!

"Senior Brother Zhou Song, hurry!"

"There's a disturbance at the Red King Palace's Spirit Herb Hall. It seems disciples are fighting."

"Courting death! Never mind our Red King Palace, the entire Divine Flame Emperor Palace is bound by sect rules. Disciples are forbidden from slaughtering one another!"

"Brawling in public-it seems they place absolutely no weight on our Law Enforcement Team!"

"Let's go! Arrest all the troublemakers and drag them to the Law Enforcement Hall. Let them taste our might!"

......

The one addressed as Senior Brother Zhou Song was a high-level disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall. Possessing a cultivation base at the Heaven Opening Realm, his strength was utterly terrifying, marking him as a true disciple of the Divine Flame Emperor Palace.

The Law Enforcement Hall was an authoritative body independent of the five major palaces. Established by the Empress herself, its ranks were formed by drawing elite disciples from across the entire Divine Flame Emperor Palace.

Its sole purpose was to discipline the disciples and uphold the sect's strict rules and regulations.

The Law Enforcement Hall held immense authority. Aside from the mighty Elders, all other disciples had to submit to its jurisdiction.

Depending on the severity of a disciple's crimes, the Law Enforcement Hall could enact punishments on behalf of the Empress.

For minor offenses, the punishment was a severe flogging followed by confinement at the Reflection Cliff.

For serious transgressions, an offender's cultivation and divine abilities would be entirely crippled, reducing them to a mere mortal.

For the gravest of sins, the Law Enforcement Hall possessed the authority to execute the offender on the spot!

Therefore, a bone-deep dread of the Law Enforcement Hall was ingrained in every disciple of the Divine Flame Emperor Palace. None dared to provoke them.

Upon hearing of troublemakers at the Red King Palace's Spirit Herb Hall, Zhou Song, who had been drinking and making merry, instantly sobered up with a wide, predatory grin.

Grabbing his flying sword Dharma Treasure, he rallied a group of Law Enforcement Hall disciples and charged straight toward the Spirit Herb Hall.

How long had it been?

Days? Or perhaps months?

Not a single disciple had dared to cause trouble in the Divine Flame Emperor Palace. It had left Zhou Song, a high-level enforcer, bored out of his mind.

Now, finally, some blind fool had presented themselves. Today, Zhou Song would slaughter the chicken to warn the monkeys, using this wretch to establish his absolute dominance!

He would make the name Zhou Song resound throughout the entire Red King Palace!

What was the point of holding great power...

...if that power could not be wielded?

It wouldn't be worth a damn!

.......

Red King Palace, Spirit Herb Hall.

Since his rebirth, Chu Chen had always lived by a simple creed: if you can strike, don't waste breath. He knew full well that Villains always died from talking too much.

Thus, after giving Feng Jiao two choices and seeing her hesitate, Chu Chen simply made the decision for her.

Regardless of what Feng Jiao chose, today her face would be shredded, and then she would die! No one in this world could save her!

What seemed like a multiple-choice question was, in truth, a mandatory sentence.

Puchi!

The long sword in Chu Chen's hand slashed horizontally toward Feng Jiao's exquisite face. In a flash, the razor-sharp blade cleaved through skin and flesh, biting deeply into the bone...

The crisp, sickening crunch of the blade tearing through meat and shattering bone was enough to jolt anyone's soul awake!

Had Feng Jiao not reacted at the critical moment, stumbling back several paces to widen the distance...

...that single strike would have sheared off half her head.

But even so, the sword left a gruesome trench across her face, spanning from ear to nose, violently splitting her once-flawless profile in two.

Flesh curled outward; pale bone protruded.

Blood sprayed wildly. The sight was utterly horrific.

"Ah!!!"

Feng Jiao scrambled backward, clutching her ruined, gushing face as she let out a hysterical shriek:

"My face! My face!!"

She... she simply could not believe that Chu Chen had suddenly attacked her.

And with such a ruthless, lethal strike, leaving absolutely no room for negotiation or reaction.

Compared to that ugly, lowly servant, she, Feng Jiao, was vastly superior in figure, appearance, and cultivation.

If he was just picking a maid, a steward, or a servant, why not pick her? Why?!

She hadn't even had the chance to display her proudest teasing, seduction, and coquettish charms before Chu Chen's sword descended, obliterating her peerless beauty.

The surrounding crowd of onlookers numbered over a hundred, among them no shortage of powerful cultivators.

Although Chu Chen's strike was blindingly fast, certain Sea Cleaving Realm and Heaven Opening Realm disciples possessed the strength to intervene and save Feng Jiao.

But the one wielding the sword was Chu Chen. Who in the entire Red King Palace dared to stop him?

Even the insufferably arrogant Zhao Kongyang had been beaten into total submission, and the over three hundred disciples who besieged Chaos Peak had been slaughtered to the last man.

His title as the Number One in the Red King Palace was not merely an empty boast.

Besides, even Feng Jiao's Dao partner, Zhang San, didn't dare to show his face. Why should anyone else stick their neck out?

"My apologies!"

Looking down at Feng Jiao, who was weeping bitterly and wailing in agony behind her blood-soaked hands, Chu Chen offered a cold apology:

"I promised to shred your face first. I failed to control my strength on that first strike and nearly split your skull open."

"For these next few strikes, I will be sure to temper my force. Until your face is thoroughly ruined, I absolutely will not take your life!"

"..."

With so many eyes watching, how could Chu Chen allow himself to be seen as a man who broke his word?

As absolute terror consumed Feng Jiao's ruined face, Chu Chen gripped his long sword and moved like a phantom, launching another lethal assault.

"Chu Chen!"

"You are courting death!!"

Feng Jiao frantically raised her sword to parry. Hovering on the precipice of life and death, her survival instinct temporarily eclipsed her fear:

"I merely struck a lowly servant, and you actually want to kill me?"

"You have violated the sect rules! Do not think that just because the Palace Lord shields you, you can run rampant through my Red King Palace!"

"You are merely at the Qi Gathering Realm, while I, Feng Jiao, am at the Essence Condensation Realm. I want to see exactly how you plan to kill me!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two figures clashed violently, the sharp ringing of their colliding blades echoing through the hall.

Yu Youwei stood frozen in place, her eyes rimmed with red. She quietly watched Chu Chen fight on her behalf, her palms slick with cold sweat.

The Qi Gathering Realm was the stage where cultivators absorbed the Spiritual Qi drifting between heaven and earth, refining it into their bodies.

The Essence Condensation Realm was achieved when a cultivator had absorbed enough spiritual energy to compress and condense it into a far denser, more profound True Essence.

In battle, True Essence utterly crushed Spiritual Qi in every conceivable aspect, from raw power to elemental attributes.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, without relying on a formidable Dharma Treasure, a Qi Gathering Realm cultivator could never match an Essence Condensation Realm cultivator.

But how could Chu Chen ever be measured by common sense?!

"Your sword is not fast enough!"

"Your movements are too slow!"

"Your defense is full of holes!"

......

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Chu Chen's sword moved at the absolute pinnacle of speed. Countless sword lights enveloped Feng Jiao from all directions, bearing down with overwhelming force.

Initially, Feng Jiao managed to deflect a strike or two. But as Chu Chen's offensive tempo accelerated, she found herself completely overwhelmed.

Slash!

Just as she blocked a frontal thrust, before she could even feel a flicker of relief, Chu Chen twisted his wrist and dragged his blade across her face. Another bone-deep trench appeared, violently bisecting her already bleeding profile once more.

Flesh peeled back; blood poured freely.

"Ah!!!!"

Blinded by agony, Feng Jiao instinctively reached up to clutch her face, completely abandoning her defense.

How could Chu Chen let such an opening slip by? His long sword lashed out over a dozen times in rapid succession-up, down, left, right-carving a chaotic lattice of scars into Feng Jiao's visage.

As she desperately tried to shield her face, the razor-sharp blade sheared off two of her fingers. It was a thoroughly miserable sight.

Bang!!

Having reduced Feng Jiao's face to a mangled ruin, Chu Chen delivered a brutal front kick to her lower abdomen. The impact sent her flying four or five meters through the air, only stopping when she slammed heavily into a main pillar of the Spirit Herb Hall.

"My face! My face!"

"Ah!!! Chu Chen, I will not let you off even if I become a ghost! I will haunt you to the bitter end!"

"Zhang San, your Dao partner has been humiliated to this extent, why aren't you doing anything?! Where is the Law Enforcement Hall?! Where is the Palace Lord?!"

......

Amidst Feng Jiao's wretched wails, the surrounding disciples shrank their necks, none daring to step forward.

Zhang San, in particular, squeezed his way to the very back of the crowd. His eyes darted around evasively as he pretended to be deaf and blind to the entire spectacle.

It wasn't that he was a spineless coward. It was just...

It was just that he absolutely could not win!

He, Zhang San, was also at the Essence Condensation Realm, possessing strength only marginally higher than Feng Jiao's. Since Chu Chen could fight across realms and dismantle Feng Jiao with such terrifying ease, he could naturally crush him as well.

To play the hero at a time like this-how was that any different from courting death?

Besides, although he and Feng Jiao were Dao partners, he was merely lusting after her body. There was no genuine affection between them.

Now that Feng Jiao's face had been carved into a bloody pulp, even if her skills in bed were unparalleled, he, Zhang San, would still...

Ugh~~

"If this is all the strength the Essence Condensation Realm has to offer, I must say, I am deeply disappointed!"

Chu Chen cast a fleeting glance at the kneeling, wailing Feng Jiao before withdrawing his gaze.

His eyes then swept like burning torches across the hundreds of disciples present. He scrutinized those whose strength and realms far surpassed his own-the Sea Cleaving Realm and even Heaven Opening Realm disciples-and especially Feng Jiao's Dao partner, Zhang San, waiting to see if anyone would stand up for her.

If there were, he would slaughter them all at once.

Yet, wherever his gaze fell, whether it was the Sea Cleaving Realm, Heaven Opening Realm, or even the one or two Spirit Communication Realm disciples hidden in the crowd, they all lowered their heads or averted their eyes, not daring to meet Chu Chen's stare.

As for Zhang San, he was the only person present who dared to look directly into Chu Chen's sharp eyes.

But as their eyes met, Zhang San's gaze was entirely filled with fawning, flattery, and an ingratiating, cowardly smile.

"Yu Youwei."

Chu Chen withdrew his gaze, having lost all interest in lingering any longer.

With a casual flick of his wrist, he sent his long sword plunging into the floorboards half a meter in front of Yu Youwei.

Although Feng Jiao was an Essence Condensation Realm cultivator, during their brief exchange, Chu Chen had already severed the meridians throughout her entire body, reducing her to a complete cripple.

"Every grievance has its source, every debt has its debtor."

"Go. Kill her."

The moment those words fell, the eerily silent Spirit Herb Hall instantly erupted into an uproar once more.

Feng Jiao, who had been lying on the ground clutching her face and playing dead in the hopes of escaping with her life, was so terrified by this command that her legs kicked frantically against the floor.

The look she directed at Chu Chen and Yu Youwei was brimming with absolute horror.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

"Senior Brother Chu Chen, I was wrong! I was wrong!"

"I only lifted her veil! I only mocked her with a few words! Now my face is completely ruined! Please, be magnanimous and spare my life!"

As she babbled, Feng Jiao knelt on the ground, kowtowing as rapidly as a pounding pestle, bowing first to Chu Chen and then to Yu Youwei.

Yu Youwei's face was fraught with hesitation as she looked toward Chu Chen.

It wasn't that she was soft-hearted. In this man-eating world, the soft-hearted had long since died out.

She knew perfectly well that if she didn't kill Feng Jiao today, Feng Jiao would harbor a venomous grudge against her-a grudge that would only end when one of them was dead.

As long as Chu Chen was around, she had a protector.

But if Chu Chen were to leave, or if he cast her out, the very first person to hunt her down would be Feng Jiao!

Killing Feng Jiao to sever the roots of future trouble was the right move, but...

But even though Yu Youwei was merely a lowly servant, she was well aware of the Divine Flame Emperor Palace's strict rules. Executing Feng Jiao with her own hands today would certainly vent her anger, but doing so would inevitably bring unnecessary trouble upon her master.

This... was Yu Youwei's true concern!

"Stay your hand!!"

"The Divine Flame Emperor Palace's Law Enforcement Hall is here! Who dares to make a move?!"

Accompanied by a dense flurry of footsteps, a cold-faced Zhou Song led a large contingent of Law Enforcement Hall disciples, sealing off the Spirit Herb Hall so tightly that not even a drop of water could leak through.

"Slaughtering a fellow disciple is a capital offense within our Divine Flame Emperor Palace! If anyone dares to commit murder in front of the Law Enforcement Hall, in front of me, Zhou Song..."

But before Zhou Song could even finish his sentence, Chu Chen's deep, chilling voice cut him off:

"Yu Youwei, do I need to repeat myself a second time?!"

Hua-

Yu Youwei's body trembled. Then, under the utterly incredulous stares of Zhou Song, the dozen Law Enforcement Hall disciples, and the hundreds of Red King Palace onlookers, she pulled the long sword from the floorboards. She walked right up to Feng Jiao and, ignoring the woman's terrified expression, thrust the blade forward!

Swish!

The razor-sharp blade pierced through her chest and erupted from her back, cleanly skewering her heart.

Fast, accurate, and utterly ruthless!

One strike, instant death!!

......