Smack!
The sharp crack of flesh striking flesh echoed through the silent pavilion. Eyes darted around, searching for the source of the sound. A collective thought struck them all at once. Surely not…
Slowly, the occupants turned toward Liang Wu and Shun Hanpo.
Gasps of shock replaced the earlier silence.
Liang Wu stood in the center of the pavilion, his hand still outstretched. Opposite him, Shun Hanpo's old, leathery face bore a large, red handprint.
"Youngster… You dare!?" Shun Hanpo's booming voice, completely at odds with his small, hunched frame, reverberated through the room.
Suddenly, the invisible force that had dissipated moments ago came crashing back. Tables and chairs were hurled against walls, shattering into pieces. A few unlucky servants were caught in the destruction, one of them pinned beneath Qian Pang's enormous custom chair. The half-ton piece of furniture mangled their leg, leaving them too stunned to scream as blood pooled beneath them.
Then, just as abruptly as it arrived, the oppressive pressure vanished. All eyes turned toward the heart of the pavilion where Liang Wu and Shun Hanpo stood. Both men wore vacant expressions—a clear sign that Shun Hanpo had pulled them into his soul domain.
Noticing the malevolent stares from the Qian family members, Li Li and Daiyu stepped forward, positioning themselves on either side of Liang Wu. They stood firm, guarding his defenseless body.
***
Inside the soul domain, Shun Hanpo stared in stunned silence at the towering figure before him. The soul looming over him was so massive that he could only see a pair of colossal legs stretching up into the void. His vision couldn't even reach the top.
Slowly, the titanic soul began to shrink until it was merely mountainous in size. Now, Shun Hanpo could make out a face—Liang Wu's face—gazing down at him with a mix of disdain and amusement.
"H-how… h-how…" Shun Hanpo stammered, unable to form a sentence, his voice faltering as he tried to comprehend the sight before him.
Liang Wu's laugh boomed through the domain, dripping with arrogance. "I told you not to use your soul domain, didn't I?."
The soundwaves were so powerful they nearly shattered Shun Hanpo's soul. Liang Wu winced as his own voice sent painful vibrations through his being—his soul still suffering the consequences of his attempt to sever its connection with his clone.
Lowering his voice to a more manageable volume, Liang Wu smirked. "Any last words?"
Shun Hanpo dropped to his knees, his forehead slamming into the ground in a desperate kowtow. "P-p-please spare me!"
Liang Wu's expression hardened. "I cannot. Li Li has declared your death! You harmed her father, and now you must pay the price."
His enormous hand descended from the heavens, casting a shadow over Shun Hanpo. The old man's eyes widened in terror. "W-wait! It wasn't me! The Qian family—"
"I know," Liang Wu interrupted coldly. "But, unfortunately for you, you're the only one I can kill right now."
Shun Hanpo's heart raced as the massive hand continued its descent. Desperation took over. "Ahh! I don't believe you're as strong as you look! You're bluffing!"
He gathered his remaining strength and fired a concentrated beam of light at Liang Wu. But to Liang Wu's towering soul, it was nothing more than a pinprick. The beam glanced off his leg harmlessly.
Liang Wu's hand reached Shun Hanpo, his enormous finger pressing down with unbearable force. Shun Hanpo's mouth hung open in despair as his most powerful strike had no effect. "Ha! Hahaha! Ahaha!" He lost his mind to despair, laughing as he believed he would soon wake from this nightmare.
"Goodbye."
Boom!
Liang Wu's finger crushed Shun Hanpo's soul, erasing him from existence, leaving nothing but silence in the void.
Combat Summary
Defeated: Shun Hanpo
(9th Stage Core Building Realm - Level 7)
Reward: 30,000 EXP + 28% Bonus EXP!
(+26% Defeated opponent two realms - six stages above. +2% Defeated opponent two levels above.)
Level Up - Level 10^
+ 5 All Stats!
+ 25 Free Points!
Inventory Feature Unlocked!
***
Spurt!
Blood sprayed from all nine of Shun Hanpo's orifices as his body convulsed before crashing to the floor with a resounding bang.
Eyes widened as they stared at Shun Hanpo's still body in disbelief.
"Aah!" A female servant screamed before fainting, her voice snapping everyone out of their daze.
"Haha… Master Hanpo, I think your joke has gone a little too far." Qian Xì laughed nervously, clearly refusing to accept the truth.
Shun Hanpo had lost the clash of souls. Everyone knew it, but no one wanted to admit it.
"Unfortunately, this is no joke. The old bastard paid the price for his transgressions. Would anyone else like to follow him down to hell?" Liang Wu's calm voice broke the silence, sending shudders through the crowd.
No one from the Qian family could wrap their heads around the stupefying turn of events. Not even a minute had passed from the start of the confrontation to Shun Hanpo collapsing, dead.
Even the patriarch of the Xu clan, Xu Min, stood flabbergasted, his mouth agape, the words he'd been preparing to say before the earlier slap now frozen on his lips.
"Dad! You rushed off and left me behind again!" A young girl, no older than six, ran up the steps of the pavilion, grabbing her father—Xu Min—by the sleeve.
"There you are, Xiao Haizi!" Xu Min blinked away his shock, scooping his daughter into his arms. "Haha! I thought I lost you, but now that I've found you, we'll be leaving!"
He turned, trying to leave as calmly as possible, though his stiff movements betrayed his nervousness. "Why are we leaving, Dad? Didn't you say we were going to watch the arrogant young idiot fight the arrogant old idiots?" his daughter asked, her voice filled with genuine curiosity.
"No, no, no! I never said that, you must be mistaken!" Xu Min replied hastily, glancing over his shoulder at the terrifying young man, praying to the gods that he hadn't heard.
"Wait!" Liang Wu commanded.
"Ah! Please forgive my daughter! She doesn't know what she's saying!" Xu Min pleaded frantically, his large, muscular frame trembling in fear that the young man would take his anger out on her.
"Liang Wu?" Li Li called, concerned that he was about to act against a little girl.
"What the hell are you all thinking? I'm not about to harm a little girl." He snapped, voice filled with disbelief. What kind of monster did they see him as that they would think he'd harm a cute little girl?
"Little girl, what is your name?" he asked, drawing confused glances from the onlookers.
Blinking in her father's arms, the girl tilted her head cutely. "I'm Xu Beihe. Who are you, big brother?"
"I'm the arrogant young idiot your father was talking about," Liang Wu said with a sarcastic laugh. "But you can call me big brother Wu."
"Big brother Wu…?" Xu Beihe echoed, thinking it over. After a moment, she nodded. "Okay! But you don't seem like an arrogant young idiot to me, big brother Wu."
"Haha! I don't? Then what do you think I am?" Liang Wu asked, now more amused than anything, though he originally spoke to the girl only to pass time while the Qian family processed the gravity of the situation. Slowly letting their fear deepen as their imagination ran wild. However, he found the little girl to be quite cute, and was enjoying talking to her.
Xu Beihe furrowed her brow, thinking hard. "A powerful, arrogant young idiot?" she said, the questioning tone in her voice making everyone chuckle.
Liang Wu burst into laughter. Li Li and Daiyu giggled beside him, while Xu Min paled, almost passing out at his daughter's words.
"Come here, Beihe. I'll give you a reward for that answer." Liang Wu crouched, holding out his hand as if to beckon her forward. He didn't have much to give her but figured one of his game consoles would be enough to satisfy a child.
"Sir?" Xu Min stammered, wanting to refuse but terrified to voice that thought.
"She won't be harmed. As for you…" Liang Wu glanced at the man with a cold smile. "I wouldn't take any chances. After all, who knows what this arrogant young idiot might do?"
Gritting his teeth, Xu Min hesitated but eventually let his daughter go. He trusted in her intelligence, she was smarter than others her age, knowing she might ask for something useful. Maybe they'd leave here with a profit.
Xu Beihe skipped up the steps of the pavilion, passing by members of the Qian family. Some briefly considered taking her hostage, thinking they could use the girl's presence to manipulate the situation. But the sight of Shun Hanpo's still-bleeding body quickly extinguished those ideas. Instead they used this time to try and think up solutions out of their current predicament.
The little girl arrived in front of Liang Wu, her innocent eyes wide with curiosity as she peered up at him.
Liang Wu crouched to her level. "I have a fun toy here. Would you like that as a reward?" he asked, pulling a game console out of thin air.
Xu Beihe shook her head, her twin tails bouncing with the movement. The two women beside him couldn't help but giggle softly; the child was undeniably adorable.
"You don't want it? Are you sure? It's a very fun toy," Liang Wu asked again, somewhat at a loss. If she didn't want the console, he didn't have much else to offer her. Which would leave him in an awkward situation.
She was going to ask for something more practical, like a special technique. However when she looked at Liang Wu's eyes, she felt a strange urge to ask for something she knew was impossible. "Are you a very, very powerful big brother?"
Surprised by the shift in her tone, Liang Wu paused. He was a being far above the God Realm, though currently very weak without access to his true body. The only reason he could even win against Shun Hanpo was by cheating with his powerful soul. But he couldn't afford to appear weak in front of potential enemies.
"I am an incredibly powerful big brother!" He said with a voice full of confidence.
Xu Beihe clenched her tiny fists, staring at him with pleading eyes. "Then, I want you to bring my mother back. Can you do that?"
"Your mother?" Liang Wu raised an eyebrow, glancing at Xu Min.
"Please… sir, ignore her," Xu Min said quickly. He was taken aback by his daughter's question, she was usually so sensible. "Her mother passed away shortly after she was born. She's just… lonely. A few years ago, she started claiming to hear her mother's voice." He added nervously, trying to laugh it off.
Liang Wu's eyes narrowed as a strange thought crossed his mind. Could it be…? Did this little girl somehow receive her mother as a System Helper? That… shouldn't be possible—no, wait. It is possible, though the chances are so abysmally low that she'd have to be the world's luckiest being.
As he observed the pleading eyes of the little girl in front of him, he was reminded of himself. When he broke past the God Realm into the unknown realm beyond, he had gained the power to bring the dead back to life, and the first thing he did was look for his mothers soul in the underworld. Unfortunately the only souls left there were those that refused to reincarnate, and his mother wasn't one of them.
If he was still the Supreme God Emperor, he could fulfill the little girl's wish with a lift of his hand, but as the weak Qi Forming Realm clone, he couldn't grant her wish. Not now anyway. But, there was a way…