Chapter 299: Massive Fate points

The cold morning wind swept over the courtyard of the Cloud-Mist Pavilion, rustling the leaves of the glowing bamboo trees. The ground was littered with the groaning, broken forms of the twelve elite 10th-Class Grand Disciple wizards from the Vance clan. Their staves were shattered, and their cultivation pools were completely destroyed by the devastating explosion of the Homing Shadow Talismans.

Tony Clark stood calmly at the top of the stone steps, his standard lazy posture perfectly restored. Beside him, the massive Crimson Shadow Griffin let out a deep, satisfied purr, its dark-purple galaxy eyes locked onto the solitary figure standing at the center of the courtyard.

Julie Faith was completely frozen. Her face was stark white, her body trembling violently under the cold wind. Her hands clutched her silken robes, her knuckles turning bone-white as she stared at the absolute graveyard of her family’s final hope. She looked at Tony, her violet eyes wide with a frantic, suffocating terror. The timid orphan she had tried to erase with a slow soul poison had just systematically annihilated an entire inner-peak strike force in less than three seconds.

Tony casually walked down the stone stairs, his heavy leather boots making a clear, rhythmic clicking sound on the white marble floor. He stopped mere inches from her trembling form, his tall frame casting a massive, intimidating shadow over her. A slow, ruthlessly brilliant smile curled the corners of his lips as he looked down at her.

"Your little blood war turned out to be an exceptionally boring puppet show, Julie," Tony sneered coldly, his deep baritone voice carrying a chilling, razor-sharp edge. He reached into his robes and pulled out an ancient, dark-gold parchment scroll—the Absolute Soul Servant Contract he had procured from the system shop using his remaining Fate Points during the midnight training session. "You family of low-born clowns have officially run out of moves on my grand chessboard. You have two choices right now: bite your finger, press your fresh blood onto this contract to become my permanent, dog-like servant, or I will have my griffin tear your limbs apart and feed your flesh to the forest beasts."

Julie’s breath caught painfully in her throat, her proud inner-disciple spirit completely crumbling into dust. She looked at the glowing black runes of the soul contract, knowing that signing it would mean giving up her absolute free will forever, turning her into nothing more than a tool for Tony’s ultimate ascension. Yet, looking into his dark, predatory eyes, she knew with absolute certainty that he wouldn’t hesitate a single microsecond to execute her if she refused. With a trembling, weeping hand, she bit her index finger, drawing a sharp drop of crimson blood, and violently pressed her thumb onto the dark parchment.

The moment the blood touched the surface, the soul contract violently flashed with a blinding purple light, dissolving into a wave of light particles that shot straight into Julie’s forehead, anchoring an unbreakable, divine master-slave seal deep within her soul signature. Julie dropped onto her knees against the hard granite, her head lowering in absolute, permanent submission as her violet eyes lost their past arrogant light, replaced entirely by a serene, brainwashed devotion.

"Master Tony," Julie whispered softly, her silky voice entirely stripped of its former royal condescension. "Your humble servant awaits your absolute commands."

Right at that exact second, the space directly above the Cloud-Mist Pavilion violently rippled. The Academy Grand Elder and Lady Selena Faith personally materialized from the air, their magnificent robes fluttering as they descended onto the training yard. They had rushed to the peak the moment the colossal talisman explosion triggered the campus’s grand defense arrays, fully expecting to see Tony being overwhelmed by an elite invasion.

However, the exact moment the Grand Elder and the premier heiress of the Golden Phoenix Merchant Guild stepped into the center of the courtyard, their entire ancient faces completely froze in absolute, jaw-dropping shock. Selena dropped her wooden sketchboard onto the floor, her mouth opening slightly as her brilliant mercantile mind experienced a total, chaotic collapse. Beside her, the Grand Elder stood completely paralyzed in mid-air, his wise eyes widening to the size of saucers as he stared at the twelve permanently crippled 10th-Class wizards littering the dirt, and the proud First Lady of the Faith Family kneeling like a common maid at Tony’s boots.

"This... this is completely insane!" the Grand Elder shrieked in sheer, unadulterated disbelief, his voice shaking with absolute awe. "Twelve inner-peak grand disciples... systematically slaughtered and broken in a single exchange without a single scratch on your pavilion?! Tony, what kind of terrifying, forbidden art did you deploy to achieve this absolute catastrophe?!"

Selena Faith frantically rubbed her eyes, a deep wave of fanatical awe and absolute curiosity washing over her beautiful features as she looked at Tony’s lazy, unbothered smirk. "You didn’t just plunder their subterranean treasury yesterday, Tony Clark... you have completely destroyed the entire elite martial vanguard of the Faith and Vance clans in less than three seconds! The entire outer and inner campus will fall into a state of total, frantic panic the moment this news leaks out to the central district!"

Tony casually slung his magnificent Void Dragon’s Shadow Bow over his shoulder, a slow, villainous grin spread across his face as his consciousness instantly connected with the hidden system interface inside his mind to claim his massive quest rewards.

[Ding! High-Tier Villain Quest "Crushing the Faith Mirage" completely fulfilled!]

[Quest Rewards claimed: 3,000 Fate Points, 1× Advanced Runic Ink Formula, and 100% Instant Synchronization of the third form of the Phantom Arrow Technique: The Homing Abyssal Strike.]

[Current Fate Points Pool: 3,740.]

"The small games of the academy are officially finished, Master, Lady Selena," Tony said smoothly, his tone dripping with an incredibly dangerous, casual arrogance as he adjusted his dark hunting cloak. He pointed his lean finger directly toward the eastern horizon where the central city gates loomed in the distance.

"The Faith Family sent their death squads to my doorstep twice, and it is time for me to collect the absolute tax for their insolence. Julie, get up and lead the way. Tonight, we are launching our final, absolute march against the main Faith Family gates to erase their lineage from the face of this continent forever."