"How is he doing this? Does he know the secrets of the Azure Shackle formation?"
"H-he is breaking out, we must stop him, concentrate before he is free, we can't let him escape!"
The group of elders stretched their hands out along with a few supportive core formation experts on the side. They all infused their spiritual energy into the trap that they prepared for their greatest enemy. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance of taking care of their biggest problem. Without the Golden Dragon around their dynasty could not be questioned and the status quo would remain.
To protect the longevity of their clan they were ready to kill anyone that got in their way but today they would have a rude awakening. Even though they strained with all of their might the shackles keeping their enemy at bay started dissolving. It was as if he knew the weakness of this formation that had been specifically created to suppress powerful cultivators.
"Just give up, this won't work on me, surrender and I will promise not to kill you."
"You want us to give up, preposterous!"
One of the elders called their soul beast to his aid. It looked like a massive bear made of some sort of earth-aligned Qi. It tossed itself at Zhang Dong that was just standing there with his arms crossed over one another. All the other elders did the same, massive legendary animals started popping up everywhere made out of different elemental energies. They all quickly tossed themselves at the white-haired man who didn't seem to perturbed by the gesture.
"I guess I'll have to be more convincing, such things won't work on me…"
Without even moving or raising his arms he produced a spike of spiritual energy before him. It was a wide-area attack that targeted everything in the vicinity. Right when it collided with a large number of soul beasts, all of them were instantly eradicated. This of course caused a backlash to the owners that started coughing up blood in mid-air.
"W-what's with this power… is he really the Emperor's equal?"
Long Yingjie, who didn't call up his soul beast for help, was stunned. He was preparing his own contingency but after seeing how much power Zhang Dong could wield it became clear. There was no way this group that he procured to win against this man, there were just not enough elders gathered here for a powerful combination attack. Without the trapping formation, they couldn't suppress Zhang Dong enough for a critical blow to land.
"The Emperor's equal? I'm not sure if he is my equal."
"That's absurd how could someone so young eclipse the Azure Emperor, this doesn't make any sense… h-he must have used some trick…"
"It's no trick, he is truly powerful too powerful, he must not confront the Emperor."
"Grand Elder?"
Long Yingjie gave out a sigh while lowering his hands. Zhang Dong looked at the man as if he expected him to surrender. The old man had realized that opposing him was worthless, anything they threw at him would not work.
"I see that you realized it."
"It is as you say, we can not oppose you, the rumors were not exaggerated. To think that someone so young could be this powerful…"
To these people, it was an unfathomable amount of power resting in the fingers of such a youth. Zhang Dong was in his early forties now, this was usually the moment when people just entered the core formation stage. He on the other hand had already reached the pinnacle of power and could potentially eclipse all the experts that came before him, including the Azure Emperor.
"What are you saying Grand Elder, this was your idea! Do you want us to surrender to the pretender?"
He remained standing in his spot while sometimes glancing at Zhang Jin. His body had managed to get healed by the holy pillar of light. The defensive measure was now quickly weakening so he wanted to get this over with. If it continued for too long then he might have to retreat. It was possible for these people to use the surviving members of his sect as shields before trying to escape.
"If you understand then surrender."
"We will not surrender to the likes of you! Isn't that right Grand Elder Long Yingjie?"
The nascent soul masters looked to their leader for support. Probably if the man told them to give up they would listen to them. If he could get this over without any more bloodshed then it was fine. They were inside a large city with millions of people around them. If multiple nascent soul masters started blasting away and causing a ruckus thousands of them could die.
Even though this was not his city, they were not part of this entrapment. He was aware that everyone feared the Long Clan, it was ingrained into their very souls. This dynasty had lasted for hundreds of thousands of years and no one had any reason to believe that it would end now.
The people that were here would be tried and stripped of their cultivation base. They had killed members of his sect and needed to be held responsible for it. Even if this would create friction with the Long Clan, they were the ones to start it.
"Surrender? No, we will not surrender…"
"Huh? I thought you'd be the reasonable one, save yourself some face in front of your juniors and come quietly, I'll even promise to leave them be."
"That is truly a magnanimous offer but I will have to refuse. You are too dangerous to be left alive and for this reason… I must apologize to all of you, my brothers and sisters…"
"What are you?"
"You don't mean? Please Grand Elder reconsider!"
"This is for the dynasty, it must survive and this man can not leave here alive, please understand."
Zhang Dong, who was just standing there like a pillar, was confused about the conversation. It was as if they had some sort of trump card but he didn't notice anything powerful enough to take him out. However, in his attempt to reduce bloodshed, he had miscalculated just how crazy about their prestige these people were. When he realized what the Grand Elder here was planning, it was already too late.
"You… Do you intend to take the city with you?"
"The Long Clan must survive! Let it be known, Long Dong had conspired with the Demonic beings in an attempt to usurp the throne, in a fit of rage he decided to destroy this city with all its inhabitants!"
Long Yingjie shouted out while pointing at the ground. It was as if he was sending a message about how to resolve this issue when people started asking questions. Even if Zhang Dong survived he would be branded as a demonic cultivator that destroyed a whole city by himself. It was a clear attempt of swaying public opinion against his newly created image. Some would believe it, others would not but as long as some doubt existed the Long Clan would be able to retain their prestige.
"You madman, stop!"
Even though his cultivation base roared he was a second too late. The cascading effect that had been triggered by Long Yingjie could not be stopped. Strange letters started appearing under them which triggered a reaction in all directions. The grand formation that was used to protect the city from harm was given an order, one of self-destruction.
In the distance, citizens of the city gazed at a large blue pillar of light shooting up into the sky. Tiny particles of light started gathering everywhere as this energy wave pushed itself in all directions. Before they could even muster a scream they were all engulfed by this massive explosion of spiritual energy. Everything turned to white and soon their consciousness faded as they were all burned to ashes.
The earth rumbled and the heavens trembled. The energy pillar reached the skies and parted the clouds. Hurricane-level winds descended on the entirety of this place while people tried to flee. Even the ones that were outside the city were scorched by the massive amounts of charred air and energy. The lucky ones that found themselves on flying vessels could only quickly evacuate while looking at the event with horror in their eyes.
'These maniacs really did it…'
Zhang Dong found himself in the middle of the torrent of energy. In his hands was Zhang Jin and to the sides were four surviving members from the party that arrived at this location. All of them were shielded by his energies and remained uninjured.
'He had to know that this wouldn't kill me… this was all just to give them an excuse…'
As the light subsided he saw nothing more than rubble remaining. The nascent soul elders that were just floating in the air had turned into bones with most of their skeletons missing. Even their nascent divinities had been damaged and erased in the blast. However this was not what he was concerned with as his gaze peeked further.
The Azure Basin City was no more and all of those pools filled with water were nothing more than steam. He could not feel anything, the only people that were alive were the six remaining here. Zhang Dong could not understand how a person could do such a thing. Long Yingjie was offered mercy but he chose strife instead. With this event being skewed by the Long Clan this would mean war.
'If this is how the Long Clan handles things… then perhaps it's better if they stop existing…'
In the distance, he could see nothing more than dust-filled streets where millions of people once lived. The buildings had been blown to nothingness and not even the bodies of the citizens remained. A rage was building up in his gut and he didn't know who to aim it at.
The whole city had been rigged to explode from the start. There must have been such a function inside of this protective formation. Without it, Long Yingjie would not have been able to activate it as fast. This meant that any of the other large cities in the Central Empire were potential nukes just waiting to explode.
'I can't let this go on but I'm not really ready to face that woman yet…'
With his grandfather in hand, he raised himself up into the air. In the distance, he could see a tingling of light. It was a reflection coming from the golden cruiser that Zhang Jin arrived in. The ship was fast enough to escape from the predicament after he quickly informed them to fly away. Now what remained was to ask his grandfather some questions as his brows were starting to tingle.
'I need to get some answers and then make a decision…'