Lin Qianxue fell in love

Dead silence.

A deathly silence.

On the second floor of the Jinyi Pavilion, the originally boisterous atmosphere seemed to be instantly snuffed out by an invisible giant hand.

A suffocating sense of oppression filled the air, and only the occasional sound of the wind drifting in from the window seemed particularly piercing.

Everyone's gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, moved stiffly back and forth between two directions.

On one side was Zhou Mei, the woman in pink, embedded in the ruins of the red sandalwood shelves, her face covered in blood, her life or death unknown.

On the other side was Su Ye, dressed in a green robe, his posture as upright as a pine tree, elegantly wiping his fingers.

"Gulp..."

Someone, in extreme tension, swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

In the silent hall, this sound was actually as clear as a clap of thunder.

"He... what did he just do?"

"A slap? He sent Zhou Mei flying with just a slap?"

"Zhou Mei is at the Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer Peak, an expert only one step away from Core Formation! Even someone at the Golden Core Early Stage couldn't possibly beat her like this relying solely on the strength of their Physical Body, right?"

"Isn't this Su Ye... the waste rumored to rely on living off women and his Revered Master's protection?"

Fragmented discussions slowly rose like a tide, carrying an undisguisable horror.

As for Zhao Tianba, who was at the center of the storm, his entire being seemed to be frozen in place.

His gaze stared fixedly at Zhou Mei, who was like a dead dog not far away, and the muscles at the corners of his eyes began to twitch frantically.

Anger.

An unprecedented sense of shame and anger, like a volcanic eruption, instantly breached the dam of his rationality.

Who was he, Zhao Tianba?

A top-ten expert of the Chixiao Peak Inner Sect, a powerhouse at the Golden Core Fifth Layer!

In this Taichu Holy Land Inner Sect, as long as it wasn't those core True Disciples, who wouldn't respectfully call him "Senior Brother Zhao" upon seeing him?

But today.

Right under his nose.

His woman was actually beaten by a publicly recognized "Purple Bamboo Peak waste"!

And it was the kind of face-slapping that was extremely humiliating!

This wasn't just hitting Zhou Mei's face; this was clearly taking Zhao Tianba's face and throwing it on the ground to be trampled ruthlessly!

"Su... Ye..."

Zhao Tianba slowly turned his head, the sound of bones grinding coming from his neck.

His eyes instantly became bloodshot, turning a solid crimson, like a Vicious Beast choosing someone to devour.

A violent and scorching surge of spiritual energy erupted with him as the center.

Whoosh—

Heat waves rolled out.

The temperature on the second floor of the Jinyi Pavilion suddenly rose, as if they were inside a furnace.

Some low-grade Dharma Robes placed nearby actually began to curl and scorch under this terrifying high temperature.

"You are looking for death!!!"

These five words seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of Hell, carrying a killing intent that was concentrated to the extreme.

Zhao Tianba's body was roiling with crimson spiritual energy, his hair dancing wildly; he looked like a demon god bathed in flames.

"I will tear you into ten thousand pieces! I will skin you alive and pull out your tendons! I'll turn you into a human lantern!"

His roar shook the entire floor.

The surrounding onlookers' expressions changed drastically, and they retreated in fear, afraid of being caught in this terrifying fury.

"Quickly, retreat! Zhao Tianba has gone mad!"

"This is Chixiao Peak's ultimate technique, the 'Scarlet Flame Incinerating Heaven Art'. Su Ye is finished!"

"Sigh, although that slap just now was satisfying, Su Ye only has that much cultivation after all. How can he withstand the wrath of a Golden Core Fifth Layer?"

In the crowd, many people cast pitying glances at Su Ye.

In the world of immortal cultivation, a momentary clash of will is certainly refreshing, but strength is the ultimate truth.

If one provoked a powerhouse an entire major Realm higher than oneself, the end result was often incredibly miserable.

Feeling the scorching killing intent blowing against her face, Lin Qianxue's body couldn't help but tremble slightly.

That was the pressure of the Golden Core Fifth Layer; for her, who had only recently achieved Core Formation, it held a natural suppression.

But she did not retreat.

Instead, she gritted her teeth, suppressed the fear in her heart, and took a step forward, shielding Su Ye.

Clang!

The long sword in her hand was once again unsheathed by half an inch, its cold light flickering.

"Senior Brother, you should leave quickly!"

Although Lin Qianxue's voice was trembling, it carried a hint of resolve.

"I won't allow you to hurt my Senior Brother!"

Looking at the somewhat slender figure shielding him, the chill in the depths of Su Ye's eyes instantly melted away a bit.

In its place was a gentle smile.

"Silly girl."

He gently shook his head, reached out, and rubbed her soft hair.

His movements were gentle, as if he didn't care at all about the "flame demon god" about to explode in front of him.

"Didn't Senior Brother say so?"

Su Ye's fingers slid down her hair and gently grasped her hand that was pressed against the sword hilt.

At that moment.

A warm and powerful force flowed into Lin Qianxue's body through his fingertips.

Her heart, which had been beating frantically, miraculously settled down.

"This kind of filth isn't worthy of you drawing your sword."

"And..."

Su Ye lowered his head slightly, leaning close to Lin Qianxue's ear, his warm breath fanning across her earlobe with a hint of laziness and dominance:

"When a man is doing business, the woman should just stand behind him and watch obediently."

The tips of Lin Qianxue's ears instantly turned beet red, and the sword momentum she had gathered actually dissipated inexplicably at this moment.

She was pulled behind Su Ye in a daze.

Looking at that back, which wasn't particularly broad but seemed incredibly tall at this moment, her gaze gradually became infatuated.

"Stop acting mysterious!"

Seeing the two of them still "flirting" there, Zhao Tianba was even more furious, his lungs about to burst with rage.

"Death is at your door, yet you still dare to be all lovey-dovey here!"

"If I don't cripple you today, I, Zhao Tianba, swear I'm not human!"

Boom!

With a roar.

Zhao Tianba finally moved.

The floorboards beneath his feet instantly shattered, and his entire being turned into a crimson afterimage, carrying a towering heat wave as he charged violently toward Su Ye.

"Scarlet Flame Palm!"

A violent shout rang out.

On his right palm, crimson spiritual energy condensed frantically, actually transforming into a giant flame palm the size of a millstone.

The flames burned fiercely, even causing the air to distort and warp from the heat.

This palm strike did not hold back in the slightest.

He truly had killing intent, wanting to blast Su Ye into dregs on the spot!

"This palm power... even a Golden Core Fourth Layer would be heavily injured if they took it head-on!"

"It's over, it's over, Su Ye is probably going to be burned to ashes!"

Exclamations came from the surroundings.

However.

Facing this menacing palm strike that was enough to melt gold and dissolve stone.

Su Ye still stood in place, completely unmoved.

He didn't even lift an eyelid.

He stood with his hands behind his back, a faint mockery hanging at the corner of his mouth, as if the person charging at him wasn't a Golden Core powerhouse, but a moth looking for death.

"Too weak."

A soft sigh, barely audible.

In Su Ye's eyes (or rather, under the perception of his Supreme Bone), Zhao Tianba's seemingly mighty palm strike was simply full of holes.

The spiritual energy was superficial, and there were too many Impurities.

Flames of this level weren't even worthy of lighting a cigarette for him.

"Since you want to die, I will fulfill your wish."

Just as that giant flame palm was less than three feet from Su Ye's face, and Lin Qianxue couldn't help but let out a cry of alarm.

Su Ye finally raised his hand.

There was no gorgeous spiritual light.

There was no startling Aura.

It was just a simple, unadorned slap, casually swung toward the Void Realm.

It looked like he was shooing away an annoying fly.

However.

It was this casual swing.

Slap!!!

A sonic boom, ten times louder and a hundred times crisper than before, suddenly exploded in the air.

Immediately after, a scene that everyone would never forget for the rest of their lives occurred.

That menacing giant flame palm, which seemed capable of incinerating everything, at the moment it touched the gust of wind brought by Su Ye's palm.

It was like a bubble meeting a steel needle.

With a 'poof' sound.

It directly shattered!

The sky full of firelight was instantly extinguished, without even a single spark remaining.

And Su Ye's palm, its momentum unabated, passed through the dissipating spiritual energy and landed solidly on Zhao Tianba's distorted and hideous face.

"Crack!"

The sound of bones shattering was enough to make one's teeth ache.

The hideous expression on Zhao Tianba's face instantly froze, then turned into extreme horror and pain.

He felt as if he had crashed into an Ancient God Mountain.

The power contained in that slap was as vast as the sea and unfathomably deep, simply not something human strength could contend with!

The Golden Core spiritual energy shield he was so proud of was like paper in front of that palm, shattering instantly.

"No—"

Zhao Tianba only had time to let out a short scream.

In the next instant.

His entire person was like a meteorite hit by a high-speed projectile, flying backward several times faster than he had come!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His body drew a straight line in the air, smashing through three load-bearing pillars that would require two people to encircle with their arms.

Finally.

With a loud boom.

He slammed heavily into the incredibly hard Basalt wall of the Jinyi Pavilion.

The entire wall instantly cracked, with spider-web-like fractures spreading out densely.

Zhao Tianba was like a painting "hung" on the wall for a moment before sliding down limply.

"Pfft—"

He lay on the ground, opening his mouth to spit out a large mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments.

His entire right face had completely collapsed, his jaw was a comminuted fracture, and not a single tooth was left in his mouth, all swallowed into his stomach along with the blood.

What was even more terrifying.

Inside his Dantian at the abdomen, a strange and domineering force was currently wreaking havoc, causing the Golden Core he had worked so hard to Cultivate to crack with countless fissures!

His originally strong Aura now rapidly withered like a deflated ball.

One slap.

Just one slap.

The Chixiao Peak True Disciple, Golden Core Fifth Layer expert Zhao Tianba.

Was crippled!

Silence.

A deathly silence even more complete than before.

If Su Ye slapping Zhou Mei away just now was something the crowd could barely accept.

After all, Zhou Mei was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage and was completely off guard.

But now... this was Zhao Tianba!

He was a Golden Core Fifth Layer powerhouse who was fully alert, had used his ultimate technique, and had struck out in anger!

He was... also slapped away with one hand?

And didn't even have the slightest ability to resist?

"This... this is... a waste?"

The round-faced Cultivator who had just mocked Su Ye now had his eyes bulging out of their sockets, his jaw hanging open as if dislocated, and his legs trembling uncontrollably.

If this was a waste.

Then what were people like them?

Dust?

Or air that wasn't even as good as dust?

"My god... did I see that wrong? That was a Golden Core Fifth Layer!"

"An insta-kill! A complete and utter insta-kill!"

"Just what is Su Ye's cultivation? Could it be that he has been hiding his strength all along?"

"Purple Bamboo Peak... the heavens are about to change!"

In the crowd, several male Cultivators who originally had some designs on Lin Qianxue now felt a chill down their backs, cold sweat instantly soaking their clothes.

They were glad they hadn't been the ones to stick their heads out.

Otherwise, the one lying on the ground like a pile of mud would probably be them.

Standing behind Su Ye, Lin Qianxue's beautiful eyes were wide open, her small mouth slightly agape; she was completely stunned.

She looked at her Senior Brother in front of her, who still maintained his palm-swinging posture, and her mind went blank.

Was this still that Senior Brother who was usually gentle and refined, who would only make lotus seed soup for her and speak softly?

Was this still the man rumored to be "physically weak and sickly" who needed his Revered Master's protection?

An unprecedented sense of admiration, accompanied by intense heart-throbbing, flooded her rationality like a tide.

"Ding! Lin Qianxue's mental defenses have completely collapsed. She has developed extreme admiration and love for the Host. Favorability +10. Current Favorability: 95 (Unwavering Love)."

"Congratulations to the Host for triggering a critical hit reward: 10,000 villain points!"