Chapter 614: Do You Want to Live, or Die? Choose One

Nine tripod cauldrons full of?bloodmeal?stood within the Hall of Peace.

The dense smell of blood already filled the air, but as seven Grain Avoidance cultivators died where they stood, the stench intensified.

Earlier, Zhou Zhili had been fighting back the urge to hurl.?Yet now, he felt incomparably joyful, so excited that he almost wanted to dance, throw back his head, and roar into the sky.

Over the past few days, the “highest authority of the Great Zhou” had felt far too stifled and suppressed. Of course watching the experts of the Celestial Prison Demon Court fall excited him!

“You… Just who are you people?” Duan Pojia struggled to his feet and asked in a quavering voice. He sounded as terrified as could be.

“Even if we told you, you wouldn’t recognize our names,” said Yuan Heng. He strode forward, his tall, stalwart figure emanating an imposing majesty.

“I might be doomed, but you can forget about getting out of here alive either!” Duan Pojia roared hysterically and crushed a chain-shaped black talisman. Black light shot out of it.

Yuan Heng ignored it, raised his hand, and slapped.

Bang!

Duan Pojia was already severely injured, so his body burst like paper mache, scattering blood and flesh.

This Xuandu Continent Gathering Stars cultivator didn’t amount to much, huh??Yuan Heng inwardly shook his head.

When Zhou Zhili saw this, he couldn’t have been any more astonished.

A moment later, he sighed, straightened up his clothes, and bowed deeply. “My name is Zhou Zhili, and I am the emperor of the Great Zhou. Greetings, mystic masters. Might I request your honorable names?”

Yuan Heng said, “We’re no mystic masters. We just came here on orders.”

Zhou Zhili was stunned. “Seniors, dare I ask whose orders?”

“Wait a moment. Then you’ll know,” laughed Yuan Heng. He then turned and left the grand hall.

Zhou Zhili forcefully suppressed his curiosity, then said, “Senior, there’s still a Celestial Prison Demon Court Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator deep within the palace grounds. He…”

He’d only just said this when a voice boomed like thunder just outside the grand hall——

“Who has trespassed in the Celestial Prison Demon Court’s territory? Get the hell out here!”

Every word shook the hall’s tiles, and even the tables and chairs swayed.

“We’re finished! Old Demon Hua is coming!” Zhou Zhili stiffened, and the blood drained from his face. All of his excitement and delight disappeared without a trace, and he felt as if he’d been plunged into an icy abyss.

Meanwhile, outside the palace, up in the sky——

A group shot through the air.

Their leader was a withered man in red robes. He held a fly-whisk, and he wore a feather headdress. Demonic flames surged around him, and his sheer momentum filled the skies.

Hua Hongtai!

He was one of Celestial Prison Demon Court’s elders, a true Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator.

Four Origin Palace cultivators accompanied him, three men and one woman.

When he saw the situation inside the Hall of Peace, Hua Hongtai’s face was instantly ashen beyond comparison. His aura transformed, becoming murderous and imposing.

“Did you do this?” Hua Hongtai’s eyes flashed like lightning as he gazed down at Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing.

“Anyone who wasn’t blind could figure that out,” Yuan Heng said with a grin.

Bai Wenqing couldn’t help but remind him, “Tone it down a notch. You’re not strong enough to contend with a Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator.”

Yuan Heng froze, then laughed bitterly. “Why say that at a time like this?”

“I’m afraid you’ve lost your mind!”

Yuan Heng instantly felt awkward.

When he saw the two of them bantering and ignoring Hua Hongtai completely, Zhou Zhili felt as if he were losing his mind.

Hua Hongtai and his companions were so angry, each had a nastier look on their face than the one before.

“I don’t care who you are or where you came from. Your arrogant attitude alone is enough to warrant me skinning you alive!” Hua Hongtai said icily, pausing for emphasis between each word.

Boom!

He stepped through the skies, his entire body shrouded in demonic flames. The majesty of a Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator blanketed heaven and earth.

The Origin Palace cultivators, meanwhile, stood guard around the hall as if to prevent Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing from escaping.

“Die!” Hua Hongtai’s sleeves billowed around him, and he attacked from a distance.

A hundred-foot palm condensed out of demonic flames. It surged with rampaging demonic Mysterious Truths, and it was terrifying beyond limit.

Zhou Zhili was so startled that his soul was in disarray and his heart and mind shook. He couldn’t even think about resisting.

However, a moment later——

A tall, lean figure appeared out of nowhere, stretched out his hand, and pressed downward.

It was a simple, understated motion, yet the hundred-foot palm of demonic flame exploded with a bang, as fragile as tofu.

.

“This is…” Zhou Zhili almost assumed his eyes were playing tricks on him.

The four Origin Palace cultivators of the Celestial Prison Demon Court each reacted as if struck by lightning. They were dumbstruck and tongue-tied.

Elder Hua’s attack was actually blocked?

How is this possible!??That’s the power of the Spiritual Manifestation Realm!

Hua Hongtai’s eyelids twitched.

Before he could react, ?that tall, lean figure appeared before him in a single step. He stretched out a fair, slender arm and gently pressed downward.

“Scram!” Hua Hongtai bellowed.

HIs demonic flames filled the air, and his momentum and majesty were terrifying. His arms guided a vast current of power, and his fingers formed a strange demonic seal, which he flung ruthlessly forward.

Bang!

Beneath the onlookers’ astonished gazes, Hua Hongtai’s demonic seal burst beneath that light, airy palm, offering no resistance at all.

Immediately afterward, a series of crunching noises rang out in rapid succession.

Hua Hongtai had raised his arms to defend himself, but now, it was as if a deity had taken a hammer to them. Bone, blood, and flesh burst and scattered, inch by inch, starting from his hands and wrists.

In the end, the palm landed on Hua Hongtai’s chest. He trembled from head to toe, and his entire body split apart!

Whoosh~

Blood fell like rain as Hua Hongtai’s soul escaped its destroyed bodily shell.

However, before it could flee, that tall, lean figure reached out and grabbed it, then exerted strength through his fingers. Soon, it too had been brushed.

Just like that, Hua Hongtai had perished, body and soul!

All of this took a while to describe, but it happened in a single breath of time.

That tall, upright figure appeared, then pressed downward, breaking the demonic flame palm imprint. A comment later, he stepped forward, and with a single palm strike and grab, he shattered Hua Hongtai’s Spiritual Manifestation Realm body and obliterated his soul!

That unstoppable tyrannical momentum, like an ax through bamboo, astonished everyone present.

The four Origin Palace demonic cultivators were so terrified that their souls seemed to have left their bodies.

Who’d have thought that even the Spiritual Manifestation Realm Hua Hongtai would lose so quickly?

“So strong!”

There were no words to describe how Zhou Zhili was feeling right now. He was overcome with astonishment.?Just how terrifying an existence is this person? How could he have killed an old demon of the Spiritual Manifestation Realm so easily?

Only Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing remained calm; they’d already grown accustomed to this.

“Who are you? Why… Why are you acting against our Celestial Prison Demon Court?” said one of the Origin Palace cultivators in a quavering voice.

Su Yi ignored him. He just waved his sleeves, sending four streaks of clear sword qi whooshing through the air.

Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

A moment later, the four Origin Palace cultivators perished where they stood.

As if Su Yi were merely flicking the dust off his clothing.

Then, Su Yi turned around and looked into the Hall of Peace. “Everything settled in there?”

Yuan Heng said solemnly, “Not one survived, Master.”

“You… You’re… Su… Su…” Zhou Zhili’s eyes widened.

Because it was then that he finally saw Su Yi clearly. He almost dared not believe his eyes, and he was so stunned that he couldn’t even speak coherently.

“What is it? It hasn’t been that long since we last saw each other. Don’t you recognize me?” When he saw Zhou Zhili freeze like a startled goose, Su Yi couldn’t help but find it funny.

“Brother Su, is it really you!?” Zhou Zhili cried out. His voice trembled, and it was choked with sobs. Even the rims of his eyes reddened.

The young emperor of the Great Zhou had completely lost his composure. It was as if all of the grievances, frustration, fury, and hatred he’d endured over the past few months had finally found an outlet, like floodwaters breaking through a dam.

When Su Yi saw this, he furrowed his brow and sighed softly. “Yuan Heng, look after him.”

With that, he blurred into a streak of blue and shot through the air. In a flash, he arrived deep within the imperial palace grounds.

A single solitary mountain stood here, its air permeated with spiritual energy. This was Unknown Dragon Mountain, where the imperial family’s Unknown Dragons underwent secluded cultivation.

Su Yi had long since noticed that Hua Hongtai and the others flew to the Hall of Peace straight from Unknown Dragon Mountain.

Now, their strongest expert, Hua Hongtai, was already dead.

Su Yi only had one goal left for this expedition: rescuing hostages!

Deep below Unknown Dragon Mountain, they’d carved an enormous dungeon into the earth.

There was only one long, winding entrance.

Although it was Su Yi’s first time here, relying on his enormously powerful divine sense, he’d long since sensed the route clearly and in its entirety.

As he walked, he suddenly raised his hand and tapped.

A streak of sword qi shot through the air.

A thousand feet away, atop a Daoist platform, someone sat cross-legged, immersed in his cultivation.

Splurt!

A bloody hole appeared soundlessly in his throat.

His head lolled to the side, and he topped over, dead.

This was yet another Grain Avoidance Realm cultivator. In the Great Zhou, they’d consider him an Earthly Immortal, yet now, he’d died before he even knew what hit him.

When Su Yi passed by his corpse, he didn’t even spare him a single glance.

Before long, the path opened up before him, and he found himself in an enormous underground space. They’d excavated numerous prison wards, even illuminated with bronze torches.

The soul-stirring sound of gasping and a woman’s heavy breathing rang out.

Through his divine sense, Su Yi saw a half-naked woman on the floor near the wards’ entrances. She was on top of a man, and she was moving.

Up and down. Up and down.

Her eyes were partially closed, and her red lips were open. She looked utterly intoxicated.

However, the man beneath her was rigid, and his eyes bulged. The life force quickly left his body, and even his skin was turning gray.

“You’re seizing Yang to replenish Yin and stealing another’s life force here, in a place like this? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” asked Su Yi.

One sentence, and the woman stiffened and leaped into the air. As she fled into the distance, she drew a blue dagger and prepared to defend herself.

There was nothing to criticize about her reaction speed, and she didn’t even bother to get her clothes back in order, instead leaving herself exposed. It was obvious she was a veteran of hundreds of battles. Even if she’d been more exposed, it wouldn’t matter; she knew that staying alive came first.

However, as soon as the sultry woman landed and steadied herself on the ground, she felt a streak of flowing sword qi press up against her neck.

Immediately afterward, a calm voice echoed in her ears.

“Do you want to live, or die? Choose one.”