In an instant—
Endless killing intent erupted from Zhao Xuan.
No—
It wasn't just around him.
That murderous aura surged outward like a tidal wave, flooding the entire area.
Zhao Xuan was young.
He had only recently graduated from high school.
He was inexperienced in the world.
But—
The number of people and monstrous land beasts that had died by his hands was beyond count.
That was why the killing intent pouring from him now was so terrifyingly cold.
Cold to the extreme.
Cold enough to make one's spine chill.
Cold enough to make one's scalp go numb.
Under the suffocating pressure of Zhao Xuan's killing intent, the foreign geniuses sprawled on the ground grew even paler.
Their bodies began to tremble.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Like a graveyard at midnight.
A suffocating dread filled the air.
"No… no… impossible… this can't be… how can this be…"
A trembling murmur echoed faintly.
It was Neps.
Zhao Xuan's gaze slowly lowered onto him.
Killing intent locked onto Neps completely.
Neps suddenly jolted awake from his shock.
He looked up.
The moment he met Zhao Xuan's eyes—
His face turned white.
"You… you can't kill me… my brother… my brother is an Eighth-Rank Peak expert…"
Before he could finish—
A scream tore out of his throat.
In full view of everyone—
Zhao Xuan grabbed Neps's right arm.
Then—
BOOM!
A punch came crashing down.
In dragon-man form, Zhao Xuan's physique exceeded 100,000.
What did that mean?
Explosive power.
With one punch—
Neps's right arm exploded.
Both upper arm and forearm shattered instantly.
Neps screamed in agony.
His left arm was grabbed next.
"My parents… my parents are Ninth-Rank Emperors… my family has three Emperors… you can't kill me… you'll die too… AHHHH—!!!"
BOOM!
The left arm exploded as well.
Blood sprayed.
The watching geniuses felt their scalps go numb.
Then Zhao Xuan looked at Neps's right leg.
"My grandfather is also a Ninth-Rank Emperor… please… don't…"
Zhao Xuan raised his foot.
CRACK!!!
Bone-shattering sound.
A scream ripped through the sky.
Then the last leg.
"Please… I was wrong… I was wrong…"
No mercy showed on Zhao Xuan's face.
BOOM!
The final leg was crushed.
Both arms. Both legs.
All pulverized into fragments.
Zhao Xuan stopped.
Killing him?
Too merciful.
For a genius, the greatest punishment wasn't death—
It was destroying their ability to ever grow stronger again.
And that was exactly what Zhao Xuan had done.
With bones smashed to powder, Neps's limbs would never naturally heal.
Unless—
He transplanted new limbs from someone else.
Or—
He spent thousands of billions worth of Life Energy to regrow them.
The first option would never be as good as his original body.
The second was nearly impossible.
But then—
Zhao Xuan paused.
"Wait."
"This isn't right."
"Why am I going out of my way to cripple him instead of killing him?"
"He said his parents and grandfather are Ninth-Rank Emperors…"
"What if his family really can afford that cost?"
"What if, just like in those cliché novels, he survives this ordeal, grows stronger, and comes back to kill me?"
At that thought—
Zhao Xuan's eyes turned sharp.
Very sharp.
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