Silence washed over the area.
Barely a second or two had passed from the first movent to the last. The onlookers had only caught a blur of roots and a flash of sothing sharp—then death.
By the ti the Experts from both sides reached the area around the Haan Di Pavilion, they stopped in their tracks. They found themselves only a few tres away from Aksai, standing on opposite sides of the street.
Between them lay the bodies of the five dead n.
The ground around the corpses was already turning red as blood poured out and ford small pools that reflected the dim evening light.
No one spoke. The only sound was the slow drip of blood hitting stone.
And Aksai stood there, as calm as if nothing had happened at all.
Ren stood frozen as the five bodies hit the ground. For a mont, he could not breathe.
The faces of his fallen supporters stared back at him—eyes wide, mouths slightly open, stuck between horror and confusion. They had not even understood how they died.
A heavy swirl of emotions crashed into Ren all at once—pain, regret, rage, and a deep fear that crawled up his spine. These five had followed him for years. They had fought side by side, taken risks for him, and trusted him. Now they lay on the cold stone like discarded dolls.
"Who... what just happened? And who... who the fu–"
Ren’s hands shook as he looked at Aksai.
Aksai stood there calmly, as if nothing worth rembering had happened. His eyes showed no joy, no anger, no guilt—only a light indifference, as if removing five lives was no different from clearing away weeds from a garden.
Ren’s blood boiled at first... but as he t Aksai’s gaze directly, a sudden chill washed over him. That kind of apathy... That kind of calm... It was the attitude of soone who had done this a thousand tis.
Only then did Ren truly look at Aksai. Sothing about his face felt familiar. He stared and stared. Then it clicked.
"The Wild Devil Lands..." Ren whispered to himself.
Yes—he had seen Aksai there. Aksai’s small group had clashed with Haitin Blackblood. Ren had interfered briefly, but left them behind, thinking they would be torn apart sooner or later. With the chaos in that region back then, he had been certain that at least soone like Aksai wouldn’t survive long.
But now... Aksai was standing here. Alive. Stronger. Much stronger.
Ren looked deeper, trying to sense his cultivation. But the more he tried, the more his heart trembled. He couldn’t see anything.
It was like staring into a bottomless void.
Ren had felt this feeling countless tis whenever he stood before his master, Lord Moyun Haan Di, a true Core Formation Lord.
A horrifying realization stabbed his mind.
"A Core... Formation... Lord..." he whispered.
His knees buckled.
’What.. What have I done? I ACTUALLY WANTED TO KILL A CORE FORMATION LORD? WHO GAVE THE GALL TO DO THIS?
Was I cursed by soone? Did Jaya set this trap for ?’
He had just tried to kill a Core Formation Lord. He had sent his followers to attack one.
Ren’s entire body went cold. His breath ca out uneven and broken. Then, without another second of hesitation, he threw himself to the ground.
His forehead slamd against the cobblestone as he kowtowed so hard the sound echoed down the empty street.
"Lord... no... Esteed Lord! Forgive ! Please forgive this fool!" Ren shouted, fear shaking his voice. "I did not know! I-I was blind! Please spare my life! Spare my people! Senior, I beg you—please forgive my disrespect!"
Ren’s entire body trembled as he lowered himself even further, not daring to lift his head.
The other group who heard Ren’s words froze in place. None of them expected Ren to dare say sothing like that, and when they saw who he was talking about, their eyes widened in shock.
Sirina, especially, stared at Aksai as if she had just seen a ghost. Her mouth hung open, her steps stopped, and her mind went blank. Aksai’s presence now felt completely different from the calm man she had seen before.
When she looked at him again, she felt as if she was staring at so rare creature that existed only in legends—sothing powerful, strange, and impossible to understand.
She didn’t snap out of her daze until the Expert beside her tugged on her hand.
"Sirina! Kneel! Follow the group!"
Only then did she notice that everyone from Jaya’s side had already dropped to their knees out of instinct. Even Jaya, who usually stayed calm no matter what, looked stunned as he stared at Aksai.
Aksai was no longer hiding his real cultivation. His aura spread out quietly, almost gently, but it pressed down on everyone around him like a heavy blanket. It wasn’t noisy or wild, but it was sothing no Expert could ignore.
The air seed thicker, the ground seed heavier, and everyone felt a cold shiver run down their spine. Ren felt it too. He stood frozen as Aksai looked at him.
Aksai’s voice was calm, steady, and carried no anger—only clear judgnt.
"Since you have apologized sincerely, I won’t kill you," Aksai said. "But I cannot let you walk away without punishnt. If I let this go, you’ll use your status again and try to kill anyone you see as an eyesore."
As soon as he finished speaking, Aksai raised his hand.
A vine burst out of the ground beside Ren. It twisted and turned in the air like a living thing before forming a pair of thorn-covered hands. Before Ren could even react, the vine grabbed his left arm.
There was a sharp sound, and Ren’s arm was torn off in one motion.
Ren’s knees nearly buckled from the pain. His breath caught in his throat, and his entire body shook.
He wanted to scream, but he bit down hard on his lips and held it back.
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