24: Crushing the Condensation

Xiao Zhuo looked up.

A figure in silver armor and a red plume, enveloped in a fierce wind, plummeted from the majestic city tower with a crash! The deafening roar came from this person's mouth.

However, Xiao Zhuo had no intention of killing anyone.

"Good!" A wicked smile played on his lips, and under the middle-aged general's astonished gaze, the golden giant palm suddenly swung!

"Catch it!"

Wei Qingying's body, like a tattered sack flung by a trebuchet, tore through the air, emitting a piercing shriek, and smashed fiercely towards the approaching person!

The middle-aged general's pupils suddenly constricted to pinpricks! In a hurry, he quickly drew circles with his palms in front of him, and the dense, silvery-white True Qi instantly transformed into a rapidly spinning vortex light shield!

"Boom—!!!"

The figure violently shattered the light shield, and with undiminished momentum, heavily impacted the general's solid chest!

"Bang! Bang!"

The terrifying impact carried both of them flying backward, slamming heavily into the cold, dark iron city wall!

Two dull thuds exploded almost simultaneously! Crushed stones rained down, and dust filled the air!

The middle-aged general, his face ashen, struggled out of the indented wall pit, then roughly picked up the unconscious, limp Wei Qingying and tossed him like trash to the stunned soldiers nearby.

He then turned to Xiao Zhuo, his eyes as fierce as a wounded beast.

His imposing silver armor was now crooked and cracked, and the plates were constantly clinking and falling off, hitting the bluestone ground, making him appear dishevelled.

"Your Excellency... what ruthless methods!" His voice was hoarse, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists, and the rage in his eyes almost erupted. "Do you really think Qingyang City has no one to contend with?!" If not for the unfathomable Divine Sense power subtly locking onto him, making him wary, he would have long since pounced without hesitation.

A Condensing Aperture Realm cultivator around twenty years old? This was simply unheard of!

"Oh?" Xiao Zhuo leaned lazily against the saddle, his fingertips tapping idly on the leather, his tone carrying a hint of mockery, "I was merely following the general's orders to... 'stop.' Even the person was 'returned to his original owner' completely intact."

He deliberately elongated the end of his sentence, his gaze sweeping over the opponent's cracked armor, "General... do you perhaps wish to spar further?"

Behind him, Wu Qianning looked at Xiao Zhuo's tall figure, her small fists clenched tightly, knuckles white, her eyes filled with undisguised admiration and excitement—Young Master Xiao was simply too domineering!

Chen Rongzhen's (the middle-aged general's) temples throbbed wildly!

If the other party had given him an out, he would have immediately taken it!

But now, under the gaze of hundreds of eyes, he was completely put on the spot!

The arrow was on the string, and it had to be fired!

He suddenly raised his arm, forcibly suppressing his surging Qi and blood, and raised his voice, attempting to seize the moral high ground: "The Wu Family privately carried forbidden medicine into the City, with conclusive evidence! According to Great Chen law, they are to be immediately apprehended, and the goods confiscated! I, Chen Rongzhen, as the City Guard of Qingyang City, am merely fulfilling my duty!"

He stared intently at Xiao Zhuo, his tone laced with threat, "Boy! If you know what's good for you, surrender immediately! Otherwise... don't blame me for executing you on the spot for the crime of 'resisting law and assaulting a general'!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Wu Family's faces instantly turned ashen!

City Guard Chen Rongzhen! This was a truly powerful figure in Qingyang City, a master of the Condensing Aperture Realm!

His declaration clearly intended to thoroughly solidify the charges!

The surrounding crowd immediately erupted into a clamor:

"Forbidden medicine? Has the Wu Family gone mad?"

"Nonsense! Such a crude frame-up! I personally saw that soldier stuffing the bottle!"

"Heh, who doesn't know that the beaten dog of a captain is the Wei Family's Young Lord? The Wu Family also deals in Ore..."

"They must have offended someone! The Wei Family intends to wipe them out!"

The discussions, like a tide, flowed into Chen Rongzhen's ears, making his face even uglier, and he cursed Wei Qingying's ancestors eighteen generations back in his heart!

This idiot's crude actions were practically putting him on the spot! But remembering the Wei Family's enormous annual 'tributes', he had no choice but to bite the bullet and clean up this mess!

Seeing Xiao Zhuo still looking calm, even with a hint of 'watching a good show' on his face, Chen Rongzhen was completely enraged!

"Stubborn! Then don't blame me!"

He stomped his foot violently on the ground, shattering the bluestone! He shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, the silver glow on his palm's edge surging, and a ten-meter-long, fierce Saber Qi tore through the air, stirring up sand and stones, and chopped down towards Xiao Zhuo! The momentum was terrifying!

Xiao Zhuo merely patted the saddle, and his figure floated up like willow catkins.

Facing the terrifying Saber Qi that tore through the sky, he casually threw a punch.

"Boom—!"

A deafening Qi explosion rang out! The seemingly indestructible silver Saber Qi actually disintegrated inch by inch like fragile glass, turning into a sky full of shattered light, falling like a star shower!

"You started it first." Xiao Zhuo landed leisurely, as if merely dusting off his sleeves.

Chen Rongzhen's face drastically changed! His charge abruptly halted! Although he had only used fifty percent of his power for this 'Silver Moon Slash', the other party had dissolved it with too much ease!

"It's my turn!" Before Xiao Zhuo's words finished, his figure had already vanished from its original spot like a ghost!

"Whoosh—!"

The piercing shriek of air being torn was deafening! Chen Rongzhen didn't even have time to make any effective defense, his arms only subconsciously rising halfway—

Xiao Zhuo's figure was already pressed close to him! On his right fist, visible rings of terrifying Qi explosions rippled outwards, carrying a majestic force, and without any fancy moves, slammed into his chest!

"Pfft—!"

Chen Rongzhen spat out a mouthful of blood! His entire body, as if hit head-on by a battering ram, flew backward as a blurred afterimage!

"Rumble—!!!"

An even duller, more terrifying bang! His body slammed heavily into the hard, dark iron city wall, instantly sending dust soaring, shattered stones scattering, completely engulfing him!

"That shouldn't... kill him, right?" A hint of surprise appeared on Xiao Zhuo's face; he really only used... ten percent of his power?

A sweep of his Divine Sense, and the faint but tenacious life force in the dust cloud made him breathe a sigh of relief.

The dust slowly dispersed.

A shocking human-shaped indentation was deeply embedded in the city wall! Spiderweb-like cracks radiated outwards for several meters from the indentation!

Chen Rongzhen, like a specimen pinned to the wall, constantly coughed out gasps mixed with blood, each breath pulling at his lungs with excruciating pain, as if they were about to burst.

He struggled to twist his body, and as shattered stones rattled down, he barely managed to 'extract' himself from the wall pit, standing precariously on the ground.

"Cough cough... cough!!" He coughed violently, his eyes filled with shock, humiliation, and towering hatred. "Assaulting a City Guard general... damaging the city wall... by law, you should be executed! Boy! No matter which Sect's Prodigy you are! Illegally carrying forbidden medicine, assaulting a City Guard general... you... you're dead!"

"Is that so?" In Xiao Zhuo's narrowed eyes, a cold flash of killing intent flickered, then receded. He casually raised his right hand!

"Ah—!"

Among the City Guard soldiers, one screamed in terror as he was lifted into the air by an invisible force, flailing his limbs, yet like a fly trapped in amber!

This person was precisely the soldier who had 'discovered' the forbidden medicine earlier!

Chen Rongzhen's face instantly turned deathly pale! He immediately understood Xiao Zhuo's intention! Just as he was about to act—

A terrifying, icy, bone-chilling killing intent, like a massive iceberg, suddenly descended, pressing down heavily on his head!

"Ugh..." Chen Rongzhen trembled violently, as if falling into an ice cave, and cold sweat instantly soaked his inner garments!

At this moment, he felt the breath of death with extreme clarity!

He finally understood the chasm-like difference between himself and this young man! For the other party to kill him, it would probably only take one move!

Bitterness and despair instantly drowned out his anger, and he stood rigidly rooted to the spot, no longer daring to move an inch.

Xiao Zhuo retracted his gaze, bringing the struggling, wailing soldier before him, his eyes like abysses staring into the soldier's eyes, his voice carrying an irresistible will, directly penetrating his mind:

"Tell me—"

"Who told you to frame the Wu Family?"

Accompanying this cold question was a vast, prison-like Divine Sense pressure, fiercely crushing the soldier's fragile mental defenses!

The soldier's body suddenly stiffened, as if his bones had been removed, his eyes instantly unfocused, and he instinctively, with all his might, screamed out, his voice echoing clearly in the silent city gate:

"It... it was Captain Wei! It was Captain Wei Qingying! He gave me the porcelain bottle! I... I didn't even know what was inside! I didn't even dare to look! Mercy! Have mercy, sir—!!!"

Whoosh—!!!

Dead silence!

After a brief dead silence, there was a tumultuous uproar like a mountain tsunami!

Countless mocking, disdainful, angry gazes, like sharp arrows, shot towards the City Guard and Chen Rongzhen!

"The City Guard framed them!!" Wu Qianning seized this rare opportunity, stepping to Xiao Zhuo's side, her voice clear and impassioned, resounding throughout the venue, "Everyone saw it! Everyone heard it! This is blatant entrapment! If the Wei Family can frame my Wu Family today, tomorrow they can frame any merchant caravan present! If this trend continues, what rules will Qingyang City have left?! My Wu Family must meet with the City Lord today to seek justice! I ask all you fellow villagers and elders to bear witness for my Wu Family!!!"

These words were like igniting a powder keg!

The caravan owners, shop assistants, and travelling merchants present all felt the same, united in their hatred!

This was no longer just the Wu Family's affair, but the safety of all merchants doing business in Qingyang City! If the rules were so crudely trampled upon and not severely punished, who would dare to come in the future? For a time, public indignation surged, and the clamor was like a tide!

Chen Rongzhen's face was ashen, his back already drenched in cold sweat, as if he could hear the sound of his official career crumbling.

He glared venomously at the unconscious Wei Qingying, wishing he could personally strangle this incompetent idiot who was more trouble than he was worth!

Just at this moment of uproar and impending loss of control—

A majestic, cold voice, imbued with supreme authority, like a thunderclap from the nine heavens, suddenly exploded from within the deep, dark city gate archway, instantly suppressing all the clamor:

"Chen Rongzhen—!"

"How dare you!!!"

The voice was like an ice pick piercing bone marrow!

Hearing the voice, Chen Rongzhen's body trembled violently! He didn't even dare to turn his head, his face had instantly drained of all color, becoming as pale as a corpse!

Despair, like a cold tide, completely engulfed him!