Lady Vivienne looked down at the dark wet blood on her beautiful silver dress. She looked at Dustin’s face and felt a very strange, deep pity inside her heart.Dustin was bleeding in the mud, his handsome face covered in cuts and dirt. Vivienne thought he looked too beautiful and too sad to die in this dirty courtyard."Stop this right now," Lady Vivienne said, her voice loud and cold like winter ice. "I do not care about your stories or your family problems. I want to buy this man."Chloe Sterling blinked her eyes fast, completely shocked by the lady's words. She looked at Young Master Brandon, and then she looked back at Vivienne with a greedy smile."You want to buy this broken trash, Your Grace?" Chloe asked, letting out a small, mean laugh. "He is completely useless now. His legs are broken and he cannot work anymore.""He is just a lying, bad servant," Eleanor Sterling added quickly, nodding her old head up and down. "But if you give us some silver coins, you can take his useles

The two remaining assassins stared at their leader's bleeding body in total shock, their faces turning completely white as they stepped back into the wet mud."What kind of strange sorcery is this?" the second killer shrieked, his voice shaking with a massive wave of sudden terror. "How dare you use forbidden dark artifacts against us!""You will regret doing this to our captain!" the third one roared, his eyes wide with unbridled fury. "Do you honestly think you are the only one who knows dark magic?"Dustin did not say a single word to them; he stood perfectly straight and looked only at the new words flashing brightly on his blue system screen.[Ding! 8,000 Anger Points earned from the targets' intense shock and fury! Total balance: 8,000 points!]"We cannot defeat this weapon with normal power!" the second assassin hissed, turning to his friend with a crazy, desperate look on his face. "We must use the ultimate forbidden magic right now!""Yes! Let's do it!" the third one agreed,

The giant royal plaza was packed with only the representatives of every single major house, rich merchant guild, and high-tier cultivation organization. Everyone stood tightly together beneath the massive golden banners of the empire that fluttered lazily in the cold wind.Everyone in the entire province knew the truth about these urgent imperial events. Royal meetings like this were only called for very difficult challenges that led to great, life-changing rewards.Right at the absolute front of the grand courtyard stood Chloe Sterling, looking highly beautiful but incredibly mean. Her small arm was wrapped proudly and tightly around Young Master Brandon, and her eyes scanned the crowd with extreme satisfaction.Young Master Brandon lifted his chin in supreme arrogance, looking down on every single person who walked past them on the stone path. He adjusted his expensive red cuffs, his face full of an unyielding, arrogant pride that made nearby lesser cultivators look away in shame.B

The heavy iron gates of the Grand Obsidian Estate creaked loudly as they swung wide open under the gray afternoon sky. Dustin Vance stood at the center of the broad paved entryway, his hands resting easily inside the clean pockets of his new dark coat. Behind him, the imperial guards finished delivering the official golden land deed into his hands before stepping back with deep, respectful bows.Dustin looked up at the massive black stone mansion that had belonged to the powerful Razor-Sexton family just twenty-four hours ago. The high towers and wide courtyards were completely silent, completely still, and now completely under his own name. A cold winter breeze rolled across the gardens, but Dustin did not feel the freezing chill at all anymore.A loud clanking sound of dragging iron chains suddenly broke the silence behind the transport carriage near the street. Two guards violently kicked the wooden steps of the cart, shoving two trembling, ragged figures straight down onto the har