"Boom!!!"
A terrifying shock wave roared outward like a mountain torrent bursting its banks. In an instant, the entire Xiao Manor was blasted to smithereens.
Smoke and dust billowed like thick fog. Only after a long while did the view gradually clear.
The once-grand, luxurious Xiao Manor had been reduced to nothing but ruins.
The ground was pitted and cracked with countless fissures. Muddy water flowed everywhere, while splintered plants, broken bricks, and shattered tiles lay scattered across the ground.
The ancestral hall.
The ancient pine in the courtyard and the grand hall with its double-eaved hip-and-gable roof had both vanished without a trace. On the surviving foundation lay only a toppled statue.
The robe that had originally covered it had been reduced to ashes in the explosion.
Beneath it, Xiao Shou had been ground to dust. His remains drifted into the surrounding haze of debris, leaving not the faintest trace behind.
Neither "Yu" nor the Crimson Powder Bride could be seen.
Night had fallen, dark and lightless.
Yin Qi filled the entire ruin, as if it had plunged into an ice cellar.
At the site of the rear courtyard, two lanterns made of human skin suddenly lit up. Their ghastly white bone-fire illuminated a dignified figure adorned with pearls and emeralds.
The Xiao Family's Mistress floated in midair, her face hidden behind a mask smooth as a mirror. Servant girls appeared one after another, near and far, gathering around her.
In the darkness, the bone-fire reflected off mask after mask without a single feature, casting a cold, eerie gleam.
After a long while, a crack suddenly appeared in the Divine Statue of Zhou in the ancestral hall.
In the next instant, the aura of immense dread and calamity that had filled the place began to dissipate at great speed.