Chapter 87 Instant Kill

Just like that, under the "devoted" service of Mo Qingzhu, Xiao Ming spent another "fulfilling" day without a shred of shame.

Under his "influence" these days, Mo Qingzhu's temperament became increasingly delicate and alluring. She could be said to have successfully transformed from an innocent young girl into a passionate young woman. As her eyes shifted, the inadvertently revealed amorousness and charm were truly Soul-stirring, leaving Xiao Ming quite pleased with himself.

The next day, at noon.

Above Yuan City, black clouds like ink pressed down heavily, as if they wanted to crush the entire city!

The army from the Soul Suppressing Abyss had returned, with malicious intent overflowing and Devilish Qi soaring to the heavens!

Three Soul Transformation Cultivators led them, hovering high in the sky like three insurmountable mountains. The pressure they emitted was tangible, wave after wave, fiercely battering the crumbling city-protecting Formation of Yuan City.

The light barrier twisted violently, flickering on and off, emitting ear-piercing, cracking sounds, as if it would completely collapse the next second.

On the city walls, the defenders and the various Cultivators looked ashen. Those with weaker cultivation bases were already trembling in fear from that terrifying pressure, barely able to hold onto their weapons.

Despair, like a cold viper, coiled around everyone's heart.

At this moment, at the highest point of the city tower, Ying Gong, who had just achieved the status of "betraying his master and ancestor, Rebellious Disciple," had a livid complexion. Veins bulged on his forehead as he poured all his spiritual power into the central hub of the Formation.

However, facing three Soul Transformation Cultivators, especially the Mid Spirit Severing stage might of the withered old man in the center, he felt like an ant trying to shake a tree. His Devilish Qi was being consumed rapidly, and the Formation's light shield continued to thin and dim.

In his heart, he had cursed Xiao Ming countless times: "Bastard! You said you had your own methods, so where are you? Could it be... you ran away with people, leaving me here to wait for death?"

In another corner of the battlement, the members of the Yu Family huddled together, despair and panic on every face. Uneasy whispers and suppressed sobbing spread through the crowd.

The shadow of death was tangible, pressing down on them so hard they could barely breathe.

The head of the house, Yu Mingxuan, also had an ashen complexion, his eyes filled with fear for their unknown fate. He forced himself to stay calm, took a deep breath, and said to his clansmen in as steady a voice as possible: "Everyone, do not panic! Yesterday, I went to see the Saint, and the Saint has personally promised to protect the Yu Family! What kind of person is the Saint? A true disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect, his word is law! We... we must trust the Saint!"

He tried to instill confidence in his clansmen with this, but the slight tremor in his voice betrayed the turmoil in his heart.

Mid Spirit Severing stage, that was an existence even he, the head of the Yu Family, had to look up to. Could the Saint... really solve this? This thought tormented him repeatedly.

The surrounding clansmen reacted differently upon hearing this. Several Elder Elders nodded reluctantly, the worry on their faces undiminished, and whispered in agreement:

"The head of the house is right. Since the Saint has promised us, he... will certainly not sit idly by."

"But those are three Soul Transformation experts! Even if the Saint has Soul Transformation experts by his side, two fists cannot fight four hands..."

"Sigh, things have come to this, we can only pin our hopes on the Saint, otherwise... our Yu Family will face disaster today!"

The younger disciples were even more pessimistic. Someone whispered with a sobbing tone: "The Saint? He still hasn't appeared yet; he's probably run away!"

"Don't talk nonsense!" The person beside them quickly stopped them, but the fear in their eyes was just as heavy.

In this atmosphere of panic and unease, a pair of young girls, like twin lotus flowers, were particularly eye-catching. The sisters looked eighty or ninety percent alike, both with skin whiter than snow and eyebrows like paintings, truly peerless beauties. However, their temperaments were completely different.

The Elder sister was Yu Linglong. She had a slender and graceful figure, wearing a simple, elegant light cyan dress. Her temperament was gentle and calm like water, but at this moment, she was biting her bloodless lower lip, her pretty face as pale as paper, and her long eyelashes trembling slightly, perhaps due to fear. She subconsciously pulled her younger sister behind her, as if trying to use her own thin body to shield her sister from the storm. Her voice was soft but trembling as she whispered to her sister: "Linlang, don't be afraid... Father said the Saint will protect us. Later, if... if the worst happens, remember to stay close to your sister."

Her tone was full of worry and self-sacrifice, but her gaze was also anxiously cast toward the direction of the City Lord's Mansion, which seemed to be the only straw she could grasp for survival.

The younger sister was Yu Linlang. She wore a goose-yellow pomegranate flower short skirt, outlining a figure that, while slightly immature, was already beginning to show its curvaceous potential, full of youthful vitality. Her eyes were lively, and even at this moment, she carried a sense of unyielding stubbornness. Hearing her sister's words, she puffed out her small chest. Although her small face was also a bit pale, her beautiful eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at the three figures outside the city who were exuding terrifying pressure like demon gods. Her pink fists were clenched tight, and she said in a small but incredibly firm voice: "Sister, I'm not afraid! Since Father said the Saint promised, then there must be no problem! I heard that Saint from the Heavenly Demon Sect is very powerful. Maybe... he really can help our Yu Family overcome this crisis!"

Her tone carried the vulnerability and unyielding spirit unique to a young girl. When she cast her gaze toward the City Lord's Mansion, besides anxiety, there was a bit more curiosity and faint anticipation, as if she were waiting for something.

On the other side, above Yuan City,

"Hmph! Stubborn!" The withered old man at the Mid Spirit Severing stage from the Soul Suppressing Abyss saw the Formation on the verge of breaking and the people in the city still putting up futile resistance, so he completely lost patience.

He raised his withered palm again. Death Qi, even thicker and more solid than before, surged out frantically, condensing in his palm into a pitch-black ghost claw that almost covered half the sky. Wrapped in vengeful spirits, the ghost claw emitted shrill wails, and the Aura of destruction it radiated made half the world change color!

"Since you refuse to surrender, then... leave no one alive! Break for me!"

The black ghost claw, carrying the power to destroy cities and annihilate moats, struck down fiercely! Wherever it passed, the space twisted slightly! If this blow landed, the city-protecting Formation would definitely crumble, and the city walls below, or even half the city, would likely be reduced to powder!

Countless people closed their eyes in despair, as if waiting for the arrival of the apocalypse.

Meanwhile, in the quiet courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion.

It was completely different from the tense, life-or-death atmosphere on the city walls. Here, it was quiet and elegant, even carrying a touch of romance.

Xiao Ming was currently leaning on a soft couch, his posture lazy. Mo Qingzhu was kneeling beside him, her slender hands peeling a crystal-clear spirit fruit, which she gently delivered to his lips. Xiao Ming opened his mouth to swallow it, and casually played with the slender, jade-like feet of the beauty beside him, drawing a coquettish sound from her.

"Saint... outside..." Mo Qingzhu's cheeks flushed slightly, and her beautiful eyes held a trace of worry as she looked toward the direction of the city walls, from which violent fluctuations of Aura and noisy sounds were coming. Back when the army of the Soul Suppressing Abyss first appeared, guards had already come to report urgently, but Xiao Ming had just waved his hand to indicate he knew, and that was that.

"What's the rush?" Xiao Ming chewed the spirit fruit unhurriedly, his palm caressing the softness, his eyes filled with the mockery of one who controls everything. "Heroes often make their grand entrance at the last moment. Appearing too early, others will only take it for granted and won't remember your kindness. You must always let them... experience the taste of despair first."

He lifted Mo Qingzhu's delicate chin, looking into her infatuated and charming eyes, and teased: "Besides, with this time, wouldn't it be better to spend more time with my Qingzhu? Your temperament is becoming increasingly enchanting."

Mo Qingzhu felt her heart pounding from his gaze and shyly lowered her head, but she was also much more at ease because of the composure in his words. That's right, what kind of person is the Saint? How could he act without purpose?

After a bit more intimacy and teasing, Xiao Ming patted Mo Qingzhu's curvy bottom with lingering affection, lazily got up, and said:

"It should be about time. It's time to go out and clean up the mess!"

As soon as his voice fell, he took a step, and his figure had already disappeared from the courtyard.

Just as he left the City Lord's Mansion, Elder Li, who was standing by the street watching the battle on the city walls, followed closely behind him.

Just at the moment when the sky-covering ghost claw was about to shatter the light shield, Ying Gong's eyes were splitting with rage, and the sisters Yu Linglong were terrified and helpless—a mysterious black figure, as if strolling in a courtyard, suddenly appeared high above the highest point of the city wall. His clothes fluttered, his black hair drifted lightly, it was none other than Xiao Ming!

His appearance was so abrupt, yet so natural, as if he had always been there.

That Divine Might of the Soul Transformation stage, enough to make a Nascent Soul Cultivator feel weak in the knees, fell upon him like a gentle breeze, causing not a single ripple.

"Sigh, quite lively, isn't it!" Xiao Ming yawned. His gaze lazily swept over the three aggressive Soul Transformation Cultivators outside the city, finally fixing on the terrifying ghost claw about to descend. He shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of impatience, "You've disturbed this Saint's rest."

His voice was not loud, but it eerily pierced through the sky-filling Death Qi and the roaring, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

Ying Gong, who was cursing while preparing to run away, froze.

The garrison troops and the members of the Yu Family, who had closed their eyes in despair, opened them one after another, looking at the black-robed figure in disbelief.

That Mid Spirit Severing stage Elder's pupils constricted. He stared fixedly at Xiao Ming, as if wanting to see something from that young, handsome face. But all he could feel was the Aura of an Early Nascent Soul stage, along with the inscrutable composure of the man before him. This attitude of treating them as nothing made him frown.

"Junior, you seek death!" Although the Mid Spirit Severing stage Elder was suspicious, the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be fired. Moreover, he did not believe that an Early Nascent Soul stage could stir up any trouble. He immediately shouted sharply, and the black ghost claw grabbed down towards Xiao Ming's head! He wanted to crush this reckless, ghost-pretending brat along with the city tower beneath his feet!

Facing this world-destroying strike, there was still no expression on Xiao Ming's face. He simply raised his right hand gently, extended a slender finger, and pointed it from afar at the whistling ghost claw.

There was no earth-shattering, terrifying power, but the moment he pointed his finger, a faint, almost imperceptible shadow flashed across his fingertip, carrying an indescribable ethereal quality.

Following that— "Pop." A soft sound, like poking a balloon.

That black ghost claw, which had blocked out the sky and possessed peerless power, began to annihilate inch by inch without warning when it was still several zhang away from Xiao Ming's fingertip! It collapsed and dissipated.

Of course! Relying solely on Xiao Ming's Early Nascent Soul stage cultivation, that would naturally be impossible, but he had a terrifying little female ghost! That's right, he had just been "possessed by a ghost."

"What?" The ferocity on the face of the opposite Mid Spirit Severing stage Elder instantly turned into extreme shock and bewilderment.

The two Early Soul Transformation stage Elders beside him were also scared out of their wits, a chill rushing from the soles of their feet straight to their crowns!

However, how could Xiao Ming give them a chance? The finger that had shattered the ghost claw was not withdrawn; instead, he followed the momentum forward and, towards the three dumbfounded Soul Transformation Cultivators in the air, pointed... gently once more.

It was still that understated action. But this time, the three Soul Transformation Cultivators opposite felt their Souls and Physical Bodies being completely locked and solidified under this "point"! They wanted to escape, wanted to defend, wanted to roar, but found they couldn't even move their bodies!

The next second— "Puff!" "Puff!" "Puff!" Following three barely audible soft sounds, under the gaze of countless dull, shocked, and incredulous eyes, those three Soul Transformation experts who had been arrogant just a moment ago, along with everything about them, just cleanly and completely... disappeared! It was as if they had never existed.

But what no one noticed was the purple ghostly light flashing in Xiao Ming's eyes.

In the snap of a finger, he had killed three Soul Transformation experts!

Between heaven and earth, there was a deathly silence!

On the city wall, everyone was as if frozen by a binding spell, staring blankly at the black-robed figure standing in the air, still calm and composed. Sunlight fell upon him, plating him with a golden edge, and that back, in the eyes of the crowd, became incomparably tall, mysterious, magnificent, and... awe-inspiring!

It was unknown who reacted first, but with a "clang," the sound of a weapon hitting the ground broke the silence.

Immediately after, like a chain reaction, the massive army of the Soul Suppressing Abyss outside the city completely collapsed!

"Run!" "Devil! Monster!" "The Elders are dead! Run!" Amidst the crying and howling, countless Cultivators fled in chaos, wishing their parents had given them two more legs, fleeing desperately in the direction they had come, scattering like birds and beasts in an instant.

Only then did a deafening cheer erupt on the city wall!

"Saint! The Saint is invincible!" "Long live the Heavenly Demon Sect! The Saint's Divine Might!" "We are saved! We are saved! It was the Saint who saved us!"

Wild joy, excitement, worship, awe... all sorts of emotions engulfed everyone. Ying Gong also let out a long sigh of relief, his back soaked in cold sweat, his gaze towards Xiao Ming filled with complexity, but more so with deep wariness and lingering fear. Patriarch Yu Mingxuan also had tears streaming down his face, leading the Yu Family members to kneel deeply in the direction of Xiao Ming.

And the two peerless beauties beside him, Yu Linglong tightly clutched her chest, her beautiful eyes shining with brilliance, filled with shock and the relief of surviving a disaster, while Yu Linlang's little face was flushed with excitement, looking at Xiao Ming's back with eyes full of undisguised worship and curiosity.

Xiao Ming slowly withdrew his finger, as if nothing had happened. His gaze swept calmly over the fleeing enemy troops and the cheering crowd, no emotion on his face, and he turned around, his robes fluttering, preparing to return to the City Lord's Mansion.

"Saint!" Ying Gong caught up at the right moment, shouting hurriedly, his face plastered with a sincere and respectful fake smile, saying loudly: "Today, the Saint's Divine Might, killing strong enemies with a snap of your fingers, solved the crisis of our Yuan City and opened our eyes! Tonight, this subordinate will host a victory banquet at the City Lord's Mansion, inviting all the meritorious personnel of the city and the heads of each family to celebrate together! I ask the Saint to please grace us with your presence!"

"Saint! Saint!" The crowd shouted in unison, their voices shaking the clouds, their gazes towards Xiao Ming filled with fanaticism.

Xiao Ming's footsteps paused slightly, and he gave a noncommittal "Hmm," accepting it, then his figure flickered and slowly disappeared from the city wall.

On the way back to the City Lord's Mansion, a familiar figure hurriedly chased from behind. Xiao Ming looked back and saw it was his good brother—Lu Ming.

"Saint! Saint, please wait!" Lu Ming ran up, his face glowing with excitement, clearly also shocked by Xiao Ming's earth-shattering strike just now, but there was also a trace of imperceptible doubt and anxiety in his eyes.

"Oh? It's little brother Lu, what is it?" Xiao Ming stopped, wearing a warm smile, looking at this "good brother" who was "deeply grateful" to him.

Lu Ming first bowed deeply, excitedly saying: "Brother Xiao's Divine Might is peerless! Today's battle will surely make you famous throughout the world! I am also honored by it!" After flattering him for a few sentences, he rubbed his hands somewhat embarrassedly and asked slowly: "That... Big Brother, have you seen Qingzhu? I have been looking for her these past few days but haven't been able to see her. I am a bit worried, she seems to have been with you, Big Brother..."

Hearing this, Xiao Ming laughed inwardly, but his face revealed an appropriately timed look of realization and approval. He patted Lu Ming's shoulder and said with a serious face: "So little brother is asking about this. That's right, Qingzhu has been discussing the Dao of Cultivation with me these past few days! Sigh... Senior Sister is truly a role model for our generation; this heart towards the Dao, this diligence, working day and night without stopping, is truly admirable!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Ming thought, so that's it! The slight doubt in his heart immediately vanished, replaced by approval and pride for Mo Qingzhu, as well as gratitude towards Xiao Ming: "So that's how it is! Qingzhu... she is really too diligent!" He then bowed slightly and continued: "Then I will trouble Big Brother to take care of Qingzhu for me! Presumably, she is still angry with me at this time, so I won't go disturb her. Let her Cultivate in peace."

A simple and bitter smile appeared on his face, and he bowed to Xiao Ming again, awkwardly saying: "Big Brother, don't forget to put in a good word for me! Everything regarding Qingzhu depends on you."

Xiao Ming smiled and nodded, looking like a caring big brother: "Little brother, there is no need for such formalities between us brothers! You can rest assured, leave it to Big Brother."

Lu Ming's mood instantly improved. After bowing respectfully, he turned and left with light steps, his heart filled with pride for Mo Qingzhu's "diligence."