All around, the Harbor City crowd instantly tensed up—their hearts leaping into their throats at the sight. No one expected the supposedly doomed Azure Dragon Protector to have one last trick up his sleeve.
Beside them, Sophie Su and Lily Liu's hearts were in their throats too—their little fists clenched, almost ready to rush onto the field themselves.
Yet even as Ryan Ling was bound up, he didn’t panic or strike back right away. On the contrary, the phantom Azure Dragon’s attack actually triggered his Hell Furnace—fully opening it for the first time. And this Hell Furnace wasn’t just some ordinary artifact; it was already showing signs of evolving into a true dao artifact!
Compared to a regular artifact, a dao artifact is a whole different league.
"Azure Dragon, what are you waiting for? Bite his head off!" The Azure Dragon Protector roared, itching to devour Ryan Ling alive right then and there.
But at that moment, the Azure Dragon phantom seemed to spot something utterly terrifying. The whole dragon suddenly tried to dive back into the amulet, only for Ryan Ling to grab its tail in a flash.
Single-handedly seizing a dragon—the aura was off the charts!
"Trying to run? Not today—I'm melting you down!" Ryan yanked the dragon's tail hard, and at the same time, his Hell Furnace roared to life. Boosted by Yin-Maiden energy and the Azure Dragon phantom's attack, the Furnace didn't just open up—it erupted like magma, shooting dozens of meters into the air.
Even wilder, there seemed to be divine beings thrashing around inside the lava—and as the magma surged upward, furious ghost faces with bulging eyes kept appearing in the flow.
In an instant, everyone around was stunned speechless, as if the Ninth-Level Oil-Cauldron Hell had descended right before their eyes.
Right now, it wasn’t just ordinary people—even Azure Dragon Society elites, Penny Pan, and the always-arrogant Azure Dragon Protector were all slumped on the ground, too terrified to move.
The Azure Dragon phantom was pale all over, drained of blood, trembling like a mudfish—nothing dragon-like left at all. In fact, its eyes seemed to be begging Ryan Ling for mercy.
"Hell Furnace, devour it—now!" Ryan Ling showed zero mercy. Helping the Azure Dragon Society meant aiding evil, and that meant death.
The lava erupting from the Hell Furnace instantly wrapped around the Azure Dragon phantom. With a blood-curdling scream, the phantom was swallowed up, and the dragon-shaped pendant on the Protector’s neck shattered on the spot.
"So, what do you have left to say now?" With the Azure Dragon phantom destroyed, Ryan Ling’s gaze swept over the Protector like a wrathful god.
The Azure Dragon Protector had no arrogance left. Sure, he had the traits of a Blue Realm grandmaster, but his rank was nothing but a pile of pills—just the shell, no substance. Now, even a single glance from Ryan Ling made him collapse to his knees, babbling for mercy: "Don’t melt me, don’t melt me!"
Ryan Ling just sneered, "A so-called Protector like you? Trash like that isn’t even worthy of a Hell Furnace execution. You should die under the thousand-fold vengeance of Harbor City’s citizens!"
"No, I’m the Grand Elder’s son! You can’t kill me, you can’t!" The Protector stumbled backward, so terrified he could barely speak.
Ryan Ling just laughed. "Today, we’re killing the Grand Elder’s precious son! If you’ve got a grudge, take revenge—if you’ve got a score, settle it! This bastard tried to ruin tens of thousands of Harbor City lives. Everyone, get in here and stomp him to death!" Without hesitation, Ryan drove a brutal kick right into the guy’s crotch—a personal punishment for his earlier designs on Sophie Su and Lily Liu.
The Protector shrieked in agony, but before he could even clutch his groin, over a thousand Harbor City residents charged in—blades hacking, axes chopping, fists pounding, feet stomping, stones grinding. In just a couple seconds, the once-dashing Azure Dragon Protector was reduced to a pile of bloody meat.
With the Azure Dragon Protector dead, Ryan Ling’s gaze swept straight to Penny Pan, who looked utterly terrified.
Penny Pan was so scared she grabbed Ryan’s leg, begging, "Boss, god, please spare me! I’ll serve you every night—I’m good-looking, right? However you want to play, I’m yours! I’ll be your loyal bitch, just let me stay by your side…"
Before Penny could even finish, Sophie Su slapped her hard across the face.
"A bitch? Please, you’re nothing but dog crap. As if our Ryan would ever want you—go die!"
After Sophie finished, Lily Liu smashed her fist down too, sneering, "Exactly. Do you know who Ryan Ling is? You’re not even worthy of being dog crap, you wretch!"
Right then, Angie Chen—clearly rested up—suddenly leaped up and kicked Penny Pan hard in the back, nearly snapping her spine.
"Die, you bitch!"
In a flash, the three women went wild—no hesitation, just a frenzy of stomping and kicking. Penny Pan, the famous Rudder Master of the Azure Dragon Society, had no strength left to fight back. It was like her courage had shattered long ago; she just kept getting pummeled, and finally, only when she was beaten to death did they stop.
All the remaining Azure Dragon Society members were stunned, shouting "Aunties!" over and over in awe.
Ryan Ling just broke out in a cold sweat. Sure, Angie Chen was always fierce in a fight, but now even the usually gentle Sophie Su and Lily Liu had turned into raging tigresses—it was almost beyond words.
With that, one Protector, three Rudder Masters, three Hall Masters, plus Drake Long who died out at sea—eight top Azure Dragon Society experts had all been wiped out by Ryan Ling. Just as he’d predicted, the whole Jiangdong Province was shaken.
That very night, Leonard Liu and several senior literary figures in Harbor City drafted a manifesto, compiling all the evidence and broadcasting it online and through every media channel. Instantly, public opinion exploded.
Harbor City suddenly became the hottest spot in Jiangnan, all the trending lists flooded with "Harbor City" and "city massacre." Online, support for Harbor City was overwhelming, and the Azure Dragon Society was thrust into the eye of the storm.
……
While the Martial Arts Association stirred up a tidal wave of debate, Samuel Su gathered Jiangnan’s top alchemists to work with Ryan Ling on a new medicine. After destroying the Azure Dragon Protector, Ryan visited the Special Item Store the next day and found Divine Physician Hua Tuo again. Harbor City might be safe for now, but danger was everywhere. That’s when Ryan had a bold idea—universal conscription.
(This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^—click next page to keep reading!)
Since the last Martial Arts Tournament, Harbor City had already replaced Wuzhou as the martial center of Jiangnan. But Ryan Ling’s strength alone wasn’t enough—if he left, the city would be in peril. Tens of thousands of powerless residents couldn’t reason with evil; the only solution was to arm everyone.
But universal conscription was easier said than done. Luckily, Divine Physician Hua Tuo was loyal and righteous—he’d already heard of Harbor City’s ordeal, and Ryan’s selfless heroism had spread through the Netherworld. So Hua Tuo produced a treasured pill, not just some slimming tablet, but the legendary Grandmaster Pill.
In short, anyone who swallowed this pill would instantly gain grandmaster-level strength.
Ryan Ling was thrilled. He grabbed the sample pill and recipe and rushed back to Harbor City. That same night, he and Samuel Su began mass production. If every Harbor City resident became a grandmaster overnight, who would dare threaten them again?