Chapter 59: The Most Dazzling Entrance, Followed by the Most Brutal Beatdown

Based on his experience of reading pulp fiction, Zhao Yu grabbed his firewood chopper and chose to flee the moment the situation changed.

He had no intention of crossing paths with any expert who referred to himself as "this seat."

After all, he couldn't win—he genuinely couldn't win.

Moving at top speed, he shot straight from the underground chamber to the surface.

Just as he was about to fly clean out of the Liu estate, another barrier of light rose up around him.

Zhao Yu's face twisted in agony... Why was there yet another one of these bizarre, glowing walls?

How on earth did anyone even set this stuff up?

"Rumble..."

Accompanied by a violent shaking of the earth, the underground secret chamber actually rose up from beneath the ground and settled onto the surface.

The runes carved within the chamber began to flash with increasing rapidity.

Before long, multi-colored halos of light radiated outward.

Then, a gloomy-looking man with slightly pale skin slowly stepped out from the halo.

"Such a flamboyant entrance. I'm doomed, I'm totally doomed..." Zhao Yu began to lament once more.

The man raised his eyes slightly to look at Zhao Yu, letting out a cold laugh: "To dare to touch this seat's undying soul—you really are in the Golden Core realm, just as my father's message claimed.... If you had fled far away right then and there, this seat might never have found you! But you actually dared to enter the secret chamber and destroy the sculpture painstakingly crafted by this seat. You deserve to die!"

Had the sculpture not been destroyed, he wouldn't have been able to use the emergency reserve method to teleport back across ten thousand miles in an instant.

Zhao Yu tried to look as harmless as a domestic animal: "Is Old Master Liu your father?"

"You ask when you already know." The man's expression grew icy.

Zhao Yu tried his best to salvage the situation: "Big brother, although I know your dad kills people, I didn't mean to break anything... And seriously, when I start fighting people, even I get scared of myself. How about we just part ways here?"

If this guy genuinely refused to leave him a way out, he couldn't be blamed for immediately recalling his wife, his younger brother, and his sister-in-law in his mind, letting his hot blood surge, and launching a desperate counter-kill.

According to the records in storybooks, these shady individuals all had very fragile lives. As long as his blood was boiling and he shouted slogans about protecting his wife and sister-in-law, there was no way he would lose.

He believed this, he was certain of it, he counted on it.

"Now you know what fear feels like? Too late!" The man turned arrogant.

If Zhao Yu had attacked straight away, the man might have felt some apprehension, but judging by Zhao Yu's current demeanor... it was obvious he was no match for him.

Zhao Yu was getting anxious too: "Hey, hey, hey, don't force me."

He silently yearned for the voice and smile of his wife, recalled the innocence of his sister-in-law, and sighed over the frail constitution of his younger brother... He felt the hot blood rising within him.

It was time for a counterattack.

Without a word, the man formed a hand seal: "Soul, return!"

A ripple flashed through the air.

The female ghost who had been waiting for Zhao Yu at the street corner of the town was pulled back here out of thin air.

"It's... it's you..." Upon seeing the man, the female ghost's face turned pale with terror, and she instantly curled up on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

Zhao Yu was startled as well. Was this guy even stronger than he had imagined?

Could this boiling-blood technique really secure a victory?

The man stood with his hands behind his back: "Considering your Golden Core cultivation, this seat will grant you a dignified end. How would you like to die?"

Zhao Yu kept silent, silently resolving that it was time to fight for his life. Damn it, with his thick skin, he could drag this guy down to death through sheer attrition... Well, maybe not; this guy was acting so arrogant, he must be very powerful...

Wuwuwu... Wife, I won't be able to make it back...

Suddenly.

The firewood chopper grew indignant: "Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, hurry up and hack this guy to death! I thought he was some big deal, and I even quietly started gathering my origin power to risk my life with him. But while gathering it, I suddenly realized he's actually just a Golden Core cultivator..."

Zhao Yu, still caught in his grief, was stunned: "He's a Golden Core too?"

Since when were they both Golden Core cultivators, yet this guy had so many fancy tricks and such a flamboyant entrance?

Why couldn't he be just as flashy?

Not knowing who Zhao Yu was talking to, the man shook his head: "Tragic, truly tragic. Could it be that you do not know there are differences even among Golden Core cultivators?"

"Since you neither know the immensity of heaven and earth nor fear death in your futile resistance, this seat shall send you off to the netherworld!"

With those words, the man flicked his sleeve, rose from the ground, and hovered in the sky.

In an instant, swords lights filled the firmament.

They were everywhere.

The firewood chopper grew even more irritated: "Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, chop him up! I actually got scared by this piece of trash just now! How hateful! I'm so mad I could die!"

Zhao Yu didn't pick up the blade. The guy looked far too strong, and given the firewood chopper's uselessness, the probability of winning a direct fight was low.

It would be much better to use a spell he had learned to block the attack and then run away with the firewood chopper...

Books always explained how to run away in times of danger: use a major ultimate move for temporary obstruction, and then seize the opportunity to flee.

Silently recalling the only spell he knew, he formed a hand seal and whispered: "A single thought of an immortal, a fleeting moment of a demon; eternity in a single thought, and with no thought, return to the void!"

As the hand seal was completed, a patch of pitch-black darkness materialized out of thin air behind Zhao Yu.

The moment it appeared, it swallowed everything instantly, devouring even space itself.

The thousands of sword lights condensed by the Liu family man began to tremble frantically.

His face flushed red, and a trace of bright red blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The female ghost, curled up and shivering in terror, looked at the darkness behind Zhao Yu with absolute dread... She didn't know what that thing was, but she had a strong premonition that once swallowed by that darkness, it would mean ultimate annihilation and inescapable obliteration.

The trembling originating from her very soul drove the female ghost to desperately want to escape.

Yet she could not do so.

"Pfft..."

Another sound of vomiting blood rang out. The thousands of sword lights in the sky collapsed, the surrounding light barrier disintegrated, and the man crashed heavily onto the ground.

Ignoring his injuries, the man stared at Zhao Yu and gasped in disbelief: "Who... who on earth are you?!"

What on earth was that darkness? It hadn't touched him, hadn't struck him, yet it instantly threw his dharma power out of balance and filled him with a soul-deep terror... Even if a Deity Transformation true monarch were standing right before him, it wouldn't be this terrifying, would it?

As for Zhao Yu, who had been preparing to make his escape, he quietly stopped and muttered: "The books were right after all."

These shady people were simply too fragile. He hadn't even struck yet, and this fellow was already heavily injured.

No wonder so many people had died when the Xiong tribe was attacked by evil entities the other day.

The firewood chopper couldn't help but complain wildly: "Zhao Yu, could you stop trying to scare me and yourself like this? You actually unleashed the power of return-to-void against such a piece of trash?"

Just as Zhao Yu was about to reply, his brow suddenly furrowed... Strange, he was losing control of it.

He had a lingering sensation that the darkness behind him was trying to break free from his command.

What made him frown even more was that as the darkness attempted to break free, a wave of inexplicable anger welled up within him... This anger was quite different from the irritation he usually felt.

Sensing something was amiss, the firewood chopper cried out urgently: "Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, quickly disperse the power of return-to-void! You only have Golden Core cultivation right now and cannot control it freely. If it spins out of control, we're in big trouble!"

Always ready to listen to good advice, Zhao Yu immediately dispelled the spell.

The darkness silently faded away.

As if it had never appeared at all.

That unreasonable anger vanished as well.

Zhao Yu felt that right now, he was entirely clear-headed.

Without a second thought, Zhao Yu glared at the man: "Did you just try to beat me to death?"

"Senior... it... it was all a misunderstanding..." Liu Qiang, severely injured, forced a miserable smile.

Trembling inwardly... Just who on earth was this Zhao Yu?

He swore that Zhao Yu was definitely not a Golden Core cultivator! Even a Golden Core expert possessing a Star God True Form wouldn't be a fraction as terrifying as Zhao Yu!