Chapter 1128: Chapter 1122: A Golden Crow
Spiritual power collided, and the Immortal Mountain was collapsing.
The moment the Li Clan descendants arrived at the Qiu Clan Immortal Mountain, they had already begun their frenzied slaughter.
They began to appear at the foot of the mountain and halfway up the mountainside.
Carrying the Ancestral Spirit Tablets on their bodies, they were entirely fearless.
Since their birth, the stories of the family spanning hundreds of years had been passed down by word of mouth.
Legend had it that as long as every clansman lived a peaceful, dutiful life, or died in battle for the family, they would go to the Old Ancestor’s world and reunite with the Old Ancestor.
In the Old Ancestor’s world, they would be able to see the ancestors whose spirit tablets were lined up in the Ancestral Hall.
Their deceased family members would be in majestic pavilions filled with immortal energy, gathering beneath an ancient tree laden with spiritual fruits, enjoying the most sumptuous feasts with their loved ones.
At the banquet, the clansmen would boast to each other about the experiences they were most proud of—whether it was slaying powerful opponents, spending their entire lives serving the family’s bloodline, raising a group of outstanding children, or simply living a happy life…
Amidst the recounting of these experiences, the clansmen would laugh heartily, laughing at a life lived without regrets.
Even though the Ancestors had previously come out to clarify the truth, it still did not hinder this belief from being passed down generation after generation.
Therefore…
“Kill!”
At the foot of the Qiu Clan Immortal Mountain, a Foundation Establishment descendant no more than a hundred years old wore a crazed expression.
Without hesitation, he floated into the air, drew his bow, and nocked an arrow, using his Spiritual power to shoot nine arrows at once.
As the counterattack from within the Qiu Clan Immortal Mountain began, this Foundation Establishment descendant gripped the talisman at his waist, the small wooden sword, and the Ancestral Spirit Tablet—these were the most powerful sources of confidence granted by the family’s Ancestors.
With the arrow shot, his Spiritual power was depleted.
Clansmen brushed past him one by one; they merely exchanged glances before charging forward with crazed, ferocious battle cries.
This continued until the clansmen occupied more and more territory on the Immortal Mountain, and the corpses of both their fellow clansmen and the Qiu Clan members became increasingly common around them.
…
“My goodness.”
Li Xinri stepped onto the Immortal Mountain, sprinting alone in mid-air.
Ripples could be seen spreading where his feet landed. His white, noble young master’s robes fluttered in the wind.
Holding no weapons in his hands, he looked toward his clansmen slaughtering their way into the mountain and couldn’t help but feel awestruck.
This was especially true for the Silver Moon Lineage.
Those miners who usually freeloaded food and drinks in the Demon Suppression Grotto-Heaven had all donned their concealment suits (The Nightveil Robes).
Moving like ghosts, they were simply a group of skilled, cold-blooded assassins.
“Damn it, you pale-faced ghost, secretly becoming an assassin behind my back.”
Li Xinri cursed Li Xinjue inwardly, finally understanding what Li Xinjue had meant when he said, ‘Just put on the concealment suit (The Nightveil Robes).’
It turned out that before putting on the suit, they were miners, but the moment they put it on, they became assassins.
He then spat softly, looking solemnly at other parts of the battlefield.
For the first time in his life, he was participating in such a massive battle.
Usually, his daughter Zhijing handled these things on his behalf.
He thought he would remain a useless playboy for his entire life, staying in the Northguard City forever under the protection of the Grand Tutor and his father.
But now, a feeling he had never experienced before suddenly welled up in his heart.
Perhaps wasting so much time acting, the playboy had truly squandered his years, leaving him inferior even to a group of juniors.
Perhaps his father never sparing him a glance, which made him feel inferior and lesser than others since childhood, was nothing more than his own willing degeneracy.
The collision of Spiritual power caused the snow on the Qiu Clan Immortal Mountain to scatter in all directions.
For the first time, Li Xinri felt that he shouldn’t be confined to Northguard City for his entire life.
He should be like this snow—blown by the collision of Spiritual power, yet unyieldingly scattering with the wind to other places in the sky.
Even if few people would spare these snowflakes a glance, they would melt into water to nourish a wild grass or a growing tree.
And this tree was the family—the Li Clan.
Amidst his thoughts, the sound of Spiritual power colliding came from the ground.
Li Xinri looked down and saw a Golden Core realm cultivator charging toward a clansman connected by blood.
“Hmph!”
Li Xinri coldly snorted. He erupted with scorching Spiritual power, making him resemble a blazing sun amidst the snowy sky.
The Fire-attribute Spiritual power of the Great Sun Sacred Fire Scripture allowed the Metal-attribute spiritual root he mobilized to transform into three flaming golden pillars, blocking in front of the attacked clansman.
Then, the golden pillars changed shape into golden spikes, piercing through the opponent’s thigh in a single strike, sending blood splattering into the cloudy sky.
Looking across the entire Li Clan, only the descendants of the Demon Suppression Lineage thought Li Xinri was trash.
On the contrary, the experts in the Azure Cloud Prefecture all knew that this kid was a genius covered in dust.
As for why… it was naturally because one of the mandatory life lessons for all cultivators above the Divinity Transformation realm in the Azure Cloud Prefecture was to follow the rumors of the Azure Cloud Prefecture, travel a long distance to beat up Li Xinri, just to seek a sense of refreshing satisfaction.
In the beginning, whoever could find Li Xinri inside the countless secret chambers of the Demon Suppression Lineage was allowed to give him a severe beating.
However, the latest battle record was that a tiger demon from the Ethereal Immortal Grotto-Heaven, who had just entered the Divinity Transformation realm, was forced to pull an ox cart in the Demon Suppression Lineage for eight years.
“Clack!”
Three flaming golden pillars, ten meters long, stood tall.
Li Xinri stood in front of the recently attacked clansman. The clansman stared at Li Xinri’s back, his eyes widened.
There were only so many family experts from the main branch in the Azure Cloud Prefecture, yet he had never seen Li Xinri before.
Just now… he had seen Li Xinri’s Primordial Spirit… a Golden Crow!
The Golden Crow recorded in the ancient texts in the family’s library pavilion!
When breaking through from Nascent Soul to Divinity Transformation, confronting the fifth-tier Heavenly Tribulation, the Primordial Spirit was equivalent to a person’s soul and true Qi, and similarly imitated powerful ancient creatures.
The more powerful the Primordial Spirit, the higher the tier of the Heavenly Tribulation this person faced when breaking through to the Divinity Transformation realm.
A Golden Crow…
“Clan Elder… thank you,” the family descendant called out.
“Mhm.”
Li Xinri responded. Then, with a wave of his hand, the three golden pillars dispersed.
He said to the clansman, “Be careful,” and then a fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he charged forward to kill.
The Qiu Clan still had its profound foundations after all.
At the peak of the mountain, he sensed the Spiritual power of the peak Void Refining realm; that must be the final trump card left behind by the Qiu Clan.
On this snowy day filled with killing intent, a scorching flame rushed toward the mountain peak.
Li Xinri hurried toward where his clansmen were.
His eyes were filled with killing intent.
The junior’s address of ‘Clan Elder’ made him realize that he could go much further.
In this world, apart from his daughter Zhijing, there were still many, many people in the family who held him in high regard.
The Qiu Clan Immortal Mountain was quite large.
The family was launching an assault on the Immortal Mountain, and everyone had their own tasks and their own designated areas to fight.
Only in this way could they completely cut off the Qiu Immortal Clan’s path of retreat.
Halfway up the Immortal Mountain, outside the so-called ‘Snow God Temple’, the shadows on the ten-meter-tall wall engraved with array formations flowed backward, gradually forming the figure of a man with sinister eyes.
As soon as Li Xinjue arrived, numerous Qiu Clan cultivators charged out from within the Snow God Temple.
“Kill them.”
With a wave of Li Xinjue’s hand, descendants of the Silver Moon Lineage emerged from the shadows in all directions.
Wielding daggers, the killing arts they cultivated were born solely for the purpose of slaughter.
In less than a moment, only wails of agony remained.
A descendant approached.
“Grandfather, there is an array formation beneath the Snow God Temple used for hiding people. The Qiu Clan’s survivors might be hidden inside.”
“Good. Slaughter all the guardians until none remain.”
Li Xinjue issued the command, his own body already transforming into black mist and vanishing into the cloudy sky.
Ever since this family head of the Silver Moon Lineage obtained the Grade 5 spiritual object, he had acquired the Golden Concealment Body, using it as the foundation of his cultivation to comprehend the laws of Darkness.
All the descendants of the Silver Moon Lineage were influenced by this bloodline, acquiring the [Nightwalker] trait, making them the most suitable candidates to become ‘assassins’.
This so-called Snow God Temple was the place where the Qiu Clan enshrined their spirit tablets, so there weren’t many experts present.
Activating his technique, Li Xinjue turned into black mist and appeared behind a Nascent Soul cultivator.
With just a reach of his hand, he pressed it against the other party’s back.
Black mist surged around Li Xinjue, and the Traceless Mist Gold within his body transformed into tentacles that wrapped around the opponent.
Li Xinjue stared expressionlessly as the opponent wailed and struggled.
Once all the guardians were killed, Li Xinjue led over a hundred Silver Moon descendants to the place where the Qiu Clan’s survivors were hidden.
Upon opening the array formation, there were roughly fifty thousand people inside.
Seeing Li Xinjue, the remaining survivors of the Qiu Clan were terrified, their cries echoing through the chamber.
Faced with such a scene, even Li Xinjue, who had once struggled to establish a family in Silver Moon City, felt a flicker of hesitation.
But in the end, he said nothing.
Under the fearful gazes of the Qiu Clan’s survivors, he dissolved into black mist and surged forward. Chaos followed, and before long, silence filled the secret chamber.
Only after all sound had faded did Li Xinjue step out, his clansmen following behind. Their dark robes swayed in the cold wind and snow as they departed.
Glancing slightly at the blood on the ground, Li Xinjue suddenly let out a long sigh.
He didn’t know since when he had started doing so much dirty work for the family.
After resolving the Nangong Lineage, the Dark Division of the family’s Hall of Heavenly Principles had followed Li Xinnian to the Western Border, gradually handing the leadership over to him.
Li Xinnian hadn’t said anything, but Li Xinjue understood: the Family Head had determined he was the most suitable candidate for doing dirty work, and the family held high expectations for him.
Li Xinjue slightly raised his head, looking at the figure of Li Xinri who had transformed into a blazing sun, a trace of envy flashing through his eyes.
He actually wished he could be someone like his older brother.
Even if he were called ‘trash’ by the entire Northguard City, he would still be a million times overjoyed.
At the very least, he wouldn’t have had to step into Silver Moon City alone, carrying the guilt of his mother’s attempted assassination of Li Xinri, which led to their expulsion from the Northguard City, as well as the doubts regarding his own bloodline.
If that were the case, he wouldn’t have had to willingly stain his hands with blood just to prove to the family that he harbored not a single shred of malice from beginning to end.
That’s right, it was starting from that time that Li Xinri stood in the sunlight, while he stood in the shadows.
And then he spent his entire life paying off the debt for what his mother had done back then.
Just like this time, when his niece Li Zhijing was injured, he brought the descendants of the Silver Moon Lineage here without hesitation.
Li Xinjue suddenly smiled. “I didn’t expect older brother to have such capability.”
Li Xinri transforming into a Golden Crow to slay enemies had truly astonished Li Xinjue to the extreme.
He took a deep breath, waved his hand, and the descendants of the Silver Moon Lineage walked into the darkness, continuing to slay enemies.
In this moment, Li Xinjue felt a sense of relief.
Looking at the soaring Golden Crow, he chose to accept his destiny.
He had already walked into the darkness, stepping into a mire from which he could never emerge.
The moment the spirit tablet granted to him by the Old Ancestor lit up was his most joyous moment; it meant that both the Old Ancestor and the clansmen acknowledged his identity as a member of the Li Clan.
He had already obtained everything he wanted.
He was no longer afraid to forge ahead in the darkness, watching Li Xinri fly out of the Northguard City and out from under the towering shadow of his father.
—
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