Chapter 178: I Am the True Sea God's Familiar!

Thrown to the ground, Yang Dongqing struggled to his feet. He felt as if he were dreaming. Had the tables turned just like that?

He couldn't help but recall what Su Mu had told them earlier.

The people of this island nation would only fear power rather than cherish virtue. They obeyed whoever they feared more.

On a street in the northwest corner of the Sea Kingdom, Hu Jie ran for his life. His mind was a tangled mess as he frantically searched for a way out.

Where could he even run?

His first instinct was to flee into the ocean, but then he remembered that Su Mu had completely seized his authority. That meant the ocean was entirely under his opponent's control. Fleeing into the sea would be suicide.

These Transcendents could not kill him, but Su Mu absolutely could.

"Ahhh! Fuck! What the hell is going on?!" Hu Jie grew increasingly frantic as he watched the figures closing in behind him. The power of the Sea God was clearly still surging inside him, so why couldn't he command the sea monsters?

He was the true sea god's familiar. Why was the entire ocean listening to Su Mu?

Logically, the only one who could bypass him and control the sea was the Sea God!

Swish!

A flash of cold light sliced ruthlessly across Hu Jie's throat.

It was the ghostly Silver Transcendent. As the fastest of the group, he was naturally the first to catch up, striking with a lethal blow right out of the gate.

Accompanied by the sound of tearing paper, Hu Jie's throat split open. However, the wound did not reveal flesh and blood, but a layer of gleaming green scales.

Seeing this, rather than getting angry, Hu Jie was ecstatic. He skidded to a halt and swiftly tore away the paper skin covering his body, revealing his true form as a sea god's familiar.

A humanoid monster covered in green scales.

"Do you see?!" Hu Jie slapped the scales on his body, desperately trying to prove himself. "I am the true sea god's familiar! You've all been fooled by Su Mu!"

In the past, he would have done anything to hide his identity. Now, he would do anything to prove it.

The crowd froze, staring in bewilderment at the monstrous Hu Jie. They hesitated, no longer able to make sense of the situation.

Just then, four figures approached from the end of the street. It was Su Mu, along with the heavily wounded Mu Qing and the others. Behind them was a dense, sprawling army of sea monsters!

A pungent stench of rot swept in with the sea monster army, spreading wildly through the streets of the Sea Kingdom. That nauseating scent, paired with the heavy thud of footsteps and the dripping of seawater, awakened the deepest nightmares buried in everyone's hearts.

Having survived in the Sea Kingdom for years, their terror of the sea monsters was carved into their very bones. Now, seeing this massive army make landfall, some of them even began to shake, terrified that the Sea Kingdom would be forcibly wiped out in the next moment.

"It seems you are all people who value loyalty and friendship," Su Mu said. "Since you refuse to kill Hu Jie, you can all die together." He slowly raised his hand and waved it forward.

Behind him, the sea monster army instantly moved to charge.

The crowd's expressions drastically changed. Pang Yang shouted at the top of his lungs, "My Lord, stay your hand! We will kill Hu Jie right now!"

Su Mu raised his hand, halting the advance of the sea monster army behind him. He offered a faint smile. "There is one hour until sunrise."

A chill ran through the crowd, and no one dared to waste another second.

"Do it! Don't keep the sea god's familiar waiting!" Pang Yang was the most proactive of them all. "Hu Jie's current appearance is definitely a disguise created with the Paper-Cutting Wraith! Kill him!"

Hu Jie nearly coughed up blood in fury. Unfortunately, he no longer had any blood.

The sheer absurdity of the world had exceeded his imagination. When he had used the Paper-Cutting Wraith to disguise himself as a human, everyone had believed him without question. Now that he was actively exposing his true form, they thought it was a disguise? Where was the justice in that?!

Over twenty Transcendents attacked simultaneously. Even someone as strong as Hu Jie could not help but fall into grave danger. Countless paper figures flew from his body, clashing fiercely with the crowd.

Standing behind Su Mu, Mu Qing was already numb with shock. Because she had been unconscious, she had absolutely no idea what had happened.

She only remembered Su Mu promising her a five-minute timeframe. Then the five minutes were up, and when she woke again, she saw that Su Mu had surrounded the Sea Kingdom with an army of sea monsters. The people of the Sea Kingdom, who had been their enemies moments ago, had all defected and begun to besiege the true sea god's familiar, Hu Jie.

The most bizarre part was that Hu Jie, who had previously wanted to hide his identity, had actively exposed himself—and no one fucking believed him!?

She couldn't help but look at Su Mu's tall, straight back, her beautiful eyes shimmering with continuous light. She finally understood why Su Mu had said there was no need to turn the tables.

There truly was no need. The one trapped in a dead end had always been Hu Jie.

She also realized how ridiculous her earlier plan to expose Hu Jie's true identity had been. The truth had never mattered.

The people of this island nation didn't pick sides based on justice or truth. They simply sided with whoever was strongest!

In just a short moment, Hu Jie had already suffered numerous injuries. It was true that he was a sea god's familiar, but his greatest power came from the ocean and the sea monster army. Now, all those reliances were gone.

All he could rely on now was the Paper-Cutting Wraith, as well as the Undying Body of a sea god's familiar.

"Die!" The Follower of Strength Transcendent seized an opening, throwing a punch from behind straight into Hu Jie's head.

Bang!

That hideous head shattered on impact. The others' attacks followed right behind, and in the blink of an eye, Hu Jie was torn to shreds.

Splash!

His ruined corpse turned into a puddle of foul-smelling seawater, scattering across the ground.

Seeing this, the crowd blanked. Turning into seawater upon death... wasn't that exactly what sea monsters did?

In truth, these people were not fools. Some had already vaguely sensed that something was wrong. First, the sea god's familiar had ordered them to hunt down Su Mu, but the next moment, Su Mu became the sea god's familiar to kill Hu Jie. Not even a ghost would believe there wasn't something suspicious going on.

But even if they knew there was a problem, they couldn't possibly say it out loud, much less question Su Mu's identity as a sea god's familiar—unless they had a death wish.

Playing dumb while knowing the truth was the true key to survival.

Suddenly, the puddle of foul seawater continuously bubbled and surged, re-forming into the shape of Hu Jie once again.

"Hahaha... Do you believe me now?!" he laughed. "I am the true sea god's familiar! I cannot be killed!"

Pang Yang threw a subtle glance at Su Mu, who was flanked by the sea monster army, and immediately shouted at Hu Jie, "Everyone, don't listen to him! I know Old Hu better than anyone! Aside from his Paper-Cutting Wraith, he also has a hidden Illusion Technique! This is all just an illusion he's created! Hurry and capture him to hand him over to the sea god's familiar!"

"Pang Yang, you motherfucker! When did I ever hide an Illusion Technique?!" Hu Jie completely snapped, screaming curses in absolute hysteria.

Pang Yang's eyes flickered. He naturally knew Old Hu was innocent. After all, only the person framing you knows exactly how innocent you really are. But his hands were tied. Su Mu held the authority to speak now, and if Pang Yang wanted to live, he had to follow whatever narrative Su Mu set.