"Tianjiu, how long has it been since I last killed someone?"
On a torrential, rainy night, on the rooftop of the Huihao Building in Jiangzhou City, two figures stood one behind the other.
The former was Chu Tianhe, the Hall Master of the Pantheon. Under his command, the Twelve Heavenly Zodiacs fought in all directions, invincible and peerless. Each of them was a supreme powerhouse capable of overawing all opposition!
Standing behind Chu Tianhe was his personal bodyguard, Tianjiu of the Twelve Heavenly Zodiacs.
At this moment, Chu Tianhe's voice was icy cold, his gaze fixed on the distance, as if every single word exuded bone-chilling killing intent!
"It has... been many years."
Tianjiu's body trembled slightly, a fine layer of cold sweat already beading on his forehead.
He knew that deep within Chu Tianhe's heart, that long-sealed killing intent was about to awaken once again!
And what caused all this were the several voice messages that had just arrived on his phone!
"Tianhe, I had no choice, they forced me!"
"My family drove me out, our daughter fell gravely ill, I needed money, I had no choice!!"
"They forced me into naked loans, took photos, and even recorded videos, and finally a dozen people locked me in a room, taking turns to humiliate and torture me for three days!"
"I am a tainted woman, I am no longer worthy of you, and I cannot go on living. I only beg you to take good care of Yaoyao and save her!"
The voice messages were sent by Chu Tianhe's fiancée, Qin Xiaorou. But at the time, Chu Tianhe was away on the northern frontier. Upon receiving the news, he rushed back to Jiangzhou immediately, yet he was still a step too late—Qin Xiaorou had already perished!
"Xiaorou must have jumped from right here."
Chu Tianhe took a slow step forward, walking out into the pouring rain. His eyes were bloodshot, and the killing intent sealed away for years surged back into his mind. A bloodthirsty Demon was awakening inside Chu Tianhe!
Tianjiu knew that Chu Tianhe was deliberately suppressing his anger, holding back the frantic killing intent in his heart that threatened to burst forth at any moment.
For the moment that killing intent was unleashed, the entire Jiangzhou City would turn into a living hell, blood would flow into rivers, and not a single soul in Jiangzhou would survive—they would all have to be buried with Qin Xiaorou!
"Thud!"
Unable to withstand the pent-up killing intent radiating from Chu Tianhe any longer, Tianjiu dropped to one knee right behind him. Even the decisive and ruthless Tianjiu found his body trembling uncontrollably.
Perhaps others had no idea what Chu Tianhe looked like when he unleashed his killing intent, but the Twelve Heavenly Zodiacs, who had always followed him, knew all too well!
That year, driven by overwhelming fury, Chu Tianhe had charged alone into enemy lines, single-handedly wiping out an entire enemy division—a full thirty thousand men!
The most terrifying part was that not a single one of those thirty thousand corpses was left intact. When the Twelve Heavenly Zodiacs arrived, Chu Tianhe was sitting atop a hill piled high with corpses, smoking a cigarette alone, his entire body drenched in blood like an Asura Demon just crawled out of hell, enough to freeze the blood in anyone's veins.
"I once believed there was light in this world, and I was willing to become the light, illuminating the path for humanity. But wherever there is light, there are always shadows, and hidden beneath this brilliance is endless darkness!"
Chu Tianhe muttered to himself, sounding as though he were speaking to Tianjiu, yet also to himself. As his voice trailed off, he slowly reached out his hand, letting the rain beat against his palm.
The next moment, Chu Tianhe touched the wrist of his right hand!
At the sight of this movement, Tianjiu's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out, "Hall Master, no!"
"I will avenge the Lady myself, subordinate will make those people wish they were dead. Please, do not remove the restraining band!"
Terror filled Tianjiu's eyes!
Tianjiu—a man who had dominated the battlefield, slaughtered countless enemies, accumulated immense military exploits, and practically stood at the pinnacle of kingship—was now scared out of his wits by a single gesture from Chu Tianhe.
The restraining band was a suppressor used to hold back the overly powerful ancient martial qi within the body!
Because of the rise of ancient martial arts, every few hundred meters on every street and alley across the Great Xia Country, there was an electronic monitor for ancient martial qi. Once an ancient martial artist's qi exceeded level 30, an alarm would sound, and enforcement officers would immediately arrive to monitor them.
If the ancient martial qi exceeded level 60, they would be listed as super-dangerous individuals, and personnel from the War Department's Divine Martial Guards would step in to monitor them, subduing them at the slightest sign of malicious intent.
As for exceeding level 90, if they were not state personnel, they would be subdued on the spot, either forced to join the military to serve the country or placed under strict control and fitted with a restraining band!
Of course, Chu Tianhe's restraining band had not been forced upon him; he had chosen to wear it voluntarily for the sake of the woman he loved, wishing to avoid further bloodshed.
Tianjiu did not dare to imagine what consequences would follow if Chu Tianhe removed that band!
"I will not allow anyone to interfere with Xiaorou's vengeance!"
Faced with Tianjiu's plea, Chu Tianhe merely turned his head and cast an icy glance at him.
That terrifying gaze revealed extreme killing intent, its depth resembling the netherworld prison, sweeping past with the might of a thousand wailing ghosts and weeping spirits, earth-shattering in its fury!
This was the coercive aura Chu Tianhe had forged through countless bloody battles in purgatory-like arenas. It was definitely not something an ordinary person could withstand. A single glance left Tianjiu trembling all over, forcing him to quickly look away, not daring to meet his sovereign's gaze!
"Hall Master, please reconsider!"
Tianjiu knelt on the ground, pleading bitterly, but it was all in vain.
"Snap!"
With a crisp sound, Chu Tianhe snapped the restraining band directly!
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."
As the band shattered, centered on Chu Tianhe's location, the sound of ancient martial monitors exploding echoed through the streets and alleys of Jiangzhou City, one after another in an endless stream!
The maximum detection range of the monitors was level 999. Across the entire Great Xia Country, those capable of reaching such a value could be counted on one hand. Yet Chu Tianhe's combat power far surpassed the limit of the monitors, causing a power overload that shattered every single ancient martial monitor in Jiangzhou City!
And as the band was removed, the bloodthirsty Demon sealed deep within Chu Tianhe's heart finally awakened!
In the dark night, bloodshot pupils flashed with a ghostly blue killing intent!
"Have the people who forced Xiaorou to her death been found?"
A peal of thunder crashed across the dark clouds, the lightning's glare illuminating the ferocious and terrifying expression on Chu Tianhe's face!
"They have. It's Li Chengze, the young master of the Huihao Corporation!"
Tianjiu did not dare to hesitate in the slightest, hurriedly reporting back.
"Where is he?"
"Tianhong Club!"
"Get the car!"
Chu Tianhe's simple words opened the curtain on a slaughter!
The Demon King had awakened, and Jiangzhou was about to become a living hell!
***
Tianhong Club!
In the basement, a little girl curled up in the corner, covered in blood, with the distinct marks of medical equipment having been forcibly torn away still visible on her arm. She was none other than Chu Tianhe's daughter, Chu Yunyao!
"Spit..."
At that moment, Li Chengze took a swig of vodka and spat the liquor onto the leather whip in his hand, then lashed out fiercely at the little girl.
"Slap!"
With a single lash, her flesh split open, and the little girl trembled all over in pain.
"Mommy, Mommy, save me." The little girl looked around the cold room with helpless eyes, her heart filled with despair.
"Mommy? Your mommy jumped off a building and killed herself!"
Li Chengze roared angrily, lashing out with another whip stroke as he shouted harshly, "She still owes me two hundred thousand that she hasn't paid back!"
"Damn it, didn't she just get played with by some men? To go and die over just that, what bad luck!"
Furious, Li Chengze lunged forward in a single stride, grabbed the little girl by the neck, and lifted her tiny body up into the air. "Your mommy owed me so much money, did she think dying meant she didn't have to pay it back?!"
"Today, I'll use you to settle the debt!"
Li Chengze's cruelty terrified the little girl. She struggled and writhed, trying to break free from his grip. However, Li Chengze's grip was too strong, and combined with her extremely weak condition and the two lashes she had already taken, how could she possibly break free? In her desperation, she opened her mouth and bit down hard on Li Chengze's hand!
"How dare you bite me, damn it!"
Cursing angrily, Li Chengze kicked the little girl right in the face, sending her head crashing violently against the floorboards!
"Slap!"
The next second, the whip in Li Chengze's hand lashed down fiercely upon the little girl's body!
The little girl's face was already covered in blood. Terrified and struggling, she backed away, her flesh torn open by the whip, screaming as she crawled toward the corner of the room!
At that moment, the little girl felt incomparable terror, struggling to dodge the leather whip in Li Chengze's hand, but she could not avoid it no matter how hard she tried. Blood and tears had already blurred her vision.
Seeing the little girl display such an expression, Li Chengze's face twisted into a morbid, manic grin. He was actually enjoying the pleasure brought by torturing others, even if the victim was only a four- or five-year-old child!
Li Chengze waved his hand and commanded, "Come on, tie her to the bed!"
"Young Master Li, the anesthetic hasn't arrived yet."
"This little girl is gravely ill; I had my men snatch her straight out of the ICU, and she's not going to last much longer. Why wait for anesthesia? Cut her open right now!"
A venomous look filled Li Chengze's eyes. He intended to cut her open alive and harvest whatever profitable organs he could from the little girl's body.
"Young Master Li, this... without anesthesia, if she flails around, it will damage the organs."
"Just hold her down tightly, the few of you! She's just a little girl who has starved for three days, she doesn't have much strength left!"
At Li Chengze's command, several of his subordinates pinned the little girl to the bed in the room, binding her hands and feet with ropes so she could not move at all.
"Uncle, please, don't use the knife... please." The little girl looked up with helpless eyes at the cold-hearted doctor standing before her, tears in her eyes as she made a pitiful plea.
"Get on with it, stop dawdling!"
Li Chengze cared nothing for that, urging the black-hearted doctor to cut immediately.
"Slash!"
The scalpel pierced the lower part of the little girl's throat, then precisely sliced downward in a straight line.
First came the sensation of icy cold spreading throughout her body, followed by the feeling of flesh tearing apart, and finally the pain transmitted by her nervous system.
For a moment, the little girl convulsed all over, crying out in agony, but it was all to no avail. Her limbs were held down ruthlessly by several burly men, her mouth was tightly muffled, and tears slid from the corners of her eyes.
"Daddy, Daddy, where are you? Come and save Yaoyao quickly."
"They killed Mommy, and now they want to kill Yaoyao too. Daddy, Yaoyao misses you!"
Days of starvation combined with severe illness left the little girl with no strength to struggle. She could only stare helplessly at the dim basement ceiling as tears silently fell from the corners of her eyes.
"Daddy, if Yaoyao dies, will she turn into a star in the sky? Will you be able to see Yaoyao?"
"Daddy, I love you. Mommy said you were the best person in the whole world."
"But Yaoyao is going to die, and she won't ever get to see Daddy again."
At this thought, the little girl closed her eyes in despair; she had completely given up struggling.
Yet at that very moment, a loud crash suddenly erupted from outside the door!
"Boom!"
The iron door of the basement was deformed severely from the impact, and the thugs guarding the entrance were tossed inside like sacks of sand.
"Bang!"
Before anyone could figure out what was happening, the black-hearted doctor who had been wielding the knife against the little girl was blasted backward as if struck by a cannonball. At the same time, his chest instantly caved inward, broken ribs piercing through his skin, leaving jagged white bone fragments exposed directly to the air in a horrifying display.
"I'm sorry, Daddy is late."
Seeing his daughter covered in wounds, her face bruised and lacerated, her chest cut open, and blood pooling on the ground, the fury in Chu Tianhe's heart erupted instantly like a volcano!
"Yaoyao is so happy, she finally got to see Daddy. Daddy, I... I love you."
At this point, the little girl was at her last gasp. She mustered her remaining strength to speak with extreme faintness, her voice barely audible, yet Chu Tianhe heard every single word clearly.
Then, the little girl stopped moving. Her stubbornly wide eyes lost their luster, her pupils began to dilate, and the breath of life rapidly faded away!
"Yaoyao!"
His daughter's final words on the brink of death turned out to be: "Daddy, I love you."
Those few words alone shattered the heart of Chu Tianhe—a man who had campaigned across battlefields for years with a heart of stone—causing two trails of bloody tears to stream down his face!
Guilt and fury rolled over him like a tidal wave!
"Yaoyao, don't sleep. Open your eyes and look at Daddy. It's Daddy's fault, Daddy came late. Don't sleep, please don't sleep."
Even when facing tens of thousands of enemy troops, Chu Tianhe had never been as nervous as he was now!
Damned, damned!
All of them damned! To treat Chu Tianhe's daughter like this, every single one of them deserved to die and go to hell!
Extreme rage flooded Chu Tianhe's brain, but he had no time to dwell on it. He placed his right hand gently upon his daughter's forehead, using the ancient martial qi within his own body to forcefully protect her heart meridian and sustain her life.
Right now, there was only a single conviction in his heart: save his daughter. No matter what, even if it cost him his own life, he had to keep her alive!
"What kind of people are you? Daring to barge into my private club—are you looking to die?!"
Seeing people suddenly burst in, Li Chengze was stunned at first, but quickly recovered his wits and began shouting arrogantly.
The Li Family was the leading family in Jiangzhou City; who would dare offend them? Doing so was simply seeking a dead end.
Having lived his life getting whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, Li Chengze was long accustomed to acting as a tyrant. Seeing someone barge into his turf and ruin his fun, he flew into an immediate rage.
"Damnable bastards!"
Seeing that the little princess had suffered such torture, Tianjiu couldn't suppress his burning fury. He moved to strike and end Li Chengze's life right then and there.
"Stop right there!"
Chu Tianhe's angry roar rang out instantly. Tianjiu's fist was already about to slam into Li Chengze's head when, hearing that command, he abruptly changed trajectory and smashed fiercely into the wall behind Li Chengze.
"Boom!"
The entire wall shattered into pieces instantly, a testament to the immense power contained within Tianjiu's punch!
"His life—I will take it with my own hands!"
***
As Chu Tianhe's words fell, his bloodshot eyes turned crimson red. His gaze slashed toward Li Chengze like sharp blades, and the aura of death radiating from his entire body made him look like an Asura Demon crawled straight out of hell. A single glance frightened Li Chengze into jelly, his legs turning to rubber as he nearly collapsed to his knees.
"Who the hell... are you?!"
"I am the young master of the Jiangzhou Li Family! If you dare touch a single hair on my head, our Li Family will have people kill you within minutes!"
Tianjiu's punch just now, along with Chu Tianhe's glare, had genuinely terrified Li Chengze. But after all, Li Chengze was the young master of the Li Family; in this era of awakening ancient martial arts, their family supported quite a few ancient martial artists, so he had seen some the world. Regaining his composure, Li Chengze shouted arrogantly once more, "So you know a bit of ancient martial arts, and now you think you're hot stuff, huh?"
"Let me tell you, our Li Family has money to burn, and we can crush you with it!"
"Damn it, our Li Family has ancient martial artists coming out of our ears!"
"What the hell is your Li Family?!"
Tianjiu furrowed his brow, gave a stern reprimand, and directly raised his hand to deliver a vicious slap across Li Chengze's face, sending him flying backward to crash heavily against the wall where he passed out cold.
"Hall Master, how should this person be dealt with?"
Having knocked Li Chengze out with a single slap, Tianjiu hurriedly turned around, dropped to one knee before Chu Tianhe, and asked for instructions.
"Carve him into a human stick, submerge him in a jar of wine, and let ten thousand venomous insects consume his flesh and gnaw his marrow!"
"Remember, he is not allowed to die until I say so!"
As his words finished, Chu Tianhe's gaze shifted back to his daughter. The ancient martial qi in his palm was operating frantically, desperately pumping life into his daughter's frail little body.
Yet even so, it could only temporarily maintain his daughter's heartbeat; the moment the flow of ancient martial qi stopped, her life would be snuffed out.
"Tianjiu, hand over your Jade Blood Heavenly Dew!"
Hearing this, Tianjiu did not dare to delay in the least. He immediately drew a small, emerald-green medicinal vial from his tunic and respectfully handed it to Chu Tianhe.
The Jade Blood Heavenly Dew was a miraculous external trauma medicine personally refined by Chu Tianhe. Each of the Twelve Heavenly Zodiacs had been awarded a vial for emergencies, usable for life-saving purposes, so Tianjiu naturally possessed one.
"Rise!"
With a flick of Chu Tianhe's left hand, a wooden box carved with archaic patterns appeared in his palm. Guided by the flick of his left fingertips, the silver needles within the box seemed to possess a soul, flashing with cold brilliance as they accurately pierced the major acupoints across his daughter's body.
Simultaneously, while continuing to channel ancient martial qi into his daughter with his right hand, Chu Tianhe used his left hand to lightly dip into the Jade Blood Heavenly Dew and dab it gently onto his daughter's wounds.
The next second, the knife wound across the little girl's chest began to heal rapidly, and her pale little face gradually regained a trace of color.
After a full three hours had passed, sweat completely soaking Chu Tianhe's forehead, he slowly withdrew his hand from his daughter's forehead.
"Hall Master, how is the little princess..." Tianjiu asked anxiously, watching the little girl lying on the bed.
"She's fine, but she will need some time to recuperate and won't wake up just yet."
Looking at his daughter's lovely face, a rare gentleness appeared in Chu Tianhe's eyes, an undisguised look of doting affection.