118: Chapter 118 The Threat of Slaughtering the City, Silence Falls Like a Cicada in Winter

"It's him... It's actually him..."

Leng Yuechan gazed at the black figure high in the sky, resembling a Devil Head. For the first time, her cold, phoenix-like eyes welled up with bottomless despair and... guilt.

She recognized that flying boat, and even more so, she recognized that person.

An Inner Sect Elder of the Black Fiend Sect, Early Golden Core Stage, Golden Core Master Wu Yong!

That executioner, known within the Sect for his cruel methods and for holding grudges over the smallest slight!

"Brother Gu..." Leng Yuechan's voice trembled, tinged with a sob. "It's him... He's coming for me... Let me go out... If I go out, perhaps..."

"Shut up."

Gu Yan did not turn back; he merely interrupted her calmly.

His voice was terrifyingly calm, without a trace of panic in the Face of a powerful enemy.

"Once you have entered the Gu Family's gate, you are a member of the Gu Family. In this life, I, Gu Yan, have never had the habit of pushing my own people out to die just to exchange for a cowardly survival."

"But..."

"There are no 'buts'." Gu Yan raised his head, his gaze piercing through the heavy Void Realm to meet those indifferent eyes high above in the sky. "Today's matter is no longer just your own disaster. He intends to... wipe out the entire Gu Family."

High above in the sky.

Golden Core Master Wu Yong looked down at the ant below, who still stood with a straight spine under his pressure. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, immediately replaced by even more intense mockery.

"Your bones are quite hard."

He slowly raised his hand and flicked his fingertip gently.

Swish!

A stick of incense, only a finger's length, turned into a stream of light and descended from the sky. With a sharp whistling sound, it "thudded" into the bluestone floor in front of the Gu Mansion's main gate.

On the tip of the incense, a spark flickered in the strong wind, burning slowly.

"My patience is very limited."

Golden Core Master Wu Yong's voice carried no trace of worldly emotion, yet it echoed clearly above the entire Baifeng City. Each word was like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely into everyone's heart.

"One stick of incense."

"Within one stick of incense, if I do not see that wretch named Leng Yuechan, as well as the head of the Gu Family..."

He paused, a cruel arc curling at the corners of his mouth, his gaze slowly sweeping across this bustling city of a million people.

"Then, after today, Baifeng City will no longer exist in this world."

"Not even a chicken or a dog... will be left alive."

Boom!

As soon as the words "City Slaughter" were uttered, the entire city seemed to be plunged into an icy cellar.

Fear was no longer just an emotion; it had become a tangible poison, instantly strangling the throats of everyone.

Millions of Mortals prostrated themselves on the ground, not even daring to make a sound while weeping, only able to watch the burning incense in despair.

It was not just a stick of incense.

It was the Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's heads!

Countless gazes, filled with hope and pleading, instinctively turned towards the center of the city—the City Lord's Mansion and the towering pagoda of the Tianyi Chamber of Commerce.

They were the guardians of Baifeng City.

They were the pillars of support they usually revered and relied upon.

In the Face of this impending disaster, they were the only hope.

City Lord's Mansion, Great Hall.

The usually dignified City Lord was now slumped on the main seat, his Face ashen, fists tightly clenched, nails digging deep into his palms, unaware of the blood dripping down.

Behind him, several Foundation Establishment Stage commanders and Elders were all deathly pale, their bodies trembling slightly.

"City Lord... should we... should we intervene?" a commander asked with a dry voice. "That is... a city slaughter..."

The City Lord suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot.

He wanted to fight.

As the Lord of the city, protecting the people was his responsibility.

But...

He felt the terrifying pressure above his head, like the sky collapsing, and felt the spiritual energy within his body completely stagnant, unable to mobilize even a fraction.

That was the Golden Core Stage!

It was an absolute crushing of life levels!

If he were to intervene, not only would he be unable to save anyone, but he would also provoke that Devil Head, causing the slaughter to descend early, and even the City Lord's Mansion's centuries-old foundation would be destroyed in an instant.

"Intervene? With what would I intervene?!"

The City Lord let out a bitter laugh, and he seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

"In front of a Golden Core Master, what are we... if not ants?"

He slowly closed his eyes, and two lines of murky tears slid from the corners of his eyes.

"Pass the order down... activate all defensive Formations within the mansion, seal the gates... no one is allowed to act rashly."

"But City Lord, the Gu Family..."

"Shut up!" The City Lord let out a painful low roar. "For the sake of the million lives in the city... sacrificing one Gu Family... is... is worth it."

"Extinguish the lights... then."

Following this order.

The lights of the City Lord's Mansion, which usually burned all night, were extinguished one by one under the desperate gazes of countless citizens.

Those extinguishing lights were like a signal, declaring the official... abandonment.

Tianyi Chamber of Commerce, top floor.

"Father! You cannot ignore this! That is Gu Yan! He is my husband! He is our most important ally!"

Jin Feiyan knelt on the ground, clutching her father's leg tightly, crying with tears streaming down her Face, having long lost the competence of the businesswoman she usually was.

President Jin Yuanbao, this fat man who was usually all smiles, had not a shred of a smile on his Face at this moment.

He stood by the window, looking at the Gu Garden shrouded in darkness not far away, his eyes extremely complex.

He was a businessman.

Businessmen care most about investment and return.

He had once placed a heavy bet on Gu Yan, even wagering his own daughter. Because he was optimistic about Gu Yan's potential and the future of the Gu Family.

But...

The premise of this investment was that Gu Yan could survive.

Facing a Golden Core Stage Elder of the Black Fiend Sect, the wrath of a top-tier Sect...

This was no longer a venture investment.

This was... suicide.

"Feiyan, get up." President Jin Yuanbao's voice was hoarse and weary.

"I won't! Father, you are a Golden Core Master! You can definitely save them! As long as you intervene, that Elder Wu will definitely give you Face!" Jin Feiyan cried out.

"Give me Face?" President Jin Yuanbao shook his head bitterly. "It is true that I am a Golden Core Master, but I am merely a pseudo-Golden Core piled up by medicine, while the other party... is a powerful Elder of the Black Fiend Sect, a demonic cultivator who truly fought his way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!"

"If I were to intervene, not only would I be unable to save Gu Yan, but even this Tianyi Chamber of Commerce, and even you... would be dragged by me into an abyss of no return!"

He turned around, no longer looking at his daughter's desperate eyes, hardened his heart, and flicked his sleeve.

A gentle surge of magic power poured out, knocking Jin Feiyan unconscious.

"Come here, take the Young Miss down and guard her strictly! Without my order, no one is allowed to let her out!"

After doing all this, President Jin Yuanbao seemed to have been drained of all his strength.

He looked at the stick of incense outside the window that had already burned halfway, and slowly raised his hand.

"Extinguish the lights."

The iconic pagoda of the Tianyi Chamber of Commerce, at this moment, withdrew all its light and sank into the boundless darkness.

Immediately after.

The Chen Family, the Li Family, the Wang Family...

Within Baifeng City, all the immortal cultivation Families, all the forces, seemed to have reached some kind of silent tacit understanding.

One by one, the lights were extinguished in succession.

One by one, the mansion gates were tightly closed.

The originally bustling and brilliant Baifeng City, in just a few breaths, fell into a dead, silent darkness.

A huge city with a population of millions.

At this moment.

There was not a single person who dared to make a sound.

There was not a single force that dared to stand up and say even a word for the Gu Family.

This is the world of immortal cultivation.

This is... reality.

In the Face of absolute power, so-called morality, so-called alliances, so-called gratitude...

Are all as fragile as a candle flame in the wind, one blow... and they are extinguished.

In the darkness.

Only the Gu Garden in the east of the city was still lit.

Surrounded by the boundless darkness and silence, that little light seemed so lonely, so small, and yet so... glaring.

Like a small boat in stormy waves, it could be swallowed up at any moment.

Yet it stubbornly refused to sink.

The incense had burned more than halfway.

The spark was about to touch the base.

The countdown to death was, bit by bit, mercilessly... reaching zero.