Chen Sanliang fell silent upon hearing the words, appearing as if he hadn't heard Zhu Xun's rebuke. Without any reaction, he walked over with a solemn expression, arrived at the grave, and took offerings out from the basket, arranging them meticulously. He then lit incense and knelt before the grave, burning paper money.
Only after a long while did Chen Sanliang let out a faint sigh: "You blame Suzhen's death on me, but I blame it on the Academy. If not for your Academy's relentless pressure and covert scheming, how could Suzhen have taken such a desperate measure? How could she have met her demise?"
At this moment, Chen Sanliang turned his head to look at Zhu Xun. His eyes were scarlet, with tears of blood slowly sliding down: "The Academy is the real culprit behind Suzhen's death. You are the murderer! Your entire Academy is culpable!"
"You yourself are arrogant and rebellious, opposing the Great Way of the Saints, which angered the Academy. You then petitioned for the execution of Prince Pingbian, offending the Emperor. Clearly, it is you who brought this upon yourself, yet you dare to blame it on us? You did not abide by the rules, wanting the Emperor's favor to rise suddenly, leading to all these tragedies. You are fond of grandstanding, yet you dare bark in front of me?" Zhu Xun was no easy opponent and countered Chen Sanliang directly.
"Nonsense! It's clear your Academy wanted to seize my path and knowledge, using despicable methods in secret, and now you turn it around on me? I only curse the gods for their blindness in letting that dog Zhong Wubai achieve the Yang God." Chen Sanliang's voice was filled with irrepressible killing intent and fury.
Upon hearing Chen Sanliang's words, Zhu Xun sneered: "This is just the empty bark of the incompetent. If you truly had the talent to establish a path, you wouldn't be brooding in the Northern Land for decades only to comprehend a mere shadow. Your talent does not match your ambition; nothing surpasses losing one's position due to lack of virtue."
Hearing Zhu Xun's words, Chen Sanliang was trembling with anger, his face turning pale, unable to utter a word. After a long time, Chen Sanliang finally said: "Do not be arrogant, one day, I will make you pay the price!"
"You're just an impotent scholar. With your limited abilities, you think you can shake the Academy? Be careful or you might implicate the Chen Family, dragging them into a land of eternal damnation." Zhu Xun's words were filled with contempt.
Upon hearing this, Chen Sanliang stopped arguing and instead continued to burn paper money at the grave.
When the paper money finished burning, he stood up and glanced at Zhang Chen: "I underestimated you. Thank you for avenging Suzhen. You are now worthy to become my disciple. Now that Suzhen is gone and you have nowhere to learn, I wish to take you as my pupil. What do you say?"
Zhang Chen gave Chen Sanliang a look, surprised that the previously arrogant and conceited scholar would say such a thing.
Unfortunately, Zhang Chen had already become the Ancestor of Heart Learning, rendering Chen Sanliang's teachings worthless to him. With the world now rejecting Chen Sanliang, how could Zhang Chen become his disciple?
"The reason I acted was simply because Han Suzhen was my mentor, nothing more. As for your gratitude, there is no relation between us, nor do I need your thanks. As for learning from you, forget it! I am not Chai Chuanxin, without his family background or status, how could I be worthy to be your student?" Zhang Chen's voice was cold and calm, every word and sentence maintained a distance, yet each came as a stab to Chen Sanliang's heart.
Especially when the name 'Chai Chuanxin' was mentioned, Chen Sanliang's throat tightened, a trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he staggered, nearly collapsing, his face drained of color.
Chai Chuanxin was indeed a chosen closed-door disciple, carefully selected by Chen Sanliang as his successor, the inheritor of his teachings. But this very disciple delivered the fatal blow that killed Chen Sanliang's wife. Could there be a more mocking situation?
In Chen Sanliang's eyes, certainly not.
Zhang Chen's words were calm, but every word and sentence unsparingly accused Chen Sanliang of blindness and foolishness.
The frustration Zhang Chen harbored for a long time was finally released upon seeing Chen Sanliang's wretched state, bringing him great relief.
Chen Sanliang gazed at Zhang Chen, his lips moved but words failed him, leaving only a sigh filled with sobs echoing through the forest, appearing especially desolate.
"Chen Sanliang, it's time we leave!"
At this moment, a voice called from within the forest, revealing a man in white standing beneath a large tree, quietly observing the scene.
No one knew when the man had arrived, or perhaps he was always meant to be there.
Zhang Chen turned towards the voice, spotting the figure in white beneath the tree. The man was impossibly handsome, with a slight feminine charm, so enchanting that even the mountains and forests dulled in comparison.
In the next moment, Zhang Chen's pupils contracted rapidly, a flash of Golden Light burst from his eyes, and the man's form distorted. The figure transformed into a fox larger than a wolfdog, its fur a pure white.
"This is not human!" Zhang Chen's heart skipped, but he quickly suppressed it.
Zhang Chen cast a sidelong glance at Zhu Xun, who appeared astonished by the man's beauty and femininity, yet failed to see the man's true form.
The man's eyes were fixed solely on Chen Sanliang, disregarding Zhang Chen and Zhu Xun as if they were mere ants unworthy of his gaze.
"So imposing, blatantly arrogant!" Several descriptors flashed through Zhang Chen's mind.
Chen Sanliang, hearing the call, turned and staggered towards the man. The two of them walked together, vanishing into the forest.
"What a beautiful man, even more presentable than the most beautiful women on earth. If he were a woman, he would surely charm nations and cause people's Divine Soul to spin." Zhu Xun remarked.
"He's not human; he's a Fox Spirit," Zhang Chen observed the forest then lowered his voice.
"What? Is this true? Can it really be?" Zhu Xun was shocked, filled with disbelief. In his eyes, that was clearly a person, how could it be a Fox Spirit?
But a Fox Spirit capable of deceiving his eyes with such cultivation, there could only be one in the world: Bai Cang!
Ancestor of the Fox Race, Bai Cang!
"Indeed, it's a Fox Spirit," Zhang Chen confidently remarked, recalling the Fox Immortal's words about the Fox Race's ancestor.
"Those beastly demons, drawn by the aura of the great tomb, have crossed the White Bone Great Wall into the human world?" Zhu Xun's voice was filled with gravity.
"This cannot stand; it must be reported to the Inspection and Supervision Department and Prince Pingbian's Mansion immediately, or there will be great trouble."
After saying this, Zhu Xun, ignoring Zhang Chen, swiftly used a Lightweight Skill to glide away, stepping on branches as he moved through the mountains.
In the Yin Spirit Realm, the hallmark is the ability to fly.
When the strength of the soul surpasses the weight of the body, one can propel the body to fly.
However, the human form is heavy, heavier than the Five Peaks. Even a Yang God capable of moving mountains wouldn't carry their own body around.
Carrying one's own body is taxing, akin to trying to lift oneself up, which is impossible.
Thus, Zhu Xun kept lightening his body to move swiftly through the mountains like the Lightweight Skill, rather than hauling his physical form in a run.
"How did Chen Sanliang become entangled with the Demon Race?" A thought flickered in Zhang Chen's mind.
In this world, the Demon Race is unlike the concept people imagine. Here, they are divided into two types: the first being intelligent beast tribes that gather to form the Demon Race.
The second type is Great Demons that have become prominent, using the Human Race's bloodline to reproduce, resulting in Half-demons.
These Half-demons possess human appearance and intellect, perfectly inheriting all the advantages of the Demon Race, avoiding the embarrassment of a Great Demon's offspring being ordinary beasts and sidestepping the initial difficulty of gaining intelligence.