"!!"
The old man was stunned at first. Then his whole body suddenly shook, and the anger on his face froze in an instant, giving way to shock and despair—as if some unfathomably ancient secret had just been exposed.
He opened his mouth, seemingly still wanting to explain something.
But as his gaze slowly swept over the distance and the surrounding area, taking in the bodies of his disciples and junior fellow students, and as he thought of the unspeakable secrets hidden in the back hills of his sect, all the excuses he had prepared instantly caught in his throat.
"..."
He was silent for a long time. At last, he shook his head and let out a laugh from deep in his throat, shrill and despairing.
"Ha... Hahahaha!"
"So that's how it is... So that's how it is!"
"Hahahahaha—"
"Cough, cough—"
He laughed until he nearly choked on his own saliva. After a series of wheezing coughs, he finally managed to stop.
Then a glint of madness and venom flashed in his eyes. He stared fixedly at Daiyu and Tanchun in the courtyard and spoke in a hollow voice:
"That's right. I nearly forgot, after all these years..."
"How many years has it been..."
"That's right!"
"By the damned laws of the Heavenly Court as they stand today... every one of us in this sect truly deserves to die a thousand deaths!"
"But—"
His tone abruptly shifted, turning sinister. He even took the opportunity to issue a menacing threat:
"You two ignorant little girls, do you know what terrifying beings you've provoked by wiping out my Qing Nang Sect today?"
"Are you not afraid?!"
At that, Tanchun arched her brows and replied coldly:
"Not at all!"
"We don't want to know whom we might provoke, or whose people we've