"No, I'm not—I am not Chen Lin!"
Chen Lin screamed, her entire body trembling as she shouted. Beneath her feet, a pool of water had formed, soaking most of her pants.
"Hmph."
Yet, Su Ming paid no heed.
The energy threads surged forward once again.
Chen Lin's screams abruptly ceased.
Her eyes bulged out, filled with regret deep within their depths, along with an unyielding attachment to this world.
"Father! Mother!"
Luo Ao finally snapped out of his daze and hurriedly caught Chen Lin's collapsing body.
"You deserve death as well."
However, Su Ming's voice echoed in Luo Ao's ears like that of a demon.
The next moment, Luo Ao felt something pierce through his very core.
His internal organs were mercilessly shredded in an instant.
The light before his eyes gradually faded into darkness.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Mission complete. You have obtained the Grandmaster-level skill: Treading on Air!"
In a flash, enlightenment surged through Su Ming's mind. He now understood the intricacies of Treading on Air with perfect clarity.
The system's prompt also brought him back to reality.
Having killed three people, Su Ming felt not a shred of guilt or remorse.
They deserved it.
This was Su Ming's mindset.
Cold-blooded? A demon? It mattered not.
Su Ming didn't care.
He simply followed his heart—and nothing more.
With a turn, Su Ming prepared to depart.
The higher-ups of the Chen family, including Chen Bufu, made no move to stop him.
"Stop!"
But Chen Ankun roared in fury.
Su Ming halted mid-step, his gaze shifting toward Chen Ankun.
At this moment, Chen Ankun's face flushed crimson, a terrifying flame burning in his chest.
"Grandmaster Su! You came to my Chen family, slaughtered three of ours, and now you think you can walk away unscathed?"
Chen Ankun was nearly mad with rage.
The Chen family had dominated for generations, one of the top-tier families in this city.
When had they ever endured such humiliation?
Even a grandmaster shouldn't treat the Chen family so contemptuously.
Su Ming looked at Chen Ankun indifferently.
Outside the Chen family estate, several Mercedes-Benz vans screeched to a halt.
Doors flung open, and a group led by Wang Daoqian and Ning Cangyun leapt out.
With a single glance, they saw the two gatekeepers lying motionless on the ground, their fates unknown.
Ning Cangyun and Wang Daoqian exchanged glances, neither speaking a word as they swiftly entered the compound.
Soon, the group arrived at the main hall.
In an instant, the entire scene unfolded before their eyes.
Their pupils contracted sharply.
Yet, they remained silent, paralyzed by fear.
"Ding! Choice triggered!"
"Option One: Annihilate the Chen family. Reward: Loyalty of the Wang and Ning families."
"Option Two: Punish Chen Ankun alone. Reward: Loyalty of the Chen family."
"What will your choice be?"
After hearing the system's prompt, Su Ming finally spoke.
"I choose you."
Chen Ankun enunciated each word with venomous precision: "Blood… must… be… repaid… in… blood!"
As soon as the words left his lips, a violent aura exploded from Chen Ankun's body.
Simultaneously, the color drained from his face, leaving it ghostly pale.
"Grandmaster?"
Su Ming frowned.
"This is… Burning Potential!"
Ning Cangyun and Wang Daoqian exchanged glances, speaking in unison.
Burning Potential was an exceedingly dangerous secret technique.
It involved stimulating the heart with hidden energy, accelerating blood flow, and unleashing every ounce of latent power within the body.
This allowed a martial artist to unleash overwhelming strength in an instant.
However, the cost was immense—overdrafting one's potential meant certain death.
It was a desperate measure, one rarely resorted to.
But Chen Ankun, already advanced in age, had gone mad after witnessing his beloved daughter's death. He was determined to give it everything he had.
"Men of the Chen family, hear my command! Follow me and slay Su Ming!"
Finally, Chen Ankun's aura reached its peak.
"Grandmaster! The old patriarch has achieved the realm of a grandmaster!"
"Charge! Do not fear him! Everyone, attack!"
"To hell with it—I've been itching to take him down! Follow the old patriarch and kill him!"
At this moment, the Chen family erupted into chaos.
"No! Don't be reckless, don't be reckless!"
Only Chen Bufu cried out desperately.
But no one listened to him.
In the next moment, Chen Ankun moved, stepping forward and launching himself at Su Ming like a cannonball.
Simultaneously, the people on both sides of the hall charged forward.
"System, I choose Option One!"
At this moment, Su Ming made his decision.
"The Chen family… will vanish from history."
Su Ming's icy voice rang out.
The next moment, facing the charging members of the Chen family, Su Ming raised his hand slightly.
Instantly, divine energy condensed within his dantian.
Ten energy threads formed on his fingers.
With a flick of his wrist—
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
A series of dull thuds echoed through the hall.
The charging members of the Chen family were sent flying backward like ragdolls.
Mid-air, they vomited blood repeatedly.
Upon landing, they collapsed, unable to move.
Upon closer inspection, their tendons had been severed cleanly. Like Chen Buwei, they were crippled for life.
In the blink of an eye, aside from Chen Ankun, the motionless Chen Bufu, and Chen Buwei in his wheelchair, everyone else had fallen.
"Die!"
At this moment, Chen Ankun finally reached Su Ming.
With a raise of his hand, an invisible force erupted in the air.
To the onlookers, a phantom Tai Chi symbol materialized, pressing down on Su Ming with crushing weight.
The violent force stirred up a hurricane in the hall, causing tables and chairs to rattle violently.
"Elbow Strike!"
Su Ming stepped forward, and the energy threads vanished instantly.
Then, divine energy condensed once more within his dantian.
At Su Ming's elbow, the divine energy gathered densely.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
In the air, white ripples spread outward in concentric circles.
At this moment, Su Ming had broken the sound barrier.
"Boom!"
A muffled explosion reverberated through the hall.
In the eyes of the onlookers, the phantom Tai Chi symbol shattered instantly as Su Ming's strike landed squarely on Chen Ankun's chest.
"Cough…"
"Pfft!"
Chen Ankun spat out a mouthful of blood, his aged body hurtling backward like a cannonball.
"Crash! Bang!"
The main table splintered into pieces under the impact.
Chen Ankun's body flew backward, smashing into the far wall of the hall.
"Boom!" A deafening crash echoed.
The reinforced wall cracked, spider-web fractures spreading across its surface.
Chen Ankun's body embedded itself into the wall, his eyes bulging, his breath extinguished.
The members of the Wang and Ning families stared in shock.
In that moment, they fully grasped the awe-inspiring might of a grandmaster.
Such overwhelming power!
Below the grandmaster level, all were but ants.
That phrase echoed in their minds.
"Thud!"
Chen Bufu collapsed onto the ground.
It was over.
The mighty Chen family had been utterly annihilated in less than half an hour.
"Why? Why didn't you listen to my warnings?"
Chen Bufu sat dejectedly on the floor.
Chen Buwei remained still in his wheelchair, his eyes closed.
He had once believed there was hope for the Chen family, but reality had proven otherwise.
A grandmaster was a grandmaster.
No amount of desperation could bridge the gap between them.