Heavens' Laughter-Chapter 112: Explosion

Before the Crane Emperor could even lift his head, he suddenly found his vision spinning.

His eyes widened in shock as he realized he was looking at the world upside down—his head had been cleanly severed by a razor-thin arc of pure Qi.

The Crane Emperor’s mouth hung open in a silent gasp of disbelief, his final expression frozen in a mixture of terror and incomprehension.

The disembodied head plummeted from the sky, tumbling in slow motion.

Silence gripped the air, broken only by the sight of the headless body slumping off the mount and hurtled to the earth below.

For a moment, the soldiers and officers were too stunned to react.

Then, as if a dam had broken, chaos erupted.

Shouts of fear and panic filled the air as the men scrambled in disarray, their disciplined formation collapsing in an instant.

"His Majesty is dead!" one soldier screamed.

"What... What kind of monster is he!?" another stammered, his voice cracking.

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All eyes turned to the young man, who stood casually atop his cloud, his expression unreadable, as if the gruesome act he had just committed was of no consequence.

The officers, now pale and trembling, tried to shout orders, but their voices were drowned out by the panicked cries of their men.

"Calm down, all of you!"

"Do not leave formation!"

"You fools!"

Mounts reared and bucked, soldiers stumbled, and weapons were dropped as the realization of their vulnerability swept over them like a tidal wave.

Seeing the disarray and the growing fear among the ranks, one of the officers clenched his fists and bit the bullet.

"Kill this wretch who dared slay the Emperor! Let us take his head to the Emperor’s grave when we lay him to rest!" His voice echoed through the chaos, cutting through the panic like a blade.

The sudden outburst drew all attention to the officer, and for a brief moment, the panic subsided, replaced by a burning desire for revenge.

After all, the officer’s rallying cry ignited a spark of courage—or perhaps blind fury—among the soldiers.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" one man cried.

"AVENGE HIS MAJESTY!" another shouted.

One by one, they roared in agreement, their fear drowned out by their collective war cries.

Without waiting for proper orders or strategy, the soldiers rushed forward in a chaotic, frenzied formation, weapons drawn and mounts charging ahead.

Feng Shen remained unmoved. His golden eyes narrowed slightly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Pathetic," he muttered under his breath. "Blind rage won’t save you."

He raised his hand lazily, the air around him shimmering with the gathering of Qi.

As the first wave of soldiers arrived near…

Feng Shen, with a subtle flick of his wrist, the Qi surrounding him condensed into a shimmering, blade-like arc of energy that shot forward with unrelenting precision.

In an instant, the leading soldiers were decapitated, their heads severed cleanly from their bodies.

Their lifeless forms crumpled mid-stride, falling like ragdolls as blood sprayed into the air.

More soldiers charged forward. However, it was as if they were marching into the jaws of death itself.

Feng Shen repeated his motion, the ethereal blade of Qi slashing through the air like an executioner’s scythe.

The second wave met the same fate, their heads tumbling from their shoulders as if they were nothing more than wheat being harvested.

And yet, the soldiers continued.

Wave after wave rushed toward Feng Shen, their weapons raised, their faces twisted with desperation and defiance.

But no matter how many came, no matter how loudly they screamed, the result was the same.

Heads rolled. Bodies fell.

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Amidst the carnage, the officers at the rear exchanged frantic glances.

The sight of the young man effortlessly decimating their soldiers left them trembling.

The officers knew they were no match for this monstrous force, and staying would only mean certain death.

In hushed urgency, they began breaking emergency talismans tucked into their robes.

These talismans, imbued with ancient formations, emitted brilliant flashes of light as they disintegrated.

Each officer activated their own, calling upon reinforcements from the Crane Empire and their powerful families.

They knew this was a critical moment… A threat of this magnitude could not be ignored.

This young man wasn’t just an obstacle; he was a calamity that endangered their empire’s very foundation.

As they had done so, the officers subtly edged their mounts backward, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the battle.

They kept their movements deliberate and slow, masking their retreat to avoid drawing the young man’s attention.

"Leave the soldiers to distract him. We must ensure the empire’s survival!" one officer muttered very quietly.

The other officers nodded their heads.

In their heads, this retreat was not without shame, but in their minds, survival and summoning help outweighed the honor of staying to fight a losing battle.

Unfortunately for the officers, Feng Shen was not a man to let his prey escape.

Despite his apparent boredom with the futile onslaught of soldiers, he had a predator’s keen eye, and his targets were always within his sights.

As Feng Shen lazily yawned, his movements contradicted his demeanor.

His Qi blade danced through the air with terrifying precision, cutting down waves of soldiers with effortless sweeps.

Blood sprayed in arcs as the bodies of the fallen piled high down below.

Yet Feng Shen’s gaze wasn’t fixated on the soldiers—it was locked onto the retreating officers.

A smirk played across his face. "Running already?" he murmured.

With a light tap of his foot on the cloud beneath him, Feng Shen propelled himself forward, his speed increasing exponentially.

The soldiers before him were snuffed out in an instant as he sliced through them with disdainful ease.

Their screams and cries faded into the background.

The officers, now some distance away, felt the hairs on their necks stand on end. A palpable wave of killing intent washed over them, causing their mounts to falter and let out roars.

"What the fuck!? Move, you stupid beast!" one of the officers barked, his voice trembling as he viciously whipped the reins of his mount.

The other officers mirrored his panic, frantically lashing at their mounts, urging them to flee faster.

Their breaths came in ragged gasps.

Suddenly, a whistle cut through the desperate shouts.

It was a sound so unnatural that it froze their blood and silenced their cries.

One officer, shaking from head to toe, dared to glance back, his heart pounding like a war drum.

The sight that greeted him made his knees buckle in terror. "No... no... this can’t be real," he stammered, his voice barely audible.

Feng Shen was gliding effortlessly on his cloud. His golden eyes had no color in them.

His smirk was gone, replaced by a chilling calm that was far more terrifying.

"He… he’s death itself…" another officer choked out, his face as pale as a ghost.

Panic fully consumed one of the officers as the young man’s approach tore away his composure.

Desperation clawed at him, and with trembling hands, he fumbled through his robes, retrieving a stack of talismans.

"Explode! Explode! Explode!" the officer screamed hysterically, his voice cracking as he hurled the explosives one after another.

Each talisman detonated with a deafening roar, sending shockwaves in all directions.

The other officers shielded themselves, their mounts buckling under the sudden barrage of heat and force.

Smoke filled the air, choking them and obscuring their vision.

"He’s dead... He has to be dead!" the panicked officer muttered under his breath, sweat pouring down his face.

His hands moved with frantic speed as he threw his highest-grade explosives, ignoring the toll on his own reserves.

A cloud of fire and dust enveloped the area where the young man had been.

For a moment, there was silence…

The officer dared to hope. "I did it... I must have—"

Before he could finish, a faint, mocking chuckle came through the smoke.

All the officers’ eyes widened in horror as the haze parted, revealing the young man, completely unharmed.

"Well~ that was pointless, wasn’t it?" Feng Shen disappeared from his spot in an instant.

Before anyone could even register his movement, he was standing atop the panicked officer’s mount.

The officer barely had time to gasp before Feng Shen snatched one of the talismans from his trembling hands.

Where he then pressed the talisman against the officer’s forehead in a fluid, almost playful motion:

"Let me show you how these things should be used."

In the next heartbeat, Feng Shen was back on his cloud.

And then it happened.

A deafening explosion tore through the air, consuming the officer and his mount in a violent blaze of fire and smoke.

As the smoke cleared, all that remained was the acrid scent of burnt flesh and the faint shimmer of Qi in the air.

All eyes immediately shifted to the scene before returning to the young man.

Feng Shen spread his arms wide, a playful grin on his face:

"Now that’s what I call an explosion!"