Chapter 172: Soul Capture! Great Collapse!

The black dragon roared and soared into the air, charging at Duan Tianya.
“Wicked tactics!”
Duan Tianya remained calm and sneered. Pointing with his unremarkable brown wooden sword from afar, he shouted, “Withering and Flourishing!”
Whoosh!
A green beam shot from the tip of the sword, hitting the black dragon’s maw directly.
The black dragon, entirely formed from true energy, was lifelike in every detail. But now, its body sank, turning solid, and its upward momentum suddenly halted.
In the blink of an eye, the black scales on its surface transformed, becoming pitted and hard crusts, like the bark of a withered old tree.
“Decay!”
Whoosh!
Duan Tianya swung his sword again, sending out another dark gray beam.
The rigid black dragon let out a mournful cry as it plummeted from the sky, crashing down and turning into a pile of black-gray debris—like thoroughly rotten wood mercilessly swept to the ground.
“Elder Brother’s wood-based divine skill, Withering and Flourishing Years,” Yu Qing whispered to Su Che. “Against such a skill, conventional defenses are useless; it’s easy to be struck. One needs an equally powerful divine technique to counter it.”
Su Che realized that Yu Qing was indirectly reminding him that one day, he too would have to face Elder Brother’s “Withering and Flourishing Years.”
He had always been wary of Duan Tianya, not fooled by his recent attempts to be friendly. Because Su Che sensed that deep within Duan Tianya’s gaze toward him lay another emotion. Undoubtedly, his presence threatened Duan Tianya’s future status…
Su Che replied through telepathy, “Elder Brother Yu Qing, I’ve also mastered a divine skill in advance that can shake an opponent’s mind, causing them to lose their composure, as if their soul has left them. I guess you must have some trump card as well?”
“That’s right,” Yu Qing replied cheerfully. “I have a boxing technique called ‘Great Collapse Divine Fist,’ capable of destroying everything in its path.”
“Then let’s combine our forces to defeat the enemy—I first, you after,” Su Che suggested.
“Excellent!” Yu Qing smiled faintly.
“Great Collapse Divine Fist…” Su Che murmured. “I’ve never heard of this technique, but whatever Elder Brother Yu Qing brings to the table must be extraordinary.”
At this moment, Duan Tianya was already fighting a burly man with a black face, who clearly possessed the cultivation level of mid-Jindan stage.

The man with the black face used no magical artifacts. With mere gestures of his hands and arms, he let out fierce roars, and waves of dark energy surrounded his body, instantly transforming into a black dragon that charged at Duan Tianya.

However, as a true disciple of a supreme sect, Duan Tianya should have been able to defeat an ordinary mid-stage Golden Core cultivator effortlessly under normal circumstances. The same was true now—exerting the full power of his skills, he used green, yellow, and gray light to force the man with the black face to scream and retreat repeatedly. Though the black dragon seemed fierce, it couldn’t gain even the slightest advantage.

Yet, it was clear that a decision in this battle would take some time. Chaos erupted once again in the market, with screams growing louder. Several unidentified Golden Core cultivators appeared out of nowhere, blocking all the Golden Core elders from the enforcement team, preventing them from putting an end to the chaos.

Su Che and Yu Qing, as members of the enforcement team, also had to fulfill their duties.

“Kill quickly!” Yu Qing said coldly. “Choose your target.”

Su Che immediately understood what he meant. With a swift motion, he descended first and quickly selected a troublemaker in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

“Soul Capture!” Su Che pointed at his own forehead, and an eye appeared between his brows.

Swish!

A blue light enveloped the cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

“Ah…”

The man let out a cry of shock, feeling his mind tremble violently, his head splitting apart, his consciousness blurring instantly. He didn’t even have time to turn to face Su Che.

“Great Collapse!”

Yu Qing’s figure flashed, and he quickly overtook Su Che. From a distance of over ten zhang, he punched the man.

Whoosh…

Su Che, who was closest to Yu Qing, felt the space around him collapse violently, as if everything in that area was drawn into Yu Qing’s punch.

A massive fist mark erupted from Yu Qing’s hand and instantly struck the cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Bang!

There was no loud noise. The fist mark penetrated the man’s protective shield without any resistance and immediately penetrated his body.

The man froze in place. At that moment, time seemed to stretch infinitely. A piece of skin fell from his face, landing on the ground like thin porcelain, shattering into pieces with a clinking sound.

Along with that clinking sound, his entire body collapsed, breaking apart and lying on the ground as a pile of sand. The same happened to his clothes and the Qiankun Bag hanging at his waist.

Yu Qing turned his face and gave Su Che a bitter smile. “The biggest flaw of my ability is that when it’s used at full strength, anyone hit by it is completely shattered, along with all the items they carry—except for those advanced magical artifacts that I can’t break.”
Su Che chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. These people who came here to get rich are all poor wretches. Their storage bags are worthless anyway. Go on!”
“Okay!”
Su Che immediately chose another robber at the later stage of the Foundation Establishment phase not far away. Swish! Soul Seize was used again.
After Soul Seize…
Total destruction!
Clang, clang…
The scene returned to normal as yet another person was reduced to a pile of loose sand grains.
Although Su Che wasn’t a man who reveled in killing, he had to take drastic action against these thugs who took advantage of the chaos to rob, as part of his duty to maintain order and put an end to the riot in the market. This was also a mission assigned by the Supreme Elder of Zi Xiao to all disciples.
Soul Seize…
Total destruction…
Su Che targeted those at least at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. Those weaker than that weren’t worthy of experiencing the combined power of his ability and his senior brother’s. After Soul Seize came total destruction. Piles of sand grains appeared on the ground, only to be swept away instantly by the strong winds generated by the battles between others.
The cultivators at the later stage of Foundation Establishment were eliminated as easily as killing chickens under Su Che and Yu Qing’s combined efforts—this was the essence of swift killing as described by Yu Qing.
In no time, the area was cleared by Su Che and Yu Qing, earning thanks from many vendors.
After several days of patrolling, Su Che and Yu Qing had memorized the faces of these vendors, ensuring they wouldn’t kill the wrong person. Similarly, the vendors had long recognized these two wealthy men who frantically bought demon pills. When they saw them coming, they immediately called for help.
At this moment, someone standing under a big tree, wearing a conical hat with a gloomy expression, was neither a vendor in the market nor a robber. He seemed like just an onlooker. But now, staring at Su Che and Yu Qing, he cursed inwardly, “These two brats kill faster than ordinary Golden Core cultivators. It seems I’ll have to step in personally to deal with them.”
Vum…
An invisible ripple spread from his body, and the conical hat on his head vanished instantly.
“Master, be careful!”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He shouted loudly.
Su Che was suddenly startled, but it was too late to dodge…
An ordinary bamboo conical hat, moving at lightning speed and carrying powerful true energy, flew toward Su Che’s neck. It arrived in an instant!

The speed was extreme; before Su Che could react to dodge, it had already struck his neck.
Snap!
The conical hat shattered into fragments, flying everywhere.
Su Che sprayed blood as he was flung backward, and with a loud crash, he collapsed the foundation of a shop.
“Su Che!”
Yu Qing’s eyes widened in shock, but there was no time to do anything meaningful.
It was too fast!
The speed of that conical hat was simply too fast; Yu Qing didn’t even realize anything before seeing Su Che get blasted away.
Being hit in the neck by such an attack meant certain death!
“Give up your life!”
Yu Qing’s anger erupted like a volcano, reaching its peak. His figure turned into a blur as he rushed toward the man under the tree.
Midway, he threw a punch—The Great Collapse Divine Fist!
The man under the tree smiled faintly, thinking to himself, “His cultivation is too low; he’s unfit for such a powerful technique.”
Bang!
He stood firm, not dodging or avoiding. With just a step, a visible wave of power spread out in all directions like ripples in water.
Boom!
After the wave passed, within a radius of twenty zhang around him, the ground collapsed several feet deep. Everything around him turned to ashes and was swept away.
Within those twenty zhang, nothing remained except him and the big tree he was leaning on.
Yu Qing, who hadn’t yet reached him, along with the other cultivators fighting nearby, were completely gone—whether they had been reduced to ashes or swept away, it was unknown.
“Late-stage Golden Core!”
Duan Tianya, who was fighting in the sky, along with several other Golden Core elders, saw this scene through their spiritual senses.
Shocked, Duan Tianya felt a flicker of joy. If both Su Che and Yu Qing were dead, then who on Xuanji Peak could threaten him anymore…
But the joy and hope that had just arisen vanished in an instant.
With a rustle, two figures stood up simultaneously from the ruins of broken bricks and tiles.
Both Duan Tianya and the man under the tree were stunned, thinking the same thing: “How? Both of them are still alive?”
Indeed, both Su Che and Yu Qing were alive. They were only about three zhang apart, and even their disheveled appearances were identical—clothes torn, covered in dust, with black and red marks on their faces, like refugees in troubled times…
“Still alive!”
Su Che and Yu Qing exchanged a glance and both smiled silently.
As long as they were still alive, that was good…
Soul Capture!
Great Collapse!

The two brothers joined forces once again. A few dozen feet ahead, a cultivator who had rushed over to pick up the Cosmic Bag vanished, turning into sand grains that scattered among the ruins of bricks and stones. That Cosmic Bag had fallen to the ground when Yu Qing was sent flying by the shockwave.