BOOOOOM!

The impact crushed the ground with a force equal to hundreds of nuclear payloads. Temperatures at the center rose past anything measurable, stone and steel evaporated instantly, air molecules split apart in a silent flash.

Within a ten-kilometer radius, there was nothing left to burn. Not ruins, not ash, just glassy ground, fused by impossible heat, a crater gouged so deep it looked like the earths marrow had been exposed.

The shockwave tore outward like an invisible scythe, flattening forests, cities, rivers for nearly a hundred kilometers.

Skyscrapers bent and folded like paper.

Mountains cracked, shedding their peaks in avalanches, every window, every bone, every fragile structure, shattered.

Those unlucky enough to be near didnt scream. Their hearts simply ruptured, their lungs collapsed, their lives snuffed out in the blink of a gods eye.

When the storm finally ended, silence reigned…

No birds, no rustling wind, just an open scar in the world, stretching further than sight.

And in that silence… a shiloutte hovered.

A solitary figure, suspended above the crater, as if untouched by the end of all things.

His hair,.white, sharp, spiked skyward, shone like fractured starlight, every strand catching the last embers of the blast and making them burn anew.

His skin was pale, almost luminous, the kind of white marble that temples were carved from, flawless yet unnerving, like it had never been touched by time.

He wore nothing more than a plain orange drape, wound carelessly across his frame like a monks cloth. Yet on him it did not look simple. It looked sacred. It looked inevitable, like the cloth was woven from law itself.

His eyes, a deep unearthly azure, glowed with shifting depths, as if oceans, storms, and galaxies themselves had been crushed down into irises no wider than coins.

Looking into them was like staring into judgment itself, the kind no one could escape.

But what anchored him, what made the world tremble… was the mark.

In the center of his forehead burned a sigil, a crimson scale, balanced yet endless, etched directly into his flesh.

The Scales of Karma.

Said to measure the weight of a soul, not just its sins, but its worth. Said to have condemned gods, stripped kings of their crowns, and raised beggars into saints.

Now, it blazed across the forehead of the figure standing above a dead world.

He exhaled once, and the space bent with it.

Balance has broken… His voice was calm, deep, the kind that carried without force. It wasnt loud. It didnt need to be, it slipped into the ears of everything living within miles, bypassing distance, bypassing resistance.

…and judgment must be made.

The scale on the strangers forehead pulsed brighter as he descended, slow and deliberate, until his bare feet touched the crater dark floor.

Splash!

The ground rippled like water. Then, suddenly, it was water…

The world shifted in an instant, Wang Xiao blinked and found himself standing beneath an endless river, its current stretching forever in both directions.

Splash! Splash!

One half glowed white, pure and radiant. The other half festered black, murky and churning with shadows.

Above them, there was no sky, only a dark void with distant glowing stars. Yet, it didnt seem like a true void either, rather, it felt like a pocket universe.

The stranger stood opposite him, hands raised as if pronouncing sentence.

Your soul… His voice, smooth. …carries burden beyond any measure. It taints even my river. As the Emperor of the Nether River, Minghe Di, I will cleanse you. Your sins, your strength, your filth, I will wash them away.

His half-closed eyes never left Wang Xiao.

Wang Xiaos lips curved into something between a smile and a sneer. An ocean that bears no filth cannot be dirtied. If your river reeks of rot… then perhaps your purity was never real. Just a mask, and beneath it… His eyes narrowed. …it stinks of truth.

The Emperors brows tightened, his lips twitching with contained anger. The scales on his forehead burned red.

You dare…

Quite convenient of you. Wang Xiao cut in, his tone flat, calm as if mocking him was an afterthought. To use your grand entrance as an excuse to hurt those near me. And yet… He tilted his head. …you missed one.

Missed…?

The Emperors words choked as the mist beside Wang Xiao. A figure staggered out, blurred and trembling, then solidified.

Her eyes were glassy but resolute, and in the same instant she appeared, her hands gripped a jagged spike of black energy. Without hesitation, she plunged it into her own stomach.

SLASH!

Blood burst forth, red against the shifting hues of the river.

The Emperors face twisted in disbelief. What!?

Wang Xiaos eyes flickered, watching as Yanyans form shattered into glittering dark stars, her essence dissolving into the endless river. For a brief second even he blinked in surprise.

She… killed herself? the Emperor muttered, brows furrowed.

Wang Xiao tilted his head, his voice cold and calm. Not just herself. Everyone else caught in your little stunt, collateral, wasnt it?

The Emperor stiffened. His mark glowed faintly red, pulsing faster. …You think this was my doing? The asteroid was meant for you. We are noble beings, we dont harm others. The rest-

-were nothing but fuel, Wang Xiao finished flatly. He chuckled, darkly amused. So. Youre not machines after all, cunning and calculating. Youll crush a city just to see me rage?

The Emperors jaw clenched. Had he been seen through?

Indeed, as Executioners, they could not directly harm anyone other than their designated target. But nothing prevented them from unleashing attacks on the target that brought massive collateral damage.

Such underhanded methods were meant to enrage Wang Xiao, whom Emperor Ming had already judged as a difficult adversary.

He snorted, ignoring the taunts.

…Balance must be maintained. The moment you defy it, everything else is-

Spare me the sermon, Wang Xiao cut in, eyes narrowing. If you thought using hostages, or scattering corpses at my feet, would rattle me, youre a fool. She showed you that herself.

The Emperors face darkened, anger warring with unease. …She was your blood. And yet you let her bleed. What kind of being-

My kind, Wang Xiao interrupted coldly, The kind who doesnt bow. Not to guilt. Not to anything. And certainly not to you.

…

For the first time, Emperor Ming faltered. His scales flickered. His hand tightened unconsciously, as if the weight he measured had suddenly shifted against him.

Wang Xiaos lips curved into a dangerous smile. So… what now, Judge? Still certain you can cleanse me? Or have you realized your rivers already poisoned beyond repair?

The Emperor fell silent, gaze sharpening, then slowly raised both hands above his head.

His voice was solemn, yet filled with fury.

So be it. Youve forced my hand…

His words futher deepened, echoing like a decree carved into the bones of creation.

As it was written in the marrow of time: balance cannot bow, nor falter, nor yield. By the seal upon my brow, I invoke the Scales of Karma. Let the guilty be weighed. Let the river bear witness.

CRACK!

Space itself split open.

High above, a colossal weighing scale manifested, its form identical to the crimson mark carved into his forehead. It glowed with ominous brilliance, casting shadows that bent reality itself. The ground trembled as the symbol of judgment descended like a verdict.

With the scale above, Emperor Mings composure returned. His lips twisted into a grim chuckle. You thought killing her would free you? You thought absorbing her essence would unshackle your soul? Fool. You are still guilty.

Golden light flared. From his palms shot chains of judgment, forged of pure karmic law. They lashed around Wang Xiao, coiling like serpents, burning his skin and tearing away his robes.

RATTLE-CLASH!

The chains jerked violently, hurling him onto one side of the massive scale.

The whole construct slammed into the riverbed with a thunderous noise.

THUD!

The weight of his existence testing the balance of creation itself.

Chains cut into his flesh now, but Wang Xiao remembered the moment he had gambled everything…

A few days earlier… moments after he learned about the Creator.

Wang Xiao had sat with Xue Hanqin, her sapphire eyes sharp with suspicion, as he outlined his strategy. The weapon in his hand, an obsidian blade, honed with primordial dark energy, was capable of slaying even a Transcendent.

His target: Yang Yuhuan.

Wasnt she hidden? And where did you even find this thing?

Xue Hanqin was amazed at how he always managed to find such things, yet she still warned, And even if you do find her… do you truly believe killing her will break the chains of the Executioners? Their rules run deeper than that.

But Wang Xiao only smirked. Once shes gone, there will be only one Transcendent left in this universe, their balance breaks. Their judgment collapses.

And so he acted. .

He already knew of the cave where Yang Yuhuan was hiding, a place still frozen.

He went there and killed her.

He devoured her, and became even stronger.

For a moment, he thought himself free.

But now, strapped in chains, burned under the scale of judgment, staring into the Emperors wrath, he realized the truth.

It hadnt freed him.

It had only angered them.

And brought judgment sooner than he had planned.