Qingyang City.
At the city gate, people flowed in and out.
Two guards leaned lazily against the mottled wall, their eyes sweeping over the crowd entering the city like searchlights.
When they noticed Gu Chen's out-of-place clothes—dirty with mud at that—one of the guards immediately curled his lips into that habitual, contemptuous sneer mixed with arrogance.
"Halt. From out of town?"
The guard stretched out his spear lazily to block Gu Chen's path, not even bothering to look him in the eye, as if shooing away a beggar.
"Entry fee: ten spirit stones. No money? Then don't get in the way—scram."
As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man who was just about to enter the city paused mid-step and sucked in a sharp breath. He muttered under his breath, "Ten? Hasn't the entry fee always been two?"
Before he could finish, his wife frantically tugged at his sleeve and dragged him away, throwing an apologetic smile back at the guards.
But those words hadn't escaped Tan Bai's spiritual sense. He now understood: the guard, seeing that he was an outsider, was deliberately trying to extort him.
Tan Bai stopped. He looked down at the spear tip almost poking his chest, then raised his eyes to the guard's face. A cold glint flashed in his gaze.
"Put the spear away. I'll give you one chance." Gu Chen thought to himself, I've just crossed over; I don't want to stir up trouble.
The guard was taken aback for a moment, then laughed even louder. "Oh? You've got quite a mouth on you, kid! A mere mortal like you, giving me a chance? You mother—"
Before he could finish, his smile froze on his face.
Because Gu Chen had raised his eyes.
An invisible pressure surged from all directions. The guard's hands began to tremble; he could barely hold his spear.
"W-Who are you? I'm warning you, don't do anything reckless! Our city lord is at the Golden Core realm."
Only now did the two guards feel fear.
Tan Bai looked at him as if he couldn't care less about some Golden Core cultivator. His tone was calm. "Who I am is not for the likes of you to know. But as for the debt of pointing a spear at me—it's time to settle it."
The moment the words fell, the pressure exploded.
Thud.
Both guards collapsed to their knees almost simultaneously, blood oozing from their seven orifices. They lay limp on the ground like two piles of mud.
Tan Bai looked down at them, his gaze utterly devoid of emotion—like casually crushing two ants that happened to cross his path.
"Ten spirit stones," he repeated softly, echoing the guard's earlier words. "Is your life worth ten?"
The guards wanted to beg for mercy, but all that came from their throats were rasping, air-leaking sounds—heh, heh.
Tan Bai didn't look at him again. He stepped over the pile of "mud" and walked through the city gate.
Behind him, a deathly silence lingered at the city gate for a full three breaths.
Then—
"D-Dead! Someone's dead!" A peddler carrying a shoulder pole was the first to react. His pole clattered to the ground, sending fruit rolling everywhere.
"Not dead—the guards! Those two guards are still alive!" Someone with sharp eyes noticed the faint rise and fall of their chests.
"Might as well be dead! Bleeding from seven orifices—they're finished!"
"Who did it? That young man? He looks so young…"
"Shut up! Do you want to die?!" An old man beside him clamped his hand over his companion's mouth, his face pale as ash. "To cripple two late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators with just a look—he's at least at Foundation Establishment!"
The crowd scattered like a retreating tide. The once-crowded city gate instantly cleared a large open space. No one dared to step anywhere near the path Tan Bai had walked.
Yet some watched the direction in which Gu Chen had disappeared, their eyes flickering with unreadable thoughts.
"He's heading north of the city…"
"Enough said. That's not our business."
The crowd buzzed with murmurs, but no one paid attention.
From the direction of the city lord's mansion, a streak of light shot into the sky.
Tan Bai was walking along the main street of the northern district.
His pace was neither fast nor slow, his gaze casually sweeping over the shops on both sides—those selling spiritual herbs, magical artifacts, talismans. No different from the markets in his previous life.
He was about to head over to the other side for a look.
Then he stopped.
Because a man had appeared in front of him.
A middle-aged man in fine robes and a jade belt, standing with his hands behind his back. He had materialized out of thin air, just three steps ahead of Tan Bai.
The passersby hadn't even registered it. Just a moment ago, that spot had been completely empty. How had a living person suddenly appeared there?
But they wouldn't have to wonder for long.
Because a wave of pressure—the kind that belonged to the Golden Core realm—surged forth from that man like a tide, instantly engulfing the entire street.
Thud. Thud, thud.
The mortals around, as if pinned down by an invisible giant hand, fell to their knees one after another. Their faces turned deathly pale, trembling in fear.
Some tried to look up but couldn't even lift their necks.
In an instant, the entire street was cleared.
In the distance, a few Foundation Establishment cultivators who could barely remain standing exchanged glances, their eyes filled with terror.
"That's him—the one who crippled those two guards at the city gate," a young man in a gray robe said in a low voice. "I saw it with my own eyes. Just one look, and those two collapsed, bleeding from their seven orifices."
"The city lord has come personally to settle the score?" The person next to him swallowed hard. "But look at that guy… why isn't he moving?"
"Not that he isn't moving." The oldest among them stared fixedly at that figure, his voice dry. "It's that he simply doesn't give a damn about the city lord's pressure."
The few fell silent at once.
A Golden Core cultivator unleashing his full pressure—even standing was a struggle for them, their legs trembling uncontrollably.
But that man, standing at the very center of that pressure, looked as relaxed as if he were in his own backyard.
What realm is he in…?"
No one answered.