Just then.
A figure staggered out of the crowd and rushed straight onto the Judgment Platform.
It was a young female Soul Master.
The very woman who had accused Ning Lin earlier, after Ma Hongjun had assaulted her in the street.
She rushed onto the platform and stared at the charred human shape on the ground, bone-deep hatred blazing in her eyes!
She did not hesitate!
Raising her foot, she summoned every ounce of strength and stomped viciously between Ma Hongjun's legs!
Squish!
A muffled sound rang out.
"Aaargh!!!"
Ma Hongjun, who had already been at death's door, suddenly let out an utterly inhuman, agonizing scream!
Like a wildcat whose tail had been stepped on, his entire body arched violently before crashing back down. He fell completely silent, with only drool continuously spilling from the corner of his mouth.
That stomp had crippled him.
Completely, physically crippled him.
After a brief silence, cheers erupted across the square like mountains roaring and seas surging!
"Good!"
"Serves him right! Scum like that deserve to have their bloodline cut off!"
"Justice at last! That felt so damn good!"
The crowd's cries rose like a tide, wave after wave.
Ning Lin stood with his hands behind his back, watching everything with an indifferent expression.
He could sense that, after delivering that stomp, the female Soul Master seemed to have released everything weighing on her spirit. She bowed deeply toward Ning Lin, then turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Ning Lin gave a slight nod.
His gaze returned to Ma Hongjun, who lay on the ground like a heap of rotten flesh.
If not for the system.
If not for Bibi Dong.
Today, because of this fat bastard, I really would have been used as Tang San's pawn and put to death on false charges!
So.
How could being roasted and having his manhood crushed possibly be enough?
Nowhere near enough!
Ning Lin slowly raised his right hand.
A tuft of ghostly white flame quietly rose in his palm.
It lacked the tyranny of emperor flame and the purifying power of lotus flame, yet carried a sinister chill from the Nine Netherworlds, as though it could freeze the soul.
Bone chilling flame!
Ning Lin flicked his finger.
The ghostly white flame drifted gently onto Ma Hongjun and instantly sank into his body.
"Ugh... ah..."
Ma Hongjun, who had already passed out, began convulsing violently again.
Countless fiery snakes seemed to writhe beneath his skin, and dark red patterns spread across his entire body.
That was the residual essence of evil fire within him.
Now, stimulated by bone chilling flame, the evil fire that had already died out erupted uncontrollably, as though boiling oil had been poured over it!
His power ran rampant, driving him into madness!
Ma Hongjun's eyes snapped open!
There was no longer any spark of awareness in them, only confusion, madness, and endless lust.
He had become an imbecile.
His own evil fire had burned out his brain.
"He's gone mad!"
"That fat bastard has completely lost his mind!"
Watching Ma Hongjun claw wildly at the ground and leer obscenely at thin air, everyone in Heaven Dou Square felt a chill rise in their hearts.
A fate worse than death.
This was truly a fate worse than death!
Wounds to the flesh could still heal, but the collapse of the soul and mind was an eternal torment.
Compared with Bibi Dong's tyrannical slaughter, Ning Lin's methods made people's hearts crawl with even greater dread.
And at that moment, the source of that tyrannical slaughter was still at work.
Boom!
Wherever Bibi Dong's divine body passed, space fractured and buildings collapsed.
She pursued Tang Hao from the eastern side of the square to the west, the aftershocks of her terrifying divine power spreading unchecked and reducing great swaths of homes to dust.
Countless civilians cried out and fled beneath the impact of that energy, as though the end of the world had come.
Even the sturdy city walls began developing spiderweb cracks under a battle of this magnitude, as though they might collapse at any moment.
Heaven Dou City, the mighty city that had stood for a thousand years, was groaning in agony.
On the Judgment Platform, Ning Lin frowned slightly.
His gaze passed over the chaotic crowd toward that purple-black divine figure.
He could sense the exhilaration and murderous intent in Bibi Dong's heart.
Resentment bottled up for twenty years had finally found an outlet today.
He understood.
But he could not let her destroy this city.
Tang Hao deserved to die.
Tang San deserved to die as well.
But the millions of people in this city were innocent.
"Bibi Dong."
Ning Lin's voice was clear and calm. He used no Soul Power, yet it reached everyone's ears distinctly.
"Stop."
Just that single word.
The divine figure who had pursued Clear Sky Douluo until he had no path to heaven and no door into the earth abruptly paused.
It was as though time itself had been put on hold.
The terrifying divine power, enough to tear apart the heavens, instantly subsided like floodwaters meeting a dam.
The enormous true forms of her twin martial souls slowly turned.
Those purple divine eyes that looked down upon all living beings pierced the billowing smoke and settled on Ning Lin.
Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Tang Hao burned the last of his vital blood and became a streak of light, fleeing toward the outskirts without looking back. He could not even spare a thought for his own son.
Bibi Dong did not pursue him.
She simply watched Ning Lin in silence.
Ning Lin shook his head slightly at her.
"Today's matter has already been settled."
He spoke.
As his words fell, Ning Lin picked up that still-twitching heap of rotten flesh with one hand and walked down from the Judgment Platform, step by step.
He walked slowly, each step seeming to land upon everyone's heartbeat.
He threw the completely witless Ma Hongjun at Tang San's feet as though tossing away trash.
"Tang San."
Ning Lin raised his eyes and calmly regarded the deathly pale man before him, whose entire body was trembling slightly.
"Now, what do you have left to say?"
"This man assaulted a female Soul Master in the street. The evidence is conclusive."
"To conceal his crime, this man conspired with you to falsely accuse me."
"This man attempted a sneak attack on the Judgment Platform, adding another offense to his crimes."
Each sentence of Ning Lin's landed like a heavy hammer upon Tang San's dignity.
"And you, Tang San."
"As an envoy of Sea God Island and the sect master of the Tang Sect, you sheltered a criminal, turned black into white, manipulated the trial, and treated Heaven Dou Law as though it were nothing!"
"I ask you, do you acknowledge your guilt?!"
His final words thundered!
Tang San's body jolted violently. His lips moved, but he could not utter a single word.
Admit guilt?
How could I possibly admit guilt!
If he admitted it, he, the Tang Sect, and even all of Shrek would become the greatest laughingstock on the Douluo Continent!
"Utter nonsense!"
Tang San abruptly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and his expression crazed.
"Ning Lin! You colluded with that witch from Spirit Hall to wreak havoc in Heaven Dou! That is the true heinous crime!"
"Ma Hongjun... Ma Hongjun was only under the control of your dark arts! All of this was your scheme!"
He was still making excuses.
Still trying to splash all that filthy water onto Ning Lin.
But this time, no one believed him anymore.
Before you continue