Qin Yun slowly went about his work, slowly closing every possible entrance to this room while carving runes mid-air using his intent, which inevitably gave him a headache. However, as he took necessary breaks between them, it was manageable.

Once done, he sat near the bed, observing the man lying on it. A slight smile crept on his lips as he saw the pitiful state the man was in. Usually, he would never have taken pleasure in a man's downfall, no matter his grievance against him, but Ma Yongzheng was special. He had dared to attack his wife. Qin Yun wouldn't feel right leaving like that without some sort of retribution.

“To not even wake up after all this, your lack of awareness disappoints me,” Qin Yun said, not bothering to muffle his sounds anymore.

Ma Yongzheng snapped awake. However, as he tried to rise from his bed, a massive amount of pain assaulted him, prompting him to fall back onto the soft cushioning. The white bandages wrapping his torso were now soaked red with blood.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Qin Yun added, showing a slight smile. “Wouldn’t want your wounds to open up again, although that may already be too late.”

Ma Yongzheng turned his head toward the sound of the voice, only for his pupils to dilate and his eyes to frown soon after. Qin Yun was nonchalantly sitting on a chair, looking back at him with naught but a care in the world.

"How are you here?" Ma Yongzheng asked, his voice low and feeble, barely able to articulate the words. Upon seeing this, Qin Yun's smile grew more prominent, bringing a shiver filled with cold sweat to Ma Yongzheng's back.

"I considered letting you go. After all, despite what she thinks, Ma Mingzhu can still be considered my mother. However, there are some things I just can't tolerate. I don't need you to understand; I just felt like letting you know," Qin Yun said, completely ignoring his counterpart's look of terror.

Mustering all his strength, Ma Yongzheng yelled for the guards posted near him to come and apprehend him, yet Qin Yun made no movement. After all, his preparations were already done, and no actions were needed.

“Don’t bother,” Qin Yun added. “I’ll be long gone before they even discover what happened to you.”

“How did you reach here? There should have been countless obstacles in your way,” Ma Yongzheng asked, fighting through the pain.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Qin Yun's expression was as frosty as a mountain in the dead of winter. "But, it also never goes away. Had you lived, you would have had to suffer this torture for the rest of your life, never feeling any relief. Thinking of it this way, I could be considered your saviour! Aren’t you going to thank me for this favour?”

"Answer me!" Ma Yongzheng barked, opening his wounds again. He clutched at his chest and couldn't help but grimace, all the while panting like a dog out of breath.

Qin Yun remained silent until the man finally regained his breath, only shaking his head in disappointment.

“Knowing your fate is already set in stone, I suppose I can humour you," Qin Yun replied as he showed the device embedded into his mechanical arm. It glowed slightly but slowly became dimmer. Upon seeing this, Qin Yun extracted another crystal from his storage and recharged it, only to tuck the now-blackened stone back in.

“I managed to infiltrate this place thanks to your junior," Qin Yun added to the consternation of the old man on his deathbed. "I hope you remember him, as he was the trigger for this whole affair. He possessed a most peculiar armour, enabling him to shift himself into an adjacent dimension where he could exist as a mere liquid thanks to his water spiritual roots. I simply used the same artifact after altering it to fit my needs, of course. Not even your Soul Formation Ancestor should be able to find my traces as long as this remains active."

“What do you hope to accomplish with this?” Ma Yongzheng asked, now struggling to speak. “Whatever happens to me, you won’t be able to escape.”

“Now you try to be rational?" Qin Yun scoffed then sighed. "It is much too late to try to reason with me. If you had been reasonable back then, we wouldn't be here right now, wouldn't we?"

Ma Yongzheng remained silent for a while, yet he couldn't keep the unwillingness in his heart from rising. He tried to lash out at Qin Yun, yet his body failed him, unable to obey his mind. His heart sank in his chest as he became powerless to resist whatever Qin Yun had in store.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Why don't you get it over with instead of prattling on and on. I won't suffer contempt from a child like you who has only been alive for a mere two decades!" Ma Yongzheng's voice grew hoarser as he spoke, cracking as if it was on the verge of breaking. Despite the strong exterior he tried to maintain, Qin Yun could see right through him.

“Ending it so soon after all the efforts I made to reach you?” Qin Yun said with a sneer. “I wouldn’t be here if you deserved that much consideration. No... I have something much more interesting in store for you. Call it... an experiment."

Qin Yun then rose and approached Ma Yongzheng's bedside, standing right over him. Ma Yongzheng's half-closed eyes widened as Qin Yun retrieved a small insect from his storage. It was long and narrow, fitting snugly into his hand, resembling a large caterpillar, yet it was a bright white—devoid of all other colours.

Ma Yongzheng opened his mouth, most likely to protest, yet Qin Yun didn't let him. He kept his jaw open with his mechanical arm, digging his fingers into the man's cheeks before plunging the insect into the opened gap, forcing it down his throat.

Ma Yongzheng choked as Qin Yun did so, even seeking to grapple with him despite his injuries. Yet, his large arms, full of bulging muscles forged through gruelling training and cultivation, were now so weak and devoid of strength that Qin Yun could easily brush them off as if they were twigs.

Qin Yun calmly looked into Ma Yongzheng's eyes, which were filled with terror as he awaited the change he knew was coming. He pressed his metallic palm over the old man's mouth, keeping it sealed shut. Ma Yongzheng's fingers clawed at his arm and hand, yet they did nothing more than emit some scratching sounds that barely registered over the noise of the old man's body thrashing around.

It only took a few seconds for it to take effect. Dark veins bulged upon the old man's skin, draining the colours from his flesh as if dark lines on a white canvas. Even his sparse grey hair became a blinding white, while his eyes became completely black, like two dark abysses.

“You know, this gift came from your junior, I hope for you to appreciate it to the fullest,” Qin Yun said, his tone as flat as his gaze was. There was no spark of life in them, only the eerie calmness of indifference as he watched the man struggle under his vice-like grip.

“While I’m sure nothing will come of it,” Qin Yun added. “I didn’t see a reason not to give your clan this parting gift. Call it a whim if you will, but I thought it fitting.”

The old man stared back at Qin Yun despite his vision becoming as black as night. Still, Qin Yun could clearly see the terror in the man's eyes, yet it offered him no comfort. In fact, he felt nothing, even as he toyed with a man's life or thought of his clan's inevitable retaliation. If anything, it all felt so trivial.

"You know, it's nothing personal... Actually, it is, but I needed someone to satiate my curiosity, and I thought, why not two birds with one stone. After all, in your current state, what else are you good for?"

If Ma Yongzheng had seen Qin Yun's expression at that moment, he might have simply died of fright. Yet, Qin Yun only thought himself lucky that wasn't the case as that would have skewed the result of this experiment.

A while later, after an intense struggle as the old man fought for his life, even ripping his wounds open multiple times, Ma Yongzheng's body convulsed violently. Qin Yun could feel the man's grip on his arm grow stronger, if only for a moment, before the old man's arms went limp and fell lifelessly on each side of his body.

Qin Yun remained silent and stationary for a while longer as he watched the last sliver of life depart the old man for the last time, a mix of satisfaction and disappointment in Qin Yun's eyes.

“Interesting," he said in a low voice as he finally released the dead man's mouth, only to see the same white insect emerge from it, only this time covered in a black liquid that seemed to be the old man's transformed blood.

Qin Yun’s eyebrow rose slightly as he picked up the insect with his mechanical arm. He pondered for a while, considering leaving the insect for the Ma clan to find, yet he felt it was a waste. There would be no certainty to find another one, and he doubted it would lead to anything—not as long as the city lord still reigned over this city.

Still, the result was satisfactory, at least. He had learned much from this experiment, and he had dealt with a loose end—something worth celebrating.

Now that this is over, it’s time to get out of here and proceed with the next part of the plan.

As he prepared to make his exit, an alarm rang in the room, yet Qin Yun had already predicted this. In fact, that function had already been blatantly present as he entered. He once considered tampering with it, yet that would only be proof of his trespassing. He much preferred to remain a ghost, a breeze in the night.

With a wave of his sleeve, the runes he had carved mid-air with his intent crumbled into the breeze as if they had never existed, leaving no signs of his presence. Only a few moments later, an old man in a luxurious gown barged straight into the residence, hastily making his way to the room, only to find it empty, except for the dead body on the bed and the black blood staining the sheets.

Qin Yun was not even that far away, yet the old man's divine sense as he scanned his surroundings never caught a glimpse of him. Still, he could feel the power reserves of the device embedded into his arm quickly lower each time it had to counter the other man's senses. Fortunately, Qin Yun had far too many crystals to replenish it, making it virtually impossible for him to be found out unless they saw him visually.

As countless others rushed into the residence following the first old man, Qin Yun stood on a nearby roof, observing the scene while well hidden within the darkness of night. Once satisfied, he simply left the same way he came in, shortly before another alarm rang, prompting the Ma clan into lockdown.

As he reached the exterior wall, Qin Yun could see it glowing with resplendent light, further strengthening its defensive property and even disallowing any entry or exit. Yet to Qin Yun, this might have seemed like nothing but a bump in the road. As he had already bypassed it once, he could do so again with little effort.

He pressed his palm against it, the device in his arm chewing through the power held within to keep him hidden. He frowned and replenished it once again. In fact, he had to do so two more times before he could bypass the barrier, yet he had ample time to do so as he had chosen this spot precisely for this reason.

Huiling's information proved accurate. Before I leave, I should find a way to thank her.

With a slightly satisfied smile, Qin Yun emerged from the other side as if nothing was wrong and simply blended into the night, disappearing from sight as a crowd of curious onlookers gathered near the Ma clan's compound.