[HOST INTEGRITY: 24%]
[ACTIVE ITEM: IMPERIAL EDICT (SEALED)]
[TIME: 8:05 PM]
The word "Audit" didn't echo. It didn't boom.
It simply crushed the air in the room.
The music stopped. The chatter died.
The Golden Barrier that Wang Bo had erected didn't shatter; it dissolved. It turned into golden dust that swirled into the small wooden box in Ren's hand, bowing to a higher authority.
Wang Bo stepped back, his brow furrowing in confusion.
"What... what is this?"
He tried to summon his Qi. He tried to flare his golden aura.
But the air felt heavy. Thick. It felt like the gravity had increased tenfold.
Ren Wu looked up.
The Crow Mask was cracked. Black blood was still dripping from the chin.
But the presence radiating from him wasn't human. It was Administrative.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[ITEM ACTIVATED: EDICT OF THE VERMILION COURT]
[TYPE: ABSOLUTE JURISDICTION]
[TARGET: UNLAWFUL GATHERING]
Ren lifted the wooden box. A scroll of black iron floated out of it, unrolling endlessly until it hit the floor and draped across the carpet.
The text on it was not written in ink. It was written in burning white fire.
"You threatened a Warden," Ren whispered. His voice was no longer mute. It sounded like grinding stones.
"You think she is just an old woman? She is a Gatekeeper. She holds the keys to the Deep Hells, Wang Bo. If she falls, the things in the basement come up. Threatening her isn't a crime... it is Suicide."
Ren took a step forward.
THOOM.
The entire hotel shook.
"Kill him!" Wang Bo ordered, his voice cracking with rage. "He is bluffing! He is just a Peasant with a borrowed artifact!"
The four men in black robes lunged. They were Clan Retainers, trained in the bone-breaking arts. Their staves were made of Spirit-Iron Wood, inscribed with hardening runes that could crack a tank.
Ren didn't dodge.
He didn't even look at them.
He looked at the floating scroll.
"Article 1," Ren read aloud, his voice echoing with the force of a gavel. "The Prohibition of Private Armies within the Imperial Court."
SNAP.
Invisible chains didn't erupt from the floor. The Law itself reacted.
The runes on the Spirit-Iron staves flashed red, then imploded.
The wood didn't break; it rotted.
In mid-swing, the terrifying weapons turned into piles of sawdust and dead leaves.
The retainers stumbled, clutching handfuls of dust.
"My weapon..." one gasped, staring at his hands. "The Qi... it's gone."
"Confiscated," Ren said coldly. "No steel is drawn before the Minister."
Wang Bo's face twisted. The arrogance was still there, fighting against the fear.
"You think destroying a few sticks scares me?" Wang Bo snarled.
He reached into his robe. He didn't pull a defensive charm. He pulled a Dragon Scale.
"I am the Young Master of the Southern Peaks! I carry the blood of the Golden Dragon! Your laws do not apply to Royalty!"
ROAAAAR!
A massive golden phantom erupted from Wang Bo's back. It was a dragon, coiling around him, its eyes burning with power. The pressure in the room spiked. Guests fell to their knees.
It looked magnificent.
It looked invincible.
Ren tilted his head.
He looked at the dragon phantom.
[SPIRIT SIGHT: ANALYZING]
Ren let out a dry, mocking laugh.
"Royalty?" Ren asked. "Is that what your father told you?"
Ren pointed a finger at the golden phantom.
"Article 2: The Crime of False Nobility."
Ren's eyes glowed with the green fire of the Auditor.
"I have seen Dragons, boy. I have dined with them. I have taxed their hoards."
Ren's voice dropped to a whisper.
"That is not a Dragon. That is a River Snake wearing a glamour."
The Edict flashed white.
[DISPEL: ILLUSION]
SKREEEEE!
The golden dragon phantom didn't roar; it shrieked.
The golden scales peeled away like cheap paint. The long, majestic whiskers dissolved into sludge. The horns turned into mud.
Underneath the gold, a slimy, green Swamp Python hissed, shrinking back in terror.
The crowd in the ballroom gasped.
"A Snake?"
"The Wang Bloodline... it's a lie?"
"They aren't Dragon Descendants. They are Swamp Folk!"
Wang Bo froze. His greatest weapon—his status—had just been stripped naked.
"No..." he whispered, his hands shaking as the golden light faded. "That's impossible... Father said..."
"Your father lied to increase his market value," Ren said, walking until he stood directly over the trembling Young Master.
"And you used that lie to threaten my family."
Ren swiped his hand through the air.
The projection on Wang Bo's phone—the live feed of Grandma Wu's house—glitched.
[REMOTE ENFORCEMENT: ACTIVE]
Meanwhile: Grandma Wu's House
On the porch, Wang Bo's hitman was reaching for the door handle.
He was a professional. He didn't make mistakes.
But he made one today. He stepped onto Audited Soil.
Suddenly, the wind stopped.
The shadows on the porch didn't stretch; they stood up.
Two spectral figures in ancient armor materialized from the ground. They held heavy iron shackles.
"Warrant served," one spirit rasped.
The hitman didn't even have time to scream.
The shackles clamped around his neck and ankles. He wasn't dragged away physically; he was dragged down. The porch floor became quicksand.
He vanished into the earth, pulled directly into the Underworld's holding cells.
Inside the house, Grandma Wu paused. She looked at her tea. There was a ripple in the cup.
"The Judges are active tonight," she muttered.
The Ballroom
Wang Bo watched the feed go black.
He looked up at Ren. The arrogance finally broke.
"You..." Wang Bo stammered, backing away until he hit the dais. "You can't do this. I have money! I have connections! I will pay you 50,000 coins! Just let me leave!"
Ren paused.
50,000 Coins.
That could fix the factory. That could buy the medicine to fix his dying body.
Ren looked at the terrified boy.
Then he looked at the black blood staining his own shirt.
"The fine is 50,000," Ren whispered. "But the tax..."
Ren placed his hand on Wang Bo's chest.
The Scroll on the floor glowed brighter, transferring its power into Ren's hand.
[EDICT EFFECT: ASSET SEIZURE ENABLED]
[TARGET: CULTIVATION BASE]
"The tax is Power."
"No!" Wang Bo screamed, realizing what was happening. "Take the money! Don't take my—"
Ren pulled his hand back.
He didn't take Wang Bo's soul. He took his Foundation.
A ball of golden light was ripped out of Wang Bo's chest. It was his Qi. His years of training. His future.
Wang Bo screamed—a sound of utter, hopeless loss.
He slumped to the floor. He wasn't dead. But he was empty.
He would wake up as a mortal. No magic. No fake bloodline. Just a rich kid with nothing but paper money.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[ASSET SEIZED: CORE FORMATION BASE (CONVERTING...)]
[CONVERSION: 50,000 SPIRIT COINS]
[EDICT EXPIRED]
The pressure vanished.
The scroll rolled back up and dissolved into ash.
Ren stood alone in the center of the ballroom, holding the ball of light.
The silence was absolute.
Nobody moved. The Reapers, the Warlords, the Ghosts—they were all staring at the man in the Crow Mask with primal fear.
He hadn't just won a fight.
He had enforced the Law in a lawless land.
Ren turned to the crowd.
He swayed slightly. His vision was blurring. The Edict had used every ounce of stamina he had.
[HOST INTEGRITY: 15%]
He needed to leave. Now. Before he collapsed.
"Red Dog," Ren rasped. "Get the car."
"Yes, Boss!" Red Dog scrambled, terrified and awed.
Ren walked toward the exit. The crowd parted like the Red Sea.
As he reached the doors, a figure stepped into his path.
It was Ye Lingshan.
She stood there, her hand on her sword case. Her eyes were wide, staring at the ash on the floor.
"That wasn't a spell," she whispered. Her voice was trembling. "That was The First Decree."
Ren stared at her.
He was one second away from passing out.
"Move, girl," Ren said, his voice barely a whisper. "Unless you want to be audited too."
Ye Lingshan didn't move. She leaned in close. She sniffed the air.
"You smell like death," she whispered.
"Just like the boy in my history class."
Ren's heart stopped.
Then, Ye Lingshan stepped aside.
"Go," she said softly. "Before the Real Judges show up. You made a lot of noise, Mr. Crow."
Ren didn't look back.
He walked out of the hotel, into the cool night air.
He climbed into the back of the limo.
The door clicked shut.
"Drive," Ren wheezed.
As the car pulled away, Ren Wu slumped against the leather seat.
The adrenaline crashed.
[HOST INTEGRITY: 9%]
[WARNING: SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT]
Ren closed his eyes, clutching the 50,000 coins worth of energy in his hand.
"I need..." Ren whispered to the empty car.
"I need a vacation."
[SYSTEM AUDIT COMPLETE]
Current Assets: 54,000 Spirit Coins (Rich)
Current Health: 9% (Dying)
Ren Wu: "I didn't steal his cultivation. I simply reallocated his assets to a management team that actually knows how to use them. (Me)."
System: "Host is advised to stop monologue-ing and faint before his soul leaks out of his ears."