The atmosphere in the Luo Family courtyard, previously filled with insults, suddenly turned into a tense silence. Wei Yan's confession that he was the architect behind their downfall fell like a death sentence from the heavens. Faces that had once been proud now paled, their complexions lost color, and their knees trembled violently.
"You... you did it?" Patriarch Luo's younger brother whispered, his voice barely audible. "All our assets... the massacre at the casino... all because of you?"
Hoarse voices began to rise from all directions. Those who had been so viciously insulting Mengyi now shrank back, some even falling to their knees, trying to find a way to beg for mercy.
"Please... we don't know anything! We're just ordinary family members!"
"There must be a misunderstanding! We can negotiate! We'll give you anything!"
Wei Yan stared at them with a gaze colder than eternal ice. He tightened his embrace on Luo Mengyi's thin shoulders, allowing her to feel the warmth of his sovereignty amidst this storm of despair.
"Mercy?" Wei Yan repeated the words with a hint of irony. "You speak of pity for the person who just destroyed your home? Interesting."
Wei Yan took a step forward, causing the crowd to recoil. "Let's talk about comparisons. You lost your wealth and status overnight, and you cry as if the world has ended. But look at this woman—Luo Mengyi. For years, you've kept her locked in that dark hole. You've eliminated her childhood friend's family just for your own petty ambitions. You've let her endure this shame without ever allowing a single moment of reconciliation or apology."
Wei Yan looked down briefly, gazing at Mengyi, who was now trembling not with fear, but with overwhelming joy. "For her, every second in this house is hell. And now, you want me to feel pity for demons in human clothing?"
In a panic that reached its peak, Patriarch Luo's wife, already losing her mind, screamed at the top of her lungs. "GUARDS! COME IN! KILL HIM! KILL THIS DEVIL NOW!"
The scream set off an alarm throughout the compound. The guards standing guard outside the building, who had been unaware of Wei Yan's presence due to their invisibility formation, immediately realized something was amiss. Heavy, rapid footsteps echoed across the asphalt. Dozens of burly men armed with automatic weapons and long machetes charged into the courtyard, surrounding Wei Yan and Mengyi from all sides.
"Sir! Any orders?!" the leader of the guards shouted, aiming his gun at Wei Yan's chest.
"Shoot him! Shoot quickly!" the Patriarch's younger brother ordered, his face furious.
The guards moved in unison. They were trained mercenaries who knew no fear. However, Wei Yan simply stood there, completely relaxed. He didn't even raise his hands in defense. He simply stared at them with his eyes gleaming dark purple.
BOOM!
The sound wasn't a gunshot. It was the sound of brain tissue exploding from within.
Without warning, the head of the guard leader exploded like a watermelon struck by a sledgehammer. Blood, skull fragments, and brain matter sprayed in all directions, drenching the faces of the guards beside him.
"What—?!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One by one, in a sequence of pinpoint precision, the guards' heads exploded. There were no bullets, no physical explosions; only Wei Yan's will manipulated the pressure of Chaos energy within their skulls. The sight was horrifying; the headless bodies remained upright for a split second before collapsing to the ground, creating pools of blood that began to flow toward the Luo family members' feet.
"NO! STOP! PLEASE STOP!" the Luo family women screamed, covering their eyes, but the explosions continued, rhythmically, like the heartbeat of death.
Luo Mengyi watched this scene with wide, bulging eyes. He didn't feel disgusted. Instead, he licked the remaining blood that had splattered onto his lips with a crazed, worshipful expression. "Again... do it again, my lord... clean them all up..."
Wei Yan smiled faintly. He began to toy with them. "Do you want to see what it feels like to be 'disgraced'?"
Wei Yan turned his gaze to the core members of the Luo family. The Patriarch's younger brother, who had ordered the shooting, tried to run, but his feet seemed rooted to the ground.
"Do you prefer the front or the back to explode first?" Wei Yan asked in a very calm voice, as if asking for the dinner menu.
"No! Have mercy—"
BOOM!
The man's head exploded, leaving his body kneeling in front of Wei Yan. One by one, the male elders, cousins, and uncles of the Luo family were finished off in the same manner. Wei Yan did this slowly, letting fear consume their souls before their lives were taken.
The once beautiful courtyard had now become a human slaughterhouse. The pungent stench of blood filled the air. The women of the Luo family crawled on the ground, crying and begging, trying to kiss Wei Yan's shoes for mercy.
Finally, only one person remained, trembling in the pool of blood: the Luo Patriarch's main wife—the matriarch of the family who had been the most severe in her torment of Mengyi.
Wei Yan stepped toward her, his clean shoes not touching a single drop of blood on the ground, as if the red liquid had simply moved out of his way. He stopped right in front of the woman, who had now wet herself from the overwhelming fear.
"Do you know why you're still alive, Your Honor?" Wei Yan whispered those words right into her ear.
The woman could only shake her head, tears and snot mingling on her face.
"Because Mengyi needs someone to witness how she will rule over these ruins," Wei Yan said. He turned to Mengyi. "Mengyi, do you want her alive to see your glory, or do you want me to close her eyes right now?"
Mengyi stepped forward, standing beside Wei Yan. She stared at her mother with a gaze that no longer held hatred, but only a terrifying emptiness. "Let her live, my lord. I want her to be my witness as I trample on the remains of the Luo name she so proud of."
Wei Yan nodded in satisfaction. He raised his hand, and all the corpses in the courtyard instantly ignited in a heatless purple flame, reducing them to ashes in seconds, leaving only the ground clean as if no massacre had ever taken place.
"Let's go, Mengyi. This place is getting too boring for me," Wei Yan said.
With a wave of their hands, Wei Yan and Luo Mengyi disappeared from the courtyard, leaving Patriarch Luo's main wife alone in the deathly silence, surrounded by the ashes of her entire family and still under the illusion that this is just a minor incident.
----
After the flash of purple light faded, Wei Yan and Luo Mengyi emerged on a desolate hill overlooking the city. Far below, the Luo Family compound they had just left was engulfed in a towering blaze. Wei Yan had ensured that the remnants of disgrace would be reduced to ashes, a magnificent funeral for a rotten past.
Wei Yan felt the chill of the night bite, but he remained firm. He wanted to shift slightly to the side, reach into his pocket for his phone and call the cleaning team to secure the area, but his movement stopped.
A slender hand, with fingers still trembling violently and nails slightly bleeding, gripped the sleeve of Wei Yan's uniform with desperate force.
"Master... don't... don't leave me," Luo Mengyi whispered. Her voice was hoarse, broken by the weight of the emotions she had been keeping locked away in her dark room.
Wei Yan turned his head. He saw the woman who had been grinning maniacally as her oppressors' heads exploded, now looking so fragile. Plong. His revenge had been settled, but the emptiness left by years of pain suddenly hit him.
Without a word, Wei Yan pulled the small body into his embrace. He let Mengyi's head rest on his warm, broad chest.
Deg.
Instantly, Luo Mengyi's last defenses crumbled. She sobbed. At first, it was a small, stifled sob, but a second later, it turned into a full-blown sob—a sob that shook her entire body. She gripped the fabric of Wei Yan's uniform as if afraid that if she let go, she would be thrown back into those iron bars.
"They... they killed everyone I loved, Master," Mengyi sobbed. "Every day... every night, they come just to remind me of what a disgrace I am. They spit in my food, they leave me so cold that I wish my heart would stop beating."
Wei Yan gently stroked Mengyi's dull hair, letting his warm Chaos energy seep through to soothe her nerves. "Let it all out, Mengyi. Tonight is the end of your tears."
"I'm so lonely, Wei Yan... The loneliness hurts more than their whips," she whimpered again, her face buried in Wei Yan's chest. "In the darkness, I could only hallucinate. I waited... and waited... every time the door creaked, I hoped someone would come to take me away, or at least end me. But it was always them... with the same insults, with the same kicks."
Mengyi looked up with swollen eyes, staring at Wei Yan with a heartbreaking gaze. "Why did you only come now? I was almost driven mad from constantly calling out the name of someone I didn't even know in my dreams."
Wei Yan stared into those burning eyes, now softened by fragility. "Because fate needs the right moment to destroy everything at once. And now, you see it, don't you? Those who insulted you are already ashes down there."
"I have no one left... I have no home," Mengyi whispered, her body still shaking slightly with sobs.
Wei Yan held Mengyi's shoulders, staring at her with absolute intensity. "You're wrong. From this moment on, you have a new home that no one can ever break through. You have me, and you have your sisters who will take care of you."
"You... won't throw me away once I'm no longer useful?" Mengyi asked in the voice of a frightened child.
"I never throw away what's mine," Wei Yan replied firmly. He kissed the top of Mengyi's head, an emotional seal that bound her loyalty forever. "You are part of my sovereignty now. Wake up, my Goddess of Vengeance. Cleanse your face, for tomorrow, the world will see a new Luo Mengyi."
Luo Mengyi slowly stopped crying. She inhaled Wei Yan's soothing scent, feeling the strength beginning to flow back into her veins. The embrace gave her something more precious than life: a sense of absolute security.
"Thank you... Master," whispered Mengyi, she now rested her head calmly on Wei Yan's shoulder, looking at the fire that devoured her past with a new sense of peace.
"Just a moment," Wei Yan said, his voice calm and cool again. He reached into his uniform pocket and retrieved his vibrating phone. Mengyi didn't let go, shifting slightly to avoid disturbing him, but remained pressed against Wei Yan's side as if he were her oxygen source.
"How is it?" Wei Yan asked curtly when the call connected.
On the other end of the line, Li Yuantong's voice sounded efficient and enthusiastic. "Honey, my team has moved swiftly to take over all their physical assets—without a hitch. And Ruolin has just completed the digital balance transfer; all their money has been drained down to the last digit. The Luo family is truly nothing but ashes now."
"Okay, clean up quickly so you can join the others at home soon," Wei Yan said before hanging up with an elegant gesture.
Luo Mengyi looked up, her puffy eyes filled with curiosity. "Who is it, Master?"
Wei Yan put his phone away and looked at Mengyi with a gentle, proud smile. "Those are your sisters... they are the wonderful women who will welcome you into our new family."
He wiped away the remaining tears on Mengyi's cheeks. "You won't be alone anymore. There, you're a queen, not a disgrace."
Mengyi smiled a small smile, the first genuine smile she'd seen in years. She curled her body into a ball, ready to step into the future the Emperor had promised.