A scorching aura erupted throughout the main hall. Xiao Tianhai shot down from the platform like a flaming meteor, directing both palms, which were shrouded in blazing red Qi, toward his target. This was his signature technique, **[Soul-Destroying Flame Palm Technique]**, a mid-grade technique that had slain dozens of Xiao Family enemies in the past.
"Die, you bastard beast!" Xiao Tianhai roared, his voice shaking the roof of the hall.
The wave of scorching air burned the remnants of the curtains and decorative cloth around the arena. The invited guests held their breath; the pressure radiating from a practitioner of the Intermediate Golden Core Realm made the space feel cramped and heavy.
Yet Xiao Chen, standing directly in the attack's path, merely stared at his uncle with cold golden eyes. There was no fear, no panic.
"Golden Core Realm?" Xiao Chen murmured flatly. "Too weak."
When Xiao Tianhai's flaming palms were only a few inches from his face, Xiao Chen slowly raised his left hand.
*BZZZZT!*
Golden Sacred Qi and a dense aura of darkness fused in Xiao Chen's palm, forming a round shield marked with the symbols of an ancient dragon and demon.
*BOOOOOOM!*
A tremendous explosion erupted when Xiao Tianhai's flaming palms slammed into the mystical shield. A storm of scorching wind blasted outward, shattering the remaining glass and roof tiles of the hall. Yet what left everyone so stunned that their eyes nearly popped out was the fact that Xiao Chen had not moved even a millimeter from his position! The mystical shield in his left hand had blocked the full-force attack of a Golden Core practitioner without a single crack!
"What?!" Xiao Tianhai's eyes widened in horror. "How could you... a Foundation Establishment brat, withstand my ultimate technique without being injured?!"
"What a stupid question," Xiao Chen replied coldly.
Before Xiao Tianhai could pull his hand back and leap away, Xiao Chen's left-hand fingers curled around his uncle's wrist, gripping it like iron.
*CRACK!*
"AAAGHH!" Xiao Tianhai let out a shrill scream. The bones in his wrist were crushed to pieces beneath Xiao Chen's fingers. The fire Qi in his body suddenly fell into chaos before being severed altogether.
"This is for the expulsion and torture you inflicted on me!" Xiao Chen said.
With lightning speed, Xiao Chen drove his right knee straight into Xiao Tianhai's abdomen.
*BANG!*
Fresh blood and fragments of internal organs gushed from Xiao Tianhai's mouth. The man revered as the supreme ruler of the Xiao Family was hurled into the air before crashing heavily onto the main platform, smashing his wooden throne into rubble.
"Father!" Xiao Yiran screamed hysterically. He crawled toward his father, who now lay there coughing up blood, his body convulsing as his cultivation collapsed in an instant. The Golden Core Lake inside Xiao Tianhai's body had been completely shattered by a single blow from Xiao Chen's knee.
Xiao Chen slowly climbed the platform steps. A sharp ringing sound rang out as he drew the **God-Demon Sword** fully from his back for the first time in public. An intense purple-gold light soared high into the sky, piercing through the ruined roof of the hall and illuminating the night sky above Fengyun City.
"Xiao Tianhai." Xiao Chen stood over the wretched body of his blood uncle. He pressed the sharp tip of his blade directly against the middle-aged man's neck. "Three years ago, my mother died under mysterious circumstances. Last night, you admitted yourself that you killed her to seize the secret key left behind by our ancestral clan. Tell me... where is the key now?"
Xiao Tianhai stared at Xiao Chen, his eyes filled with fear and disbelief. The pain in his chest was nothing compared to the despair in his soul. The young man he had once regarded as a crippled piece of trash now stood over him like an unmatched God of Death.
"I-I... I don't know..." Xiao Tianhai stammered, blood continuing to flow from the corner of his lips. "Your mother... your mother hid it somewhere before she died! I never found it!"
Xiao Chen studied his uncle's eyes, confirming the truth of his words through the turmoil in his soul. After making sure there was no lie in those terrified old eyes, Xiao Chen's gaze grew even colder.
"In that case, your existence in this world no longer has any meaning."
"No! Xiao Chen, wait! I'm your uncle! We're blood relatives!" Xiao Tianhai pleaded frantically, all his former dignity shattered. "Don't kill me! I'll give you the position of Great Elder! The entire Xiao Family's wealth will be yours!"
"Blood relatives?" Xiao Chen sneered. "When you destroyed my meridians and threw me into Shenmo Death Valley, did you remember our blood relation?"
*SRING!*
With a single swift slash, golden light flashed. Xiao Tianhai's head separated from his body and rolled across the platform floor. The man who had ruled the Xiao Family with an iron fist for decades died instantly in disgrace.
The entire hall fell completely silent again. The invited guests and remaining clan elders trembled violently, not daring to utter a single word. The clan's Great Elder had died at the hands of a fifteen-year-old boy!
Xiao Chen turned his blood-free sword toward Xiao Yiran.
Xiao Yiran, who was beside his father's corpse, suddenly wet himself. Overwhelming fear paralyzed every nerve in his body. He fell to his knees and repeatedly slammed his head against the marble floor until it bled.
"Cousin Chen! Spare me! Please spare me!" Xiao Yiran shrieked hysterically through his tears. "I was wrong! I'm nothing but a dog commanded by my father! Please don't kill me! I'll gladly be your slave forever!"
Xiao Chen looked at the cousin who had once been so arrogant and cruel. Now, that number-one genius was no more than a frightened dog begging for his life.
"You're right, Xiao Yiran," Xiao Chen said softly as he raised his sword. "This world truly has no need for weak worms. And that worm... is you."
*SLASH!*
A vertical slash cleaved through the air. Xiao Yiran's body was sent flying backward, following his father into the afterlife before he could even let out another cry.
The vengeance that had shackled Xiao Chen for so long was finally complete tonight.
Xiao Chen sheathed the God-Demon Sword across his back once more. The ring of the scabbard broke the silence of the hall. He turned and looked at the dozens of elders and neighboring clan heads still kneeling in fear on the floor below.
"Starting today," Xiao Chen's voice echoed with dominion throughout Fengyun City, "the old Xiao Family is dead. Anyone among you who tries to disturb my mother's residence or stand in my way... will meet the same fate as those two!"
Not one person dared to object. Every practitioner bowed until their foreheads touched the ground, paying respects to the new ruler born from darkness.
Xiao Chen walked out of the ruined main hall, crossing the pools of blood without looking back. His vengeance against the clan was complete, but his search for the truth behind his mother's identity and the secrets of the Ancient God-Demon Emperor had only just begun.