Chapter 416 - 393: Overnight Fame, the Golden Lion Gu Peng

"Song Zhao, get out here! I’ve come to borrow your name!"

The rough voice was like a rolling thunderclap, streaking across the sky like a bolt of furious lightning.

RUMBLE!

A clap of thunder even echoed from the distant sky. It wasn’t weather; it was because Gu Peng’s speed was too great. As he vanished across mountains and rivers, covering an unknown number of miles in an instant, the very air detonated in his wake.

His speed was so immense that the thunderclap lagged far behind him, trailing after him like a belated tail.

Gu Peng was the very picture of an overnight celebrity.

In fact, compared to Song Ciwan, his path to fame was more typical—and far more dazzling.

Song Ciwan had directly defeated Tushan Keji, who was tenth on the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List, and taken his place. While clean and efficient, the process was so straightforward that it lacked a certain shock value.

After all, on the Celestial Pride List, Song Ciwan’s record only listed two achievements: defeating Tushan Keji and slaying a Flying Spirit Level Evil God.

How could that compare to Gu Peng?

Three days ago, he was a nameless nobody, unknown to the world.

Yet in those three days, he had forced the Celestial Pride List to update time and again, starting from the nineties and challenging twelve Celestial Prides in a row until he reached the fifteenth spot!

Now, he had crossed thousands of miles in just half a day.

In the morning, he was at Demon Slaughter Pass. By late morning, he was in Yong State, where he defeated a challenger and forced the Celestial Immortal Ye Lingguan to retreat. Now, just after 9 a.m., he had arrived in Yangzhou, in Guangling City, and was directly challenging Song Zhao, tenth on the Celestial Pride List!

Such flair, such arrogance, such an imposing aura that seemed to dominate the world—even those who felt hostile or indignant toward him couldn’t help but feel a sliver of grudging admiration.

All living things are drawn to strength, and Gu Peng’s power was enough to instill a creeping fear in many, whether they realized it or not.

It was a primal instinct, one not even limited to humans. Any species with sentience and emotion would likely react the same way.

To overcome this, one needed either an unshakeable will or overwhelming power.

And so, at this very moment, as Gu Peng—lion-faced, human-bodied, with wings sprouting from his back—was about to land his thirty-foot-tall, majestic form in the Cyan Feather Mountain plaza, a refined voice suddenly rang out from beyond the square: "How majestic the three mountains, where even flying birds cannot pass. Young friend, stay your steps. Do not be so hasty."

As the voice echoed, majestic cyan shadows flickered into existence atop the three peaks surrounding Cyan Feather Mountain.

The interconnected shadows carried an overwhelming presence, as if blotting out the very sky, and pressed down on Gu Peng with a force that was both tangible and ethereal.

Gu Peng’s majestic body met the three even more immense, boundless mountain shadows head-on. He was only thirty feet tall; how could he possibly stand against mountains hundreds, or even thousands, of feet high?

The sheer pressure of such a mountain-moving power was enough to crush a man to death!

Yet Gu Peng, suspended in mid-air, was completely unfazed.

He tilted back his shaggy lion’s head and let out a guttural laugh, his voice erupting into a fierce roar. "Old fool! So you’d bully the weak with your power? What do I have to fear from you?"

BOOM!

Was the roar from his lion mouth merely as loud as a thunderclap?

To be more precise, the roar was enough to make the very earth move and the mountains shake.

No, it wasn’t just *like* the earth was moving—it actually was. With that single roar, Gu Peng made the entire Cyan Feather Mountain tremble.

RUMBLE!

Just as Cyan Feather Mountain seemed on the verge of collapse, the refined voice from the void spoke again, uttering a single word: "Still!"

That single word descended from the sky, firmly suppressing the collapsing Cyan Feather Mountain and simultaneously silencing Gu Peng, who stood defiant in mid-air.

Gu Peng’s mane bristled. On his lion head, a pair of golden eyes wider than bronze bells glared into the void. His mouth twitched into another guttural sneer. "Old fool. You could have just stayed a good little City God, but no, you had to shamelessly interfere with a junior like me! If that’s how it is, then I’ll be sure to return the favor!"

As he spoke, Gu Peng raised a hand and pointed.

This was no mere skirmish like before. With that one point, Gu Peng summoned an exceptionally strange power.

The power shot forth, swift, invisible, and utterly bizarre.

Gu Peng was heard to declare, "In the name of the Ancient Gods, I strip you of your spirit, erase your thoughts, and command you, this very day, to become as a clay puppet, a wooden statue!"

He spat these words out at such a speed that most people could not understand him.

No, to be precise, the vast majority of people couldn’t make out what Gu Peng was saying at all. Only Liu Siye, thanks to the Official Seal in his hand, understood Gu Peng’s words in that instant.

As Gu Peng’s words left his lips, Liu Siye suddenly felt an immense terror descend upon him from some unseen realm.

He saw the majestic, winding mountain shadows that nearly blotted out the azure sky. He saw the people in the plaza, their mouths agape and eyes wide—

A thousand twisted, indescribable emotions seemed to play across every face.

And he saw, in the distant void, the Guangling City God, clad in his official robes, standing on a cloud and holding his Ruyi. For a split second, a look of shock flashed across his refined face.

Liu Siye’s heart leaped into his throat. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. In that terrifying, soul-shaking moment, all he could do was desperately clench the Official Seal in his hand.

A power connected to the earth, to the world itself, began to emanate faintly from the Official Seal.

Liu Siye felt that although his lips hadn’t moved, a roar seemed to tear from his throat: "City God! Lord Wu, go!"

BOOM!

The frozen, mirror-like scene seemed to crack apart. A sigh echoed from the void.

The distant, ethereal form of the City God took a single step to the side, and the strange power unleashed by Gu Peng’s words somehow missed its mark.

The wind howled through the sky, and the City God’s robes billowed. With a light sweep of the Ruyi in his hand, he brushed the gale aside.

The people then saw a colossal figure rising from the northern part of the city.

It was immense. Compared to Gu Peng’s thirty-foot frame, this figure was so tall that its projection could have covered all of Guangling City.

It was so tall that even by craning their necks as far back as they could, people couldn’t make out its face.

But the robes on the ethereal figure were unmistakable—the official vestments of a City God!

This suddenly immense, boundless figure was, of course, Wu City God of Guangling City.

Wu City God’s sigh swept through Guangling City like a gentle breeze. The residents, who had been suffering from inexplicable heart palpitations, felt their wildly pounding hearts calm at the sound.

Gu Peng snorted. "Wu City God, I am merely conducting a Celestial Pride challenge according to the rules. Your interference... does it mean you have no faith in the Celestial Prides of your Human Race?"

Wu City God replied, "A Celestial Pride challenge has its own rules. So long as those rules are followed, no innocents are harmed, and the battle remains confined to Cyan Feather Mountain, this official has no reason to interfere. Otherwise... this is, after all, the Great Zhou World. I advise you to be cautious, Ancient Celestial Pride."