Chapter 177

「But Your Majesty, we have nowhere to go now! Qing Shui City is close to the imperial capital and has troops; we can advance to attack or retreat to defend, making it the most suitable place to wait and see. 」The guard captain said to Zhou Wen Huang, he is Zhou Wen Huang's trusted confidant, deeply trusted by Zhou Wen Huang, his opinions are often adopted by Zhou Wen Huang.

「Alright! Act according to the situation! 」Zhou Wen Huang waved his hand and then ducked into the carriage.

「Go! 」

「Your Majesty, Your Majesty, older brother will definitely protect us! 」Xiao Fei said to Chen Yi He.

The carriage stopped. Zhou Wen Huang furtively poked his head out and saw countless soldiers collapsed on the ground, blocking the wide street, all groaning in pain. Even more bizarre, over twenty bald, burly men were tied together; if he had seen this under normal circumstances, he would surely have burst out laughing. But today he could not laugh.

Zhou Wen Huang worriedly said, 「Could it be that Qing Shui City has also been occupied by rebels? 」Seeing the red cloth wrapped around the bald men's bodies, he ordered the guard captain, 「Find a place to change clothes. I always feel something is off. 」

「Yes. Your Majesty, hold on tight. 」The guard captain whipped the horse, and the carriage mercilessly rolled over the soldiers blocking the road.

「Boss, open the door, open the door! 」The guard captain chose a fabric shop.

The fabric shop's gate was tightly shut, not open for business. Not only this shop, but the entire Qing Shui City had all its businesses closed.

The guard captain shouted several times; seeing no one answer, he returned to the carriage and said to Zhou Wen Huang, 「Your Majesty, we left in a hurry and need to stay hidden, so we didn't bring swords; may I borrow your sidearm? 」

Zhou Wen Huang handed over his gleaming gold sidearm to the guard captain.

The guard captain hacked at the fabric shop's doorboards like slaughtering a pig, one strike after another.

The majestic emperor's sidearm, today actually used to break down a door.

The fabric shop owner and his family hid in the corner, trembling. The guard captain pointed his sword at the owner and threatened, 「Prepare three sets of clothing for us immediately, or I'll kill you! 」After saying that, he threw down a gold ingot at them.

Soon the clothes were ready. The guard captain took the three garments back to the carriage; the three of them changed in turn, then headed toward the Xiao Family Fortress.

……

At this very moment, inside the Xiao Family Fortress, another scene unfolded.

Tian Ming kicked open the Xiao Family Fortress's gate just as he had kicked open Qing Shui City's wall gate; the three of them entered as if no one were there, pressing straight to the core area.

Xiao Feng had already been carried out; he sat alone in the hall, awaiting the three uninvited guests.

Even seated in a wheelchair, his towering stature could not be concealed.

「Who are you three? Dare to trespass Qing Shui City, dare to trespass the Xiao Family Fortress? 」Xiao Feng asked in a reproachful tone.

「Hahaha, we are gods, and who are you? 」Tian Ming laughed as he asked; the person seated in the wheelchair before him had a surprisingly domineering tone.

「I am the lord of Qing Shui City, Xiao Feng. 」

「A lord? It turns out the mighty city lord is actually a cripple! 」Tian Ming retorted.

Upon hearing the two words 「cripple」, Xiao Feng could not tolerate it! No one had ever dared to say to his face that he was a cripple!

Xiao Feng coldly stared at the three people before him.

The strength of Tian Ming, Tian Zai, and Tian Ba far surpassed Xiao Feng's, to the point that Xiao Feng could not even gauge their true power; he even mistakenly thought they were merely weak rebels taking advantage of the chaos.

Without a word, Xiao Feng slapped his palm toward Tian Ming. Though his strength was no match for before his disability, dealing with petty bandits was more than enough!

Moreover, the two words 「cripple」 were an inviolable bottom line for him! They had crossed his bottom line!

「Boom! 」

Smoke filled the hall.

The floor was covered in wood shavings, Xiao Feng's wheelchair shattered into pieces…… Xiao Feng collapsed on the ground, clutching his chest, blood spurting out, the intense pain rendering him speechless.

From beginning to end, Tian Ming did not move a muscle.

Xiao Feng was blown away by his own palm strike.

「You call yourself a cripple and still don't believe it. 」Tian Ming stepped forward, stepping on the wheelchair's wreckage, and said to Xiao Feng.

「If humanity is nothing but such trash, I think we don't need to wait three months anymore; it's too wasteful of time. 」Tian Zai said to Tian Ming.

「Playing a game with humanity, yet so impatient—how can we play the game? 」Tian Ming turned around and retorted, then continued, 「Now I think we should be more concerned about: if we kill all the mortals in the world, what then? 」He added, 「Wouldn't that be too lonely? 」

At that moment, the taciturn Tian Ba spoke up, 「Yeah, why not rule over everything like mortals, sitting high above, and establish a new order? 」

Tian Ba's words were shocking!

Xiao Feng, barely clinging to life on the ground, was almost shocked into stupidity…… 「Establish a new order! 」 「Could they possibly want to become emperors? 」

「Hahaha! Interesting, let's give it a try; if it gets boring, we'll just kill them all. 」

Xiao Feng's retainers surrounded the Xiao Family Fortress seven or eight layers deep; in front, each had bows drawn, while behind followed shield-bearers and swordsmen wielding blades. The leader shouted, 「People inside, listen up! Surrender quickly, or don't blame us for being ruthless! 」

「Boom! 」

Xiao Feng was directly thrown down from upstairs by Tian Ming.

Tian Ming stepped out of the hall, slowly descending before the enemies; the archers' arrows were only a dozen or so steps away from him.

「Lord! 」 the leader cried out in anguish.

Tian Ming extended one hand; an invisible force emanated from his palm, and immediately all the bows, arrows, and swords present were seized by a powerful attraction, flying out of their hands and into midair.

Some clung tightly, refusing to let go, with the result that their whole bodies were lifted into the air along with their weapons.

Tian Ming rubbed his other hand, and all the weapons coalesced together! 「Clang clang clang……」forming a huge iron ball in the air.

「Thud! 」 The iron ball smashed the Xiao Family Fortress to ruins. The scene was unimaginable to the extreme.

No one dared to resist anymore.

Suddenly, Tian Zai flew out. When he returned, he had grabbed one person in each hand—a man and a woman—whom he threw to the ground. These two wore ordinary clothes and gave off a foul stench from head to toe; they looked like nothing more than two ordinary people.

But if one looked closely, one could see that the man bore an extraordinary aristocratic aura, and the woman was stunningly beautiful beyond description, merely concealed by grime.

Many things can be changed, but before the gods, no matter how you disguise or pretend, you cannot fool their eyes.

「Great hero, spare my life! Great hero, spare my life! 」 Thereafter Tian Zai did nothing else, but the two people had already knelt on the ground, continually begging for mercy.