Above the execution ground, as soon as the hunched old man dressed in simple hemp clothing appeared, an aura of ancient decay and oppression spread out, even causing the arrogant Ning Qingtian to glance at him slightly.
He was none other than Liu Xuance, the founding ancestor of the Great Qian Dynasty.
The remaining members of the imperial family and officials of the Daqian Dynasty, who had already fallen into despair, suddenly had a strong glint of survival in their eyes after his appearance.
"Ancestor!"
"Ancestor, save me!"
Liu Wudao, Liu Ruxue, and the others scrambled and kowtowed in the direction of Liu Xuance, their voices filled with anguish.
Liu Xuance didn't look at them. His cloudy old eyes were fixed on Ning Qingtian. His voice was hoarse, with a hint of pleading that was hard to detect: "Fellow Daoist, please be merciful when you can."
"Our Great Qian royal family was indeed blind and foolish to offend your noble son, and deserves to die."
"But the crime doesn't warrant the extermination of the entire clan!"
"This old man is willing to offer all the treasures accumulated by my Great Qian Dynasty over the past thousand years, including rare and precious items, cultivation techniques and secret manuals, you name it!"
"I only ask that you, fellow Daoist, leave behind a tiny, insignificant bloodline for my Liu clan, so that our lineage may continue."
"I would rather swear with this broken Dao heart that in the future, all descendants of the Liu family, including their collateral relatives, will never dare to set foot within a hundred miles of where Young Master Ning is. If they break this oath, may they be struck down by heaven and earth!"
His tone was earnest, and his posture was extremely humble.
He introduced himself as the founding ancestor of the Great Qian Dynasty, whose cultivation had reached the level of a half-step saint. However, due to his impending death, he had been sleeping in a secret underground realm of the imperial palace, relying on secret techniques to prolong his life.
If he hadn't sensed the imminent extinction of the royal bloodline today, he would never have expended his last bit of life force to awaken.
He tried to reason with Ning Qingtian, appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him, as a fellow cultivator, to persuade him to show leniency.
Ning Qingtian raised an eyebrow, but had not yet spoken.
"Oh."
A chilling laugh escaped Ning Chen's lips.
He stepped forward slowly, his gaze calmly meeting Liu Xuance's.
His voice suddenly rose, echoing throughout the entire execution ground:
"Old man."
"You have been asleep for a hundred years, living on until now. Do you know how your unworthy descendants have been plotting against me?"
"They will steal my innate sacred body, ruin my reputation, and even torture and kill me in public, leaving me with no place to bury my body!"
"This hatred! This grudge!"
"Do you think you can just wipe the slate clean with a few worthless possessions and a flimsy promise?!"
"If I, Ning Chen, cannot make them pay for their crimes in blood today, and personally settle accounts with these enemies one by one!"
"How can my resolve to follow the Dao be firm? How can my thoughts be clear and unobstructed?!"
"In future cultivation, inner demons will arise, making it difficult to make any progress, and you may even suffer a qi deviation, leading to eternal damnation!"
The resolute tone in his voice made Liu Xuance's heart sink.
Ning Chen elevated revenge to the very foundation of his own cultivation, leaving no room for negotiation in his words, completely blocking any attempt by Liu Xuance to use morality or the overall situation to blackmail him.
"Moreover..." Ning Chen's lips curled into a mocking smile, "My father is here, standing tall and upright. How can we allow you insignificant ants to continue living in this world, polluting our eyes and disturbing our hearts?!"
"Well said!"
Upon hearing this, Ning Qingtian clapped his hands and laughed, his gaze towards Ning Chen filled with the satisfaction of a father.
"As expected of Ning Qingtian's offspring!"
"A clear distinction between gratitude and resentment, and decisiveness in killing! This is the mindset of someone who can achieve great things!"
He turned his head and looked at Liu Xuance, whose face was deathly pale, his eyes suddenly becoming extremely sharp.
That terrifying pressure, belonging to the perfect ninth level of the Saint Realm, was unleashed without any reservation, like an ancient divine mountain, crashing down on Liu Xuance!
"A half-step saint?"
Ning Qingtian scoffed disdainfully, his tone filled with contempt: "What a huge joke!"
"Before me, you dare to call yourself a saint? You dare to negotiate terms?"
"My son's wishes are my own wishes, Ning Qingtian's wishes!"
"He wants your Liu clan wiped out completely, so that the Great Qian Dynasty will be barren!"
"puff--!"
Liu Xuance was already on his last legs, and his forced awakening was the limit of his last gasp of energy; he was only holding on by sheer willpower.
At this moment, Ning Qingtian's abyss-like holy might struck them head-on, and their protective spiritual light shattered instantly.
Now, he felt as if his internal organs had been shattered into dust, and a mouthful of life essence gushed out, causing his aura to rapidly decline.
His hunched body trembled violently, his eyes filled with endless despair and fear.
He finally understood that his proud half-step saint cultivation was disproportionately small in the face of a true ninth-level saint!
The opponent didn't even need to actually fight; their mere aura was enough to crush him to death!
"Ancestor!"
Liu Wudao and the others let out desperate cries.
Ning Qingtian didn't even bother to glance at Liu Xuance again.
With a wave of his hand, he issued a chilling command to the nearly one thousand terrifyingly powerful elite members of the Ning family behind him:
"Listen to my command!"
"Take down every single one of the core members of the Liu royal family, as well as everyone involved in framing my son today, regardless of their status or cultivation level!"
"Their lives and deaths will be decided by my son, Ning Chen, later!"
"As the master commands!"
The Ning family members responded in unison, their voices shaking the heavens and their murderous aura soaring to the sky.
Dozens of figures pounced out like tigers among sheep. The civil and military officials and members of the royal family of the Great Qian Dynasty, who were already terrified, did not even have the slightest thought of resistance before they were subdued one by one, their spiritual power sealed, and they were brought over like pigs and dogs waiting to be slaughtered.
Liu Ruxue, Chu Yunxiao, and Liu Wudao, whose cultivation had just been crippled, were naturally among them, their faces ashen.
However, just when everyone thought Ning Chen would order these people to be killed immediately to vent his anger,
Ning Chen's lips slowly curled into a chilling, playful smile.
He walked to Ning Qingtian's side and said softly, "Father, killing them like this is too easy on them."
"I recently came across an ancient secret technique and I am quite interested in the method of making puppets."
"How about we refine the core members of the Liu royal family, such as the old but immortal Liu Xuance, as well as Liu Wudao and Liu Ruxue, into loyal puppets who only know how to obey orders and will never be able to escape death?"
"Wouldn't it be more interesting and better demonstrate the prestige of the Ning family to make them, for all eternity, the watchdogs of the Ning family, guarding the gates of the Ning family, than simply killing them?"
These words were like a thunderbolt!
[Ding! Extreme despair detected from Liu Xuance, editing points +2000!]
[Ding! Detected intense fear and collapse among the remnants of the Great Qian Dynasty. Editing points +1500!]
A series of system notifications rang in Ning Chen's mind, making his smile deepen.
These words, so scathing, were indeed remarkably effective!