227: Female Demon: Sorry, I used a bit too much force.

That trace of Imperial Might was understated.

There was no world-shaking phenomenon, no world-destroying power.

It was like a wisp of invisible wind, brushing across the desolate square in front of the Imperial City gate.

The wind brushed past General Wang Lie, the Great Saint Realm general who held a long spear and spoke with harsh authority.

Time froze.

The majesty and reprimand on Wang Lie's face were frozen into a sculpture of horror.

His bright, tiger-like eyes suddenly bulged outward, his eyeballs instantly covered in dense bloodshot veins.

He felt as if he were no longer being struck by a Universe.

Rather, his entire existence—from Divine Soul to Dao body, from past to future—was being erased from the very root of time by an invisible hand!

The Great Saint Realm cultivation he was so proud of didn't even have time to let out a mournful cry before it completely dissolved and returned to nothingness before that power.

The top-tier Saint Weapon spear in his hand vibrated violently.

Countless fine cracks began to spread from within, instantly covering the entire shaft.

"Crack—"

A crisp sound pierced everyone's eardrums in the absolute silence.

The long spear turned into metal dust flying through the air.

Wang Lie's mountain-like upright body trembled violently like chaff.

His legs could no longer support the weight of his body.

"Thud!"

A dull, heavy sound.

This majestic Great Saint Realm expert, commander of tens of thousands of Imperial City Guards, right in broad daylight and under the gaze of all the city's Cultivators...

Slammed his knees heavily onto the ground.

He knelt.

Straight down, he knelt on the ground.

The ground beneath him was paved with Obsidian Divine Gold, indestructible.

At this moment, however, a deep crater exploded outward with his knees as the center!

Horrifying spider-web-like cracks spread madly in all directions, instantly tearing apart the city gate area for a hundred fathoms around!

"I... I..."

A few tremors squeezed out from deep within Wang Lie's throat.

He wanted to look up.

He wanted to see that woman clearly.

Just who was that woman who, with a single thought, had trampled his lifelong pride and dignity into the dust!

But he couldn't do it.

An invisible weight pinned his spine, making even moving a finger an extravagant hope.

His Divine Soul was shivering.

His Dao Heart was shattering.

His consciousness was being completely swallowed by an absolute fear originating from the very level of life itself.

The entire Imperial City gate fell into a graveyard-like silence.

The wind stopped, the clouds stilled, and everyone's heartbeat seemed to vanish.

Everyone was stunned.

Those Imperial Guard soldiers, who were originally aggressive and full of Killing Intent, were like frozen stone carvings, stuck in place in their positions of drawing bows and nocking arrows.

The Cultivators waiting in line for inspection all had their mouths wide open, their eyeballs almost falling out of their sockets.

What happened?

Just now... what on earth happened?

General Wang Lie... he is a genuine Great Saint!

A pivotal figure in the Great Xia Divine Dynasty military!

How did he... kneel?

There was no fight, not even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.

That bewitching black-robed woman had merely spat out two words impatiently.

And then, General Wang Lie knelt.

He knelt so simply, so completely, so... humiliatingly.

This scene completely shattered the understanding of everyone present.

They felt as if their brains had been burned into mush.

This was illogical!

This violated the basic Laws of Cultivation!

Even if a legendary Quasi-Emperor Ancestor arrived in person, it would be impossible to make a proud Great Saint perform such a great public humiliation with just one sentence!

This woman... who is she?!

Fear.

Boundless fear spread madly through the crowd like a plague.

"Gulp."

Someone, somewhere, swallowed hard.

This sound was like a signal.

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

In the next second, the sounds of people hitting their knees on the ground rose and fell in unison.

Those Cultivators with weaker cultivation, merely by enduring a trace of the residual pressure unconsciously leaking from Ye Linghan, already felt their Divine Souls splitting and their Dao Hearts collapsing.

They couldn't control their bodies; their legs went soft, and they involuntarily knelt on the ground.

Prostrating themselves before that bewitching figure.

As if worshipping a... living taboo!

In front of the entire Imperial City gate, except for Su Chen, who was still dry-heaving and completely unaware of everything happening outside...

Not a single person could remain standing.

Ye Linghan had little interest in this scene of ten thousand people kneeling.

Whether ants knelt or not made no difference.

She merely rubbed her smooth forehead with her jade-like hand—the one not holding Su Chen—somewhat impatiently.

"Really."

"I accidentally used a bit too much strength."

She curled her lip and muttered to herself.

"Blocking the whole road, how troublesome."

She glanced at Wang Lie, who was kneeling at the very front, body shaking like chaff and nearly scared out of his Divine Soul, and her delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"Forget it, let's just go in."

Holding Su Chen's arm, she moved her snow-white legs, partially hidden by her tattered black robe, and prepared to walk into the city gate.

She walked very slowly and casually.

But with every step she took forward...

The Cultivators kneeling on the ground ahead would burst with their most primitive desire for survival, using both hands and feet to scramble and crawl out of the way to both sides.

They proactively cleared a wide path for her.

Everyone pressed their heads firmly against the ground.

No one dared to look up at her.

For fear that a single disrespectful glance would bring upon them the same... divine punishment as that Great Saint general.

Just like that.

In a bizarre atmosphere of ten thousand people kneeling in deathly silence.

Ye Linghan, holding the bewildered Su Chen, strolled into the Imperial City Tiandu—the symbol of supreme power in the Central Province—like a monarch inspecting her own territory.