Reika walked into the main hall, her steps slightly unsteady. She held the jade box of tea tightly against her chest.
"Young Master," she smiled, though her face was pale. "I have purchased the Clear Heart Tea."
Ryuzaki Haruto, who was reading an ancient scroll, looked up. His sharp eyes immediately noticed the unnatural stiffness in her posture and the faint metallic scent of blood.
He stood up, crossing the room in a blur of white motion.
"Young Master?" Reika froze, her heart racing as Haruto stopped right in front of her.
Haruto didn't speak. He reached out a hand, his long, elegant fingers gently touching the corner of her lip. He wiped away a trace of dried blood.
"Who did this?" Haruto asked. His voice was calm—too calm. It was the quiet before a tsunami.
Reika's face flushed red at the intimate touch, but she lowered her head. "I... I couldn't stop them."
Ryuzaki Kenji stepped forward, his expression filled with shame. "I apologize, Divine Son. It was Ryuzaki Raijin. I wasn't strong enough to protect her."
Kenji recounted the events at the market. How Raijin had used his [Thunder Tribulation Battle Body] to suppress them and how his follower, Kuroto, had insulted Haruto.
"You're injured, and you still bought the tea?" Haruto looked at the box in Reika's hands, shaking his head. "Are you stupid?"
"If the Young Master wants it, Reika will get it," she whispered.
Haruto sighed, a faint smile touching his lips. It was a smile of doting affection. "Silly girl."
"Let's go," Haruto said, flicking his sleeves and clasping his hands behind his back.
"Where to?" Kenji asked, startled.
"To find Ryuzaki Raijin," Haruto said, his smile turning razor-sharp.
"Wait, Divine Son!" Kenji panicked. "The Secret Realm opens tomorrow. Inter-clan conflict is forbidden right now! We should wait..."
"Wait?" Haruto scoffed. "There is a saying: 'A gentleman takes revenge ten years later.'"
He walked to the balcony, looking toward the city.
"But I am not a gentleman. I take revenge before the sun sets."
The Tyrant's Miscalculation
The Western District, Raijin's Villa.
Ryuzaki Raijin sat in his cultivation chamber, feeling smug.
"My Lord," Kuroto said, pouring wine. "Why didn't you just cripple Haruto's dog completely? Why stop at a slap?"
Raijin swirled his wine cup. "Politics, Kuroto. Haruto has the Sacred Body and the Supreme Bone. Even I have to admit he is strong. If I injure his Sequence guard too badly, the Ancestors will punish me."
"Besides," Raijin smirked. "The Secret Realm is about to open. Haruto isn't stupid. He knows that internal conflict will weaken the Clan. He won't dare to attack me before the expedition."
"He will swallow his anger and wait until the mission is over. By then, I will have found opportunities in the Realm to surpass him."
"Your wisdom is profound, My Lord!" Kuroto flattered. "Haruto is just a child. He wouldn't dare challenge you now."
Raijin laughed. "Exactly. He is a coward who hides behind his status. He won't do anyth—"
BOOM!
A terrifying pressure descended from the sky. The roof of the villa groaned.
"What?!" Raijin stood up.
He looked up just in time to see a massive golden seal, the size of a mountain, crashing through the ceiling.
[Grand Seal of the Human King]!
"RUN!"
Raijin turned into a bolt of lightning and flashed out the window. Kuroto screamed and dissolved into black mist, barely escaping through a crack in the floor.
CRASH!
The villa was obliterated. Dust and debris mushroomed into the air, shaking the entire Western District.
"My house!" Raijin roared, hovering in the air. "Who dares?!"
He looked up.
Four figures stood in the sky. Ryuzaki Haruto stood at the front, his white robes spotless, his hand still extended in a pressing motion.
"You... Haruto!" Raijin screamed, lightning crackling around his body. "Are you insane?!"
"You just destroyed my residence! We are leaving for the Secret Realm tomorrow! Do you have no sense of the bigger picture?!"
Haruto looked at him like he was looking at a noisy insect.
"Bigger picture?" Haruto tilted his head. "Who gave you the audacity to touch my people?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed across the city. Thousands of cultivators looked up in awe.
"They were just servants! A maid and a weak Sequence!" Raijin argued. "Is that worth destroying my home?"
"Yes," Haruto nodded. "I am a petty person. If you touch my maid, I destroy your house."
"And now..." Haruto turned his gaze to Kuroto, who was hiding behind Raijin in his rematerialized form.
"You started this, didn't you? A dog who barks at his master's command."
Haruto raised his hand.
RUMBLE.
Golden Mana erupted like a volcano. A massive hand composed of golden runes materialized in the sky, grasping toward Kuroto.
"No! Lord Raijin, save me!" Kuroto shrieked, feeling the suffocating pressure of a Young Emperor.
"Stop!" Raijin roared.
He punched out, his arm turning into a thunderbolt. [Thunder God's Fist]!
"If I want to kill someone," Haruto said indifferently. "Can you stop me?"
Haruto raised his left hand.
[Dragon-Slaying Hand]!
A massive golden dragon claw materialized, slamming into Raijin's lightning fist.
BANG!
Raijin was knocked back ten meters, his arm numb. "That technique... from the Ancestral Dragon Nest?!"
Meanwhile, Haruto's right hand continued to descend on Kuroto.
"Mist Form!" Kuroto screamed.
He dissolved into a cloud of black smoke, scattering in all directions. The golden hand grabbed the mist, but it slipped through the fingers.
"Hahaha!" Kuroto's voice echoed from the mist. "You can't kill me! My Black Cloud Art makes me immune to physical attacks! Is this the power of Sequence Zero? Nothing special!"
Raijin breathed a sigh of relief. Kuroto was annoying, but he was useful.
"Is he brainless?" Haruto asked, looking at the mist with genuine confusion.
He changed his hand seal.
HUMMM.
The air above the mist distorted. A pitch-black crucible appeared, radiating heat and despair.
[Hell Furnace].
"Burn," Haruto whispered.
The furnace opened its maw. A terrifying suction force erupted.
"No! What is this?!"
The black mist was dragged screaming into the furnace.
"AHHHHHH!"
Kuroto's agonizing wails echoed for a second before being cut off abruptly.
The furnace belched a small puff of smoke.
Kuroto was refined into nothingness.
Silence fell over the city.
Haruto waved his hand, dismissing the furnace. He looked at Raijin, whose face had gone pale.
"Now," Haruto smiled, a beautiful, terrifying expression. "Where were we?"