The street was bleak and chilly.
It was over two hundred meters long and a two-way single lane street. It was considered among the major roads here in Bonn. The sun had not risen yet and the air was filled with a thin, cold fog, indicating bad weather ahead.
Right now, there was not a single soul on the street. Other than Gu Yu, the only things standing were landscape trees flanking the road whose branches were coated with a thin layer of frost condensing from the cold air.
Gu Yu took out his phone, and after a moment of hesitation, dialed a number.
"You're calling me this early? What's going on?" the old man of their delegation spoke on the other side of the line.
"Just to let you know, the conference will have its conclusion today."
"What? What are you talking ab—"
"Toot… toot… toot…"
Gu Yu hung up right after that, then walked along the street for a short distance with a faint smile on his face. On passing a tree, he casually reached out his right hand with five fingers slightly apart and his palm forming a half-sphere, then pressed down.
"Gurgle!"
The sound of flowing water came out of that tree, then the air contorted and a blond Caucasian man emerged holding a magic staff. He was planning a surprise attack, but as soon as he stuck his head out, his face met Gu Yu's palm. It looked as if he was feeding himself into it.
The five slender fingers pressed down on the crown of the hairy head under which was a distorted face. That hand handled him more easily than an adult teasing a child, more unstoppable than a child stamping on an ant.
"We're blown!"
"Now!"
"Gurgle! Gurgle!"
At a few angry shouts, there were fluctuations in all four directions of Gu Yu as half a dozen white men jumped out of their hiding places.
"Pffft!"
Before they could take any action, blood gushed out and that unlucky guy's dead body stumbled to the ground, his head rolling into the distance. Gu Yu, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he? Where did he go?"
"Looking for me?"
Clunk!
The voice came from behind them like a ghost. One redbeard twitched his brow and drew out his magic staff, only to parry just in time. The fine staff made from holly wood met Gu Yu's palm, making a crisp sound as if it had knocked onto a piece of metal. Immediately after that, however, the redbeard's face turned pale at the great force coming through the staff.
Boom!!!
The frightening power struck the redbeard, who flew backwards together with another fellow mage like cannonballs. They then smashed into the wall of a shop a few meters away, shaking the entire building.
Bang!
The impact made a depression over ten meters in diameter on the wall, embedded in the center of which were the two men, one on top of another. The bricks and cement around them had crackled, giving them a look of two flying insects trapped in a spider web.
Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth as the redbeard coughed. His head then dropped to one side and he was dead.
No one made a sound!
All air seemed to be drawn away from the small street as a hush fell over it. A second passed like this.
"Aaaaah!"
"Help! Help!"
The handful of residents upstairs began to scream frantically and vehicles on either end of the street blared their horns. Among all these noises, the remaining three or four mages froze on their spots and dared not make any reckless move.
"No more hiding. Come out, all of you!"
Gu Yu casually wiped his hand. The blood of the first man trickled down the back of his hand and dropped onto the snow-covered ground, reminding one of red plum flowers.
"How arrogant!"
The air contorted again as over a dozen people emerged. They were all dressed in black robes and holding magic staff. The team consisted of men and women of all ages who all wore a hexagram on their chest.
"So, the AA. That was very patient of you. I didn't expect you to wait this long."
Gu Yu stuck his hands into the wide sleeves of his casual clothes again, his long neck slightly leaning forward and his head lowered a little. He reminded one so much of a red-crowned crane standing there with its wings tucked in.
Had Lu Yuanqing been here, he would recognize this posture right away, for the last time Gu Yu looked like this, he annihilated a team in a farmhouse in Changqing Village.
Gu Yu stood there watching the others surrounding him and chuckled. "They should have detected us by now. Bring it on. I'm in a hurry."
"Humph, all our elite members are here, you…"
A whitebeard who apparently was a senior member chanted something immediately to set up a magical defense shield. He then saw a hand reaching up towards him.
The hand made contact with the protective shield and kept reaching forward unhindered as if it was only water.
"Hm… hm…"
The whitebeard tried his best to stay away from the hand moving slowly towards him. However, no matter where he dodged, he could not break away from its course. In the end, he watched as a finger touched his forehead.
Whoosh!
A streak of strange energy broke into his body and rampaged inside. His internal organs felt as if they had been set on fire and stirred up.
Pfffft! Blood gushed out of his mouth. He then burst into flame and was soon a pile of ash.
"Abra Grikasi— ah!"
Two others began to chant spells, but were interrupted by their own cries of surprise. Their magic staffs had disappeared from their hands and reappeared in that man's.
"Nice stuff. Too bad that I'm not interested."
Gu Yu played with them for a moment before giving them a squeeze. The two staffs excellently made became piles of powder.
Then, without even taking out his weapon, Gu Yu grabbed at the air, then again.
"Aaaah! Aaaah!"
Two heads left their necks with two clean cuts. There were two more bodies on the ground.
"He's more powerful then we've anticipated!"
"You lot, pin him down! Summon the magic circle!"
The elders of AA all showed up for this ambush. Seven people stood in position and linked their magic. After a lengthy incantation, a giant hexagram emerged out of the ground.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew across the small street, growing stronger. Buildings on either side rumbled under the pressure. The doors, windows, walls, and even the trees and vehicles seemed unable to withstand the erosion, soon beginning to show a weathered look.
Meanwhile, the other dozen people moved swiftly in and surrounded Gu Yu in the middle.
Looking around, Gu Yu only felt the impulse inside growing stronger and was losing control. That ignited fuse had run out and the powder keg was exploding.
"Actually, a lot of the times, I baffle myself. Am I good or bad, just or evil…" He slowly pressed forward, talking to himself and the others at the same time.
Confronted by this formidable enemy, the mages summoned their mightiest weapon right away. "Stone man, follow my order!"
"Roar!"
Instantly, a giant magic puppet seven to eight meters tall and four to five meters wide appeared in the circle. Its skin had completely fossilised and its facial features were a blur. It stood there like a small mountain, even blocking out the rising sun.
Thump! A single stride brought it meters nearer and it was running towards Gu Yu, roaring angrily.
"Xiaozhai said we're all selfish, and I think she was right. We have to put ourselves first in everything. Only when we ourselves are safe and in a favorable position can we tell the good from the bad and are capable of mercy...
"I don't take pleasure from killing, but I'm not intimidated by killing, either. Call it fate, then. You just happened to be here today…"
Gu Yu whispered and sighed quietly. He then flipped his sleeves, releasing all 72 refined Flaming Cloud Needles, which floated in mid-air like little sparks.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The sounds of something ripping through the air rang out. Activated by the spiritual essence, the weapon unleashed its terrifying power. All 72 needles shot out, lighting up the entire street and scattering the fog.
A flaming dragon over ten meters long soon took shape and charged forward.
Crack!
The indestructible stone figure was punched through at its chest as if it was a fragile plasterboard.
"That's impossible! Impossible!"
The dozen or so people surrounding Gu Yu were petrified. Forget about trying to stop the man. Those brushed by the fire dragon had half their bodies turn into ashes without any chance of fighting back.
According to the category back home, these people were acquired state cultivators only. They did not stand a chance facing Gu Yu, who had reached perfection of his innate state and was breaking into Human Immortal state.
Crackle! Boom!
The puppet stone man split into two halves at its chest level down the middle, and the two sections collapsed to the ground on either side, crushing the buildings on either side of the road. Wooden splinters flew everywhere and the street was covered by broken glass.
Color was drained from all faces of the elite AA members. They had no idea how to proceed from here and turned to look at the elders in unison.
***
"Alert! Alert! Fight broke out in Vic Street, and an extremely wide area was affected. No premature advance into the area! Safety first! SAFETY! FIRST!"
"Have they found out yet? Who did this? Who?"
Inside the defense command center of Bonn, the head grabbed one of the subordinates by his collar and roared out the questions. The latter shivered in fear and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but we don't know yet!"
"Imbecile! You're all imbeciles! Who has news? Information? Clear pictures?" the head bellowed some more and smacked the table. "Who on earth are the two sides? What were they thinking opening fire in the city center? Find them! Now!"
"Sir, a surveillance camera caught something!" Just then, another man called out.
"What? Show it to me!"
A couple of minutes later, a blurry video clip only a little over ten seconds was played. The head and the senior mage watched it and looked very unhappy.
"Damn those island monkeys! All they ever do is making trouble!"
"I think they're from the AA. Even the elders are out. Whom are they trying to kill?"
"An oriental man! That's an oriental man. Zoom in on his face…"
In a moment, the imaged was zoomed in, showing a mild face.
"Oh! He's with the Chinese delegation. What is he called?"
The senior mage remembered the young man clearly. With his broken Chinese, he replied, "Gu… Yu…"
Inside the hotel.
The old man was listening to his assistant's report with an unhappy face as well.
"Mr. Gu went to attend a gathering last night. On his way back early this morning, he was ambushed by some men of Britannia in Vic Street. They're still engaging in battle at the moment."
"How is it looking?"
"Um…" The assistant gave it a thought and summarized, "They're crushed."
"Civilian casualties?"
"The number hasn't come out yet. I don't think there'll be too many, though. It's not a residential area and the damage was mainly to buildings."
"Oh, that's not too bad." The old man knitted his brows in despair and was even driven into cursing, "I told him all along to keep it quiet, keep it quiet! He said he knew where to stop. Knew my a*s!"
"Haha, Sir, no offense, but I've got to say something." The assistant looked delighted—as delighted as a proud primary school student whose deskmate had just got the first prize in the National Day essay competition—and chuckled. "Isn't it our job this time to clean after his mess?"
The village, the cottage.
Erhard was slowly sipping his hot beverage when he shuddered and said with surprise, "Why, a magic spot was destroyed?"
Before he had time to think, the surprise turned into shock. "Another one was destroyed!"
A moment later, he was terrified. "The magic circle is under attack. No!"
The old man put down his cup and waved at the air. His clothes and hat automatically put themselves onto him before he ran out of door in a hurry. He then hopped onto a carriage, which took him towards the city at top speed.
***
"This is not enough! I need some more!"
Gu Yu stood there in Vic Street, the ground around him covered with dead bodies. He felt very uncomfortable. The battle just then was a mere warm-up and could never quench the thirst that was surging out of him.
Eyeing the team of elders who had just completed their summoning spell, Gu Yu was excited. "Come, come to me."