Chapter 669

Chapter 669: The City Lord’s Return Requires Kneeling to Welcome

Li Hui secretly shook his head. With no wise elder in the mountains, the monkeys became kings. These guards and offerings were all fools, worse than those practitioners guarding the coast! He did not know how much "mind-altering potion" Hao Yue Lin had poured into them to dare act against the city lord wielding the large seal in the city lord’s residence.

“Receive…”

As his voice fell, there was a clanging sound, and the spirit treasures of these guards and the two offerings separated from their bodies, being firmly suppressed.

“I’ll teach you a lesson. The city lord has returned from his travels, and you must kneel to welcome him.” Li Hui strode forward, and the guards felt an immense power pressing down on them.

“Bang, bang, bang…” Every guard present kneeled down without exception.

These guards knelt on the bricks, cracking them under their knees. It should be noted that every brick in the city lord’s residence was equivalent to a spirit treasure. Such impacts shattered their knees, blood spreading along the cracks, and the terror in their hearts was beyond measure.

“Can you not kneel?” Li Hui approached the two offerings in the Traveling Realm and heard two heavy sounds as they kneeled, shattering the bricks, with no chance to resist.

Suddenly, a voice echoed, “Li Sifan, you are neither Hao Wentong nor the city lord of Mufeng City. Do not pretend to be powerful in front of me.”

Hundreds of guards and over a dozen offerings appeared. These individuals were just the visible force, with many experts lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance.

Li Hui stood with his hands behind his back, smiling as he replied, “Hao Yue Lin, back when formidable foes loomed, you resolutely stood by my side and declared that the city lord’s residence was your home. I happened to have business and didn’t want to take advantage of your absence, so I quietly left Mufeng City to you and still have no intention to reclaim it. However, I have been playing chess with the person behind you. Do you understand why the ancestors of the Hao family allowed an outsider to become the city lord?”

“Hmph, isn’t it because you took advantage of the situation and seized the opportunity, using blood refinement techniques and talisman formations to control the Tian Kui Lantern?” Hao Yue Lin’s eyes turned cold.

Li Hui nodded with a smile: “That’s right, I took advantage of the situation. However, during the initial control of the Tian Kui Lantern, it would not have been difficult for the ancestors of the Hao family to reclaim the lantern or easily eliminate me as the city lord. Why didn’t they act? Mufeng City, as the first city of the Hao family, gathers the fortune of the Nine Maangs, and to put it bluntly, it’s a treasure of luck. The real issue is, with Jiao Lin Tian behind you, how could such a high-level cultivator so kindly involve himself, always providing assistance?”

Hao Yue Lin grew furious: “Grandpa Jiao saved my life many years ago; it is thanks to his guidance that I, Hao Yue Lin, can live to this day. I won’t allow you to sow discord.”

“Alas! Hao Yue Lin, even the shrewdest individuals, after being tossed for six hundred years at the center of immense fortune, cannot escape the path of being blinded by greed! The thoughts of all beings are like background noise; the more you listen, the more even the most determined minds will be affected, so you cannot break through to the Late Stage of the Traveling Realm and create your Yang God. You are weighed down by too much.”

Hao Yue Lin shouted hysterically: “Am I blinded by greed? If I were, how could Mufeng City thrive today? If I were, how could the Hao family have the opportunity to rise to fifth among the ten Great Families?”

Li Hui turned to the guards, his expression changing to one of authority as he said: “Now that the city lord has returned, Hao Yue Lin, the acting city lord can rest. Who gave you the audacity to confront me?”

In the next moment, the guards knelt down in a flurry, the offerings spewing blood, their knees smashing into the bricks, showing no resistance before the true master of Mufeng City.

Just as tensions rose, a light sound echoed, and forty-nine golden needles shot forth.

Li Hui’s heart jolted; these forty-nine needles were terrifying—Bai Ze’s divine eye had not revealed them earlier, and among the numerous treasures and spirit treasures in Mufeng City, they had gone undetected, arriving like a stroke of genius, untraceable and unaffected by suppression.

“Clang, clang, clang…” The forty-nine golden needles pierced into the chaotic Dao body, but this was just the beginning.

A gentle breeze blew as two figures stepped onto the Dao traces, approaching Li Hui from either side, grabbing his arms and coldly sneering, “Do you really think you can act recklessly just because you are the city lord of Mufeng City? We have been preparing for six hundred years to deal with you.”

“Kekeke!” Hao Yue Lin walked gracefully, laughing lightly, her eyebrows dancing in delight as she said: “Grandpa Jiao is much more brilliant in this game than you could ever imagine! Long ago, I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“Clang, clang, clang…” Another forty-nine golden needles appeared, piercing into the chaotic Dao body again. With the two fearsome experts closing in and applying full suppression, Li Hui found himself unable to move.

Hao Yue Lin continued, “A hundred years ago, we made our preparations. I even risked injury to stage a performance with my nephew and spread rumors about wanting to disturb Mufeng City to suppress the Dark Immortals. Unfortunately, we failed to draw you back and instead attracted a group of irrelevant individuals. Those subordinates you sent back were oblivious, and the moment they sensed something was off, they retreated into the Ancient Tomb. Fortunately, I had placed spies among them; they must have turned to ash by now.”

Suddenly, Li Hui executed a marvelous method to break free from the grips of the two experts. As time reversed around him, the golden needles plunged back into his body, startling Hao Yue Lin into halting her movements.

“So it turns out this was all an act. You and your sister have been in cahoots all along, both working together against the main factions of the Hao family. You stood on opposite sides before the Hao family cultivators to ensure that one of you could seize the opportunity, while I have been an unforeseen variable for you, something you have sought to rectify for many years.”

As his words resonated, immense power suppressed the two experts beside him, killing them outright as thunder sounded in his ears. They erupted with horrific divine energy mixed with immortal energy, once again seizing his arms, shouting: “Brat, you speak too much!”

“Oh? A Virtual Immortal preserved from the Ancient Dynasty? Worshipping the departed immortals has granted you fortune; what excellent materials for crafting a Dao talisman.”

“Kill!” The two Virtual Immortals exerted their strength, attempting to tear apart the chaotic Dao body, yet even if their power increased tenfold, it was impossible to destroy the calamity power that had been tempered for many years by the doomsday calamity path.

“Stay kneeling for now! Just cannon fodder; I’ll deal with you later,” Li Hui said lightly.

The two Virtual Immortals rattled, their faces pale as they fell to their knees. Despite calculating everything, why could they do nothing against him?

Hao Yue Lin fled hastily, but after a few steps, she fell to the ground, smashing the bricks into fine powder.

Li Hui suddenly looked at the artificial mountain in the residence and saw another Hao Yue Lin emerge, her gaze cold and proud, exuding an extraordinary aura. Above her head were the sun, moon, and stars, large as loquats, with starlight like the strings of a zither cascading behind her.

“So that’s it! This acting city lord is your sister, Hao Yue Chen. The real Hao Yue Lin has not been caught in the flow of fortune but has been diligently cultivating for six hundred years to reach the mid-stage Void Ascension, astonishing among her peers with a great path ahead.”

Hao Yue Lin coldly said, “Aren’t you afraid? Apart from possessing a Dao body in the Traveling Realm, your legal form has advanced not at all in six hundred years. You dare return and act recklessly—truly ignorant.”

Li Hui praised, “Impressive! You leaped from the Traveling Realm to the Void Ascension in mere centuries, leaving me in awe. Moreover, now amidst the calamity, Void Riding Cultivators no longer need to conceal themselves. But I must say, even Void Riding Cultivators should kneel and welcome the city lord.”