The moment the Clan Punishment Lock seized Yao Xiaotian, the entire clan hall fell silent.
Black-gold chains stretched out from the depths of the Ancestral Wall, wrapping around his limbs, heart meridians, and throat one after another, dragging him inch by inch from before the shattered throne toward the Yellow Spring passage split open in the center of the hall.
The passage was bottomless, and dark yellow frost seeped from its fissures like countless icy hands waiting to drag this usurper, once seated high upon the throne, back into the Yellow Spring.
Yao Xiaotian finally panicked.
He struggled desperately, his Dou Saint battle qi exploding layer after layer and shaking the stone pillars of the clan hall until they continually crumbled. But the Clan Chief's Blood Token had returned to Yao Ming, and the Ancestral Wall no longer recognized him. Not one of the Nether Serpent Guards or branch elders he had once controlled stepped forward.
They watched him.
As though watching a criminal finally judged by clan law.
Yao Ming stood below the throne, pale-faced yet standing ramrod straight.
"Yao Xiaotian."
His voice was low.
"The Yellow Spring Cold Lock you made me endure back then should be repaid to you today."
Yao Xiaotian raised his head, and the panic suddenly vanished from his eyes.
Those cold serpent eyes fixed on Yao Ming as the corners of his mouth slowly spread into a grin.
"Repay me?"
He chuckled softly.
His laughter grew louder and louder until it echoed throughout the entire hall.
"Brother, you're still so naive."
Yao Ming's gaze sharpened.
Xiao Fan looked up at the same instant.
Something was wrong.
Yao Xiaotian was not despairing.
He was waiting.
In the next instant, a jet-black serpent mark suddenly split open across Yao Xiaotian's chest.
The mark wriggled out