Turns Out, I’m In A Villain Clan! Chapter 472 Justice in the Dark Chamber

"Aaargh...!"

The Elder's agonized cries reverberated across the entire experimentation chamber.

Those screams climbed higher, shattered into ragged gasps, then fractured into rough weeping before building up once more.

Jin Yuanzhan experienced no pity whatsoever.

No matter if that Elder endured torment a hundredfold more severe than this, it could never atone for the mountain of atrocities he had piled up.

Bai Zihan remained standing a bit farther off, arms clasped behind him, his face showing zero ripples of emotion amid the ghastly sight unfolding nearby.

He chose not to step in—even though that choice allowed the Azure Sun Holy Sect extra moments to dispatch additional cultivators.

Bai Zihan recognized that the deep-seated resentment Jin Yuanzhan harbored demanded full satisfaction through vengeance alone.

He refused to meddle or let Jin Yuanzhan walk away with any lingering regrets after seizing this chance for payback.

Jin Yuanzhan kept his tone subdued.

"Circulate your qi."

The Elder shook uncontrollably.

"I-can't-!"

A burst of blazing energy detonated inside his meridians.

His frame bowed sharply, dark veins swelling visibly under the surface of his skin.

"You can," Jin Yuanzhan replied steadily. "You said the exact same thing to me!"

Yet another rush hit him.

The Elder wailed until his voice ripped apart.

Bai Zihan observed how Jin Yuanzhan manipulated the qi churning in the Elder's body. The control was exact.

He steered clear of utterly ruining the dantian and causing instant death.

Instead, he maximized the suffering while ensuring the man stayed alive.

A subtle smile tugged at Bai Zihan's mouth.

(Not bad!)

He had fretted a touch that hatred might overwhelm Jin Yuanzhan. Yet it hadn't.

Jin Yuanzhan stayed composed and managed the situation with impressive poise.

Another piercing wail tore through the room.

The kids in the enclosures huddled into the shadows, their eyes stretched wide.

A few clamped hands over their ears.

Others gaped in shocked quiet.

One little boy, barely past eight years old, gripped the bars with such force that his knuckles blanched white.

What gleamed in his gaze wasn't terror, but the deep fulfillment born from seeing retribution at last.

Maybe he believed the wicked figure had finally faced his due punishment and grasped the agony they had all suffered.

Bai Zihan's attention turned toward the children.

He approached them at a measured pace.

Those metal enclosures looked rough next to the intricate formation array.

In truth, what lay beyond the bars were frail youngsters who could scarcely stand, let alone shatter barriers like these—no matter how flimsy they appeared.

He halted in front of one enclosure.

Within it, three kids clustered close together.

Their garments were filthy.

Singe scars dotted their sleeves.

One girl jerked back as his shadow loomed over her.

Bai Zihan bent down a little—not from compassion, but just to inspect them nearer.

Terror and hunger marked them clearly.

"Tsk!"

Even during these tests, they could have at least given them proper meals. It wasn't like a Sect of their stature suffered from shortages.

Ordinary food barely cost a thing.

They might have preserved more lives if they had maintained them in better condition.

But what good would scolding these idiots do now?

He studied them a moment longer, expecting wrath to stir.

Expecting fury to ignite.

Expecting some spark to blaze in his chest from the spectacle.

Nothing arose.

Logically, he grasped how despicable this all was.

He knew blameless souls had been demoted to mere "materials" for the mighty.

Still, his heart stayed even-keeled.

Icy and aloof.

Maybe it stemmed from his prior suspicions of such horrors.

Or maybe the truth was plainer.

The guilty party faced punishment right then.

Justice—should that term even apply in this realm—was playing out in shrieks behind him.

No point in raging over events long past.

He lacked the softness to fret over every wrong.

Truth be told, he proved even harsher toward foes.

Should sudden anger grip him and he start moralizing, it would ring utterly false.

From behind him—

"ARGHHH-! I'll tell you-anything-!"

The Elder's tone splintered.

Jin Yuanzhan offered no reply.

A fresh tide of restrained qi flooded into the Elder's dantian.

The Elder spasmed wildly.

Bai Zihan stood up.

He pointed a finger gently at the cage's latch.

Crack!

The mechanism burst apart.

It swung loose with a heavy thud.

The children gazed in astonishment.

Not one budged.

"You can leave," Bai Zihan stated evenly.

His voice held no warmth or chill.

They wavered.

The smallest one ventured out first.

His bare soles met the cold stone beyond the bars.

He tilted his head up to Bai Zihan with doubtful eyes.

"Are... are we going to die?"

Bai Zihan considered him briefly.

"No!"

The boy gulped.

The rest appeared skeptical of Bai Zihan's response, which made sense in their dire straits.

But Bai Zihan saw no reason to justify himself.

He held zero wish to play the savior fixing every woe and upholding righteousness.

That role didn't suit him.

Behind him—

The Elder's aura had faded to a shadow of its former self.

His complexion drained to ashen.

Sweat soaked his robes through.

Meridians bulged and twisted visibly under his flesh.

His plight now surpassed that of any mere invalid.

Jin Yuanzhan pulled his hand away at last. The Elder slumped forward onto the unyielding stone.

Screams no longer escaped him.

Shudders wracked his form instead.

Jin Yuanzhan retreated from the huddled wreck.

His breaths came even, his features serene.

He regarded the tormentor who had haunted his dreams once.

With vengeance fulfilled, neither joy nor sorrow stirred within him.

In the end, the suffering that would have slain others had granted him the chance to rescue his sister and encounter Young Master.

Maybe it hid a hidden gift.

"Young Master, I'm finished. He should spill every truth to your queries now, without a hint of deceit."

Bai Zihan nodded faintly.

He advanced and halted in front of the shattered form.

The Elder's state barely qualified as human any longer.

The haughtiness of a Spirit Severing Realm powerhouse had vanished entirely.

Beneath Bai Zihan's steady stare and the ongoing weight of Void Refinement restraint, defiance never crossed his mind.

The interrogation commenced.

The initial topic zeroed in on the Sky Pirate Leader—did he recognize the head of the Yun Mo Kou Sky Pirates?

The response arrived without delay.

Yes, the Yun Mo Kou Sky Pirates' chief counted as one of the experiment's rare triumphs.

Yet his path diverged from the rest.

Capture hadn't claimed him.

Forced trials hadn't dragged him in like so many victims.

He arrived willingly.

Prior to the procedure, he ranked as an obscure cultivator in a petty pirate crew.

That band fell to the Imperial Family in a sweeping crackdown. Ships wrecked. Assets confiscated. Members slain—all save him.

Only he endured.

Precisely how he discovered the hidden trials under the Azure Sun Holy Sect remained a mystery.

Whispers might have reached his ears.

A loose tongue could have spilled secrets.

What stood firm was his silence toward officials.

Sky Pirates shunned such paths, after all.

Nor did he dismiss the knowledge.

Rather, he pursued the source.

He offered himself not as prey, but as a volunteer.

Power was his demand.

Revenge against the Imperial Family didn't drive him.

Nor did sorrow.

Ambition fueled it all.

Raw and unmasked.

He weighed the dangers. Grasp the death toll.

Knew most who braved the formation turned to dust.

Still, he insisted on the trial.

To the Elder, such eagerness proved ideal.

No need to hide from a self-offered participant—though caution lingered.

The fusion rate surpassed all forecasts.

He lived through it.

More than that, he ascended higher.

His bond with the Sun Dao Fragment placed him among the top successes ever noted.

As his might swelled swiftly, the Azure Sun Holy Sect refrained from abandoning him.

They backed him in secret.

Aid flowed under the table.

Allies set up. Vessels delivered.

With their hidden aid, the Yun Mo Kou Sky Pirates took shape.

To outsiders, they posed as just another bandit group—plundering trade lanes, seizing cargo ships, battling minor sect fleets. But deeper aims guided them.

They snatched individuals and funneled them for trials.

He supplied "materials."

In exchange, he claimed the supplies he craved.

The Sky Pirate Leader comprehended the deal completely.

The Elder framed it as a fair partnership.

Gaining power didn't dull the pirate leader's drive.

If possible, it intensified.

He grew bolder than anticipated, and through his work, the trials progressed far easier, free from shortages of test subjects.

"Then, did your Sect order him to target me too?" Bai Zihan inquired at last.

Was it a grudge?

Or the scheme of the Azure Sun Holy Sect?

"This... I don't know!"

The Elder's words broke as he sprawled across the frigid floor, his frame jerking from echoes of agony.

Jin Yuanzhan's eyes sharpened in an instant.

He lunged ahead and slammed his boot into the Elder's side.

Crack!

A dull fracture rang out in the room.

The Elder howled, coiling up on reflex, though the heavy suppression rendered even that twitch feeble.

"You don't know?" Jin Yuanzhan's tone dropped to a menacing growl. "You think we'll swallow that? Speak true to Young Master, or else—"

"I-truly-don't!"

The Elder wheezed, crimson seeping from his lip's edge.

"I handle the experiments alone! I seldom venture out! Outside dealings fall to others!"

Jin Yuanzhan seized his robe's front and hoisted him up a fraction, ignoring the ruin of his body.

"One last shot!"

"I swear!"

The Elder sobbed roughly.

"Yun Mo Kou Sky Pirates run independently! He brings materials, takes Sect resources! That's all I know." Another strike landed.

This one to the gut.

Jin Yuanzhan scanned his features.

Fear dominated.

Agony twisted him.

Despair clawed deep.

But no trace of scheming glinted there.

He genuinely seemed clueless. "Useless!"

Bai Zihan had observed the exchange in silence throughout.

His face stayed unchanged.

Little hinged on whether the Elder revealed this detail or held back.

He planned to confront the Azure Sun Holy Sect's Sect Leader regardless.

Real answers awaited there.

He moved nearer.

The Elder snapped his gaze upward, hope quivering in his shakes.

"I've shared all I know!" he begged.

Bai Zihan's look held steady.

He angled toward Jin Yuanzhan a touch.

"We've got what matters." The Elder's eyes bulged. For an instant, hope lit his expression.

He imagined survival.

Believed his truths had earned a reprieve.

Bai Zihan's following statement crushed that dream.

"He doesn't need to draw another breath."

The Elder's pupils contracted sharply.

"Wai-"

Slash!

A flash of icy gleam cut the air.

Jin Yuanzhan showed no pause.

His sword swept swift and sure.

The Elder's head parted from his torso before the cry ended.