Chapter 178: Cunning Yu Liang and The Flick of Death

( Big Chapter )

The wooden doors of Heaven’s Table were pushed open with a resounding bang, the sound echoed like a death knell in the terrified silence of the restaurant.

Patriarch Zhao Feng’s remaining guards stepped across the threshold with their aura fully unleashed, turning the air around the restaurant into a suffocating barrier. Behind the Zhao Feng, the massive army of the Zhao Family’s Armor Guards and the dozens of Cloudwater Sect disciples flooded into the hall, with army being their weapons drawn while their eyes scanned the room with predatory killing intent.

But the scene that greeted them was entirely contrary to their expectations.

There was not panicked fleeing but also no ’desperate’ defensive formations.

In the very center of the main hall, sitting at a elegantly carved wooden table, was Yu Liang. He was leaning back comfortably in his chair, his posture was totally. In his right hand, he held a delicate porcelain teacup, casually bringing it to his lips to take a slow, serene sip of the fragrant spiritual tea. The steam curled around his calm, handsome face, completely at odds with the tension in the room.

A few feet away, lying down on the shattered floor was the Third Young Master, Zhao Kuang. His head was caved in, his face was a bloody, unrecognizable mess of broken teeth and exposed bone.

He was unconscious, barely kept alive only by the lingering, stimulating spiritual energy Yu Liang had forced into his heart earlier.

Seeing his only son reduced to a miserable, broken pile of meat, a terrifying rage instantly exploded in Zhao Feng’s chest. His eyes turned completely bloodshot, and the spiritual energy in his body violently surged, causing the wooden pillars of the restaurant to groan and crack. He wanted to rip Yu Liang apart limb from limb and refine his soul in the Spirit Fire for ten thousand years!

But Zhao Feng was a cunning old fox. He forcefully suppressed the roaring volcano of anger in his heart, his face twisted back into a mask of cold, righteous fury.

He had a perfect plan but he needed to play the victim first.

Hearing the heavy footsteps, Yu Liang slowly lowered his teacup. He glanced at the bloody mess on the floor, then looked up at the towering, furious Patriarch. A faint, mocking chuckle escaped his lips.

"So," Yu Liang’s voice was clear and calm, cutting through the heavy killing intent like a sharp blade. "It turns out that little trash actually wasn’t lying. He really is the young master of an inner city family. I was wondering what kind of feral beast the outer city had let in."

"Insolent brat!" Zhao Feng roared, though he kept his hands behind his back, adopting the posture of a wronged, righteous elder. He pointed a trembling finger at Yu Liang, his voice filled with grief and indignation.

"We, the Zhao Family, are a family of scholars and merchants, known for our benevolence and adherence to the law in the Jade City! My son was merely enjoying a peaceful cup of tea in your establishment, and you.... you a nameless rogue cultivator, suddenly attacked him without provocation! You broke his bones, humiliated him, and now you dare to sit there drinking tea as if nothing happened?!"

Zhao Feng’s word game was vicious. He was deliberately twisting the facts, painting Yu Liang as an unprovoked, violent madman, and elevating the Zhao Family’s status to gain the moral high ground in front of the watching Cloudwater Sect disciples.

Yu Liang didn’t even stand up. He just rested his chin on his hand, his eyes flashed with a mocking light.

"Enjoying a peaceful cup of tea?" Yu Liang smiled as his tone filled with sarcasm. "Is that what you call harassing a young waitress, demanding she sit on his lap, and threatening to slaughter my staff when they refused? If this is how the ’scholarly’ Zhao Family teaches their dogs to behave, then I must say, your family’s education is truly lacking."

Yu Liang’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a undeniable weight that resonated with everyone present.

"You say I attacked without provocation," Yu Liang continued as his gaze turned ice cold. "Your son threatened to turn this place into a sea of blood. His protector, that gray roared man whose headless corpse is currently cooling in front of you, burned his life force and launched a lethal strike, that too behind my back, did you call that a righteous thing?. So, I merely defended my property and my people. If protecting my own staff makes me a madman in your eyes, Patriarch Zhao, then I gladly accept the title. But do not stand there and pretend your son is an innocent lamb and if you truly believe so then let’s take a heavenly oath here"

Yu Liang’s flawless logic and calm demeanor completely dismantled Zhao Feng’s verbal trap. The onlooking Cloudwater Sect disciples, who were initially ready to side with the inner city overlord, began to exchange confused glances. The young master’s broken face and the headless corpse of the elder in the back painted a very different picture from the Patriarch’s words.

Zhao Feng’s face darkened completely. He realized that his word game was completely failed. ’This brat’s mind is too sharp, and his aura is also too calm, he wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.’

"Good... very good," Zhao Feng sneered, his killing intent no longer hidden. He gave a subtle, nearly imperceptible nod toward his elite guards. "Since you are so stubborn and refuse to ask for mercy, then don’t blame this seat for being ruthless! Someone teach this ignorant trash a lesson!"

Hearing the Patriarch’s order, a hot headed Armor Guard, a Mid Stage Foundation Establishment Realm expert clad in heavy armor, instantly lunged forward.

"Insolent trash! Let me break your legs and see if you can still act so arrogant!" the guard roared as his spiritual energy surged as he raised a massive, spiked mace, aiming directly for Yu Liang’s head. The wind pressure from the strike was enough to shatter ordinary Qi Condensation Realm cultivators.

Yu Liang didn’t dodged the incoming attack.

He simply raised his left hand, his index finger pointing at the lunging guard, and then casually flicked his finger.

A crisp, clear sound, no louder than a snapping twig, echoed in the hall.

But the next moment, a terrifying, compressed shockwave of pure, physical force erupted from Yu Liang’s fingertip. It was the power of the Ultimate Stage Body Tempering Realm, combined with the terrifying density of his Peak Stage of Core Formation Realm spiritual energy, condensed into a single point of impact.

BOOM!

The guard didn’t even have time to scream. The moment the invisible force hit his chest, his heavy armor shattered into dust. His ribs exploded, his internal organs instantly liquefied, and his physical body was violently blasted backward.

Before he even hit the wall, his body simply disintegrated. He was blasted into a fine, bloody mist of flesh, blood, and shattered metal, painting the walls and the floor in a gruesome layer of red.

One say in a single flick he was blasted to pieces.

The teacup in Yu Liang’s hand didn’t even rippled.

Once again deathly silence descended upon the restaurant.

The remaining Armor Guards and enforcers felt a bone chilling cold wash over their entire bodies. Their scalps went numb, and their hearts hammered against their ribs like trapped birds. They were united, fiercely loyal to the Zhao Family, and ready to die for their Patriarch at any moment but they were not mindless idoits either.

They could clearly feel the terrifying, unfathomable depth of the power Yu Liang had just displayed. That single flick contained no complex techniques and not even flashy elemental effects. It was pure, overwhelming, absolute power. It was the power of a monster who could crush them all like ants without even standing up.

Instinctively, their trembling hands tightened on their weapons, but not a single one of them dared to take a step forward.

The gap in power was simply too despairing.

Seeing his elite guard turned into a bloody mist with a mere flick of a finger, Zhao Feng’s pupils shrank violently. His heart sank into an icy abyss. ’He’s not just a hidden expert... he’s a monster! His physical body is even more terrifying! Then what about his Cultivation Realm?! I can’t fight him directly! Absolutely not.’

Realizing that violence would only result in his own death, Zhao Feng instantly changed his strategy. He took a deep breath, his expression immediately shifted from fury to one of absolute, righteous indignation, yet again.

He turned his body, deliberately exposing his back to Yu Liang, and faced the group of Cloudwater Sect disciples standing at the entrance.

"Senior Brother Lin! Fellow Daoists of the Cloudwater Sect!" Zhao Feng’s voice was loud, trembling with ’righteous anger’ and ’deep concern’. He pointed dramatically at Yu Liang.

"Look at this! This man is not just a common murderer, he is a demon! He slaughters my guards in broad daylight, right in front of the eyes of the Cloudwater Sect! He is openly and blatantly slapping the face of the Cloudwater Sect!"

Zhao Feng’s voice echoed through the hall, he chose his words carefully to twist the narrative once again.

"In the Jade City, the Sect is the Law! The order is maintained by the Cloudwater Sect! If this rogue cultivator can kill my guards so casually, what is stopping him from attacking the Sect’s Outer Sect Disciples tomorrow? What is it stopping him from challenging the authority of the Inner City?! He is a threat to the entire Jade City! I, Zhao Feng, beg the Sect to uphold justice and execute this arrogant demon who dares to slap the face of the Cloudwater Sect!"

As Zhao Feng finished his grand accusation, the eyes of the Cloudwater Sect disciples, led by the inner sect senior Lin Feng, instantly narrowed but they knew it can’t be this easy. The atmosphere in the restaurant shifted once again, the killing intent of the Sect disciples slowly rose as they looked at the calm, tea drinking young man.