Jiang Huai's final choice, filled with malice and destruction, was like lighting the fuse of an explosive barrel.
Jiang Rushan and the Bright Moon Sacred Venerable instantly froze.
Then, all their fear, despair, and resentment toward Jiang Huai erupted like a volcano.
But instead of directing their venomous words at Jiang Huai, they frantically poured them toward Jiang Che!
"Jiang Che! You wicked creature! Calamity star! If not for you, how would my Jiang family have come to this! You won't die a good death!" Jiang Rushan's eyes were about to split as he pointed at Jiang Che, cursing madly.
He completely forgot how he had been wagging his tail and begging just moments ago.
"Traitorous disciple! If I'd known this day would come, I should have annihilated your body and soul back then, never to be reborn! You disregard human ethics, betray your Master and ancestors—you'll suffer heaven's punishment!" The Bright Moon Sacred Venerable also completely tore off her cold, aloof mask.
Her face was twisted, her words vicious to the extreme.
If not for Chen Chang'an's unfathomable aura suppressing this place like an eternal, immovable boulder, these three would probably have already disregarded everything to pounce on Jiang Che, fighting to the death.
Watching these three who had been "father kind, son filial" and "deep master-disciple bond" not long ago, now transformed into mortal enemies who hated each other and wanted to devour each other's flesh.
All because of a cruel choice and the threat of death...
Jiang Che suddenly laughed.
That laughter held no pleasure, no satisfaction of revenge.
Only an extreme exhaustion and pointlessness from seeing through the absurdity of the world and the treachery of human hearts.
All hatred, all obsession, at this moment seemed to dissipate with this ugly farce.
He turned around, no longer looking at the three who were screaming hysterically.
Facing Chen Chang'an, his voice was calm and waveless, as if stating a trivial matter unrelated to himself:
"Master, Jiang Huai owes me a life, so let him pay with his life."
"As for the Jiang family members, and... the Bright Moon Sect members," he paused, his tone without the slightest fluctuation, "strip their cultivation, let them live or die on their own."
Chen Chang'an heard this, and a trace of approval flashed through his eyes.
He knew deeply that for people like Jiang Rushan and the Bright Moon Sacred Venerable, who had once stood high above and enjoyed all glory and power, having their painstakingly cultivated cultivation stripped away and being completely cast from the clouds into the mortal mire—the contrast and torment was far more painful than simply killing them.
Jiang Che hadn't gone soft. This handling was just right.
At the same time, Chen Chang'an's heart grew even heavier.
The Upper Realm, affected by that unknown great tribulation, was apparently far more serious than he had anticipated.
The number and intensity of "madmen" it had spawned exceeded imagination.
This tribulation force was like a bizarre catalyst, amplifying the paranoia, greed, jealousy, and malice in the depths of living beings' hearts.
But the tribulation force only amplified.
Just like the favoritism and malice of Jiang Huai and the others—the tribulation force might have intensified it, but its roots had long been planted in their hearts.
He didn't think further, simply nodding: "Granted."
Then, he turned his gaze toward the three.
Without any visible movement from him, the madly cursing Jiang Rushan and Bright Moon Sacred Venerable suddenly fell silent.
It was as if an invisible hand had seized their throats.
Their faces instantly turned ashen.
They could clearly feel their vast spiritual energy, cultivated over countless ages, rapidly draining from their bodies like a receding tide.
Their Dao foundation collapsed, their meridians withered!
In the blink of an eye, both of them slumped to the ground as if all their essence had been extracted.
Their eyes were hollow, as if they had aged a thousand years, leaving only desperate gasping.
And almost simultaneously, the maddened Jiang Huai flashed with one last trace of unwillingness and madness.
He suddenly exploded with all his remaining power, like a moth flying into flame, roaring as he charged at Jiang Che!
"Jiang Che! Accompany me..."
However, his figure had barely moved before it was like hitting an invisible, absolutely insurmountable barrier.
He froze in mid-air, unable to move even a fingertip.
Chen Chang'an didn't even look at him.
He merely spat out two words indifferently: "Noisy."
In the next instant, the immobilized Jiang Huai's body began weathering like a sand sculpture.
Starting from the edges, he silently transformed into the finest dust.
It rapidly spread throughout his body, finally dissipating completely into the air.
Body and soul utterly destroyed, leaving no trace.
With Jiang Huai's annihilation, and the stripping of Jiang Rushan and the Bright Moon Sacred Venerable's cultivation, an extremely obscure yet deeply unsettling and agitating invisible force seemed to escape from their dissipated cultivation and scattered souls.
It began to quietly permeate the air above the martial arts arena.
Some cultivators with lower cultivation suddenly felt an inexplicable surge of intense violence, jealousy, or lust rising in their hearts, becoming difficult to control.
Chen Chang'an snorted coldly, raising his hand to make a grasping motion in the air.
That formless, yet heart-tempting, bizarre power seemed to be absolutely drawn in.
It was quickly gathered and compressed by him, finally forming a constantly twisting and rolling, heart-palpitating gray-black energy sphere.
He casually took out a blank jade slip and forcefully sealed this energy within it.
Countless twisted dark patterns immediately surfaced on the jade slip.
'Remnant tribulation force from the last great tribulation... indeed troublesome.' Chen Chang'an frowned slightly.
Even with his abilities, he couldn't completely destroy this original evil force derived from the Heaven and Earth Great Tribulation.
He could only temporarily seal it.
Finally, all the Jiang family and Bright Moon Sect disciples whose cultivation had been stripped, looking like lost souls, fled this arena that had cast them from heaven to hell.
They supported each other, stumbling and wretched.
Ji Yunshu was among them.
Her cultivation was completely gone, her face pale as paper, her steps unsteady.
Yet she struggled to walk back alone.
She stopped before Jiang Che, her eyes filled with endless regret and humble pleading.
Tears fell silently:
"Jiang Che... I'm sorry... truly sorry... I know it's too late to say anything now... I only beg you... to forgive me..."
Jiang Che looked at her, his eyes calm, without a ripple.
Suddenly, he reached out and pulled the still-dazed Xi Yan from beside him into his embrace.
Xi Yan: "???"
Jiang Che looked at Ji Yunshu, his tone indifferent and clear, carrying a sense of final farewell:
"There's no question of forgiveness or not."
"To me, you've long been a stranger."
He lowered his head, glancing at Xi Yan in his arms, whose face was blank for a moment before instantly flushing red.
Then he looked back at Ji Yunshu, declaring:
"And I, now have a new lover, a new life, a new sect."
"From now on, find a quiet place where no one will disturb you, and live out your remaining years in peace."
His words drew a thorough, cold period to this karmic entanglement spanning past and present lives.
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