Head still lowered, the man replied, “My lady, these two humans trespassed into Blackshade Demon Palace and killed our kind. I merely wished to teach them a lesson-”
“A lesson?” Ice crept into the woman’s tone. “Had I come a moment later, you would have killed them outright, wouldn’t you?”
A sheen of sweat broke across the demon general’s brow, he dared not utter another word.
Ignoring him, the woman turned toward Jared and Flaxseed, scrutinizing them for a moment before her gaze lingered on Flaxseed. “You claim this was once the Flaxseed clan’s territory?”
Clutching his bruised chest, Flaxseed rasped, “Exactly! Nine Serpent Mountain has been our home for generations Since when did you demons stake claim to it?”
The woman furrowed her brow in contemplation, then shook her head. “Blackshade Demon Palace has held this land for several centuries. I have never heard of a Flaxseed clan. If this were truly your ancestral land, where are your kin?”
Flaxseed’s face tightened. “Don’t tell me… we were wiped out long ago?”
He had long journeyed to level six, reincarnating more times than he could count. Millennia had
slipped through his fingers, of his clan’s fate, he knew nothing.
Now, from her words, a crushing truth sank deep-his entire clan had been extinguished long ago. In this celestial realm where the strong devour the weak, entire clans and sects vanish in the span of a sigh.
Her expression softened, just barely “Perhaps so,” she murmured.
The demon general could hold his tongue no longer. “My lady, Nine Serpent Mountain was unclaimed territory. They’re inventing excuses to provoke us. Since when does a random excuse grant them ownership?”
“Silence!” The woman’s single word was a blade. The general snapped his jaws shut, trembling as the cold of her displeasure settled over him
She turned to Flaxseed, her voice melting from ice to tempered steel. “My name is Lunaria, demon princess of the Blackshade Demon Palace. If what you say is true, I will send someone to confirm every detail. But before that, you trespassed into demon territory and spilled blood. Someone must answer for that”
Flaxseed started to protest, but Jared stepped forward, his tone as calm as a winter pond. “We did not kill without cause. Your men mocked us, threatened to snuff out our lives. We acted only in defense.”
Lunaria’s eyes flicked to Jared, a curious gleam unfurling in their depths. “And you are?”
“Jared Chance, “he replied, unflinching, as though the name was both biography and battle cry.
Lunaria nodded slightly, ready to ask more, when the middle-aged general exploded in fury. “My lady, why trade words with intruders? They came to provoke us Seize them now and make an example of them!”
Jared cast the man a sideways glance and let a slow smile bloom. “It seems the lesson I gave you moments ago wasn’t enough” Before the last syllable settled, his form winked out of sight
Lunaria’s pupils constricted, her hand half-raised to intervene, but it was too late.
Steel whispered, then sang. The middle-aged general’s right arm vanished at the shoulder, replaced by a red fountain
He screamed, stumbling backward as his face blanched whiter than parchment. Trembling with pain and clutching the stump, he stared at Jared with a cocktail of terror and venom. His mind reeled. How could a Wandering Immortal Realm Level Six cultivator possess such terrifying speed and power? I’ve already summoned my demonic aura for protection, yet I hadn’t even glimpsed the arc of his blade.
“Y-You dared maim me!” the man rasped, veins writhing across his forehead. “You took my arm today, and I will trade nothing less than your head tomorrow.”
Jared wiped his sword clean and stood motionless. “When you lack the strength to back your tongue, silence is the only wise choice. Test me again, and I will claim more than an arm.”
The threat rode on such absolute certainty that the general’s lips snapped shut. His Adam’s apple bobbed once, but no further sound emerged.
