The council hall of the Papal Palace was brightly lit, and the long oak table was filled with bishops dressed in red robes.
Exhaustion was carved into everyone's faces. In the flickering candlelight, the lingering shadows deep in their eyes were reflected.
The Pope stood at the head of the table, heavily striking the floor with his scepter, producing a dull thud.
"Gentlemen, I have gathered you all here today for only one matter—Lord Xi Xi has returned, and we are going to declare war on the demons! We will take the initiative to attack, destroy the human farms they have built, and liberate our imprisoned compatriots!"
As soon as his voice fell, the council hall instantly exploded into an uproar.
"Declare war? Pope, are you crazy?!" A gray-haired bishop suddenly stood up, his voice trembling.
"We have organized so many crusades, and our entire armies were wiped out! Now we can barely even hold the barrier of the Holy Mountain, how could we possibly take the initiative to attack the demons?"
"That's right! The human farms are the core strongholds of the demons, and there are so many of them. We are simply no match for them!" another bishop immediately echoed.
"Once we anger the Demon King, we will all die!"
"I object! I absolutely do not agree to this suicidal plan! Hiding inside the barrier means we can at least live for a few more years, but taking the initiative to attack is a dead end!"
Voices of opposition rose one after another, growing increasingly fierce.
The disastrous defeats over the years had long worn away their spirit. The word demons was like a sharp sword hanging over their heads, making even their breathing fraught with fear.
They had absolutely no courage to resist.
"Quiet!" the Pope shouted sternly. "Gentlemen! Look at yourselves right now! You look like a bunch of terrified rats! Have you forgotten how the demons bathed our homeland in blood? Have you forgotten how our compatriots who were captured into the farms are treated like livestock by the demons?!"
"Pope, by hiding like this, we can at least stay alive! As long as we are alive, there is hope!" a shrill voice suddenly rang out.
Bishop Marcus stood up, crossing his arms. "Pope, we know all of what you just said! But so what? We can't beat the demons! Rather than dying for nothing, it's better to live one more day! Furthermore, what makes you think we can win this time?"
He turned his head to look at Ye Chuan standing in the shadows, his eyes full of distrust:
"He did indeed defeat three Demon Lords, but so what? The power of the Demon Lords is bestowed by the Demon King, and new Demon Lords can appear at any time! Not to mention there is an endless demon army! Can he alone defeat thousands upon thousands of demons?"
"He is just a madman who wants to send us to our deaths!"
"Nonsense!" Kalisia immediately stood out, her pink twin-tails swaying in anger.
"Lord Xi Xi is a good person! If it weren't for him, when the Demon Lord broke through the barrier last time, we would have died long ago!"
"What does a child know!" Marcus glared at Kalisia. "You are not worthy of speaking on such an occasion, mere daughter of the Storm Duke!"
Kalisia puffed her cheeks in anger.
"Oh?" Hearing them argue, Ye Chuan was not surprised at all, and slowly walked out from the shadows.
He didn't look at Marcus, but just stood there quietly.
An icy aura instantly permeated the entire council hall, and the originally noisy voices came to an abrupt halt.
All the bishops subconsciously shut their mouths, trembling all over, not even daring to raise their heads.
They would never forget that it was this seemingly ordinary young man who, with a single sword, beheaded three Demon Lords at the foot of the Holy Mountain.
Ye Chuan's gaze finally landed on Marcus, his voice calm and rippleless: "Sit down, and I will pretend you never said those words."
Marcus's body trembled violently, a trace of fear flashing across his face.
But he gritted his teeth and still braced himself to say, "I won't sit! I wasn't wrong! I can't watch everyone go to their deaths! I am doing this for the sake of the entire Holy Church! For the sake of all humanity that is still alive!"
Ye Chuan said lightly, "Dying a slow death while hiding inside the barrier, is this what you call doing it for the sake of humanity? Watching the demons grow stronger day by day, waiting for the Demon King to descend and turn us all into livestock in their farms, is this what you call surviving?"
"Let me tell you, now is our only chance." His voice suddenly raised, carrying an unquestionable coercion.
"Four Demon Lords have been killed by me. As long as I wish it, the Demon Lords are not a problem at all."
"Even so, you can't gamble with everyone's lives!" Marcus shouted loudly. "I will absolutely not let my people go to their deaths! If you want to go, go by yourselves!"
Saying that, he turned around and was about to leave.
A few bishops who were on good terms with him also stood up, wanting to leave together.
"I said just now, those who have objections can raise them."
Ye Chuan's voice sounded slowly, "But I didn't say that you could leave alive."
As his voice fell.
"Pfft— Pfft— Pfft—"
A series of muffled sounds rang out.
Marcus and the few bishops who followed him toward the door instantly stiffened.
Their eyes widened, their faces still carrying expressions of horror and disbelief.
The next second, their bodies seemed to be crushed by an invisible force, turning into countless tiny mists of blood and dissipating into the air.
Not even a single drop of blood splattered on the ground, and not a single trace of their souls remained.
The entire council hall fell into a deathly silence.
The remaining bishops slumped in their chairs, trembling all over like sieves, cold sweat soaking through their red robes.
They never imagined that Ye Chuan would actually dare to kill people on the Holy Mountain, and his method of killing was so terrifying. With just a single thought, he made several bishops completely disappear.
Ye Chuan withdrew his gaze and swept over the hall again.
"Who else has an objection?"
No one spoke.
All the bishops desperately shook their heads, burying their heads low, terrified that Ye Chuan would notice them.
"Very well." Ye Chuan nodded. "Since there are no objections, then we will execute according to my plan."
"First, all Holy Knight Orders are to assemble immediately and set out tomorrow morning to eradicate the human farms."
"Second, notify all human factions that are still resisting the demons to gather. Those who defy this order will be killed."
"Third, there is no need to leave troops behind on the Holy Mountain. I will lay down a barrier, and everyone else will march to war with me."
"This time, our goal is only one—to destroy the human farms. If anyone dares to feign compliance or flee from battle, Marcus will be your fate."
"Yes! We will strictly obey Lord Xi Xi's orders!"
All the bishops shouted in unison, their voices carrying unconcealable fear.
If it weren't for his divine sense being shrouded by that strange fog, Ye Chuan would have just summoned his clones and wiped out all those demons himself. It was precisely because his divine sense was blocked that he needed these people to scout the way and provide coordinates.
It didn't matter if they died; anyway, they could just be treated as nourishment for the birth of the Hero.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
