The Great Plaza was no longer a place of celebration. It had become a slaughterhouse of pride. The high-grade jade of the arena, meant to withstand the battles of giants, was slick with the blood of the "elite" guards and the shattered remnants of Ye Chen's Solar Sword.
Ye Chen lay on the ground, clutching his stump, his screams reduced to a pathetic, gurgling whimper. The disciples of the other four sects watched in a state of paralysis. To them, it felt like the world had turned upside-down. The "waste" of the Cloud Mist Sect was standing over the "genius," her black blade dripping with the same blood that had once been considered the sect's greatest hope.
"Enough!"
Qinghe's voice didn't just sound; it physicalized. The air around him shimmered and cracked as he descended from the balcony. He didn't use a technique; he simply walked through the air, his Nascent Soul aura crushing the mist and forcing the spectators in the first ten rows to vomit blood from the sheer pressure.
"Su Lan," Qinghe said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "I gave you a name. I gave you a place to sleep. I even gave you the honor of serving as the foundation for the future Saintess. And this is how you repay the kindness of your Master?"
Su Lan looked up at the man who had ordered her chest to be cut open. She didn't feel fear. She didn't even feel the weight of his Nascent Soul pressure. The Void Body inside her was hummed, neutralizing the gravity he tried to impose.
"Kindness?" Su Lan's laugh was a jagged, hollow sound. "Is that what you call it, Qinghe? Stealing my root, throwing me into the Abyss, and erasing my name? If that is your kindness, then today, I've come to repay it in full."
She raised her sword, pointing it directly at the hovering Sect Leader.
"Lin Yue! Stop hiding behind your 'Master' like a frightened rabbit!" Su Lan's voice amplified, rattling the windows of the palace. "The root you're wearing... it's hungry. It knows its mother is back. Don't you feel it tearing at your insides?"
On the balcony, Lin Yue's face went from pale to ghostly white. She clutched her abdomen, her fingers digging into the expensive silk of her dress. She did feel it. Ever since Su Lan appeared, the stolen spiritual root had been vibrating with a violent, agonizing frequency. It wasn't providing her with power anymore; it was acting like a parasite, trying to break through her ribs to reach Su Lan.
"Master! KILL HER!" Lin Yue shrieked, her voice high and distorted. "She's a demon! She's trying to curse me!"
"Die, you ungrateful wretch!"
Qinghe finally snapped. He thrust his hand forward, his fingers glowing with a harsh, golden lightning.
"Heavenly Punishment: Bolt of the Gods!"
A spear of pure, white lightning shot from his palm. It moved faster than the eye could follow, carrying enough power to vaporize a mountain. The other Sect Leaders shielded their eyes, certain that Su Lan would be reduced to ash in a heartbeat.
[Ding! Warning! High-Energy Celestial Attack Detected.]
[System Note: The 'Void Heart' can absorb 60% of this energy. The remaining 40% will cause internal damage.]
[Recommended Action: Use 2,000 Points for 'Void Mirror' Reflection.]
"Do it," Su Lan thought.
As the lightning spear reached her, Su Lan didn't dodge. She held the Heaven-Slaying Sword horizontally in front of her.
Clang!
The lightning didn't explode. It hit the black blade and began to swirl, trapped in a magnetic vortex created by the Void energy. Su Lan's arms trembled, and blood began to leak from her ears, but she didn't move an inch.
"Return to sender," she hissed.
With a scream of effort, she swung the sword upward. The lightning spear, now infused with the dark, corruptive energy of the Void, shot back at Qinghe twice as fast as it had come.
Qinghe's eyes widened. "What?!"
He barely had time to raise his spirit-shield.
BOOM!
The explosion sent a shockwave that leveled the stone galleries. Qinghe was sent flying backward, his white robes charred and his spirit-shield shattered into a thousand pieces. He slammed into the palace wall, leaving a massive crater in the ancient stone.
The silence that followed was deafening. A Foundation Establishment girl had just pushed back a Nascent Soul Master.
[Ding! Public Defeat of a Nascent Soul Master!]
[Reward: 10,000 System Points!]
[Target 'Qinghe' Mental State: Shaken.]
Su Lan didn't give him time to recover. She leapt into the air, her black robes billowing like the wings of a crow.
"Void Style: Second Form—The Abyss Opens!"
She swung her blade in a wide, circular arc. A rift of absolute darkness appeared in the sky above the arena. From the rift, hundreds of black, ethereal chains shot out, moving like living snakes.
Qinghe, struggling to pull himself out of the wall, found himself suddenly ensnared. The chains didn't just bind his arms; they bit into his skin, beginning to drain his Nascent Soul essence directly into the Void.
"You... what kind of forbidden art is this?!" Qinghe roared, his voice filled with a fear he hadn't felt in five hundred years. "Elders! Help me!"
But the Elders were already dead or incapacitated. The other disciples were fleeing for their lives.
Su Lan landed on the edge of the crater, looking down at the struggling "Master." She looked back at the balcony, where Lin Yue was trying to crawl toward the hidden escape tunnel.
"Running so soon, Saintess?"
Su Lan vanished and reappeared in front of Lin Yue, blocking her path.
Lin Yue screamed, falling onto her back. "Su Lan... please! I'll give it back! I'll give you the root! I was forced! The Master made me do it!"
"The Master made you hold the knife?" Su Lan asked, leaning over her. "The Master made you smile while my blood was on your hands?"
Su Lan reached out and grabbed Lin Yue by the throat, lifting her effortlessly into the air.
"I don't need you to 'give' it back," Su Lan whispered, her purple eyes glowing inches from Lin Yue's face. "I'm going to take it. And since you've had it for a month, I'm taking the interest, too."
She placed her free hand over Lin Yue's Dantian. A black light began to glow, and the sound of a thousand screaming ghosts filled the pavilion.
"Master! NO! ARGGGGHHHHH!"
Lin Yue's body began to shrivel. The stolen spiritual root, sensing its true owner, began to violently migrate toward Su Lan's hand. It was a brutal, agonizing process.
Down in the plaza, Qinghe watched in horror as his "Saintess"—the vessel for his sect's future—was being dismantled.
"SU LAN! STOP!"
With a roar of desperation, Qinghe burned his very soul, exploding his Nascent Soul core to break the black chains. He shot toward the balcony like a human cannonball, his eyes bleeding and his aura turning a suicidal shade of red.
"I'll die with you!"
Su Lan didn't look back. She simply tightened her grip on Lin Yue.
"System," she commanded. "Final Seal... Release. Let's end the Cloud Mist Sect today."
[Ding! All Points Expended.]
[Heaven-Slaying Sword: FULL RELEASE.]
The world went black.