Chapter 905 - 269: Is This Fair?
Chen Yan remained silent, not saying a word.
The voice in the air gradually rose to a high pitch: "But fortunately, my Li Family still has some foundation!
Our Li Family has a hidden scroll of a Cultivation Book! The book contains a cultivation technique!
However, for generations, no one in my Li Family had the talent for cultivation, and with the world having such thin primordial qi, it was impossible to enter the path.
That Treasure Book was left abandoned, hidden away by our family.
Until after the family massacre, when my entire family was annihilated and I barely escaped with my life!
After that day when the strongman killed my entire family, they set fire to our home!
But the heavens had eyes, and after the strongman left, rain poured down, extinguishing the great fire!
I crawled out from the ruins of fire and rain, wailing in pain all night amidst the wreckage of our home!
I knew the Sun Family was powerful, and I dared not wander the streets, only hiding in the deep mountains and forests.
I fled into the mountains, concealed among the villagers, sneaking offerings from the villagers’ graveyards during the day.
At night, I would hide in their woodsheds or animal pens, sleeping alongside the livestock!
I lived in such a haze like this for several months.
Suddenly one day, I vividly recalled a few words my father once told me, and I rushed to the ancestral grave of the Li Family, where in a hidden place, I dug out that scroll of the Treasure Book from the Li Family!
After that day, I cultivated with great dedication, hiding out in the ancestral grave, residing within a tomb!
My life was neither like a human nor a ghost!
The cultivation technique was incredibly difficult, fraught with hardships, and several times I fell into madness, even injuring my tendons and veins.
But I wasn’t afraid of becoming crippled, I was only afraid of being powerless for revenge!"
Chen Yan folded his hands behind his back and sighed lightly, "This cultivation technique of yours, it seems difficult to practice, doesn’t it?"
The voice was silent for a moment, then resumed with a complex tone.
"Very difficult! In truth, my talent is insufficient, but in order to cultivate this technique, I..." The aged voice gave a bitter laugh, as shrill as a night owl: "Later on, I realized this cultivation technique is not the righteous path, it’s rather sinister.
My talent is mediocre, and my natural constitution even more unsuitable.
The technique requires having an entire body of yin bones to cultivate.
I...
So I lurked in the mountains, digging up villagers’ graves to extract suitable bones... refining them one by one!
I used the records from the bow technique, spending many years collecting merely a small portion of the yin bones needed from graveyard bones.
Along the way, I failed many times, and each failure was excruciating! I can hardly remember how many times I nearly died!
But in the end, I succeeded!
Perhaps it was the destiny of the Li Family for generations who couldn’t succeed in cultivation, that somehow I managed it!! I became the first cultivator of the Li Family in three hundred years!"
Chen Yan’s tone gradually turned cold, "Digging up villagers’ ancestral graves, stealing others’ ancestors’ remains to gather the yin bones you need for cultivation..."
The voice responded coldly, "So what?! I would do anything for revenge!"
"And then? After you gathered the yin bones, how long did it take for you to enter the path?"
"I..."
The voice sighed and slowly said, "Unfortunately, the cultivation technique is exceedingly difficult. Gathering all those yin bones took me many years, and when I finally entered the path, I was already past forty..."
"And then? Why didn’t you go for revenge immediately after?"
The voice replied with resignation, "Times have changed... the outside world is evolving rapidly, and cold weapons like swords and blades have become obsolete, guns and cannons gradually emerging.
The Sun Family developed quite well, growing into a major force with guards and a household equipped with dozens of guns, becoming a local power.
Though I gained entry into the path, as a mere First Realm cultivator, with barely any taos practice, I might handle ordinary people but against guns and cannons, I’m merely flesh and blood, after all.
I knew I only had one life and only one chance for revenge. I’m not afraid of dying, but I refuse to waste my only chance for revenge..."
"So, after entering the path, you didn’t immediately seek revenge but continued to cultivate, wishing to reach higher mastery before seeking retribution?"
"Yes!"
Chen Yan sneered, "So how old are you now?"
"From the time my family was massacred to this year, it’s been calculated as over one hundred and fifty years."
Chen Yan: "..."
His expression turned peculiar, unable to help but ask, "Why did it take you over a hundred and fifty years to seek revenge?"
"I..." The voice said bitterly, "This cultivation technique of mine has defects, and the world is lacking in primordial qi. My talent is insufficient, and by chance, I used external means, stealing others’ remains, barely managing to gather enough yin bones for cultivation.
As a result, breaking through each realm became extremely difficult!
Every time breaking through a realm, I needed to nourish my body with a large amount of corpse qi, refining my body until it’s strong enough to withstand the backlash from a realm breakthrough...
Each time my body was refined with corpse qi, I had to find an ancient large tomb to hide in. After refining, I needed a long slumber for the corpse qi to fully transform my body...
When I broke from the First Realm to the Second Realm, that time, I slept for a full hundred years!"
Chen Yan sneered, "And then, upon waking, you reached the Second Realm, but I guess... with such forced breakthroughs using external strength, the foundation is probably unstable.
So after waking up, you had to continue painstakingly cultivating, spending many more years to stabilize the realm, and also to cultivate some sinister spells and techniques to use for revenge...
Which is why it wasn’t until one hundred and fifty years after the family tragedy, that you truly enacted your revenge?"
This time, before the voice in the air could respond, Chen Yan already mocked coldly, word by word:
"So why didn’t you seek your damn revenge already?!"
One hundred and fifty years!!
Even if those who annihilated the Li Family in those days were in their twenties or thirties!
They would have at most lived another fifty years or so and would have all died!!
Not to mention after one hundred and fifty years!!
There’s a saying, "Eight generations of ancestors."
Generally speaking, twenty years is a generation.
Over one hundred and fifty years, that truly amounted to at least eight generations past!
Meaning, those who annihilated the Li Family back then are now the "eight generations of ancestors" of the Sun Family today!!
Dean Shen and his wife, who did they provoke?
They were born after the founding of Dragon Country! Endured hardships growing up — after the founding of Dragon Country, large scale movements eradicated class distinctions!
Distributing lands and overthrowing the rich, wiped out those old powerful families of the old society.
Though the Sun Family had power back in ancient times, after the founding of Dragon Country, they were already knocked back to square one.
In Dean Shen’s husband’s generation, they came from a humble background, only starting to prosper through business after economic reforms.
Having nothing to do with the Sun Family of a hundred and fifty years ago, not benefiting from their ancestors in the slightest.
There’s a saying, "Calamity doesn’t extend to family yet favor doesn’t either."
But Dean Shen’s husband didn’t benefit one bit from those ancestors of eight generations ago!
Just look at it this way.
A person, growing up normally, wearing a red scarf in primary school, with parents who are ordinary wage earners.
As a child, you get bullied, fail exams, and your parents have to lower their head in front of teachers.
As you grow, you live honestly, without breaking laws or regulations, with your parents investing their lifelong savings to buy you a house, arranging for you to marry and have kids.
You have some capability, catching the favorable environment to gather capital and do business, succeeding bit by bit.
In the process, you act with kindness, remember your roots, and do plenty of good deeds.
Facing the hardships of the business world, you’ve encountered challenges multiple times but without blaming the heavens or others, you have managed to carve out a decent Jia Ye with hard work.
Then suddenly one day, someone jumps out and says... a hundred and fifty years ago, during the Qing Dynasty, your ancestors killed their family.
So they want to stab you to death.
Just ask you, would you accept it?!
Do you feel wronged?