The temperature inside the grand Ancestral Hall didn't just rise—it exploded into a furnace.
Elder Xiao Shan descended from his high throne like a falling meteor. His face was distorted into a grotesque mask of murderous rage, his eyes bloodshot, and his right hand enveloped in a swirling vortex of deep crimson flames—the Scorching Sun Palm, a high-tier martial skill capable of melting solid iron.
"DIE, YOU INSOLENT BASTARD!" Xiao Shan’s roar shattered three decorative stained-glass windows along the upper walls.
To every disciple and elder present, time seemed to slow down.
A Core Formation master striking a Body Refining Stage 4 junior was not a fight; it was an execution. It was a sledgehammer smashing a glass marble.
Ling Yue, standing near the rear pillars, instinctively took a step forward, her hand grasping her sword hilt. "Stop!" she called out, but the words choked in her throat. The sheer thermal wind generated by Xiao Shan’s aura pushed back everyone within twenty yards.
And at the center of the target zone stood Leo.
He didn't run. He didn't raise his arms to block. He didn't even drop into a defensive stance.
Instead, Leo spread his arms wide, puffed out his chest, and flashed Elder Xiao Shan a blinding, two-hundred-watt smile.
"Hit me right here, big guy," Leo muttered in plain English, tapping his sternum. "Make it look good for the camera."
BOOM!
The impact sounded like a siege cannon firing inside an enclosed room. A shockwave of crimson fire and compressed air blasted outward in a thirty-foot ring, shattering marble floor tiles into fine dust and knocking several low-ranking outer disciples off their feet.
The fire roared, engulfing Leo’s body completely.
CRACK!
The sickening sound of bones disintegrating echoed clearly through the hall. Xiao Shan’s flaming palm struck Leo directly in the center of his chest. The kinetic force tore through his flesh, crushed his ribs to powder, and instantly ruptured his heart. The scorching heat incinerated his grey robes in a split second, charring his chest into a blackened, smoking crater.
Leo’s eyes rolled back, his body launched backward like a ragdoll, smashing into a solid granite pillar forty feet away before slumping onto the cracked floor in an ungraceful, bloody pile.
Silence. Absolute, deathly silence settled over the Ancestral Hall.
The fire died down, leaving thick, grey smoke drifting lazily toward the high ceiling.
Elder Xiao Shan landed heavily on his feet, panting slightly, his red robes fluttering. He straightened his spine, dusted off his sleeves, and spat onto the ruined floor near Leo’s motionless body.
"Hmph! Insolent trash," Xiao Shan sneered, his voice dripping with venomous satisfaction. "That is the price for insulting a High Elder! Let this be a lesson to anyone who forgets their place in the Xiao Clan!"
The surrounding disciples exhaled a collective breath they hadn't realized they were holding.
"He... he's really dead," a disciple whispered, trembling.
"Elder Xiao Shan burned his heart to ash with one strike! There's no coming back from that!"
"What an idiot. He actually provoked a Core Formation master..."
Near the back, Ling Yue stood frozen, her icy blue eyes wide as she stared at the charred, motionless corpse lying in the rubble. A strange, bitter coldness settled in her stomach.
He was bluffing after all, she thought, her fingers slowly relaxing off her sword. He talked with such absolute certainty... but in the end, he was just a arrogant fool who threw his life away.
Up on the central throne, the Grand Elder, Xiao Tian, slowly closed his sharp eyes and sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Xiao Shan, you acted too rashly. He was still a disciple of our bloodline. A trial should have—"
"He insulted the dignity of the clan, Grand Elder!" Xiao Shan interrupted, turning around with an arrogant arch of his eyebrow. "A servant's bastard who dared to bark at a lion deserved nothing less than complete annihilation!"
[PING!]
[FATAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED!]
[Heart Ruptured! Chest Cavity Incinerated! HP: 0/100]
[Host Status: Legally & Physically Dead.]
[Passive Skill Activated: ETERNAL ANCHOR (Lv. Max)]
[Initiating Universal Reconstruction Protocol...]
[Cleansing Negative Status Effects... 100%]
[Rebuilding Cellular Structures... 100%]
[Converting Fatal Kinetic Energy into Raw Chaos Qi...]
In the cold dark void of death, Leo’s consciousness floated lazily, like a guy floating on a foam mattress in a swimming pool.
Man, that hurt like a absolute motherfucker, Leo thought, wincing internally. Core Formation hits are no joke. Note to self: get stronger so I don't have to feel my own lungs turn into bacon next time.
[System Prompt: Reconstruction Complete! Waking Host up in 3... 2... 1...]
Out in the physical world, Elder Xiao Shan was halfway back up the steps toward his throne when a quiet, rhythmic noise interrupted his victory walk.
Cough. Cough-cough.
A small plume of grey smoke puffed out from the nostrils of the "corpse" lying against the pillar.
Ling Yue’s head snapped toward the corner.
Xiao Shan froze mid-step, his brow furrowing as he turned around. "What...?"
Slowly, painfully—and with an absurd amount of theatrical drama—the charred, blackened body on the floor began to move.
CRACKLE-POP!
The blackened, burnt layer of dead skin covering Leo’s chest cracked open like dry tree bark. Beneath the charred crust, a blinding, golden-black light surged. Ribs snapped back into place with audible clacks. Burnt flesh knit together at visible speed, fresh pink skin replacing the third-degree burns in seconds.
Leo took a massive, deep breath, his lungs expanding like bellows, sucking in a huge gust of incense-laden air.
"AHHHHHHH! FRESH AIR!"
Leo sat up violently, wiping a hand across his face, sending flakes of dried, burnt skin scattering onto the floor like dandruff. He cracked his neck left and right, popping his shoulders with a satisfied groan.
Every single person in the hall—disciples, guards, and the four remaining High Elders—stared at him with their jaws hanging open so wide they practically hit the floor.
"N-NO WAY!" a disciple shrieked, stumbling backward and falling onto his butt. "A GHOST! HE'S A DEMON!"
"HIS HEART WAS MELTED! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!" another screamed, clutching his head in utter terror.
Elder Xiao Shan looked as though he had swallowed a live toad. His face drained of all color, turning from purple to a ghostly, chalky white. "Impossible... IMPOSSIBLE! You were dead! I felt your life aura vanish!"
Leo stood up casually, dusting off the remnants of his torn, burnt shirt. Since his upper clothes had been completely incinerated by the fireball, he was now standing bare-chested in the middle of the tribunal hall. His frame—once frail and malnourished—was now defined by lean, rock-hard muscles, etched with subtle, glowing golden patterns that quickly faded beneath his skin.
He stretched his arms, taking a casual step toward the terrified Elder.
"Man, Elder Xiao," Leo said, shaking his head with a pitying smirk. "That was your best shot? You hype yourself up as a Core Formation big shot, but your fire doesn't even hold a candle to a cheap gas stove in Michigan. It was a little warm, I'll give you that. Good for my circulation!"
[Passive Skill Triggered: Sarcastic Glare (Lv. 1)]
[Target's Mental Fortitude Shattered!]
"Mon... MONSTER!" Xiao Shan screamed, losing his mind entirely. Driven by sheer, hysterical panic, he gathered every drop of his Core Formation Qi into both palms, roaring like a madman as he lunged forward again. "DIE! DIE! DIE! WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Xiao Shan unleashed a frenzy of dozens of flaming palm strikes, turning the center of the hall into an inferno of roaring red fire and exploding stone tiles.
Yet inside the firestorm, a series of system prompts were flashing rapidly in Leo’s vision like a slot machine hitting the jackpot:
[Fatal Blow Absorbed! Converting Energy to Chaos Qi: +300!]
[Fatal Blow Absorbed! Converting Energy to Chaos Qi: +300!]
[Fatal Blow Absorbed! Converting Energy to Chaos Qi: +300!]
[Quest Completed: Courtroom Drama!]
[Rewards Issued: +500 Chaos Qi, Title: [Unkillable Bastard], System Shop Unlocked!]
[Total Chaos Qi Accumulated: 1400/1000!]
[BREAKTHROUGH THRESHOLD EXCEEDED!]
[Advancing to: Body Refining Stage 5!]
[Advancing to: Body Refining Stage 6!]
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Inside the roaring flames, Leo felt his meridian network expand three times over. The dense, chaotic energy forced into his body by Xiao Shan’s desperate attacks was constantly being harvested, refined, and converted by the Eternal Anchor, turning the Elder's murderous rage into pure, unfiltered fuel for Leo's growth.
When the smoke finally cleared, Elder Xiao Shan was kneeling on the ruined floor, gasping frantically for air, his Qi completely exhausted, his hands trembling violently.
And standing right in front of him, totally unharmed, bare-chested, and grinning like a demon from hell, was Leo.
"My turn," Leo whispered gently.
Leo raised his right hand, channeling the newly acquired, compressed power of Body Refining Stage 6 into a simple, straightforward open-palmed slap.
SLAP!
The sound echoed like thunder.
Elder Xiao Shan—a high and mighty Core Formation Elder of the Xiao Clan— flew sideways across the hall, crashing through two massive marble pillars before embedding himself three feet deep into the solid outer stone wall of the Ancestral Hall. He slumped forward, unconscious, his face swollen like a purple melon, completely out cold.
The entire tribunal hall was dead silent.
Dozens of disciples fell to their knees, weeping in pure terror, convinced they were witnessing an ancient god of death disguised as a teenager.
Near the back, Ling Yue’s sword slid out of her limp fingers, clattering loudly against the stone floor. She stared at the bare-chested boy standing proudly amidst the rubble, her heart hammering against her ribs so hard it felt like it was going to break out of her chest.
He... he really can't die, she realized, her mind completely shattered by the reality unfolding before her eyes. He isn't human.
Leo dusted off his hands, looked around at the petrified elders on their high thrones, and flashed a brilliant smile.
"So," Leo called out smoothly, tapping his chin. "Who's next on the agenda for this trial?"
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