Azure Cloud City, Central Martial Plaza.
Tens of thousands of people packed the square like a black tide. Flags of the four great clans snapped in the wind, and the sun blazed overhead like a second heaven watching the drama below.
On the highest jade platform stood a girl in violet robes, seventeen years old, skin like frost and snow, eyes like cold stars. Nangong Qing — the publicly acknowledged number one genius of Azure Cloud City, the proud daughter of the Nangong Clan, and the new direct disciple of the Sacred Land of Absolute Beginning.
Her voice rang out, clear and merciless.
"Today, in front of the entire city, I, Nangong Qing, officially annul my engagement to Lin Wudi!"
"Trash with blocked meridians and a mortal-grade spirit root is not fit to stand beside me!"
Dead silence for one heartbeat — then the square exploded.
Laughter, jeers, and mockery crashed together like thunder.
Below the platform, a lone figure in plain black robes stood against the torrent of voices.
Thin, straight-backed, long hair tied simply with a cloth strip.
Lin Wudi.
Once the young patriarch of the Lin Clan, once the fiancé everyone envied.
Now the biggest joke in the city.
He raised his head slowly. His eyes were very dark, very calm — like the surface of a lake before a storm.
Three years ago, when Nangong Qing's Supreme Yin Physique erupted and nearly killed her, the Lin Clan had stepped forward with a marriage contract to stabilize her foundation with his Yang-attribute bloodline.
Back then, she had smiled sweetly and called him "Brother Wudi".
Now she looked at him as if he were dog shit on her shoe.
Lin Wudi walked forward step by step until only ten meters separated them.
His voice was not loud, yet every word carried to the edges of the plaza.
"Nangong Qing, are you certain you want to break this engagement in front of the entire city?"
Nangong Qing's red lips curled in disgust. "Not only do I want to break it — I want every dog and chicken in Azure Cloud City to know that I would rather die than marry trash like you!"
A handsome youth in golden robes stepped out from behind her — Xiao Yan, son of the City Lord, peak Foundation Establishment at nineteen, another heaven-defying genius.
He looked at Lin Wudi with mock pity.
"Since we're already here, why not make it fun? Kneel, kowtow three times to Qing'er, call her 'Grandmother', and maybe she'll reward you with a low-grade spirit stone."
The crowd roared with laughter.
Lin Wudi's gaze swept across Xiao Yan, then back to Nangong Qing.
He suddenly smiled.
It was a very light smile, but it made the air around him feel several degrees colder.
"Very well. I will remember every word you said today."
"In three years — no, perhaps even sooner — both of you will kneel before me and beg me to take you back."
"By then, even if you strip naked and crawl over on your knees, I, Lin Wudi, will not spare you another glance."
The entire plaza fell silent for a second time.
Then laughter ten times louder than before erupted.
"Is he mad?"
"With his trash body? In three years he'll be lucky to reach the fifth level of Qi Refinement!"
"Delusional!"
Nangong Qing's face turned purple with rage. Spiritual pressure belonging to the early Golden Core realm exploded from her body, crushing the stone tiles beneath her feet.
"Lin Wudi, you are not even qualified to carry my shoes!"
Lin Wudi turned around.
The setting sun painted his back blood-red.
He walked out of the plaza, out of the city gates, without looking back once.
Three hours later.
Forbidden Emperor Cliff.
A thousand-zhang abyss, bottom invisible, black mist churning like the mouth of hell.
Legend said a supreme Demon Emperor had fallen here a hundred thousand years ago. Anyone who entered never returned.
Lin Wudi stood at the edge of the cliff, wind howling past his ears.
He looked down into the endless darkness and suddenly laughed.
"Since the world thinks I'm trash… then let me die as trash."
He spread his arms and stepped backward into the void.
The wind screamed.
His body fell like a meteor.
One thousand zhang… two thousand zhang… three thousand zhang…
Just when he was about to be swallowed by the black mist, a withered, ancient voice suddenly rang directly in his soul.
"Finally… after a hundred thousand years of waiting… the Chaos Sword Body has appeared!"
An overwhelming force wrapped around him, dragging him sideways into a hidden cave at the cliff wall.
Bang!
He crashed onto cold stone.
When Lin Wudi opened his eyes again, he found himself in an immense underground palace.
Countless night-luminescent pearls illuminated the hall.
In the center floated a three-legged bronze cauldron the size of a mountain, covered in cracks, ancient and desolate.
Around the cauldron drifted a translucent remnant soul — an old man in black robes, hair white as snow, eyes like burning with demonic flame.
"Young man, what is your name?"
"Lin Wudi."
"Good name." The old man laughed hoarsely. "This emperor is the Swallowing Heaven Demon Emperor. A hundred thousand years ago, I fought nine Immortal Emperors alone and was betrayed at the final moment. My body perished, only a wisp of soul and this incomplete Swallowing Heaven Cauldron remained."
"I have waited a hundred thousand years for a successor with the Chaos Sword Body. You are the one."
Lin Wudi was silent for a moment. "Senior, I only want to ask one thing — can you let me make those who humiliated me today… regret it for the rest of their lives?"
The old man's laughter shook the entire underground palace.
"Regret? With my inheritance, you can make them regret being born!"
"Very well. I agree."
The old man's remnant soul transformed into a streak of black-gold light and shot straight into Lin Wudi's brow.
Boom!!!
In an instant, endless information flooded his mind — the complete Swallowing Heaven Demon Art, the Chaos Sword Scripture, the supreme forbidden technique "One Sword Opens the Heavenly Gate"…
At the same time, the mountain-sized bronze cauldron shrank to the size of a fist and plunged into his dantian.
Terrifying pain exploded in every meridian.
Lin Wudi roared, veins bulging, blood flowing from all seven orifices.
The old man's voice echoed one last time:
"Your meridians were not blocked — they were sealed by the Chaos Sword Embryo in your body. Today, I break the seal for you!"
Crack, crack, crack!
Like ten thousand ice rivers shattering at once, every meridian in his body was forcibly torn open and reforged!
From mortal-grade spirit root… straight to the legendary Chaos Sword Body that had not appeared in a million years!
The pain lasted a full three days and three nights.
When Lin Wudi opened his eyes again, the underground palace was silent.
The remnant soul had completely dissipated.
Only the fist-sized bronze cauldron floated quietly in his dantian, ancient runes flowing across its surface.
Lin Wudi stood up.
He raised his hand.
A strand of pitch-black sword qi lingered on his fingertip, sharp enough to slice space itself.
He clenched his fist.
The sword qi vanished.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Nangong Qing, Xiao Yan… and the entire Azure Cloud City."
"The game… has only just begun."
He turned and walked toward the exit of the underground palace.
Outside the cave, dawn light pierced the black mist for the first time in a hundred thousand years.
Lin Wudi stepped on the stone wall, rising step by step as if walking on flat ground, until he stood once more at the mouth of the cave.
He looked back at the abyss, then at the rising sun in the east.
"One sword… is enough to open the Heavenly Gate."
He leapt up.
A thousand zhang in a single step.
Like a black meteor in reverse, he shot straight toward Azure Cloud City.
Half a day later.
Lin Clan front gate.
The guards were dozing off were suddenly startled awake by a terrifying sword pressure that made their souls tremble.
They looked up — and saw a black-robed youth descending from the sky, landing lightly in front of the gate.
His face was still the same face.
But his eyes… were completely different.
"Young… Young Patriarch?"
The guards knelt instinctively.
Lin Wudi glanced at them and spoke indifferently.
"From today onward, the Lin Clan no longer needs to bow to anyone."
He stepped through the gate.
At this moment, in the discussion hall of the Lin Clan, the elders were holding an emergency meeting.
"The Nangong Clan has gone too far! Publicly humiliating our Lin Clan like this!"
"But Nangong Qing has already entered the Sacred Land of Absolute Beginning… we cannot afford to provoke them."
"Poor Wudi that child… I heard he left the city in anger. I hope nothing happens to him."
The Great Elder sighed.
Suddenly—
Boom!!!
The doors of the hall exploded open.
A wave of invisible sword intent swept through the entire hall, forcing every elder to their knees.
A calm voice followed the wind inside.
"Elders, this junior has returned."
Lin Wudi walked in slowly.
The Great Elder raised his head in shock.
"Wudi, you… your cultivation?!"
Lin Wudi smiled faintly.
"Peak of Foundation Establishment."
The entire hall fell dead silent.
Peak Foundation Establishment?!
That trash who couldn't break through for three years jumped straight to peak Foundation Establishment in a single night?!
The Great Elder's lips trembled. "This… how is this possible…"
Lin Wudi did not explain.
He only said one sentence.
"Prepare to welcome guests. In three days, the Nangong Clan and City Lord's Mansion will come… to beg for mercy."
He turned and left, leaving behind a group of dumbfounded elders.
Three days later.
Azure Cloud City shook.
The Lin Clan gates opened wide.
Lin Wudi sat high in the main seat of the discussion hall, black robes, long hair loose, eyes cold.
Below him knelt two rows of people.
The Nangong Clan Master, the City Lord, and… Nangong Qing and Xiao Yan whose faces were deathly pale.
They had come to "apologize".
But everyone in the city knew — they had come to beg for their lives.
Because just yesterday, Lin Wudi had single-handedly killed three Foundation Establishment guards of the City Lord's Mansion outside the city with one sword.
One sword severed three heads.
No one saw how he moved.
Lin Wudi looked down at Nangong Qing, who was kneeling on the ground, her delicate body trembling.
He spoke softly.
"Didn't you say I wasn't worthy to carry your shoes?"
"Now, are my shoes… worthy of you carrying them?"
Nangong Qing's pretty face was as pale as paper.
She bit her lip until it bled, unable to say a word.
Lin Wudi's gaze shifted to Xiao Yan.
"And you, didn't you want me to kowtow and call her Grandmother?"
He stood up and walked down the steps step by step.
Every step was like a mountain pressing on their hearts.
When he stood in front of the two, he smiled.
"Unfortunately, I'm in a hurry."
"So I won't give you the chance to kowtow."
The next moment—
Sword light flashed.
Two muffled thuds.
Xiao Yan and Nangong Qing's heads flew into the air, eyes still wide with disbelief.
Blood splattered the hall.
The Nangong Clan Master and the City Lord knelt on the ground, not even daring to breathe.
Lin Wudi flicked the blood from his finger and spoke indifferently.
"Tell the Sacred Land of Absolute Beginning — thirty years is too long. I only seize the moment."
"Seven days later, I will personally ascend the mountain and take back what is mine."
He turned and walked out of the hall.
Outside, the sky was clear for thousands of miles.
Lin Wudi raised his head to the sky and laughed loudly.
"From today onward, my sword… opens the Heavenly Gate!"