Volume 1, Chapter 213 – Make Them Do the Most Grueling Work

“Senior, spare my life! Senior, please spare my life!”

Chen Xuanying could no longer care about the dignity of a family head. Tears and snot streamed down his face as he frantically kowtowed.

His forehead struck the hard bluestone ground with a series of loud thuds, leaving it spattered with blood in an instant.

“Every word this junior has said is true! Not a single one was a lie! It was that old demon… That old demon forced me to do it!”

The other men in black also kowtowed and begged for mercy, their cries filling the air.

Li Hanyi remained cold and detached, ignoring their pleas entirely.

She raised a finger slightly. A thread of icy radiance shot forth and instantly sank into the center of Chen Xuanying’s brow.

“Ugh…”

Chen Xuanying froze. His eyes bulged wide, the terror in them solidifying.

Then, from the inside out, his entire body was rapidly covered by a thin layer of ice crystals.

The crystals spread with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, Chen Xuanying had become a lifelike ice sculpture.

Then…

“Crack…”

Fine cracks appeared across the surface of the ice sculpture.

The cracks rapidly spread until, with a soft bang, the ice sculpture shattered completely, turning into a shower of icy powder.

There was no blood. No scream.

A late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator had vanished from this world, silently and completely.

Silence.

A deathly silence once again descended over the entire scene.

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All the men in black had even forgotten to breathe. They collapsed limply to the ground, their faces drained of color.

Li Hanyi’s gaze swept over them. Her voice remained cold, but carried an unquestionable finality:

“Anyone who participated today will cripple their own cultivation.”

“If anyone resists… they die.”

Those words were both an edict of mercy and a death warrant.

After a brief, deathly silence…

“Puff!” “Puff!” “Puff!”

Amid a succession of dull impacts, one man in black after another raised a hand, their faces deathly pale, and slammed it viciously into their own dantians.

To stay alive, they had no other choice!

Cries and groans rang out one after another as their cultivation was destroyed. Before long, every man in black had collapsed to the ground, their auras weakened to the extreme, their faces ashen.

They were finished.

From this day onward, they would be cripples. In this brutal cultivation world, their lives would be little better than death.

But at least they had survived.

Li Hanyi did not look at them again. Instead, she turned to Liu Beichuan.

“Killing them outright would be letting them off too easily. Arrange the most arduous and exhausting work for them, and have them atone for their crimes with the rest of their lives.”

Liu Beichuan forcibly suppressed the shock and lingering fear in his heart and respectfully replied:

“Yes! This junior understands!”

Li Hanyi gave a slight nod, then looked toward Zhao Yang.

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“Family Head Zhao, you did very well.”

Zhao Yang was flattered and hastily bowed.

“Senior, you praise me too highly! This was merely my duty!”

Li Hanyi said no more. She raised her head and looked toward the southeast, the furrow between her brows gradually relaxing.

At the edge of the sky, more than twenty streaks of light tore across the night like comets, flying toward them with urgency and determination.

The arrivals were none other than Liu Ruyan and the disciples of Yaochi Immortal Palace who had followed her there.

When they saw the scene before the Liu family estate below, they all froze.

The battle… seemed to be over already?

Although the Liu family estate was in complete disarray and there were still quite a few bloodstains, most of the family members were standing and appeared to be unharmed.

As for the group of men in black, they had all crippled their own cultivation and were now sprawled limply on the ground.

In the air, that familiar snow-white figure stood quietly.

“Grand Elder?!”

When Liu Ruyan saw Li Hanyi, surprise and delight surged through her heart. She immediately led everyone down.

“Disciple Liu Ruyan pays respects to Grand Elder!”

She hurried forward and bowed respectfully.

The disciples behind her also bowed in unison:

“Greetings, Grand Elder!”

Li Hanyi looked at Liu Ruyan, who had clearly hurried all the way there, the worry still visible on her face, and at the disciples who had followed her without hesitation at this critical moment.

A trace of nearly imperceptible warmth flickered through her cold eyes.

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“Rise.”

She raised a hand, and a gentle force lifted everyone to their feet.

“Grand Elder, my parents…”

Liu Ruyan hurriedly looked toward Liu Beichuan and Madam Wang.

“They are fine.”

Li Hanyi said calmly,

“Deal with these people, then bring some men and accompany me to Xuanming Sect.”

She pointed toward the group of men in black lying limply on the ground.

When Liu Ruyan heard the words “Xuanming Sect,” she faintly understood the reason behind the disaster that had befallen the Liu family.

When she looked at the men in black again, her eyes were filled with killing intent.

“Yes! This disciple will obey!”

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

First, she quickly arranged for her fellow junior brothers and sisters to assist the Liu and Zhao families in cleaning up the aftermath, treating the wounded, and assessing their losses.

At the same time, she had the men in black who had already crippled their cultivation placed under guard.

Not long afterward, a team of Immortal Palace disciples sent by Yun Yun, led by Elder Fushan, also arrived.

With their help, the work of dealing with the aftermath proceeded even more swiftly.

Only then did Liu Ruyan have the opportunity to go to her parents’ side.

“Dad! Mom! Are you all right?”

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Seeing her father’s pale face and her mother’s swollen, reddened eyes, Liu Ruyan’s nose stung, and tears nearly spilled from her eyes.

“We’re fine, we’re fine…”

Madam Wang pulled her daughter into her arms, her voice choked with emotion.

“It’s all thanks to your Grand Elder arriving in time… Otherwise… otherwise…”

Liu Beichuan also patted his daughter on the shoulder, his eyes filled with lingering fear and relief.

“Ruyan, it’s enough that you’ve come back… Fortunately, Senior arrived in time. Otherwise, your father might have…”

“You must cultivate diligently from now on and repay your sect!”

Liu Ruyan nodded heavily as tears slowly slid down her cheeks.

There was gratitude, relief, and an even deeper trace of guilt.

If Grand Elder had not come in person today, the Liu family would surely have been drowned in blood.

She, Liu Ruyan, would never forget this debt of gratitude for as long as she lived.

A short while later, the front courtyard of the Liu family estate had been more or less cleared.

Li Hanyi looked toward Liu Ruyan.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Liu Ruyan’s eyes gradually turned icy cold. Together with Li Hanyi, she sped toward Xuanming Sect.