169: Chapter 169 When the wall falls, everyone pushes it down.

A cold wind swept across the white marble square.

Xiao Wanshan's command to "Stand down" caused the surrounding air to hum and vibrate.

Lin Aotian floated in mid-air, surrounded by rolling black Qi, his broken limbs twisted at bizarre, grotesque angles.

As soon as Xiao Wanshan finished speaking, several figures lunged forward from the ranks of the prodigies behind him.

These direct descendants of the Xiao Family had long harbored endless jealousy and resentment as they watched Xiao Ninger look after Lin Aotian with such care.

Now that they saw the Goddess had completely turned against him, they instantly found an outlet for their frustration.

"Audacious scoundrel! You low-born trash from the Lower Realm, how dare you run wild in the Xiao Family Divine Mountain's Forbidden Ground!"

A young man in brocade robes was the first to attack.

With a sudden flick of his wrist, a silver spear pierced through the Void Realm. Golden Immortal mana gathered at the tip as it drove straight through Lin Aotian's right shoulder.

Puchi.

Blood splattered everywhere.

Lin Aotian's body, already precarious in the air, trembled violently.

Having succeeded with his first move, the Brocade-Clothed Youth sneered loudly.

"With that hideous appearance of yours—neither human nor ghost—you think you're worthy of calling the Goddess by her name? You aren't even fit to be the dirt under her feet! Why don't you take a look at your own pathetic reflection!"

Two more Xiao Family prodigies leapt out.

Each summoned a Magic Treasure, striking Lin Aotian's chest from the left and right.

The sound of breaking bones rang out again as Lin Aotian spat out a large mouthful of black blood, his chest completely caving in.

"I've been sick of looking at you, you waste, for a long time! In the Star River Ancient Ruins, you could only hide behind the Goddess. Even after being beaten into a cripple, you needed her to plead for your life. Your living is a waste of the Upper Realm's Immortal Qi, and your death would only pollute the soil of the Divine Mountain!"

"You even dared to reach for the Goddess with your filthy hands? A toad lusting after swan meat. Today, we shall erase you from existence!"

Curses rose from all directions.

The entire younger generation of the Xiao Family on the square was in an uproar.

They pointed at the twisted, struggling, bloody figure in the air, pouring out their most vicious insults.

Various Spells lit up the air, striking Lin Aotian's body one after another.

None were fatal attacks; they were all torturous methods that deliberately avoided vital points.

Lin Aotian was sent tumbling through the air by the shockwaves of the Spells.

He opened his eyes, which were now pure black, and looked down at the twisted, mocking faces below.

Just a few days ago, these same people were bowing to him at the entrance of the ruins, calling him 'Young Lord Lin'.

Now, they were grinding him into the mud with frantic glee.

Seeing this, Xiao Wanshan did not speak up to stop them.

His mind was racing with calculations.

The Ascension Platform was destroyed, and three top-grade immortal veins had been drained dry.

This crime was too great; he had to find a scapegoat. Lin Aotian was the perfect candidate.

"Protectors, hear my command!"

Xiao Wanshan channeled his immortal power, his voice drowning out all the noise.

"This boy possesses a Demonic Path Cultivation Technique and is a calamity who snuck up from the Lower Realm! He used bewitching words to deceive the Goddess and attempted to destroy our Xiao Family's Ascension Array. Now that the truth is revealed, we must not leave his corpse intact!"

The other old men in the Elder council understood his intent and chimed in with their support.

"The Grand Elder is absolutely right! Such a demonic cultivator, attempting to tarnish our Xiao Family's reputation, deserves a thousand deaths!"

"Kill him! Uphold the prestige of the Xiao Family!"

The cries for his execution grew louder and louder. The space around Lin Aotian was completely locked down by the Divine Sense of dozens of Immortal Lords. He had no way to escape.

Zi Yun leaned in Su Yun's arms, looking up at his smooth jawline, completely deaf to the clamor on the square.

After a few moments, she frowned slightly, finding the cursing voices too grating. They were seriously disturbing her reunion with her husband.

"Husband," Zi Yun raised her hand, her lily-white fingers tracing circles on Su Yun's chest. "They are so noisy."

Su Yun's left hand held Zi Yun's waist, while his right thumb gently caressed her fair cheek. There was not a single ripple in the depths of his profound black eyes.

"Then make him shut up," Su Yun said softly. His voice wasn't loud, but it reached Qing Yuan's ears clearly.

Qing Yuan's heart jolted, and she immediately accepted the order.

She knew that her Master intended to completely shatter that waste's Dao Heart.

Qing Yuan stepped forward, walking directly beneath Lin Aotian.

Her green maid uniform fluttered in the spatial currents as she looked up, releasing the pressure of her Peak Profound Immortal realm without reservation.

Boom!

An invisible barrier of mana knocked back the surrounding Xiao Family prodigies who were still casting Spells.

Qing Yuan reached out into the air, her fingers curling into a claw.

Lin Aotian was forcibly dragged down from the air by a massive force, slamming heavily onto the white jade tiles.

The bones that had just been forcibly reconnected by the black Qi shattered once more.

He lay prone on the ground, his breathing making a harsh, grating sound.

Qing Yuan walked to the front of Lin Aotian's head.

Raising her silk boot, she stepped with unerring accuracy onto one of the fingers Lin Aotian had just set on his right hand.

She ground her toe down with force.

Crack.

The finger bone was pulverized. The pain shot straight to his heart.

Lin Aotian instinctively let out a scream, his body convulsing wildly.

Qing Yuan's eyes were icy, her lips curling into an undisguised sneer.

"Lin Aotian, are you still dreaming?"

Lin Aotian used all his strength to lift his head.

His black eyes, which showed only the whites, stared fixedly at Qing Yuan.

"You thought the Young Miss went to all that trouble to go to the Lower Realm just to pick you up?"

Qing Yuan sneered, her voice crisp and every word cutting like a knife to the heart.

"What do you think you are? The Young Miss possesses the True God Bloodline. How precious is the primordial life liquid? Do you really think she used it on a stray dog like you because of love?"

Lin Aotian's breathing hitched.

Black blood was completely blocked in his throat.

"The Star River Ancient Ruins contain countless opportunities, but they are also filled with ancient killing arrays. The Young Miss only brought you in because she needed a meat shield to draw fire and test the traps!"

Qing Yuan increased the pressure under her foot, grinding the broken finger into pulp.

"Meat shield!" These two words struck Lin Aotian's spiritual platform directly.

"That laughable bit of Heavenly Luck you have was just enough to be used as bait."

Qing Yuan continued her verbal assault, giving Lin Aotian no chance to breathe.

"Young Lord Ye stole your opportunities? That was entirely a scheme laid by the Young Miss to deliberately provoke him into acting. As for you having every bone in your body shattered, you were merely a chess piece being discarded after losing its value."

Qing Yuan leaned down close to Lin Aotian's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"You are truly pathetic. The Master took everything from you in the Lower Realm, and the Mistress squeezed every last bit of value out of you in the Upper Realm. From beginning to end, you have been nothing but a joke for people's amusement. A miserable meat shield."

Boom!

This final sentence was the straw that broke the camel's back.

A certain string in Lin Aotian's mind snapped completely.

His tears of gratitude at the entrance of the ruins.

His heartbreak on the deck.

His resentment in the lower hold.

All of it now turned into a massive, absurd slap that struck him hard across the face.

There was no love. No destiny. No comeback.

He was just a meat shield.

A consumable for testing traps.

A stepping stone for others to trample upon.

"Heh... heh..."

An eerie laugh escaped Lin Aotian's throat.

The laughter grew louder and more manic.

Two streaks of pure black blood-tears flowed from the corners of his mangled eyes.

As they dripped onto the floor tiles, they instantly corroded a deep pit.

The curses and accusations of a thousand people still echoed all around.

On the high platform, Su Yun and Zi Yun were still being intimate.

This extreme noise and romance became the perfect catalyst for Lin Aotian's descent into the Demonic Path.

The Devilish Qi deep within his Dantian no longer faced any obstacles.

Following his completely shattered Dao Heart, it drove straight in, instantly enveloping his spiritual platform and thoroughly consuming his last shred of humanity and reason.

A sudden transformation occurred.

A bone-chilling cold erupted from within Lin Aotian's body.

The temperature of the surrounding air plummeted.

Wisps of black Qi slithered frantically across the ground. Wherever they passed, the hard white jade tiles turned into grayish-black powder at a visible rate.

"Retreat!" Sensing a fatal danger, Qing Yuan's figure instantly retreated ten zhang.

The Xiao Family prodigies also realized something was wrong and activated their protective immortal lights, backing away.

"Devilish Qi! This is pure Outer-Realm Heavenly Demon Qi!"

Xiao Wanshan's expression changed drastically.

He gripped his longsword, and his Immortal Lord aura exploded as he stared intently at the roiling black mist in the center of the square.

Su Yun stood high on the steps.

He lowered his gaze slightly, his vision piercing through the black mist to land precisely on the position of Lin Aotian's reconstructed Dantian.

That power, formed from the Fusion of the Lower Realm Heavenly Dao Origin and the mutated aura of an exotic demon, had finally taken root and sprouted.

A playful arc curled at the corner of Su Yun's mouth.

This seed he had planted in the lower hold, having absorbed the ultimate despair and humiliation, had finally borne the fruit he desired.

This power could be used to test the limits of the Xiao Family Divine Mountain's sect-protecting array.

He was in no hurry to act, merely tightening his arm around Zi Yun.

Zi Yun took the Opportunity to press her cheek even closer, completely unconcerned about the disaster about to erupt below.

To her, as long as her husband was by her side, it didn't matter even if the Xiao Family Divine Mountain sank into the sea.

In the center of the square.

Lin Aotian, who had been twitching violently and laughing manically, suddenly stopped all movement.

Dead silence. Only the sound of black Qi friction remained on the Ascension Platform.

The black mist gradually contracted, merging into Lin Aotian's flesh and blood.

His broken limbs supported his body in a way that defied physiological structure.

He slowly stood up.

His blood-stained clothes were dyed ink-black by the Qi.

From his gaping wounds, blood no longer flowed; instead, pitch-black Devilish Qi wafted out.

He slowly lifted his head.

Those eyes that were once full of resentment, pain, and despair were now completely replaced by a profound, ultimate darkness.

Even the last trace of the whites of his eyes had vanished.

His black eyes swept across the field.

There was no rage, no hysteria, only an icy cruelty that viewed everything as dead objects.

Lin Aotian opened his mouth. His mouth full of broken teeth had been enveloped by black Qi, forming sharp fangs.

A voice, hoarse to the extreme and carrying a sharp tone like grinding iron, spoke.

It exploded in the ears of everyone from the Xiao Family, causing the eardrums of several lower-cultivation prodigies to rupture on the spot.

"You all... deserve to die..."