183: Chapter 183 Manipulation, Mutation

For the past few days, a rumor had started to spread in the capital from who knows where.

The rumor detailed the entire sequence of events leading up to Shi Taichu's massacre of the Wu Family, and when it came to the crucial parts, it made people gnash their teeth in hatred.

Although it was unknown whether this rumor was true or false, it certainly added fuel to the fire of the case's existing popularity.

Therefore, Six Doors took the response to this extremely seriously.

For this time alone, there were a full six Gold-Badge Constables sent to guard the site.

Lin Wan, dressed in her Flying Fish Robe with her hand on the hilt of her blade, patrolled the surroundings with a cold expression.

She had also heard the rumors in the streets over the past few days and knew the inside story of Shi Taichu slaughtering the entire Wu Family.

Lin Wan had not a shred of affection for the second son of the Wu Family, who had forced someone's fiancée to her death and forged letters to deceive people for years.

She even found him disgusting.

But duty called; she had to stand here to maintain order at the execution ground.

Lin Wan's gaze swept across the crowd and paused for a moment on the man kneeling on the execution platform.

However, she did not know that her every move was being watched clearly by someone from afar.

Chen Ran stood in the crowd, his hands tucked into his sleeves.

With a thought, his invisible 'Heavenly Net' instantly unfurled, spreading outward like ripples in water.

The fluctuations of Qi within a hundred zhang were all fed back into his mind.

"A few Gold-Badge Constables in the Aperture Condensation Realm, plus dozens of City Defense Army soldiers in the Meridian Opening Realm..."

Chen Ran calculated secretly in his heart.

There were no powerful experts in the field who could threaten him.

The strongest was an old man with a dark face on the execution supervision platform, whose Realm had just stepped into the Return to Truth Realm; he was standing on the high platform, not saying a single extra word.

Chen Ran withdrew his perception, his gaze falling back onto the guillotine.

On the supervision platform, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice slammed the gavel heavily.

"Prisoner Shi Taichu!"

"You slaughtered seventy-three members of the Wu Family with cruel methods; your crimes are heinous!"

"This official asks you: do you know your crimes? Do you have accomplices?"

The routine questioning echoed over the execution ground.

Shi Taichu knelt on the wooden board, head bowed, as if he hadn't heard a thing, showing no reaction.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice frowned, seemingly very dissatisfied with the prisoner's attitude.

He turned his head to look to the side.

"Bring in the witness!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a pale, unsteady young man in brocade clothes, supported by two attendants, stumbled onto the platform.

It was the only survivor of the Wu Family, the second son, Wu De.

As soon as Wu De got on the platform, he fell to his knees with a thud and began to wail loudly.

"My Lord! You must uphold justice for this commoner!"

"This beast killed my entire family, he didn't even spare my nephew who had just turned one month old!"

"I beg you, My Lord, to order this Devil Head to be sliced into a thousand pieces immediately, to console the spirits of the seventy-three members of my Wu Family in heaven!"

Wu De cried until he was covered in snot and tears, screaming his lungs out.

Those who didn't know better would truly think he was a victim who had suffered great grievances.

Watching the disgusting, hypocritical face of Wu De on the platform, Chen Ran frowned slightly.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice stroked his beard and sighed pretentiously.

"Please restrain your grief."

"For such a Devil Head, this official will certainly bring him to justice today."

Having said that, he picked up the cinnabar brush on the table and drew an 'X' on the execution order.

"The time of noon has arrived!"

"Execute!"

The execution order was thrown heavily to the ground, making a crisp sound.

Two bare-chested, burly executioners immediately picked up a bowl of strong liquor and sprayed it onto their ghost-head broadswords.

The blades flashed with a blinding cold light in the sunlight.

The two men, one left and one right, raised their broadswords high, aiming at Shi Taichu's neck.

In the crowd, Chen Ran watched this scene, his lips curling into an imperceptible cold smile.

"A family should be together; since one person is missing, I shall send you to join them on the road."

His right hand, tucked into his sleeve, spread its five fingers slightly.

"Heavenly Silk Puppet Technique."

Five transparent threads of True Qi, hard to discern with the naked eye, shot out from his fingertips like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

They silently crossed a distance of several tens of zhang and precisely wrapped around the wrists and elbows of the two executioners.

Just as the executioners were preparing to exert force to strike, an anomaly occurred suddenly.

The two executioners suddenly felt their arms go numb, as if they had lost control.

The broadswords that were originally meant to chop at Shi Taichu's neck shifted direction strangely in mid-air.

"Clang! Clang!"

Two deafening sounds of metal clashing rang out.

Sparks flew everywhere.

The two ghost-head broadswords struck the steel chains on Shi Taichu's collarbone with extreme precision.

The chains, which should have been incredibly sturdy, suddenly snapped, as if subjected to some immense force.

The entire scene fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone was stunned, including the two executioners, who looked at their uncontrollable hands in terror.

"No, my body is out of my control!"

Before the crowd could react,

"Roar—!"

A terrifying roar that did not sound human suddenly erupted from the guillotine.

Having lost the suppression of the formation patterns and the chains, the terrifying Evil Qi that had been dormant within Shi Taichu erupted like a burst dam.

Dark red Devilish Qi soared into the sky, instantly enveloping the entire guillotine.

Shi Taichu suddenly raised his head, his eyes scarlet as blood.

He ignored the executioners beside him and, like a crazed beast, surged with monstrous killing intent, pouncing straight toward Wu De on the platform.

The speed was fast as lightning!

"Ah! Help me!"

Wu De was so scared that his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, scrambling backward in a panic.

The scene immediately fell into chaos.

"Presumptuous!"

"Stop him quickly!"

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice fell back into his chair in fright, shouting in terror.

Lin Wan reacted the very first moment the anomaly occurred.

She subconsciously gripped her sword hilt, preparing to rush up and stop him, but suddenly discovered that an almost invisible thread had appeared in front of her, blocking her path.

"What is this?"

Lin Wan drew her blade to slash at it, only to find that the invisible thread was incredibly tough, and her strike only left a notch.

This was not an isolated incident; it was happening all over the scene.

The remaining Gold-Badge Constables present, seeing this scene, roared:

"How dare you!"

"Stop!"

They drew their blades one after another, circulating their True Qi, preparing to leap onto the platform to suppress Shi Taichu.

However, at the very moment their legs exerted force,

several transparent threads silently wrapped around their ankles.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The few Gold-Badge Constables were caught off guard; their True Qi clashed, and for a moment, they were unable to break free from that strange binding force.

They could only watch helplessly as Shi Taichu charged onto the platform.

"Die!"

Shi Taichu let out a shrill roar.

He ignored the obstruction of the two attendants beside Wu De, took two sword blows head-on, and slammed his body into Wu De.

"Crack!"

A teeth-gritting sound of bones cracking rang out.

Shi Taichu gripped Wu De's neck tightly with both hands and gave it a violent twist.

Wu De's head tilted to the side at a strange angle, his eyes bulging, and he instantly ceased to breathe.

Blood spurted out, splashing all over Shi Taichu's face.

Great vengeance was avenged.

Shi Taichu let go, allowing Wu De's corpse to fall limply to the ground.

He tilted his head back, looking at the blinding sunlight, and let out a shrill, long wail that sounded like both crying and laughing.

Only then did the transparent threads wrapped around the ankles of the Gold-Badge Constables quietly dissipate.

The Constables leaped onto the platform in shock and anger, swarming up to pin Shi Taichu firmly to the ground.

Puchi.

A sharp blade pierced through Shi Taichu's chest, blood flowing down from the center, eventually staining the ground red...

The entire Caishikou Execution Ground was deathly silent.

Everyone was so shocked by this sudden, earth-shattering turn of events that they were speechless.