The arena was silent.
The air hung heavy with the weight of death and devastation.
Dust and fragments of shattered formations floated lazily in the sunlight, sparkling briefly before fading into the wind.
The stage was now a battlefield marked by black streaks of Yin Devouring Aura and traces of Li Tao's golden righteous qi.
Li Tao knelt on the ground, broken and exhausted.
His golden aura flickered weakly.
Around the stage, the onlookers were frozen.
Shen Mo, Li Meng, Wang Lie, had fallen silent, their expressions were a mixture of shock, awe, and fear.
Even Su Daoxuan, the Su Patriarch, looked unusually subdued, his eyes betraying a rare sense of unease.
The boy he had raised, the one he had guided for 15 years, had done more than merely defeat a cultivator of the 5th step.
He had shattered the view of a great families image.
Sigh~ Child, you really are raising up a storm.
Su Ye stood at the center of the arena.
The Yin Devouring Aura still clung to him.
It pulsed with an almost sentient rhythm, as if the aura itself relished the chaos it had wrought.
Su Ye's eyes swept the arena, lingering on Li Tao before shifting to the crowd.
This battle was completely one sided.
Li Tao struggled to his feet, gasping for breath.
His movements were slow, unsteady, and every motion seemed to cost him his very essence.
"Su…Ye…" he managed to rasp, "what…what have you become?"
Su Ye tilted his head slightly.
"I became what you lead me to be," he said quietly. "I should thank you for your guidance."
The words cut through the arena like a knife.
Even the most hardened cultivators whispered to themselves, horrified by the implication.
"I…I've punished evil!" Li Tao shouted, "I…I've done all I could to..."
Li Meng spoke in a trembling voice, "He…he's only mortal…yet he..."
"Mortals can choose their path too," Su Daoxuan interrupted softly, his gaze fixed on Su Ye. "And sometimes, the path of a mortal can shatter what centuries of cultivation could not."
Su Ye now looked down emotionlessly at Li Tao.
The Yin Devouring Aura retracted slowly, leaving the arena eerily quiet. Li Tao remained on the ground, trembling, utterly defeated.
The crowd looked at Su Ye with a mixture of awe, fear, and unspoken respect.
"Only 30 years old! 30 years old!!"
Su Ye turned, walking calmly away from the arena.