549: Why did you leave without saying goodbye?

A favorability of 95 points—it was as blazing as fire!

Yet, it was wrapped beneath a layer of cold, deliberate distance, creating a jarring contrast!

Yao Delong understood in an instant.

This silly woman... she had taken all her suffering, all her inferiority, and all her fear of getting close,

and condensed them into that distant address of "Senior"!

A complex mix of heartache, affection, and frustration at her lack of resolve instantly surged into his heart.

“Luo Yan,”

He took a step forward, his voice deep and penetrating, carrying an unquestionable dominance.

It instantly shattered the sense of distance she had worked so hard to maintain. “Why did you leave without saying goodbye before?”

The overwhelming aura that washed over her was the vast, sea-like pressure of a Spirit Transformation Cultivator,

and even more so, the heart-pounding aggression unique to a mature man.

Luo Yan felt her breath hitch and subconsciously took half a step back, her heel almost touching the cold Pill Furnace.

A bitter arc barely formed at the corner of her lips, her smile so fragile it seemed it would shatter at any moment:

“The market is too small to hold a true Dragon. You see...”

She looked up slightly, her gaze quickly sweeping over his extraordinary, handsome face before rapidly dropping back down.

Her voice was light, carrying the dust of self-abandonment. “You are now a famous, powerful great Cultivator who shakes the world,”

“While I... am still just a low-cultivation Golden Core Stage shopkeeper in Jinling City, struggling to make a living.”

She paused, as if using every ounce of her strength,

to voice the most unsightly reason—the one that made her feel most unworthy of him:

“I know my beauty is common, and in my younger years I was... married to another. This body is no longer pure,”

“And my cultivation talent is even more pitifully low. I am truly unworthy of remaining by Senior's side. Back then...”

Her voice choked for a moment, filled with endless lingering fear and a tiny shred of luck,

“To have been able to accompany Senior through that difficult path was already the greatest fortune of Luo Yan's life.”

“Now... I ask Senior to leave, lest you stain your reputation because of me.”

“My trivial matters and hardships... are truly not worth Senior's concern.”

Every word was like a sharp blade slicing across her heart, leaving it bloody and torn.

Her words seemed resolute, but they were actually a faint wail from a swamp of despair,

humbly pushing herself away just so she wouldn't become a "stain" on him.

“Your fortune and misfortune,” Yao Delong's eyes suddenly became as sharp as knives, his voice decisive,

containing a will that brooked no disobedience, “are now for me to decide!”

Before his voice had even faded!

A boundless, near-tangible Divine Thought exploded outward!

Like an invisible canopy, it instantly enveloped the entire Jinling City!

Mountains, rivers, plants, the bustle of the streets, the auras of countless Cultivators... everything was laid bare under this Divine Thought!

Without any warning or spellcasting movements!

Yao Delong's figure, along with Luo Yan beside him, seemed to be swallowed by space itself,

only to reappear a hundredth of a second later—teleported!

The Jinling City Lord's Mansion was decorated with lanterns and streamers; the birthday banquet had long been prepared, waiting only for the guests to arrive.

“BOOM—!!!”

The sound of a sonic boom descending from the heavens directly collapsed three of the floating colored pavilions decorated for the birthday!

Glass shards, broken tiles, spirit fruits, and jade plates rained down like hail!

Late Stage Soul Transformation! Pressure!

The sky seemed to crash down in physical form! Those with cultivation below the Golden Core couldn't even let out a groan before collapsing like limp noodles!

Golden Core Cultivators desperately circulated their True Essence, barely managing to keep from going mad!

Nascent Soul figures used their protective Magic Treasures in sheer terror, but their spiritual light flickered under the horrific pressure like a candle in the wind!

Snap! Thud!

City Lord Zhao Wuji had just stepped out of the main hall's doors, intending to ask who had come, but before his third step could touch the ground,

it was as if he were struck by a giant hammer. His kneecaps let out a tooth-aching crack!

He was slammed face-down in a humiliating posture into the gold and jade floor by an invisible, massive force.

His forehead was pressed hard against the cold spirit jade; moving even a single finger became a luxury!

He forced the metallic taste of blood back down his throat! The shock in his eyes was replaced by endless humiliation and a deeper, darker fear!

The visitor... had come directly for the City Lord's Mansion! And with a completely unreserved, crushing attitude!

On the plaza, Zhao Wuji's most precious treasure—the Peak Rank 6 Spirit Beast known for its ability to fight an Early Nascent Soul Stage, the Fire-feathered Golden-eyed Eagle—

let out a shrill, distorted wail. With a "thud-crunch," its massive body slammed down three yards in front of Zhao Wuji.

Blood sprayed from its seven orifices and its feathers broke; it was actually crushed to death on the spot by the pressure that fell like a collapsing mountain!

“Skree—!” Its final cry of mercy before death lashed against everyone's Soul like a whip!

“...”

Dead silence!

An absolute silence enveloped the entire City Lord's Mansion, which was pinned down by the pressure!

Countless gazes—terrified, resentful, or horrified—struggled to look upward!

There, high in the sky!

Green robes fluttering! Two figures hung there abruptly, as if they had existed there since ancient times!

The man was like a deity wielding the thunder and fire of the nine heavens, his cold gaze looking down at the ant-like inhabitants of the City Lord's Mansion below.

The woman held by his side with one arm wore simple green clothes. Her face was gentle but carried an unmistakable paleness and daze.

She was none other than the woman known for being a low-profile widow and the shopkeeper of the Myriad Medicine Pavilion in the city—Luo Yan!

Luo Yan's heartbeat no longer felt like her own. She had just felt the world spinning before her eyes,

and before the terrifying sensation of space tearing could swallow her,

the next second she was already standing at a height overlooking the entire city and the City Lord's Mansion!

The black mass of kneeling figures below, Zhao Wuji—who usually held such majesty but was now slumped before the jade steps like a stray dog—

and the position where the Third Young Master had been arrogantly hiding just moments ago... everything was jarringly clear!

All of this! Just because of the man beside her and his domineering, unquestionable declaration:

“Your fortune and misfortune are now for me to decide!”

“I do not know... I do not know which Senior has graced us with your presence...”

Zhao Wuji exhausted his very life, his Nascent Soul Great Perfection True Essence burning and surging frantically within him,

finally squeezing out a raspy voice like a broken gong. Every word was accompanied by the clattering of his teeth.

“My... my City Lord's Mansion... if there is... even a shred of offense... I beg Senior... to make it clear... This... this old man... is willing... willing to give everything... to make... make...”

His words were humbled to the dust, intermittent under the surging invisible pressure, using all his strength just to keep them at the level of a plea.

It wasn't that he didn't want to resist! It was that the power locking onto the core will of the entire mansion

made him feel as if an ancient venomous python had coiled around his heart!

The moment he tried to exert any physical force or trigger the True Essence of the Formation, the outcome would be: his neck snapping first!

Yao Delong didn't even bother to spare a glance from the corner of his eye at the puddle of mud that was City Lord Zhao below.

His arm around Luo Yan's waist was as steady as a mountain, as if declaring absolute ownership.

His cold voice wasn't loud, yet it was like a freezing wind blowing from the nine abysses,

drilling clearly into the ears of every frozen living being in every corner of Jinling City—be they Cultivators inside or outside the mansion,

or the confused commoners further away in the streets:

“This person.”

Two words!

Like two icebergs dropped into a frozen, stagnant body of water!

He pointed at Luo Yan, whom he was shielding by his side:

“—is my, Yao Delong's, woman.”