this was perfectly natural—a low-level Xuan practitioner from tiny Liuyun City, even using a hundred times the force to choke his windpipe, could never cause even a hint of discomfort to an eighth-rank King Seat of the Fenghuang God Sect.
"Hahahaha!" Feng Qianjun roared with laughter, his voice dripping with contempt and disdain. He looked at Fen Juechen as if pitying a foolish, overreaching ant: "The world truly never lacks ignorant, laughable wretches. I was being generous today and hadn't planned on killing anyone, but a lowly Cangfeng commoner actually dares to attack me! Hahaha! Come, come, come! Use all the strength you've got from sucking your mother's milk, hurry up and choke me to death. I'll stand right here and let you use hands, knife, or spear. If you can kill me, I'll call you grandpa in the underworld. Come on, put some effort into it! Hahaha..."
Feng Qianjun laughed arrogantly and contemptuously... but no one else around was laughing. Whether Shenhuang Army soldiers or Liuyun City residents, everyone's pupils were dilated to the point of bursting, their faces filled with indescribable terror.
A faint layer of black Qi rose from the neck of Feng Qianjun, which was locked in Fen Juechen's grip. Beneath the black Qi, the skin and flesh of Feng Qianjun's neck rotted and shriveled at an alarming speed. In the blink of an eye, the white bone of his throat was exposed. And the next moment, that white throat bone turned a dark gray... until it became the pitch black of charcoal.
Yet Feng Qianjun was completely unaware, still laughing scornfully and arrogantly... The rotting flesh spread downward with terrifying speed. In a mere three breaths, the majority of his upper body had no skin or flesh left. From his sternum to his ribs, everything was fully exposed to the view of everyone present.
This scene, so horrifying it defied imagination, formed a chilling contrast with his unrestrained laughter... So terrifying that no one could even manage a scream.
A gust of wind blew, and Feng Qianjun's King Seat body collapsed like a crumbling sand sculpture. Mid-laugh, Feng Qianjun suddenly realized that his vision was uncontrollably dropping. He stopped laughing and then... he saw his own body, completely rotted away, with only blackened bones remaining. And these black bones were falling apart... scattering into fine powder.
"Waaaaaah!!"
Feng Qianjun let out a heart-rending shriek of terror, a scream that seemed to come straight from hell. It lasted only an instant before fading completely... By the time his head hit the ground, it had already turned into black dust.
Not a single sound remained in the world. Boundless terror spread over Liuyun City, freezing the very air itself. Some Liuyun City residents in the distance collapsed, trembling, unable to stand. The only movement their bodies could manage was violent, uncontrollable shaking.
"Woof..."
The Fire Mastiff Beast beneath Feng Huwei let out a hoarse roar that even Feng Huwei had never heard before. Then, the beast that had never known fear began to back away. After only two steps, it collapsed to the ground, its massive body trembling like a sieve.
All the fear that Feng Huwei had experienced in his life combined could not compare to even a fraction of what he felt today. His mouth hung wide open, but for a long time, he could not produce a sound. He had killed countless people in his life—even a hundred thousand in a single day without changing expression—but the death of just this one man before his eyes made his soul tremble wildly.
And the one who died under this black-clothed youth's hand was not an ordinary Shenhuang soldier, but an eighth-rank King Seat, someone who should have been absolutely invincible in Cangfeng!
He even had a dazed feeling that the one standing before him... was a demon straight from hell.
At that moment, Fen Juechen's gaze shifted back to him. His withered voice, like a demon's curse, struck coldly into his ears: "You... all... of you... are... going... to... die..."
As the voice fell, Fen Juechen slowly stepped forward. One step alone made Feng Huwei feel the approach of death with crystal clarity.
"No!"
A girl's voice rang out urgently, and Fen Juechen's footsteps stopped the instant he heard it.
Xiao Lingxi rushed over quickly. Although her face still held the remnants of fear, she stood firmly in front of Fen Juechen: "Don't... don't kill them... If you kill them, they will kill the people of Liuyun City... kill more people of Cangfeng Kingdom. You... you already killed one of them as a warning... that's enough... Don't kill anymore... Liuyun City has already fallen, but at least these Shenhuang soldiers said they wouldn't kill indiscriminately... I don't want to see Liuyun City drenched in blood after its fall..."
As Xiao Lingxi finished speaking, Fen Juechen's raised hand slowly lowered... At the same time, Feng Huwei felt the shadow of death that had enveloped him vanish. He looked blankly at Xiao Lingxi—this girl who had caused the demon's murderous intent to fill the sky, and then instantly dispelled it.
Fen Juechen slowly turned sideways: "Today, I will spare you for now. But if you dare to kill a single person in Liuyun City, I will kill ten thousand of you. If you dare to kill ten people in Liuyun City, I will kill a hundred thousand of you!" He glanced sideways at Xiao Lingxi: "If you dare to touch even a single strand of her hair, I will make sure all of you die with no place to be buried!"
Fen Juechen's arm suddenly raised and blasted toward the sky.
Boom!!!
The entire Liuyun City shook violently. An extremely muffled roar came from above, momentarily deafening everyone. People instinctively looked up and were horrified to see a massive black vortex in the distant sky... In just the blink of an eye, the black vortex disappeared, but Feng Huwei was so shocked that his heart nearly burst. He let out a terrified shout:
"Em... Emperor Lord!!"
But his voice was so twisted with fear that no one could make out what he was shouting.
Creating a spatial rift with Xuan force could be done at the King Xuan realm. But casually blasting out such a massive spatial black hole... this was clearly the power of the Sovereign Xuan realm!!
In their mighty Fenghuang God Sect, there were only a little over a dozen people at the Sovereign Xuan realm. These Emperor Lords were the foundation of the Fenghuang God Sect, people whom even Sect Master Feng Hengkong would treat with the utmost respect. And among the seven Heavenly Xuan kingdoms, only their Shenhuang Empire possessed Emperor Lords.
He had never dreamed that a remote town in Cangfeng Kingdom could harbor an Emperor Lord... and one who appeared to be barely over twenty years old!
Although he was a powerful Overlord Emperor, before an Emperor Lord, he was no different from an ant that could be crushed with a single pinch.
"We... we only came to occupy Liuyun City... we will never kill any innocent... citizens."
Feng Huwei tried his best to keep his voice calm to maintain the dignity of the Huwei General, but even he could hear the uncontrollable trembling in his own voice.
"Get lost!"
Fen Juechen's reply was an emotionless two words.
Throughout General Huwei's entire life, who had ever dared to say those two words to him? But today, not only did Feng Huwei feel no anger, he did not even dare to say another word. He stepped back, directly dragged the collapsed Fire Mastiff Beast, and quickly walked away in the opposite direction... and his pace grew faster and faster. The Shenhuang Army soldiers following him also felt as if they had received a pardon, hurrying after him. Only when they stopped at the city gates did they realize they were drenched in cold sweat.
"Who... who on earth... is he!" Feng Huwei took a deep breath, his clenched hands trembling. He hadn't even had the courage to ask for the man's name...
Liuyun City Lord Yuwen Tuo and Situ Nan also hastily slunk away. None of the gathered Liuyun City residents dared to stay, scrambling to escape as if rolling and crawling. Xiao Lingxi clutched her chest and said to Fen Juechen, "Brother Fen, thank you."
"...You never need to thank me," Fen Juechen said. Although his voice was still cold, his tone tried hard to soften. "If it weren't for you, I would have died three years ago. I won't refuse anything you ask of me. Even if you want me dead... after I kill all the people from the Four Sacred Grounds, I'll give you my life!"
"No," Xiao Lingxi shook her head. Fen Juechen had said similar things many times over the past half year. "You don't need to do this for me. Your life belongs to you, not to anyone else. Other people's lives are the same... If you really want to do good for me, then stop killing innocent people!"
"Once a person dies, they can never come back to life... they can never see him again... it will make many people who care about him suffer for a lifetime... I..."
Xiao Lingxi's vision blurred with the image of Yun Che, and tears poured down like a spring. She sobbed uncontrollably.
Fen Juechen saw Xiao Lingxi's tears and knew exactly why she was suddenly crying. He took a deep breath and turned away: "In the past half year, I haven't killed anyone. That man just now wanted to offend you, so he deserved to die. Once I am strong enough to kill those I must kill... then, whatever you say, I will listen."
A cloud of black mist spread, and Fen Juechen silently vanished from the spot.
The surroundings were empty, with no one else in sight. Xiao Lingxi covered her face with both hands, and from between her lips escaped a heart-wrenching murmur: "Xiao... Che..."