"Immortal Lady, everything has been cleaned up." The sinister man, covered in blood, reported.
Immortal Lady Yuxia nodded, her gaze sweeping over the blood-soaked residence. There was not a trace of pity in her eyes, only disgust: "Burn it all down, burn it completely clean! I want nothing left standing!"
The guards acknowledged the order and quickly splashed lamp oil throughout the residence—they had come prepared.
As the torches were thrown, roaring flames instantly leapt up, greedily devouring the wooden structures, furniture, and the corpses of the innocent.
Fire blazed toward the sky as thick smoke billowed. The once respectable Wang family residence groaned and crackled in the inferno, gradually transforming into a sea of fire.
"We're leaving!" Immortal Lady Yuxia cast one final glance at the blaze before departing swiftly with her guards, disappearing at the end of the street.
Shortly after they left, a beam of blue-green light descended from the sky, landing before the Wang residence, now engulfed in flames. Daoist Master Qingsong looked at the horrific scene before him, sensing the lingering aura of Immortal Lady Yuxia and her people in the air, along with the overwhelming stench of blood and resentment. His expression turned extremely grim.
"Wicked creature! Such wickedness!" Daoist Master Qingsong's hair and beard bristled with shock and fury.
He hadn't expected Immortal Lady Yuxia to dare act this way, completely disregarding his warning, committing such an atrocity of clan extermination.
Daoist Master Qingsong stood outside the fire, watching the towering flames, and let out a long sigh. His expression was complicated—there was anger, helplessness, and a barely perceptible trace of regret.
He had underestimated Immortal Lady Yuxia's cruelty. Merely to vent her anger, she had annihilated an entire mortal family.
He suddenly realized he had inadvertently aided evil, adding to the karmic consequences.
"Alas..."
Daoist Master Qingsong sighed and could only leave with a wave of his sleeve.
The next day, early morning.
After a night of meditation, Bai Qingxue's injuries had stabilized somewhat.
She left the temporary cave with Little Snow, planning to gather information in Stonia and perhaps find some medicinal herbs to aid her recovery.
As she approached the outskirts of Stonia, she vaguely sensed something was wrong.
The air seemed to carry a burnt smell, along with an unsettling aura.
Following her senses, she arrived at the street where the Wang residence had stood the day before. The sight before her struck her like lightning, her blood seeming to freeze in an instant.
Where the Wang residence had once stood, only a charred, smoke-wisping ruin remained.
Broken walls, rubble everywhere, scorched beams twisted toward the sky. Some objects not completely burned could barely be recognized in outline, but all had been carbonized.
The entire area was cordoned off by official barriers. Several constable-like figures patrolled nearby, speaking in low voices, their faces bearing expressions of fear and gravity.
In the distance, some commoners pointed and whispered among themselves, their voices faintly audible.
"How terrible! I heard the entire family—dozens of people—not one escaped!"
"What evil! Who did they offend to deserve this?"
"They say it was a fire, but what fire burns this fiercely? Not a single survivor."
Bai Qingxue stood rooted to the spot, motionless.
Little Snow seemed to sense something too, rubbing anxiously against her feet and letting out a soft whimper.
She slowly approached the ruins, ignoring the barriers.
A constable tried to stop her, but was so intimidated by the bone-chilling aura naturally emanating from her that he dared not approach.
Stepping into the ruins, her feet trod on hot ashes and rubble.
Though her spiritual sense couldn't extend far due to her unhealed injuries, her close-range perception was clear enough. She saw the shattered bones embedded in the scorched earth, smelled the scent of blood and death that even the fierce fire couldn't fully conceal.
Countless remnant impressions of terror, agony, and despair pierced her spiritual awareness like icy needles.
This was no accidental fire—this was slaughter! Extermination!
Murder followed by incineration, intended to destroy the evidence!
Who? The answer came almost instantly—Immortal Lady Yuxia!
Yesterday, she had wounded Yuxia here and saved the Wang family.
Daoist Master Qingsong had vouched for them, forcing Yuxia to retreat.
Yet in just one day, the entire Wang family had been massacred, their residence reduced to nothing.
Who else but that vindictive, vicious woman would do such a thing?
This was revenge, a demonstration aimed at her, the cruelest possible way to vent her hatred!
"Because of me..." Bai Qingxue murmured, her voice carrying an almost imperceptible tremor.
In her cold, clear eyes, flames of rage ignited for the first time—flames so icy yet so fierce, as if they could freeze souls and burn all things to ash.
She could almost see those innocent mortals crying out in despair, fleeing, then being mercilessly slaughtered.
Yesterday, she had acted to stop evil and save lives.
But what was the result? Her intervention had brought swifter, more complete destruction upon the Wang family!
Yuxia didn't dare seek revenge directly against her, so she poured all her venom onto these defenseless mortals!
It wasn't her fault, but this karmic connection, this heavy burden of guilt, weighed truly upon her heart.
Little Snow nudged her hand with its head, trying to comfort her.
Bai Qingxue lowered her head and gently stroked Little Snow's fur, the cold gleam in her eyes sharp as ice blades.
"Yuxia... the Purple Sky Jade Family..."
Bai Qingxue spoke word by word, her voice cold as ancient ice: "You treat mortals like grass to be trampled, slaughtering innocents to vent your spite. Heaven will not tolerate this! If I do not avenge this wrong, I, Bai Qingxue, am not fit to live!"
– Marinien
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