Chapter 1377 Beginning to Settle Accounts

Bam, bam, bam!

An oppressive sound of people falling to their knees resounded in the great hall. Out of all of the people present from the Zuo Clan, the ones with the highest cultivation level were at the half-step king stage, while the weakest were still at the great Cyclic Derivation stage.

But at this moment, all had knelt down at the same time, causing a foreboding sound of knees knocking against the ground!

Rumble~

At the same time, all of the documents, dishes, decorations within this grand and glorious hall exploded and disappeared into fine dust. As for the servants and maids present, they had long fallen into a dead faint with blood oozing out of their seven orifices. This was all caused by the aura of power that Lin Xun was projecting from himself. It was the might of a supreme king at the seventh longevity stage who had slaughtered a road of blood in his journey.

Now Lin Xun stood independently in the great hall, resembling a grand god overlooking lowly mortals. At this moment, Zuo Weihai, Zuo Bugu and the others looked at each other with ashen expressions. They had been thoroughly cowed by this display of might, and fear consumed their minds.

They now understood why Lin Xun had ascended their mountain on his own. It was just...

They still found it all hard to believe.

Back then, this youth was only at the Heaven Ascension stage. So how could he possibly become so intimidatingly powerful in such a short period of time?

Just what cultivation level had he reached?

The king stage?

Or could it be even higher?

They couldn’t understand what was going on. All of them shivered with glum faces.

Earlier, this grand and glorious hall was filled with sounds of laughter and celebration. As notable figures of the Zuo Clan, they had been smugly discussing on how best to split up the Lin Clan’s assets after they had been pushed to the brink of death. But now...

Lin Xun was only one person, but his appearance had caused everything to change!

“Don’t you think I am more than enough to deal with this?”

Lin Xun’s eyes were calm and still without a single hint of emotion in them.

That one rhetorical question from him caused the atmosphere in the hall to become even more restrained and stifled. People felt as if they were being choked to death. Just his imposing aura alone was more than enough to force them to their knees. They had no power to resist. If he actually started acting against them, who could stop him?

Suddenly, a raucous shout echoed, “Who is being so daring now? This old one would like to meet just who in this empire dares to cause trouble with the Zuo Clan!”

A group of figures immediately appeared after the voice resounded. There were eight of them in total. Among them included white-haired old men, tottering old women, and handsome and young-looking men...

What was important was that all of them radiated the imposing aura of king-level experts!

Furthermore, the man in the front was clearly the strongest of them all as the pressure coming off of him was the strongest.

His hair was as black as ink, and his body was sturdy and strong, resembling an imposing mountain. As his eyes opened and closed, divine light flew out of them.

He was the secret weapon of the Zuo Clan and was an old monster at the king-stage. He was named Zuo Cen and had long since stepped into the longevity path. He was clearly the backbone of the Zuo Clan. In fact, because of him, the Zuo Clan was able to become one of the seven high clans of the empire, and no one could shake them!

As for the seven people behind Zuo Cen, they were all stellar figures who were rarely seen. They were usually holed up cultivating and wouldn’t show up unless a life or death situation appeared.

But now, they had all come with Zuo Cen.

It was evident that the loud ruckus in the great hall had caught their attention.

“Ancestor!”

On the ground, Zuo Weihai and the others cried out in grievance as if they had seen their saviors. Many of them actually cried tears of joy.

“Just who has the guts to act like this?!”

As soon as Zuo Cen arrived, he could see the mess that had occurred. His face darkened as killing intent flashed in his eyes. He eyed Lin Xun murderously, who was standing in the middle of the great hall.

“Ancestors, this person is...”

Zuo Weihai quickly immediately transmitted his voice to Zuo Cen and the others, explaining Lin Xun’s identity to them.

Once they understood who Lin Xun was, all of them were surprised. The way they looked at Lin Xun had changed, as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.

This youth had only been at the Heaven Ascension Stage ten or so years ago, yet now he had already stepped foot into the king stage? This was too unbelievable!

“Everyone’s here now? That’s good, it’s about time to discuss important matters.”

At this moment, Lin Xun finally spoke. He hadn’t made a single move earlier as he had been waiting for this.

If he didn’t take down the Zuo Clan’s true power, then he would not be able to reach his goal of wiping the Zuo Clan out of the Forbidden City!

“Lin Xun, do you know what you’re doing right now?”

Although Zuo Cen’s expression was gloomy, he felt a bit bewildered and uncertain inside. This was because, despite his efforts, he hadn’t been able to tell just what exactly Lin Xun’s current cultivation level was.

There were only two explanations for this.

The first was that Lin Xun was now vastly more powerful than he was.

The second was that Lin Xun was practicing a secret art that was able to cover up his entire aura and cultivation level from his senses.

No matter what the truth was, Zuo Cen felt uneasy about something. If it hadn’t been for that subtle feeling, then he would have acted immediately as soon as he witnessed what had occurred in the great hall!

“I’m getting revenge. What’s wrong with that?” Lin Xun smiled slightly.

Even though he was facing a group of king-level experts, Lin Xun remained calm and composed. This made the warning feeling within Zuo Cen become even more intense.

Suddenly, a king-level expert who could no longer sit still coldly shouted, “Getting revenge? I think it’s more like you’re tired of living!”

It was an old woman who had acted. There was a green snake staff in her hands. When she saw that Lin Xun, an outsider, was being so rampant in her own clan’s territory, fury had ignited within her and she desired to kill him.

Lin Xun lightly spat out two words, “So noisy.”

Then, it turned into the howl of a Pulao and spread forth. Following that, the words became truth.

Bang!

Everyone watched as the old woman trembled from head to toe, and she couldn’t even control herself as she stepped back involuntarily. Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something.

However, in the end, she clattered to the ground loudly. Her spirit had been wiped completely from her body!

The mind and spirit were like lamps. As long as they didn’t become extinguished, a person could live very long. But once they were gone, that person was dead!

The aura within the hall abruptly shifted again. The expressions on Zuo Cen’s and the other old monsters’ faces distorted immediately. An involuntary chill settled within their hearts.

Two simple words had wiped out a king at the first longevity stage?

This was too frightening!

As for Zuo Weihai, Zuo Bugu and the others still kneeling on the floor, they were all shocked silly. The joy inside them quickly became replaced by an icy, cold chill.

“How come no one is talking now?” asked Lin Xun calmly. “Are you telling me that within the Zuo Clan, which is one of the seven high clans of the empire, there isn’t a single person who has any courage right now?”

His voice was filled with an indescribable kind of coldness and ridicule.

Zuo Cen’s expression revealed his uncertainty about the situation.

Next to him, a youthful and handsome looking man took a deep breath and said, “Lin Xun, right now the empire is beset with both internal and external problems, so it still needs the Zuo Clan for help. I hope that you can give us some face and leave us some room to survive. How about that?”

“Give your Zuo Clan some face? I’m sorry, but all of that is worthless to me,” replied Lin Xun as he waved his sleeve.

Before the handsome man could even react, his body exploded with a bang and dissolved into a pile of ash that blew everywhere.

Lin Xun had slaughtered a king with a wave of his sleeve! This terrifying scene had shaken every single person present.

Even Zuo Cen couldn’t help from getting affected by this. His expression morphed constantly as he gasped out, “Just...just what cultivation level have you reached?”

He couldn’t see through him! Lin Xun’s full power was incredibly frightening and had already exceeded his imagination.

How were they supposed to fight back?

If his hunch was correct, then the Zuo Clan was about to meet its destruction tonight!

When he came to that conclusion, Zuo Cen’s heart felt as if it had fallen into an abyss. Even in his dreams he couldn’t have imagined that a young man who had only been gone for slightly more than ten years would reach such a terrifying cultivation level.

“The Zuo Clan admits defeat!” Zuo Cen instantly made a decision and pleaded, “Lin Xun, as long as you give the Zuo Clan a path to live, no matter what sort of stipulations you set, we will complete them.”

Contrary to his expectations, Lin Xun readily nodded and said, “I have no desire to kill everyone today. I just want you all to make a choice.”

“Please go ahead.” A sliver of hope blossomed in Zuo Cen.

“The Zuo Clan will need to leave Jade Well Peak, exile themselves from the Forbidden City, and send the entire clan to the border battlefields of the empire in order to atone for their sins. No members of the Zuo Clan will ever be allowed back at the capital.”

“That’s impossible!” howled the still kneeling Zuo Weihai. This was truly sending their entire Zuo Clan to the brink of extinction, so how could they possibly agree?

“I haven’t finished yet.” Lin Xun calmly continued, “Other than those conditions, tonight, all of the higher ups of the Zuo Clan will need to sacrifice themselves. Only then can this debt be repaid.”

When they all heard this, everyone in the hall wanted to explode with fury. How could they not understand that Lin Xun was planning on fighting to the death?!

“Are there any other methods available besides this?” asked Zuo Cen after he inhaled deeply in an effort to stifle the bubbling anger inside him.

However, Lin Xun was merciless in his response, “No.”

“Forget it. Then let this old man go teach you a lesson. We’ll see whether you can truly back up your outlandish conditions or not!”

Zuo Cen’s eyes flashed with a divine light, and an imposing aura exploded from him.

“Only at the third longevity stage?” Lin Xun sneered. “I’ve already lost count of how many pieces of trash like you I’ve killed already. I can only say that you’re too clueless and naive.”

Bam!

Zuo Cen didn’t bother replying and instead began to act, using his strongest method right from the get go.

A palm print that was as bright as the sun pressed out from him, causing a loud roaring sound. It was extremely resplendent.

Many people were quite nervous at this point.

It had been so many years, and this was the first time many of them had seen Zuo Cen take action. They couldn’t help but hope that he’d be able to capture Lin Xun in one fell swoop and snatch them from the jaws of defeat.

But Lin Xun merely waved his sleeve when faced with such an astonishing attack. Following that, under the horrified gazes of all, the pillar of the Zuo Clan, Zuo Cen, turned into a pile of ash. He had died in the exact same way that the handsome man had!

The entire hall went lifelessly silent.

Even though there were still other king-level experts from the Zuo Clan remaining, they too had realized that the youth in front of them had long reached a level that they could only despair at!

Discouragement spread throughout the hall like a massive tidal wave.

Zuo Weihai was almost out of his mind as he muttered, “This can’t be possible...this can’t be possible...”

“Is there really anything that is impossible in this world? It’s time to end this now.”

As soon as Lin Xun finished, resplendent sword qi burst out from him.

Swish!

With a light wave, all of the heads in the great hall fell down!

No matter whether it was the people kneeling on the ground like Zuo Weihai or the old monsters at the king-level, one sweep of the sword qi was enough to behead them all!

This was the effect of the Taixuan sword qi that Lin Xun had been nurturing all this time. The edge of the sword qi was magnificent and like none other!

When Lin Xun walked out of this towering hall that represented the greatest power within the Zuo Clan a sea of fire suddenly erupted and engulfed it.

With his hands behind his back, he stood in front of the inferno as his robes fluttered. He gazed at the distant night sky with an expression that was as calm and tranquil as it was when he first arrived.

This was because the reckoning had just begun!