The figure that barged into the entrance shocked all those present, including the other customers. It was a gracefully attractive figure with a voluptuous body that could ignite the fire in most men. Sun Huan eyes widened with shock, but then a sudden bout of relief surged into his bones. "Li Qiyu! Yo-you're okay!"
The figure was Li Qiyu, the girl who Yan Zaizen met earlier who left due to a transmission. Her body was filled with sweat and her eyes held traces of panic. A slight sensation of relief suffused her eyes when she saw Sun Huan, but the panic was so dominant that she was shaking, directly pouncing into Sun Huan's embrace. "Huan! They're...they're killing everyone in the Li Clan in the capital! Everyone! Even those here!"
Her words produced a shocking jerk to all who heard it, various expressions ranging from schadenfreude to fear emerged in their eyes. Many couldn't help but feel apprehensive. If she was a part of the Li Clan, would they come here regardless of the circumstances? Could they be collateral damage? Many were ready to take their leave, hoping to avoid calamity by furthering themselves from any Li Clan member.
"I have to go." Ke Zedong said, his eyes looking at Li Ruogang with a complex emotion. Earlier, he was attempting to court this girl, but she rejected him harsher than the coldest of winters. If she had accepted his advances, he would have probably used his Ke Clan status in an attempt to spare this girl specifically, but since that wasn't the case, he preferred to distance himself as far as possible.
He took off immediately, leaving the restaurant without hesitation.
"So decisive!" Yan Zaizen commented silently.
Mei, Hei, and Ya Qinqan had profound gleams in their eyes at his sudden departure. Mei and Hei held great status in their respective forces. If Hei decided to take Li Ruogang as his wife, it's entirely possible they would agree. The Palace Master was a half-step True Essence expert with a bestowed dao, this was sufficient to cause all those to think three times before action.
However, that wasn't the case. Despite this, he stayed, looking at Yan Zaizen's casual bystander attitude as he glanced at everything with interest. Mei was intelligent enough to know that the Earthly Fortune Palace had consented to this action, taking no action against this, so she couldn't do anything even if she wanted to.
Li Ruogang was panicking at Li Qiyu's words, her expression filled with fear.
What could she do?
"We need to leave. Now!" Sun Huan decisively said, grabbing Li Qiyu's hand and taking off towards the entrance. He needed to protect her by taking her to his sect's seniors. Taking out a transmission talisman, he crushed it.
BOOM!!!
A thunderous aura erupted, causing a pressure of pure qi-essence to be exerted on all the individuals in the restaurant. Sun Huan kneeled in pain, unable to move, his low cultivation base yielding instantly, and Li Qiyu screamed in fear, her voluptuous body slamming heavily on the floor. Unlike Sun Huan, she had a weaker cultivation base and prowess, she couldn't resist a single second.
Everyone except Yan Zaizen viciously plummeted heavily to the floor or their tables, resounding shrieks of pain and alarm resounded with the harsh thuds of their fleshy bodies. "Pressure of a half-step True Essence Expert!" This was the most basic of aura arts, using one's aura to force a mighty pressure on your opponent. In an equal battle, this was irrelevant, but to those with weaker cultivations, this was all one needed to render them at your mercy.
As for him? With his body cultivation, this pressure felt like a light breeze in the wind. To everyone else under the Origin Core Realm? This was a mountain on their hearts, heads, and limbs. This aura, if sufficient enough, could turn your enemy into meat paste with a single thought.
The restaurant went silent, and even the mid-Origin Core owner who ruled over it didn't interject at this action, keeping silent and watching from afar. The soft patter of footsteps resounded as the door opened gently. A man dressed in blood-red attire with crimson eyes and an evil expression walked in slowly. His gaze scanned the surroundings with a meticulous sweep.
"Two roaches hiding here, I see." Xue Hanjie's rough voice resounded, a slight chuckle between his words. He could feel the unique fire-based cultivation method of the Li Clan in two members, his eyes filled with excitement as he glanced at the two girls, his eyes filled with malicious intent. Surprisingly, there was no lust in his eyes, but one could tell he wouldn't simply kill these two girls.
If he wanted to do that, he wouldn't need to personally arrive. Simply his aura alone could target the two and turn them into meat paste.
"Wait!" Sun Huan grunted in a shout, his qi cultivation base rotating in an attempt to erupt, but the pressure prevented it. He tried resisting, but all he could do was talk, his muscles were stiff and unmoving. Using all his vital energy, soul energy and qi, he mustered up enough resistance to talk. However, the consumption was so great he probably wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.
"This...girl...is...under...my...protection!" Sun Huan's words contained unspeakable resolve, his body's potential erupting, trying to move an inch closer to shield the downed Li Qiyu.
Xue Hanjie looked at Sun Huan for a moment, his eyes containing faint traces of disdain. This person overestimates his status, but knowing that Sun Huan could be a root that needed to be pulled out, he'll do so prematurely. Crippling him thoroughly, then giving him to the Solitary Sword Sect with some compensation should be enough. He laughed maliciously, "Don't worry, I won't kill her...yet. I have many, many things planned for her before she can die."
Sun Huan's eyes flashed with a cruel, cold light. "If...you...want...her...you'll...have to! GET! THROUGH! ME!!!" His body erupted just faintly, his sword law radiating outwards slicing the pressure enough to pull out the sword at his hilt and get into a haphazard sword stance. His body shifted slowly towards Li Qiyu's body, and his eyes revealed a resolve of life and death.
If he wanted to get to her, he would have to kill him first!
This thought brought out his conceptual law, Tempestuous Blade of the Sword, and advanced it to the Major Success of the Nascent-level. If it was under normal circumstances, this would be exceptional. However, this did little good but to only display an empty show of potential at critical moments, but with his weak cultivation base, he could do nothing more.
"Fool." Xue Hanjie said after a brief pause. In the cultivation world, sword cultivators were too troublesome to deal with, and many advocated killing them directly to avoid any possible development. This only solidified his thought from crippling to directly killing.
However, while this was going on, Yan Zaizen was looking disbelieving at his various plates of food. Especially the fruitcake that was incredibly delicious. If one looked at it, it would cause them to gasp in horror!
It was...flattened!!!
Due to the sudden pressure from Xue Hanjie, all the food with no protection suffered immediate damage. Unlike the aura that caused their blood to tumble, this was an exertion of force to all objects in the immediate area. If it wasn't for formations on the table and chairs, they would've all collapsed instantly. However, how could you put formations on food?!
Yan Zaizen's facial expression was exceptionally ugly to behold. If one looked closely, it seemed that he was going to cry. This was his free meal! Now, all of it was ruined, and anything that was being made or prepared was likely destroyed.
It would be impossible for him to obtain another one today.
"It...was...so...good…" He silently muttered with invisible tears, his eyes filled with a pain of loss. It's been a while since he enjoyed top-quality food like this. It's always been his dream to dine like an immortal with top-class food. The most important part: he had to pay for none of it! During their travels, they didn't go to any place remotely as good as this. Even the Sky Heart City's restaurant fell far short.
He felt a sudden urge of extreme rage swell up in him. Personally, he didn't care about the calamity of others. This was developed in the Deep Mines. He didn't even care if this Xue Hanjie killed everyone in this godforsaken restaurant, but he cared about what was his! What was his shouldn't be touched, destroyed, or taken by anyone!! This was a bottom-line of his that has always existed since young.
"CHOOSE!!!" Yan Zaizen viciously thundered, his eyes suffused with seething fury. This voice was backed by his late-Qi Unification qi cultivation base, resounding outwards for more than 50 li. All the true-essence experts' eyes were drawn towards his direction, and Yao Wuhen lurched to a stop, her eyes filled with shock and fear. To everyone else at her level, this voice may have been just a voice backed by an irrelevant cultivation base, but to her, who had once heard this voice in her soul, this voice had an incredible significance.
Xue Hanjie looked at Yan Zaizen, scanning his cultivation base and held a trace of disdain and contempt. He directly ordered, "Be silent, otherwise, this will be your last meal." How could he take a late-Qi Unification junior seriously? To him, this person was an ant.
Yan Zaizen directly dismissed his words, getting up from his seat, turning around, and walking slowly towards Xue Hanjie. This action caused Xue Hanjie's brows to rise in surprise. His qi-essence with traces of true-essence could be resisted so easily by this kid, he wasn't simple, but still not someone he considered a threat.
"Who are you?" He inquired, he wasn't stupid. With his thousands of years of experience, how could he not notice Yan Zaizen's exceptional characteristics, it would be better to figure out his power before taking further action.
"Choose!" Yan Zaizen repeated, his amber-gold eyes suffused with an intense calm that hid profound anger. "You can kneel in forgiveness, hand me everything in your possession as compensation, and leave. OR! Today will be the day you'll be crippled." To the spectators, this may be funny, but Yan Zaizen was serious.
He didn't kill anyone for the slightest of slights, nor did he despise this man for his actions against the Li Clan or his previous words. As he learned in the Deep Mines, if one can't fend for themselves, then their fates would be decided by others. He may love stories of heroism, but that didn't mean he followed their philosophy.
The world was vastly different than those made-up stories. It was cruel, filled with constant struggles for power, wealth, and love. Sun Huan's willingness to protect Li Qiyu with his life was an exceptionally moving moment, but Yan Zaizen wouldn't intervene because of that. There will always be people who are willing to die for another, and he was sure many individuals he killed before had those who would do the same.
How could he be moved by this? He didn't believe himself a hypocrite. If he didn't consider you worthy of his protection, he simply wouldn't protect you.
He was only moved by one desire: that his things were destroyed.
This was touching his bottom line.
Don't touch his shit.
Simple.