Li Jue Tian's response was a sound from the abyss.
"Hehe…" He raised his head in a desolate manner, as if gazing at a sky that had betrayed him. He laughed, but it was a sad tone, a dry, cracking sound devoid of any humor. Tears of blood leaked from his eyes, mixing with the ashes of his spirit. He opened his mouth, and his voice was gloomy, weighed down by a final, terrible understanding. "You never intend to let either my son or me off, do you?"
It was the question of a man who had seen the chessboard and realized he was never a player, but a piece slated for removal.
The Demon Lord's answer was a crescendo of malice.
"Hahaha…" He laughed, a sound that was cruel, rich with enjoyment. "Oh, you finally realized it… not bad! Your action, your struggle, your efforts… are merely my entertainment."
The words detonated in the minds of the crowd.
A huge clamor erupted as a collective gasp that sucked the air from the field.
The revelation was too profound, too horrifying.
Their battles, their alliances, their vendettas, all had been mere entertainment for this entity.
A cold shiver ran down their spines, a physical tremor of dread. They instinctively took a few steps back, a herd recoiling from a predator that viewed them as amusing livestock.
Even the great experts among them, Lei Bao Yu and Bu Kuang Feng, were no exception. Their legendary composure was shattered as they shuddered from the existential terror of being puppets.
Their power, their pride, was rendered a joke.
Jun Wuyi watched this unfold, and his eyes sparkled with a fierce, triumphant light. He was very happy that this person was his nephew's master and was supporting the Jun Family.
In this revelation of universal manipulation, his family had emerged not as victims but as favored pieces on the board.
Everyone was highly envious of the Jun Family, often perceived as low-key and withdrawn, who had such a world-shaking person supporting them from the dark.
The unspoken consensus rippled through the crowd.
'We absolutely can't provoke the Jun Family… we simply couldn't afford to do it…'
It was a survival calculation, cold and immediate.
The Demon Lord let the silence hang for a moment, savoring the taste of their terror. Then he spoke again, his voice dropping into a tone of possessive finality. "The Jun Family… hehe… isn't so small that people like Li Jue Tian can provoke and get away after that... Jun Mo Xie is my disciple, and harming him is the same as touching my blade... Hmph, you ants are only overestimating your capabilities."
He finished speaking and inclined his head, a slow, deliberate turn to look at the people from Silver Blizzard City. His eyes, those magnificent stars, now flashed with bright lights, pulses of intense, scrutinizing energy. They swept over Xiao Bu Yu and his contingent, causing them to tremble for no reason.
It was a physiological reaction, a direct nervous response to being visually assessed by a supreme predator.
The Demon Lord laughed, a cold sound that held no warmth. He addressed Xiao Bu Yu directly, his words layered with meaning. "And, as for you… You needn't be alarmed. This old man will have no interest in seeking trouble with you as long as you don't make him unhappy again. Someone is responsible for every grievance. And, there is a debtor for every debt. Ha ha…"
The message was clear that your fate depends on Jun Mo Xie's mood.
Your debts are your own. I am the arbitrator, not your enemy… unless you become his.
Xiao Bu Yu forced a smile that was a mask of diplomacy stretched over sheer panic. "This Xiao admires the kindness of your distinguished self."
He chose the word as a term of respect, not gratitude, careful not to imply any debt or relationship.
The Demon Lord smiled, a gesture visible only in the subtle shift of his mask's aura. "Can gratitude and grudges be distinguished that easily? I don't think so. Hehe… But, I'll play along from now…"
He was acknowledging the complexity of motives, then dismissing it.
The Demon Lord stood motionless in the empty space. And from his left eye, a pitch-black flame suddenly emanated. It was not fire as known to man but a manifestation of pure primal chaos.
It snaked out silently and instantly engulfed Li Jue Tian.
The scene inside the flame was blurred. The blackness was so absolute, so consuming, that it distorted vision. The shapes writhed within, but they were indistinct, nightmares glimpsed through smoked glass.
But the sound was crystal clear.
Everyone could clearly hear the former Second Great Master, Li Jue Tian, let out a fearful howl. It was a scream of pure, unadulterated terror, the sound of a soul perceiving its own irreversible erasure.
It slowly escalated into a scream of pain, a raw, physical torment, before being abruptly cut off.
In a matter of seconds, it was over.
The pitch-black flame retracted, vanishing back into the Demon Lord's eye.
Where Li Jue Tian had knelt, there was nothing left aside from only a faint, greasy smoke that lingered for a heartbeat before dissipating in the wind.
A gentle breeze, the same one that had earlier brushed their faces, now stirred. It caught the invisible residue of a Great Master and carried it away, dispersing him into the vastness of the world as if he had never existed.
The entire place turned silent.
It was a silence deeper than before, a vacuum of sound and thought.
They were shocked beyond dumbfoundedness.
A Great Master, a pinnacle of their world's power, a man of vast influence and formidable strength, had been burned to ashes so easily with a mere glance.
'What kind of move was that…?'
Lei Bao Yu and Bu Kuang Feng stared at Demon Lord, their pupils trembling in fear.
The people from the Xiao Family of the Silver Blizzard City were obviously the most terrified ones present on the scene. Xiao Bu Yu's face seemed like it had been drowned in water.
'Will the Silver Blizzard City's strength be enough to bear that person's revenge? I genuinely can't say…'
------
After everything was over, the greater part of the allied forces scattered.
The humans had returned to the Southern Heaven City. They had suffered a crushing defeat. And, the strongest faction of the humans, the Xue Hun Manor, had been thoroughly crushed.
Even Li Jue Tian, one of the Eight Great Masters, had died.
However, the final outcome of the battle was that the Xuan Beasts of Tian Fa had returned to their forest.
Moreover, they weren't going to trouble humanity anymore.
Jun Mo Xie spent some time inside the domain as he waited for others to leave.
But just as he stepped out and returned to the camp, he was ambushed by the little devil.
He had avoided her for the past few days due to urgent matters, so he decided to give her some time.
After all, the little girl was a troublemaker and always pestered him.
Dugu Xiao Yi was very happy and seemed somewhat excited, which caused him to have a bad feeling.
But before he could take a sip of the wine she had brought, he felt the presence of two people, well, they couldn't be called people, watching him attentively.
Because his attention was focused on Mei Xue Yan and Mei Qian Xun, he didn't pay much attention and emptied the entire bottle in one turn, causing the little girl to stare at him with bugged eyes.
"What happened, little girl?" He found it rather funny, so he couldn't help but ask.
Dugu Xiao Yi blinked for a bit before she came back to herself, realizing her stupid action. "No… Nothing… Why?"
She sized up Jun Mo Xie several times before asking cautiously. "You… feel nothing?"
"What should I feel?" Mo Xie found her behavior weirder and weirder.
"You're fine? You're really fine? I mean… you're not even feeling a little hot? …like you're being cooked or something…?" Dugu Xiao Yi relaxed to some extent and asked in a scientist-like tone.
"Feel like I'm being cooked…? No…" Jun Mo Xie became suspicious as a bad feeling arose in his heart.
'Why do I feel like I am forgetting something very important?'
"That's good! That's very good! Not having that feeling is excellent!" Dugu Xiao Yi patted the pit of her stomach and breathed a long sigh of relief after she saw Jun Mo Xie's reaction.
However, she had barely relaxed when she suddenly recalled something, and a scowl appeared across her face as a result of this realization. So, the little girl cursed inwardly, "That's so despicable! That young soldier gave me a fake item!"
'Young soldier? Fake item? What is she saying?' Jun Mo Xie found it even weirder and tried to recall anything related to this event.
Suddenly, she shouted angrily. "That's very despicable!"
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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