Three years ago, Ye Chen's spine was brutally extracted. How could he possibly still be alive?
"Vile wretch, you destroyed my entire family!"
"Today is the day your Zhao Family dies!"
"I've even prepared a coffin for you!"
Ye Chen's voice was chillingly cold as he hurled the coffin from his shoulder straight onto the ground.
*Bang!*
It sounded like the King of Hell tolling the death bell!
The guests instinctively retreated, desperate to put as much distance as possible between themselves and this murderous aura, terrified of being caught in the crossfire.
By now, everyone realized that the rumors of the Zhao Family conspiring to murder the Ye family three years ago were entirely true!
Who would have thought that the Zhao Family's grand wedding day would feature such a thrilling spectacle?
"Whatever your name is—man or ghost! Since you dare show your face here, you must die!"
"All bodyguards, hear my command! Kill him!" Zhao Tingting shrieked with a hideous, distorted expression.
More than thirty bodyguards inside the hall immediately surged forward, surrounding Ye Chen. Every single one of them brandished lethal weapons, glaring at him with predatory eyes, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
A cold, disdainful sneer played at the corner of Ye Chen's lips.
Although these thirty-odd bodyguards were all in the Second-Grade Xiantian Realm—making them far stronger than the vast majority of martial artists who remained stuck in the First-Grade Houtian Realm—in Ye Chen's eyes, they were nothing more than a bunch of pathetic ants. No matter how many of them there were, it was completely useless!
In this world, martial arts were divided into nine grades.
First-Grade Houtian Realm, Second-Grade Xiantian Realm, Third-Grade Grandmaster Realm...
For most martial artists, opening the meridians to break through to the Xiantian Realm was no easy feat. Advancing and breaking through to even higher levels after reaching the Xiantian Realm was harder still.
"Ye, seeing so many people here, are you scared?"
"The fact that my Zhao Family has so many people break through to the Xiantian Realm is thanks to the blessings of your Ye family!"
"Hurry up and kneel before this young lady to beg for mercy, and perhaps I'll leave your corpse intact!" Zhao Tingting laughed triumphantly.
She figured that with so many people, killing Ye Chen would take no effort at all!
Hearing this, a flash of icy light cut across Ye Chen's eyes.
He instantly understood that these people from the Zhao Family must have used the spines of the Ye family members to breakthrough!
At this thought, boundless fury ignited within his body!
"You act as dogs for the Zhao Family—you shall all die!" Ye Chen declared in a bone-chilling voice.
"Brat, how dare you act so arrogant here! You're courting death!"
"Brothers, get him!"
The captain of the bodyguards yelled recklessly, fueled by some unknown source of courage.
"You—die!"
Ye Chen swept a single glance in his direction and raised a hand, pinching the empty air.
*Crack.*
The bodyguard captain's head was crushed and exploded by an invisible hand!
Blood and brains splattered across the faces of the surrounding bodyguards.
At this sight, the expressions of the thirty-odd bodyguards altered drastically!
Every single guest present was struck dumb with shock!
This punk could casually crush a Xiantian Realm expert to death with a wave of his hand!
Could it be that he was already a Grandmaster Realm powerhouse?!
The thirty-odd bodyguards exchanged glances, their bravado instantly faltering as cold sweat trickled down.
"Hurry up and attack this young lady! Cripple him!"
"There are so many of you, what are you afraid of?!" Zhao Tingting braced her body and commanded furiously.
She believed that relying on sheer numbers, nothing could possibly go wrong.
Not far behind her, two sharp-eyed men had already let their expressions sink into a grim scowl.
"Let's go!"
The bodyguards had no choice but to bite the bullet and charge forward.
"Ants, die!"
Ye Chen stamped his foot.
*Boom!*
The immense shockwave shattered the floor tiles. Fragments of stone shot outward amidst a violent blast of true qi, piercing through the bodies of the surrounding circle of bodyguards like bullets.
Thirty-odd bodyguards annihilated in the blink of an eye!
The guests in attendance silently backed away another few meters.
This young man was truly terrifying beyond measure!
Yet, even if this punk possessed the strength of a Grandmaster, to dare slaughter the people of the Zhao Family—wasn't his audacity a bit too immense?
With the Zhao Family's might, killing this punk should be no difficult task.
"This, this..."
"You dare slaughter my Zhao Family's people? You're walking your own path to destruction, Ye!"
"Left and Right Guardians, I beg you to make your move!" Zhao Tingting was so terrified she was left gaping in disbelief.
Thirty Xiantian Realm bodyguards had proved utterly useless!
They had no choice now but to let the two Guardians step in!
The moment her voice fell, the two Guardians standing at the back flickered, their figures vanishing and reappearing at the front. Their speed was as swift as phantoms.
Both Guardians appeared to be around fifty years old, glaring at Ye Chen with vicious, sinister expressions.
Ye Chen remained utterly indifferent.
Just two more people delivering themselves up to die!
The spectators retreated yet another few meters, desperate not to be caught in the collateral damage when the fighting started.
The Zhao Family's two Guardians possessed the strength of the Grandmaster Realm Consummation!
When a Grandmaster strikes, how terrifying is the devastation?
"Left and Right Guardians, execute him immediately!" Zhao Tingting shrieked her furious command.
The Left and Right Guardians, both at the Grandmaster Realm Consummation, were the very foundation upon which the Zhao Family had established its foothold in Jiangbei City.
A triumphant smirk crept across Zhao Tingting's enraged face.
This remnant of the Ye family was doomed!
"Brat, reached the Grandmaster Realm, have you?"
"You dare come here to run wild, treating us as if we don't exist?" The Left and Right Guardians threatened in cold voices.
Two against one—the outcome was without a shadow of a doubt!
"Heh, courting death."
Ye Chen sneered with utter contempt.
They called him a Grandmaster?
Poor eyesight coupled with utter ignorance of the vastness of heaven and earth!
"Ignorant child! Prepare to die!"
The Left and Right Guardians soared forward, launching their attacks simultaneously. The moment they moved, they unleashed lethal techniques designed to take a life.
Ye Chen stood his ground without changing expression, seemingly having no intention of retaliating.
"Given up resisting? Then drop dead!"
The Left and Right Guardians flashed right up to Ye Chen, unleashing their fatal blows.
"Two lackeys of the Zhao Family—die!"
Ye Chen thrust out both fists, meeting the two Guardians in a head-on collision.
No—the opponents were entirely unqualified to collide with him head-on.
This was pure, unadulterated obliteration.
*Boom!*
Before the Left and Right Guardians could even touch Ye Chen's body, they were blasted flying backward by a single punch!
Every bone and tendon in their bodies shattered to pieces!
They slammed into the ground, convulsed twice, and instantly breathed their last.
At this sight, a dead silence fell over the entire grand hall.
Even Grandmaster Realm experts could be casually exterminated—could the strength of this young man possibly surpass even the Grandmaster Realm?!
"No, this is impossible!"
Zhao Tingting's mind completely short-circuited in sheer stupidity.
How could the Grandmaster Realm Left and Right Guardians be defeated just like that?!
Right as she stood there panic-stricken and appalled, Ye Chen's figure flickered, and he materialized directly in front of her.
"Vile wretch, it's your turn to die!" Ye Chen said in a freezing voice.
"Y-you, what are you going to do?"
"Get away from me, don't come any closer!" Zhao Tingting was out of her mind with fright, scrambling backward across the floor in a frantic, undignified crawl.
But since her body was already injured, she couldn't run even if she wanted to.
The murderous aura emanating from the man before her made her feel a terror originating from the deepest depths of her soul.
"Nothing much. Just killing you."
Ye Chen's gaze remained glacial.
He reached out and grabbed the empty air.
An invisible hand clamped around Zhao Tingting's neck, lifting her straight up into the air.
Ye Chen didn't want to touch this woman's body with his own hands—he found her filthy!
"Cough, cough... Save me..."
Suspended in mid-air, Zhao Tingting frantically clawed at her own neck with both hands, trying to pry open the invisible grip.
Yet, being merely in the Second-Grade Xiantian Realm, she possessed zero power to fight back.
The terror of death brought on by suffocation made her whole body tremble violently.
Before long, an unspeakable fluid soaked straight through her dress, trickling down her legs to the floor.
The guests watching from below erupted into an uproar.
The glamorous, high-society eldest miss of the Zhao Family had been reduced to such a disgraceful spectacle, actually pissing herself in terror in public!
Everyone present became even more certain: Ye Chen could project true qi externally and seize objects across a distance. Without a doubt, he was undoubtedly a master surpassing the Grandmaster Realm!
"Save me..."
"I beg the various noble families to step in and save me! The Zhao Family will never treat you all ungenerously!"
Zhao Tingting had long since cast aside all notions of maintaining her dignity. The primal instinct for survival drove her to exhaust every ounce of her strength, begging the other families to rescue her.
Right now, her Zhao Family's bodyguards and two Guardians were all dead; she had no hired muscle left to command.
At these words, the guests below instantly broke into whispered discussions.
Some families genuinely wanted to step in and help, yet they remained intensely wary of Ye Chen's terrifying strength. After all, this punk had effortlessly slaughtered the Zhao Family's Guardians!
"Let's see which family has a death wish and wants to stand out."
"I'll make my ugly words clear right now: anyone who acts in collusion with the Zhao Family shares the Zhao Family's crimes."
"A dead end for every last one of you!" Ye Chen turned back, his cold gaze sweeping across the entire room as he issued a stern warning.
He knew that the crowd standing here wasn't entirely composed of innocent bystanders. When the Ye family was framed and murdered back then, many among these people must have clapped their hands in glee and profited from the fallout.
Today, if anyone dared step forward to back the Zhao Family—one by one, counting every single soul—they would die!
"Don't let this bastard scare you!"
"Save me! As long as the Zhao Family doesn't fall, we will never treat you ungenerously!" Zhao Tingting pleaded tearfully once more.
In her heart, she thought: *If I can just buy a little more time, Father will get the news and rush over to save me soon!*
The guests below stirred in a fresh wave of commotion.
The Zhao Family was already a first-rate family in Jiangbei City and was destined to become the most powerful family in Jiangbei; the benefits they could offer other families were simply too immense!
Faced with such alluring profits, there would always be fools fearless of death.
"Punk, our Qian Family looks down on you!"
"Hurry up and release Miss Zhao!"
"Otherwise, don't blame the Qian Family for being discourteous!"
An elderly man stepped forward. He was the head of the Qian Family.
The Qian Family could rightly be called a first-rate family in Jiangbei City. Right behind him followed two masked men—the Qian Family's two Guardians, who were also Grandmasters.
"That's right! What are you acting so arrogant about here, punk?"
"Does our Li Family look like we're afraid of you?"
Another man stepped forward—the head of the first-rate Li Family, similarly flanked by two Grandmaster bodyguards.
"And our Zhou Family!"
"Jiangbei City isn't a place where a mere remnant of the Ye family can stir up the heavens!"
The head of the Zhou Family also stepped forward, bringing along two Grandmaster powerhouses.
Together with the Zhao Family, they were the Four Great Families of Jiangbei City! They controlled the vast majority of Jiangbei City's wealth and held absolute ruling power.
How could they ever tolerate an arrogant junior coming to challenge their authority?
"Our Wu Family joins in too!"
"Our Zheng Family joins as well..."
Immediately following them, a portion of the second-rate and even third-rate families of Jiangbei City stepped forward to voice their support for the Zhao Family.
A quick glance revealed over a dozen families.
They figured that with safety in numbers, obliterating this punk should be easy! They had to muscle their way in to curry favor with the Zhao Family.
The second-rate families could barely scrape together Grandmaster-level powerhouses, while the third-rate families could only deploy ordinary Xiantian Realm experts.
In the blink of an eye, twenty to thirty experts had emerged, vowing to make an enemy of Ye Chen.
Of course, a portion of the families maintained their composure and refused to align with the Zhao Family. These were the truly clever ones.
"Hahaha, did you see that, punk? Everyone wants you dead!"
"You're dead for sure! Hurry up and release this young lady!" Zhao Tingting immediately burst into a triumphant, vicious laugh.
With so many people, they would easily crush this remnant of the Ye family!
"Heh, you people really do have guts."
"Are there any others who want to step forward and deliver their heads?"
Ye Chen let out a disdainful, cold chuckle, paying zero mind to this crowd.
Let them come as many as they liked; since they had colluded with the Zhao Family, none of their deaths would be unjust!
"Brat, stop running your mouth so arrogantly!"
"Everyone attack together and kill this kid!" the head of the Qian Family ordered with a sinister smile.
The heads of the other participating families echoed his cry in unison.
A swarm of experts immediately closed in around him.
"Vile wretch, I'll let you live a few more seconds just to watch the fate of these people!"
Ye Chen flicked his wrist casually, tossing Zhao Tingting aside. With a single bound, he calmly moved to engage the thirty-plus experts.
"Kill him!"
"Chop him into pieces, mince him into meat paste!"
"Whoever takes this punk's head will be heavily rewarded!" Zhao Tingting shrieked frantically from where she lay sprawled on the ground, her face twisted in savagery.
A swarm of experts moved instantly, brandishing their ultimate techniques as they lunged at Ye Chen.
With so many hands, this kid was bound to die!
Ye Chen's expression darkened, and the murderous intent radiating from his body surged another layer.
Since they refused to listen to warnings, they could die.
He flashed forward and struck, his figure vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye.
"Ah!"
"Aah..."
Immediately following, one miserable scream after another echoed from the Grandmaster Realm experts. One body after another flew backward through the air, perishing instantly!
What Grandmaster Realm experts? Before Ye Chen, they were as fragile as paper, utterly incapable of putting up a fight.
They didn't even get the chance to react before their lives were snuffed out in a flash, passing away without pain.
At this sight, the smug, triumphant expressions on the faces of Zhao Tingting and the various family heads slowly faded away.
Replaced in an instant by unprecedented shock and terror!
Was this kid even human?!
Ten-odd seconds later.
The thirty-odd so-called experts lay sprawled across the ground in twisted heaps.
As Zhao Tingting and the cluster of family heads took in the sight, their faces had long since drained of color, utterly incapable of believing that the scene before their eyes was real.
The spectating guests were struck with even greater horror, not daring to draw a single heavy breath.
A whole group of Grandmaster Realm experts—and they were this utterly fragile?!
"Your turn!"
Ye Chen's cold gaze swept over the gathered family heads who had stepped forward.
Before his voice had even faded, he struck.
That group of prominent, high-and-mighty family heads who ruled over everything didn't even get the chance to run before perishing beneath Ye Chen's palm.
It took very little time—not even five seconds.
The surviving guests stared in utter dumbfounded silence.
The major families of Jiangbei City... were just gone, just like that?!
Ye Chen flashed back onto the stage, his expression serene, as if nothing at all had happened.
"I—I was wrong!"
"I beg you to spare my life, don't kill me! You can make me a beast of burden, anything!"
"Please, I can satisfy any demand you have!"
Zhao Tingting crashed to her knees with a heavy thud!
Trembling violently, she kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic.
She couldn't fathom that Ye Chen could grow to such an unimaginably terrifying degree!
"You aren't qualified to live."
"The fate of everyone in your Zhao Family will be just like these lackeys." Ye Chen replied in a chilling voice.
He raised his hand, preparing to send Zhao Tingting on her way to the netherworld.
"No, don't kill me!"
"Brother Ye Chen, I was entirely coerced by others back then into doing those things to wrong you!"
"Spare my life, and from this day forward I'll be your woman! Everything I have, including my body, belongs to you!" Zhao Tingting begged in a panic.
Desperate for a path to survival, she actually resorted to her ultimate skill, attempting to seduce Ye Chen with charm.
*Rip!* With a sharp tear, she ripped apart the wedding dress on her body.
Her ample curves and slender figure were exposed almost entirely to the open air. To survive, she didn't hesitate to sell her charms in public.
The guests below instantly locked their eyes onto her.
Although half of the Zhao Family miss's face had been corroded by sulfuric acid, making it incomparably hideous, such an alluring and exquisite body was simply too mouth-watering!
Which man could look at that and not feel tempted?
"Bah, disgusting."
"Even a dog would turn its nose up at a filthy woman like you."
"Go to hell."
Nothing but disgust registered on Ye Chen's face. Even an unblemished Zhao Tingting stripping naked to seduce him wouldn't arouse the slightest bit of interest in him.
After all, before descending the mountain, he had already conquered Xue Ji, his peerlessly beautiful master.
Trash like Zhao Tingting wasn't even a fart compared to Xue Ji!
The moment his words fell, Ye Chen brought his hand down in a palm strike through the empty air.
*Crack.*
Zhao Tingting's terrified face froze as her skull shattered, killing her instantly!
A wretched way to die!
The guests below were struck dumb with shock once more.
Right now, their hearts trembled with dread. They were all privately rejoicing that they hadn't stepped out to support the Zhao Family just a moment ago.
Otherwise, they would be peacefully lying on the ground right alongside her at this very moment.
"Tingting!"
At that exact instant, a shrill cry and a hoarse shout rang out simultaneously from the entrance of the grand hall.
A gorgeously dressed matron rushed in frantically, screaming at the top of her lungs. Beside her strode an elderly man in a tailored Western suit and tie.
Trailing closely behind the pair were forty to fifty people.
The arrivals were none other than Zhao Tingting's mother and father.
"Daughter! My daughter!"
Zhao Tingting's mother rushed frantically onto the stage. Upon laying eyes on her tragically murdered daughter, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
Clasping her daughter's corpse in her arms, she wailed in agonizing grief.
"Brat, you dare kill my daughter!"
"I'll have you die for this!!!"
When Zhao Hongda, head of the Zhao Family, laid eyes on his daughter's tragic death and took in the devastated scene around him, his expression distorted savagely, murderous intent blazing in his eyes!
How could this remnant of the Ye family possibly still be alive?!
And not only was he alive, but he had committed such an unforgivable atrocity!
"You murdered my daughter—you deserve to die a thousand deaths!"
"What are you all standing around for?! Hurry up and kill him!" Zhao Mother completely lost her emotional composure upon seeing her precious daughter slaughtered, shrieking hysterically as she gave the order.
"Since you miss your daughter so much, I'll send you to join her."
"Die!"
Ye Chen let out a cold huff, then raised his hand and swept it through the empty air.
Not a single soul in the Zhao Family was a good person; they all deserved to die!
*Slap!*
Zhao Mother's heavily made-up face took the full brunt of a vicious, resounding slap.
Her entire body flew sideways through the air, crashing down right in front of Zhao Hongda, expiring on the spot!
Her eyes bulged wide, frozen in a look of profound grievance and eternal regret as she died with her eyes open!
"My wife!"
Zhao Hongda's eyes bulged in utter disbelief.
In the blink of an eye, even his wife was dead!
"Ye Chen! You deserve to die!"
"Attack! Tear this punk into a thousand pieces!" Zhao Hongda roared through gnashed teeth, his eyes burning red with unmitigated hatred!
The agony of losing both his daughter and his wife set his fury ablaze, driving him nearly insane.
The forty-odd people who had rushed in behind him hesitated slightly upon receiving the family head's command.
Because they could clearly see the pile of corpses littering the floor.
Weren't those all the Grandmaster Realm powerhouses from the various families?!
With so many people dead, could they possibly have all been killed by this punk?
How was that even remotely possible? Just how terrifyingly powerful did this kid have to be to deal with so many people?!
"What are you standing around for? Get on him, now!"
"With so many of you, are you actually afraid of this little punk?!" Zhao Hongda bellowed furiously.
"Let's go!"