"If you surrender now, there's still time." On the makeshift ring in the center of the square, Su Heng and Wendao of the Hong Family locked eyes.
Wendao spoke softly, his words carrying over to Su Heng with the melodious morning bell.
Su Heng merely glanced sideways at Li Daoxuan.
Then he sighed lightly, "Let's begin."
"Stubborn." Wendao looked at Su Heng with a trace of pity in his eyes. But that pity quickly turned to anger.
He took two steps forward, slowly approaching.
Seeing Su Heng standing still, like an immovable iron tower.
Wendao's expression turned icy as he decided to no longer hold back and end this farce with his strongest strike.
Bang!
When they were ten meters apart.
He stomped hard on the ground, causing it to explode, and he surged forward.
While dashing, his body rapidly swelled. The Hong Family's secret technique, Iron Chains Across the River, ran at high speed, enhanced by a secret medicinal effect.
Wendao's muscles rapidly darkened, patterns emerging as shadows of formidable power lingered in the air.
His expanding body made cracking sounds from muscles and bones.
Originally less than two meters tall, now he was only slightly smaller than Su Heng.
"Secret Skill: All Things Return to Origin!"
A roar exploded, and Wendao's already fast speed increased even further.
The surrounding air, under this immense force, instantly turned from gaseous to a jelly-like solid state, which his body smashed through.
Rows of white torrents formed rings, spreading outward heavily.
Forming a conical shape in the view of the onlookers.
Over the whole square, apart from Li Daoxuan, Hong Dingtian, and a few other Family Heads.
The other elders could only vaguely see a streak of white light shooting out.
Then conical sonic booms twisted and exploded, a continuous loud noise spreading, the entire square lightly trembling.
Bang!
Wendao's iron fist violently landed on Su Heng's chest.
The dust that sprayed up, the spreading force, blocked the sunlight, forming a thick fog, obscuring everyone's view.
Only the massive sound of the collision and the overlapping waves of crushing force continued to resonate in everyone's chests.
Their minds buzzed.
It took quite a while before anyone began to regain their senses.
"Gulp!" Someone swallowed their saliva, "That strike just now definitely reached the level of a Family Head."
"With Hong Jiuxiang and Hong Dingtian, these two monsters, does the Hong Family really need yet another Family Head-level powerhouse?"
Ximen Xing, standing nearby with his tall and thin figure, found the scene before his eyes somewhat unsettling.
Although he was a Family Head and agreed to form an alliance between clans,
If Wendao truly reached this level, the fragile balance among the noble houses would undoubtedly be completely shattered.
At that time...
The other five major families within the Six-Family Alliance would all become vassals to the Hong Family.
Such a result was something he absolutely could not accept.
He had hoped to use this incident to provoke a rift between the Hong Family and the Demon Suppression Tower. But now, it seemed his carefully prepared strategy had fallen into place before he could even employ it.
But, was that really the case?
Swish!
This was not Su Heng's intention, but he did not dislike doing it, achieving an inevitable outcome prematurely.
A massive foot descended from the sky, stepping on his hand, turning bones and flesh into indistinguishable pulp. Then came another fierce kick, sending Hong Wendao flying more than ten meters away. His breathing abruptly stalled, turning into a raspy, broken sound.
A misty cloud of blood still lingered in the spot, slowly spreading over an area of two meters.
One of his lungs had been completely crushed and burst by Su Heng.
Then came his thigh, hip bone, and left kidney. Su Heng appeared beside him, stepping down again and again.
Blood splattered, landing on the faces and bodies of those nearby.
The situation had developed to this point.
This was no longer a contest; there was no respect, and it lacked humanity.
This was complete torment, a one-sided beating. It was like the tribal sacrifices of old times, teaching a lesson to a slave who dared to rebel. It was also like a cruel and ruthless landlord beating a disobedient hound.
Whether they were elders from the Demon Suppression Tower or members of nobility, at this moment, everyone was so tense that they forgot to breathe.
A direct descendant of a noble family, an elder of the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Beaten like a stray dog.
When Su Heng bent over and, treating him like cargo, lifted Hong Wendao in his hand,
Hong Dingtian could no longer bear it. His eyes tore, turning a blood-red as thick black smoke emanated from his body, whistling through the gaps in his armor. His fingers stabbed towards Su Heng's neck.
He blatantly violated the rules previously set and struck out at Su Heng.
Su Heng, with a cold smile on his face, casually tossed aside.
He threw the mutilated body of Hong Wendao towards Hong Dingtian.
Hong Dingtian's eyes nearly split open, and the sudden stop of his high-speed force caused a huge backlash, causing intense pain throughout his body.
He spread his arms and held his brother's mangled corpse in his embrace, tears of blood streaming from his eyes.
Clenching his jaw tightly, his voice seemed to squeeze out from his throat, "Li Daoxuan, my brother has been with the Demon Suppression Bureau for thirty years, even if with impure intentions. But over these years, he has endured hardships even if there was no merit. Even if you had to kill him, a swift death would have sufficed; why humiliate him so, leaving no dignity at all!"
The brother he had laughed and talked with just the previous night had turned into a pool of mangled flesh and mud in his arms in the blink of an eye.
This made Hong Dingtian, who always placed family above all, utterly unable to accept it.
Rage to the point of madness!
"When you attacked the Demon Suppression Tower and colluded with demons, crippling Xu Tong in the process, did you ever think of leaving a shred of dignity?" Li Daoxuan said coldly.
He took a step forward, standing beside Su Heng.
"The first ones to break the agreement were your families. Since you've done wrong, you must face the consequences. Do I really need to teach you these principles, or did you really believe that I, due to old age, could no longer wield a knife?"
"Why talk so much to them?" Su Heng patted Li Daoxuan on the shoulder.
"I'm right here. If you want to avenge him, just make your move. In the end, it's still the fist that has the final say," Su Heng's internal energy rapidly circulated, and his eyeballs filled with twisting blood vessels.
"You really think I wouldn't dare!" Hong Dingtian shouted in anger.
"Li Daoxuan, don't push people too far. We six families are connected by the same breath. Even you may not be able to wipe us all out!" Ximen Xing slowly recovered from his initial shock.
He was both shocked and angry.
The shock was that the current situation was precisely the direction he had been hoping for. The anger was due to Su Heng's ruthless and merciless treatment of a noble family member. For many years, the nobility had been exalted, looking down upon all from the clouds—never before had they been humiliated like this.
"Humph!" Li Daoxuan didn't speak but emitted a cold laugh.
His pitch-black walking stick tapped heavily on the ground, a large amount of black hair sprouting from his pores, his body subtly swelling.
The atmosphere instantly turned icy to the extreme.
Those elders, who had just been spectators, hadn't expected the tide to surge so swiftly, pulling them into the vortex. At this moment, they all wished they could become invisible or escape from the square on the spot, not wanting to get involved in this kind of feud.
And in the end...
Hong Jiuxiang, dressed like a scholar with white hair and beard, with a face as still as water and a cold snort,
stepped forward, grabbed Hong Dingtian's arm, and turned to leave. "Today, we accept our loss. But the days to come are still long, Li Daoxuan, you may not always continue to win," he said.