The afternoon air in the Ling Clan was thick with a mixture of anxiety and disbelief. They had met the quota, but the terrifying quality of the pills Ling Tian had refined—Peak-Grade Essence Condensing Pills—was now a treasure too great for the weak Ling Clan to protect.
Punctually at the appointed hour, a large, dark messenger bird landed atop the Ling Clan gates. Following it, Patriarch Blackwood strode in, a burly man in black brocade robes, flanked by two Elders in the early Spirit Foundation Realm.
"Patriarch Ling," Patriarch Blackwood's voice was heavy and menacing, echoing across the courtyard. "I have come to collect our collateral, and perhaps... to claim your entire clan."
The Ling Patriarch looked visibly shaken but defiant. He placed the jar containing the fifty pills on the stone table. "We have fulfilled the requirement. Even more than what was asked."
Patriarch Blackwood laughed. "Old man, do not jest. I know your alchemist alliance can only produce trash. So, all you show me is twenty low-grade pills, no—"
However, the laugh caught in his throat. One of his accompanying Elders, a part-time alchemist, hastily grabbed the jar and opened it.
Instantly, a rich, spiritual aroma saturated the air. Both Blackwood Elders gasped. Inside the jar, the fifty Essence Condensing Pills radiated a faint golden sheen, indicative of the near-legendary Peak-Grade quality.
"This... this is impossible!" Patriarch Blackwood muttered, his eyes instantly filling with greed that quickly twisted into rage. "These pills are not from your clan! You stole them! Which of you dared to steal a sacred pill formula?"
All eyes turned to Ling Tian, who stepped forward from behind Patriarch Ling. He wore simple grey robes, but his cold aura made the presence of Patriarch Blackwood, a strong Spirit Foundation cultivator, feel oddly suppressed.
"A sacred pill formula?" Ling Tian sneered coldly. "You are not even qualified to speak of pills in my presence."
Patriarch Blackwood, a respected figure in Moonlit City, felt his dignity crushed by a youth whose cultivation level was clearly far beneath his own. "Arrogant little trash! You dare to steal and lie? Surrender yourself now, and I will only cripple you!"
Ling Tian shook his head with utter contempt. He reached out and plucked one of the Peak-Grade Essence Condensing Pills from the jar.
"You wish to destroy this clan? You do not have the right," Ling Tian said. He then casually crushed the expensive pill between his thumb and forefinger. Dense spiritual energy exploded into the air, the potent shockwave pushing back the weaker servants.
"This pill, to me, is mere candy," Ling Tian mocked. He looked directly into Patriarch Blackwood's eyes, his own glittering with the purple light of Primordial Chaos.
"There are only two choices for you: Kneel, or be destroyed."
A deadly silence enveloped the courtyard.
Patriarch Blackwood went berserk. "Madman! I will crush you!"
He unleashed his Spirit Foundation Qi, punching toward Ling Tian with a strike that should have smashed any cultivator in the Qi Condensation Realm into dust.
Ling Tian did not evade. He merely let out a small, chilling laugh.
The Reverse Star Breathing Technique spun maniacally. The hidden Primordial Chaos power rushed into his fist.
BOOM!
The two fists met. The sound of a devastating explosion shook the ground.
Patriarch Blackwood screamed in pain. His arm felt as if it had been hit by a mountain. He was hurled backward, landing hard on the ground, blood spraying from his mouth.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
Ling Tian stepped forward, his movement lightning fast. Before Patriarch Blackwood could react, Ling Tian was standing over him.
Ling Tian placed his left foot squarely on Patriarch Blackwood's chest.
"I gave you a choice. You chose destruction," Ling Tian said, his tone as neutral as if he were commenting on the weather.
With a slight exertion of force, Ling Tian crushed Patriarch Blackwood's Cultivation Core within his Dantian.
Crack!
A raw, inhuman scream of pain and despair ripped through the air. Patriarch Blackwood's spiritual energy instantly leaked out of his body.
He was no longer a powerful Patriarch. He was just a pathetic, crippled man.
Ling Tian withdrew his foot, not a drop of blood on his shoes.
Everyone—Patriarch Ling, the Ling Clan Elders, and the two Blackwood Elders—stood paralyzed by absolute horror. They had just witnessed the strongest cultivator in Moonlit City destroyed into trash in one contemptuous movement.
"Take this carcass back," Ling Tian commanded the two trembling Blackwood Elders. "The Ling Clan is now inviolable. Anyone who attempts to disturb it will end up like him."
Ling Tian turned and walked back toward the main hall, leaving everyone behind to contemplate the arrogant and unstoppable new power that had just risen in the Seven-Heaven Realm.