Chapter 366 - 357: Grandmasterly Aura, Heaven Opens a Slit

Chapter 366: Chapter 357: Grandmasterly Aura, Heaven Opens a Slit

Just as Xie Mingzhi had expected.

No one dared to stop him.

Or rather, no one wanted to stop him.

The Fire Cloud Army and Yingjing, one in the south and one in the north, were thousands of miles apart and had never had any dealings.

With no vested interests, nobody cared what he, the Supreme Commander of the Fire Cloud Army, was doing in the capital.

Unless he were to cause some earth-shattering disturbance within the city.

And since entering the city, he had only killed a mere three people.

"That Young Master Ling usually rotates between the Blue Banner Mu Mansion, the Qingqi Ning Mansion, and the Gray Banner Yan Mansion. I’ll take you to the Blue Banner Mu Family first, Milord. If we can’t find him, then..."

The young attendant from the Mo Family leading the way didn’t get to finish before Xie Mingzhi casually cut him off.

"There’s no need to go to the next one."

As Xie Mingzhi spoke, he lifted his gaze and looked straight ahead.

On the originally empty long street, a group of figures with a cold demeanor had appeared out of nowhere.

The one in the lead was a middle-aged man with deep-set eyes and a powerful build, exuding an authoritative presence without any display of anger.

Following him were seven or eight men with eyes like hawks, each with an extraordinary bearing, clearly showing signs of great achievement in the Martial Dao.

Behind the Martial Artists were dozens more Banner Soldiers, armed with powerful bows, crossbows, or foreign rifles and cannons.

This group was clearly headed for Xie Mingzhi, their momentum menacing.

But it wasn’t this group that made Xie Mingzhi stop.

Xie Mingzhi didn’t even glance at any of them.

His gaze passed over the group, fixed on a spot at the end of the long street.

There stood a Prince Manor. Above it, a massive, strange vortex of clouds was forming...

Xie Mingzhi stared at the vortex, his eyes flickering slightly, his thoughts unreadable.

The Mo Family attendant leading the way sensed the tense atmosphere and had already retreated far to the side. The two Fire Cloud Army subordinates accompanying Xie Mingzhi also quickly fanned out.

Both wore calm expressions, as if they were long accustomed to scenes like this one.

Xie Mingzhi was still watching, but the crowd walking toward him had already begun to move.

"BOOM!!"

On the silent street, bricks and stones shattered as eight figures suddenly erupted into action!

The eight figures shot out, instantly sealing off every opening around Xie Mingzhi—front, back, left, right, above, and below. Amidst the swirling dust, the eight moved like tigers, leopards, and goshawks, each wrapped in a distinct and astonishing momentum as they lunged to kill him!

In just an instant, Xie Mingzhi was ensnared by a "net" woven from the eight attackers’ fists, feet, and weapons.

Yet, facing such a terrifying assault, Xie Mingzhi simply retracted his distant gaze and casually took a single step forward.

"WHOOSH—!"

Above the street, it was as if a massive, blood-soaked banner had suddenly unfurled!

"BOOM!"

A terrifying explosion erupted. A visible shockwave expanded outward, and with a series of muffled groans, the eight figures surrounding Xie Mingzhi were blasted away like scattered flowers, sent flying backward!

"Spirit Awakening!"

From among the retreating figures, Hong Huan’s deep, resonant voice rang out.

In an instant, black smoke erupted from the bodies of half the men, and parts of their bodies began to distort and swell grotesquely.

Within the space of a breath, several of them turned and charged back for a second assault, their forms now monstrous and their momentum even more formidable than before.

Xie Mingzhi didn’t break stride, his expression a mask of calm composure.

He held the fingers of one hand together like a spear, jabbing casually at various points in front of him.

"Dianmao!"

Wherever Xie Mingzhi’s finger-spear pointed, an invisible, transparent, distorting force would erupt from its tip.

This power precisely struck the attacking Dirt-Loading Martial Artists from a distance. It was like a Military Commander in his tent taking a roll call—whoever his spear-finger pointed at would abruptly freeze, as if seized by an invisible hand, unable to move...

Then, with the sound of snapping bones, the person would be sent flying with devastating force, spitting mouthfuls of blood!

Hong Huan, who had undergone Spirit Awakening three times, now had legs as thick as a rhinoceros’s and long, claw-like arms. A dense, miasmatic smoke surrounded him, and countless black tentacles sprouted from under his arms and across his back.

He withstood one of Xie Mingzhi’s distant stabs, roaring as he lunged forward and swept his legs through the air at Xie Mingzhi’s face.

His shins, as thick as gateposts, were covered in a thick layer of gray rhinoceros hide that glinted with a dark light. Empowered by the mass of writhing black tentacles, his kick tore through the air with the terrifying sound of muffled thunder.

Where his Leg Skills swept past, the air was pulled into a long, blurry distortion, the momentum utterly terrifying.

At this moment, faint wisps of a strange, red mist began to rise from Xie Mingzhi’s body.

The mist resembled blood, rust-colored, yet it carried the faint, scorching scent of burning heat.

Without even raising his eyelids, he casually lifted his right hand, now wreathed in red mist, and gently pecked at the surface of Hong Huan’s leg as it neared his face—

"PAK!"

A crisp sound rang out.

Behind the black smoke, Hong Huan’s face twisted in an instant.

His entire thigh had exploded under Xie Mingzhi’s touch! His body, fortified by three Dirt-Loading transformations, seemed as soft as tofu as shattered bone and flesh rained in all directions!

"Attack!!"

Before his body even hit the ground, Hong Huan, his face contorted, roared at the Banner Soldiers!

The stunned Banner Soldiers snapped out of their daze and hastily raised their weapons.

These men had been requisitioned by Mu Feng to intercept their target alongside Dirt-Loading Martial Tributors like Hong Huan; they were naturally the elite of their respective houses.

Instantly, the whistle of crossbow bolts filled the air like rain, accompanied by the dense, firecracker-like reports of rifles and cannons. A dense barrage of arrows and bullets blanketed Xie Mingzhi!

From the moment Hong Huan and the others had attacked, Xie Mingzhi had never stopped walking.

And he wasn’t stopping now.

The Soldier’s Blood Qi mist swirling around Xie Mingzhi expanded. The incoming crossbow bolts and rifle bullets flew into the blood mist and vanished without a trace, like clay oxen entering the sea.

"Void Seal!"

Xie Mingzhi casually flipped his palm, and the blood mist that had just "devoured" the numerous bolts and bullets began to converge.

Immediately after, the crossbow bolts shot back out and the bullets flew back. With a "SWOOSH SWOOSH" of tearing air, the front rank of Banner Soldiers was riddled by their own projectiles, turning them into human pincushions.

Before the Banner Soldiers’ formation could break, the blood mist condensed into a massive, square, blurry commander’s seal. It was entirely blood-red and shot forward.

Wherever it passed, invisible ripples spread out. Anyone swept by these misty ripples had their body explode, one after another...

The once-crowded long street was instantly empty, a section of it now completely coated in a paste of blood and flesh.

Hong Huan, who had collapsed to the side, stared blankly, his face a mask of shocked horror.

Meanwhile, the two Fire Cloud Army subordinates who had retreated into the distance had faces filled with a fanatical, almost pious, fervor.

An army of a thousand would flee before him; ten thousand men could not stop him!

This was their Fire Cloud Army’s Marshal Ming!

"WHOOSH—"

A figure lying on the ground was suddenly pulled up by an invisible force and landed in Xie Mingzhi’s grasp.

Xie Mingzhi’s fingers slowly tightened as he asked softly, "Where is your Young Master Ling?"

The Martial Tributor, his throat caught in the grip, looked terrified. He had just started to speak when with a "CRACK," his neck was snapped. His head lolled to the side, and he went silent forever.

Xie Mingzhi grabbed another person and asked again in the same flat tone.

The captured Martial Artist answered hastily, but was still casually crushed to death.

It seemed Xie Mingzhi wasn’t looking for an answer, but merely an excuse to nourish his Soldier’s Blood Qi.

He killed four men in a row, until even the one-legged Hong Huan was captured by him.

It was the same flat question. Whether he answered or not, death was inescapable.

Despair filled Hong Huan’s eyes, and he was about to close them to await his death.

Suddenly, he felt the iron-like hand clamped around his neck pause.

Hong Huan’s eyes snapped open, only to find Xie Mingzhi staring past him with a strange look.

As if realizing something, he strained to twist his neck and look behind him. He saw—

At that very moment, above the Mu Mansion, the massive cloud vortex had fully formed.

In the center of the vortex, a brilliant beam of celestial light descended. Accompanied by a slowly expanding aura, the circular vortex spread apart, and the golden light at its center widened from a line into a plane...

The sight was like an eye forming in the dome of the heavens... slowly opening a sliver!

....

「At the same time, atop the Thousand Blessings Tower in the Imperial Palace.」

Inside the dim, silent hall, a lean figure was surrounded by countless floating blood candles.

As if sensing something, the closed eyes on its withered face twitched slightly.

Then, they slowly opened.

In that instant, all the blood candles in the hall flared to life. The flames leaped several inches high, their light intensifying dramatically, as if countless blood-red, demonic, vertical pupils had all opened at once.

The hall was flooded with brilliant light, painting the four walls a sheet of blood-red,

But in less than a breath, the figure in the center of the hall closed its eyes again, and all the red light faded away.

The entire hall returned to its original dead silence and tranquility.

....

「Elsewhere in the inner city, two riders galloped down a street, flanked by a large escort.」

As they were rushing along, one of the riders suddenly shot into the air without warning. Like a sparrowhawk, he soared into the sky, his robes fluttering, and vanished in an instant.

"Halt!"

On the other horse, an effeminate-looking man in a purple mandarin jacket yanked his reins, ordering the procession to stop.

The group stopped in place. A short while later, the figure that had vanished descended from the sky and settled back onto his horse.

This was a lean, gaunt old man with a shaved forehead and a queue, his pupils a faint gold. The strangest thing was that at both ends of his forehead, there were two short bumps, like deer antlers, giving him an indescribably detached, inhuman air.

"Master Mao, what is it?"

The man in the purple jacket asked.

Elder Deer Horn said slowly, "I sensed an aura... it seemed like someone breaking through to the Grandmaster realm."

"Grandmaster?!"

The man’s expression was one of slight shock, and he couldn’t help but exclaim in a low voice.

But Elder Deer Horn quickly shook his head. "The phenomenon was quite astonishing, but it wasn’t a Grandmaster."

"That’s good."

The man relaxed, then immediately asked, "Where did the aura come from?"

Elder Deer Horn looked toward a certain direction, his face impassive.

The man followed his gaze. Seeing the location, his own eyes flickered for a moment. Then, he viciously whipped his horse’s flank!

"Yah!"

...

「Back on Brocade Street.」

Everyone was staring intently in one direction.

They saw countless cats and dogs inexplicably run out from the sides of the street and arrange themselves in neat rows, prostrating themselves on either side of the road as if in spiritual reverence.

They heard the tiles on the eaves and the gravel at the corners of the walls rustling and shifting with a strange sound.

Amidst this indescribable phenomenon.

—

A handsome young man appeared, dressed in robes whiter than snow, a black saber hanging from his waist.

He was walking from the end of Brocade Street, step by step, treading upon the sliver of celestial light that poured down from the dome of the sky...

strolling forward with a leisurely and composed gait.