Li Mu spoke without the slightest change in his expression.
As he stepped forward, three black-clad figures suddenly rushed toward him.
Their eyes were filled with questions and wariness as they stared at Li Mu. "Who are you? Do you know this is the White Tiger Duke's Mansion? All unauthorized persons must leave at once, or be killed without mercy!"
There was a trace of murderous intent in the lead man's voice, but before he could say anything more, a horrified cry came from beside him.
"Act now! That's the second young master! The second young master is dying!"
The black-clad man beside him sounded terrified. Hearing that shout, the leader had only just turned his head to look.
The next second, the speaker's head was pierced through.
The other black-clad man and their leader had barely summoned their Martial Souls when two more spears pierced their bodies, carrying them down to smash into the ground.
Li Mu paid them no heed. He raised his hand, which instantly transformed into an eagle's talon, with an intensely cold presence spreading within it.
He took a step, and freezing Qi spread around him as a suit of ice-colored armor formed over his body.
Within the spatial turbulence in the Silver Dragon Secret Realm, the Snow Empress felt her power being drawn away, yet her expression grew considerably calmer.
From the moment she had acted-or rather, from the moment she had been gravely wounded-she had already been left with no room to choose.
At her peak, she might still have harbored a sliver of hope and dared to contend with the heavenly tribulation.
But now, gravely wounded and on the brink of death, she had no choice at all.
Whatever Li Mu did, she no longer had any room to go back on her decision.
And this was precisely what Li Mu wanted. The Snow Empress had guessed as much, too.
But the Snow Empress did not dare gamble, nor did she wish to experience the terror of the heavenly tribulation, so she chose to accept her fate.
And when Li Mu used her power from this point onward, she would no longer make any move.
As more power poured into Li Mu's body, that power, which was almost terrifying to ordinary people, was merely something the Silver Dragon King Bloodline absorbed with the utmost ease.
As more ice crystals condensed, Li Mu swept his hand forward, and the ice crystals filling the sky streaked past like a rain of swords, moving at an incredible speed.
Some nearby farming households who served the White Tiger Duke's Mansion had long since gone weak with terror and fled desperately in all directions.
Li Mu paid these people no mind.
They were ordinary people, and two or three li away at that. They could not even make out Li Mu's figure; at most, they could tell he was a child.
Leaving aside whether the White Tiger Duke's Mansion would retaliate against him afterward, what could they do even if they really tracked him down?
He had only two-ring cultivation. Saying he could slaughter the entire White Tiger Duke's Mansion was no different from telling a joke.
No one would believe any of this, nor would anyone dare believe it.
Even if the White Tiger Duke himself returned, he would never believe it.
And as long as everyone else died, no one would discover any of this. Sparing these farmers was the last remnant of Li Mu's conscience.
As these farmers fled, many of the maids inside the White Tiger Duke's Mansion watched the scene in terror.
And as Li Mu stepped forward.
An enormous wall of ice crystals gradually rose from the ground, beginning to encircle the entire White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
Doing this required immensely powerful Soul Power. Even for Li Mu in his current state, the silver dragon claw on his left arm began to fluctuate slightly.
With an immense expenditure of power, a complete wall of ice crystals encircled the entire White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
Within a short time, it had sealed the place into a deathtrap.
Unless an expert above Soul Saint rank acted, breaking through these walls condensed from intensely cold ice would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
And if any flying-type Soul Masters dared take to the sky, these ice-crystal spears would take their lives without hesitation.
Li Mu entered the White Tiger Duke's Mansion with Huo Yutong, and two squads of armored soldiers swiftly charged toward them.
These soldiers were all White Tiger Guards left behind by the White Tiger Duke, responsible for protecting the old, weak, sick, and disabled within the mansion.
But the next second, ice-crystal spears crashed down, each strike comparable to an all-out blow from a Soul King or Soul Emperor.
In an instant, all these guards were slain.
Watching corpse after corpse fall to the ground, utterly devoid of life, Huo Yutong gripped Li Mu's hand tightly.
Her expression was filled with tension and fear, but even more than that, there was a pleasure born deep in her bones from taking revenge.
The girl's gaze rested below, watching those old women who had once bullied her.
After all, however poorly she and her mother had lived, they still counted as masters.
She was, after all, the White Tiger Duke's daughter, with the blood of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion flowing through her veins.
Yet the first madam's orders had left them worse off than ordinary servants, forced even to wash these matrons' clothes.
They even had to take responsibility for many other people's clothes.
Her mother had, at the very least, borne the White Tiger Duke a child and was his woman, yet in the end, she had been ground down until she was beneath even a servant.
Had her mother not later fallen gravely ill, Huo Yutong did not dare imagine what Huo Yun'er would have endured, or what state she would have been tormented into.
Huo Yun'er's death had always been the greatest wound in Huo Yutong's heart.
Yet she understood that if her mother had not fallen gravely ill, her eventual fate would certainly have been worse than death.
The better outcome would have been to serve as a maid, worn down for half her life, until that White Tiger Duke, her father in name, finally returned.
He might have given her a chance to find somewhere to live out her old age in peace, but it was even more likely that he would simply have her killed in secret.
And if Dai Hao did not return, mother and daughter might simply have been sold off.
Just as had happened before she left, they would be sold into another household as slaves and servants, and their fate might be even more miserable than those already mentioned.
These were all things Huo Yutong did not dare contemplate. She knew about them, but did not dare let her thoughts turn in that direction at all.
So now, as she watched the matrons who had ground her down, even those who had secretly pinched her flesh, being pierced by ice-crystal spears.
Huo Yutong abruptly pulled free of Li Mu's hand. "I want to take revenge myself! I-I want to kill them all!"
Huo Yutong spoke through gritted teeth, her gaze fixed firmly on Li Mu, her eyes filled with murderous intent.
But it was not directed at Li Mu.
Li Mu nodded, his expression calm, and even made a slight gesture inviting her to proceed.
"That was our agreement. Whether I help you kill them or you kill them yourself, either is fine."
Li Mu smiled as he spoke, then stood still and watched Huo Yutong rush forward. The matrons began begging Huo Yutong for mercy.
"Yutong, please spare me! I never bullied you! I didn't do anything to you back then! Please spare my life!"
"I'm sorry, Yutong! I deserve to die! I'm not human, I'm a beast! I deserve to die! Please spare my life!"
As these old matrons let out shrill screams and pleas for mercy.
Huo Yutong gritted her teeth, gripping a dagger the White Tiger Duke had bestowed upon her mother.
She walked forward and plunged it into their bodies, stab after stab.
Every thrust was vicious as she recalled the scenes of those people tormenting her.
Each stab was fiercer than the last. Even when blood spattered onto her, she did not hold back in the slightest.