The Crumbling Little Bro

The Jiang family was utterly stunned—no, not just metaphorically, but literally stunned.

When the "Equality for All" device was activated, terrifying infrasonic waves instantly spread out, rapidly forming an invisible magnetic field spanning a 10-kilometer radius. It was neither visible nor tangible, harmless to ordinary people, but for ancient martial artists, it was a nightmare.

"What the hell? What's going on? My internal energy is in chaos—I can't use it at all!"

"Damn... who's behind this? Who's playing tricks?"

"Could it be the family head suppressing us?"

Nearly everyone in the Jiang family practiced ancient martial arts, even the lowest-ranking servants were at least at the mid-stage of Dark Force mastery.

But once the "Equality for All" device was activated, they were all reduced to ordinary people!

Of course, some of the Jiang family's grandmasters—those who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts—were also struggling.

A few grandmasters approached Jiang Yunhuang.

"Family Head... what's happening?"

Jiang Yunhuang frowned slightly. "How do you feel?"

"Me? My internal energy is completely disrupted. I haven’t been reduced to an ordinary person, but I can only exert about a third of my strength now."

Jiang Yunhuang gave the man a thoughtful look. This person was at the late-stage of grandmaster cultivation—if even he was affected, then even supreme grandmasters would likely suffer some suppression.

"Grandfather, how do you feel?" Jiang Che asked. The device was powerful, but surely it couldn’t suppress someone at the Heaven-Breaking stage, right?

Jiang Yunhuang scratched his head. "Me?"

"I don’t feel much, just a slight itch."

Then, his gaze sharpened.

This thing actually worked? If it were to spread, it would be a devastating blow to the entire ancient martial arts world.

"Che'er, can this be mass-produced?"

Jiang Che nodded.

"You want to hand this over to the Dragon Country’s higher-ups to deal with the increasing number of martial artists causing trouble?"

Jiang Yunhuang had instantly guessed Jiang Che’s intentions.

"Yes, exactly."

Jiang Yunhuang fell silent.

Logically, as the strongest martial artist in Dragon Country and a representative of the ancient martial arts world, he should refuse and destroy this device outright.

But he also held another identity—Deputy Director of the National Security Bureau.

Recently, the rise of rogue martial artists had led to a sharp increase in crime rates across Dragon Country, two to three times higher than before. Some people had even developed a fear of martial artists.

With the "Equality for All" device, martial arts-related crimes would undoubtedly decrease.

After a long deliberation, Jiang Yunhuang finally uttered a single word: "Approved."

...

"What the hell? Why is my cultivation being suppressed?"

Jiang Ruoxu was completely baffled. He pushed through the crowd and made his way to Jiang Yunhuang’s side.

After learning the truth, he nearly lost it.

"Jiang Che, what the hell are you doing? You’re pushing all martial artists into an abyss of despair!"

Jiang Ruoxu’s mentality shattered. Martial artists trained for decades, enduring hardships to reach the level of Transform Force mastery, only for some tiny device to instantly reduce them to ordinary people?

What was even the point anymore?

What was the meaning of cultivating martial arts then?

Others in the Jiang family also voiced their objections. Wasn’t this just digging their own grave?

"Young Master Jiang, I can’t agree with your idea. The meaning of our martial arts training lies in constantly growing stronger. What will the countless martial artists of Dragon Country do now?"

"That’s right, Young Master Jiang. I respect you as a prodigy, but what you’re doing will enrage every martial artist in the world. You’ll be targeted by everyone!"

"Young Master Jiang, we martial artists defy the heavens to claim our destiny..."

One by one, they spoke with righteous indignation, standing on the moral high ground...

Jiang Ruoxu even glared at Jiang Che. His older brother had gone too far—this was practically a death sentence for all martial artists.

Facing the barrage of criticism, Jiang Che remained unruffled.

"The final authority over this device lies with me. I can make it so that none of the Jiang family members are affected."

The moment these words were spoken, the noisy crowd fell dead silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

After a long pause, a hunched old man hesitantly asked, "Second Young Master, my heart isn’t what it used to be. Don’t play with my emotions..."

Jiang Che sighed. "I’m serious. I can adjust the device right now so that it only affects Jiang Ruoxu."

With that, he modified the device’s settings.

Sure enough, the oppressive sensation weighing on everyone vanished, and their cultivation returned.

But poor Jiang Ruoxu was left suffering. "Jiang Che, you—!"

He finally understood—his older brother was a complete bastard. Why was everyone else exempt while he alone remained suppressed?

This was downright evil!

[Ding! Host’s show-off attempt failed. Show-off points -250.]

Unbelievable—

But at that moment, no one cared about Jiang Ruoxu’s feelings. It wasn’t like he was going to die from it.

"How about it? Do you all agree now that I should promote this device across the entire Dragon Country?" Jiang Che narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"Agreed! How could we not agree? It must be promoted!"

"Exactly! I despise those who abuse their ancient martial arts skills to commit crimes. Such people don’t deserve to be martial artists!"

"Hahaha, that’s my nephew for you! Truly one of our own!"

What hypocrites!

Absolute hypocrites!

The same crowd that had been hurling accusations just moments ago had now completely switched sides.

After all, better others die than oneself!

"You—"

Jiang Ruoxu was utterly speechless. So, I’m not part of the Jiang family now?

"Master! Master, please help me! What’s happening to my inner energy?"

Mo Lianxing, hidden within the ring, had been observing everything in shock.

How could Jiang Che possess such an ability?

[This is truly unbelievable. How can such a small device interfere with a martial artist’s inner energy flow? If these devices were enhanced... could they even suppress a Transcendent-level expert?]

Mo Lianxing’s thoughts naturally ran deeper.

[Just who is Jiang Che? And what kind of terrifying figure is his master? This is truly awe-inspiring.]

Seeing his master’s reaction, Jiang Ruoxu knew there was no hope in seeking her help.

"System? System, are you there?"

[Ding! The system is not here.]

Jiang Ruoxu: "..."

Sometimes, he really felt hopeless.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yunhuang walked up to Jiang Ruoxu with a smile and clapped him heavily on the shoulder.

"Go. Apologize to your cousin, and this matter will be over. Otherwise? Heh—"

Jiang Ruoxu’s eyes widened. Who’s your actual grandson here?

Apologize to Jiang Che? Not a chance!