Chapter 143: Impossible to Explain

"I suddenly want to slap myself across the face, damn it!"

"This, this, this... Gu Sha..."

"So Gu Sha has actually been silently enduring and sacrificing so much for humanity all this time? But why the hell did I curse at him every single day?"

"There really is a hero silently carrying the heavy burden forward!"

"How exhausting must this be?!"

"Did all of us actually misunderstand Gu Sha? Why does this feel so surreal?"

"I still can't believe this is true. Has Gu Sha really given up so much for humanity? But that War Sovereign from the Lin family spoke with such conviction."

"If my leg weren't broken, I'd give myself two massive face slaps right now!"

"To the user above, you just need your hands for a face slap."

"I prefer using my foot."

"..."

"Can someone tell me if that was real?"

"..."

The live broadcast room had completely exploded.

So many viewers flooded in that the global forum's server was on the verge of crashing, rendering users temporarily unable to send comments.

However, this did nothing to dampen the shock rippling through humanity worldwide as even more people poured into the stream.

Especially the transcendent beings currently held hostage inside the Taihang Mountains; the looks they directed at Gu Sha were now filled with reverence.

Everyone fell silent, waiting for Gu Sha's response.

Meanwhile, Gu Sha was floating in mid-air, his mouth twitching violently as he stared down at the Lin family's War Sovereign, who was frantically spinning a narrative to whitewash his reputation. Gu Sha slowly said, "All I can say is... you're overthinking things, dammit. I have never put up any facade, nor do I deign to pretend. I am exactly what the world sees—I am the number one fierce bandit under the heavens!"

"Hahahaha..." The black-robed War Sovereign let out a hearty laugh. "Gu Sha, it's gotten to this point; is there really any need to keep up the act? Gu Sha, let's negotiate. For now, I represent the beings of the Upper Realm to negotiate with you. There is no need for you to guard against us. Our objective is the same as yours. Regardless of the process, our primary duty is to resist the Tianyuan Realm. It's not just Earth; the entire universe is currently facing the invasion of the Tianyuan Realm. We are not enemies; you don't need to worry that we will abandon humanity."

Gu Sha said speechlessly, "You really are overthinking this, dammit. I've never cared about the survival or destruction of humanity; right now, I just want to commit robbery."

The black-robed War Sovereign countered, "If you truly didn't care, given your personality, you would have made your move long ago. Why wait until now to keep up the disguise?"

Gu Sha: "..."

Isn't this because your damn storytelling was too good at hooking people's curiosity?!

The black-robed War Sovereign continued, "Gu Sha, we really can talk. We can coexist peacefully. Stop pretending; keeping up this act now is pointless. You..."

"Go fuck yourself, why is communicating with you so—"

Gu Sha suddenly made his move. In that instant, the space within a hundred-meter radius trembled as heaven and earth shook. Space seemed to freeze, and a majestic power of time descended abruptly, violently jolting the surroundings. A terrifying aura erupted, blurring and distorting the rules and order of the cosmos.

The flow of time in the exact spot where the two Lin family War Sovereigns stood slowed down to a crawl.

In what felt like an imperceptible fraction of a second, Gu Sha materialized directly in front of the pair. He raised his leg and kicked the black-robed War Sovereign flying, swept the nuclear bomb into his spatial ring, and simultaneously erased the other party's origin energy imprinted on the weapon.

The very next instant, Gu Sha struck out with a palm toward the white-robed War Sovereign.

The white-robed War Sovereign hastily raised his arms to block, crashing against Gu Sha's palm.

With a loud *crack*,

the white-robed War Sovereign's arms snapped instantly, the force driving them back into his own chest. The immense impact shattered his ribcage, sending him hurtling backward as a torrent of blood spewed from his mouth.

"Hahaha, Gu Sha, you're still acting!"

The black-robed War Sovereign coughed up a mouthful of blood, scrambling out from a pile of ruins, and shouted, "You still claim you don't care about Earth's humanity? If you didn't care, would you have been so terrified of the nuclear bomb detonating?"

"My goodness!"

Gu Sha shattered the paving stones beneath his foot with a stomp, launching himself like a rocket right in front of the black-robed War Sovereign. He leaped into the air and brought his elbow down fiercely, slamming the black-robed War Sovereign flat against the ground and smashing a massive area of stone flooring to pieces.

"Brain-supplementing monster! Total brain-supplementing monster!"

Gu Sha swung his fists in a frenzy, pounding the black-robed War Sovereign until the man was barely breathing before finally stopping. He muttered in complaint, "Your imagination is truly boundless, going through so much trouble to whitewash me. I suppose I should thank you, huh? But seriously, you're thinking way too much, understand?"

The black-robed War Sovereign hung on by a thread, struggling to speak. "Stop acting, Gu Sha. You look truly loyal beneath a treacherous facade. No matter how much you disguise yourself, it's useless. You must negotiate with us..."

"Go to hell!"

Gu Sha kicked the black-robed War Sovereign unconscious, then rushed toward the white-robed War Sovereign, who was just then struggling to crawl back to his feet.

Seeing Gu Sha charge at him, the white-robed War Sovereign yelled in sheer terror, "Not too hard..."

*Thud.*

Gu Sha delivered a direct punch straight to the white-robed War Sovereign's face.

The white-robed War Sovereign crashed heavily to the ground, critically wounded and instantly knocked out cold.

Having taken care of both of them, Gu Sha finally let out a relaxed breath. After confiscating their spatial rings, he waved over a group of underlings to tie up the two War Sovereigns, then turned his gaze toward Lin Miaoyi, who was standing not far away, frozen in shock.

Lin Miaoyi shivered all over and blurted out in panic, "Don't hit me, don't hit me! I'll be very obedient!"

Even as she spoke, Lin Miaoyi obediently squatted down, extended her wrists, and actively submitted to being tied up. Yet, her eyes remained fixed unwaveringly on Gu Sha, and that gaze actually carried a profound look of heartache.

Meeting Lin Miaoyi's gaze, Gu Sha pointed at the unconscious black-robed War Sovereign and said speechlessly, "You can't possibly believe that old geezer's brain-damaged attempt to whitewash me, right?"

"No, no, I don't believe it! I believe you are truly a fierce bandit through and through, and a bad person!" Lin Miaoyi shook her head frantically.

Only then did Gu Sha turn away.

However, the very next moment, he heard Lin Miaoyi murmur softly, "Still... you won't always be alone. You have to believe that there will always be people walking alongside you!"

Gu Sha stumbled and nearly face-planted.

He truly had no idea where to even begin venting his frustration. He looked over at the human transcendents bound up as hostages, feeling that their expressions were somewhat off. Frowning, he asked, "You guys don't actually believe that old geezer's nonsense, do you? I tied you all up, I don't feed you properly, and I treat you like forced labor!"

"No way, we don't believe it!"

"That's right, we don't believe it at all!"

"We don't believe it, not a single bit."

"..."

Everyone shook their heads in frantic denial.

Yet Gu Sha still felt something was amiss. Picking up the live-streaming phone from the ground, he announced, "I'm making an announcement: the hostages will not be released. The Lin family, the Wu family, the Flying Sword Sect, and the Crimson Gold Crane Clan broke the rules. They promised one hand delivers the ransom while the other receives the hostage, yet they secretly dispatched seven War Sovereigns to launch a sneak attack. Therefore, I'm keeping the hostages, and the ransom just went up!"

The live stream's chat box suddenly erupted with a torrential flood of comments:

"Raise the ransom! Raise it! You must raise the price for the Slaughter God!"

"Increase the ransom massively!"

"Slaughter God, I'm coming to the Taihang Mountains tomorrow! Tie me up too, see if you can trade me for more cash!"

"Right, right, I'm coming tomorrow too!"

"Count me in, count me in!"

"Ah, Slaughter God, tomorrow I'm bringing my whole family for you to tie up!"

"..."