Chapter 449: Crazy Demon

In the area where the residences of all the factions stood, a wave of energy triggered a violent commotion. The earth trembled across nearly the entire planet, and space itself became chaotic.

Thousands of disciples from the other factions jumped in alarm. Curiosity and bewilderment filled the air as everyone rushed toward the epicenter of the destruction.

Within seconds, the sky above the sector was literally eclipsed by a cloud of extremely powerful Sages. Hundreds of figures from the Aciestor Sacred Family had arrived.

"AAAAAAARRRRGH!"

A scream of pain tore through the curtain of dust and distorted space rising from the ground.

As soon as those figures arrived in the area, they immediately unleashed their energy like a wave, sweeping all the dust away and stabilizing the surroundings. Then... the scene that unfolded before them made their blood boil instantly.

The entire headquarters of the Favonian Alliance lay in ruins. Mountains and buildings had been reduced to rubble, ancestral pavilions had turned to dust, and hundreds of elite disciples lay scattered across the blood-soaked ground, groaning in pain and unable to get back up.

But... there was no aura of death. No one had actually been killed, and only a handful had suffered serious injuries.

At the epicenter of that chaotic scene stood a short, slender male figure. His long silver hair fluttered gently amid the suspended dust. Meanwhile, his purple and blue eyes gleamed with a bloodthirsty aura that caused the air to distort.

With his right arm casually outstretched, he was gripping Rhys—the proud, untouchable leader of the faction—by the neck, lifting him off the ground as if he were holding an animal about to be slaughtered.

Rhys struggled in vain, choking and howling in pain and humiliation as the meridians in his neck bulged.

Priam, meanwhile, simply gazed at him coldly.

At a safe distance, the twins and the troop of three thousand newcomers watched the scene with their knuckles white from gripping their weapons so tightly. For people who had only just joined the Inner Sect, witnessing Priam brutally subjugate the Sacred Family’s faction was utterly unreal.

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

A thunderous roar tore through the heavens as the newly arrived members of the Aciestor Sacred Family completely lost their composure.

"RELEASE HIM IMMEDIATELY!" The leader of the Sacred Family—a colossal old man with stone-like muscles and a terrifying aura—bellowed, causing the gravitational pressure throughout the area to plummet.

Faced with the uproar, Priam merely turned his head slowly and raised his eyes toward the sky.

He looked at the hundreds of Exalted Sages surrounding him and let a malicious smirk spread across his face. His pupils swept across their ranks until they settled on several dozen figures wearing robes bearing the sect’s official insignia.

"This is a direct order: Inner Elders, keep these people where they are."

At the sound of that unhurried voice, nearly a hundred Elders among those present swallowed nervously, cold sweat trickling down the backs of their necks.

They were members of the Aciestor Sacred Family who had also become Inner Elders, an honor that few members of their bloodline had ever attained. Even so, they ranked one level below this young man in terms of status. No one there would dare disobey a direct order issued by the Chief Disciple.

The Sect Leader had kept Priam’s status under absolute secrecy, even using the sect’s Central Inscription to prevent the information from leaking. As a result, the Elders had never dared discuss it with anyone else. However, there were many indirect ways for the Sacred Families to discover such information. Therefore, even the Sect Leader didn’t believe it would remain hidden for long.

"I’M INNOCENT! LET ME GO!!" Rhys screamed between gasps, kicking his legs in the air as he tried to gather his energy.

Priam looked at the young man in his hand and let out a low laugh dripping with mockery.

"Innocent? Do you really believe that just because you managed to circumvent the Inner Sect’s Central Inscription, that makes you innocent? Do you honestly think your family name is some divine shield that lets you arrange ambushes from the shadows and walk away unscathed? Haha... How naive."

"RELEASE OUR HEIR!" The Aciestor Family members tried to charge forward like meteors.

However, before they could descend even ten meters, the Inner Elders of their own family shot through the air and positioned themselves in front of them, activating protective barriers.

The Patriarch of the Aciestor Sacred Family roared furiously. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!"

"Forgive us, Patriarch... but you must remain exactly where you are," the Elder whispered, his voice trembling with tension. "If Priam were violating the sect’s code of conduct, the Central Inscription would have already marked him with the stigma of a traitor. Therefore, we cannot act recklessly."

"DON’T BE RIDICULOUS! HE’S TORTURING OUR HEIR IN PUBLIC! AND RHYS DOESN’T HAVE ANY MARK EITHER, WHICH MEANS HE’S LEGALLY INNOCENT!" The old man roared before turning toward Priam.

"BRAT, IF YOU DON’T RELEASE HIM IMMEDIATELY...!"

Priam didn’t even bother listening to the rest of the threat. He snorted in utter contempt and tightened his fingers around Rhys’s throat.

"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Rhys writhed as a fraction of Ether was injected directly into his primary meridians, inflicting agony equivalent to having his flesh torn off piece by piece.

"YOU BASTARD! EVERYONE, ATTACK TOGETHER AND KILL HIM!"

The old Patriarch lost his mind and issued the order. Hundreds of family members charged forward all at once. A mere hundred Inner Elders would never be able to stop that tide.

However...

"Pathetic."

*CRACK!*

Without changing his expression, Priam simply clenched his fist violently.

Rhys’s body exploded into a thick mist of blood, shattered bones, and pulverized flesh, scattering through the air like a grotesque rain.

The entire area froze. The silence that followed was deathly.

He... had actually executed the heir of a Sacred Family right in the middle of the residential sector? Was he some kind of mad demon?!

In the very next millisecond, the space where Priam stood simply rippled, and he vanished from everyone’s sight.

"!"

A roar of sheer terror echoed through the air.

Before the crowd could even process the shock of Rhys’s bloody execution, Priam had already reappeared dozens of meters above them, his left hand clamped around another victim’s throat.

"LET ME GO! YOU MONSTER, LET ME GO!" the figure roared, struggling and desperately trying to summon his power in vain.

It was Neel, the influential and proud leader of the Seiche Alliance, the direct heir to the prestigious Ceruleren Sacred Family.

"How convenient that you came straight to me yourself. Saves me quite a bit of walking," Priam smiled, his icy grin making the hairs on Neel’s body stand on end.

Everything happened incredibly fast, and at that very moment, the sky above the faction sector was practically flooded with figures.

Thousands of members of the Inner Sect burst in from every direction. Among them were thousands of Inner Elders, patriarchs, and representatives of the other Sacred Families—even the Grand Elder herself.

Upon arriving, the Grand Elder’s eyes widened. The metallic stench of freshly spilled blood permeated the air, and fragments of her own race’s bloodline littered the ground. It was obvious what had just happened.

The wounded, bloodied disciples from the destroyed factions were crawling across the ground, desperately trying to get away in utter terror.

"Grand Elder! He murdered our heir!" Roars echoed through the area, causing the Grand Elder’s expression to darken.

"RELEASE YOUNG MASTER NEEL!" The members of the Ceruleren Sacred Family roared in genuine alarm. They were several hundred ancient, highly respected figures within the sect, and never in their lives had they imagined they would find themselves in a situation like this.

Just like Rhys, Neel was the most talented young man of his generation, and a fortune in resources had been poured into him over thousands of years. They couldn’t afford to lose such an enormous investment like this; the loss would be incalculable. But the worst part was that the other Sacred Families would now gain an overwhelming advantage over them in this generation, one they might never be able to recover from.

Nevertheless, no one dared take even a single step forward.

They knew that any wrong move would trigger an immediate reaction from that silver-haired demon, who had already proven that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill.

"PRIAM! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" the Grand Elder bellowed, her thunderous voice causing the space-time continuum to waver.

Priam calmly turned his face after sealing and destroying Neel’s meridians, leaving the young man completely defenseless.

"You’re still asking? You hold such a revered position within both your Sacred Family and the sect, yet you’re seriously claiming you don’t know what’s happening here?" As Priam locked eyes with the Grand Elder, his expression grew even colder.

"If there’s one lesson I’ve learned throughout my life, it’s to never go easy on anyone who tries to fuck with me. Anyway, I’m not going to waste my time on pointless words."

As soon as the final word left his lips...

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Neel screamed in utter despair, feeling the pressure of Priam’s grip intensify.

*CRACK!*

Without giving anyone the slightest chance to intervene or beg for mercy, Priam’s hand closed with brutal force. With a sharp snap, the heir of the Ceruleren Family was pulverized, turning into a bloody mist.

Another peak genius from one of the Sacred Families had been publicly executed like a slaughtered animal.

"TAKE THAT MURDERER DOWN! KILL HIM!" The experts from both families roared uncontrollably, completely losing their minds.

However, before they could launch a joint attack, the Grand Elder made a sharp gesture with her arm. A devastating wave of wind burst from her palm, hurling the enraged crowd dozens of meters backward through the air.

She fixed her gaze on the silver-haired young man below, her expression terribly serious.

"Do you even understand the magnitude of what you’ve just done?"

Priam raised his chin, staring at the second-highest authority in the Inner Sect without the slightest trace of fear or submission.

"Oh? Are you really going to stoop to acting like a lying, arrogant bitch at this point? I won’t repeat myself. You know exactly why all of this is happening. I’ll give you one chance to confess everything here, in front of everyone."

He pronounced every syllable slowly and deliberately. At that moment, an oppressive sensation descended upon everyone.

The atmosphere became suffocating. Everyone present felt their chests tighten as the situation escalated in an entirely unexpected direction.

The Grand Elder narrowed her eyes in barely restrained fury, and an aura of raging, devastating winds emerged around her, distorting physical space.

Priam let out a low, icy laugh dripping with mockery.

"Good. If you really believe I’m afraid of you... or of any living being crawling around in this sect... then I’ll do you the favor of opening your eyes."

He spat out the words with utter contempt, and the next second, his pupils burst into a golden glow. At that moment, the entire planet seemed to stop in anticipation.