Grave Robbing? It Was Approved by the Emperor!

Three days later.

West City Cemetery.

Before dawn had fully broken, the clamor shattered the morning silence.

Six large carts were lined up in a row.

Five burly men stood beside each cart.

Some carried shovels, some held crowbars, and some had hammers tucked into their belts.

One look was enough to tell they were skilled fighters.

A man stood at the cemetery entrance.

He was tall, and his features bore a seventy-percent resemblance to Xiao Yu's.

It was Xiao Chenyu!

Though he was a low-ranking Celestial Dragon, a Celestial Dragon was still a Celestial Dragon.

Mere commoners meant nothing in his eyes!

That was how he behaved at twelve.

Now that he was seventeen, he still behaved the same way!

Farther away stood a dense sea of people.

Most of them were commoners from the old district.

"Young Master Xiao, you can't do this! Nuoding City's ancestors are buried here. You can't touch this place, you can't!"

An elderly man with a head full of white hair stood trembling at the front of the crowd, leaning on a cane.

"That's right! You can't demolish it!"

"These are ancestral graves! Who can tear down someone's ancestral graves whenever they please?"

"Even the City Lord's Mansion can't bully people like this!"

The outraged commoners cried out one after another.

"Demolishing the cemetery is for Nuoding City's development."

"Once the tourist attraction is built, you'll benefit from it too."

"This is a wonderful thing that benefits the country and the people. Why can't you people understand that?"

Xiao Chenyu spoke lazily, as though coaxing children.

"What development? What benefit to the country and the people?"

"My grandfather is buried here. My father is buried here. You say you'll tear it down, so you tear it down? Are you even human?"

The old man's beard trembled with rage.

"Old fool, watch your mouth."

"I'll say it one more time. This is an order from the City Lord's Mansion!"

"My father has already pulled strings, and the higher-ups approved it. You people standing here won't stop us!"

"I'll give you three minutes to disperse on your own. Don't force me to use force."

The smile on Xiao Chenyu's face faded slightly.

No one moved.

No one stepped back.

Instead, the crowd pressed forward, blocking the cemetery entrance even more tightly.

"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."

Xiao Chenyu sighed and lightly waved his right hand.

The burly men behind him moved at once.

Like hunting dogs released from their cages, they charged forward without hesitation.

Black hammerheads smashed down on the gravestones!

Dark shovels kicked up clouds of dust.

The commoners' fury erupted completely at that moment!

Some tried to rush forward to stop them, only to be shoved to the ground by the burly men.

Others rushed up, only to be kicked flying by Xiao Chenyu!

Chaos!

Chaos was everywhere.

The sounds of shovels digging through earth and gravestones breaking.

The wails of the elderly, the weak, women, and children mingled with wild laughter, churning and boiling over the cemetery.

Just then, a gaunt figure rushed out from the crowd.

Jiang Tao.

He rushed before Xiao Chenyu and spread his arms.

It was not an attacking stance. He was using his own body to shield the cemetery behind him.

"Stop!"

"Young Master Xiao, Young Master Xiao! I beg you, don't tear down the Jiang family graves!"

"If Jiang Ming comes back and sees that the ancestral graves are gone, he..."

Jiang Tao raised his head, his face filled with pleading.

Xiao Chenyu looked down at Jiang Tao, then glanced at the gravestone not far away.

One kick!

A swift, decisive kick!

Without the slightest hesitation!

The gravestone snapped in response!

A faint character for "Jiang" split into two halves.

Jiang Tao froze, no longer knowing what to say.

"I'm digging it up. What can he do to me?"

Xiao Chenyu slowly turned around and raised his right foot again.

His movement was unhurried, even somewhat careless, as if he were kicking aside a stone in the road.

Crack!

The bone-chilling sound of breaking bones was especially clear even amid the noisy cemetery.

Jiang Tao's body tilted, and he fell to the ground.

His left leg was broken!

Xiao Chenyu had kicked it apart!

The tremendous pain drained the color from Jiang Tao's face, and cold sweat covered his forehead.

Yet he neither screamed nor begged for mercy.

He raised his head and glared fiercely at Xiao Chenyu.

The flames in his eyes had not gone out. Instead, they burned even hotter.

"You... you'll suffer retribution!"

"You're touching other people's ancestral graves. You'll suffer retribution!"

"That child will come back. He'll come back for you! Just wait, just wait!"

Seeing this man with a broken leg still shouting threats, Xiao Chenyu suddenly laughed.

It was neither an angry laugh nor a cold one.

It was the laughter of someone genuinely amused.

As if he had witnessed some ridiculous performance.

"Retribution?"

"Look carefully. The people I brought are working, while you're lying on the ground with a broken leg."

"Who is suffering retribution?"

Xiao Chenyu's laughter was shrill, like needles piercing the ears of everyone present.

"That child you mentioned is called Jiang Ming, right?"

"If he could come back, he would have returned long ago."

"It's been five years. There probably aren't even any bones left."

"You're guarding this lousy grave for him. Can he crawl out of the ground to thank you?"

"Hahaha!"

Xiao Chenyu brushed dust that did not exist from his sleeve, then waved toward the people behind him.

"Keep tearing it down."

The shovels came down again.

Scoop after scoop of earth was flung up, falling over the gravestone fragments and the shattered coffins.

Jiang Tao lay facedown on the ground, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes as he watched his family's ancestral graves being dug up.

Those were not just Jiang Ming's ancestral graves. They were the ancestral graves of all of them!

Jiang Tao shouted himself hoarse, but his voice was swallowed by the noisy digging.

The surrounding crowd remained silent.

No one dared step forward to stop them again.

They could only watch helplessly.

Watch as the ancestral graves were leveled.

Watch as the gravestones were smashed apart.

Watch as their ancestors' coffins were pried open.

Xiao Chenyu still stood with his arms folded, that careless smile hanging at the corner of his lips.

"You... will suffer retribution."

Jiang Tao used the last of his strength to repeat those words.

"Fine. I'll wait."

Xiao Chenyu waved his hand as though shooing away a fly.

By the time the sun set, the cemetery in western Nuoding City had vanished completely.

All that remained was a level expanse of open ground, without even the shadow of a gravestone.

The broken stone tablets, rotten coffin boards, and scattered bones had all been loaded onto the carts...

As for where they would be dumped, no one knew!

One year later.

West of Nuoding City.

Torrential rain!

Rain poured down in sheets from the lead-gray sky!

The gloomy weather seemed to foretell something ominous.

A figure stood before an ornate pavilion.

He held no umbrella.

Rainwater streamed from the tips of his hair, slid along the contours of his face, and dripped from his chin to the ground.

Jiang Ming.

Thirteen-year-old Jiang Ming.

He had grown considerably taller than when he left.

The childishness had long faded from his face, replaced by a coldness and composure that did not match his age.

At this moment, only one expression remained on that cold face.

Gloom.

And killing intent forcibly suppressed!

His parents' graves...

Were gone!

In their place stood a pavilion!

Or rather, the entire West City Cemetery was gone!