Throne Of The Forbidden God

The Death of Elder Lu

"I knew you would come here," a cold voice rang out from the direction of the doorway.

Ravian turned around. Standing there was Elder Lu, his hand clutching a crystal ball that emitted a surveillance light.

"A new servant, huh? Vyan?" Elder Lu smiled sinisterly. "I’ve been suspicious since you first entered. No village youth possesses movements that calm."

"You're quite clever for an elder," Ravian replied. His voice returned to its original tone cold and full of authority.

"Your true identity doesn't matter anymore. You will die here, and your head will be proof that Arkana remains unsurpassed!"

Elder Lu unleashed a powerful energy strike. The entire warehouse shook violently. Ravian did not dodge. Instead, he stepped forward, his hands enveloped in smoldering black flames.

BOOM!

Two opposing energies collided, creating a shockwave that shattered the artifact shelves around them. Elder Lu’s eyes widened in shock as he saw Ravian’s black flames beginning to consume his spirit energy.

"What is this! What kind of energy is this!"

"The energy you helped create when you threw me into the abyss," Ravian answered.

He appeared in front of Elder Lu in an instant, his hand gripping the old man's neck. "Do you remember the boy you dragged through these corridors a year ago? The one who begged for mercy while you tore his meridians?"

Elder Lu’s eyes bulged. "R-Ravian? Impossible! You’re dead!"

"Death is a boring place, Elder. So I decided to come back," Ravian tightened his grip.

"Wait! I can help you! I know where the Patriarch hides the key to the main vault!"

"I don't need your help. I only need your essence."

Ravian began to activate his devouring technique. Black steam started to rise from Elder Lu’s body, absorbed into Ravian’s Hell Meridians. The old man’s screams were stifled in his crushed throat.

[Warning! The residence alarm has been automatically activated due to the death of a Core Elder. Forces are heading to your location in thirty seconds!]

"Enough," Ravian released Elder Lu’s withered corpse. He grabbed his now-full dimensional bag.

"System, activate the resonance detonation on the formation core now!"

[Command received. Detonating formation core in three... two... one...]

DUMMM!

The entire Arkana Residence shook violently. A massive purple explosion soared from the basement, destroying part of their defense system. The outer walls, which were previously impenetrable, now began to vibrate heavily.

Ravian ran out of the burning artifact warehouse. Outside, total chaos had erupted. Servants ran in panic, and guards tried to organize their ranks but failed due to the loss of command from Elder Lu.

Ravian, his true face hidden behind a mask, calmly stepped through the corridor. In the middle of the main courtyard, Ravian encountered Kaelan, who was clutching his head, looking terrified by the explosion.

"What’s happening! What is going on!" Kaelan screamed.

Ravian stopped right in front of Kaelan. This time, he did not bow his head. He stood tall, letting his Hell Meridian aura explode completely.

"Hello, Cousin," Ravian said.

Kaelan froze. That voice... he knew it better than anyone. "Ravian? You... is it really you?"

"Did you miss me?" Ravian stepped forward. "Look around you, Kaelan. Your warehouse is burning. Your treasures are gone. And you... you are nothing but leftover trash."

"Kill him! Quickly, kill him!" Kaelan screamed at the guards around him, but no one moved. They were all paralyzed by Ravian’s thick and terrifying energy pressure.

Suddenly, from the direction of the main tower, a furious shout was heard. The Patriarch of Arkana appeared with his golden sword, followed by Lin Xuelan and Elder Bai.

"Ravian! How dare you return here!" the Patriarch roared.

Ravian turned toward his father, then toward Lin Xuelan, who was now staring at him with a face full of horror.

"I came back to take what is mine," Ravian replied. "And to ensure you all feel what I felt at the bottom of that abyss."

"Don't listen to him! He is just a demon possessing my son's body!" the Patriarch shouted. "Elder Bai, help me destroy him!"

Elder Bai stepped forward, but Lin Xuelan held his arm. "Wait, Elder. Look at his eyes... it’s really him."

"I don't care who he is! He has destroyed the dignity of Arkana!" The Patriarch lunged forward with incredible speed, his golden sword slicing through the air with the power of a peak-level Soul Refining Stage.

Ravian smirked. "Come, Father. Show me how strong that stolen power of yours is."

A massive battle broke out in the middle of the burning Arkana Residence. Ravian faced his own father with a rage that had been suppressed for a year. Every clash of their weapons sent shockwaves that toppled the surrounding buildings.

In the midst of the chaos, Kaelan tried to flee toward the back gate. However, he stopped when he saw an old man standing in his path, holding an empty liquor bottle.

"Where are you going, Young Master?" the old man asked with a small smile.

"Get out of the way, old man! Or I’ll kill you!" Kaelan threatened.

"Kill me? You can't even kill a mouse without your father's help," the old man flicked his finger, and instantly Kaelan’s legs went weak until he fell to his knees.

Meanwhile, Ravian managed to push the Patriarch back. His father’s golden sword was now cracked, and his luxurious robes were scorched.

"How... how could you become this strong in such a short time!" the Patriarch shouted while panting.

"Hell is an excellent teacher, Father," Ravian replied.

He prepared for a finishing strike, but suddenly the System issued a red warning.

[WARNING! Detection of a massive energy signature from the sky! This is no ordinary cultivator. This is... a God's Messenger!]

The sky above Azure City suddenly split open. A blinding white light descended, suppressing all the energy in the city. The atmosphere, which had been loud with battle, instantly became deathly silent.

The old man in the black robes immediately pulled Ravian, making him disappear from the spot.

"Why are you pulling me into hiding, old man? I am not afraid of any power, no matter how great."

The old man chuckled softly. "It is not yet time for you to face them. For now, remain the crippled servant," the old man whispered and vanished instantly.

After the chaos began to subside, the atmosphere inside the main hall was far from "stable." Kaelan Arkana sat in his grand chair, but his posture looked broken. A half-empty bottle of wine lay on the floor beside his feet. Across from him, the Patriarch of Arkana looked like a man awaiting a death sentence, his face pale with dark circles under his eyes.

"Xuelan! You finally came!" Kaelan stood up staggeringly, trying to approach the woman. "Do you see what happened? That rat... Yanis... he destroyed everything! He robbed my warehouse! He humiliated me!"

Lin Xuelan took a step back, avoiding the pungent smell of alcohol from Kaelan’s mouth. Her gaze was full of a disgust she no longer hid. "Sit down, Kaelan. You look like a loser."

"A loser? I am your fiancé! I am the heir of this clan!" Kaelan shouted, his voice shrill with frustration.

"The heir of a clan heading toward ruin?" Lin Xuelan sat in a guest chair without waiting to be invited. She folded her arms on the table. "Listen to me carefully. I am not here to comfort you. I am here because the Blue Cloud Sect does not want this alliance to crumble before we get what we want from the northern territory."

The Patriarch of Arkana cleared his throat, trying to recover a bit of his dignity. "Miss Lin, we truly appreciate your help. Elder Lu has fallen... we lost one of our strongest pillars last night. Yanis is no ordinary thief. He knew everything about this house. He knew the location of the formation core, he knew the patrol schedules... it’s as if he were a ghost grown from the very walls of this house."

Lin Xuelan fell silent upon hearing that explanation. A ghost grown from the walls of this house?

"Did anyone ever see his true face?" Lin Xuelan asked.

"Only a black mask," the Patriarch replied. "But his power... it was very strange. Cold, dark, and highly corrosive. It is not a spirit energy I have ever encountered on the Astrala Continent."

Lin Xuelan clenched her fists under the table. Her memory flashed back to the events at the auction and the square. Every time she thought of "Yanis," the image of Ravian always appeared in her mind. But it made no sense. Ravian had no meridians. Ravian should have been dust at the bottom of the Abyss of Soul Annihilation.

"Perhaps he is a cultivator from outside the continent intentionally sent to weaken us," Elder Bai suggested.

"Or maybe..." Lin Xuelan paused her sentence. "Maybe he is someone who hates us all deeply."

"Who would dare hate Arkana to this extent!" Kaelan slammed the table. "Everyone in this city bows to us!"

"They bow because of fear, Kaelan. And now, they are no longer afraid because they saw you crawling on the ground," Lin Xuelan snapped. "I have checked the leaked document reports. The evidence of corruption and slave trading... it was too specific. Only someone with access to the deepest archives could have obtained it."

"You mean there is a traitor among us?" The Patriarch of Arkana frowned.

"It’s possible. Or Yanis is the traitor himself." Lin Xuelan stood back up. "I will walk around this residence. I want to feel the traces of his energy for myself."

"I’ll accompany you!" Kaelan exclaimed.

"No. You stay here and clean yourself up. You are sickening," Lin Xuelan stepped out without looking back.