High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

Upon receiving the news, Song Chen immediately set off with Lei Yuan overnight.

After passing through the portal to the Hidden Cloud Continent and flying east for about two hours, Raize Village appeared below the cliffs by the sea.

Looking down from mid-air, the first thing Song Chen saw was the old banyan tree at the village entrance, struck by lightning. Its trunk had been struck by lightning countless times, and its surface was covered with charred black lines, but it was still alive.

The tree canopy was lush and green, shimmering with a faint blue-white fluorescent light in the night.

The branches of the old banyan tree were covered with faded strips of cloth, a custom of making wishes in this village. Each strip of cloth had a wish written on it, and when the sea breeze blew, the strips fluttered, like a flock of silver birds hiding in the tree canopy.

The village is small, with dozens of stone houses scattered along the arc-shaped shoreline of the bay.

The walls of the stone house were covered with glowing vines that emitted a faint blue light at night.

Fishing nets and wooden racks for curing marine mammal meat were drying in the yard, and several small fishing boats lay upside down on the beach, their bottoms mottled from being soaked in seawater.

If it weren't for the 20,000 elite rebel troops surrounding the village, this place would be no different from any other peaceful fishing village on Thunder Star.

The 20,000-strong force was arranged in a standard defensive formation, stretching from the village entrance all the way to the beach.

The electric arcs on their armor were reflected on the sea surface, like stars falling into the water.

Lei Mo stood at the very front of the formation.

Song Chen landed at the village entrance, glanced at the rebel army formation, and then looked at the village behind Lei Mo.

Lights were on in the stone houses in the village, and shadowy figures moved behind the windows—old people, women, and children.

The rebels did not evacuate the villagers because Lei Mo had no intention of doing so.

"You've come," Lei Mo said, his voice calm, devoid of his previous anger.

He wasn't wearing armor, only a gray-blue coarse cloth robe, the faded fabric swaying gently in the night breeze on the coast.

On his feet were a pair of straw sandals commonly worn by fishermen, the straw ropes on the soles worn rough.

"Aren't you going to run away?" Song Chen asked curiously.

Lei Mo shook his head. The sea breeze blew his long, silvery-white hair, revealing an old scar on his forehead, which looked more like a childhood fall.

A peak seventh-tier expert could have easily repaired the scar with spiritual energy, but he didn't.

Lei Mo looked at the sky and said, "I'm not running away anymore. These past few days I've been thinking about one thing: where exactly did I lose?"

"In terms of strength, I am at the peak of the seventh rank, just one step away from the eighth rank."

"As for strategy, I anticipated every move you made, from the bait on the Azure Sky Plains to the sneak attack on the royal city, I calculated it flawlessly."

"In terms of public sentiment, the people of the three subcontinents genuinely support me. They have been oppressed by the main continent for over ten thousand years, and I have given them hope."

Song Chen remained silent throughout, simply watching quietly.

"If you hadn't shown up, I would already be standing in the Star Lord's mansion."

"But you were there, so I lost."

Lei Mo's tone was no longer filled with resentment.

After saying that, he turned around and waved to the 20,000 elite troops behind him, making a move that no one expected, signaling them to put down their weapons.

The 20,000 elite rebel troops looked at each other in bewilderment. Several generals wanted to speak, but Lei Mo stopped them with a look.

The sound of weapons hitting the ground echoed from the first row to the last, piling up on the beach at the village entrance.

Lei Mo turned around and looked at Song Chen: "Heavenly Punishment Envoy, the 20,000 men behind me are my last remaining old subordinates, who have followed me since I reached the seventh rank."

"They are not the main force of the rebels. The main force has already been wiped out by you. These people are old brothers I brought out from Leiyan City. The youngest has been with me for two thousand years, and the oldest has been with me for five thousand years."

"They fought alongside me because they trusted me, not because I held a knife to their throats."

"Today I'm taking away their weapons and handing them over to you. Whether you kill them or not, they won't pick up weapons again."

Song Chen felt somewhat touched.

Lei Mo continued, "Messenger of Heavenly Punishment, I have a request."

"Speak."

Lei Mo pointed to the village behind him.

Inside the stone house in the village, the light behind the window was still flickering, and a figure was peering out.

A little girl from the Thunder Clan peeked out from the doorway of the nearest stone house. Her silver-white hair was tied into two crooked braids, and she was holding a similarly silver-white baby Thunder Cat in her arms.

She didn't understand what was happening outside; she just looked curiously at the many people standing at the village entrance.

"This village is where I was born. There are 372 people in the village, all ordinary people, and they have no relation to the nobles on the mainland."

As Lei Mo finished speaking, he bent his knees and knelt down in front of Song Chen.

This peak seventh-tier powerhouse, the leader of the rebels on the three sub-continents, who was just one step away from becoming the new star lord of Thunder Star, knelt on the sand at the entrance of the village.

The sound of the knee hitting the sand was faint, but all the Thunder Clan generals heard the dull thud.

Lei Mo knelt on the ground, his back ramrod straight: "My lord, I will give my life to exchange for theirs."

"After you kill me, spare this village. They know nothing and can't do anything."

"I started the rebellion all by myself, I fought the battle all by myself, and I made all the decisions. They just happened to be born in the same place as me."

Song Chen looked down at Lei Mo, who was kneeling on the sand.

The sea breeze rustled the wishing ribbons hanging on the old banyan tree.

He thought of Earth. What if one day, someone from Earth also emerged, leading everyone to rebel against the Alliance, fighting until they were out of ammunition and supplies, and finally kneeling before some Punisher, saying the same words in the same tone?

Would he wish that the punisher would give him a chance?

With that thought, he plunged the Heavenly Blade into the sand.

The blade pierced through the sand, with two-thirds of the blade buried inside, leaving only the hilt trembling slightly on the outside.

Song Chen walked towards Lei Mo empty-handed.

Lei Yuan shouted from behind, "My lord, we must nip this in the bud!"

There was a hint of unease in his voice, but Song Chen ignored him.

Song Chen walked up to Lei Mo and looked down at his purplish-red electric eyes that were slowly darkening.

"Lei Mo, I promise you, I won't touch this village, and your men can live, but you will die."

"Thank you, sir." Lei Mo's eyes lit up.

He knelt upright, his hands on his knees, and his eyes closed.

Song Chen pulled the Tianjun Blade from the sand and ended Lei Mo's life with a single strike.

The blade sliced ​​in cleanly and precisely from the side of the neck.

Lei Mo's body fell onto the sand, and silvery-white lightning slowly seeped from his wounds, soaking the sand beneath him.

The crystals formed after the lightning plasma cooled and solidified spread across the sand like a silvery-white frost. When the sea breeze blew, fine ripples appeared on the frost, like a small patch of silver sea accumulated in the two sand pits his knees had pressed into when he was kneeling.

Song Chen drew his knife and said to Lei Yuan, "You are not allowed to kill anyone anymore."

Lei Yuan nodded somewhat reluctantly: "I understand. I will send people to set up a cordon outside the village, and no troops from the main continent will be allowed to enter."

Song Chen turned and walked towards the old banyan tree at the entrance of the village, reaching out to tear off a strip of cloth for making wishes.

The strip of cloth was light blue, faded by the sea breeze, but the writing on it was still faintly discernible.

It was written the name of a child from the Leiming tribe, whose wish was for his father to come home soon.

He tied the strip of cloth back to the tree branch and turned to walk back to the beach.