The oppressive silence pressed down on everyone—Bai Clan elders, Mei Clan members, and countless disciples who had watched the duel unfold with bated breath.
Blood pooled beneath Mo Yichen’s lifeless body, his pale, withered face frozen in despair.
His empty eyes stared into nothingness, the brilliant light of a Heaven’s Chosen snuffed out in an instant.
For a long moment, no one dared to speak.
Bai Zihan’s cold, indifferent gaze swept across the silent crowd.
His once-pristine robes were tattered, his body marked with wounds, but he stood tall and calm.
Then, he leaned down, his bloodied hand calmly reaching for the Eternal Spirit Sword, still gleaming faintly beside Mo Yichen’s corpse.
“Mine now!”
He muttered, the corner of his lips twitching into a faint smile.
This was the cheat item that had propelled Mo Yichen to the status of a Heaven’s Chosen.
Although Mo Yichen had only managed to upgrade it to Top Profound-Grade, Bai Zihan knew that with the resources he had, he could easily enhance it to Earth-Grade and perhaps even Heaven-Grade in the future.
He gripped the hilt, feeling a faint resistance—perhaps because the sword knew that Bai Zihan wasn’t his owner.
Bai Zihan didn’t care and put the Eternal Spirit Sword into his storage ring along with his other sword.
The Bai Clan elders watched as Bai Zihan calmly claimed Mo Yichen’s weapon.
They didn’t quite understand why he was interested in a mere Top Profound-Grade sword, especially since he already possessed better weapons.
However, that was the most important. They were unable to process what they had just witnessed.
This was Bai Zihan—their so-called arrogant, talentless young master—standing victorious over the body of a Golden Core genius.
True, Bai Zihan had always been known as the most infuriating, scheming villain, but in their minds, he was still just a spoiled brat who had probably never killed anyone.
Sure, he was a pain in the ass, impossible to deal with, but… this was different.
This was his first kill—his first time taking a life.
And yet, he didn’t look shaken.
If anything, he seemed calm, almost as if this was just another task to complete.
’If there was ever someone born to be a villain, it had to be Bai Zihan.’
They all thought this as his ruthlessness remained imprinted in their minds.
But more shocking than his ruthlessness was his strength.
Late Golden Core Stage!
Even their hailed genius Bai Jian was only at that level.
And Bai Zihan didn’t just reach that stage—he had achieved minor mastery over the Nine Shadows Flowing Light Sword Technique and survived an attack that even a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator would struggle to endure.
Their view of Bai Zihan had been overturned countless times today.
Mei Rulan collapsed to her knees, her face blank with shock, her tears mixing with the dust beneath her.
Mei Yunhe’s face tightened, but he forced himself to maintain his composure, gripping his daughter’s shoulder, silently praying they wouldn’t be next.
Bai Zihan turned his gaze to the Mei Clan. His eyes, sharp and indifferent, swept over them like a blade.
“Well?”
His voice echoed coldly.
“Anyone else want to try their luck?”
The Mei Clan members flinched, lowering their heads.
“Thought so!”
Bai Zihan smirked.
He waited, half-expecting some kind of divine retribution for killing a Heaven’s Chosen. A curse? A bolt of lightning? But nothing came.
Maybe because Mo Yichen was just a one-star fate-grade Heaven’s Chosen?
Or maybe Heaven’s Chosen were just those with protagonist-like cheats—lucky, talented, but not truly protected by the heavens themselves.
In any case, killing them didn’t seem to bring any divine punishment.
But, of course, the System had a different reaction—flashing notification after notification in his mind.
(Haha… I’ll check them later!)
Bai Zihan thought, barely containing his excitement.
Who knows what kind of heaven-defying rewards he would get for killing a Heaven’s Chosen?
But he couldn’t afford to get distracted now. He had to finish what he started before heading back to the Bai Clan and checking his rewards.
Grand Elder Bai Ren’s eyes shone with pride, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
“Marvelous… Simply marvelous!” he praised.
Some might say Bai Zihan was too merciless for killing an opponent who had merely challenged him.
But one needed to be ruthless toward their enemies—especially those who might seek revenge in the future.
Leaving a talent like Mo Yichen alive would have been a disaster waiting to happen.
Bai Zihan turned his cold gaze toward the Mei Clan members.
“Now that the nuisance is gone, shall we get back to business?”
Panic erupted among the Mei Clan members, some even stumbling back in terror.
They were back to square one—perhaps even worse—because Mo Yichen might have only angered Bai Zihan further, making the consequences even more severe.
Ironically, the reality was the exact opposite. Bai Zihan couldn’t be in a better mood, especially with the System bombarding him with notifications about rewards.
Bai Zihan’s eyes were already locked on Mei Yunhe, the Mei Clan patriarch.
“Patriarch Mei,” Bai Zihan’s voice was almost mocking. “I trust you won’t disappoint me.”
Mei Yunhe’s face was pale, his lips trembling.
“Y-Young Master Bai… please, say what you want!”
He had already resigned himself to his fate.
Watching Bai Zihan kill Mo Yichen had shattered any illusions they had about the young master being a pampered waste.
They had fallen into a trap, and now they were caught with no way out.
Their last hope, Mo Yichen, had been crushed.
There was no point in resisting and making things worse.
All he could do was pray that Bai Zihan would show some mercy—though, honestly, that felt like asking for a miracle.
Bai Zihan’s voice rang out, cold and unyielding.
“Half!”
Mei Yunhe’s face filled with confusion.
“H-Half…?”
“Yes. Half of everything your Mei Clan owns.”
Bai Zihan repeated, his tone casual, as if showing mercy.
“We’ll take half of your wealth, your treasures, your cultivation resources—everything.”
The Mei Clan members trembled, some clutching at each other in shock.
Half their wealth? That was a crippling demand in itself.
But Bai Zihan wasn’t finished.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing.”
His cold gaze swept over the kneeling Mei Clan members.
“Half of your clan members will have their cultivation crippled.”
A wave of despair washed over the Mei Clan like a suffocating tide.
Even Mei Yunhe, who had mentally prepared himself for the worst, felt his knees weaken.
“Y-Young Master Bai… please… isn’t that too—”
“Too much?”
Bai Zihan’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
“Trust me, I’m being generous. I could kill every single one of you instead. Whether you want to do that yourself or need my help, you can decide.”
Mei Yunhe’s mouth opened and closed, his voice dying in his throat.
Honestly, he expected everyone to be killed or similar fate, so just half of the Mei Clan being crippled didn’t seem that bad.
But even with half of their Clan members being crippled, it was the same as destroying their Mei Clan.
He understood all too well.
With half their wealth stripped away and half their cultivators crippled, the Mei Clan was done.
They might still exist, but only as a shadow of their former selves. No longer the strongest in Meihua City—they would be reduced to a struggling third-rate clan at best.
And with their current state, their rival clans would likely swoop in like vultures, eager to tear them apart.
But there was nothing he could do.