174: Behind me stands the nation!

Watching this scene,

Ye Chen chuckled softly.

"Hey, old man."

"I suggest you call a few more people to join in."

"Just these sixteen... I'm afraid they're not enough to be impressive."

"Once we start, I'm afraid you'll lose so badly that you won't be able to save face."

Hearing this, Lin Xuanchen laughed out of extreme anger, but his laughter was filled with a bone-chilling coldness.

"Hehehe... Good! What a sharp-tongued junior!"

"Death is at your doorstep, yet you still dare to boast shamelessly!"

"The one who will end up miserable will only be you!"

He waved his hand sharply, his voice sounding like ice shards hitting the ground.

"Tian Sha Guards! What are you waiting for? Kill him for me—!!!"

"Kill—!!!"

The sixteen Tian Sha Guards roared in unison, a sound that seemed to come from a single throat, carrying an eerie resonance!

In the next second!

Sixteen black shadows, like sixteen black arrows shot from a bow, streaked from different directions toward Ye Chen at the center with air-tearing whistles!

Sixteen different killing moves, yet executed simultaneously along some mysterious trajectory, sealed off all of Ye Chen's space to dodge—above, below, left, right, front, and back!

Tian Sha Battle Formation—The Killing Strike!

Every Hidden Sect disciple on the plaza held their breath, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

It was as if they could already see... this reckless, arrogant brat being torn to shreds by the sixteen attacks in the next second!

However.

In that lightning-fast moment.

Ye Chen suddenly turned his head and spoke to Liu Qingluo, who had been standing quietly beside him.

"Qingluo."

"Lend me your dagger for a moment."

Hearing this, Liu Qingluo flicked her wrist, and the short blade slid silently into her palm before she handed it to Ye Chen.

Ye Chen took it without even looking.

By then, the first Tian Sha Guard had already arrived!

It was a slender rapier; its tip trembled with three points of cold light like a viper's tongue, thrusting straight at Ye Chen's throat!

However.

Ye Chen's right hand, gripping the dagger, moved as well.

Then.

He swung the dagger and slashed forward!

"Slash!"

A cutting sound, so faint it was almost inaudible, rang out.

The dagger swept across the first Tian Sha Guard's neck.

Time seemed to freeze.

The Tian Sha Guard's forward momentum abruptly stiffened, his rapier frozen in mid-air.

His eyes beneath the mask widened suddenly, filled with shock.

Immediately following.

A red line slowly emerged on his neck.

"Spurt—!"

Blood surged out like a fountain from the gash in his carotid artery!

His body swayed, the rapier fell from his hand, and he collapsed limply like a sack of skin with its bones removed.

All of this happened too fast!

So fast that the second Tian Sha Guard was only just swinging a pair of pitch-black nunchucks, whipping up a shrill wind as they smashed toward Ye Chen's temple!

"Die!"

He roared at Ye Chen, the muscles in his arms bulging as he poured his entire body's strength into this strike!

The nunchucks turned into a blurred black shadow, seemingly about to smash Ye Chen's head to a pulp... However.

Ye Chen's figure, like a ghost, ... vanished before his eyes?

No, not vanished!

It was that his speed was truly too fast, leaving an afterimage in his vision!

The Tian Sha Guard only felt his vision blur; Ye Chen was no longer in his original position.

A chill assailed him from behind!

He wanted to turn, wanted to parry, but his body's reactions simply couldn't keep up with the speed of his thoughts!

"Puchi—!"

Another muffled sound of a blade entering flesh.

A blood-stained dagger tip protruded from his chest at the position of his heart... He looked down in disbelief at the blade piercing through his body, opened his mouth, but only a large gulp of blood gushed out.

Before he could speak, Ye Chen had already pulled the dagger back out.

In the next second.

The second Tian Sha Guard collapsed... Silence!

A deathly silence!

If the death of the first Tian Sha Guard could still be explained as carelessness.

Then... the fact that the second Tian Sha Guard was still counter-killed while attacking with full force completely exceeded everyone's understanding!

"This... how is this possible?"

"How did he do it?!"

"Did you see it? Did any of you see it?!"

...Around the plaza, the previously excited Hidden Sect disciples now had dark expressions, their faces turning pale.

Two Yellow Realm peak-stage Tian Sha Guards were insta-killed in just one encounter!

This guy... just how strong is he!

The sneer on Lin Xuanchen's face had long since frozen, his eyelids twitching wildly as a storm of shock surged in his heart!

No one knew the worth of the Tian Sha Guards better than he did!

But now, in the blink of an eye, the Tian Sha Battle Formation had already lost two corners!

The formation was broken, and its energy flow was in chaos!

I'm afraid... they are no longer his match!

After all.

If they couldn't win while the Tian Sha Formation was active, how could they possibly win now that it was broken?

But.

Before he could speak and tell the remaining fourteen to retreat as quickly as possible... "Form a circular array! Trap him!"

One of them shouted, and the remaining thirteen immediately shifted positions, attempting to reconstruct a defensive circle to trap Ye Chen inside.

However, Ye Chen wouldn't give them that chance at all.

He moved once more.

This time, he was no longer standing in place waiting; he took the initiative to attack!

His figure was like a ghost blending into the night, or a swallow skimming across the water.

Fast!

So fast it was indescribable!

In everyone's eyes, they could only see a blurred afterimage flashing past the remaining fourteen Tian Sha Guards.

Every flash was accompanied by a sound of cutting.

"Slash!"

"Puchi!"

"Argh—!"

...When Ye Chen stopped, those fourteen Tian Sha Guards had frozen in place.

In the next second.

Fourteen wounds erupted from the necks of the fourteen men, and one by one, they fell backward... Dead!

Sixteen people, completely wiped out!!!

Everyone from the Hidden Sect was dumbstruck.

Sixteen Tian Sha Guards!

Sixteen Yellow Realm peak-stage experts!

Just like that, they were gone!

*Gulp...*

No one knew who it was, but someone swallowed hard.

Immediately after.

More sounds of swallowing saliva came one after another.

Strong!

Too strong!

So strong it exceeded their scope of cognition!

That group of elders was now drenched in sweat.

Their cultivation was higher and their vision keener, yet just now they could only barely capture Ye Chen's ghost-like trajectory.

Without a doubt.

Ye Chen was absolutely! Absolutely! Absolutely! Stronger than any one of them!

His strength was far above theirs!

But the problem was... he was so young, how could he be so terrifyingly powerful?

This youth... just who on earth is he?!

Ignoring the entire crowd, Ye Chen flicked the blood off the dagger and threw it back to Liu Qingluo. "What? Is the grand Hidden Sect out of people?"

Taunting!

Ultimate taunting!

The faces of the Hidden Sect members turned even uglier!

"Humph!"

A bone-chillingly cold voice rippled out without warning.

"Who is so bold..."

"...as to dare to run wild and kill people in my Hidden Sect's sacred land?!"

All the Hidden Sect disciples were stunned at first, then fell into a state of wild joy.

"It's... it's the Sect Leader's voice!"

"The Sect Leader and the Young Lady have finished their seclusion?!"

"Welcome, Sect Leader! Welcome, Young Lady!!!"

...Everyone turned their heads in unison, their gazes burning as they looked deep into the mountain gate.

They saw.

Two figures walked out of the mountain gate, one after the other.

Walking in front was a middle-aged man with a square face and a naturally imposing aura; he was the current Sect Leader of the Hidden Sect—Li Shan!

And half a step behind him was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

She wore a simple and elegant long dress; her figure was slender, and her long hair fell like a waterfall, partially held up by only a wooden hairpin.

Her eyes possessed a natural charm.

She was the Eldest Young Lady of the Hidden Sect, Li Shan's only daughter—Li Meier!

The two of them came to a halt on the stone steps.

Li Meier's gaze, sharp as a knife, landed on Ye Chen's face.

"You are Ye Chen?"

Ye Chen stood with his hands in his pockets, meeting her gaze and nodding. "Correct."

Li Shan's face turned cold, and an invisible pressure crashed down like a mountain, enveloping the entire plaza.

"Ye Chen!"

"You are simply too arrogant!"

"Not only have you repeatedly ruined my Hidden Sect's plans, killed my disciples, and destroyed my Outer Sect, but now you actually dare to charge into my Hidden Sect's sacred land and slaughter my Tian Sha Guards..."

He eyed him with cold light bursting like two unsheathed swords. "Do you really think that because my Hidden Sect has a century of heritage, there is no one who can deal with you?!"

Hearing this, Ye Chen raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"You think you can deal with me?"

Li Shan laughed out of extreme anger, his laughter filled with mockery and killing intent.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Today, this Sect Leader will make you understand the true height of the heavens and the depth of the earth! What it means for... a sect to be beyond insult!!!"

His robes fluttered even though there was no wind, and the terrifying aura of a Xuan Realm peak-stage expert began to rise slowly, like a waking dragon!

The surrounding Hidden Sect disciples felt this pressure, their eyes filled with fanaticism and anticipation.

The Sect Leader is furious!

This kid is dead meat!

However.

Facing that imposing aura, Ye Chen suddenly smiled.

"Deal with me?"

"With what do you intend to deal with me?"

"The one standing behind me is the country."

"What does your Hidden Sect, a trashy sect that lurks in the shadows, have?"

Everyone: "???"