Xiao Peng didn't back down.He drew one breath, then let go of everything he had been holding back.A Primordial Realm third level aura exploded out of his body like a wave with no fixed shape but felt across every inch of that corridor. The stone walls shook. The spiritual lanterns on the ceiling swayed. And the pressure expanding from the figure wearing an ordinary servant's face struck everyone within range all at once.Several elders still at the lower edge of Primordial Realm staggered, dropping to one knee by reflex before they even realized what their bodies were doing. The core disciples in the back rows had it worse. Some blacked out instantly, others vomited where they stood, their knees hitting the floor with nothing they could do to stop it.The pressure was too overwhelming for bodies that weren't prepared.Lu Zonghe and Gu Yanhao didn't stop. But both were forced to slow their steps momentarily, adjusting their spiritual energy to keep that pressure from entering their m

A moment earlier.The sound of chaos from outside the door came through clearly.Lou Bingxin's shout ordering the elders. The clang of swords and the blast of spiritual energy from the fight in the corridor. The sound of running footsteps from every direction converging on one point.Kael didn't turn around.His hand came up again, his knuckles no longer feeling right. The bones in his right fingers had fractured at several points, dried blood caked between them and dripping onto the stone floor below. But silver energy was still flowing from his palm, filling every crack in those bones to keep them from collapsing completely before this was done.The array in front of him was down to one layer.The final layer, the one with no color but the heaviest of all.Kael drew one breath, gathering silver energy from every meridian into a single point at his clenched right fist, until the skin over his knuckles looked like it was glowing from within.Then he threw the final strike.BOOM!Not t

They didn't take long to react.One by one, the Grand Elders dragged themselves forward, kneeling before Kael not merely in submission but in the way of people genuinely begging for their own lives."Grand Leader, we had no choice back then!" One of them spoke first, his voice cracking. "Wu Shengming threatened us! We were forced to swear loyalty or die!""I was imprisoned for fifty years before I finally gave in, Grand Leader!" Another followed, his forehead on the floor. "Not because I wanted to! I had no other choice!"Several more joined in, their words overlapping each other, each carrying a different reason but arriving at the same point.Spare our lives.Kael listened to all of it without his expression shifting in the slightest.Then Lou Bingxin moved. She dragged herself forward with great difficulty, the bones in her back still feeling like gravel grinding against each other with every motion, dried blood at the corner of her mouth. But she kept moving until her knees found

The sky above the Demon Sect was gray, as it always was.But the main palace courtyard, filled that morning by nearly every member of the sect, felt different from any day before. No training, no conversation. Everyone stood in silence, their faces turned in one direction.In the center of the courtyard, seven guillotines stood in a single row.The iron was not new. Kael recognized it from his past life, equipment that had existed in this sect long before Wu Shengming took over, now brought out for the first time in thousands of years.On the throne facing the courtyard, Kael sat.His white robes stood out sharply against the dark colors that dominated the entire sect, and the Boundless Dark Blade leaned against the side of the throne within arm's reach. His expression showed no anticipation, no satisfaction. Just calm, like someone finishing work that had been waiting a long time.Xiao Peng stood to the right of the throne, hands folded behind his back.Not long after, seven figures

They arrived at Wellspring Square.The fountain at its center flowed as usual, its quiet sound contrasting with the silence that formed the moment the group appeared at the edge of the square. One by one, people who had been passing through slowed their steps. A disciple carrying training equipment stopped. A trader about to sort his goods stopped. Ordinary elders who happened to be passing through that path stopped.Within minutes, the square that normally buzzed with foot traffic had become a still crowd, all eyes facing one direction.Grand Leader Mo Tianjue was walking alongside seven Grand Elders and one man they didn't recognize but who stood in a position that couldn't be ignored.Whispers broke out among the crowd.Then Kael turned to the seven elders behind him and said in a perfectly ordinary tone, "Sit in a row. Show me your backs."All seven did as they were told without asking questions, but their expressions couldn't hide the unease that suddenly rose in them.In the cro