Patriarch Lin clawed at Shen Yuan's hand, his face turning a bruised purple. The 9th-layer Qi Condensation expert, a man who ruled this city with an iron fist, was dangling like a broken doll. Around them, the terrified guests sat frozen, their breaths hitching as the shadows in the garden began to hiss.
"Ling... Xian..." the Patriarch gasped, his voice a mere wheeze. "She... she doesn't care for us... We are just... grain for her harvest. The Imperial Envoy... he is at the Jade Pavilion... seeking the 'Heavenly Key' of the Ye Clan..."
"The Heavenly Key?" Shen Yuan's eyes narrowed. A cold memory surfaced. The Star-Iron shard. "So, that withered finger-bone I found wasn't just a relic. It was a beacon."
Shen Yuan's grip tightened. CRACK. The Patriarch's neck snapped. Shen Yuan didn't let the body fall. Instead, he activated the [Second Gate: The Reaper's Harvest].
Visible streams of white and gold Qi were ripped from the Patriarch's corpse and the surrounding guests. The banquet guests shrieked as their cultivation bases were forcibly drained, flowing into Shen Yuan like a spiritual river.
BOOM.
Shen Yuan's aura exploded. The Middle-Stage of Foundation Establishment. The ground beneath the banquet table shattered, revealing the glowing veins of the city's Spirit Leyline. Shen Yuan stepped onto the glowing vein, and with a single stomp, he diverted the entire flow of the city's energy into his own Dantian.
"Master!"
Ye Fan and Ye Lin arrived, landing amidst the corpses. Their robes were splattered with blood, but their eyes were bright with the thrill of the slaughter.
"The scouts are dealt with," Ye Lin reported, kneeling. "But Master... a golden carriage is approaching from the north. The pressure... it's unlike anything I've felt."
Shen Yuan looked toward the city gates. A streak of golden light was cutting through the night sky.
"The Imperial Envoy," Shen Yuan muttered, a dark smile playing on his lips. "Foundation Establishment, Peak-Stage. A decent snack."
The golden carriage didn't stop at the gates. It flew directly over the city walls, pulled by four Spirit-Stallions with flaming hooves. It landed in the center of the ruined banquet garden, crushing the silver platters and fine silks.
A man stepped out. He wore robes of shimmering gold silk, with the emblem of a Rising Sun—the mark of Ling Xian's personal guard.
"Who is the peasant responsible for this filth?" the Envoy demanded, his voice carrying the weight of a mountain. He looked at the pile of corpses, then his gaze landed on Shen Yuan. "The Lin Family was under the protection of the Empress. You have committed a capital crime, boy."
"Empress?" Shen Yuan stepped forward, the shadows at his feet coiling like hungry cobras. "You mean the maidservant who stole a crown? Tell me, does she still have that scar on her left shoulder? The one I gave her when she failed her first trial?"
The Envoy's face went from arrogant to deathly pale. "How... how do you know of the Empress's private marks? Who are you?!"
"I am the nightmare she tried to bury," Shen Yuan said.
He didn't use a weapon. He simply pointed a finger at the golden carriage.
"[Fourth Gate: The Gate of Ruin]"
The air itself seemed to scream. A bolt of pure, concentrated Void energy shot from Shen Yuan's fingertip.
The Envoy roared, summoning a Golden Shield of Light, but the Void energy didn't bounce off. It ate the light. The shield dissolved like paper in a furnace. The golden carriage was obliterated in a second, and the Envoy was sent flying through three stone walls, coughing up blood that glowed with golden Qi.
"Lin, Fan," Shen Yuan said, his voice cold and commanding. "Kill the horses. I want the Envoy alive. I need to send a gift back to the capital... and he is going to be the messenger."