577: Chapter 577 Children and Old Men

[Only then did Bai Yan snap back to his senses, his back drenched in cold sweat. He stared at you with wide eyes, his lips trembling: "Se... Senior... I... my Bai Family has no grievances with you..."]

[You approached with a smile and reached out to grab his neck. A surge of power entered his body, and his Nascent Soul was instantly suppressed.]

[You smiled faintly: "Bai Yan, is it? This old man finds you unpleasant to the eye."]

[Bai Yan's eyes widened, his whole body trembling.]

[With a twist of your hand—crack, his neck was broken.]

[He was a Nascent Soul Cultivator, so a broken neck wouldn't kill him instantly. He simply shook with pain, vague raspy sounds coming from his throat.]

[You applied more force, and invisible Law Power surged into his body, rampaging through his internal organs and shredding his Nascent Soul and viscera to pieces.]

[He glared at you viciously, his mouth opening and closing as he mumbled indistinctly: "You..."]

[Without waiting for him to speak, with a thought, the majestic Law Power decomposed him inch by inch.]

[In the blink of an eye, his body turned into fragments, the fragments turned into powder, and the powder dissipated into the air, leaving nothing behind.]

[You clapped your hands and beckoned with your hand. Two qiankun rings fell into your palm.]

[Your Divine Sense probed inside—the Five Qi Origin Grass was lying quietly in one of them.]

[You had no interest in the rest of the items and casually threw them to Qin Han as fodder.]

[With another thought, the Law Domain began to shrink like an invisible hand, slowly tightening around the entire Bai Manor.]

[Everything inside the residence—hundreds of Bai Family members, flowers, trees, insects, birds, Spirit Beasts... all were reduced to ashes.]

[The entire Bai Manor fell into a dead silence. It was quiet, with no screams, no wails, not even a muffled groan.]

[Because this space had long been isolated; no sound could be heard outside the Bai Manor.]

[After you left, the residence was empty, without a single trace of life.]

[Nearby Cultivators finally noticed something was wrong.]

["Brother, look at this residence... why is there no one there?"]

["Yeah, it's strange. I just scanned it with my Divine Sense, and forget people, there isn't even a living bug."]

["This is the Bai Manor, right?"]

["It is the Bai Manor."]

["It couldn't have been wiped out, could it?"]

["How is that possible? The Bai Family Ancestor has served in the Heavenly Palace for many years and has a deep network of connections. Who would dare touch him?"]

[Discussions rose and fell. Some felt something was wrong, while others thought they were overthinking it.]

[Some high-level Cultivators, however, saw through it at a glance—the state of the Bai Manor being so clean, as if erased by Law, was clearly the work of a powerhouse.]

[They tactfully kept their mouths shut, none of them saying another word.]

[After all, such things were very common in the Immortal Realm.]

[In the ninth year,]

[You finally gathered all the auxiliary Materials—only tianyi true water was missing.]

[Of course, you had no Spirit Stones; all these Materials were stolen.]

[As for wiping out the Huanling Sect, you thought about it and decided to give up on the idea.]

[The tianyi true water wasn't in your hands yet; it wasn't worth alerting the enemy.]

[One day, having nothing to do, you went to the Wangxian Tower.]

[You sat at a private table by the window on the second floor, ordering a pot of spiritual tea and a few plates of snacks. Downstairs in the main hall, a storyteller was speaking with great enthusiasm.]

[A slap of the gavel, and the whole hall fell silent.]

["Listen up, everyone! Speaking of that Soul Transformation Prodigy of the Heavenly Palace, Yan Wenjie from Nine Heavens Heavenly Palace, have you all heard of him?"]

["Of course we have!" someone chimed in. "A Prodigy of the Heavenly Palace, one of the top figures among those in Soul Transformation."]

["Yes, it's said that even our Empress personally said that she is not as good as Yan Wenjie from Nine Heavens Heavenly Palace," someone else added, their tone full of admiration.]

[The storyteller lowered his voice, acting mysterious: "The death of This young master Yan has caused panic among many forces."]

["They still haven't found the killer?"]

["The Heavenly Palace has been investigating for several years, but they haven't found anything."]

[Someone sneered: "If even the Heavenly Palace can't find them, it seems the killer is no ordinary person."]

["To be able to kill a Prodigy of the Heavenly Palace and not be found out, it might very well be someone from the Wuji Immortal Sect," a child shouted with a grin.]

[He was wearing a red bellyband, standing with his hands on his hips and his head held high, looking completely fearless.]

[The old man opposite him glared at him fiercely: "Shut up!"]

["Psh..." The child ignored him completely, his voice getting even louder. "Who else would dare to kill a Prodigy of the Heavenly Palace besides the other four major powers? And besides the Wuji Immortal Sect, which has always been at odds with the Heavenly Palace, who else could it be?"]

[The old man pulled a long face and shook his head helplessly.]

["The Heavenly Palace has ways to deduce Heavenly Secrets, yet they still can't find the killer. Doesn't that clearly mean it was done by the Wuji Immortal Sect?" The child became more and more excited, his voice so loud it could be heard on the street.]

["Can you please shut up?" The old man's face was as dark as water.]

["What's there to be afraid of saying!" The child didn't take it seriously at all. "If you ask me... he was killed well! If it were This young master, I'd charge straight into the Heavenly Palace and skin those old fogies alive one by one!"]

[The old man's face turned ashen. He stood up abruptly, grabbed the child, and began dragging him out.]

["Hey... old man, what are you doing? Let me listen a bit longer!" the child clamored while cursing, his legs kicking high in the air.]

[You looked at the pair and shook your head with a smile—this brat really had some nerve.]

[The people in the private seats on the second floor followed the pair with their eyes as they left, but they only lowered their heads, no one daring to speak.]

[The storyteller also shook his head with a smile, slapped his gavel, and continued: "The Heavenly Palace naturally has its ways—it would rather kill the innocent by mistake than let the guilty escape."]

["It's said that the Heavenly Palace has already wiped out several forces across various Star Continents. One of them had its entire sect eliminated, leaving no one alive."]

["Which one?" someone asked.]

["The Tianhe Sect, over three thousand people in the entire sect, turned to ashes overnight. There's also the Tianxing Pavilion, Biluo Manor, Qingfeng Sword Sect... all were implicated in the death of Yan Wenjie from Nine Heavens Heavenly Palace."]

["Implicated? In what way?"]

["Who knows," the storyteller lowered his voice. "The Heavenly Palace said they were harboring the killer, so they were wiped out. As for whether they were actually harboring him, who would dare to ask?"]

[The whole hall fell silent.]

[Someone sighed: "In this world, strength is respected. If the Heavenly Palace says you are guilty, then you are guilty."]

["Shh... keep your voice down. Do you want to die?"]

["What's there to fear? No matter how long the Heavenly Palace's reach is, it can't extend to the Tianxuan Continent."]

["That's not necessarily true. Haven't you heard? The Heavenly Palace has already sent people to investigate in the Tianxuan Continent."]

[Discussions rose and fell.]

[You picked up your teacup and took a slow sip, feeling emotional—this Heavenly Palace is acting just as it always has.]

[You put down the teacup, your gaze falling out the window.]

[People were coming and going on the street, and it was exceptionally lively.]

[But who knows how much killing intent is hidden beneath this prosperity?]

[For example, you—to gather the auxiliary Materials recently, you have also killed many people.]

[But if you didn't kill those people, you wouldn't have been able to gather all the Materials.]

[After all, not a single one of those people didn't have their hands stained with blood.]

[As a Cultivator, no one is innocent.]