บท 8: Shattered Glass
"Bullshit! Utter bullshit! We've had enough of your overbearingness! We've had enough of your Fahren Clan's domineeringness! As if the act of eradicating the Night Rose Sect wasn't enough, your little Young Master genocided the Blood Moon Sect! All for what?! Telling us how powerful you are?!
Alright, agreed! You are powerful! But, what is this talk about a change you are impudently uttering?! How are we to know this change won't be affecting us?!
Since this change would be kick-started by the awakening of those little devilish creatures, I did what everyone here thought is right! Kill them! To stop the change!
What?! I did the wrong?! What do you expect me to do?! My Sundering Blade–!"
"Are you done?" Elder Ren's voice was calm, but the malice laden underneath it was glaringly discernable.
"What?" The Shadow Blade Ancestor's voice came out confused.
"I asked if you are done."
"..." There was a pause.
"It appears so." Elder Ren nodded calmly, before his head snapped towards the Ancestor fiercely, his mouth muttering two simple words. "Then. Die."
For the first time since the Awakening Ceremony started, Elder Ren's voice was cold. So cold, even the spines of all Ice Sprites present felt frigid.
"Wai– Ahhhhhh!"
Words had barely escaped the Shadow Blade Ancestor's mouth when massive amounts of Blood Qi burst forth from Elder Ren's hand, coating his body in a bloody fog.
What followed was the blood curdling cries of the Shadow Blade Ancestor. It rang out, piercing through the night sky with mind churning horror.
Osric's eyes were wide as saucers, his heart shuddering at the scene before him. He had thought the Fahren Clan had done leaving him speechless. But, it appeared they had barely begun.
As if an Immortal destroying a Divine Sect wasn't absurd enough, Elder Ren too, was making short work of an Ancestor.
True, the gap between an Immortal and a Divine was immense. But, that was even more so for the Divine realms. The gap between each realm was so large it was almost unimaginable.
Yet, Elder Ren had breached that gap with incomparable ease.
He shifted his gaze below, his light-brown eyes landing on the cocoon of darkness that still cradled the seven kids and he almost stifled a self-deprecating laugh.
If even he, an outsider, could have his own protection, then, what could be said about the main members of the Clan?
'Really, I lost myself there…'
It was just that, the panic that gripped his heart had made him momentarily forget this probable possiblity. And the more he replayed the scene in his mind and framed the absolute calm at which Elder Ren floated, he suddenly understood that perhaps, the Elder hadn't saved the kids not because he couldn't, but because he felt no need to.
With the might of the Fahren Clan, how could they not be able to set up protections for their own?
Osric abruptly sighed.
Soon, the wails of the Ancestor toned down, before vanishing completely. Elder Ren's Blood Qi receded into his own body, disappearing as though it never existed.
The result of the seconds long torture, though, revealed itself. And what many saw made them suck in cold breath.
The Shadow Blade Ancestor was gone, replaced by his skeletal remains that released minute strands of Blood Qi. It was clear as day from the results that, Elder Ren's Blood Qi had wreaked havoc in his being, devouring his flesh, before repeating the same to his soul.
None of the powerhouses here could sense his existence. Which meant, on this day, Shadow Blade Ancestor had truly died, devoured in both body and soul, by Elder Ren, whose cold gaze still hasn't receded.
"I care not for your status. I don't care if you are a Demon King or a Sprite King. I don't care if you are a Nethereal of the Chthonian Plane. I don't care if you are the Ancestor of a Sect or Clan.
All I know is that, should you try to lay hands on my Fahren Clan, I wouldn't hesitate to mop off your existence from the surface of all Planes. The depths of my Fahren Clan isn't something the likes of you can comprehend.
But then, if you are unsatisfied, your complaints are welcomed. I have more than enough energy to spare to listen to your complaints."
Arrogance! Pure, unbridled arrogance!
Elder Ren had just threatened all top existences of the Dark Edge Realm, with the confidence of someone who had just killed an Ancestor as a mere Elder.
Sure, the Shadow Blade Ancestor wasn't the strongest of them. But, so was Elder Ren. He wasn't even the strongest of his rank. If even he, a mere Elder, could carry out such feat with absolute ease, then it was unknown what the Grand Elders could do, let alone their Ancestors.
All the powerhouses present suddenly understood that, their worries had been unfounded all this while. Should the Fahren Clan really deem it fit, they could subjugate the whole of Dark Edge Realm with ease. But… hadn't cared to do such a thing.
"As for the Sundering Blade Sect, consider your existences forfeit. This is the comeuppance you deserve. You can only blame your Ancestors for their foolishness."
Their hearts had barely settled when Elder Ren dropped another bomb. His tone was cold and ruthless. With few words, he sentenced the Sundering Blade Sect to extinction.
If before, the thoughts of retaliation still lingered in the minds of all the cultivation experts that were present, now they vanished with the air.
Osric sighed once again. This was the way of the Martial Verse. To this great Clans and Sects, what mattered was their reputation. They tolerated not a single slight, and should they ever be slighted, they would do everything in their power to erase it.
Even if it means… commiting genocide.
A perfect example was the Shadow Blade Ancestor. Because of his apparent stupidity, he had implicated his own background.
So, what if a tumultuous change was going take place within the Fahren Clan? So what if it was going plunge the whole Realm into frenzy? So long as it didn't jeopardise their lives, then they had nothing to worry about.
'...who knows, perhaps, the motion the Fahren Clan is talking about had little to do with the Dark Edge Realm in the getgo…'
Osric eyes squinted when he got to this point. He had a feeling the Fahren Clan were more than they were on the surface. Sure, every organisation had its own secrets, but the feeling he got from the Clan was different.
It was as though what they had always shown to the public was barely a fraction of the fraction of their real selves. It was as though they shouldn't be here. As though, they were never a part of the Realm to begin with.
As though they were… outliers.
Osric had no idea currently, but this casual thought of his had apparently peeled a major secret of the Fahren Clan.
At that moment though, the bony remains of the Shadow Blade Ancestor hit the ground, crumbling like shattered glass.
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