The side-hall of the Adjudication Sanctum was not merely a building; it was a masterwork of cold, high-tech fortification. Within its reinforced walls lay complex air-filtration systems that purged all pollutants, leaving the atmosphere thick with a heavy, oppressive scent of sacred incense.
Lin Xiu sat atop a throne of veined marble, his breathing as ragged and rhythmic as a bellows in an industrial forge. Beside him stood two "Executors"—elite guards clad in full-body plate armor, clutching heavy Thunder-Halberds. Each of them was a veteran of the Mid-Blood-Ignition Phase, equipped with sensory armor that synchronized directly with the Sanctum's internal defense arrays.
"My Lord, the serum is in transit," one of the guards muttered, his voice muffled by his helm. "But the unrest in the outer districts hasn't subsided. Should we deploy more personnel to the—"
"Shut up!" Lin Xiu snapped his head up, his eyes bloodshot and frantic. "Hold this position. Anyone who approaches without clearance... kill them on sight!"
At that moment, a heavy metallic boom resonated from the direction of the Sanctum's main cathedral, followed immediately by the shrill, rising wail of an alarm.
"Intruder detected in the Energy Substation!"
The report crackled through the internal comm-units. The two guards exchanged a glance, tightening their grip on their halberds. They knew the stakes; if the substation was compromised, the Sanctum's defensive shield and—more importantly—the stabilizing system for Lin Xiu's collar would fail.
"One of you, go!" Lin Xiu barked, his fingers digging into his neck. "The other stays with me!"
Before the guard could step out, a bizarre, dark-purple radiance flickered in the corridor outside the side-hall. The light wasn't bright, yet it possessed a frequency that caused the stable Order-fields within the Sanctum to fluctuate violently.
"That wavelength... a Primal Blood-Seed!" Lin Xiu bolted upright. The sudden movement caused his collar to emit a sharp, high-pitched warning beep. "She hasn't fled the city! She's right there!"
Greed overrode caution. To the deteriorating Lin Xiu, Su Qingyue's Primal Blood was more precious than the city itself.
"Both of you! Go! Bring her to me, dead or alive!" He pointed a trembling finger at the fleeting violet silhouette at the end of the hall, his voice cracking with desperation.
The two guards hesitated for a fraction of a second, but looking at the near-manic madness in Lin Xiu's eyes, they bowed their heads and vanished into the corridor like grey streaks of lightning.
Silence, heavy and tomb-like, descended upon the side-hall.
Lin Xiu collapsed back into his throne, his right hand trembling as he fumbled for a spare, low-purity stabilizing agent from his pocket. It was his final reserve. He had to suppress the Pseudo-Inscription power that was currently threatening to tear through his skin before the guards returned.
Just as he pried open the collar's injection port and prepared to plunge the needle home—
A shadow, cold, lethal, and devoid of any sound, plummeted vertically from the seemingly sealed ventilation grates above his head.
Gu Hanzhou did not shout. He did not roar. His breathing was so shallow it was non-existent, his presence erased by the very shadows he occupied.
Clang!
The obsidian edge of the Tang Dao struck the glass vial in Lin Xiu's hand with surgical precision. The crystalline serum shattered in mid-air, the liquid hissing as it hit the marble floor, corroding the stone with a sharp, chemical sting.
"You?!"
Lin Xiu's pupils shrank to pinpricks. He had never imagined that the mine-slave—the insect he thought he had crushed—would have the audacity to infiltrate the very heart of his power.
"Your medicine... is gone."
The moment Gu Hanzhou's boots hit the floor, he coiled and lunged. He stayed low, hugging the ground as [Black Order] traced a vicious, rising diagonal slash through the air.
Lin Xiu was, after all, a warrior at the peak of the Blood-Ignition Phase. Despite being on the verge of a breakdown, his survival instincts triggered an explosive burst of speed. He slammed his palms into the throne's armrests, propelling himself backward while the collar at his neck flared with a blinding blue-white energy barrier.
CLANG—!
The blade collided with the barrier, sending a visible ripple of distorted air through the hall.
"You think a rusted blade and a bit of luck can change your fate, slave?" Lin Xiu sneered. His face was ghostly pale, yet his eyes remained filled with the arrogance of his station. "Within these walls, I am Order!"
He reached into the air, and a longsword shimmering with frost-energy condensed in his palm.
However, Gu Hanzhou's face remained a mask of absolute calm behind his metal filter.
He didn't rush his second strike. Instead, he stood his ground, [Black Order] pointed toward the floor, the dark-gold vein-tracery on the blade pulsing slowly in time with his heartbeat.
"Is that so?" Gu Hanzhou's voice emerged from behind the mask, cold and judgmental. "Take a look at your collar."
Lin Xiu froze.
A chill that seemed to freeze his very soul emanated from the base of his skull. The collar, which should have been regulating his bloodline, began to emit a grinding sound of clashing gears. The dark, necrotic energy left behind by [Black Order]'s previous strike had infected the mechanism, forcing the internal crystals into a violent, reverse-rotation.
"No... this is impossible! How could you interfere with a high-tier relic..."
Before he could finish, a wave of primal, chaotic Order Energy surged from the collar's interface directly into his spinal column.
"AAAAAAAAAAGH!"
A scream of agonizing torment ripped through the Sanctum. Lin Xiu's ornate silk robes were shredded from the inside out as his muscles swelled and buckled. Beneath his skin, it looked as if a thousand serpents were thrashing in a frantic attempt to escape his body.
The Pseudo-Inscription had officially reached a state of total catastrophic failure.
Gu Hanzhou's gaze narrowed. He knew this was only the beginning of the end. He had to extract the answers he needed before Lin Xiu's body completely detonated from the internal pressure.
He stepped through the puddles of scalding, violet blood spraying from Lin Xiu's pores, walking toward the writhing Adjudicator with his blade held in a low, executioner's stance.
The night in the Iron City was about to witness its final judgement.