Chapter 9: Annihilation

All three unleashed their full strength, and though Xia Jiuxuan refrained from using high-grade martial techniques, he still felt a certain pressure. Yet, since he dared to kill, Xia Jiuxuan was confident in his advantage; otherwise, by nature, he would have already withdrawn with Xia Ran to avoid the confrontation.

With a sweep of his long spear, Xia Jiuxuan flung Zhou Wenyang aside. In the same instant, with a thought, a formation diagram surged forth, coalescing into a matrix that trapped the three within.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The trio struck with all their might, but their fierce attacks seemed to sink into a mire, their power mysteriously dissipated by an unknown force.

“Something’s wrong! There’s trickery here!”

The young master of the Bai clan was the first to sense the danger and attempted to retreat. But his hope was naïve; as he tried to escape, his whole body tightened, as though bound by countless invisible vines.

“A formation master! He has a formation master helping him!”

Panic-stricken, the Bai clan’s young master frantically summoned his true power, striving to break free from the invisible bonds.

A tearing sound split the air—he shattered the formation’s bindings by sheer force, but in the same instant, a black iron spear pierced through his chest.

Everything unfolded in a seamless flow, leaving him no chance to react.

In the fleeting moment before his consciousness faded, a single thought flashed through his mind: he was not fighting a useless boy, but facing a grandmaster of innate cultivation, a master of both battle and formation.

But what use was this realization now—everything was already too late.

“Brother Bai!”

Seeing the Bai clan’s young master fall, the other two no longer dared to fight. With a desperate surge, they broke free and leapt into the air, seeking escape.

A shrill resonance filled the street, making the bystanders’ heads spin. Xia Jiuxuan hurled his spear into the sky; it spun midair, then split in two.

The fleeing men fell like birds struck by poisoned arrows, tumbling from the sky.

From the moment trouble began until all four had lost their ability to fight, barely fifty breaths had passed.

The entire street fell into a terrifying silence.

No one could find words to describe this battle; their minds were a blank void.

The four great young lords, attacking together a Xia clan heir rumored to be a cripple, had been utterly defeated—one against four, and all gravely wounded!

How could they accept this? It was simply beyond belief.

Ordinary cultivators could not grasp the intricacies of the fight; they only knew it was formidable, and that was enough. But the two women watching from the loft were anything but ordinary. What they had witnessed shocked them far more than the rest.

Liu Weiyu and Ayao exchanged glances, each seeing the words “inconceivable” written in the other’s eyes.

“A formation, I’m certain he just used a formation,” Ayao finally said after a moment’s silence.

“Yes! I’ve seen senior brothers from Wanfa Institute use formations before—guided by spiritual power, bending the laws of the four directions to their will, forming matrices that are formless yet terrifying,” Liu Weiyu replied, nodding in a daze.

She had studied for years at the empire’s most esteemed academy, yet upon returning to this small Dragon Nest City, she had encountered such a genius.

And what’s more—she even knew him.

The thought left her unsettled, and even wounded a sliver of her pride.

A formation master!

Without the instruction of imperial teachers, to develop such formation skills—what a terrifying, monstrous thing.

“So… what do you think we should do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. Do we save them or not?”

“They’ve all been beaten half to death—do they even need our help?”

Liu Weiyu’s gaze swept below. All four young lords had been run through with the long spear, their lives hanging by a thread.

The more she watched, the more shaken she felt. In her place, even with the cultivation of Innate Stage Four, she would not have had the chance to escape, much less defeat them.

Yet the Xia clan’s so-called cripple had done it.

A vague discomfort grew in her heart.

“Wait, pay attention,” Ayao’s gaze shifted into the distance.

Liu Weiyu’s brow lifted as she sensed a mounting pressure converging from all directions. Before she could probe further, more than a dozen figures descended from the sky, each aura as overwhelming as a mountain.

“Sister, looks like we won’t get the chance to save anyone—even if we wanted to. They’re all at the Palace Entry Realm, and there’s an old man at Stage Three. We’re no match for them.”

Seeing the newcomers, Ayao gave up any thought of intervening.

With a dozen Palace Entry experts present, neither of them had the strength to save anyone.

“I never intended to,” Liu Weiyu admitted honestly. She had never planned to act.

Ayao sighed, but a faint smile played at her lips. Inwardly, she mused, “You’re still so naive, sister. Perhaps that boy is your only salvation, and it’s you who let him slip away.”

“How dare you, villain! You dare harm my son!”

A middle-aged man descended, the street cracking for dozens of paces under his landing.

At this moment, Xia Jiuxuan had gathered the four defeated youths into a pile and pressed them beneath his feet.

He had known from the start that this matter could not end peacefully, so he had held back just enough not to kill them outright.

Now, with their lives in his hands, he had gained a valuable bargaining chip.

“Father, save me…” The Bai clan’s young master, barely clinging to life beneath Xia Jiuxuan’s foot, cried weakly for help.

“My son!”

Blue veins bulged on the Bai clan patriarch’s forehead.

“You brat, if you dare harm my son, I will slaughter your Xia clan to the last dog and chicken!”

The Bai patriarch glared venomously at Xia Jiuxuan.

“Oh? I would welcome that,” Xia Jiuxuan replied with perfect composure. The Xia clan was rotten to the core; if the Bai clan wanted to act, he would almost thank them.

“You—!”

Given all the recent chaos in the Xia clan, the city’s four great families were well aware of the situation. Threatening to wipe them out seemed to have little effect on this boy.

“What do you want in exchange for my son’s life?”

Fearing Xia Jiuxuan might act rashly, Bai’s patriarch tried to pacify him. Once his son was safe, the boy would be at his mercy.

As they spoke, a dozen more figures arrived, each aura equal to the Bai patriarch’s.

The Li patriarch and his grand elder.

The Wang clan’s chief guest elder and the patriarch.

The Zhou clan arrived as well, their patriarch leading seven elders.

A tremendous pressure surged toward Xia Jiuxuan, an attempt to cow him into submission.

“Well, the whole lot is here,” he sneered. The city’s five greatest powers had all come—only the City Lord’s Mansion was absent.

“Virtuous nephew Xia, let’s talk this out. Please, spare our young lord’s life. I, old as I am, offer you my apologies,” the Li clan’s grand elder said, bowing low. He did not know why their young lord had been defeated, but with his life in the boy’s hands, it was best to be as humble as possible.

“Useless wretch—taste my sword!”

But the Wang clan acted rashly; their chief guest elder attacked with thunderous intent, aiming to slay Xia Jiuxuan on the spot.

As soon as the words were spoken, the Wang clan’s chief guest elder struck. A massive palm imprint crashed down toward Xia Jiuxuan.

But Xia Jiuxuan was faster. With one thrust, his spear pierced straight through the Wang clan young lord’s head.

Seeing this, both the Wang guest elder and patriarch turned ashen.

They had not expected the boy to react so quickly; their young lord was dead, their own son was dead.

At that moment, the Wang patriarch felt his body lighten, as though his soul had departed.

Who could have imagined he would actually dare to kill?

“My son!” he howled in agony, wracked with regret.