Crushed into a Sheet of Paper!

"Crack."

A soft sound rang out.

It was the sound of a skull being crushed.

His facial features twisted and warped, eventually collapsing into a single plane.

In less than ten breaths.

Qin Aotian disappeared.

In his place was a humanoid "sheet of paper."

His appearance could still vaguely be made out on that "paper."

His terrified features resembled a crude portrait, casually smeared across a surface as thin as a cicada's wing.

Fragments of bone formed mottled patterns across the paper, like some bizarre form of papercut art.

Jiang Ming withdrew his hand.

The black fourth Soul Ring dimmed, once more floating quietly around him.

Outside the window, the rain began to fall again, pattering against the lattice.

A gust of wind blew in, sweeping up the humanoid "paper" and carrying it into a corner.

It was too light, as light as a cicada's shed skin, like a dead leaf.

Jiang Ming did not spare it another glance.

His figure vanished directly into the curtain of rain, reappearing dozens of meters away.

The pavilion atop the mountain stood in the rain.

The City Lord's Mansion had renovated this place more than once, and it had become the most conspicuous structure on the mountain.

Jiang Ming landed before the pavilion.

Rainwater ran down from the tips of his hair, soaking his eyes.

Yet he did not blink.

This was the place.

The place where his parents' remains had once been buried.

Now, a pavilion had been built here to shelter wealthy merchants and nobles sightseeing in the mountains from sun and rain.

His right hand slowly rose.

Silver-gray light flared from his palm once more, more violent and more undisguised than before.

Every raindrop within several dozen meters was blasted away, creating a vacuum.

The fourth Soul Ring illuminated half of Jiang Ming's face.

"Space Compression."

Boom!

The entire pavilion was compressed into a ball in an instant.

Stone, wood, tiles, iron nails...

All the materials were kneaded together by terrifying spatial force, squeezed, crushed, and pulverized.

The pavilion, which had once accommodated more than ten people resting in the shade, had now become a solid sphere floating in midair.

The sphere's surface was covered in cracks, traces left behind by countless materials being forcibly compressed.

Jiang Ming curled his five fingers.

The sphere shattered soundlessly, turning into powder.

The powder was soaked by rain and mixed into the mud.

Nothing remained.

Jiang Ming stood in that clearing and turned to look toward the City Lord's Mansion.

That lavish estate, spanning dozens of acres, remained brightly lit even beneath the torrential rain.

Jiang Ming simply stared at it.

Then...

Killing intent!

It was a murderous aura that had nearly solidified, spreading outward from his body.

The silver-gray light was no longer a ripple, but a Storm.

Centered on him, the rain was pushed away layer by layer.

Ten meters, twenty meters, fifty meters...

Every raindrop within that range came to a halt in midair!

"City Lord's Mansion."

Jiang Ming's voice was terrifyingly calm, as though he were reciting a dead man's name.

The rain poured down in torrents.

Yet the City Lord's Mansion was brilliantly lit.

Servants carrying oil-paper umbrellas hurried between courtyards, delivering plates of pastries and jars of fine wine to the main hall.

The banquet had yet to officially begin, but more than half the guests had already arrived.

"Brother Liu, this year, the ticket revenue from that mountain scenic area alone must be worth more than the city's total tax revenue in previous years, right?"

Xiao Chen held a wine cup, his face glowing red.

"Wasn't it all thanks to Brother Xiao's boldness? If you hadn't made the call back then, could that ruined cemetery have become what it is today?"

Liu Feng drained his cup in one gulp.

"Uncle Xiao was far-sighted. I heard that two more groups of wealthy merchants from other places arrived today, specifically for the pavilion at the mountain peak."

Liu Long echoed from the side.

"That pavilion's location is simply a work of heaven. Looking down from there, all of Nuoding City lies in view. Those rich people love that sort of thing."

Ling Tian held a cup of fine wine, his face full of smiles.

"What happened to those commoners who caused trouble later?"

"I remember that there were still several families kneeling outside our gates last month."

The speaker was a woman decked in jewels.

Her name was Qin Yue, and she was Xiao Chenyu's mother.

"What else could happen? Beat them once, and they behaved."

"A bunch of dirt-legged peasants. Their ancestral graves had been lying on the mountain for decades, taking up space and offending the eye."

"Now that the scenic area has been built, the whole city benefits from it, yet those few act as though they have been wronged."

Xiao Chen raised his brows without even lifting his eyelids.

"Exactly."

"How could matters concerning the dead compare to matters concerning the living? Brother Xiao handled this splendidly. Those people simply do not know their place."

Liu Feng nodded.

"Father, Uncle Liu, Uncle Ling, I also invited two distinguished guests today."

Xiao Chenyu raised his wine cup, his face carrying the particular arrogance of youth.

"Oh?"

Xiao Chen looked at his son in surprise.

"Tang San and Xiao Wu from Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy."

"Twelve years old, Level 29. They are the academy's most prominent figures."

When he mentioned those two names, Xiao Chenyu was full of admiration.

The entire hall suddenly fell silent.

"Good! Chen Yu has vision!"

"Twelve years old and Level 29—there are only a few such geniuses in the entire Heaven Dou Empire."

"If we befriend them now and offer them a little help in the future, it will be a tremendous blessing for us!"

Ling Tian was the first to react.

"Indeed, indeed."

"A genius like that cannot be offended."

"Chen Yu, when they arrive later, make sure to treat them well. Do not neglect them."

Xiao Chen nodded in satisfaction.

"Rest assured, Father."

"I can speak fairly well with Tang San. They..."

Xiao Chenyu could not finish his sentence before someone interrupted him.

An incomparably cold voice came from beyond the curtain of rain.

"Someone who is twelve years old and Level 29 cannot be offended."

Yet it echoed clearly in everyone's ears!

"Someone who is thirteen years old and Level 45."

"You dared to offend him?"

The hall doors were blown open by the wind.

Rain carrying a bone-chilling cold flooded in, causing the red candles throughout the hall to flicker violently.

Everyone saw a young man.

He stood in the rain.

The rain halted three meters away from him, as though an invisible barrier had isolated him from heaven and earth.

Then he lifted his foot and walked into the hall.

One step.

All the rainwater on his body evaporated into white mist, revealing a face far too young, yet cold as ice.

Two steps.

Silver-gray light rose from beneath his feet, forming four Soul Rings that appeared around him one after another.

Yellow.

Purple.

Black.

Black.

At that moment, every candle flame in the hall shrank by a third.

Everyone seemed to have their throats seized.

The wine cup in Xiao Chen's hand fell to the floor and shattered, yet he did not notice.

The wine in Liu Feng's mouth lodged in his throat, turning his face blue.

Ling Tian's smile froze instantly, as though his wife had died.

Four Soul Rings!

A Soul Ancestor?

Under normal circumstances, a Soul Ancestor's optimal fourth Soul Ring should be purple.

Around two thousand years old!

A black ten-thousand-year Soul Ring was something only a Soul King could possess!

This young man before them!

Had already overturned everything they knew!

PS: An extra chapter today. I'm completely spent.