Free Web NovelChapter 112: Chapter 112: Traces
The voice was smooth, low, and perfectly flat, yet the moment the words left Wang’s lips, the air inside the bedroom instantly turned into a solid sheet of pressure.
Shen Mao’s feet froze directly in mid-air. Her eyes went completely wide with a sudden, paralyzing horror as she realized Wang’s crimson irises were wide open, looking directly at her through the darkness with an expression of absolute, glacial contempt.
There was no confusion in his eyes, no trace of the meditative sleep she had counted on, only the cold, calculating gaze of a predator looking at an annoying bug.
"P-Patriarch..." Shen Mao stammered, her hand trembling so violently that the pink silk ribbon slipped from her fingers, fluttering clumsily onto the cold floor. "I... I only wished to bring you some fresh mountain spring water to help soothe your... your turbulent core..."
"A second-rate actor should not try to perform in front of a sovereign," Wang said, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper that made the wooden floorboards beneath her feet begin to crack and split. "You used the facial structure of my missing memory to enter my hall yesterday, and tonight you bring your cheap, common tricks into my sleeping quarters. Do you truly believe that my lack of memory makes me entirely blind to the rot inside your heart?"
"No! Patriarch, please hear me!" Shen Mao shrieked, her pride completely shattering into a million pieces as she felt the invisible weight of his aura lock onto her windpipe, cutting off her oxygen.
She fell to her knees, her hands clawing frantically at her throat as she looked up at his cold, magnificent face. "I am the only female in this sect who truly matches your status! I can help you rule! That lower.realm woman is dead! She was crushed by the Heavenly Dao! Why do you keep bleeding for a common ghost when I am standing right here?!"
The mention of the lower world and the word ’dead’ hit Wang’s core like a massive, explosive strike.
A sudden, violent flash of crimson light erupted from his body, the absolute power of his bloodline roaring with an intense, murderous fury that shattered every single glass pane in the pavilion windows into fine dust.
The stone walls of the bedroom groaned loudly, several deep fissures snaking up toward the ceiling as his ancient soul reacted to the insult against his hidden treasure.
He didn’t even lift a hand. He didn’t even stand up from his jade mat.
With a single, sharp tilt of his head, Wang unleashed a massive, concentrated gust of ancestral wind from his core.
The shockwave slammed directly into Shen Mao’s chest with the force of a flying iron ram, lifting her entire body off the floor and launching her backward through the shattered pavilion doors like a broken ragdoll.
"Ahhhh!"
Shen Mao let out a sharp, piercing shriek of pure agony as she flew across the wide open courtyard, clearing the stone fences entirely.
Her body tumbled twice through the freezing air before landing head-first with a loud, messy ’squelch’ directly into the middle of the courtyard’s frozen mud pond, a deep, dirty pit where the servants dumped the runoff water from the mountain stables.
The thin layer of ice on the pond shattered instantly, and Shen Mao sank up to her shoulders in the cold, thick, foul-smelling brown mud.
Her beautiful lavender silk dress was instantly ruined, completely covered in layers of dripping muck and bits of rotting straw.
Her long silver hair was matted with dirty pond weeds, and her pale, beautiful face was caked in slimy black silt that ran down into her mouth and eyes, making her choke and splutter frantically as she struggled to pull herself upright in the shallow water.
"If I see your face within three miles of this ridge again," Wang’s smooth, flat voice echoed down from the high pavilion, carrying over the freezing wind like a divine decree, "I will not merely throw you into the dirt. I will personally extract your soul from your skin and feed it to the mountain beasts for the next one hundred years. Get out."
’ if I hadn’t had a use for your grandfather, you’ll be dead now.’ Wang thought irritably
Shen Mao sat in the freezing mud, her body shaking violently from a mixture of intense cold, physical pain, and a supreme, bottomless humiliation that threatened to split her mind apart.
She could hear the faint, muffled snickers of the distant outer servants who had been awakened by the explosion, their judgmental eyes watching her disgrace from behind the bamboo lines.
She clawed her way out of the slippery mud bank, weeping tears of pure, venomous hatred as she dragged her heavy, foul-smelling body down the mountain path in the dark. freewēbnoveℓ.com
Every single ounce of her previous vanity had turned into a burning, obsessive vow of revenge. ’Lower realm bitch... whoever you are...’she screamed internally, her teeth chattering so hard they almost bled. ’I will find a way to tear down everything you love. Even if I have to destroy this entire world, I will make you suffer for what he did to me tonight.’
Inside the pavilion, Wang slowly closed his eyes once again, the crimson light around his knuckles fading back into a serene, flat calm.
The annoying insect had been dealt with, but the fire inside his chest was now burning with an absolute, terrifying clarity.
He looked out the shattered window toward the southwestern sky, his fist tightening until his bones let out a sharp, crisp click.
"Wait for me," he whispered into the empty night, his voice carrying the weight of an unbreakable vow. "I am cleaning out the trash... and then, I am coming down to bring you home."
.....
The dawn after the incident in the mud pond arrived with a heavy, uncomfortable quiet over the mountains of the Leopard Sect.
The outer disciples went about their chores with their heads low, speaking only in quick, frantic whispers.
The news of Shen Mao’s complete disgrace had already spread to the furthest ridges of the territory. Nobody dared to mention her name near the high palace, knowing that the Patriarch’s patience with the corrupt faction of the elders had completely run out. freёwebnovel.com
Inside the deep underground tunnels beneath the ancestral mountains, the air was entirely different. It was cold, damp, and smelled of ancient dust and decaying parchment.
Wang walked slowly through the dark stone passage, his sweeping black robes trailing behind him without making a single sound.
Flanking him were the four old sages, their ancient grey sleeves tucked tightly into their belts, their wrinkled faces filled with a serious, sharp focus.
They had spent the entire night tracking the residual spiritual ripples from Elder Shen’s private communication lines, and the path had led them straight to the restricted underbelly of the sect’s central library.
"The forbidden archive has been sealed since the last great war of the Upper Realm, Patriarch," the eldest sage whispered, his cracked voice echoing softly against the rough stone walls. "Only the sitting Clan Leader and the grand elder of the soul hall possess the jade keys to open the heavy ironwood doors. But we found out that Elder Shen created a secret, illegal bypass array over sixty years ago, using the blood of captured lower-realm beasts to mask the magical friction."
Wang did not reply. His handsome face was a mask of cold, timeless indifference, but his crimson eyes flared with a dangerous, predatory light as they reached the end of the tunnel.
Standing before them was a massive, three-ton circular door made of dark spiritual iron, covered in thick layers of defensive runes and heavy iron chains.
The metal surface was dull, but if one looked closely, there were faint, dark stains near the bottom edges, the dried, crusty remnants of blood from the sacrifices used to trick the ancient locking mechanism.
Wang stepped forward, his posture completely relaxed. He did not ask for the sages’ jade keys, nor did he look for the hidden bypass array that Elder Shen had constructed.
He simply raised his right hand, his long, pale fingers pressing casually against the center of the iron door.
A sudden, invisible wave of absolute Patriarch pressure erupted from his palm.
The heavy iron chains did not merely snap; they shattered into thousands of tiny metal fragments that rained down onto the stone floor like gravel.
The massive three-ton door groaned loudly, the complex defensive runes flashing with a frantic, blinding blue light as they tried to resist his authority.
But under the sheer, unyielding density of Wang’s primordial bloodline, the ancient magic completely collapsed within a split second.
The heavy iron door burst open with a resounding, thunderous *boom*, sliding back into the stone walls to expose the dark chamber beyond.
The four old sages immediately sank to their knees, their hearts bursting with an intense, fanatical reverence.
To witness their Patriarch break a high-grade immortal seal with nothing but a casual press of his hand was a level of power that went far beyond their wildest dreams.
