The other middle-aged man scoffed. "Oh? Really? Are you saying that you've cleared the streets?" Sebastian turned to look at Zane. Zane hurried over to the door and looked outside. He said, "Seb, they really have cleared the streets. Apart from the lackeys of Mr. Wagner and Mr. Targery Senior, there isn't a single person outside.""Oh good." Sebastian suddenly raised a hand to slap someone. When Humphrey and the other middle-aged man saw that Sebastian was attacking all of a sudden, they moved to retaliate. However, all they saw was a dark shadow, and they both got slapped simultaneously.Sebastian hadn't used a lot of force, but it still sent them flying backward. They fell down the steps outside the convenience store.The two of them scrambled up on their hands and knees and stared dazedly at Sebastian, who had walked to the door.How had he hit them? Wasn't he a traditional medicine doctor? Why was he so powerful?Rose and Hans had come to the door with Sebastian.As Seb
"What consequences?" Humprey laughed coldly and asked, "Can't you see that there are many senior members and famous people here? I'll tell you. If you don't listen to us, we'll trample your convenience store!"The others quickly chimed in. "That's right! Flatten his convenience store!""Ballard, a blood debt must be paid in blood! When you killed Mitchell, you never imagined that such a day would come, did you?""Sebastian, today's the day when we settle the score with you!"Below the steps, Steinberg's local elders yelled angrily at Sebastian as they pointed at him.They weren't trying to avenge Mitchell. Conversely, their positions had become higher because Sebastian had killed Mitchell.It was just that Sebastian hadn't only killed Mitchell. He had also caused the practitioners of martial arts to lose the privileges they had originally had. After Sebastian killed Mitchell, he had made a statement that was tantamount to warning all the martial arts practitioners of Steinber
Sebastian's expression turned slightly colder. He stepped forward and was beside Zane in an instant. He pulled Zane behind him."You were the ones who hit him, weren't you?" Sebastian asked, looking at Wensleydale and Humphrey.Wensleydale's lip curled. "So what if I did? I hit him! What are you going to do to me?"Humphrey said disdainfully, "Ballard, he should be honored to be hit by my mentor! I don't mind telling you that my mentor represents the entire ancient martial arts community of Steinberg! I can cut out your tongue for that attitude!"Sebastian turned and comforted Zane. He told someone to help Zane back to the door.Then he turned to Wensleydale and Humphrey and said, "Cut off the hand that you used to hit him with, and I won't pursue this further. Otherwise, I'll make you wish you were dead." Sebastian's voice was clear and forceful.The members of the Martial Arts Association were surprised. Even Wensleydale was secretly shocked. Had Sebastian gone mad? How dare
Sebastian finished speaking and took a step toward Leon. Leon had been almost 40 feet away from him. However, Sebastian moved so fast that he left a trail of shadowy afterimages behind him. In an instant, Sebastian was back in his original spot, while Leon hurtled backward like a cannonball. His massive frame crashed into the members of the Martial Arts Association behind him, sending them sprawling. Leon landed heavily on the ground. When the crowd rushed over to check on him, they were horrified to see that his chest had caved in. Fragments of his crushed internal organs were scattered across the ground.Leon was dead. A wave of shock rippled through the crowd. They were aghast. Even Wensleydale hadn't seen how Sebastian had killed Leon. All he had felt was that Sebastian's figure had seemed insubstantial for a second. A heartbeat later, his apprentice had been sent flying, meeting a brutal end right before his eyes. "Sebastian! How dare you commit murder in public?" Wen
Sebastian pointed at the hundreds of Martial Arts Association members gathered at the door and said, "Since you all dared to come here and accuse me, then you must be prepared to die here! I am pleased to inform all of you that you have succeeded in provoking me to anger!" The crowd was immediately incensed. "You wouldn't dare!""There are so many of us! Even Larys wouldn't dare to do anything to us, let alone you!" "Sebastian, who do you think you are? We've got more than 100 people here today. Would you dare to kill us all?" Accusatory and defiant questions piped up all around Sebastian, but he only smiled faintly. "Why wouldn't I dare to do so?" he said and shot Lyanna a pointed look. Lyanna chuckled and invited Hans and the rest back into the convenience store. "Please come and sit inside. What's about to happen next may be too gory."Zane quickly turned to walk inside. Sebastian always did what he said he would do. Without a doubt, what was about to happen would be a b
Wensleydale's expression changed at once. He had made the call to the police because he had been planning on maiming or even killing Sebastian in front of everyone in the Martial Arts Association.However, things had turned out very differently from what he had expected. He had dug a huge hole for himself and had jumped in without a thought. "Mr. Ballard, you and I are both martial arts practitioners, and we prize the idea of righteousness," he began. "Why don't you kill me and let them go?"Wensleydale wasn't really that generous. He was a shrewd man who always did what benefited him more. Even his apprentice, Humphrey, was shocked to hear him say something so selfless. Had he really chosen to do good in the face of imminent death? However, Sebastian saw through his little trick immediately. Wensleydale hadn't escaped because he was too afraid to do so. Whoever ran out of the black fog would become a bloody puddle of water. If Sebastian agreed to let them go, he would remo
"Mr. Ballard! I was wrong! Please, have mercy on me…""Mr. Ballard, we'll never do it again. I don't want to die.""Mr. Ballard, I have an 80-year-old mother at home. Please have mercy!" There was a series of thumps as more than 100 people fell to their knees. They were genuinely afraid. What Lyanna had said had made their last defenses crumble completely. The moment they knelt, the corpse of the man with the dragon-topped cane began to decay rapidly right in front of their eyes. In the end, only pale white bones remained. A slight breeze swept over them from out of nowhere. With a gentle gust, the skeleton disappeared. It was as if the man with the dragon-topped cane had never existed."Mr. Ballard, you mustn't show any compassion at all to these hypocrites," Rose said. She slowly pulled out her short sword and tossed her sheath away. Sebastian closed his eyes and nodded slightly. There was a series of squelching noises as over a dozen heads fell to the ground. More dark
However, Wensleydale didn't care. He would have killed his own son if it meant that he could live!Without another word, he hacked off Humphrey's arm. Before Humphrey could scream, Wensleydale stabbed him in the heart. He gripped the handle of the knife and twisted it grimly. Humphrey stared at Wensleydale, his eyes bulging, right until the moment he died. He had died a violent death. Wensleydale looked at the corpses scattered all over the ground. Like the man with the dragon-topped cane, they all decayed rapidly and were blown off into the air by a slight breeze, leaving no trace behind. Wensleydale turned slowly and gazed mournfully at Sebastian. He looked into Sebastian's ice-cold gaze and finally realized that the latter wasn't going to forgive him, even though he had hacked off his own arm and killed his apprentice. Instead of dying in great pain like the others, he might as well give himself a quick end! Tears streamed down Wensleydale's face as he held the knife to
Whitney perked up at Sebastian's question. "It's all because you ran into the two monsters that day," she said. "I saw it on the surveillance footage. That was when I realized that the two women living in the store don't have that kind of relationship with you…"Whitney had never asked, and Sebastian hadn't bothered to explain who Nina and Lyanna were. That was why she had mistakenly thought that both of them were Sebastian's lovers as well.Realization had only dawned on her when she heard Nina address Sebastian as her master, even in her dying breath. Whitney had seen how powerful Nina was that day and how she had been willing to die in order to protect Sebastian.Nina and Lyanna weren't Sebastian's lovers. They were his servants. Not only that, Nina was a thousand-year-old giant snake!That had completely changed Whitney's view of the world. Although there had always been legends of mystical beings and ghosts, Whitney was an accomplished businesswoman who believed firmly in sc
Sebastian laughed wryly and shook his head. "I'm not from the Ballard Estate," he said. "My name is Sebastian, and it's better if my cousin weren't seen around me too much.""Oh, you're Sebastian."The two young women breathed a long sigh of relief. They looked him up and down for a long time before exchanging a glance. Then, they covered their faces and giggled.One of them stepped forward and said, "Come with me. Honestly… you seem pretty normal. I don't get why Ms. Sutton is yearning for you so much."Sebastian cleared his throat awkwardly and said nothing.The young woman led Sebastian into the house, where Whitney was sitting and reading a book intently. She said, "Ms. Sutton, look who's here."Whitney put down her book and looked up. When she saw Sebastian behind the young woman, she was both surprised and delighted. She got up and threw herself into Sebastian's arms."Sebastian, is it really you?"The young woman covered her face and chuckled before leaving the room sile
Sebastian watched Andreas leave and exhaled deeply. Preston wasn't the only one he didn't trust. No one in the Ballard Estate was worthy of his trust, including Andreas.Once Andreas had completely disappeared, Sebastian beckoned to the woods in the distance and said, "Come out!"In a flash, Duo appeared at his side. "My lord, why didn't you wipe out those people in the hall today?" he asked.Duo clenched his fists tightly, and there was a murderous look simmering in his eyes. Although he hadn't been in the hall, he had clearly heard everything the Ballards had said.Anyone who disrespected his master deserved death!Besides, neither Sebastian nor Duo would have had to lift a finger to kill them. All they had to do was to crush the Tribulation Avoidance Charm and trigger the divine tribulation. Once it descended, no one in the hall would have lived to tell the tale, including Arnaud."If we become hostile with the Ballards, it'll be almost impossible for us to leave in peace. Now
"It all comes back to Uncle Samson," Andreas said. "Great Uncle Arnaud already told you he'd let Uncle Samson have his freedom if you find the other emerald token, but then he brought up the marriage alliance. "It directly affects whether or not Uncle Samson can regain his freedom. So, why don't you think about it?"With a quiet chuckle, Andreas walked toward a grove of peach trees to the west.Realization finally dawned on Sebastian. Arnaud was a shrewd man. He wouldn't slip up like that. Besides, although the Ballards and the Yeomans had established a marriage agreement, they hadn't named specific individuals, only that the Blessed Child of the Ballards would fulfill it.The Blessed Child bore the duty of guiding the Ballards to revival. In other words, the emerald token would be better off falling into the Blessed Child's hands rather than anyone else's.Could it be that the final emerald token was with the Yeomans? If that were true, why hadn't the Ballards used their pow
"I'm sorry, but I have no interest in becoming the head of the Ballard family," Sebastian said impassively. "I only want my father to be freed."Arnaud's expression changed slightly, but his tone remained neutral as he said, "It's Braxton who owes you and your mother, not the entire family. Why must you do this?"Sebastian let out a cold snort. It was true that Braxton had been the one who had kicked them out, but weren't the true culprits the elders of the Ballard Estate?"If there's nothing else, I'd like to see Whitney," Sebastian said, rising slowly to his feet. As soon as he mentioned her name, Arnaud waved a hand at him and said, "Don't be in such a rush, Sebastian. Whitney is safe. The Ballards would never harm a frail woman."He added, "However, there's something I want to ask you. Is Whitney still your wife?"Sebastian frowned. "Whether she is or isn't, what business is that of the Ballards?""Of course it is," Arnaud replied firmly. "The Ballards and the Yeomans of
Arnaud led Sebastian into a secret room deep within the Hall of the Ancestral Dragon. Once inside, Sebastian saw a Cosmic Orbit Diagram. It was exactly the same as the records in the Sacred Medicine Secret Annals.However, the Ballards' Cosmic Orbit Diagram was divided into different sections. It looked even more three-dimensional."This is the Cosmic Orbit Diagram passed down through our family for generations," Arnaud said proudly. "The one that the Sacred Medicine Society has is just a copy."The legacy of the mystic arts in Dramon almost all came from the Ballards.The Ballards had withheld some things back then as well. As a result, all the legacies of the various secular sects only had incomplete Cosmic Orbit Diagrams. It was why there were very few experts at the fifth level of the Eldoria realm and above.Afterward, Arnaud led Sebastian into a library. Thousands of technical legacies lined the shelves. Sebastian flipped through them. The techniques recorded there were
Samson glanced at Sebastian. He took a deep breath and said to Arnaud, "Thank you for sparing me, Uncle Arnaud."He gave Sebastian a few final reminders before leaving the hall with Preston.Once they were gone, Arnaud pointed at Duo and said to Sebastian, "Tell him to leave too."Sebastian waved a hand at Duo."I'll wait for you at the entrance, my lord," Duo said. "If anything happens, I'll be here as soon as you call!"He gave Arnaud a cold look before striding out of the hall.Arnaud watched him leave and smiled approvingly. He beckoned to Sebastian. "Come, sit!"Sebastian didn't hesitate. He crossed the hall and sat in the chair opposite Arnaud."Do you know why I asked Andreas to bring you back here?" Arnaud asked impassively. Sebastian shook his head expressionlessly. He said in a cold voice, "It's probably because of the emerald token in my father's possession."Apart from using him and Whitney as leverage against Samson, he couldn't think of any other reason.Arnau
"The Blessed Child! The Blessed Child has finally come to our family!"The black-robed old man who had been sitting beside Arnaud stood up, looking pleased. He couldn't hide his excitement as he turned to Arnaud and said, "Arnaud, our family is going to prosper!"Only Rexton and Milton looked extremely displeased. Braxton and Roland looked pained, as if they had lost something of great value. They were practically thumping their chests in regret!The Blessed Child had been foretold by one of the heads of the family centuries ago. No matter how far the Ballards declined, the prophecy said that after a few hundred years, a Blessed Child would appear—someone who could lead the family's revival!The only proof of the Blessed Child was for him to enter a master-servant oath with a Devora."Prosper? What a joke!" Hugo scoffed, holding Virtus firmly. "Weren't you all just clamoring about killing the two of them?"At Hugo's words, Arnaud's expression changed slightly. "When did I say tha
"Hugo!"Arnaud, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide. He eyed Hugo with a conflicted expression as he asked, "Have you forgotten the agreement the Thornes made with us ten years ago?"Hugo smiled coldly and put one hand behind his back. "That was the agreement you made with the Thornes. I'm only following Ms. Thorne's orders to protect Samson and find the emerald token. If Samson dies in this battle, how am I supposed to explain that to her?"He pointed at Sebastian and added, "He's Ms. Thorne's flesh and blood. Your family has no right to punish him! If the Ballards insist on killing them today, don't blame me for going on a killing spree!"When Hugo had finished, Sebastian finally realized that Hugo was from Isabella's family and that he had stayed at the Ballard Estate to protect Samson.It was clear that Isabella hadn't held a grudge toward Samson. In fact, she had sent an expert to stay behind to protect him in case anything happened.Arnaud's