Haining Prefecture in the Plot World had long since become a living hell.
The entire dynasty's most brutal Three Offices officials had all crammed into this small coastal city.
Simply finding places for these people to stay had forced the city's wealthy merchants to surrender their fortunes; their residences were confiscated, and their wives and daughters were forcibly taken as maids.
But there were simply too many members of the Royal Clan. This small city, already ravaged by exploitation, was completely paralyzed in less than half a day.
Large numbers of Grandmaster Servant Players ran rampant through the streets and alleys, carrying off anything that caught their eye to decorate the Royal Clan's residences.
The commoners were seized in batches and made into slaves, or even tortured outright for amusement.
A high platform had been erected in the city center.
The streets were packed with kneeling citizens. No one dared raise their heads, and no one dared make a sound.
Several members of the Royal Clan drank and exchanged toasts atop the platform, their table covered with delicacies and fine wine.
A burly blond, blue-eyed man smiled as he drew an arrow from the quiver beside him. He casually weighed it in his hand, barely aimed, and threw it.
The arrow became a black streak, tearing through the air with a shriek before instantly piercing the head of a child at the entrance to a side alley.
A stifled gasp rippled through the crowd, but no one dared move.
On the surrounding rooftops, expressionless Servant Players stood like wooden stakes. The crushing pressure of Grandmasters bore down, pinning the citizens in place.
"Mr. Hoshino, I hit another one. Your turn!" Orona said with a laugh, raising his luminous wine cup toward the short man opposite him.
Hoshino Taki's face was cold as iron. He did not even bother responding, his eyes filled with disgust. "I got tired of this game a long time ago.
If you ask me, we might as well just order a massacre. Orona, I have had enough of the discrimination in the Heavens Tower. Before leaving this world, I will slaughter ten cities to vent my anger!"
Orona shrugged, unconcerned. "Mr. Hoshino, the arrival of a great creation like the Heavens Tower means a new era has begun. Civilization cannot remain unchanged forever. This kind of change is beyond our power to stop. Rather than resist it, we should learn to adapt. Besides, those higher worlds stopped caring about race long ago. Among countless species, humanity is our shared identity."
"Hmph, so what?" Hoshino Taki's face was full of contempt. He could not be bothered to waste another word on someone like Orona, who lacked any cultural identity.
Orona smiled teasingly. "Speaking of which, there is a Fusang Island overseas in this world. Your fellow countrymen live there, yet I have not seen you show them any particular affection."
Hoshino Taki's face immediately flushed crimson. He abruptly rose to his feet. "You... Hmph! Clean them all out!"
With a sweep of his sleeve, he issued the order in a harsh voice.
The Servant Players on the rooftops, who had been standing like wooden stakes, instantly seemed to have been switched on. True Qi erupted from them, and vast pressure crashed down, forcing the kneeling citizens flat to the ground, blood spilling from their mouths.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sword light rained down from the sky like a torrential storm.
The sky above all of Haining Prefecture was obscured by sword light, dense and countless enough to make one's scalp tingle.
Wherever the sword light fell, the Grandmaster Servant Players on the rooftops were struck one after another. The penetrating power of these sword lights was terrifying; Grandmaster True Qi protecting their bodies was little more than paper, and two or three streaks were often enough to nail a Grandmaster Servant Player to the spot.
The entire city trembled.
The commoners froze at first, then someone shouted, "Immortals have descended! The immortals have come to save us!"
The sounds of crying and prayer immediately rose in unison below.
The expressions of the Royal Clan members on the platform changed drastically. Just as they were about to act, a System Panel popped up before their eyes, displaying a cold command.
Although they did not understand why the director had suddenly issued such an order, they still decided to obey it.
Mission failed! Execute the command!
In a grand residence in the west of the city, several Royal Clan men and women who had just been indulging in luxury no longer cared about the terrified servants fleeing through the estate.
They removed the Storage Bags from their bodies and lined them up neatly on the long table before them. Then they sat cross-legged as the True Qi in their bodies began to reverse violently, thunderous rumbles echoing through their meridians.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Clouds of blood mist exploded from their bodies at the same time, and they collapsed limply.
The waiting Servant Players stepped forward expressionlessly, collected the Storage Bags, packed the corpses into specially made bags as well, then flashed away toward the outskirts of the city.
The same scene unfolded simultaneously in hidden residences throughout Haining Prefecture.
High in the sky, Wang Xuan hovered in midair, a gleam flashing through his pitch-black eyes.
At this moment, all of Haining Prefecture lay completely exposed before his eyes.
Gray-black murky aura covered the entire city like dense sores. It was the resentment and death aura left behind by the Royal Clan's rampage over the past several days.
Beyond that were powerful auras shooting into the heavens, each one representing a Grandmaster Servant Player.
Most conspicuous of all were more than thirty auras clearly far stronger than the rest. Intertwining together, they enveloped the entire city tightly and stirred the Wind and Cloud into chaos, though these auras were rapidly dissipating.
"Mystic Pupil, open."
He shouted inwardly, and a trace of ink-black color quietly emerged in his already deep pupils.
In an instant, his vision penetrated the layers upon layers of houses and rooftops below. With a thought, his viewpoint rapidly zoomed in, and every corner of the city came into perfect view.
This was the Mystic Pupil Supernatural Power, one of the Nine Divine Abilities of the Black Heaven Book. It could see through objects, expose illusions, and condense pupil swords.
On his way here, Wang Xuan had already fully upgraded the Black Heaven Book.
Speaking of which, the cultivation method of the Black Heaven Book was completely different from other Divine Arts.
As the Calamity Master cultivating the Black Heaven Book, one could not actually wield the Nine Divine Abilities. He could only open the Hidden Meridians, increase his cultivation, skip the stages of "refining essence into qi and refining qi into spirit," and directly refine the spirit.
To cultivate the Black Heaven Book, one first had to find the thirty-one Hidden Meridians in the body that differed from ordinary meridians, from which Calamity Power would be born.
Once these thirty-one Hidden Meridians were opened, Calamity Power would automatically circulate without rest.
As for the nine types of Supernatural Power, they were actually special abilities that could only be wielded after Hidden Meridian Calamity Power was infused into another person's body, allowing that person to develop a Calamity Sea. That infused person was called a Calamity Slave.
The cultivation of the Black Heaven Book had four iron laws, every word as unyielding as steel:
No master, no slave: A Calamity Slave's life and death were entirely bound to the Calamity Master. Only while the Calamity Master lived could Calamity Power be sustained; once the Calamity Master died, the Calamity Slave would surely die as well.
Borrowed power must be repaid: A Calamity Slave's use of Calamity Power was essentially a "loan." The Calamity Power used had to be repaid with the Calamity Master's exclusive True Qi. Failure to repay it would trigger the Black Heaven Calamity—excruciating itch, emptiness, intense pain, bodily explosion... each consequence worse than the last.
Without rest, without end: Once the thirty-one Hidden Meridians were opened, Calamity Power would automatically circulate without cease. So long as Calamity Power remained, the Black Heaven Calamity would hang forever above one's head, following like a shadow.
What goes around comes around: The status of a Calamity Slave would be inherited for three generations. If the parents were slaves, their children would inevitably be slaves as well. Passed down generation after generation, there was no escaping it.
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