There was neither grandiose display of force, stunning rays of light, or even profound and unfathomable technique. The ruler tap was just that: a ruler tap.

And yet, the North Duke, Lu Daoweng and more were all flinching in alarm. It was because they felt like they could neither hide nor avoid the attack.

In fact, they were backing off from Chu Wangsun and taking evasive maneuvers to no avail.

“Why are you targeting me as well?”

It wasn’t the North Duke’s group who were feeling a chill of their spines. Ye Qing was feeling the same prickly sensation.

Clearly, it was an attack meant to subdue all of them.

The next moment, the eyes of the North Duke’s group widened. Ignoring distance, true qi, and even the anomalous power of Strange Artifacts, the ruler had struck everyone on the head at once.

Tak!

It was a weak sound. It sounded like a teacher in the class striking a naughty student’s hand—just hard enough to let the student know that it was a punishment, but not hard enough to do any real damage at all.

And yet, six of the North Duke’s Nine Ministers saw their heads exploding like overripe melons, and their minds disappearing like blown candles. Everyone else was clutching the deep wound that damned near split their skull open and bleeding from all orifices.

Ye Qing did not suffer nearly as badly as the North Duke’s group thanks to the Profound Yellow Mother Qi, though he was dizzy from the strike as well. However, he rolled his eyes to the back of his skull and pretended to fall unconscious so that the North Duke and Chu Wangsun could fully focus on each other.

“You are courting death, Chu Wangsun!”

The North Duke was enraged by his men’s death. Lifting his right hand and making a hand seal, he brought down what looked like the sea to devour anything and everything.

“Seven Seals of Northern Sea: Deep Sea Seal”

The “Seven Seals of Northern Sea” was a Sage-stage martial art that used to be passed down within the imperial family of the Northern Sea Nation. Each style was profound and unfathomable, and each seal boasted limitless transformation. It was praised as, “One move equals one realm; one seal equals one world”.

The Deep Sea Seal focused not on the flexibility of the techniques, but the practitioner’s force and imagination. As a longtime resident of the Northern Sea, the North Duke had witnessed the sunrise, the moonfall, and the changing tides since he could remember things. Therefore, the technique contained his imagination of the myriad manifestations of nature, and the seal the force of an entire sea. Naturally, it was quite the potent attack.

Seeing this, Chu Wangsun gripped his ruler and drew a circle in front of him.

No circle might exist without rules, and nothing could enter the circle.

Amazingly, the North Duke’s sea was unable to overcome the simple circle.

“Break!”

Seeing this, the North Duke grunted and commanded nine dragons to fly out of his sea.

The nine dragons had golden scales and five claws. They looked noble, dignified, and powerful.

“Seven Seals of Northern Sea: Nine Dragons Seal”

Nine and five reigned supreme among all the numbers[1]. When nine dragons emerged, all beings must submit before their might.

The next moment, the nine dragons charged toward Chu Wangsun with seemingly infinite power. Not only that, the North Duke Consort, Lu Daoweng and more had finally snapped out of their daze to combine their attacks with their lord. �

The North Duke Consort wielded an unnaturally thin and beautiful longsword. The sword was beautiful, she was beautiful, and her sword technique was the most beautiful of it all.

The sword dance drew countless dancing celestial fairies into existence. Both their person and their dance were so beautiful that it felt like a scene that should only belong in the palace in the sky, not the earth.

No swords were drawn by the sword dance, but the sword was everywhere. Hence, it was called the “Heavenly Celestial Sword”.

Everyone was mortal beneath the Heavenly Celestial Sword.

Lu Daoweng was gripping his paper fan in a reverse grip and fanning upward. As the ink painting on the fan turned into reality, rivers flowed between mountains, and tigers and leopards charged.

One swing of the fan was all he needed to manifest mountains, waters, and a stampede of beasts. Hence, it was called the “Mountain Water Fan”.

A circle of mist was surrounding the Right Counselor, You Qianxiang, and a black fortune stick was floating in front of him. The fortune stick was covered in innumerable blood red words, “Kill”. You Qianxiang was kneeling before the black fortune stick and kowtowing to it repeatedly.

Every time his head hit the ground, You Qianshan’s face would turn a shade paler. However, the words on the fortune stick would also grow a shade redder and more murderous.

Nine full kowtows later, You Qianshan’s face was as white as a sheet. Sweat was pouring down his face like the rain.

The next moment, the fortune stick slipped into the void and vanished.

……

At that moment, everyone in the North Duke’s group wanted to kill Chu Wangsun.

Despite facing an all-out attack, Chu Wangsun remained cold and aloof. He held his ruler horizontally and performed a sweep.

Benevolence was the sword, and justice the edge. Hence, it was called the “Sword of Benevolence and Justice”.

Benevolence and justice opened a world. One ruler separated heaven and earth and sentenced humans and ghosts to different paths.

The nine dragons of the deep sea bowed their heads in submission.

The fairies of the heavenly palace lost their heads.

And the mountains, rivers and beasts dissolved into ash.

The North Duke Consort, Lu Daoweng and You Qianshan backed three hundred meters from Chu Wangsun while sporting a chest wound so deep that the bones were exposed, and they bled like pigs.

They were lucky. The weaker ones were outright cleaved in half as they collapsed on the ground with stupefied expressions.

It was at this moment the fortune stick suddenly appeared behind Chu Wangsun’s back and penetrated his body, ignoring anything and everything.

The murderous intent on the fortune stick grew thicker after the successful first strike. Every word was flashing erratically and continuously as if they were excited.

The fortune stick flew toward Chu Wangsun again, but this time, their quarry was ready. Chu Wangsun struck it with his ruler.

The fortune stick shattered without a sound, but the blood red words flew out and penetrated him as quick as lightning. Countless tiny holes riddled his body, and his wounds refused to heal for some reason. His clothes were quickly drenched by blood.

“The God Ghost Kill Word Command…” Chu Wangsun remarked while casting his many tiny wounds a glance. They were all shaped exactly like the word “Kill”, and they were flashing red and preventing his wounds from healing.

The “God Ghost Kill Word Command” was both a Magia and a Strange Artifact. An ultimate art of the North Duke Office, the practitioner forged and nurtured fortune sticks with killing intent. At the adept level, it could turn intangible, change its size, and kill someone without leaving a trace behind. The martial art described it like this: “The kill command is issued, and neither god nor ghost may defend against it.” It was all one needed to read to know how potent it was.

“You did well, Chu Wangsun!” The North Duke uttered in a dark tone as he watched his fallen man. He made another hand seal with both hands before lifting his left hand and lowering his right hand in tandem.

The next moment, the sun rose, and the moon fell.

For a moment, the two celestial bodies existed in the same sky as they switched positions. Hence, it was called the “Sun and Moon Seal”.

“Naturally.”

But Chu Wangsun did not try to dodge out of the way. In fact, he took a step forward and flicked his fingers repeatedly. Soon, the entire sky was filled with stars.

“Starry Fingers”

And so the sun, the moon, and the stars all illuminated the same sky.

After the technique was ready, Chu Wangsun abruptly clenched his fingers and thrust his hand half an inch forward like a spear thrust.

A spear beam penetrated the false sky, and the sun and moon shattered to smithereens in an instant.

“The ‘False Piercing Spear’…”

The North Duke blurred and reappeared a kilometer or two away from Chu Wangsun. “I did not expect the disciple of the Chief Libationist to practice a Dark martial art. Aren’t you worried that you would be scorned by the world?”

The “False Piercing Spear” was the ultimate martial art of the Sky Repairing Pavilion, one of the Nine Dark Ways. It boasted the power to pierce false skies and penetrate heaven and earth. It was a deadly martial art steeped in death and murder.

“There is no good or evil martial art, only good or evil warrior,” Chu Wangsun said indifferently as he strode toward the North Duke.

Every time he took a step, a formless sword would rise from the underground and float behind him. Thirty six steps later, thirty six formless, murderous swords were aligned behind his back.

“The ‘Thirty Six Earthly Fiend Swords’…”

The North Duke looked disdainful. “You really are quite the worldly scholar, Mister Nine!”

The “Thirty Six Earthly Fiend Swords” was the legacy martial art of the Earthly Fiend Villa, one of the thirty-six unorthodox sects. It created swords of earthly qi equal to the number of Earthly Fiends. It was yet another martial art that boasted incredible killing potential.

The next moment, the North Duke brought down his hands and caused a gigantic blood red seal to plummet from the sky.

The seal was the size of a mountain, leaving Chu Wangsun with little to no room to escape. It looked quite intimidating to say the least.

1. The logic being 9 is the highest number, and 5 is the one in the middle of all. ☜