Shen Mo's words, "kneel and beg for mercy," became the final straw that shattered Lin Fan's already fragile psychological defenses.
Under the gaze of countless onlookers, Lin Fan, once the pride of the heavens, the once-in-a-century genius of Qinglan City, and an inner disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect, actually dropped to his knees with a thud on the cold, hard stone ground!
Tears streamed down his face, and he was utterly bereft of dignity as he kowtowed desperately toward the arena, his forehead quickly turning bruised and purple.
"A-Mo! Shen Mo! No… Mr. Mo! Spare me! Please spare me!" Lin Fan's voice, distorted by terror and laced with sobs, pleaded, "I was blinded by greed back then! My mind was addled! I'm not human! I'm a beast!"
As he kowtowed, he rambled incoherently about his "helplessness": "It was Qin Yao! Yes, it was Qin Yao who forced me! She said the jade pendant was something the sect wanted! How could I dare refuse her? I was momentarily confused… For the sake of our childhood, for the years we spent together at the orphanage, spare my dog-like life! I'll never dare again! I'll give you everything the Lin family owns! I'll work as your ox or horse to repay you!"
This grotesque display sent ripples of disdain and revulsion through the crowd. To save his own skin, he shifted blame onto a woman who had already been stripped of her powers and even invoked their shared past as leverage for mercy—truly despicable.
On the high platform, the Flowing Cloud Sect envoy's face turned ashen with a cold snort as he turned away, clearly disgusted by Lin Fan's performance. Qin Yao, slumped nearby, trembled with rage at his words, spitting out another mouthful of blood. Her eyes burned with venom and mockery.
Shen Mo slowly descended from the arena and stood before Lin Fan, looking down at his仇人 who lay groveling like mud. His gaze held no triumph, only icy indifference.
"Death is too easy," Shen Mo's voice was terrifyingly calm. "To live and taste the bitter fruit of your own making—that is the greatest punishment for you."
Before the echoes of his words faded, Shen Mo's fingers shot out like lightning, stabbing precisely into Lin Fan's dantian and the key meridian points of his limbs!
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Lin Fan let out a squeal of agony, collapsing like a spineless puppet. He could feel his hard-earned true energy draining away like floodwaters, his dantian and qi sea ruptured beyond repair, unable to hold a wisp of energy. His limbs throbbed with the pain of shattered meridians, rendering even basic movement excruciating.
His cultivation was annihilated! His meridians severed!
He had become less than a common man—a complete and utter废人!
"No… my cultivation… my power…" Lin Fan's eyes were hollow as he muttered, unable to accept this cruel reality. For a genius who once stood atop the clouds, losing his power was more terrifying than death itself.
Shen Mo turned away, as if he had merely discarded trash. He addressed City Lord Xiao Zhan and the crowd:
"Lin Fan, who murdered his friend and stole treasures, is vile beyond measure. With irrefutable evidence of his crimes, today I cripple his cultivation—let this be a lesson he brought upon himself.
"The Lin family, harboring and abetting his crimes, shares the blame!"
As his words fell, the Ghost Physician emerged, presenting Xiao Zhan with a thick dossier. Within it lay detailed records of the Lin family's misdeeds over the years: tax evasion, land seizure, and even premeditated murder of business rivals—all backed by irrefutable evidence.
Xiao Zhan, already disgusted with Lin Fan and his family, wasted no time. "Seize all Lin family assets! Arrest the principal members of the Lin clan and hold them for trial!"
City Lord's guards pounced like wolves, and in an instant, the once-mighty Lin family crumbled. The elders, faces ashen, were led away in chains, while the women of the household wailed in despair.
Qin Yao's fate was equally miserable. With her cultivation stripped, she lost all value and was discarded by the Flowing Cloud Sect like a worn-out shoe. The sect's envoy spared her not a glance, leaving with his retinue in humiliation. Without the sect's protection or her powers, the once-high-and-mighty prodigy met an predictable end. It is said that on her way out of Qinglan City, she was ambushed by old enemies, her fate left unknown—a mere sigh in the annals of the jianghu.
As for those who had allied with Lin Fan and bullied Shen Mo, the Lin family's downfall brought them to ruin. Some perished in the chaos; others fell to the lowest rungs of society, tasting the full spectrum of human cruelty and indifference—a living hell worse than death. Lin Fan's father, the former Lin family patriarch, full of vigor in his prime, committed suicide in his cell upon learning of his family's destruction and his son's crippling, ending his miserable life.
Shen Mo imprisoned the now-powerless Lin Fan in the deepest part of an abandoned, damp, and foul-smelling dungeon on the city outskirts. The place was rife with污水, teeming with snakes, insects, and rats, and reeked of decay.
Each day, only meager, moldy, and cold food was pushed through a tiny hole. What shattered Lin Fan further was Shen Mo's order to throw in notices detailing the Lin family's downfall, asset seizures, and imprisonment of clan members. He forced Lin Fan to witness, step by step, the annihilation of everything he had once possessed.
The dual torment of mind and body was unrelenting, day and night.
...
Days later, Shen Mo returned to the dungeon.
Lin Fan was no longer recognizable as a human being. He lay curled in the污水, his hair matted, clothes in tatters, eyes glazed, reeking of filth, and muttering incoherently.
Shen Mo stood outside the railing and spoke calmly, his voice echoing through the dungeon:
"The first truth. The black jade pendant (阳佩), though a treasure, gradually erodes the host's foundation and potential if not balanced by the yin pendant. This is why your cultivation progress slowed and your temperament grew increasingly agitated, making it impossible for you to突破 the Divine Sea realm."
Lin Fan's dull eyes flickered as if struck by these words.
"The second truth," Shen Mo continued, his gaze seeming to pierce through the dungeon walls to a certain fair maiden, "Su Xiao never held feelings for you. Everything was a result of your Lin family's coercion, using her mother's safety as leverage. Her heart was never yours."
These two truths sliced into Lin Fan's heart like twin daggers!
The first truth made him realize that the "opportunity" he had schemed to steal was, in fact, a curse! His so-called "path of genius" had been a path of deviation from the start!
The second truth shattered the last shred of twisted comfort and possessiveness in his heart! She had never belonged to him—it was all his delusion and vile coercion!
"Ha… ha ha…" Lin Fan began with a rasping laugh, which grew louder and more maniacal until it erupted into hysterical wails echoing through the dungeon.
"I'm a genius! I'm the pride of heaven!"
"No! I'm a waste! A clown!"
"Xiao Xiao… my Xiao Xiao…"
"The pendant… my power… gone… all gone! Ha ha ha…"
He oscillated between maniacal laughter and heart-wrenching sobs, cursing Shen Mo one moment and calling out Su Xiao's name the next. His eyes lost all focus as he slipped into permanent mental derangement.
Shen Mo cast a final glance at the madman rolling in filth and muttering to himself. His eyes held no sorrow, no joy. He turned and left the desolate place without a trace of regret.
Exiting the dungeon, the sunlight was blinding.
Shen Mo took a deep breath of fresh air. The滔天恨意 that had festered within him for three years dissipated with Lin Fan's descent into madness.
Ghost Shadow appeared like a wraith and reported, "Palace Lord, all direct enemies have been dealt with. The Flowing Cloud Sect seems… wary of us but is also showing some unusual movements."
Shen Mo gazed toward the Flowing Cloud Sect in the distance, his eyes profound as if envisioning broader horizons.
"No matter," he said indifferently, his tone radiating unshakable confidence. "If they lack sense, then the Flowing Cloud Sect serves no purpose in existing."
Old grudges were settled. A new journey was about to commence.