The Capital, Ye Family Main Hall.
Shan Hu stood atop the pitch-black coffin lid, looking down. His gaze suggested he wasn't looking at two living men, but at two corpses already cold.
Ancestor Blood Corpse laughed in extreme fury, the skin on his withered face twitching and emitting a teeth-aching creaking sound.
"Good! Good! Good! I have roamed the Jianghu for sixty years and killed countless people, but I have never seen a wet-behind-the-ears brat dare to act wild on the very coffin I gifted! Since you like this coffin so much, this Ancestor will fulfill your wish and refine you into the Coffin-Guarding Corpse Demon inside it!"
Before his words settled, black mist exploded around Ancestor Blood Corpse.
"Blood Sha Palm!"
He violently thrust out a withered claw. The black mist instantly condensed in mid-air into a blood-colored ghostly claw the size of a millstone. Carrying a nauseating stench and highly corrosive toxic gas, it grabbed down toward Shan Hu standing on the coffin.
This strike was powerful enough to easily crush an armored vehicle!
The guests in the hall screamed in terror and retreated frantically, terrified of being touched by even a wisp of the horrific black mist.
Ye Chengye and Ye Qingcheng's expressions changed drastically. Just as they were about to intervene, they heard Shan Hu chuckle lightly.
"A parlor trick. You dare show off your axe before Lu Ban?"
Shan Hu remained rooted to the spot, not moving an inch. He simply stomped his right foot lightly on the coffin lid.
THUD!
A dull, heavy sound, like a hammer striking a heart, slammed into everyone's chest.
Immediately after, a visible ripple of azure energy spread out from beneath Shan Hu's foot. The originally lifeless black coffin suddenly stood upright under this force!
"Get in!"
Shan Hu flipped his hand and slapped the upright coffin lid.
BOOM!
The heavy coffin lid, as if blasted by a cannon, instantly detached from the coffin body. With a howling sound of breaking air, it flew like a gigantic shield, smashing viciously toward the incoming blood-colored ghostly claw.
Splat!
The arrogant blood-colored claw shattered like foam the moment it hit the coffin lid. The lid's momentum did not diminish; carrying Shan Hu's vast, ocean-like Mid-Foundation Establishment True Essence, it smashed straight toward Ancestor Blood Corpse's face!
"What?!"
Ancestor Blood Corpse turned pale with shock. He felt as if he were facing not a wooden board, but a flying mountain! The overwhelming pressure rushing toward him caused the True Essence in his body to stagnate instantly.
"Impossible! You are Late Foundation Establishment... No! You are..."
He wanted to flee, but the surrounding space seemed locked down. He could only watch helplessly as the massive black board rapidly expanded in his pupils.
BANG!
A spine-chilling, muffled thud echoed.
Ancestor Blood Corpse didn't even have time to scream. He was slapped violently by the coffin lid, swatted like a fly, and smashed heavily into the upright black coffin!
"Argh—!"
The sound of shattering bones came from inside the coffin.
Shan Hu's figure flashed, appearing in front of the coffin. He grabbed the rebounding coffin lid with one hand, shook his wrist, and slammed it back onto the coffin with heavy force.
CLANG!
The coffin sealed shut, seamlessly tight.
Immediately after, Shan Hu extended his index finger and drew a golden "Seal" rune in the air above the coffin lid.
"Seal."
The rune sank into the wood. Ancestor Blood Corpse, who had been struggling and banging madly inside, instantly went silent. The coffin stopped vibrating and stood quietly in the center of the hall, as if it contained nothing more than an ordinary corpse.
The entire hall fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone's mouths were wide open, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
That was Ancestor Blood Corpse, a figure who terrified countless experts in the Capital! And he was... he was swatted into a coffin like a fly? He didn't even survive a single move?
Chen Tiannan was now paralyzed on the floor, a puddle of foul-smelling liquid spreading between his legs. His proud backer, the master he regarded as a god, was so pitifully weak in front of this young man!
Shan Hu dusted off his hands, turned around, and let his indifferent gaze fall on Chen Tiannan.
"Young Master Chen, this gift was well chosen. The size fits perfectly; no need to exchange it."
Shan Hu walked step by step toward Chen Tiannan.
"You... don't come over! I am the Eldest Young Master of the Chen family! My grandfather is..." Chen Tiannan scrambled backward on all fours, mucus and tears streaming down his face.
"Do you want to go in and squeeze with him?" Shan Hu pointed to the coffin.
"No! No! I don't want to die! Please! I have money! I have shares in the Chen family! I'll give them all to you!" Chen Tiannan broke down crying, kowtowing frantically.
Shan Hu stopped, looking down at him from above. There was no killing intent in his eyes, only the indifference one has for an ant.
"Killing you would dirty my hands."
Shan Hu turned to look at Ye Chengye and said calmly, "Patriarch Ye, today is the Treasure Appreciation Banquet. The first 'treasure' is this coffin containing the Evil Cultivator Ancestor. As for the second 'treasure'..."
He pointed at Chen Tiannan on the ground.
"It is the destruction of the Chen family of the Capital."
"Ye Chengye, take action. Notify all families in the Capital: from this day forward, the Chen family is removed from the Capital. Anyone who dares to help the Chen family is an enemy of Shan Hu."
Ye Chengye's body shook, followed by an unprecedented surge of excitement. He knew this was a massive fortune Shan Hu was gifting to the Ye family! By swallowing the Chen family, the Ye family would become the undisputed number one family in the Capital!
"Yes! We obey the Sir's decree!" Ye Chengye roared, waving his hand broadly. "Men! Seize Chen Tiannan! Immediately lock down all Chen family assets!"
The guests in the hall finally snapped back to reality, looking at the young man standing with his hands behind his back with eyes full of deep reverence.
They knew that after tonight, the sky of the Capital had changed.
This young man named Shan Hu had stepped over the bones of the Chen family and Ancestor Blood Corpse to ascend to the peak of the Capital.
And that black coffin standing in the center of the hall would become an eternal nightmare in the hearts of all the Capital's elites.