The air above the Silver Winged Family's territory crackled with electric tension, the horizon ablaze with the imminent arrival of a storm incarnate.
Sikong Yi, his silver hair whipping violently in the rising gale, felt the threat before he ever saw it, a soul force so vast and suffocating that it pressed his own soul realm.
Gritting his teeth, he summoned the Scarlet Body Refining Technique, a closely guarded secret art of his lineage. His physical frame erupted in blazing crimson flames, the searing heat warping the air around him as his cultivation was forcibly stimulated, surging into the realm of a 4-star Legend rank.
"I'll end this now!" he roared, in a savage bellow that shook the boughs of the mountain.
Lunging toward Xiao Ning'er, he intended to shatter the Book of Beast Array and seize her in one fell swoop, securing his leverage before the coming storm could strike.
He was but a breath too late.
The sky split apart with a deafening roar, and a colossal azure dragon descended from the heavens, the Tempestfang Dragon, its scales glistening beneath furious arcs of lightning and howling squalls of wind.
Its massive form eclipsed the dark sky above their heads, its sheer presence descending like a crushing mountain that rooted every onlooker to the dirt.
The beast opened its yawning maw, revealing razor-sharp fangs framing an ancient, rust-streaked blade suspended in the vortex of its throat.
A torrential surge of soul force coursed into the steel, the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword and the blade blazed with a blinding brilliance, amplifying the dragon's divine power.
"Thunder God's Wrath!"
The technique unfurled in a wave as jagged bolts of lightning, thick as tree trunks, spiraled outward in coils, interwoven with howling gusts of wind that battered the earth with the fury of a hurricane.
The ground groaned and heaved as the destructive wave expanded, a blinding tempest of seared the air and scorched the soil black.
Trees splintered into smitterins, their bark igniting into pillars of fire, while the courtyard's stone tiles shattered into flying shrapnel under the onslaught.
The terrifying power paralyzed every soul caught within its radius. Guards froze mid-stride, their spears clattering from numb, trembling hands.
Sikong Yan and Sikong Wei staggered backward, their blades hanging useless; and even Sikong Yi, burning with the full might of a 4-star Legend rank expert, found his limbs locked. His muscles betrayed him, frozen within the storm's grip.
"Impossible…" Sikong Yi rasped, as he strained against the invisible thunder chains binding his flesh. "What… what is this power?"
In a blinding flash, the dragon vanished. A concentrated pillar of lightning crashed straight into the center of the courtyard, the earth groaning as deep roots tore free and soil erupted into the sky in a towering plume of dust.
Nie Li emerged from the heart of the strike. His lithe form was completely untouched by the carnage, his eyes gleaming with fury.
With a casual flick of his wrist, the surrounding spatial ripples settled. Xiao Ning'er, Duan Jian, Lu Piao, Du Ze, Xiao Xue, and Cao Wang materialized directly behind him, pulled clear of the danger.
Nie Li slowly turned his gaze upon the Silver Winged Family. The venom burning within his stare was tangible, sending an icy shiver down the spine of every warrior.
Sikong Yi met those eyes and instantly flinched. A sharp pain lanced through his skull as Nie Li's spiritual force slammed into his.
Under the concussive pressure, the Scarlet Body Refining Technique faltered and backfired violently.
The crimson flames flickered and died out, his cultivation plunging back down as a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him from the strain of overextending his decaying soul force.
"You… monster," Sikong Yi growled, forcing the words through bloody, clenched teeth.
With a desperate surge of will, the patriarch shattered the restraints holding his limbs. He blinked the grit from his eyes only to find Nie Li gone from his sight until a towering shadow fell directly over him.
BOOM!
Nie Li's boot slammed down from above, driving Sikong Yi's face directly into the earth with devastating, bone-splintering force.
The ground buckled beneath the impact, an explosion of shattered stone and dirt spraying outward as a crater formed around the patriarch's skull.
The temperature plummeted, the surrounding air turning bitter and cold as Nie Li's gaze swept across the trembling ranks of guards.
"Who was it?" he asked. His voice was terrifyingly calm as he cast a backward glance at Xiao Ning'er.
Ning'er did not utter a word. She merely tilted her head toward the two bloodied elders, Sikong Yan and Sikong Wei who stood trembling beneath the weight of his attention.
Terror shone in their eyes, and Nie Li needed no further confirmation. The old patriarch, cowardly and desperate for cure, would never have dared to move against his people without provocation; this treachery was entirely the elders' doing.
Why they had chosen to act mattered little to him. Nie Li's soul force bore down on the pair like a falling mountain, the pressure bowing their spines and nearly snapping their knees against the stones.
"Death is too easy for them," Nie Li muttered beneath his breath.
He had something far more fitting in mind: a crushing humiliation for this arrogant lineage.
His gaze shifted down to Sikong Yi, whose head remained pinned firmly beneath the sole of his boot, and then swept toward Sikong Hongyue, who stood frozen in place a few paces away.
"How will you pay for this sin?" Nie Li asked, his voice slicing cleanly through the dead silence. "Do you wish for me to end your entire clan, or what?"
Hongyue's breath hitched in her throat. Her long hair trembled against her shoulders as she involuntarily stumbled back a step. Fear, awe, and helpless fury warred behind her eyes, in all its recorded history, never had the proud Silver Winged Family suffered such indignity.
"I…" she faltered, her voice cracking under the weight of his stare. "I don't…"
Nie Li's attention snapped away from her, locking directly onto the two elders.
Sikong Yan spat a mouthful of dark blood, his scarred face twisting into a ragged snarl. "You bastard! You nearly killed my son—curse you to the deepest abyss!"
Sikong Wei stepped forward as well, his tone dripping with venom, "If you've got the guts, take your anger out on us! We planned the attack, us alone!"
Nie Li's expression remained unchanged,"Of course, your fate is already sealed. But I will give you one chance to pay for your sins. Cut your own throats, wash this transgression away with your own blood. Do it, and I will spare the rest of your family."
The two elders froze. Their eyes darted between Nie Li's and the trembling clan members gathered around the courtyard walls.
The ancient code of clan loyalty, etched deep into them through generations of survival, overrode their hesitation.
Sikong Yan was the first to move. Drawing his curved dagger, his scarred hand trembled only for an instant before he pressed the cold steel firmly against his own throat.
"For the clan…" he rasped, dragging the blade across his flesh in a deep, clean slice.
Sikong Wei followed without a second thought. His dagger flashed in the torchlight as blood welled from a ragged gash across his neck.
Both elders collapsed onto the ground, crimson pooling rapidly beneath their twitching frames.
Their formidable Black Gold rank vitality kept their hearts beating, prolonging their agonizing final moments.
Yet neither man channeled a single wisp of soul force to stem the bleeding, choosing to let their lifeblood drain freely into the earth, a sacrifice enacted before the eyes of their kin.
The guards, the retainers, the common soldiers all watched in paralyzed, horrified silence as their revered elders bled to death, utterly powerless to intervene.
Sikong Yi, his cheek still crushed into the dirt, sensed their fading life force A guttural, animalistic growl tore from his throat.
The agony of his trampled pride, the destruction of his clan's centuries-old supremacy, burned far deeper than the physical trauma fracturing his skull.
Nearby, his daughter's sharp, gasp pierced the stillness, her blade dangling limply from numb fingers as the reality of their ruin took hold.
Nie Li lifted his foot, kicking Sikong Yi aside with a flick of his boot.
The Patriarch rolled across the dirt, his fine robes shredded and caked in blood and grit. Pushing himself up on trembling arms, his venomous glare locked onto Nie Li's cold stare.
"You…" Sikong Yi snarled, his voice thick with hatred, yet the courage to strike remained dead, smothered beneath the young man's terrifying power.
From behind Xiao Ning'er, a dark figure suddenly surged forward.
Duan Jian's aura detonated outward, Black Gold rank energy whipping around his body. His pitch-black eyes burned with an insatiable, vengeful fire as he locked his gaze onto Sikong Yi and Hongyue, his knuckles popping as his fists trembled with the desperate urge to butcher them.
"Your time is up," Duan Jian hissed, stepping forward menacingly.
Sikong Yi's head snapped up. Genuinely shocked as he felt the depth of Duan Jian's newfound strength.
Yet it was not the half-blood that chilled his heart, it was the boy commanding him.
"You promised!" Sikong Yi barked, "You swore you would not attack!"
Nie Li tilted his head slightly, a mocking smirk playing upon his lips. "Yes, I did. But Duan Jian never made such a promise."
Sikong Yi's face contorted in frantic rage. "You think I'm a fool?! That whore's son wouldn't dare lift a finger without your backing! You gave your word, how can an esteemed master, an expert of your standing, break his sacred vow?!"
Duan Jian completely ignored the old man's desperate shouts. His eyes blazed with murder, his wings tensing as he took another stride forward, his aura coalescing into a lethal blade.
Before he could cross the distance, Nie Li raised an open palm, halting the youth in his tracks.
"Enough," Nie Li commanded softly.
Reaching into his interspatial ring, Nie Li withdrew a sleek jade vial. The vessel shimmered with a faint, luminous green glow, the rich aroma of seeping through the stopper and drifting across the ruined courtyard.
"This is the treatment for your clan's bloodline disease," Nie Li stated, holding the vial aloft. "I have a proposition for you. I will spare your family if you are willing to make a bet. Your clan's survival rests entirely in your own hands, let us see what you choose."
Sikong Yi stared at the glowing vial, heaving with ragged breaths. His pride was all gone, yet Nie Li's words hung before him.
The courtyard fell dead silent, the blood of the two dead elders pooling between the fractured stones.