The scene was dead silent.
All eyes converged on this side.
"Am I only good for men to play with?"
As if searching for an answer, Mei Shiyun raised her eyes to look at the others.
Yet among them—whether Xuantian Sect disciples or the invited guests present—not a single person showed any pity for her plight.
Seeing expressions of near-agreement on their faces, Mei Shiyun froze.
She had never imagined that in the eyes of those men, she was viewed with such utter contempt.
Lin Hao raised his head and looked at Tang Chen, who stood in silence. "Otherwise, why do you think he only ever wanted you as a concubine rather than his proper wife?"
"Does he... truly cherish you, or does he simply want to sleep with you?"
Men always understand men best.
Lin Hao's words left Tang Chen with no room for argument.
Mei Shiyun lowered her head, her disheveled hair shadowing her tarnished cheeks. Crystal teardrops fell one by one onto the ground, and before long, she buried her face in her hands and wept.
"Today at the wedding banquet, you not only betrayed me but also insulted my sect with excessive words. I will not spare you."
"End it yourself, lest you dirty my hands."
With a flick of Lin Hao's finger, the sword at the waist of a Daotian Sect elder instantly shot out of its scabbard, dropping precisely onto the ground in front of Mei Shiyun.
Startled into a shiver, Mei Shiyun lifted her head in shock, still unable to believe that Lin Hao—the dog who had once been completely submissive and gone to such lengths to please her—could be so utterly ruthless today.
"Rumble!"
At that very moment, a series of thunderclaps suddenly erupted across the sky, startling everyone into raising their heads at once.
The ethereal sea of mist began to churn violently.
A vague, indistinct figure gradually descended from the clouds, radiating an oppressive and terrifying momentum that struck awe into the hearts of all present as it appeared before their eyes.
"Young Master, your subordinate is late! Please forgive this offense!"
The white-haired, white-bearded elder, dressed in magnificent robes, had barely manifested in this realm before he bowed deeply to apologize to Tang Chen.
In particular, the energy fluctuations radiating from the elder were vast to the extreme, powerful enough to shatter the very heavens and earth.
Even Lin Hao's expression turned grave at that moment.
Void-Breaking Realm Mid-Stage!
...
The mysterious elder's arrival cast a supreme spiritual pressure over the entire world.
Even Lin Hao was forced to treat him with utmost caution.
Beings like this supreme expert, descending from the heavens like an immortal, left the Xuantian Sect members looking ashen and suppressed to the point of immobility. Mei Shiyun, meanwhile, felt a wave of wild elation surge across her pretty face. "Lin Hao, you're finished! The Tang Sect experts have arrived!"
With such a mysterious elder backing him, Tang Chen straightened his posture, regaining his supreme pride as the Young Master of the Tang Sect. "Lin Hao, I must admit that your talent is truly astonishing—truly a rare sight in this world..."
"Yet of all things you should and should not have done... you should never have made an enemy of the Tang Sect!"
Tang Chen casually introduced him, "This is my guardian, Tang Yun."
Tang Yun.
Lin Hao's eyes narrowed slightly.
Ye Ling's legs turned weak under the elder's terrifying aura. "Father, what is that Tang Yun's cultivation level?"
"Void-Breaking Mid-Stage..."
Ye Liuyun swallowed hard, struggling to force the words out.
Void-Breaking Realm Mid-Stage?!
At these words, the crowd turned pale with shock.
Above the Divine Storage realm lies the Return to Void realm.
Those in the Return to Void realm can condense a Void Seal within their Qi Sea while absorbing vast amounts of worldly spiritual energy for their own use.
As for the Void-Breaking realm, it involves condensing that Void Seal into a Void Mansion, allowing it to accumulate and store external spiritual power over time...
The sheer volume of their personal spiritual energy is a rarity in this world!
Experts of this caliber normally existed only in legends.
Who could have imagined they would appear in the Northern Wasteland today?
Tang Chen swallowed a healing pill, and once his complexion recovered slightly, he sneered, "No matter how world-shaking your talent is, you cannot compare to a human powerhouse who has cultivated for hundreds of years. Lin Hao, do you finally understand that the Tang Sect cannot be humiliated?"
Casually drawing the sword at his waist, Lin Hao pointed it toward the sky. "I don't think so."
Tang Chen scoffed, "You're at death's door and still running your mouth!"
Lin Hao replied, "The outcome has yet to be decided. How can you be so sure I will lose?"
As his words fell, a majestic wave of spiritual pressure swept outward.
It shook countless surrounding mountains violently.
Birds took flight from the forests in a flurry, the mountain ranges trembled without stopping, and the surging river water rushed upward into the sky, forming immensely spectacular pillars of water.
Although Lin Hao's cultivation was not as formidable as Tang Yun's, it was still enough to drain the color from the faces of everyone present.
"Return to Void Realm Late Stage!"
Tang Chen's face twitched violently as he stared at Lin Hao as if looking at a monster.
At that moment, his pride suffered a devastating blow.
As a peerless prodigy of Zhongzhou, he was actually two entire major realms lower than Lin Hao. No wonder the other party had toyed with him like a monkey...
"This brat's background must be extraordinary, right?" Tang Yun was well-traveled, yet he had never witnessed such a peerless talent.
Not even in Zhongzhou had he seen the likes of it.
Logically speaking, a tiny little Xuantian Sect should never have been able to nurture such a little monster.
Why, even the Xuantian Sect Master's cultivation fell short of this kid's.
"What is there to fear? No matter how strong his background is, can it possibly surpass mine? Besides, the Saintess of the Divine Fire Domain has already betrothed herself to me... I ask you, under the heavens and upon the earth, what force could possibly threaten me?" Tang Chen muttered through clenched teeth.
"That's true."
Tang Yun harbored no further doubts. Raising his massive hand, he gripped a hammer far larger than the dark iron warhammer Tang Chen used, his withered hand clasping it tightly.
...
Faced with this heaven-shaking, earth-shattering spectacle of peerless grandeur, the Northern Wasteland cultivators present all felt their hair stand on end.
Ye Ling felt a tightness in her chest bordering on suffocation, her beautiful eyes fixed on Lin Hao's back with profound anxiety. "Father, can Eldest Senior Brother defeat that old man?"
Ye Liuyun replied, "..."
He fell silent.
Return to Void Late Stage was Lin Hao's true cultivation level.
And that was considerably weaker than the Void-Breaking Mid-Stage.
Winning this would be... exceptionally difficult!
...
"I never imagined that Lin Hao would actually be a Return to Void Realm Mid-Stage expert. No wonder even the Daotian Sect Master died at his hands."
"A young powerhouse at the Return to Void Realm Mid-Stage is already worthy of being recorded in the history books. If he dies here today, wouldn't that be an utter tragedy?"
"Who's to say otherwise? Blame it on him for underestimating the Tang Sect. A powerful sect capable of firmly establishing itself in Zhongzhou and surviving since ancient times—how could they possibly lack a deep foundation?"
"It's a pity, truly such a pity. If they had given him another few hundred years, perhaps the number one powerhouse on the continent would have been one of our own Northern Wasteland experts."
People sighed with emotion in the face of this earth-shaking battle.
After all, Lin Hao's talent was simply too dazzling.
So dazzling that his death here would wrench the hearts of all who witnessed it!
Yet there was no help for it.
Who told him to insist on marrying that Mei Shiyun?
When all was said and done, it was Mei Shiyun, that femme fatale, who had dragged him down and ruined the entire Xuantian Sect.
Including her own father...
"Brat, take this old man's hammer!"
Taking a step forward, Tang Yun brandished the iron hammer, which was as massive as a giant pagoda, and—under the trembling gazes of the multitudes—smashed it down relentlessly toward the spot where Lin Hao stood!
At that moment, the heavens and earth lost their color!
The endless sea of clouds rapidly scattered toward the distant horizons!
Faced with Tang Yun's merciless hammer strike, Lin Hao smiled hideously, his eyes growing increasingly wild. Behind him, a mysterious and unfathomable white-haired phantom flickered into existence...