Time seemed to freeze completely at this moment.
The entire Ten Thousand Poisons Sect fell into a deathly silence.
The deafening sounds of slaughter and roaring from moments ago vanished without a trace, leaving only the heavy breathing of the crowd echoing in the air.
The ferocious, triumphant expression on the face of the Prince of Jin, Li Siyuan, had not yet fully faded, but it now twisted into sheer terror.
His mouth hung slightly open, his throat emitting a hoarse rattling sound, yet he couldn't utter a single word.
The fake Li Xingyun was trembling like a leaf in the wind. His legs gave way, and had someone not been supporting him from behind, he would have already collapsed to the ground.
Everything unfolding before their eyes had far exceeded their comprehension. If Li Chunfeng had survived until now by relying on an elixir of immortality, they might have believed it.
But they were absolutely certain that Li Shimin and the other early Tang figures had died long ago. How could anyone bring the dead back to life?
This had to be some trick orchestrated by the Buliangren, a mere illusion meant to deceive them.
On the other side, the face of the Commander of the Buliangren, Yuan Tiangang, remained hidden behind the ferocious mask he had worn for three hundred years, his expression unseen by anyone.
Yet, his back—which had stood straight and unbending for three centuries—was now trembling slightly.
Unlike Li Siyuan, Yuan Tiangang was certain that the Li Shimin and Li Chunfeng standing before him were the real deal.
After all, Yuan Tiangang had been present when they passed away all those years ago. In the case of his old friend Li Chunfeng, Yuan Tiangang had personally cremated his remains.
Looking at his liege and his old friend, Yuan Tiangang—who had not stopped moving forward for hundreds of years—suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. For some reason, he just wanted to rest.
"Hmph, cheap parlor tricks!"
Li Siyuan suddenly shouted, his eyes bursting with madness and laced with twisted, bloodshot veins.
He pointed a trembling finger at the figure wearing the black dragon robe.
"Emperor Taizong of Tang passed away centuries ago! His bones have long since turned to dust!"
"Who exactly are you to impersonate the late Emperor and deceive the masses here?!"
Before Li Shimin could speak, the burly, bearded man behind him, carrying two massive axes, flew into a towering rage.
"Mother of God!"
"You son of a bitch, you treacherous rebel! Death is staring you in the face, yet you still dare to bark like a rabid dog!"
"Watch me cleave your dog head off with one swing!"
Cheng Yaojin's voice boomed like a massive bell, shaking the entire hall as he prepared to charge forward.
However, Li Shimin slowly raised his right hand. With that single, simple gesture, he halted Cheng Yaojin's fury.
He looked calmly at the maddened Li Siyuan, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at an ant by his feet.
In the next instant, the one hundred thousand Xuanjia soldiers behind him took a unified step forward.
"Boom—!"
The synchronized sound of their footsteps kicked up a cloud of dust, crashing forward like a massive tidal wave.
The auras of one hundred thousand peak Great Heavenly Position experts erupted simultaneously.
That terrifying pressure, forged from endless slaughter and iron-blooded will, converged into a torrential flood that suppressed every enemy in the hall.
Li Siyuan, Shuliduo, the Witch King, and all the rebel experts felt as though an entire mountain had been dropped onto their shoulders. They couldn't even twitch a finger.
Their faces instantly turned as pale as paper. Under that horrifying pressure, their bones emitted crisp, cracking sounds.
Thud!
Thud!
Unable to support the weight of their own bodies, they were forced to their knees one after another, crushed solely by the sheer purity of that overwhelming aura.
They stared in absolute horror at the army of one hundred thousand soldiers with their monstrous auras and icy glares.
The final line of defense in their hearts was utterly pulverized by the aura of these Great Heavenly Position soldiers.
Whether the man before them was real or fake no longer mattered.
Anyone possessing an army capable of sweeping across the world and flattening everything in its path—whoever he claimed to be, that was exactly who he was!
Li Shimin looked down at the kneeling crowd, his majestic voice echoing slowly.
"Capture Li Siyuan, the fake Li Xingyun, and all the rebel leaders."
"Detain them for now, awaiting judgment."
"As for the Witch King? He has violated the laws of humanity. Execute him immediately!"
His words fully displayed the decisive dominance of an emperor for the ages.
Just then, the paralyzed Witch King desperately drew upon his last breath, using every ounce of his strength to let out a shrill scream.
"Stay back! You cannot kill me!"
"I have already used the Life-Bound Heart Gu to link my life with Chi Meng's!"
"If I die, she will not survive either!"
"You can only save me now! Let me see who dares to touch me!"
Hearing this, Li Xingyun, who was just about to rush toward where Chi Meng was imprisoned, froze in place as if struck by lightning.
His face drained of all color.
Everyone was at a loss for what to do.
Faced with such a bizarre Gu technique, even the vastly experienced Jiangchen frowned.
In his despair, Li Xingyun instinctively cast a pleading gaze toward the only person in the room who had been casually watching the show from the very beginning.
Li Xingyun's gaze drew everyone else's attention to Ian.
Yuan Tiangang, Jiangchen, and the others looked on with a hint of curiosity.
They were also eager to see what kind of abilities this mysterious man possessed—a man who had looked completely relaxed and in absolute control since the moment he appeared.
Ian yawned, seemingly entirely uninterested in this desperate hostage-taking cliché.
Ignoring Li Xingyun's anxious look, he leisurely strolled over to the Witch King.
Seeing Ian approach, the Witch King assumed he was coming to heal him in order to save Chi Meng's life. A maniacal laugh of survival escaped his lips.
"Haha! At least you know what's good for you! Hurry up and save me!"
"Pfft!"
"Ah!"
His laughter was abruptly cut short.
It was replaced by a bloodcurdling scream.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ian raised his foot and delivered a heavy kick, planting it squarely into the Witch King's chest.
The Witch King's withered body flew backward like a broken sack, tumbling over a dozen times before finally coming to a halt.
The dark green blood he spewed even contained clearly visible fragments of his internal organs. His life force instantly plummeted to the absolute brink.
"Senior!"
Witnessing this, Li Xingyun's mind went blank, on the verge of a complete breakdown.
Ian's kick had completely severed the Witch King's life force. That meant Chi Meng...
Ian dug at his ear, a look of disgust crossing his face.
"He was too noisy."
"Besides, judging by how loud he was screaming just now, he definitely won't die immediately."
With that, from a dozen paces away, he reached out toward the twitching Witch King and made a gentle grasping motion in the air.
The next moment, under the astonished gazes of the crowd.
A bizarre, pure white Gu bug that resembled a small snake was forcefully extracted from the Witch King's body by an invisible force.
It writhed and struggled frantically in midair, but it could not break free from the invisible bindings, ultimately left suspended for all to see.
The moment the Gu bug left his body, the Witch King's breath ceased entirely. Yet, the Gu bug in Ian's grasp remained lively and active, and Chi Meng, standing off to the side, showed no adverse reactions whatsoever.
Ian walked over to Chi Meng and handed the small snake to her.
"Keep it safe and raise it well. As long as this thing doesn't die, you'll be fine."