Chapter 342: Single-Handedly Suppressed

Zhu Yan always had the same dream, reliving events from two thousand years ago.
…
“Who are you?” Zhu Yan warily eyed the visitor. As a Six-Star Contract Beast, an invincible existence, how could someone silently infiltrate his chamber?
“You may call me the Executor of Karma,” the visitor smiled gently. “Two days ago, you killed several people under your master’s orders, in full public view.”
“So what? Those humans used underhanded tricks during the competition, violating rules and attempting to kill me. My enraged master ordered their execution. The Peace Declaration clearly states contract beasts have the right to self-defense. This was justified.”
The Executor of Karma looked at Zhu Yan as if observing an unenlightened monkey. “Self-defense? How primitive the beasts of this world remain. As a fellow beast, I feel ashamed for you.”
“You—” Zhu Yan bristled at the Executor’s tone.
Unfazed, the Executor continued, “Do you truly believe human lives hold equal value to beasts? You slaughtered multiple humans—all at the Unity Stage.”
“Humans won’t care about your reasons. They’ll only see a dangerous contract beast that needs extermination.”
Zhu Yan frowned. “Contract beasts and humans are friends. They wouldn’t treat us so. Besides, I merely followed my master’s orders.”
Though his master wasn’t particularly kind, since other contract beasts received similar treatment, Zhu Yan saw nothing unusual about his situation.
The Executor sneered. “Your master? He’ll claim you acted uncontrollably, absolving himself of responsibility.”
“Think—if humans truly cared, why enforce Master-Servant Contracts instead of Equal Contracts? Why build bomb shelters? Who are they guarding against? Why establish contract beast markets? Do you sell friends as commodities?”
Seeing Zhu Yan’s lingering doubt, the Executor tired of arguing with this foolish ape. He simply explained how to dissolve the Master-Servant Contract before departing.
In the following days, events unfolded exactly as the Executor predicted.
No one mentioned self-defense, as if the concept didn’t exist. Zhu Yan’s master shifted all blame onto him while offering empty reassurances. Clinging to final hope, Zhu Yan reluctantly believed.
Yet his master ultimately betrayed that trust, personally delivering Zhu Yan to the execution grounds.
Only then did Zhu Yan understand—friendship, equality, all were lies. Humans never saw contract beasts as equals.
With shattered illusions, Zhu Yan abandoned hope entirely. He dissolved his contract and unleashed carnage.
Eight contract beasts sieged Zhu Yan to eliminate this unstable element.
Zhu Yan freed them from their contracts too, sharing his ordeal—how humans merely used them.
The others refused to listen, insisting their bonds with masters were eternal, unbreakable.
Such foolish brethren!
Near death, Zhu Yan comprehended the Heavenly Tribulation’s meaning, advancing to the Tribulation Transcendence Stage and slaughtering both beasts and humans.
Becoming invincible, Zhu Yan rampaged across the continent, determined to find and personally execute his hiding master.
The Zhu Yan Incident revealed Master-Servant Contracts could be broken. Humans, losing trust, abandoned their contract beasts to seek refuge in bomb shelters.
Watching these discarded beasts still desperately searching for masters, Zhu Yan found their stupidity laughable.
Humans discarded you like trash, yet you grovel after them.
After destroying over a dozen shelters, Zhu Yan finally found his cowering master in Shelter No. 93.
Predictably, he executed him.
Yet even with his master dead, Zhu Yan’s bloodlust remained unsated—though he hesitated at indiscriminate slaughter.
“Humans are hypocrites, beasts are fools.”
The Executor of Karma reappeared beside Zhu Yan.
Even at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, Zhu Yan couldn’t discern this being’s cultivation level.
Not that he cared.
“Humans enslaved me. Now that I reign supreme, I’ll make humanity beasts’ slaves.”
“But how to handle those foolish beasts? Any ideas?” Zhu Yan turned to the Executor.
“My diluted blood can inflict congenital deficiencies, rendering beasts mentally impaired.”
“Excellent.”
The Executor flicked several blood drops whose terrifying aura terrified even Zhu Yan.
Impressed, the Executor saw potential in Zhu Yan—with training, he’d make a fine subordinate.
“Under Master-Servant Contracts, humans will die confused. I’ll appoint a manager—you needn’t remain here.”
Zhu Yan, eyes wild, refused: “No! I’ll witness humanity and beasts’ mutual destruction!”
…
Recently, Zhu Yan kept reliving this dream, unsettled by premonitions.
“Has my plan been disrupted?” he mused. With beasts congenitally impaired, none could reach Tribulation Transcendence—his safety seemed assured.
“After so long, I should survey the world. May those hypocritical humans be extinct.” Zhu Yan typically patrolled every century.
Only fifty years had passed since his last outing, but foreboding drove him to exit his secret realm early.
Confident in his invincibility, Zhu Yan didn’t suppress his Tribulation Stage aura upon emergence.
Zhu Yan’s appearance caused greater tremors than Little Green Snake’s dragon ascension—the entire Lingxi World felt it.
Little Green Snake and Xia Chao instantly recognized him—the Tribulation Stage Zhu Yan from the diary’s records.
Even with Little Green Snake’s formidable physique and Xia Chao’s regeneration, facing a Tribulation Stage being meant certain annihilation—one flick would vaporize them without recovery.
Humans and beasts shuddered as if a bloodthirsty primordial predator had descended.
Yet the sensation vanished instantly, fleeting as illusion.
Before Zhu Yan could take a second step, Jiang Li pinned him beneath an enormous palm imprint.
Terrified, Zhu Yan watched the sky-obscuring hand descend with irresistible force, crushing him completely without chance of resistance.
“So this is the famed Zhu Yan?” Baixue Ling marveled—a Tribulation Stage beast unseen even in the Nine Provinces.
Red-headed with white feet, snarling viciously, though not as hideous as the murals depicted—likely artistic exaggeration.
“Who are you? Immortals?” Zhu Yan roared, struggling uselessly. His cultivation lay completely suppressed, his vaunted physique reduced to mere mortal flesh.
“Jiang Li, Human Sovereign of the Nine Provinces.”