Chapter 7: Vengeance Served Cold, With a Side of Cosmic Dragon

The oppressive aura of the Celestial Empyrean Dragon hung over Stonewind City like a physical shroud. Silence, thick and terrified, had replaced the usual bustle. Mortals cowered in their homes, cultivators trembled in their courtyards, and even the ambient Qi seemed frozen under the weight of Void Tribulation presence. In the grimy alley, Zhao Tian's laughter, a sound of pure, unhinged amusement at the cosmic absurdity of his situation, cut through the dread like a shard of ice.

Bai Xue, her small hand still clutched in his, stared up at the impossible leviathan, then at her laughing Master, her wide glacial-blue eyes reflecting a maelstrom of terror, awe, and profound confusion. The world had ended, then been remade, all within moments. Her parents were gone, a monster was dead, and now… a god-beast blotted out the sky, and her savior chuckled like a madman finding gold in a dung heap.

Suddenly, a new pressure slammed down, localized but intense, shredding the heavy silence near the alley mouth. Stone cracked, and the air shimmered with displaced energy. City Lord Shi, Nascent Soul cultivator, erupted onto the scene. His ornate robes were disheveled, his face pale as bleached bone, blood still smeared beneath his nose from the psychic shock of the dragon's manifestation. His eyes, wide with primal fear, darted first to the impossible creature dominating the heavens, then swept the alley.

They landed on the headless corpse in fine silks. Recognition, slow and horrific, dawned. The crest. The build. The silk. His breath hitched, a strangled sound escaping his throat. His gaze snapped to Zhao Tian, standing tall amidst the carnage – three incapacitated guards, a headless young master, and a terrified white-haired girl clinging to him. In the shadow of the cosmic dragon, Zhao Tian, radiating Mid Core Formation power, looked insignificant. To Shi's fear-fogged mind, warped by centuries of power and paranoia, the conclusion was instantaneous and catastrophic.

*This… this inconceivable senior… manifesting a beast of legends… My fool son… he must have offended him! Touched the girl? Killed the peasants in his presence? Insulted him?!*

Shi didn't see justice. He saw calamity. He saw the utter annihilation of his city, his lineage, everything he'd built, because his spoiled, arrogant whelp had kicked a sleeping primordial god. Survival instinct, honed over centuries, overrode grief and fury. He dropped to his knees on the blood-slicked cobbles, not caring for the gore staining his robes. He kowtowed, pressing his forehead to the cold stone with desperate force.

"GREAT SENIOR!" His voice, amplified by Nascent Soul power, boomed through the alley, trembling with abject terror. "THIS LOWLY ONE BEGS FORGIVENESS! THIS UNWORTHY SON OF MINE WAS A BLIGHT, A FOOLISH, ARROGANT WRETCH! HIS ACTIONS ARE HIS OWN! HE DESERVED WHATEVER PUNISHMENT YOUR DIVINE WILL SAW FIT TO VISIT UPON HIM!"

He didn't dare look up, his body shaking. "SPARE STONEWIND CITY, I IMPLORE YOU! SPARE ITS INNOCENT PEOPLE! THEY ARE NOT TO BLAME FOR MY SPAWN'S UNSPEAKABLE TRANSGRESSIONS! I OFFER MY LIFE, MY SOUL, MY EVERYTHING IN ATONEMENT! PLEASE, SENIOR, HAVE MERCY!"

His words echoed in the silence, met only by the low, subsonic thrum of the dragon above and Zhao Tian's faint, incredulous snort. Bai Xue flinched at Shi's booming voice, pressing closer to Zhao Tian's leg, her small fingers digging into his robes. She looked at the kneeling City Lord, the man whose son had ordered her parents killed, who ruled the city that allowed such monsters to exist, now groveling in the dirt. A spark, cold and hard, ignited in her tear-filled eyes.

Zhao Tian looked down at the prostrate Nascent Soul expert, then at Bai Xue, seeing the flicker of vengeful understanding in her gaze. He saw the broken bodies of her parents. The fury he'd felt earlier, momentarily buried under cosmic absurdity, roared back, colder and sharper than any glacier. This man wasn't begging for forgiveness for his son's *sins*; he was begging to save his own skin and his city, throwing his son's corpse under the proverbial cosmic dragon. He hadn't condemned the act; he condemned the *offense* to perceived power.

"Mercy?" Zhao Tian's voice cut through Shi's pleas, quiet but carrying the weight of glacial ice. It wasn't amplified, yet it silenced the Nascent Soul lord more effectively than a shout. Shi froze, forehead still pressed to stone, daring to lift his eyes a fraction.

Zhao Tian gently extracted his hand from Bai Xue's grip, placing it protectively on her shoulder. He took a deliberate step forward, his gaze boring into the kneeling City Lord. "You beg for your city? For yourself? You speak of *your* son's transgressions?" He gestured towards Bai Xue. "Look at her. *Really* look. Her name is Bai Xue. White Snow. Her parents," he pointed to the still forms, "lay there, murdered by your guards on *your* son's orders because they couldn't pay *your* taxes. Then, your son tried to defile *this child* in a filthy alley. Right here. While her parents' bodies were still warm."

Each word was a hammer blow, stripping away Shi's desperate narrative. The City Lord's eyes flickered to Bai Xue, to the bodies, a flicker of something – not remorse, but dawning horror at the *context* of his son's demise – crossing his face. He hadn't known the specifics, only the result: his heir dead, and a cosmic entity displeased.

"Your son," Zhao Tian continued, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper that seemed to freeze the very air, "wasn't just a 'blight' or a 'fool.' He was a rabid beast you nurtured. His actions are *your* legacy. The rot in this city starts at *your* throne. You allowed this. You *bred* this."

Shi's trembling intensified. "I… I didn't know… Senior, please…"

"You didn't *want* to know," Zhao Tian corrected, his tone glacial. "Ignorance is no shield for a ruler. Only cowardice." He straightened, looking past Shi towards the terrified city beyond the alley. "Spare the city? Perhaps. Its citizens didn't wield the blade, though their silence enabled it." He glanced upwards, where the Celestial Empyrean Dragon's massive head turned slightly, one quasar-bright eye seeming to focus intently on the tiny scene below. "My… associate…" Zhao Tian gestured vaguely upwards, "...could flatten this place in a blink. Reduce it to molten slag and cosmic dust. He finds mortal squabbles… mildly diverting, like watching ants fight over a crumb. But he won't."

A collective, unconscious sigh seemed to ripple through the unseen watchers in the city. Shi sagged slightly, a spark of desperate hope flaring.

Zhao Tian crushed it instantly. His gaze snapped back to Shi, colder than the void between stars. "*I* have no such restraint where *you* are concerned. And *I* don't need a dragon to deal with trash like you." He took another step, now looming over the kneeling Nascent Soul expert. "You see, City Lord Shi, I'm just a Core Formation cultivator." He let his Mid Core Formation aura flare, potent but undeniably *lesser* than the Nascent Soul pressure Shi emitted even in his terror. "Peak Core Formation, perhaps. But Core Formation nonetheless. And you?" He tilted his head, a predator assessing prey. "You're Nascent Soul. Early stage, maybe Mid? You have the advantage. Considerable advantage."

Confusion warred with terror on Shi's face. *What game is this senior playing?* The dragon… the power… it had to be a test! A cruel joke!

"Stand up, Shi," Zhao Tian commanded, his voice losing its icy edge, replaced by a chillingly casual tone. "Stop groveling. It's pathetic. You want to save your city? Save your own miserable hide? Fight for it. Defend yourself. Against *me*. A mere Core Formation ant." He spread his arms slightly, a mocking invitation. "Come on. Show me the might of a Nascent Soul City Lord. Avenge your worthless son."

The words were insane. They were a taunt wrapped in suicide. Yet, delivered under the gaze of a Void Tribulation beast, with the cold certainty Zhao Tian projected, they wormed their way into Shi's fear-addled mind. Was it a trick? A final humiliation? Or… was it possible? Could this terrifying presence *truly* be masking only Core Formation power? Had the dragon come for some other reason? Hope, desperate and treacherous, flickered. If he could subdue this arrogant fool quickly, perhaps… perhaps the dragon would lose interest? Perhaps he could still salvage something!

Rage, fueled by grief for his lineage and terror, surged through Shi. The groveling posture vanished. He surged to his feet in a blast of Nascent Soul energy that cracked the cobblestones around him. His eyes, bloodshot and furious, locked onto Zhao Tian. "YOU ARROGANT WHELP! YOU DARE?! YOU KILL MY HEIR AND MOCK ME?!" His aura exploded outwards, a visible wave of crushing spiritual pressure meant to instantly cripple any Core Formation cultivator. The air screamed. The remaining crates in the alley disintegrated into sawdust. The unconscious guards were flung against the walls like ragdolls. Bai Xue cried out, the pressure threatening to crush her, but Zhao Tian's hand on her shoulder pulsed with a fraction of the Heavenly Emperor Transformation Art's power, forming an invisible barrier that shielded her completely. She gasped, safe within the eye of the storm, watching wide-eyed.

Shi didn't stop. Grief, fury, and a demented hope coalesced into a single, devastating attack. He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't need to. His hand shot forward, fingers clawed, wreathed in searing, soul-rending Nascent Soul Qi – the **Soul Shatter Claw**. It was a technique designed not just to destroy the body, but to tear apart the very foundation of a cultivator's spirit, leaving them a broken husk. He aimed straight for Zhao Tian's core, intending to end this farce instantly and *maybe*, just *maybe*, appease whatever watched from above by removing the irritant.

**[DING!]**

The sound was a clarion call in Zhao Tian's mind, cutting through the roar of Shi's power.

**[Host under deliberate attack by hostile entity: City Lord Shi (Mid Nascent Soul Realm)]**

**[Boundless Ascension System: Primary Function Engaged.]**

**[Calculating Realm Disparity…]**

**[Adjusting Host Cultivation Level…]**

**[Upgrade Complete: Host Cultivation Elevated to: Peak Nascent Soul Realm]**

Time didn't slow. It *snapped*.

For Zhao Tian, it was like stepping from a dim room into blinding sunlight. The world didn't just become clearer; it became *more*. He felt the fabric of space around him, the flow of Qi like rivers of light, the terrified heartbeat of every living thing for blocks. The crushing pressure Shi exerted vanished, becoming insignificant as a gnat's buzz. Power, raw and immense, flooded every cell, amplified exponentially by the newly integrated Heavenly Emperor Transformation Art. His bones hummed with the density of neutron stars, his blood sang with liquid starlight. He felt invincible.

Shi's Soul Shatter Claw, a technique that could atomize mountains, reached the point where Zhao Tian's chest had been a microsecond before. But Zhao Tian wasn't there. He hadn't moved with speed; he had simply ceased occupying that point in space and occupied another, a fraction to the left. It was less a dodge, more a spatial hiccup, courtesy of his sudden, profound understanding of the Art of Eternal Void thrumming within his Peak Nascent Soul awareness.

Shi's eyes widened in pure, unadulterated horror. His claw passed through empty air. The sheer force of his missed strike ripped a canyon-like trench down the alley, pulverizing stone and earth for hundreds of yards, shaking the foundations of nearby buildings. But his focus wasn't on the destruction. It was on the man now standing beside him, radiating an aura that dwarfed his own Mid Nascent Soul power like a supernova dwarfed a candle. It was an aura of absolute dominion, tinged with the ancient, imperious weight of the Heavenly Emperor.

"Mid Nascent Soul?" Zhao Tian murmured, his voice now resonating with the power thrumming within him. He sounded… disappointed. "And you call that an advantage?" He looked at his own hand, flexing it. "Peak is… considerably better."

Shi's mind shattered. The fear of the dragon was eclipsed by the immediate, personal terror of the impossible entity before him. *Core Formation to Peak Nascent Soul in an instant?!* It defied every law of cultivation! It was impossible! He tried to speak, to beg, to flee, but his body was locked in the grip of Zhao Tian's overwhelming spiritual pressure.

Zhao Tian turned his head slightly, meeting Bai Xue's gaze. The cold fury was back in his eyes, but now it was focused, honed by god-like power. "Watch closely, Xue," he said, his voice gentle for her, yet carrying the weight of judgement. "This is for your parents. Justice isn't begged for. It's *taken*."

He didn't use the Void Sword. He didn't summon the Heavenly Emperor Manifestation. He didn't need theatrics. For the crime against Bai Xue, against the innocents in the alley, Zhao Tian desired something personal, visceral.

He moved.

To Shi, it was like being hit by a continent. Zhao Tian's fist, infused with the nascent, universe-forging power of the Heavenly Emperor Transformation Art and amplified by Peak Nascent Soul Qi, slammed into Shi's chest. There was no technique name, just pure, brutal force channeled by supreme will.

***CRUNCH-SPLINTER-TEAR!***

The sound was obscene. Shi's ornate robes, woven with defensive enchantments, vaporized. His reinforced Nascent Soul bones, capable of withstanding spirit cannon blasts, shattered like glass. His organs liquefied. The force didn't stop; it exploded *outwards* from Shi's back in a conical blast of pure kinetic energy, vaporizing the alley wall and several buildings beyond in a plume of dust and debris. The shockwave rolled outwards, rattling the entire city, shattering windows miles away.

City Lord Shi didn't scream. There was no time. One moment he was a Mid Nascent Soul overlord, the next he was a pulverized ruin held together only by Zhao Tian's fist buried in his chest cavity. His eyes, wide with absolute, incomprehensible terror and agony, met Zhao Tian's icy gaze for a split second.

Zhao Tian leaned in close, his voice a whisper that carried only to the dying man. "Rot in oblivion. Tell your son… his debt is paid."

He ripped his fist free. What remained of Shi's body collapsed onto the gore-slicked stones like a sack of wet meat and shattered bone, utterly unrecognizable. The oppressive Nascent Soul aura vanished, snuffed out like a candle.

Silence returned, deeper and more profound than before, broken only by the settling dust and the low, indifferent hum of the Celestial Empyrean Dragon high above. The Void Tribulation beast shifted slightly, its colossal head tilting, one massive eye observing the tiny explosion of violence with what might have been mild curiosity, or perhaps just boredom.

Zhao Tian stood amidst the devastation he'd wrought, Peak Nascent Soul power thrumming through him like a captured star. He looked down at his fist, clean despite the carnage, the Heavenly Emperor Transformation Art rejecting the stain. He felt… nothing. No exhilaration, no remorse. Just cold finality. Justice served. A debt collected.

He turned back to Bai Xue. She stood exactly where he'd left her, shielded and unharmed, her small face pale but composed. The spark of vengeful understanding he'd seen earlier was still there, hardened now by witnessing the absolute end of her parents' murderer and the monster who enabled him. There were no tears left. Just a chilling stillness.

Zhao Tian walked back to her, the terrifying aura of Peak Nascent Soul receding, tucked away with conscious effort, though the sheer *presence* of his power was undeniable. He knelt before her again, his immense power making the gesture seem incongruous, yet sincere.

"It's done, Xue," he said quietly. "They won't hurt anyone ever again."

Bai Xue looked from the pulped remains of Shi to the headless corpse of his son, then finally up at Zhao Tian. Her voice, when it came, was small but clear, colder than the Glacier Heart Scripture now flowing in her veins. "Good."

Zhao Tian nodded. He placed a hand on her head, a gesture of possession and protection. "Come on. This city stinks of blood and cowardice." He looked up at the Celestial Empyrean Dragon. "Time to find somewhere quieter. Maybe with better dumplings." He paused, a thought occurring. "And significantly wider streets."

As Zhao Tian stood, preparing to figure out how one *summoned* a universe-dragon for transport (Did you whistle? Shout? Offer a moon?), the Book of Sage Wisdom pulsed gently against his hip. A notification scrolled through his mind:

**[System Notice: Host has eliminated a significant source of local corruption and avenged Disciple's grievance. Minor Karmic Alignment improved. Host's reputation in Stonewind Region: "Unfathomable Tyrant" solidified. Estimated response time for Scarlet Lotus Sect retaliation: Accelerated. Estimated interest level from Heavenly Sects: Increased. Proceed with caution (or overwhelming firepower).]**

Zhao Tian glanced at the sky, then down at the tiny, ice-cold girl beside him, then at the dragon that could eat planets. He smirked, a flicker of his chaotic amusement returning. "Caution? Where's the fun in that?" He squeezed Bai Xue's shoulder. "Hold on tight, Disciple. Class is in session. Next lesson: Strategic Relocation via Cosmic Horror."