The atmosphere around the arena changed the moment the Liu Family Ancestor descended.
He landed beside the Jade Sword Palace Master without saying a word, his robes fluttering beneath the violent turbulence of Astral Gang, and the instant his feet touched the shattered arena, an immense pressure erupted from his body, thick Astral Gang sweeping outward like an invisible tide and pressing directly toward the Su Family Patriarch.
BOOM!
The surrounding stone cracked beneath the pressure.
The Su Family Patriarch's expression became solemn, lightning instantly gathering around his body as his own Astral Gang surged outward, colliding with the two opposing forces in the center of the arena.
For a moment, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze.
Three Astral Gang experts stood facing one another, their auras colliding so violently that even the surrounding air became distorted.
Then another figure descended.
"Ancestor!"
The Su family members immediately recognized him.
The old man landed beside the Su Family Patriarch, his white hair fluttering wildly as an imposing Astral Gang aura erupted from his body, and unlike the injured state the Jade Sword Palace Master had expected, the aura surrounding the old man was powerful and stable, clearly reaching the middle stage of Astral Gang.
The Palace Master's pupils contracted.
Impossible!!.
He had personally ensured that the Su Family Ancestor had suffered severe injuries, injuries that should have prevented him from participating in any major battle for years, yet the old man's current aura showed no obvious weakness.
"So you're still alive and kicking," the Jade Sword Palace Master said coldly.
The Su Family Ancestor smiled faintly.
"Disappointed?"
The Palace Master's face darkened.
His original plan had been simple, overwhelm the Su family with superior forces, force them into submission, and seize the opportunity to obtain the 'Order' hidden within their family, but the situation had suddenly become much more troublesome.
Two Su Family Astral Gang experts stood before him.
He and the Liu Family Ancestor were only two.
That meant—
"Ancestor Wei."
His voice carried across the battlefield.
A moment later, a powerful aura descended from the distance.
An elderly man wearing a dark robe appeared above the arena, his eyes cold as his Astral Gang spread through the air.
The Wei Family Ancestor had arrived.
The balance immediately shifted.
Two against three.
The Su family was now at a disadvantage.
The spectators finally understood what was happening.
"This is going to become a war!"
"Run!"
"Get out of here!"
The crowd erupted into chaos, martial artists abandoning whatever composure they had maintained as they hurried away from the arena, some using movement techniques while others simply fled on foot, because nobody wanted to remain nearby once five Astral Gang experts began fighting.
The Yamen Constable's expression became extremely ugly.
He had expected the Five-Year Appointment to produce conflict, but he had never expected the four great families and the Jade Sword Palace to completely tear away their restraint in front of the entire city.
"Everyone evacuate!" he shouted.
His voice spread through the arena.
But the battle had already begun.
BOOM!
The five Astral Gang experts collided.
Lightning, sword Qi, and enormous waves of Astral Gang erupted across the sky, each exchange carrying enough power to shatter buildings.
Yet nobody noticed that the Mountain River Hall Leader had already disappeared.
He had slipped away long before the fighting reached this point.
Deep beneath the city, far below the foundations of the arena, another scene was unfolding.
A massive underground chamber had been carved beneath the earth.
The walls were covered in dense Yin Qi runes, countless mysterious symbols overlapping one another and forming a powerful concealment formation.
These runes didn't merely hide the chamber physically, they interfered with divine sense and mental perception, reflecting external probing away from the underground space and making it appear completely empty to anyone searching from above.
At the center of the chamber stood an enormous formation.
Blood flowed through its channels.
Bodies lay around the formation.
They were Mountain River Hall disciples.
Their throats had been cut, their blood flowing into the formation through specially constructed channels, gradually filling its countless nodes with fresh blood.
None of them had survived.
Around the formation stood numerous people dressed in crimson robes.
A blazing fire insignia was embroidered upon their chests.
The Incense Fire Cult.
But their identities within the prefecture were completely different.
They were instructors.
Vice leaders.
Even leaders of the various Martial Halls scattered throughout the prefecture and even other counties.
The Martial Halls had been their cover.
For years, they had quietly recruited martial artists beneath the surface, gathering disciples, training them, and using their enormous populations as sources of Qi-Blood.
Every disciple who cultivated beneath their system contributed a tiny portion of Qi-Blood to the hidden formation.
One person wasn't enough.
Ten people weren't enough.
Even hundreds weren't enough.
But thousands...
The accumulated Qi-Blood could eventually activate the formation's countless nodes.
A crimson-robed figure stood beside the formation, watching the blood slowly flow.
"How much longer?"
"Not long."
Another cultist walked rapidly into the chamber, his expression excited.
"The battle has already begun above us."
He glanced toward the formation.
"The entire city is distracted, the great families are fighting, the Jade Sword Palace is fighting the Su family, and the Yamen has focused all its forces on maintaining order."
A sinister smile appeared beneath his hood.
"This is the distraction we've been waiting for."
The leader of the ritual slowly raised his head.
"Then begin."
Above them, the prefecture was descending into chaos.
The battle between the families had already spread beyond the arena.
The Wei, Liu, and Jade Sword Palace forces began attacking the Su family members, no longer bothering to conceal their murderous intentions.
The Su family immediately retaliated.
Su Yang swallowed a healing pill.
Warm medicinal energy rapidly spread through his injured body.
He wiped the blood from his mouth and looked toward the approaching enemies.
His expression became cold.
"Come."
He stepped forward.
BOOM!
His Qi-Blood erupted.
The martial artists rushing toward him suddenly felt as though they had encountered a gigantic mountain moving toward them.
Su Yang's sword flashed.
A crescent of sword Qi swept across the battlefield.
Several Xuan Gang experts raised their weapons to block.
The moment the sword Qi collided with them, their expressions changed.
CRACK!
Their weapons shattered.
The sword Qi continued forward.
Blood sprayed across the arena.
Su Yang didn't stop.
He moved through the battlefield like a tiger descending a mountain, every step carrying explosive force, every sword strike containing the profound rhythm of the Four Seasons Sword Intent, Spring brought endless vitality, Summer erupted with scorching violence, Autumn carried the killing intent of decline, while Winter froze everything beneath its merciless cold.
The enemies surrounding him were completely overwhelmed.
Facing Su Yang, a Rank 30 Human Ranking martial artist, was like a swarm of ants trying to bring down an enraged bull.
No matter how many rushed forward, they simply couldn't stop him.
"Suppress him!"
"Don't let him break through!"
Several elders charged together.
Su Yang looked toward them.
His hand lifted.
Dozens of condensed orbs immediately appeared around him.
The elders' expressions changed.
"What are those?"
Su Yang smiled.
"Nothing much."
The orbs flew outward.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The battlefield disappeared beneath explosions.
"Ahhh!"
"Run!"
"Don't get close!"
The orbs detonated one after another, each explosion carrying enough power to tear through groups of martial artists, turning bodies into ash as the shockwaves swept across the arena.
Buildings collapsed.
The ground cracked.
A section of the stadium was completely levelled.
Above them, the five Astral Gang experts continued their battle, exchanging attacks across the sky, but even they couldn't completely ignore the slaughter occurring below.
The Su Family Patriarch glanced downward.
His expression changed when he saw Su Yang standing amidst the destruction.
The Jade Sword Palace Master also noticed.
His face became increasingly ugly.
"This little bastard..."
He had originally believed that the younger generation would be the easiest part of the battle to deal with.
Instead, Su Yang had become a monster tearing through their forces.
And every corpse that fell beneath his sword made the balance of the battle increasingly difficult to predict.