At this moment, everyone who heard the man speak fell to their knees with a thud.
Although the Southern Border is information-blocked, they are aware of certain major events, such as the Master List.
It is said that during the last Master List conference, a man named Tang Zhong took first place, defeating the former champion Meng Wuxiang. Later, it became unclear what Tang Zhong did, but he somehow ascended to the top of the Black List.
These Village Heads of the Southern Border all knew the man called Tang Zhong.
He was practically a legendary figure. Earlier, they didn’t immediately react to the name Tang Zhong, but now they were reminded and everything became clear.
They hadn’t expected that the figure from legend would genuinely appear before them.
At this moment, the Village Heads of the Southern Border’s Seventy-Two Villages all widened their eyes as they stared at Tang Zhong, and their legs began to grow weak.
With successive thuds, they all dropped to their knees.
And started begging for mercy.
"Please, Peak Tang Zhong, spare us!"
"We were blind and failed to see Mount Tai. We were wrong!"
One by one, they kowtowed with their heads to the ground, terrified that Tang Zhong might hold a grudge.
Even as their foreheads bled from the strikes, they paid no mind.
Tang Zhong stood there with his hands behind his back, eyes slightly narrowed, his expression completely unmoved.
The ordinary people of the Southern Border around him were already dumbfounded.
Li Chuwen’s parents were even more shocked. To them, these Village Heads were godlike figures, each endowed with extraordinary abilities. Yet now they knelt before a young man. Thinking back on their previous words to Tang Zhong, Li Chuwen’s parents felt immense shame. They had previously boasted about Miao Qing’s family’s unmatched strength, stating that Tang Zhong could never compete with them in his lifetime. However, they couldn’t have imagined that the so-called invincible family of Miao Qing was utterly insignificant in his eyes. Not only did Tang Zhong subdue the entire Miao Village, but he also suppressed all of the Southern Border.
Li Chuwen also suddenly remembered Tang Zhong’s previous words. She had doubted him, thinking he could handle things temporarily but not permanently. She believed that once he left, disaster would ensue. But she never expected that before he even made a move, he had already crushed the Southern Border beneath his foot.
Amidst the kneeling and constant kowtowing, Tang Zhong remained motionless.
The dignity of a strong figure was not to be defiled, and those who dared to do so were left with no path but death. Now Tang Zhong was giving these people a chance. If he were to annihilate all the people of the Southern Border, that might be too extreme. Killing them would make little difference, but at least the Southern Border had a lineage that had endured for hundreds of years. Sparing their lives depended entirely on whether their repentance was sincere.
"We were wrong, we shouldn’t have acted !"
"Peak Tang Zhong, we’re willing to plead guilty, but can you please spare the wives and children in our villages?"
The Village Heads knew well that provoking a powerful figure meant paying a price. They admitted their lack of vision!
Upon hearing their words, Tang Zhong finally relaxed his narrowed eyes: "I won’t kill your wives and children. I intend to spare you as well, since those who deserve punishment have already been punished. But you cannot escape living punishment!"
Upon hearing this, the Village Heads felt as if they’d been granted a royal pardon, kneeling and continuously begging for mercy.
They dared not speak much, their faces deeply distressed!
Tang Zhong no longer looked at them, instead walking over to Li Chuwen, smiling as he said, "See... there’s no issue now, right?"
Li Chuwen nodded in shock.
"Let’s go. There’s no need to come back here anymore!" Tang Zhong said.
Li Chuwen stared at Tang Zhong and thoughts of Jiang Weiwei surfaced in her mind. She decided that this time, no matter what, she would tell Tang Zhong about Jiang Weiwei.
"Tang Zhong, I need to tell you something!" Li Chuwen resolved.
"Huh?" Tang Zhong froze for a moment. "Then go ahead!"
Meanwhile, at the borders of Xuan Country.
It was a dock—a coastal city, where due to the time difference, night had already fallen.
An elderly security guard, after confirming with his flashlight that there were no issues at the dock, returned to his security room. He yawned as he glanced at the black-and-white television broadcasting the news, muttering to himself, "Ah, another peaceful day... Fine, I’ll get a good sleep."
Just as the old man closed his eyes.
A black-robed figure slowly emerged from the dock.
The figure exuded an eerie aura, his face completely hidden.
He walked forward, passing in front of the security room.
With a thunderous boom, something happened—the air was split as a thick lightning bolt crackled and fell from the sky.
Followed by torrential rain!
The elderly guard inside the security room was jolted awake by the deafening thunder. He opened his eyes, glanced outside, and then promptly went back to sleep.
"A thunderstorm, huh? Well, there’s no way anyone would be out at the docks in this weather. Best to sleep soundly!"
Outside, the black-robed figure continued walking.
He showed no fear of the pouring rain.
Meanwhile, inside Dragon Group headquarters.
In front of a massive wall of screens displaying footage from security cameras monitoring all the cities nationwide, several feeds were playing. These cameras covered the entire country’s surveillance network.
At that moment, a staff member on duty was paying little attention, engrossed in playing a mobile game—it had been some time since anything noteworthy occurred.
Suddenly, a shadow flashed across one of the screens.
The staff member glanced at it, quickly discarding his phone and urgently enlarging the footage. When the screen zoomed in, his complexion paled.
The camera was focused on the side of a building, under which the black-clad figure now stood beneath a streetlight.
What was even more terrifying was that this figure seemed to be staring directly at the camera.
Though the staff member couldn’t make out the man’s face, he could feel the figure’s gaze on him. The cameras of the Dragon Group were highly concealed, not easily noticeable, yet this person had discovered it—proof that he was no ordinary individual.
Suddenly, the black-robed figure raised his hand and mimicked the gesture of a handgun, pointing directly at the camera.
The staff member felt as though he was being aimed at through his screen.
Then, a red light gathered at the man’s finger before transforming into a beam that shot straight at the camera.
"Blood Power—he’s an Ability User!"
The screen before him instantly turned blank and snow-white.
By now, the staff member was utterly frozen in fear and immediately reached for the Dragon Group’s emergency alarm phone.
"There’s... there’s an enemy attack. The opponent is extremely strong, and their destination is unknown. All Dragon Group members must stay on alert!"
Cold sweat streamed down his body as he stared helplessly at the futile screens. One by one, they turned white; the mysterious black-robed figure was at the focal point, responsible for everything. Who was he?
Amid the storm, the black-robed figure shattered yet another camera, sending sparks flickering from the damaged device.
Then the figure turned away.
At that moment, a lightning bolt illuminated the sky, briefly exposing the black robe and the face beneath—a weathered, menacing visage. It was none other than Adam’s grandfather, Hu Gego, heading straight for Xuanjing City!