radicalducati Page 423
Page 423
“A…passing by, a somewhat curious observer of this world.”
Upon hearing this, the old master gave a complex, bitter smile.
Observer?
Just by passing by, two of the Ten Elders were reduced to ashes, and the other to eternal damnation.
If we were a little more "curious"...
He didn't dare to think about it any more.
He knew that from this day forward, the entire world of supernatural beings was about to change.
And at the center of this monstrous wave, he sat calmly opposite him, seemingly still savoring the now-cold tea he had just drunk.
Chapter 399 Deterrence
Longhu Mountain, Shangqing Palace Square.
The wind is still blowing.
But there seemed to be a bloody smell in the wind, as well as the burnt smell of burning paper money.
Lü Ci was dead, Wang Ai had gone mad, and Wang Bing lay on the ground like a dead dog. Two of the Ten Elders, in an almost absurd farce, completely ended their era in front of the gates of Longhu Mountain.
The Taoist priests from the Celestial Master's Mansion stiffly began to clean up the mess. No one dared to speak loudly, and they even walked very quietly, for fear of disturbing the young man sitting on the stone bench as if nothing had happened.
They carried away Wang Ai, who was acting erratically, crying and laughing. This once high-ranking elder was now muttering incoherently.
"Your heart is black... Hahaha, you want to usurp the throne... Don't come any closer, you have blood on you, it's your senior brother's blood..."
He pointed at a young Taoist priest carrying him and suddenly let out a sharp scream, startling the priest so much that he almost dropped him to the ground.
The "gift" bestowed upon him by Zhou Ye allows him to see the most hidden thoughts, the most shameful desires, and the deepest sins in everyone's heart. For a schemer who has wrapped himself in layers of disguise, this world instantly becomes a hell made up of countless sharp malices. He will be eternally tortured in this hell by the "truths" of others and his own "sins."
The old Celestial Master Zhang Jingqing watched this scene, his eyelids twitching slightly. He had lived for over a hundred years, witnessing too much life and death, too much cruelty. But this method of killing without destroying the spirit—no, a method even more thorough than killing without destroying the spirit—still sent chills down his spine.
This is no longer within the scope of "technique".
This is "authority".
A power that makes words law and defines reality.
Zhou Ye ignored the commotion. He simply stared calmly at the now-cold tea in front of him, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, as if remembering something, he looked up, his gaze piercing through the barrier of space, fixed on a distant, 18-degree direction.
That's the direction of Lüjia Village.
"I've said it before, a family should be together all the time."
He said softly.
Almost at the same time, in Lüjia Village, hundreds of miles away, a village known in the world of supernatural beings for its domineering nature and "Minghun Technique," something extremely bizarre happened.
The old dog that was dozing at the village entrance suddenly whimpered, turned into specks of light, and disappeared.
The survivors who were working in the fields had not yet been washed away to the outer members of the Lü family. They had only raised their hoes halfway when their bodies were scattered by the wind like sand sculptures weathered by the elements.
Inside the Lü family ancestral hall, several elders were discussing how to deal with the patriarch's disappearance after venturing into the mountains. Before they could finish speaking, their bodies, starting from their fingers, began to "pixelate" inch by inch, breaking down into the most basic information particles and dissipating into the air.
The young disciples who were practicing the "Bright Soul Technique" had just sensed the flow of Qi when, in the next second, the Qi they had sensed vanished into nothingness.
The crying baby, in his mother's arms, along with his mother, vanished into light.
There were no screams, no resistance, no struggle.
The whole process was eerily quiet.
It was like a silent film. A vast, deeply rooted family, along with the livestock they raised, the plants they cultivated, the houses they built—everything bearing the mark of the "Lu family"—was "deleted" from this world in just a few minutes.
It is not physical destruction, but conceptual erasure.
As if they had never existed.
When the last glimmer of light belonging to Lüjia Village dissipated, only barren land and a lonely old well remained on that land.
Apart from the Lü family, the Wang family also met the same fate. Whether in America on the distant other side or on the African continent, they all came to Zhou Ye's Emperor Banner.
In Zhou Ye's palm, the vanished phantom of the Emperor's Banner, which had completed the cleansing of sins, seemed to have become more solid. Among the distorted faces on the banner, countless new faces appeared. They wailed silently, crowding together to form an even larger, eternally suffering ukiyo-e.
After doing all this, Zhou Ye's face remained completely expressionless.
To him, it was like a computer operator selecting a folder full of viruses and junk files and then pressing "Shift+Delete".
Clean, thorough, and efficient.
"Good and evil are rewarded accordingly, and the cycle of Heaven is inescapable. However, sometimes Heaven is too busy to keep track of everything and needs someone to help it settle its accounts."
Zhou Ye picked up the teacup and drank the cold tea in one gulp, as if he were talking to the old master, or as if he were talking to himself.
The old master Zhang Jingqing's lips twitched, forcing out a smile that was more like a grimace.
Should we take stock of the accounts?
This isn't just clearing out the accounts; you're practically taking the boss and throwing them all away!
This news cannot be kept secret.
Or perhaps Zhou Ye never intended to hide it at all.
That afternoon, the entire upper echelons of the supernatural world were as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped on them.
Everywhere is connected to the company headquarters.
Chairman Zhao Fangxu looked at the report transmitted through the encrypted line, written by the head of the Longhushan branch with trembling hands. For the first time, his face, which always wore a gentle smile, lost all color.
The report was brief, but every word carried immense weight.
"Target Zhou Ye, ability assessment: cannot be assessed."
Event Summary: Lu Ci, one of the Ten Elders, was contained within the Human Emperor's Banner; his form of existence is unknown, but he is suspected to be imprisoned as a soul. At the same time, his village, the Lu Family Village, experienced a conceptual disappearance, leaving no survivors.
Wang Ai, one of the Ten Elders, was subjected to a cognitive alteration spell, resulting in a permanent mental breakdown. Members of his core Wang family who committed serious crimes simultaneously disappeared in various locations.
Conclusion: This target possesses the capability to strike at the causal level.
Recommended course of action: Abandon all attempts at contact, probing, enticement, or confrontation. Classify this as a top-level natural disaster. Observe silently and leave the rest to fate.
After reading the report, Zhao Fangxu remained silent for a long time. He took off his glasses and rubbed his temples vigorously.
"Natural disaster..."
He muttered to himself.
Typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis—those are natural disasters. Because you can't fight them, you can only avoid them.
And now, a "natural disaster" has appeared on Earth.
"Chairman,"
The secretary's voice was hoarse, "All of the company's investments in the Lü and Wang families' businesses..."
"I don't want any of them."
Zhao Fangxu waved his hand, interrupting him.
"Immediately, cut off all contact with them. All personnel dispatched to those two companies, withdraw immediately. No, there's no need to withdraw them; they probably won't be coming back anyway."
He put his glasses back on, his face filled with exhaustion.
"Pass down my order: from today onwards, all employees of Na Du Tong must unconditionally retreat whenever they encounter Mr. Zhou Ye during a mission. In case of conflicting orders, retreat takes the highest priority. Also... dig up all the dirty records within the company over the years, deal with those that need to be dealt with, and compensate those that need to be compensated. Now!"
The secretary paused for a moment, then understood what the chairman meant.
They're afraid of being "purged"!
Meanwhile, in a dark underground stronghold.
The infamous Quanxing organization is also discussing this matter.
"Hahahaha! That old mad dog Lü Ci and that smiling tiger Wang Ai, they're gone just like that? Even their homes were ransacked? That's great! That's really great!" A man with heavy makeup on his face, whose gender was indistinguishable, was none other than Xia He, one of the "Four Madmen," known as "Bone Scraper," laughing uncontrollably.
"Interesting, very interesting."
Dou Mei, the "Intestinal Poisoner" dressed in a burgundy suit, licked her lips.
"The ability to peruse all of a person's sins and then judge them... this power is practically tailor-made for our Quanxing. If only we could possess such power..."
"Shut up!"
A cold voice interrupted her.
In the corner, a figure shrouded entirely in a black robe slowly stood up. He was Gong Qing, the current acting leader of Quanxing.
"You think this is a good thing?"
Gong Qing's voice was unusually grave. "An entity that can arbitrarily define crime and has the power to execute punishment has appeared. Given the past actions of the Quanxing Sect, what do you think will happen if we are targeted by it?"
Xia He and Dou Mei's smiles froze on their faces.
They suddenly remembered that phrase that had spread like a virus within the community of supernatural beings.
"If you don't work hard in cultivating immortality, you'll just be brothers in the Emperor's Banner."
They used to think it was just a joke.
Now, they only felt a chill run through their bodies.
The Quanxing sect prides itself on being unrestrained and free. But behind this "freedom" lie countless blood debts and sins. If that "ledger" were to be turned over to their heads...
"From today onwards, all members must go into hiding and must not cause any further trouble."
Gong Qing issued an order: "Before we figure out what that person is trying to do, anyone who dares to step forward will be dealt with personally, without him having to lift a finger."
This time, none of the usually unruly Quanxing demons raised any objections.
Fear is the best restraint.
It's not just in China.
This storm quickly swept across the global community of supernatural beings.
After receiving the intelligence, Behemoth, Eden, Valhalla... these massive foreign supernatural organizations all fell into a deathly silence.
For the first time, they raised the danger level of that ancient country from 113 degrees to an unprecedented level. Not because of those sects with thousands of years of history, nor because of that official organization called "Na Du Tong".
Just because of one person.