The central plaza of Gold-Sovereign City—once the absolute apex of golden luxury, grand parades, and imperial splendor—was now an absolute graveyard of pale-blue ice and shattered gilded masonry.
The hundred-foot-thick dome of the Sun-Gold Imperial Array had vanished into billions of sparkling frost-dust particles that drifted lazily through the frozen air. The legendary golden battlements that had stood for three thousand years lay in ruins, pulverized by the catastrophic kinetic shockwave generated when Li-Wen had drawn his blade a mere nine inches from its scabbard.
In the center of the vast plaza, coughing up dark-red blood onto the frost-coated marble, were the three supreme rulers of the Western Continent.
Overlord Jin-Sheng lay propped against the base of his cracked dragon throne, his golden meteorite armor split down the middle, his Stage-6 imperial broadsword snapped into three useless pieces.
To his left, Palace Master Iron-Mountain was on both knees, his heavy dark-iron armor completely shattered, his massive arms trembling so violently that he could barely support his own weight.
To his right, Ancestor Golden-Sky—the last surviving supreme patriarch of the Golden-Eagle Sect—was crawling backward through the blue frost-dust, his dark-red feather robes shredded, his glowing golden eyes wide with pure, hysterical, unadulterated madness.
Over five million citizens and thousands of surviving guards watched from distant stone balconies, hidden alleyways, and shattered rooftops. Not a single person dared to make a sound. Not a single person dared to draw a deep breath.
Through the pulverized archway of the main gate, a solitary figure walked into the central plaza.
Li-Wen's heavy leather boots made quiet, rhythmically precise sounds against the cracked stone floor.
CRUNCH... CRUNCH... CRUNCH...
His traveler's coat was stiff with thick sapphire frost, unbuttoned at the top to reveal his broad, iron-like chest. His short hair, heavily streaked with pure white roots, fluttered in the freezing mountain draft. His dark eyes—burning with pitch-black abyssal fire—were fixed squarely on the three Stage-6 High Sovereigns lying on the marble floor before him.
In his right hand, he held the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade—drawn nine inches from its iron scabbard, its unadorned dark steel radiating a subtle, terrifying layer of absolute-zero sapphire cold that completely negated the remaining geothermal heat of the city.
Inside his inner coat pocket, his left hand gently rested against the cold glass of little Xiao-Yue's cracked pink lotus lantern.
"M-Monster..." Overlord Jin-Sheng whimpered, his voice choking on thick, crimson blood as he looked up at the broad-shouldered man approaching them. "We are... we are the imperial rulers of the Western Continent! The Central World Coalition will not forgive you for this! If you kill us... the Stage-7 Supreme Ancestors of the Central Realm will descend upon you!"
Li-Wen stopped ten paces away from the cracked dragon throne.
He did not answer Overlord Jin-Sheng's threats. He did not care about the Stage-7 Ancestors of the Central Realm. To a man who had already buried his heart in an absolute-zero grave, the threats of mortal kings were as meaningless as the rustling of dry grass in autumn.
He looked at Ancestor Golden-Sky, who was desperately trying to activate a hidden spatial escape talisman with his trembling, blood-stained fingers.
"Your Golden-Eagle Sect issued the bounty," Li-Wen said softly.
His deep, raspy voice carried no anger. It carried no theatrical rage. It was simply a cold, absolute statement of fact that echoed across the vast, frozen plaza.
"Senior Li-Wen! SPARE ME!" Ancestor Golden-Sky shrieked, dropping his spatial talisman and slamming his head repeatedly onto the cold, frosted marble until his forehead bled! "It was the Blood-Shadow Sect! They were the ones who carried out the raid at the canyon! I... I only offered the bounty coins! I didn't know about the girl! I swear by my golden core, I didn't touch her!"
Li-Wen looked at the trembling old man.
"You offered the coins," Li-Wen murmured, his pitch-black abyssal eyes completely devoid of warmth. "They offered the steel. You are the same."
Li-Wen raised his right hand, holding the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade.
He did not execute an ancient martial technique. He simply performed a casual, backhanded sweep of the dark blade.
SWOOSH—!
A thin, razor-sharp crescent of sapphire-blue kinetic energy cut through the air.
Ancestor Golden-Sky's hysterical screaming stopped instantly.
CRACKLE—!
The crescent sapphire wave passed through his neck, his Stage-6 golden core, and his soul in a microsecond. His entire body snap-froze into a solid, pale-blue ice sculpture before silently disintegrating into a small heap of sparkling frost-dust that was swept away by the cold wind.
The last supreme patriarch of the Golden-Eagle Sect was gone.
"NO! PLEASE!" Palace Master Iron-Mountain bellowed in sheer desperation, seeing his fellow Stage-6 Sovereign erased with a casual flick of the wrist!
He burned every single drop of his remaining life essence, his eight-foot frame expanding rapidly as he summoned the ultimate physical secret art of his lineage—The Eight-Mountain Iron Sovereign Body! His skin turned into dark, impenetrable ironstone, his muscle fibers condensing into the density of a subterranean mountain peak!
"I have cultivated the absolute iron body for two hundred years!" Palace Master Iron-Mountain roared, lunging forward with a colossal, mountain-crushing iron fist aimed straight at Li-Wen's head! "Your physical cold cannot break my primordial iron structure!"
Li-Wen did not dodge. He did not raise his blade to parry.
He simply stood perfectly straight, pulling his left fist out from his coat pocket, and met Palace Master Iron-Mountain's mountain-crushing iron fist with a simple, straight physical punch!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!
An absolute, terrifying explosion of kinetic mass erupted at the point of impact!
The legendary Eight-Mountain Iron Body—capable of withstanding the direct bombardment of a Stage-6 spatial array—did not even resist for a microsecond!
CRUNCH—! SHATTER—! REPRESS—!
The moment Palace Master Iron-Mountain's iron fist touched Li-Wen's knuckle, the absolute-zero kinetic shockwave traveled up his fist, through his forearm, across his broad shoulders, and down into his organs and legs!
His dark iron skin, his condensed muscle fibers, his bone structure, and his Stage-6 core snap-froze into brittle, pale-blue glass, before violently shattering into millions of microscopic crystal fragments that exploded outward like an icy grenade!
The eight-foot juggernaut of the Iron-Mountain Palace was completely reduced to microscopic frost-dust!
Only Overlord Jin-Sheng remained.
The ruler of the Western Imperial Court sat propped against his cracked dragon throne, his face completely drained of color, his body shivering violently in the absolute-zero draft. He looked at the two small heaps of sparkling frost-dust where two Stage-6 Sovereigns had stood just seconds ago, then raised his head to look into Li-Wen's dark, abyssal eyes.
He knew it was over. No spatial law, no imperial army, no ancient array could save him from the solitary man standing before him.
"You... you monster..." Overlord Jin-Sheng wheezed, blood dripping from his lips onto his broken dragon armor. "You have destroyed the governance of the entire Western Continent... The sects... the imperial court... the trading networks... all destroyed! Millions will fall into chaos! Was a single mortal child's life worth turning an entire continent into a frozen wasteland?!"
Li-Wen walked up to the dragon throne.
He looked down at Overlord Jin-Sheng with flat, unyielding, and absolute coldness.
"She was not a mortal child," Li-Wen murmured, his raspy voice flat and steady.
He reached into his inner coat pocket, his fingers lightly touching the cracked frame of the pink lotus lantern resting over his heart.
"She was my sister," Li-Wen said. "And your continent was too loud."
Li-Wen raised his right hand and drove the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade nine inches deep into the stone floor right between Overlord Jin-Sheng's boots.
STAB.
A single, microscopic wave of absolute-zero sapphire cold exploded from the tip of the dark blade, spreading through the marble floor, into the cracked dragon throne, and through Overlord Jin-Sheng's body.
CRACKLE—!
Overlord Jin-Sheng's eyes froze mid-blink. His broken golden dragon armor, his Stage-6 blood, his imperial soul, and the colossal golden throne behind him snap-froze into a single, massive, pale-blue ice sculpture resting in the center of the plaza.
CRUMB.
A soft gust of cold mountain wind blew through the imperial plaza.
The pale-blue ice sculpture of Overlord Jin-Sheng and his dragon throne collapsed silently, turning into fine, sparkling frost-dust that swept across the vast, empty stone floor.
The Western Imperial Court, the Golden-Eagle Sect, the Iron-Mountain Palace, and the Abyssal-Blade Coalition—the absolute rulers who had dominated the Western Continent for thousands of years—were completely erased from the world map.
Silence—absolute, horrifying, and complete silence—descended upon Gold-Sovereign City.
The thousands of surviving guards, officials, and citizens watching from the distant rooftops and alleyways fell to their knees in total, trembling submission. Not a single soldier raised a weapon. Not a single noble dared to utter a word. The entire capital of five million residents stood in frozen, absolute awe before the solitary man in the frost-covered coat.
Li-Wen slowly pulled the Pitch-Black Heavy Blade out from the marble floor.
He held the dark grip with his broad right hand and slowly pushed the unadorned dark steel all the way back into its iron scabbard.
CLANG.
A clear, deep metallic ring echoed across the quiet city, signifying the end of the blood-paved march.
Li-Wen did not claim the golden imperial throne. He did not declare himself the new Overlord of the Western Continent. He did not take a single golden coin or rare spiritual artifact from the imperial vaults.
He turned his back on the ruined capital, taking slow, calm, steady strides back toward the broken gate, heading out into the vast, open highways of the Western Continent.
He reached into his inner coat pocket once more, gently holding the cracked, extinguished pink lotus lantern against his broad chest.
The wind whistled softly through his white-rooted hair, blowing pale-blue frost-dust across the broad stone path ahead.
The Northern Sovereign walked alone into the vast, frozen horizon, leaving behind a continent cleared of its tyrants, paved in absolute zero, and silent as an eternal tomb.
See you in next chapter....