Chapter 78: The Broken Engagement That Shook Blackstone City (Part 2)
The Broken Engagement That Shook Blackstone City (Part 2)
The elder’s contemptuous words echoed throughout the ancestral hall like heavy iron hammers striking everyone’s hearts.
No one dared answer.
It wasn’t because the Salvatore Family lacked courage.
It was because they lacked the strength.
Within Blackstone City, Patriarch Magnus Salvatore was acknowledged as the family’s strongest expert. Even then, he had only recently stepped into the Half-Step Celestial Gate Realm.
Meanwhile, the man standing before them...
Was a Great Perfection Celestial Gate Realm expert.
The difference between them was as vast as heaven and earth.
If he wished it...
He could wipe out the entire Blackstone City Salvatore Family without much effort.
At that moment, dignity seemed worthless.
Honor seemed laughable.
Before absolute power...
Everything appeared fragile.
Yet...
One person refused to lower his head.
Austin Salvatore.
Blood continued to trickle from the corners of his mouth as the crushing pressure bore down upon him. His arms trembled violently, and every muscle in his body screamed in agony.
Even so...
His back remained perfectly straight.
Like an unyielding spear that refused to bend.
The veins around his neck bulged as he struggled against the terrifying pressure.
His vision gradually blurred.
His breathing became ragged.
Still...
He would not kneel.
Not before this man.
Not before Nellie Whitecliff.
Not before anyone.
Inside his mind, he spoke silently.
"Master..."
"...can you kill him?"
There was a brief silence.
Then a gentle, weary woman’s voice echoed from within the ancient ring resting upon his finger.
It was mature.
Elegant.
Yet filled with helplessness.
"No..."
Akeno sighed softly.
"My soul is still too weak."
"The True Spiritual Power I absorbed over the past year was only enough to preserve my existence."
"I cannot manifest outside the ring yet."
Her beautiful purple eyes slowly opened within the ring’s hidden spiritual space.
Long black hair streaked with violet cascaded gracefully over her shoulders.
Despite her translucent soul body, her peerless beauty remained breathtaking.
She was once known throughout the world as...
The Purple Flame Empress.
A legendary Grand Saint Realm powerhouse whose name had shaken countless lands.
Now...
She could only watch from within the ring.
"I’m sorry, Austin."
"For now..."
"You’ll have to endure."
Austin slowly closed his eyes.
Bitterness welled up inside him.
A year ago...
His cultivation had begun mysteriously declining.
Day after day...
Night after night...
His True Spiritual Power vanished without explanation.
Every breakthrough became impossible.
His once dazzling talent slowly disappeared.
People laughed.
Friends distanced themselves.
Even those who once admired him began whispering behind his back.
Only one person had never stopped believing in him.
His father.
Magnus Salvatore.
No matter how many people mocked Austin...
His father had always stood beside him.
That unwavering trust had become Austin’s final support.
Eventually...
He discovered the truth.
The mysterious black ring he had worn since childhood housed the remnant soul of an ancient expert.
An incomparably beautiful woman.
Akeno.
The legendary Purple Flame Empress.
She had once stood near the pinnacle of the cultivation world before her physical body was destroyed in an ancient catastrophe.
To preserve her soul...
She had instinctively absorbed Austin’s True Spiritual Power.
She had never intended to harm him.
She simply had no other way to survive.
When she finally awakened and learned everything...
She had felt deeply guilty.
To make amends...
She accepted Austin as her disciple.
She taught him ancient cultivation knowledge that no ordinary sect could ever hope to obtain.
She promised him...
"Give me time."
"And I’ll help you reclaim everything you’ve lost."
Austin had believed her.
For the first time in over a year...
Hope had returned.
He thought fate had finally begun smiling upon him again.
Then...
The Whitecliff Family arrived.
Bringing with them the overwhelming shadow of the Crimson Abyss Sect.
They had not come to discuss.
Nor negotiate.
They had come...
To humiliate.
Austin had never truly loved Nellie Whitecliff.
The engagement had been arranged by their elders long ago.
If she wished to cancel it...
So be it.
He would not force anyone to remain.
But...
Their actions today had crossed every limit.
They had entered the Salvatore Family’s ancestral hall.
Thrown the marriage contract onto the floor.
Used overwhelming force to suppress the entire family.
Every word...
Every action...
Was meant to disgrace the Salvatore Family before everyone present.
This was no longer about a broken engagement.
It was an assault upon the family’s honor.
A declaration that the Whitecliff Family—and the Crimson Abyss Sect behind them—could crush the Salvatore Family whenever they pleased.
Austin’s fists slowly tightened again.
His heart burned with humiliation.
Across the hall, Nellie merely glanced at him before looking away.
There wasn’t even satisfaction on her face.
Only boredom.
In her eyes...
Austin no longer deserved her attention.
"Elder Warren."
She spoke calmly without even looking at him.
"Why waste so much time talking to a useless family?"
Her indifferent words pierced deeper than any blade.
"The entire Salvatore Family will soon become another possession of the Crimson Abyss Sect."
"Their resistance means nothing."
Her voice remained completely emotionless.
She had already begun imagining the future.
With the Crimson Abyss Sect supporting the Whitecliff Family...
Blackstone City would belong entirely to them.
The Salvatore Family would become history.
She had long forgotten the days when she eagerly visited the Salvatore Family estate.
The days when she smiled brightly while trying to gain Austin’s attention.
To her...
Those memories had become stains she wished to erase forever.
The surrounding Salvatore clansmen could endure no longer.
Several elders’ eyes turned blood-red.
Young disciples clenched their weapons so tightly that blood dripped from their palms.
Their hatred toward Nellie Whitecliff had reached its peak.
Yet...
None of them could move.
The terrifying pressure from the Great Perfection Celestial Gate Realm expert continued crushing every person inside the hall.
One elderly Salvatore elder, already advanced in age, finally reached his limit.
His body swayed violently.
Then—
He collapsed unconscious onto the cold stone floor.
"Aunt!"
"Elder!"
Several family members cried out in alarm.
Austin witnessed the scene.
His pupils contracted sharply.
His heart felt as though someone had twisted a knife deep inside it.
His breathing became heavier.
The fury within him reached its breaking point.
The hall...
Had never felt colder.
(To be continued in Part 3.)