"Isn't he just a Dou Zun? Since when could a Dou Zun act so arrogantly?"
Xu Ran's words once again left everyone dumbfounded.
If Xu Ran weren't so strong, they would all suspect he had lost his mind.
A Dou Zun is not strong?
Those who dare to speak such words are either persons with earth-shattering strength or fools who have no clear understanding of a Dou Zun's power.
So, is Xu Ran a mighty warrior or one of the latter?
"Enough talk. Let's just do away with you first," Xu Ran griped the broken sword in his hand and swung it forcefully. A terrifying Sword Qi slashed towards the two Hong Family Elders.
The two Hong Family Elders' souls nearly fled from their bodies.
They had seen clearly how Xia Mang died just moments ago.
"Run!" They had never felt death so close to them. They activated their Dou Qi Hua Yi behind them in an attempt to dodge Xu Ran's sword while simultaneously invoking Dou Techniques to form a layer of Dou Qi armor around themselves.
"Haha, dodged it," the two Hong Family Elders laughed out loud, relieved to find themselves unharmed a moment later. They had been truly terrified by the eerie manner of Xia Mang's death. It seemed Xia Mang must have been careless, which led to his strange death. Perhaps there was something wrong with Xia Mang's body, too.
"Young Master, why are looking at us like that?" The Douhuangs saw the ghost-like expression on Hong Chen's face and immediately felt a sense of foreboding.
Following Hong Chen's gaze, they looked down at their own bodies.
And at that very moment, blood began spurting wildly from their abdomens, and their lower bodies instantly dropped to the ground.
An intense pain surged, and their consciousness faded instantly, as they collapsed thunderously to the ground.
In an instant, two Douhuangs were dead!
While Zhongzhou was certainly crowded with mighty warriors, Douhuangs were still considered to be among the most powerful.
In the Four Pavilions, a Douhuang could manage to become a deacon. In a major force, they could serve as a middle manager.
The consecutive deaths of three Douhuangs in a short period would undoubtedly cause a tremor across the Northern Domain in the future.
If everyone hadn't fully processed what had happened at the start, they now certainly understood just how terrifying and ruthless Xu Ran was.
Xia Mang's death could still be described as being due to carelessness.
But what about these two Elders? They had been fully prepared, yet they still met their end in such a bizarre manner, no different from Xia Mang's death.
It felt as if slicing through watermelons, with Xu Ran's sword acting as the melon knife, cutting with precision.
And he did it with such ease, that even if another dozen or so experts of the same caliber came at him, they'd simply be extinguished by a single stroke of Xu Ran's sword.
"The two Elders, to think that they..."
Hong Chen looked down at the corpses below, his heart eroding with fear.
"It's your turn now," Xu Ran pointed his sword at Hong Chen.
A man who tried to make insidious plans against someone he coveted, Xu Ran wanted to take a few more glances at him.
"You want to kill me? Doing so will offend Feng Lei Pavilion. If I don't return, my family will know I died at Han Family's hands, and then the Han Family will be retaliated against by Feng Lei Pavilion," Hong Chen said in a panic.
At this time, he dared not show off any longer.
"You think too highly of yourself. But I would like to see if Feng Lei Pavilion really wants to seek revenge against me. These years, I have become somewhat unaccustomed to the reduced bloodshed on my hands," Xu Ran said unconcernedly.
Feng Lei Pavilion is no good either; if they don't provoke him, he is too lazy to bother with such minor forces. But if they provoke him, he will make them realize the price they pay for it.
"I'll give you three seconds to run," Xu Ran said.
"Tsk."
Hong Chen used all his strength as if he were fighting for his life, his desperate will to survive enabling him to burst forth with tremendous latent power; he shot into the sky and vanished from sight in an instant.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
The sound of Xu Ran's voice terrified Hong Chen to the core, and as soon as it ended, Xu Ran swiftly unleashed countless swords.
The sword lights chased after Hong Chen, moving just slightly faster than him, and Hong Chen could only watch as they gradually drew closer and closer. This kind of psychological torment was truly maddening.
To die, it was too easy. Xu Ran could kill them in an instant, but doing so would deprive them of even the chance to feel pain.
The greatest pain, however, was to watch death approach with wide-open eyes, helpless to stop it. It was like a prisoner on death row counting down the days, the hours before his execution—the wait was agonizingly slow.
"Ahhh! Ahhh!"
Hong Chen screamed, shouting and howling like a madman.
His defenses were broken.
This was essentially the greatest torture one could endure. Who could withstand such horrifying psychological pressure?
With every glance backward, he saw the Sword Qi closing in on him.
Bang!
In the end, they finally caught up to him, and Hong Chen was shredded into a pile of gore, leaving behind only a Space Ring.
"Here, this is for you." With a drawing motion of his hand, Xu Ran collected four Space Rings and handed them directly to Han Xue without so much as a glance.
The items within these four Storage Rings were undoubtedly of great value; the identities of these people were extraordinary, surely constituting a considerable fortune for the Han Family.
"This is your spoils of war, I cannot accept it."
Han Xue swallowed hard, clearly aware that this represented a huge fortune.
But she would not take what wasn't hers. Such immense wealth could make lesser powers green with envy, yet Xu Ran dismissed it without a second glance, an act of sheer madness.
Could it be that Xu Ran was doing this... to woo her?
Han Xue blushed, her heart fluttering uncontrollably.
"These trinkets are of no value to me; I find them nothing more than an encumbrance. If you don't want them, then I'll just throw them away," Xu Ran said nonchalantly as he tossed the four Space Rings onto the ground.
"You!"
Han Xue was flabbergasted. Even the Storage Rings alone were valuable treasures.
"You don't want them? I do!!!"
"Let go of me, I want those Storage Rings!"
Han Xue puffed her cheeks, glaring at Xu Ran, who was still holding her at such a critical moment.
"Oh," Xu Ran replied, reluctantly letting go of Han Xue. The thought of her status as the sister-in-law sent ripples through his heart.
Han Xue hastily ran to where Xu Ran had thrown the rings and picked them up with great care. Despite being the second young miss of the Han Family, she didn't possess Storage Rings as precious as these.
Storage Rings were graded, with different levels having different capacities.
The Han Family was a clan, and resources had to be shared amongst its members; it wasn't possible for Han Xue to lay claim to all of them. Each one of these four Storage Rings was far more precious than the one she currently used.
As for the contents inside—the Dou Techniques, Cultivation Techniques, and other treasures—these were equivalent to several years of income for the Han Family. Legitimate family businesses couldn't compete with the quick and abundant wealth that came from killing and plundering.