The Imperial Capital was drowning in unease.
Locust swarms the size of storm clouds had begun to descend on farmlands across the empire, chewing fields to barren wastelands in days. Grain prices soared, whispers of famine spread, and ministers shouted at one another until their voices grew hoarse.
But the Empress sat in silence on her throne, a porcelain mask of calm over the storm inside her chest. She had heard the rumors: villages under Fallen Town were untouched, their crops as lush as spring. The Chen clan's destruction, the strange prosperity of one farm—it all drew her thoughts back to the same man. The farmer.
Before she could act, a messenger knelt, trembling.
"Your Majesty, a representative of the Azure Sky Sect demands an audience. He insists the pestilence is… of their making."
The court froze.
And then the man entered.
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The Sect's Arrogance
The elder of the Azure Sky Sect strode into the hall draped in indigo robes that shimmered with qi. His aura suffocated the courtiers; his cultivation stood at the Peak of Core Formation, one step below Nascent Soul. Among mortals, such a figure was a living calamity.
He bowed—not to the Empress, but mockingly to the hall itself.
"Your Majesty," he said with a smirk, "the locusts are a test. Should your empire pay the price, the Azure Sky Sect will—generously—cleanse the skies. In return, your hand is promised to our Young Master. A union between mortal royalty and cultivation glory. Truly, an honor for your people."
Gasps rippled through the ministers. Some fell to their knees in outrage; others remained silent, knowing the empire's armies could not stand against a sect elder.
The Empress's knuckles whitened on the armrest of her throne. "So this pestilence is of your design?"
The elder smiled, revealing teeth too sharp for comfort. "The heavens favor the strong, Your Majesty. Resist, and the locusts will strip your empire to bone. Submit, and your people will eat. Simple."
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The Farmer's Shadow
Before the Empress could reply, a whisper of wind swept through the hall. No mortal heard it, but the elder's smug smile faltered. His pupils shrank, his chest tightened, as if an invisible claw brushed against his heart.
A presence—far away, yet suffocating—brushed against him. A word, soft as breath, echoed in his mind.
"Debt."
The elder stumbled back, clutching his chest. He scanned the throne room, but the mortals stared at him blankly. None had heard it.
High above the clouds, in a world unseen, Lai sipped tea beneath the shade of his cabbages. Perched on his roof was a monstrous bird, feathers black as pitch, wings spanning mountains, eyes burning with abyssal fire. The Demon Crow of the Abyss shifted impatiently, its beak clicking like a blade against stone.
Lai glanced up. "Do it. Slowly."
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The Crow's Feast
The elder's laughter cracked, turning shrill. "Who dares—"
The throne room darkened. Shadows swelled as if the sun had been eaten. Ministers screamed and scattered, but the Empress held still, her instincts screaming that whatever happened now was not for mortals to interfere in.
With a sound like tearing silk, a crow's talon burst through the ceiling of reality itself, seizing the elder in a grip of obsidian fire. He shrieked, thrashing, his qi exploding in desperate waves.
"Release me! I am Azure Sky Sect! My Young Master is—!"
The crow dragged him upward, phasing between worlds. Mortals saw only fragments—flashes of black wings, the echo of claws scratching across the heavens. The elder's screams grew distant, but his agony poured back into the throne room like blood seeping through cloth.
High above the empire, the Demon Crow held him aloft, dangling by one leg. With excruciating slowness, it began to eat.
First the arm—snapped at the shoulder, chewed between colossal beak.
Then the other arm, torn off while the elder shrieked, his qi flaring uselessly.
The crow's tongue, rough as razors, licked across his chest, peeling flesh from ribs.
His cultivation burned like oil, exploding in futile resistance, but the crow's abyssal hunger devoured even that.
Bit by bit, the elder's body was consumed. His screams echoed across the empire, every mortal shivering though they knew not why.
At last, only his head remained, dangling by strands of qi and sinew.
"Please…" he sobbed, blood and tears staining his face. "Mercy…"
From the farm, Lai's voice whispered one final word.
"Die."
The crow snapped shut its beak. Silence fell.
---
Aftermath
The throne room returned to normal. The air lightened, the shadows retreated. Only scorch marks where the elder had stood remained, and the lingering stink of fear.
Ministers collapsed to their knees, chanting prayers. The Empress sat rigid, her breath shallow.
She alone understood: the empire had not been saved by her armies, nor by her crown. A single farmer, somewhere in the borderlands, had casually plucked an elder of the Azure Sky Sect from existence.
Her chest tightened, not in fear alone, but in something more dangerous. Curiosity. Fascination. The faintest, most forbidden thrill.
---
Far above the empire, the Azure Sky Sect's mountain gates blazed with alarm. The Young Master roared as jade mirrors shattered, each one linked to the elder's soul.
"The old fool is dead?! Who dares kill a Core Formation elder of the Azure Sky Sect?!"
Sect bells rang across the peaks. Elders assembled, disciples armed. Fury boiled in their qi.
Someone, somewhere, had declared war.
And far away, on his quiet farm, Lai set down his teacup, brushing dirt from his hands as though nothing had happened.
"Pests," he muttered, and returned to tending his cabbages.
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⚡ End of Chapter 14 ⚡
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