Reckoning, and My Mercy

The valley was terrifyingly quiet.

The air still carried the dragon's might that had seemed capable of incinerating all things, along with... an inescapably thick terror.

Gao Yan lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog with its tendons cut, gasping for breath. The relief of surviving the disaster had not yet reached his face before it was frozen by an even more piercing chill.

The Mengli Squad was no better off. Their faces were pale, their eyes unfocused, as though their entire worldview was being rebuilt after a magnitude-twelve earthquake.

Everyone's gaze instinctively converged on the figure standing with his back to them.

Han Yuchen.

He stood amid the starlight, like a god.

Just as everyone's minds were still a complete mess, Han Yuchen moved.

He stepped out from the dark cave entrance.

Step.

The soft sound was like a heavy hammer smashing brutally into everyone's hearts.

The Jade Eyed Fox, which had been so imposing just moments ago, now tucked its tail and voluntarily followed behind him.

It lowered its head and followed closely, like the most loyal guard.

Step.

Another step.

Han Yuchen walked slowly. The interval between every step seemed precisely calculated, perfectly landing on the weakest beat of everyone's hearts.

Pressure.

An invisible pressure, more suffocating than the Earth Dragon King's dragon might from before.

Dragon's might was a natural disaster, impossible to resist.

But the pressure before them was a man-made calamity—a death notice aimed at every single one of them.

"Thud!"

Gao Yan was, after all, a Soul Ancestor. He was the first to recover from his extreme terror.

His desire to survive overwhelmed everything else.

He scrambled over to Han Yuchen and exhausted all his strength to drop to one knee before him.

That action drained away the last shred of dignity he possessed as a Soul Ancestor.

"Sir... no! My lord!"

His voice trembled like a fallen leaf in an autumn wind.

"We failed to recognize greatness and offended Your Excellency's might! Please spare our worthless lives!"

As he spoke, he frantically kowtowed, his forehead slamming against the hard rocks with dull thuds until blood soon flowed.

"My Gao Family is willing to offer all our wealth! Everything! We only beg that you leave us a way to live!"

The Gao Family Soul Elders behind him also snapped awake as if from a dream. They hurriedly followed suit, dropping to their knees and kowtowing wildly.

For a time, the valley contained nothing but the sounds of kowtowing and heavy breathing.

Han Yuchen's gaze passed over Gao Yan, who was trembling as he kowtowed, and fell upon Gao Feng behind him, supported by a clansman.

That brat was kneeling too, his body shaking violently. Yet beyond the fear in his eyes lay a trace of venomous resentment that he could not conceal.

Heh, still holding a grudge.

What a pathetic little brat, number one at remembering grudges.

Han Yuchen stopped before Gao Yan.

He looked down at the Soul Ancestor who had been so high-spirited moments ago. His tone was calm, giving no hint of joy or anger.

"Oh? All your wealth?"

Gao Yan abruptly raised his head, wild delight bursting from his eyes.

There was hope!

He thought the other party had been tempted!

"Yes! Yes! Everything!"

He nodded like a woodpecker.

"I have three shops in southern Nuoding City, two hundred mu of fertile land outside the city, and every Soul Tool and all our savings in the family treasury! All of it will be offered to you, my lord!"

To survive, he had sold off his entire fortune.

As Han Yuchen listened, a gentle smile slowly appeared on his face.

He lightly shook his head.

"Wealth is something I can take for myself."

Gao Yan's expression instantly froze.

"However..."

Han Yuchen changed the subject, and his smile seemed almost warm.

"I have always been merciful."

"I do not like killing."

Merciful?

Did not like killing?

Those words exploded beside the Gao Family members' ears like heavenly music!

They could hardly believe what they had heard!

The immense delight made their bodies go limp. Some even collapsed to the ground and wept with joy.

We survived!

We can survive!

Gao Yan was so excited that he could barely speak coherently.

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you for sparing us! Your great kindness, my Gao Family..."

His thanks came to an abrupt stop.

Because Han Yuchen's next words were like a sharp blade tempered in ice a hundred million years old, stabbing into the depths of every one of their souls.

The smile on Han Yuchen's face remained unchanged, but his voice suddenly turned bone-chillingly cold.

"So, I have decided to cripple all of your Martial Souls and Soul Power."

"You can live out the rest of your lives as ordinary people."

He paused, as if admiring the way the expressions on their faces instantly shifted from wild joy to horror, before leisurely delivering the final blow.

"See? How merciful I am."

Boom!!!

Those words were ten thousand times crueler than sentencing them directly to death!

To Soul Masters, Martial Souls and Soul Power were everything! Their status, their dignity, the entire meaning of their lives!

Crippling their Martial Souls was worse than killing them!

He was going to kick them down from the clouds into the filthiest mud!

A fate worse than death!

The valley fell deathly silent.

Every member of the Gao Family looked as though they had been immobilized. The color drained from their faces at a visible rate, leaving only the ghastly pallor of corpses.

"You... you little bastard!"

A hoarse, shrill roar like that of a vengeful ghost shattered the silence.

It was Gao Feng!

The extreme terror and humiliation had finally snapped the taut string inside him completely!

"How dare you?! My Gao Family serves Skywater City's City Lord! If you dare touch us, the City Lord's Mansion will never let you go!!"

He looked completely deranged as he struggled to rise.

Han Yuchen could not even be bothered to spare him a glance.

He merely tilted his head slightly toward the Jade Eyed Fox that was quietly crouching behind him.

It was an extremely subtle gesture.

An order.

The next moment.

Whoosh!

A silver flash, so fast it seemed like an illusion!

Splurt!

Gao Feng's roar was abruptly cut off, as though an invisible hand had seized his throat.

A claw mark deep enough to expose bone appeared across his neck.

Blood gushed out wildly like a burst dam.

He clutched his neck in disbelief. His body swayed before crashing heavily to the ground, his eyes bulging wide, unable to rest in peace.

Warm blood splattered across Gao Yan's face.

He was completely dumbfounded.

Han Yuchen looked at Gao Feng's twitching corpse, his tone as calm as if he were commenting on the weather.

"Apparently, he did not like my 'mercy.'"

That casually spoken sentence became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

"Ah—!"

The remaining Gao Family members' mental defenses completely collapsed!

They looked at the still-warm corpse, then at the expressionless youth and the Jade Eyed Fox whose claws still dripped with blood.

Terror drowned their reason.

"Spare us, my lord! Please spare us!"

"We were wrong! We truly were wrong!"

They kowtowed even harder, their faces smeared with snot and tears. They no longer dared harbor the slightest thought of resistance.

Han Yuchen did not give them another chance to speak.

Kill the chicken to warn the monkeys.

The chicken had already been killed.

Now, it was the monkeys' turn.

He slowly raised his right hand.

The purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring suddenly lit up.

Second Soul Skill, Blade of Flowing Water.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Several pale-blue water blades, thin as cicada wings, condensed to the utmost degree.

They made no sound as they swept through the Dantian Qi Sea of every Gao Family member with the precision of Death God's scythe.

"Urgh..."

A series of suppressed groans rang out.

Gao Yan and the others felt a chill in their lower abdomens. Then, the Soul Power surging endlessly within them began pouring out frantically like air escaping from a punctured balloon.

They could clearly feel the bloodline connection between themselves and their Martial Souls being severed inch by inch by an irresistible, razor-sharp force!

Less than three seconds later.

Everything was settled.

Gao Yan and the others lay sprawled on the ground, their faces ashen and their eyes hollow.

They had become cripples.

Thoroughly, completely crippled.

Han Yuchen waved his hand as though chasing away a few buzzing flies.

"Get lost."

"Go back and tell whoever runs the Gao Family that if they want revenge, they can come find me in the Star Dou Great Forest anytime."

"But next time, I will do more than merely cripple your Martial Souls."

The Gao Family members felt as though they had been granted amnesty. Ignoring the agonizing pain in their bodies, they fled from this nightmare they would never forget for the rest of their lives, scrambling away on all fours.

To one side.

The members of the Mengli Squad had witnessed everything from beginning to end.

They stood there without daring to move, even deliberately softening their breathing.

Every one of them felt a chill down their backs.

Relief.

Unparalleled relief.

Relief that they had made the correct choice.

The youth before them looked young and harmless.

Yet that indifference with which he decided people's life and death while chatting and smiling, that method of wrapping the cruelest punishment in "mercy"...

This was a demon king wearing human skin!

Han Yuchen watched the Gao Family members' pathetic retreating backs without the slightest ripple in his eyes.

He slowly turned around and looked once more toward the dark cave.

Deep inside, the Star Fragment emitted a soft glow, as if waiting for its true master.

The small fry had been dealt with.

Now, it was time to enjoy the real feast.