Chapter 16 - At This Moment, He Stepped on the Top of the Mountain, Like... a God!!

Chapter 16: At This Moment, He Stepped on the Top of the Mountain, Like… a God!!

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire meeting hall fell into a dead silence.

Wang Hu’s smile froze on his face.

The hand Ma Xiao used to hold his teacup bulged with veins, his expression turning extremely dark.

“Hahahaha! Family Leader Su is still the same as ever—always joking around.”

Wang Hu quickly adjusted his expression, continuing to play the good guy.

To outsiders, they might really look like the best of friends.

“Heh~” Su Zhou’s lips curled into a cold sneer.

Sitting high at the head seat, his gaze landed on Wang Hu.

That look was like a bottomless abyss, a prison, as if countless icy cold pools existed within.

Just one glance made one feel as if even their blood could freeze.

In an instant, the smile disappeared from Wang Hu’s face, and a bead of cold sweat emerged from his forehead.

A baseless sense of dread surfaced in Wang Hu’s heart.

At that moment, Su Zhou—calm and composed—seemed increasingly towering in his eyes, like the majestic heavens themselves, unreachable and awe-inspiring.

There were no strange phenomena, no killing intent, and Su Zhou hadn’t even revealed his cultivation.

But the instincts Wang Hu had honed through countless brushes with death screamed at him:

If he continued trying to muddle through in front of this man—

“I’ll die… I’ll die…”

This thought nearly consumed his entire mind.

Wang Hu wasn’t the most talented of the Wang family. In fact, he came from a collateral branch.

What allowed him to reach his current position was his ability to assess situations—and an extremely sharp intuition.

He quickly wiped away the smile from his face.

Then, under Su Zhou’s amused gaze…

He slowly knelt down.

“Wang Hu, you…!” Ma Xiao looked at him in disbelief.

He had clearly explained everything to Wang Hu: Su Zhou had just exited seclusion, at most having reached the first level of the External Manifestation Realm.

Their family’s patriarch had emerged from death-seclusion and was absolutely not afraid of Su Zhou.

Giving the Li family to Su Zhou was merely a move their patriarch made for deeper strategic reasons.

One must understand—their family’s patriarch had already stepped into the External Manifestation Realm Level Five decades ago, and after breaking through again, his depth was now unfathomable.

With his mystical methods, he had even helped Ma Xiao break through into the External Manifestation Realm.

Ma Xiao had become an External Manifestation Realm cultivator himself—but due to his cautious nature, he kept this a secret and concealed his cultivation.

He had come to the Su family today with Wang Hu precisely to display their strength.

There only needed to be one overlord in Tianwu City!

Now, not only did the Ma family have a patriarch in seclusion, but even he had entered the External Manifestation Realm—one family, two External Manifestation Realm cultivators, ready to unify Tianwu!

Su Zhou might be a genius, even a monster, but the Su family only had one External Manifestation Realm cultivator—him!

How could they possibly stand against the Ma family?

Ma Xiao had even thought out his lines. Upon learning that the Ma patriarch still lived, the Wang family had immediately chosen to submit.

But now—dammit! His ally had knelt right after walking through the door??

How were they supposed to proceed now??

Ma Xiao’s face darkened. He could no longer hold back.

“Family Leader Su, what great authority you wield!”

“You’ve just exited seclusion, and we came to pay you a kind visit—yet this is how you treat us??”

“Heh—don’t think that—”

Ma Xiao sneered. The true energy in his body began to stir. But before he could finish his words—

Su Zhou interrupted him.

“You don’t seriously think that just because you’ve entered the External Manifestation Realm, you can talk to me like that?”

Su Zhou’s voice exploded in Ma Xiao’s ears.

His Heaven Mourns in Autumn technique began to circulate.

The voice carried an intense, desolate sorrow.

Ma Xiao’s internal true energy instantly dissipated.

Before he could react—

Pfft!!

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!”

A searing, soul-wrenching pain surged through his body.

His ears had been ripped off, just like that.

Blood splattered, like blooming flowers.

“If you won’t listen to what I say—then you don’t need these useless ears.”

Su Zhou’s tone remained indifferent.

No one knew when he had appeared in front of Ma Xiao.

Looking down from above, he tossed both ears to the ground like garbage.

A terrifying burst of cultivation erupted, a hurricane of oppressive aura swept out in all directions.

Under this pressure, Ma Xiao felt even the air freeze around him.

A sense of absurd and overwhelming despair welled up in his heart.

“No!! This can’t be… Impossible!!”

“Impossible!! I clearly—I’ve also entered the External Manifestation Realm!!”

“Why is this happening? Why… why…”

Ma Xiao nearly broke down as he looked up at Su Zhou.

He couldn’t understand how, despite being an External Manifestation Realm cultivator himself, he was like a helpless child before this man, completely powerless.

“Too noisy.” Su Zhou said coldly.

Then, with a wave of his hand, true energy slashed like a blade.

Ma Xiao’s arms and legs were directly severed.

He collapsed to the floor. The excruciating pain contorted his face, but no matter how wide he opened his mouth to scream—no sound came out.

It was as if someone had pressed the mute button.

Su Zhou turned his gaze to Wang Hu, still kneeling and now drenched in cold sweat.

“You’re still as decisive as ever.”

Wang Hu could only give a bitter smile.

To outsiders, the Wang family sat proudly atop the city, one of the three great families of Tianwu.

But he knew the truth. That status was built entirely on power.

The Ma family had a patriarch who emerged from seclusion.

The Su family now had Su Zhou rising like a comet.

But the Wang family had no External Manifestation Realm cultivators.

In such a situation, the so-called three great families were already a joke.

The Wang family was only left with two choices: destruction, or becoming someone’s vassal.

And this scene now… was the final answer.

The Wang Family Leader knelt on the floor, sweating like rain.

The Ma Family Leader had all his limbs severed, his life or death uncertain.

While Su Zhou, in his black robe, remained aloof and cold, overlooking all from above like a deity—

A God!!