According to Great Ming’s customs, they should bow thrice before standing up after being excused. As most of them were about to do that, a powerful burst of willpower erupted somewhere in the city.

At the same time.

Zhu Tiandao and a few other individuals moved at the same time. Zhu Tiandao released his massive palm and reached toward a nearby kneeling expert. The Sunmoon had kneeled a tad bit too late.

That Sunmoon was alarmed. He knew something wasn't right! But he had never expected Zhu Tiandao to attack out of nowhere.

A gigantic pagoda appeared in the sky and descended upon them. Incomparably powerful willpower undulations were being released by the pagoda.

Earlier, everyone around this Sunmoon had kneeled, leaving him the only person standing in the area. He had only dropped to one knee after a slight delay. This rule of etiquette was not something outsiders knew about. Even if one knew about it, a Sunmoon was not the type to easily bend their knees.

And thus, Zhu Tiandao's attack came. A palm descended from the sky.

Rumble!

Some of the nearby kneeling masses were sent flying away, but Zhu Tiandao was too busy to do anything about that. In the sky, the Hundred Dao Pagoda continued its attack.

A pop rang out.

Something seemed to have been instantly torn apart. Most people only saw some cracks appearing in the air without knowing what had happened. Only the experts were able to see how the pagoda had instantly stabbed through a Sunmoon's sea of willpower. The whole thing had happened instantly.

At the same time, a different hidden Sunmoon was trapped within a bubble by Niu Baidao. The bubble soared into the air, allowing three Sunmoons to attack the trapped Sunmoon together.

The trapped Sunmoon was instantly blasted into pieces. In less than a second, two Sunmoons had perished. Two moons dropped from the sky, signifying the deaths of two Sunmoons.

At that moment, two other hidden Sunmoons started fleeing. They didn't even have the courage to stay and fight.

Damn it! They had actually been detected! Two Sunmoon had been killed!

Zhu Tiandao pursued one of the two escaping Sunmoons while Niu Baidao pursued the other.

Five Sunmoons had instantly appeared. One hidden Sunmoon remained kneeling amid the crowd, not daring to move despite his shock.

They had been detected. How did that happen? What about him? Did Great Ming know about him as well?

The four exposed Sunmoons were the ones who had either not kneeled or hesitated before kneeling. Meanwhile, he had kneeled almost immediately. He was lucky as an old man near him was talking about the same topic at the time so he was already aware of what to do.

So had he been exposed or not? Everything had happened so suddenly. Zhu Tiandao had attacked out of nowhere. None of them were even prepared for it. The prefect had joined hands with the other Sunmoons to eliminate these Sunmoons before they could retaliate.

Even Su Yu was caught by complete surprise. The only thing he saw was the air warping before two moons started dropping from the sky. The next thing he saw was Zhu Tiandao, Niu Baidao, and a few other Sunmoons attacking two unknown Sunmoons.

Everything had happened too quickly.

Meanwhile, the last hidden Sunmoon was getting more and more anxious. He had to do something. Zhu Tiandao might have detected him as well. It was possible that he was simply being left alone while they dealt with the others.

"We need to capture Su Yu and use him as a hostage or we won't survive this!"

That was a message transmission he sent to his people. Abruptly, a dozen figures rushed out of the crowd toward Su Yu. These were all Mountainseas. They had all been alarmed by the abrupt change as well.

As Mountainseas, they were able to quickly recover from their shock and do something to ensure their survival. But their safety wouldn't be guaranteed even if they could take Zhu Hongliang hostage. Su Yu was a far more valuable hostage.

And at the moment, there were no longer any Sunmoons around Su Yu. Of course, there were still a lot of Mountainseas around him. Seeing the new attackers, the commander from the Heavenly Dao Army commanded, "Kill!"

Dozens of soldiers flew out and faced the cultists. Battles broke out all over the city.

While all that was happening, Su Yu remained standing in his original spot. Not one person could approach him. After ordering his subordinates to attack, the final Sunmoon dove underground instead of attacking. Yes, he was fleeing.

As for his plan to capture Su Yu...bullshit! At the moment, fleeing was his sole objective. Meanwhile, the visiting Sunmoons outside the city finally realized what was happening. They weren't even able to react.

One of them was about to move when Zhu Tiandao's cold voice rang out, "None of you are allowed to enter the city."

Only then did they understand the meaning behind Zhu Tiandao's words earlier. They were not allowed to enter the city before one hour was up. Anyone entering at this time would be treated as an enemy.

"Prefect Zhu, we can help..."

"Don't enter the city."

Zhu Tiandao's voice became even colder than before. With the Hundred Dao Pagoda, he did not take long to seriously injure the Sunmoon he was pursuing. Meanwhile, Niu Baidao and the other Sunmoons were attacking the second enemy Sunmoon.

They were too occupied to deal with the final enemy Sunmoon. The final Sunmoon was overjoyed when he noticed that. They were all ignoring him!

At this moment, Administrator Hu said, "Guys, there's one over there. Let's deal with him after he leaves the city..."

In his attempt to escape as fast as possible, the enemy Sunmoon was no longer trying to hide his presence.

Administrator Hu had barely spoken those words when a door appeared in front of the escaping enemy Sunmoon. A white-haired old man stepped through the door. While clenching his teeth, he grumbled, "This skill of mine is still imperfect. Why are they making me do this? Damn it!"

Boom!

The escaping Sunmoon ran right through the door. The air around the door started warping violently.

Hu Xiansheng started suppressing the door, but he couldn't stop himself from coughing blood. He roared in alarm, "Someone, help me with this! Damn it, this is a third-stage Sunmoon! I can't suppress him! The door is exploding!"

"It's the Teleportation Door!"

Someone exclaimed in alarm.

That was an incomplete Teleportation Door with no destination at the other end of the door. The enemy had actually been trapped inside this door. Right when Hu Xiansheng was about to reach his limit, an old man and an old woman appeared beside him. Both looked relieved at the fact that they had arrived in time. The old man instantly set up a formation around the door.

As for the old woman, she was none other than the woman surnamed Hu in charge of running the Super Sensory Jade.

She said, "Blow the door up. Blow it up with him inside..."

"You dare?" Hu Xiansheng was furious. But he quickly changed his tone, "I can allow that for a payment of a million merit points."

He had spent all his life savings building this door. How could he blow it up without compensation?

Someone answered, "I'll pay."

Right after hearing that, Hu Xiansheng howled, "Blow it up!"

The one who had offered to pay was Su Yu. The rich kid had spoken.

Boom!

The door blew apart and a tear appeared in the air. A badly injured figure dropped out of it. The Sunmoon tried to escape, but he was immediately stopped by a formation. Then, a furnace appeared and trapped the Sunmoon inside.

Cultural weapon!

That was the old woman's cultural weapon. Fire started burning inside the furnace as the old woman activated one character after another. She was burning a Sunmoon like she was refining materials for weapon smithing.

"Ahhhhhhh! Hu Qi! Why are you still alive? You will suffer a miserable death for this!"

The burning Sunmoon wailed miserably.

"You're still alive! Hu Qi, you're too cruel!"

The old woman panted with exhaustion as she said, "I'm not going to die anytime soon. Today, I shall forge a weapon with the flesh of a Sunmoon to forge my final creation."

The old woman coughed one mouthful of blood after another, but the fire in the furnace continued raging.

Rumble!

Inside the furnace, the Sunmoon struggled madly, creating one explosion after another. The furnace trembled violently, but the Sunmoon remained inside. While this was happening, the old man was controlling the formation, concentrating its effect around the furnace. And finally, before Zhu Tiandao could even fully defeat his opponent, a moon dropped down from the sky above the old woman.

Dead.

This was the third Sunmoon to perish today. Administrator Hu had a surprised expression as he looked at the distant old woman. He called out, "Aunt Hu Qi..."

The old woman glanced at him before proceeding to ignore him.

"Aunt..."

The old woman left with her furnace, not giving Administrator Hu the chance to say more. As for the old man, he headed toward Su Yu.

Hu Xiansheng, who had just detonated his expensive door, was busy asking, "Kid, did you mean your words?"

He had detonated the Teleportation Door! The old woman wouldn't have been able to kill that Sunmoon so easily otherwise.

"Yes."

Su Yu nodded. As he scanned the area, he couldn't help but laugh. Great Ming was truly interesting. Even with so many experts and the intense fights all over the city, not one enemy had been able to approach him.

Zhu Tiandao had indeed guaranteed his safety.

"Run!"

One of the cult Mountainseas yelled in fear. A Sunmoon was here. The two surviving enemy Sunmoons were also getting very anxious. Everything had happened way too quickly. They weren't even able to react.

Three of them had died in the blink of an eye.

High in the sky, Zhu Tiandao grinned. This was a complete victory. As for the Sunmoon he was fighting, it was only a matter of time before this Sunmoon was killed as well.

Just as Zhu Tiandao was about to deal the finishing blow to his opponent, Zhu Tiandao's expression changed. The same happened to all the Sunmoons in the area. A portal had appeared in the sky.

A massive palm emerged from the tear in the sky and tossed three characters out. The characters turned into three faceless figures before charging straight toward Su Yu.

Three additional Sunmoons. Or to be precise, these were three character clones with the combat strength of Sunmoons.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Damn it!"

Zhu Tiandao was furious. He could no longer afford to hold back. In his anger, he started activating his main character. How brazen.

Great Xia had warned him about this, but he believed that this hidden enemy would not dare to make a move in Great Ming. Alas, reality proved that this hidden enemy was indeed that brave.

Damn it!

His main character shone brightly in preparation to exterminate the three clones. But right at that moment, another portal appeared in the sky. A man stepped out with a saber in hand.

With an expressionless face, the newcomer said, "I've been waiting for you."

Whoosh!

The saber was swung.

And the three character clones were instantly destroyed.

The saber wielder glanced at Su Yu before creating another portal in the air with a swing of his saber. While stepping into the tear, his voice rang out, "Great Xia is buying the Source Soul Acupoint Opening Art as well. As for the three academies, feel free to negotiate terms with them."

He vanished. Not long after his disappearance, numerous explosions erupted further away from the city. Blades could be seen streaking through the sky.

"Hmph!"

After a moment, a snort rang out from even further away. Xia Longwu reappeared with the same saber in his hand. A dissipating figure could be seen hanging on the blade.

"Seven character clones."

Xia Longwu indifferently said, "Interesting. Including what you lost previously, you have lost seven Sunmoon characters in total. You're very strong. But how many characters do you have to spare? The next time we meet, I'll be taking your head."

Not giving the final clone the chance to say anything, his saber aura erupted and blasted the clone apart.

Having dealt with the final clone, Xia Longwu looked in Tiandu's direction. With a cold expression, Zhu Tiandao slapped his opponent to death before facing Xia Longwu. Suns and moons revolved between them.

A smile of disdain formed on Xia Longwu's face as he said, "Zhu Tiandao, since you want to pretend to be a pig, just focus on that. You're not good enough when it comes to being a butcher."

He vanished into thin air, leaving only those words behind.