Forbidden Great Emperor | Xianxia, System, Fusion

Chapter 5 — Absolute Dominance

The courtyard gate exploded inward.

Wooden fragments flew across the yard, scattering beneath the old tree. A heavy boot landed among the splinters, followed by the arrival of a broad-shouldered man wearing dark leather armor.

Iron Hand Gao had arrived.

Behind him stood eight members of the Black Iron Guards, their weapons drawn. Some carried sabers, others held spears. Their expressions were hard, and the sight of the ruined gate seemed to amuse them.

Gao stepped into the courtyard.

"Lu Chen!"

His voice carried beyond the walls.

Several neighboring doors opened. A woman carrying a basket stopped in the street, while two laborers carrying timber turned toward the commotion.

Inside the courtyard, Lu Chen sat beneath the old tree.

He had been circulating Qi when the gate was destroyed.

He opened his eyes.

For a moment, neither man spoke.

Gao examined the young cultivator sitting before him. He had expected someone older, perhaps a wandering fighter with years of experience. Instead, the person responsible for Sun Tie's death looked barely old enough to have left the outer streets of the town.

"You're Lu Chen?"

"You're the one who broke my gate?"

Gao's expression darkened.

"You have a sharp tongue."

Lu Chen stood.

"Then speak quickly. You have already damaged my property."

One of the guards laughed.

Gao raised a hand, silencing him.

"My cousin Sun Tie died because of you."

"He demanded payment. I refused. He attacked me."

"He was your senior in this town."

"That didn't make him my master."

Gao's jaw tightened.

"You killed him."

"He made his choice."

The courtyard fell quiet.

Gao took another step forward.

"Do you think you can simply kill a member of the Black Iron Guards and continue living as though nothing happened?"

Lu Chen glanced at the broken gate.

"You seem to have mistaken my courtyard for a place where you can issue orders."

The guard behind Gao stepped forward.

"Watch your mouth!"

Gao stopped him with another gesture.

His eyes remained fixed on Lu Chen.

"I came here to settle this matter. Hand over your belongings, kneel, and admit your crime. Perhaps I will leave you with enough limbs to crawl out of this town."

Lu Chen looked at the eight men behind him.

They had surrounded the courtyard entrance, though none had yet moved to block the narrow side passage. Their weapons were ordinary, their cultivation weaker than his own.

Then he looked at Gao.

The man carried himself with the confidence of someone who had spent years commanding weaker fighters. His Qi was considerably stronger than that of the guards around him.

Meridian Opening Early Stage.

The same major realm as Lu Chen.

Gao was not someone the bell could simply crush with its Dao Suppression.

Lu Chen understood the distinction.

He had no intention of treating the man as though he were another ordinary bandit.

"You're asking me to kneel?" Lu Chen said.

"Now."

"Then you should have brought more men."

The smile vanished from Gao's face.

"Kill him."

The eight guards rushed forward.

The first guard crossed half the courtyard before the bell appeared.

A dark bronze silhouette manifested above Lu Chen.

The sudden appearance of the enormous phantom stopped the advancing men in their tracks. Its surface bore ancient patterns that seemed to move beneath the faint bronze radiance.

For a moment, the courtyard was filled with an oppressive stillness.

The guards stared upward.

"What is that?"

No one answered.

The bell descended.

Its presence swept across the courtyard, and the eight guards felt their bodies grow unbearably heavy.

The Qi within them seemed sluggish. Their movements lost their former sharpness, and the weapons in their hands suddenly felt heavier than before.

One man stumbled.

Another dropped to one knee.

Dao Suppression.

The bell's authority pressed upon those whose cultivation remained below Lu Chen's realm.

It did not render them helpless, but it stripped away the confidence they had carried into the courtyard.

Gao remained standing.

His eyes narrowed as he felt the difference.

The pressure that had weighed upon his men did not descend upon him.

He was in the same major realm as Lu Chen.

"An unusual treasure," Gao muttered.

Then the bell rang.

The toll passed through the courtyard.

The eight guards staggered as their consciousnesses trembled. Their movements faltered, and several lost their grip on their weapons.

Even Gao's expression changed.

The resonance struck his soul, disrupting his thoughts for a brief instant. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain upright.

But he was not killed.

He was not even rendered helpless.

The difference in their cultivation was not enough for that.

Lu Chen moved.

His hand reached for the iron saber at his waist.

The nearest guard was still struggling to recover when Lu Chen crossed the distance between them.

A flash of steel.

The man's weapon fell from his hand.

Then his body followed.

The second guard turned too late.

Lu Chen's saber passed through his defense and struck him down before he could regain control of his Qi.

A third man tried to retreat.

Lu Chen pursued him across the courtyard.

The guard raised his spear desperately, but his weakened movement left an opening. Lu Chen turned his body aside and cut through the man's defense.

Three bodies fell.

The remaining five guards finally recovered enough to understand what had happened.

Their confidence broke.

One looked toward Gao.

Another stepped backward.

The enormous bell still hung above Lu Chen, its bronze radiance casting an unnatural shadow across the courtyard.

Gao's face twisted with anger.

"Enough!"

He surged forward.

Gao's fist carried the full force of his cultivation.

The air seemed to tighten around his arm as he crossed the courtyard. His target was Lu Chen's chest, and the blow came with the weight of a man who had spent years tempering his body and refining his Qi.

Lu Chen turned.

He did not attempt to meet the attack head-on.

His saber rose to intercept the incoming force, and the impact drove him backward across the stone paving.

The weapon rang.

A sharp vibration traveled through his arm.

Gao pressed forward.

"You're not as impressive as you look!"

His second strike came from the opposite side.

Lu Chen shifted aside, allowing the blow to pass close enough to stir his hair. He countered with his saber, but Gao twisted his body and avoided the edge.

Their weapons and fists met again.

Gao's experience was evident.

He did not waste movements, and his cultivation gave him a clear advantage in raw strength. Every exchange forced Lu Chen to remain attentive.

But the bell remained above them.

Its presence weighed upon the courtyard, and its earlier toll had already disrupted Gao's consciousness.

The older cultivator was recovering, but he could not erase the lingering disturbance immediately.

Gao stepped forward and drove his shoulder toward Lu Chen.

Lu Chen gave ground.

The two separated.

Gao's breathing grew heavier.

He glanced upward at the bell.

"What kind of treasure is that?"

Lu Chen did not answer.

The bell's shadow shifted.

Gao's eyes widened slightly.

He understood that the strange weapon was the source of the pressure affecting his men. But he had not expected it to remain so oppressive even after the first toll.

He raised his guard.

"Do you think that thing makes you invincible?"

"No."

Lu Chen's answer was calm.

"It only makes killing you easier."

Gao roared and charged again.

This time, Lu Chen did not retreat.

The bronze bell rang once more.

Its resonance struck the courtyard like a wave from an ancient sea.

Gao's thoughts faltered.

His fist slowed.

The disruption was brief, but it was enough.

Lu Chen stepped forward.

A cold light flashed across his eyes.

He called upon the bell's soul-striking power.

The force did not tear through Gao's flesh. It reached beyond the body, striking at the very foundation of his consciousness.

Gao's expression froze.

His eyes widened.

The strength that had filled his limbs vanished.

For one fleeting instant, he seemed unable to understand what had happened.

Then he fell.

His body struck the courtyard stones.

He did not rise again.

The bronze phantom lingered above Lu Chen for another moment before fading into nothingness.

Silence descended.

The five surviving guards stood frozen.

One still held his spear, though his hands trembled. Another had backed against the courtyard wall. None seemed willing to approach the three fallen men, much less the body of their commander.

Gao was dead.

The man who had arrived with eight guards and demanded that Lu Chen kneel had been killed in his own attack.

The five survivors looked at one another.

Then they ran.

No one stopped them.

Lu Chen lowered his saber.

He glanced at the bodies scattered across the courtyard.

Three guards had died by his blade.

Gao had died beneath the bell's soul-striking power.

The remaining five had fled.

That was the end of the Black Iron Guards' assault.

He looked toward the broken gate.

The courtyard was no longer quiet, and the neighbors had seen everything.

Outside, the street remained crowded.

A woman stood frozen with one hand covering her mouth. The two laborers had abandoned their timber. Several residents had gathered behind the half-open doors of their homes.

Among them was a servant from Gu's Commercial Firm.

He had been watching the courtyard from across the street, as instructed by Gu Yan.

He had expected trouble.

He had not expected this.

The servant had seen the guards enter. He had heard Gao demand that Lu Chen kneel. He had witnessed the appearance of the enormous bronze bell and the strange pressure that had forced the attackers to their knees.

Most importantly, he had seen Gao fall.

There had been no visible wound.

No final exchange of blows.

One moment, Iron Hand Gao was advancing. The next, he was lying motionless on the stones.

The servant swallowed.

He needed to report this immediately.

He turned and hurried away.

Behind him, the residents began speaking in hushed voices.

"Was that a bell?"

"I saw something above his head."

"Gao was at Meridian Opening. How could he die so quickly?"

"Those guards couldn't even stand properly."

"Five escaped. Did you see how they ran?"

One old man shook his head.

"Sun Tie first. Now Gao. The Black Iron Guards have lost their commander."

Another resident glanced toward the courtyard.

"Perhaps the young man is not someone we should provoke."

The conversation spread from one doorway to another.

Some people had seen only the beginning. Others had witnessed the entire confrontation. Each account carried different details, and the story began changing as it passed through the street.

But one fact remained unchanged.

Lu Chen had killed Iron Hand Gao.

Inside the courtyard, Lu Chen sheathed his saber.

He looked at the fallen guards and then at Gao's body.

There was no satisfaction in his expression.

The man had come seeking revenge for Sun Tie, but he had brought eight armed men into another person's home and demanded submission.

He had chosen violence.

Lu Chen had answered.

He searched Gao's belongings and collected the useful items, then checked the fallen guards. He did not waste time taking every ordinary possession, but he gathered the resources and valuables that could serve a purpose.

The bodies would need to be dealt with.

The courtyard gate would need replacing.

And the surviving guards would undoubtedly carry the news to whoever remained connected to the Black Iron Guards.

Lu Chen looked toward the street.

The residents were still watching.

He did not address them.

There was no need to explain what they had already seen.

He turned back toward the courtyard and began clearing the broken wood.

By the time the sun began to descend, the story had already spread beyond the northern street.

A young cultivator had summoned a bronze bell.

Eight guards had entered his courtyard.

Three had died beneath his saber.

Their commander had fallen without a visible wound.

And five survivors had fled.

In Azure Stone Town, people had heard countless stories about powerful cultivators.

But this was different.

The event had happened in the middle of town, before the eyes of ordinary residents.

The name Lu Chen would not remain unknown for long.