Chapter 645 - 138: Saving This Red Dust

However, because they were watched over by Immortals whose great power resided within themselves, many cities had known peace for untold years.

And Jing City was just such a city. Its social hierarchy was rigid. The rise and fall of smaller Noble Families was a slow evolution that took centuries to complete. As for the major Noble Families...

They either had to latch onto a powerful backer or send out a "Stallion"; otherwise, it was impossible to quickly evolve into a major Noble Family in such an environment.

Even class oppression was exceptionally stable. Any position or professional Skill requiring the slightest bit of technical knowledge was often hereditary!

Although the system was distorted, this oppression didn’t continue to build, thanks to deliberate oversight that kept it in check. It was frozen in this era. As a result, Jing City had been stable for who knows how many years.

It was like in a previous world, where the Warring States period saw the transition from tribal societies to an imperial age in just a few centuries.

But after evolving into an empire, the feudal dynasties were artificially held in place for over two thousand years. Only an irresistible external force could break that stagnation and usher in the next phase: a democratic republic.

And that was in a world of pure Mortals. This world had the influence of Immortals, making it even more stable.

In a society where even bandits were a fixed demographic, Jing City’s common folk and ruling elite alike were thrown into a panic by the sudden rebellion of Martial Artists, who sought only to enter the city to burn, Kill, and plunder.

For a time, no one knew how to react. It seemed the Martial Artists had identified and slaughtered the key administrators responsible for daily affairs before the rebellion even began.

As a result, the entire city was thrown into a panic matching that of an invasion by a hundred-thousand-strong army—all by a force of, at most, a few hundred Martial Artists. Among them were only a handful of Innate Martial Artists and a single Grandmaster Martial Artist leading them, who had yet to even make a move.

Furthermore, no matter how stable a society, there are always those who suffer under oppression. Seizing the opportunity of these chaotic times, they also began to cause trouble. The Martial Artists, meanwhile, seemed to be consciously encouraging and protecting these people, fanning the flames of unrest.

And so, in just over half a day since the Martial Artists’ uprising began, Jing City had already become a war-torn disaster zone, with the chaos even spreading to the surrounding villages and towns.

「Jing City, Wang Family Estate.」

The Wang Family was an obscure, minor family in Jing City. Because an ancestor had accumulated great Fude and caught the eye of a Disciple of some long-forgotten city administrator, he had served as their errand boy for a time.

This connection suddenly brought them status and wealth. After the administrator vanished into seclusion, tradition-bound Jing City acknowledged the Wang Family’s new position. And just like that, the Wang Family became a minor family, passing down its Inheritance through the generations.

Even the sons born into the family were almost all of their own bloodline—but only almost.

The Martial Artists’ uprising hadn’t initially reached the Wang Family, as their estate was located on the edge of the city near the suburbs. But when one of the sons, Wang Er, returned from a shopping trip, he brought back not only three bearded, hulking strangers but also disaster.

He personally led the men into the Wang Family estate. Caught off guard, the Wang Family members were quickly brought under control.

The men were all dragged out and sadistically tortured to death in various ways for sport. All that remained were the terrified women of the family, who were then subjected to the four men’s twisted games in the main hall for the rest of the day, in full view of everyone.

When people are oppressed and repressed for too long, they tend to snap when they finally erupt. If that eruption is guided by some external power, it can spiral completely out of control.

As time went on, the four men became even more depraved.

Without realizing it, they were slowly becoming less than human. They showed no signs of fatigue; instead, they grew more energetic, more brutal, and more perverted.

Wang Qian was of marriageable age, but because she had been exceptionally clever since childhood and had handled many affairs for the Wang Family, she had gradually distinguished herself from her many siblings to become the pearl of the family.

Ordinarily, this would have been a great blessing.

In this rigid Mortal society, a woman of her status could expect to marry out and eventually become the matriarch of another family.

If she worked hard enough, she might even persuade the Wang Family that she was too valuable to marry off, instead bringing in a husband who would join their household. She could have then taken control of the Wang Family and become its matriarch. But today, all those calculations were utterly shattered.

The moment those crazed thugs entered their home and began to slaughter her uncles and brothers in inventive ways right before the eyes of the women, Hell began.

First, four of her aunts, all in their twenties, were toyed with until they died, right there in the main hall, right before their eyes.

Then the four men began all sorts of torture and violation, their targets growing younger and younger.

Fortunately, the Wang Family had many women. The intelligent Wang Qian, from the moment she understood their situation, concealed anything about herself that might stand out.

She watched with cold eyes as her aunts and sisters were tormented one by one. She kept watching, because she could only watch, her gaze growing ever more detached.

She had planned to remain hidden. But then her own eight-year-old sister was noticed by the bandits. A cousin, having figured out the thugs’ preferences, had pushed the little girl forward to save her own skin, even if just for a moment longer.

Hiding in the crowd, watching everything with cold detachment, Wang Qian saw the look in the bandits’ eyes as they gazed at her sister. She understood. If she didn’t do something, her sister would suffer the same fate as their other young cousins.

In that instant, she stopped watching. She stepped out from the crowd, wiped the filth from her face, and revealed the true bearing of the Wang Family’s pearl.

The coarse Martial Artists’ attention was completely diverted. But the Hell that awaited her had also begun.