Xu Canghai felt unadulterated fear flood his veins like ice water.
He sought to run, to flee the nightmare unfolding around him, but his legs were gone.
In the span of a single heartbeat, the limbs that had carried him through decades of conquest had simply vanished, severed cleanly at the thighs by an invisible force he never saw coming.
Blood poured from the stumps in thick, rhythmic jets, soaking the stone steps beneath him.
He toppled forward, face slamming into the dirt and blood-soaked ground.
Grit and gore filled his mouth as he gasped, choking on the metallic taste of his own ruin.
"Now, Xu Canghai," Chen Mo asked softly, voice carrying over the dying screams like a gentle breeze, "tell me… how does it feel to be crippled?"
"You bastard!" Xu Canghai spat, blood and dirt flecking his lips. "You will regret your actions! My son will—"
Chen Mo didn't care. Not even a flicker of emotion crossed his face.
