Behind him followed a woman in clothes white as new snow and, beside her, a young man and a young woman thepanions who had traveled here with


    Jared.


    The moment Dominic made out that face, strength fled his limbs. He copsed into his seat, skin leached of color as though lightning had struck him.


    Teeth chattered while he shrilled, "Ja... Jared?! It''s you!!" The cry sliced through the dead-still hall.


    Rowan shot upright; True Immortal Realm pressure poured out like a falling peak. His eyes locked on the gold-d figure. "So you''re Jared, the one who leveled The Janis Family?"


    Jared stopped and let his gaze sweep the room, steady and unhurried.


    Those guests who normally unted noble lineage found their heads lowering of their own ord; not one dared meet his eyes.


    Atst his attention settled on Rowan. His tone was mild, as if asking about the weather. "You are Rowan?"


    A coarseugh ripped from Rowan''s throat, knocking dust from the beams overhead. "Splendid nerve! I was hunting for you, and you deliver yourself. Since you''re here, don''t even dream of leaving alive!"


    Jared smiled.


    The faint curve of his lips carried the same dismissive tilt he had shown Dominic three days earlier.


    "Deliver myself?"


    He repeated the words softly, every syble clear. "Rowan, you appear to have mistaken your ce."


    His hand rose, fingers stretching past Rowan to point at Dominic in the rear.


    "I came today to do exactly two things."


    The voice cut through the room, allowing no room for doubt.


    "First, kill Dominic."


    "Second, erase House Wagner."


    A rustle ran through the hall, then fell away into silence so thick even breathing felt intrusive.


    Faces froze; eyes stretched wide; several mouths hung half open as if the words refused to fit inside their ears.


    "Has that kid lost his mind?" someone muttered under the breath.


    Rowan was a bone-fide powerhouse of True Immortal Realm Level One!


    House Wagnermanded dozens of High Immortal experts, hundreds of elite guards, and wallsced with formations.


    Yet one man, trailed by three juniors barely into the High Immortal Realm, dared dere the n''s doom?


    Rowan''s shoulders shook as heughed again, the sound harsh enough to scrape stone. "Good-very good! In a hundred years ruling Cloudhaven City, I''ve never seen such a fool blind to heaven and earth!"


    "Guards! Seize them! I want their bodies torn apart to steady my son''s nerves!"


    "Kill!"


    Dozens of armored guards roared in unison, weapons shing cold light as a tide of steel surged forward and sealed Jared''s party inside a living ring.


    Vivian''s fingers locked around the hilt of her longsword. The pressure drove every bit of color from her knuckles, and a hard, irrevocable resolve flickered in her eyes.


    Luther and Grace each summoned their own artifacts. Spiritual light rippled over the metal as they formed up beside her, braced for whatever came next.


    Only Jared kept both hands tucked behind his back. He didn''t so much as lift an eyelid, as though the ring of murderous cultivators hemming them in were nothing butmbs waiting for the knife.


    "Miss Janis."


    He spoke suddenly, his tone gentle and even.


    Vivian blinked at the address. "Yes?"


    Jared asked in that same mild voice, "How did your father and the Elders die?"


    A sheen of moisture zed Vivian''s eyes. She bit off each word. "They surrounded him... tore them apart. Nothing left to bury."


    Jared dipped his chin. A cruel curve tugged at one corner of his mouth. "Then keep your eyes wide open today. Watch how I make sure they don''t even leave a whole corpse behind."


    He finished the sentence and stepped forward.


    That step looked leisurely, the sort someone might take while strolling across a courtyard.


    Yet the instant his sole touched the floor, his figure vanished. He reappeared a heartbeatter in the absolute center of those armored guards.


    Too fast.


    So fast a consciousness field couldn''t track the blur.


    The guards had no time to react. A sh of gold filled their vision, and then darkness swallowed everything forever.


    Jared uttered no incantation and wove no shy technique.


    He simply let his palm fall. A head burst like an overripe melon in his wake.


    He flicked his sleeve. An invisible st swept side-to-side. Three more guards


    sailed away like kites with cut strings, ribcages crushed inward.


    He pointed once. Gold light pulsed from his fingertip, punched through another guard''s brow, and snuffed out his life on the spot.


    Each motion ended a life.


    Each body hit the ground already dead, without time for a scream.


    He drifted through the ranks at an unhurried pace. His robe fluttered, spotlessly


    clean despite the carnage spiraling around him.


    Where he walked, misted blood filled the air. Limbs spun away. The scene


    resembled a reaper harvesting wheat.


    Not even ten breaths passed.


    Exactly ten breaths.


    Every one of the elite guardsy dead.


    Not a single survivor.


    Shredded bodies littered the floor, rivers of blood spreading until the metallic stench flooded the hall.


    The gathered guests froze where they sat.


    Mouths sagged open, eyes bulged so wide they looked ready to pop from their


    sockets, and thought simply stopped.


    What level of power was this?


    What kind of execution was this?


    They hadn''t even registered how Jared moved before those men died.


    It was a massacre-pure, absolute, undeniable.


    Rowan''s expression finally shifted.


    The earlier disdain and anger drained away, reced by a heavy, oppressive seriousness.


    Atst he understood why his son had returned in such a shattered state.


    This young man didn''t fit inside any normal scale.


    But Rowan was still a True Immortal Realm Level One cultivator. A junior''s disy would not cow him.


    "Wretched brat, you dare!"


    He roared, true essence surging, and the pressure of a True Immortal Realm cultivator thundered through the hall until every beam rattled.


    He thrust out a palm. In that hand seemed to rest a towering mountain, force enough to crack stone and split earth, driving straight for the crown of Jared''s head.


    The blow packed every ounce of power he possessed, more than enough to tten


    a peak.


    Jared lifted his gaze to the descending imprint. The corner of his mouth tilted in an amused smirk.


    He did not dodge.


    He didn''t even raise a hand.


    He simply stood there, arms sped behind him, and let that terrifying strikend


    full on his body.


    "BOOM!"


    The detonation shook the rafters. A violent shock wave rippled outward, reducing tables and chairs to powder, while weaker guests flew backward, coughing blood. Rowan allowed himself a cruel, triumphant grin. "Arrogant child, die!" Rowan''s satisfied grin stayed on his lips for a heartbeat, then froze there, the corners stiffening as though someone had poured ice water down his spine.


    The smoke thinned and drifted away. Jared was still standing exactly where he had been, posture unchanged, not even a tilt of the head.


    .nět


    The golden robe on his body hung smooth and perfect. No crease showed no hem was out of ce, and far more starting there was not the faintest cut on cloth or skin.


    Rowan''s eyeballs bulged, pupils shrinking to pinpoints. His throat rattled when he forced out a broken question, "-How can this be? My true essence didn''t leave the slightest mark on you?!"


    Jared lifted one hand and, with unhurried grace, brushed imaginary dust from his sleeve. His voice drifted out, carrying nothing but a thin, bored tness. "That''s it?"


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