The Last Sentinel

"fart--"

A rough, cracking roar suddenly rang out, abruptly interrupting Hua Xiaobai's thoughts.

The voice was not like an ordinary rebuke, but more like a muffled thunder squeezed from the depths of the chest, carrying an indescribable violence and repression, echoing on the empty Dingtai in Xuzhou, making everyone's ears buzz.

Everyone instinctively turned around, their eyes all fixed on the direction from which the sound came—a hundred meters behind the cauldron, Han Zhong Wang Lao Liu, who had been standing silently at the end of the crowd, was now frozen in place, kneeling on one knee.

His head hung limply, almost touching the ground. The veins on his forehead bulged and throbbed like ferocious green snakes. Sweat poured down his face and neck like broken beads, instantly soaking his faded gray coat and even wetting a large area of ​​the bluestone slabs beneath his feet.

What's even more unsettling is that all the muscles in his body are twitching uncontrollably, every inch of his muscles is taut, as if a ferocious beast about to break free of its cage is contained within him. A terrifying, almost tangible power is surging and brewing within him, as if it will break through the body's restraints at any moment and surge out, sweeping across the surroundings!

"Big Brother!" A-Yu's expression changed drastically. Ignoring Hua Xiaobai's previous contemplation, he leaped forward like an arrow towards Old Liu, his voice filled with urgency and worry, "Are you... are you alright? Did the aura of the cauldron affect you?"

Ayu was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, he was only ten feet away from Lao Liu. Just as he was about to reach out and help Lao Liu up, something unexpected happened!

"boom--"

A muffled, loud bang suddenly rang out without warning. An invisible and colorless shockwave, yet carrying immense pressure, rebounded violently from Old Liu's body, like a raging torrent, sweeping straight towards A Yu.

Ayu felt as if a huge boulder weighing ten thousand pounds had struck his chest. His blood surged, and he was forced to retreat uncontrollably. Like a kite with a broken string, he was flung back by the shockwave!

"Second Brother! Watch out!" A-Fei reacted quickly and saw A-Yu in danger. He immediately leaped up and caught A-Yu as he flew backward. The two landed together and slid on the ground for several meters before finally regaining their balance.

Afei helped Ayu to her feet, his gaze fixed on Old Liu not far away. He said in a grave tone, "This aura is too strange. It's not ordinary physical or mental energy; it's more like… some kind of inherited bloodline power!"

Ayu steadied herself, shook her dazed head, and wiped the trace of blood from the corner of her mouth. Although she was not seriously injured, the shock in her heart was hard to calm down.

He looked up at Old Liu, who was still kneeling on one knee, his eyes filled with disbelief: "This... how is this possible? Old Liu usually finds even moving a box tiring, how could he have such strength?"

At this moment, Old Liu, the King of Hanzhong, seemed to have entered a mysterious state, oblivious to all the noises around him. He could only make intermittent sounds, his voice trembling uncontrollably, yet also filled with extreme excitement, as if he were suppressing some kind of ecstasy and excitement. He said, word by word, "You're wrong, Hua Jun."

Hua Xiaobai frowned, slowly walked to the edge of the cauldron, stared sharply at Lao Liu, and said in a deep voice, "Lao Liu, wake up! The suppression method I just mentioned was derived from a combination of game settings and ancient secret techniques. Is there something wrong with it?"

"A mistake?" Old Liu suddenly raised his head. Although his eyes were still somewhat unfocused, two sharp, blade-like beams of light suddenly shot out from his cloudy eyes, piercing straight at Hua Xiaobai. "A huge mistake! Even if the sword energy dragon isn't a real dragon, it's not something a fake dragon-mandated person can suppress!"

"A fake Chosen One?" Hua Xiaobai's heart skipped a beat, instantly grasping the crucial information. "Then how can we suppress and control the dragon of sword energy?"

"Simple!" Old Liu's voice grew clearer, his muscles twitching more violently, the air around him began to distort, and a faint golden light emanated from beneath his skin. "The correct way to suppress it is to use an uncrowned crown prince of the Han Dynasty! Only someone with pure Han imperial blood can resonate with the dynastic karma within the Xuzhou Cauldron and tame that dragon of sword energy!"

Hua Xiaobai was suddenly startled. A bold guess popped into his mind, causing a cold sweat to break out on his back.

He dared not delay for a moment, and hurriedly reached into his pocket to take out a single-frame combat testing device, which he quickly put on his right eye.

The moment the testing device was activated, a dense stream of data appeared in Hua Xiaobai's right eye. However, when he aimed the detection target at Lao Liu, the data stream on the screen instantly became disordered. Immediately afterwards, an extremely terrifying soul shockwave surged out of Lao Liu's body. The shockwave was like a tsunami, instantly sweeping across a radius of 100 meters, turning this area into a most abundant Xuanjin Qi Sea.

His Qi Sea was churning and boiling, and golden mist surged like a raging tide, completely obscuring Old Liu's figure, leaving only a blurry outline. Meanwhile, the Xuanjin Qi continued to flow into Old Liu's body, seemingly adding some kind of divinity to him, making his aura more and more majestic and terrifying.

"Peng—"

A crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out, and the single-frame combat testing device that Hua Xiaobai wore on his right eye shattered directly under this terrifying soul shockwave, with fragments flying everywhere and scratching his cheek.

Hua Xiaobai instinctively raised his hand to cover his right eye, took two steps back, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief: "This aura is so powerful that even the combat testing equipment can't detect it! Just who is Old Liu?!"

The surrounding crowd was stunned by the scene. Brother Ba, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei stood aside with solemn expressions, not daring to breathe.

The seven of them had been playing the Three Kingdoms online game together for years. Usually, Lao Liu always seemed carefree and nonchalant. He would hide at the back when fighting, but rush to the front when picking up equipment. He always had the nonsense in his mouth that "winning or losing doesn't matter, equipment is the only thing that matters." No one expected that this seemingly unreliable guy, who even found it tiring to carry a box, would actually hide such terrifying strength.