Without missing a single beat, he unleashed a furious barrage of Qi-filled strikes, arcs of flame and wind ripping through the air toward her. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire
Yet, she dodged all the attacks effortlessly with slight movements of her body. Where the old man expected to catch her vulnerable, he struck only illusions, each fading under his attacks like mirages in the desert.
One by one, the defenders around him fell, unable to counter Ling Yue’s lethal speed and illusions.
She came in close, shoving her short blade into an enemy’s chest, then flicked it free to parry a halberd aimed at her side. Her fox tail whipped behind her, occasionally lashing out with bursts of Qi that dissected the Crimson Wolf Clan members into pieces. Within moments, the old man found himself alone, all his clan members lying lifelessly on the ground in pieces.
His breathing turned ragged. The old man attempted one last gamble—a self-detonation of his Qi Core. If he could force a powerful explosion, maybe he’d bring her down with him.
But Ling Yue sensed what he wanted to do. Her lips curled in disdain. ‘You think too highly of yourself if you think I will allow you such an easy death.’
She channeled a surge of her dark Qi, forming a sealing talisman in her left hand. With a fluid motion, she slammed it against his chest.
“Gnngh—!” the elder gurgled, eyes bulging as his Qi flow locked under the talisman’s power. The destructive energy he’d gathered dissipated in an instant, leaving him trembling and helpless.
Ling Yue coldly looked at him. “Your clan dared to attack our city and killed countless innocent lives,” her eyes chilled further as she remembered the lost lives. “You won’t have an easy death.”
She went ahead and grabbed him by the neck before rising in the air.
The old man wheezed, panic flashing in his eyes. “Y-you—!” he managed, before coughing up blood. Even words strained him now that his energy flow had been sealed.
She wordlessly flew through the air, letting him see whatever was happening on the ground. “Save your breath. You won’t be dying anytime soon.”
Within seconds, Ling Yue returned back to where Shen Yuan and Bing Rong hovered above the battlefield, watching the slaughter unfold below them.
They saw her and descended on a high ground from where they could see the entire battlefield. Ling Yue soon followed, gracefully descending beside them, and threw the elder at Shen Yuan’s feet.
Shen Yuan glanced down at the man coldly. “You are one of the higher management of the Crimson Wolf Clan?”
Ling Yue bowed slightly. “He is the Clan Leader. He attempted to self-detonate his Dao Core. I sealed him so he’d suffer… and see how thoroughly his clan is being wiped out.”
The elder attempted to speak again, but only ragged gasps emerged. His eyes darted around, fixing on the scene of utter carnage: countless Crimson Wolf cultivators reduced to bloodied corpses, Silver Fox assassins methodically cutting down any who still drew breath.
“Look,” Ling Yue said flatly, kicking the old man just enough to force his attention skyward. “That’s your clan—the allies you gathered. All destroyed. Not a single one will remain.”
A choking sound escaped him. Horror etched into his features as he watched a squad of fox-eared cultivators finish off a cluster of panicked survivors. One tried to surrender, dropping their weapon—but was cut down without mercy. Indeed, as Shen Yuan had ordered, not one soul would walk away.
Shen Yuan observed the old man’s terror with chilling calm. “I hope you understand,” he said quietly, “that this is the consequence of laying a finger on what’s mine. You murdered civilians, assaulted the Silver Fox Sect, and challenged me.”
The elder’s lips moved, forming silent pleas. Tears brimmed in his eyes—yet whether from despair or sheer terror, it was unclear.
Bing Rong stood some distance away from Shen Yuan and the Clan Leader, looking at the Clan Leader with the same chilliness in her gaze. But even she, who thought she knew Shen Yuan well enough, was taken aback by his ruthlessness when dealing with his enemies. But she made no attempts to stop him.
Ling Yue bent slightly, meeting the elder’s gaze. “Remember this feeling,” she murmured, her tone frigidly calm. “You’ll see it through to the end. Watch every last one of your clan members be wiped out. We will visit your Ancestral Land to wipe out your last blood.”
As if waiting for this moment, another wave of horrified screams echoed from below. The old man flinched. His eyes swept over the battlefield, where the Grand Elder’s spear rained crackling bolts upon the helpless stragglers, where Feng Lian slipped through the panicked ranks, reaping lives with her twin daggers, where the rest of the Silver Fox elites chased down fugitives in quick strikes.
“Tell me,” Shen Yuan said, crouching so his face was level with the Clan Leader’s, “was it worth it? Your ambition to wipe out the Silver Fox Sect… how does it feel now that your entire clan is paying the price?”
The Clan Leader’s voice came out in quivering gasps. “W-we only… the rumors said… you were… gone…” He coughed, fresh blood staining his lips. “We—never guessed… you’d return with… this power—!”
Shen Yuan’s eyes narrowed. “The Silver Fox Sect never left. Even if they had, you should have considered that they might return.” He straightened, gesturing for Ling Yue to hold the man upright. “Now your clan is nothing but a footnote in history.”
Down below, the sounds of battle were decreasing. Only the final ragged groups remained, swiftly being dealt with. The air became heavy with the stench of blood.
Ling Yue jerked the elder’s head around, forcing him to watch the last few dying members of the Crimson Wolf Clan collapse. Their Qi signatures flickered, then snuffed out one by one. The silence that followed was suffocating.
Bing Rong broke the hush with a calm tone. “It’s over.”
Shen Yuan gave a small nod. He turned again to the elder, whose face had gone slack, numb with despair. “Your clan here is gone,” he said, voice as cool as a winter wind. “You’ve lost everything—and in a moment, you’ll lose your life as well as your Ancestral Land. But not before you understand one thing: you are not dying because you offended the Silver Fox Sect, no. You are dying because you dared lay a hand on something that’s mine.”
A faint, defeated cough slipped from the elder’s throat. His eyes stared into an invisible distance, as though he’d accepted the futility of resistance. Ling Yue shook her head in disdain. “Shall I finish him now, Young Master?”
Shen Yuan paused for a second, then gave a single nod. “Yes.”
Without another word, Ling Yue raised her short blade. The elder’s lips parted in anguish, but he had no energy left to struggle. In a heartbeat, the blade tore through his throat. Blood spurted out all over the ground, and his body crumpled, life extinguished in an instant.
The echo of that final kill lingered in the bloody air. Then, Ling Yue stepped back, flicking her blade to clear the crimson droplets. She glanced at Shen Yuan, her expression shifting from chilly coldness to calm. “It is done.”