Chapter 303: Waiting For The Word
A/N: As promised, here is the bonus Chapter for hitting our weekly Power Stone milestone. Huge thanks to everyone who voted. Enjoy the Chapter!
-x-
By noon of the following day, the subterranean suite beneath the tea house reeked of raw spirit alcohol and fresh copper.
Empty oak barrels lay splintered across the stone floor, their contents completely drained.
Yet, despite drinking enough alcohol to kill an army of mortals, Peng Kai remained entirely sober.
The volatile, high-tier Nascent Soul Qi surging through his meridians burned off the alcohol almost instantly, leaving him in a state of hyper-focused, agonizing lucidity.
He paced the room like a caged beast, his heavy boots crushing raw meat fragments into the bedrock.
The wait was stoking the inferno in his chest.
Every second spent trapped in the silence fed the suffocating, black hatred he held for the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union.
His crimson eyes glowed erratically, the veins on his neck throbbing dark purple as his breathing turned shallow and violent.
He was a powder keg, desperately suppressing the instinct to tear the ceiling open and paint the city red.
Knock. Knock.
The sudden, rhythmic rap on the stone door cut through his frenzy like an icy blade.
Peng Kai lunged forward and tore the heavy door open.
Standing in the doorway was the familiar, commanding figure of ’Ni Tian.’
However, he had shed his barbaric beast furs.
Today, he wore an imposing, high-collared black robe meticulously embroidered with crimson thread along the cuffs and lapels.
Without greeting him, Shen Yu looked down at the trembling Nascent Soul master, his hellish red eyes unreadable beneath his hood.
"Follow me," Shen Yu commanded in a low, gravelly rasp.
He turned on his heel, stepping out into the subterranean corridor.
Peng Kai didn’t ask a single question, he simply threw his black cloak around his broad shoulders, pulled the hood low, and fell into step right behind his commander.
They emerged into the bustling, sunlit streets of Crimson Iron City.
The metropolis was practically vibrating with energy, the crowds roaring in the distance as the anticipation for the upcoming Imperial Tournament raged on in the main square.
Blending seamlessly into the ocean of spectators and visiting cultivators, the two black-robed figures navigated the winding thoroughfares, moving silently toward the wealthy central district.
As the monolithic, grand architecture of the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union’s headquarters appeared on the horizon, Peng Kai’s body went rigid.
His heart slammed violently against his ribs like a war drum.
His jaw clenched so tight his teeth creaked, and a dangerous, sweltering wave of demonic Qi began to bleed through his pores when-
"Control yourself," Shen Yu’s quiet, icy voice cut into his mind, backed by a subtle, soul-crushing thread of intent.
"If you leak a single breath of Qi before we reach the table, I will cut your throat myself."
The lethal promise acted like a bucket of freezing water.
Peng Kai shuddered, violently clamping down on his surging energy and forcing his body to relax, though his fists remained clenched so hard his talons pierced his own palms.
They bypassed the union’s heavily guarded main gates, turning instead into an ultra-luxurious, multi-tiered restaurant located directly across the avenue.
Walking straight past the bowing attendants, Shen Yu led him up to the highest floor of the pagoda, an exclusive private pavilion offering a clear, unobstructed view of the Golden Cauldron Union’s massive headquarters.
Inside the lavish private room, Shen Yu casually swept his red-threaded sleeves and sat at the head of the table.
He motioned for Peng Kai to sit, then immediately signaled the staff to bring out their finest delicacies.
When the feast arrived, Shen Yu leaned back and began eating like a monster, his appetite was like a bottomless abyss, casually devouring dish after dish with a dark, satisfied grin.
Between bites, he clearly and methodically laid out the precise execution path for the assault, detailing every angle of the strike.
Across the table, Peng Kai couldn’t touch a single piece of food.
He sat completely rigid, his knuckles white as his calloused hands gripped the hilt of his heavy sword under the table.
His chest heaved with suppressed rage, his crimson eyes glued to the opulent, golden-roofed building across the street.
He was waiting.
Just waiting for the word.
Minutes ticked by like hours.
Suddenly, a subtle, rhythmic vibration rippled against the inside of Shen Yu’s silk sleeve.
Shen Yu paused, setting his jade chopsticks down onto the table with a soft clink.
He slowly wiped his lips with a linen napkin, his golden-red eyes shifting over to lock onto the trembling, bloodthirsty form of the former Patriarch.
"Now," Shen Yu whispered.
The word had barely left his lips before the window frame exploded into splinters.
Peng Kai shot out of the pagoda like a launched artillery shell, his suppressed rage erupting into an absolute, apocalyptic tempest!
Because he had successfully stepped into the Nascent Soul realm, he was able to use qi to fly.
He shot directly up into the open sky above the central avenue, his heavy black cloak billowing wildly in the mountain wind.
Looking down at the towering, luxurious headquarters of the Golden Cauldron Merchant Union, a wild, inhuman laugh tore from his throat!
"GOLDEN CAULDRON TRASH!"
His roar boomed across the sky with the raw, terrifying force of a localized thunderclap!
The sheer soundwave shattered glass for miles around, violently cutting through the noise of the market areas and forcing hundreds of thousands of cultivators across Crimson Iron City to instantly freeze in terror!
Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, the suffocating, unholy aura of a Nascent Soul Demonic Cultivator descended upon the city like a collapsing mountain.
Weak cultivators instantly dropped to their knees, vomiting blood under the raw pressure.
High in the sky, Peng Kai raised his massive saber high above his head with both hands.
"DIE!"
A blinding explosion of dark red and pitch-black demonic Qi erupted from his body, swirling around the heavy steel blade until it expanded into a towering, hundred-meter phantasmal sword of pure destruction!
With every ounce of his newly forged Nascent Soul strength, Peng Kai brought the massive weapon down in a violent, world-splitting vertical slash!
WOOOOOOSH—!
A terrifying, blood-red arc of condensed blade energy tore through the sky at blinding speed.
It sliced through the air with a deafening, metallic screech, heading directly for the right wing of the Golden Cauldron Union’s headquarters, precisely targeted at the union’s meeting hall!