134: Fourth Generation: Overlord (Thirty)

A faint sound, almost negligible, like a hot knife slicing through butter, rang out.

The Black Tortoise Spiritual Shield, which radiated a heavy spiritual light and was strong enough to withstand a blow from a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, along with the protective spiritual light that Shen Qiu had exerted all his strength to sustain, failed to provide even the slightest resistance before the purple-gold saber beam. Infused with supreme Saber Intent and imperial prestige, the beam split them in two!

At the smooth cut, the spiritual light instantly dissipated. The Magical Artifact wailed once as its spirituality vanished entirely, turning into common iron and falling.

The saber beam's momentum did not decrease as it swept across Shen Qiu's body with unerring precision.

The fear and hope for a lucky escape on Shen Qiu's face froze completely, his pupils dilating to their limit.

He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but could not make a sound.

A thin line of blood appeared at his brow and spread straight down, through the bridge of his nose, his lips, his chest... In the next moment, his body split neatly in two along the bloodline. Blood surged out like a fountain as he crashed down from the high city tower.

Before his remaining Divine Soul could escape, it was completely shredded by the domineering imperial prestige and sharp Saber Intent contained within the saber beam, vanishing into thin air!

One strike!

With just a single hand-saber strike from a distance, a Mid-Foundation Establishment Stage Elder of the Shen Family with actual power, along with his defensive Spiritual Artifact, was instantly killed like a clay chicken or a pottery dog!

His Divine Soul was utterly destroyed!

On the city walls, the remaining defenders and the leaders of the Loose Cultivators witnessed this scene that resembled divine punishment. Their final will to resist was completely crushed.

They could not understand how an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator could unleash such a terrifying, logic-defying saber strike!

Despair spread like a plague.

"The person in charge is dead! Killed in one strike!"

"Flee! Run away, quickly!"

Cries and screams echoed across the city walls. The defenders collapsed completely, fleeing in all directions like headless flies, even trampling each other in their struggle for an escape route.

However, there were also "smart people."

One Loose Cultivator leader, who reacted the fastest, was already scared out of his wits the moment Shen Qiu was slain.

Seeing no hope of escape, he abruptly threw down his Magical Artifact and fell to his knees with a "thud." He kowtowed frantically toward the black-armored figure in the air, his forehead bleeding instantly as he wailed piteously:

"Your Majesty, have mercy! Shang King, Your Majesty, have mercy!"

"This humble one is willing to surrender! I am willing to surrender! I was forced by the Shen Family and had no choice but to oppose the Royal Army!"

"I beg Your Majesty for grace! Spare my dog's life! I am willing to serve you like an ox or a horse and be loyal to Your Majesty!!"

His actions seemed to remind the others. Immediately, another dozen or so people hurriedly threw down their weapons, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed like pounding garlic, their pleas for life merging into one.

They harbored a glimmer of hope, thinking that this Shang King might need manpower to take over the local area or might accept their surrender. After all, massacring surrendered troops harms the harmony of heaven and is not the behavior of a wise ruler.

In the sky, Xu Yuan's gaze swept indifferently over those kneeling figures. There was no expression on his face, only coldness.

He remembered the order he had given.

"Those who are obstinate and resist to the end shall all be killed."

When the Formation was not yet broken and their commander not yet dead, these people held sharp blades and stood upon the city walls—that was "resisting to the end." Now that they knelt and begged for mercy only because they saw the situation was grim, how could that be considered "submissive"?

They didn't realize they were wrong; they only realized they were dead!

The King's will shall not be shaken!

The King's word is the iron law!

Xu Yuan didn't even speak. He simply raised his right hand again, held his fingers together like a saber, and made a light horizontal stroke toward the area where they were kneeling and begging for surrender.

The movement was exactly the same as when he killed Shen Qiu.

"No—!!"

The sliver of hope that had just risen in the eyes of that first Loose Cultivator leader was instantly swallowed by boundless fear, and he let out a roar of utter despair.

However, his roar came to an abrupt halt.

An invisible, sharp Saber Intent passed through like a breeze.

The bodies of those dozen or so Cultivators kneeling for mercy all stiffened simultaneously. Then, lines of blood emerged from their necks.

Thud... thud...

One head after another rolled to the ground, their faces still frozen with expressions of terror, pleading, and disbelief.

The headless corpses remained in a kneeling posture, blood gushing from the severed necks and staining the city bricks beneath them.

The response to surrender was still death!

Cold, ruthless, without the slightest hesitation!

This scene was even more chilling than the instant kill of Shen Qiu!

It completely severed the last bit of wishful thinking from all the defenders!

"Kill! Leave none alive!"

Xu Yuan's cold voice, like a final judgment, echoed in the ears of every Imperial Guard and Shadow Guard.

"We obey Your Majesty's command!"

Evil Qi soared to the heavens! The elite Imperial Guards and Shadow Guards, who had long been prepared, were like Vicious Beasts breaking free from their chains. Harnessing various spiritual lights, they surged like a bursting flood into Blackwater City, which had lost its Formation's protection and whose defenders' morale had completely collapsed.

The true massacre began.

Facing the well-equipped and well-coordinated Imperial Guards, whose cultivation was generally in the middle to Late Stages of Qi Refining, and the elusive Shadow Guards who specialized in one-hit kills, these defenders—mostly composed of Shen Family private soldiers and a motley crew of Loose Cultivators—could not organize any effective resistance at all.

Surrender? It had already been proven to be a dead end!

Resist? They were instantly submerged by the surging tide of soldiers!

Flee? They were caught from behind and ruthlessly cut down!

The smell of blood spread with startling speed, enveloping the entirety of Blackwater City. Wails and the sound of blades entering flesh were heard incessantly.

In this desperate slaughterhouse, not everyone died in silence.

There were direct descendants of the Shen Family who, before dying, glared with eyes nearly bursting, using their last strength to hurl blood-soaked curses and insults at the black-armored figure on the city tower:

"Wang Yuan! You butcher! Tyrant! You will die a horrible death!"

"Such indiscriminate killing is against the laws of heaven! You will surely face divine retribution!"

"You are even more brutal than King Xia! Great Shang will surely perish at your hands!!"

There were also Loose Cultivators driven to desperation who acted like madmen, futilely waving their Magical Artifacts while screaming hoarsely:

"You devil! You treat human lives like grass! What kind of emperor are you! The people of the world will not submit to you! Just you wait! Your end will be ten times—a hundred times worse than ours!!"

These curses, full of venom and despair, mixed with the sounds of battle and reached Xu Yuan's ears clearly.

However, as he stood upon the city tower, his face remained as calm as still water. His eyes were deep like a ten-thousand-year-old icy pond, without a single ripple.

He didn't even glance in the direction of the curses, as if what he heard were merely the insignificant chirps of insects.

A tyrant?

King Zhou?

A cold flicker of mockery passed through Xu Yuan's heart.

Having lived through three lives of Reincarnation, he had seen too much of the rise and fall of success and failure. He had long ago seen through the essence of so-called history.

History is always written by the victors.

If he were to be defeated and die today, then in the history books of future generations, he, Wang Yuan—the Shang King who tried to break the thousand-year pattern of Noble Families and implement "Joint Governance of Immortals and Mortals"—would surely be depicted as a headstrong, militaristic, and perverse "tyrant"! A "faint-hearted ruler"!

And the rebels like the Xiao Family and Shen Family might instead become "men of loyalty and righteousness," heroes who fought to "Purge the Court of Evil" and "Restore the State."

The winner becomes the king, and the loser becomes the bandit; it has been so since ancient times.

But he would not lose!

The so-called benevolence and morality are often pale and powerless in the face of absolute power and strength.

If he were merciful to his enemies, he would be cruel to himself, to his followers, and to the grand blueprint in his heart!

This Southeast rebellion must be extinguished with the swiftest and most severe means to deter all potential enemies. Only then can the smallest total cost be used to exchange for the long-term peace and stability of Great Shang, and to ensure the smooth passage of his Imperial Dao!