The Wang Family Was Finished

A night of madness, rain thinning, flowers reddening.

At dawn, Wang Yuyan drifted away alone.

Zhao Sheng had never imagined that Wang Yuyan, renowned for her rationality and icy aloofness, concealed a blazing fire within.

And she was so brave!

As a man, even he felt inferior!

The eighth day of the ninth month was an auspicious day, suitable for weddings and funerals. Fragrant Swallow Valley was draped in red and festooned with decorations, brimming with joy.

Amid the guests and clansmen, Zhao Sheng wore a forlorn expression as he watched Wang Yuyan marry a shifty-eyed man.

That night, Wang Yuqi, already the mother of three children, suddenly flew into a rage for no reason at all. Zhao Sheng had to sweet-talk her countless times before calming her down.

Time was like fine sand clutched in one's hand—the tighter the grip, the faster it slipped away.

As Zhao Sheng diligently cultivated the goals of this lifetime, fifteen years vanished in the blink of an eye.

That day, cries of pain rang out from a room in the inner residence of Zhao Family Fortress.

In the courtyard outside, Zhao Sheng paced back and forth without stopping. His face was filled with anxiety as he repeatedly glanced toward the delivery room.

Just then, a tall, long-legged, handsome youth could not help complaining, "Father, could you stop pacing? You're making my head spin."

The moment he finished speaking, a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl standing beside him chimed in, "Exactly! Father, don't worry. Mother has already given birth to seven of us. There's absolutely no way anything could go wrong."

Zhao Sheng turned to look at his eldest son, Zhao Chenggong, and eldest daughter, Zhao Chengfeng, his expression stern. "You don't understand!"

Bold by nature, Zhao Chengfeng deliberately teased him, "Father, aside from Seventh, which of the six of us doesn't know what you're thinking? You just want a little brother with spiritual roots, don't you?"

"Feng'er, how can you speak to Father like that? Apologize at once!" Zhao Chenggong immediately rebuked his younger sister.

Suddenly scolded by her elder brother, Zhao Chengfeng pouted stubbornly, clearly unconvinced.

Zhao Sheng waved a hand, indicating that it was nothing.

Feng'er was absolutely right. He truly did want to have a son with spiritual roots.

From the day they married, he had made no attempt to hide this from his wife, Wang Yuqi.

Thus, over the years, Wang Yuqi had successively borne him seven children. Though after every birth, she would cry that she would never give birth again.

Yet within two years, she would be pregnant once more.

Zhao Sheng was deeply grateful for his wife's sacrifices over the years. Perhaps his purpose in marrying had initially been highly utilitarian, but after more than a decade together, his feelings for his wife had grown ever deeper, gradually changing those calculating thoughts.

Another two quarters of an hour passed when a loud infant's cry suddenly rang from the delivery room. Zhao Sheng's suspended heart finally settled.

Eighth had finally been born!

After a long while, just as Zhao Sheng could no longer resist the urge to rush into the delivery room, a slender figure finally emerged, carrying a swaddled infant.

"Aunt, let me see!" The instant Zhao Chengfeng saw her, she happily ran over and reached out to take the bundle.

Wang Yuyan turned sideways to evade Feng'er's little outstretched hands and chided, "Your father hasn't even taken a look yet. How could it possibly be your turn, you little girl?"

After all these years, Wang Yuyan remained young. Her appearance was utterly unchanged from over a decade ago, as though time had halted upon her.

Looking at the beautiful woman approaching him, Zhao Sheng always felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Ever since the shifty-eyed man had died in an accident eight years ago, Wang Yuyan had sought Zhao Sheng out again.

From that day onward, the two often engaged in secret trysts.

Beyond the thrill, Zhao Sheng could not help feeling somewhat sorry toward his wife.

Wang Yuyan stuffed the swaddled infant into the man's arms and said with an exceedingly complicated expression, "Here, take a look at your son. Congratulations on finally getting what you wished for!"

At those words, Zhao Sheng's entire body shuddered violently. His hands trembled, and he nearly failed to catch the child.

"You mean..."

"Mm. I've already tested him. He has Four Spiritual Roots." Wang Yuyan nodded in confirmation.

Good, good! Wonderful!

At this moment, Zhao Sheng was incomparably excited. After striving for so many years, Heaven had finally opened its eyes.

"Ha ha! Eighth shall be called Zhao Chengle!" he declared with a hearty laugh.

That very night, Zhao Family Fortress was suddenly placed under strict lockdown. Immediately afterward, carrier pigeons bearing momentous good news flew in every direction.

Before long, people from the Wang Family of Fragrant Swallow Valley arrived, while the Zhao Family's important members outside the fortress also hurried back without pause.

The significance of Eighth's birth to the Zhao Family needed no explanation. Yet this time, the Zhao Family did not make a grand affair of it. Instead, they remained exceptionally low-key.

Apart from certain informed people within the Zhao Family and Wang Family, no outsider knew that the Nanyang Zhao Family had finally produced a child with spiritual roots.

Time flowed on, and a year later—

The summer heat was scorching, cicadas chirped and frogs croaked. In a reception hall within Zhao Family Fortress, Zhao Sheng sat beside a table, slowly polishing a three-inch bronze ancient sword.

This was spoils he had only recently acquired: a First-Rank Mid-Grade Flying Sword.

This year, Zhao Sheng's cultivation had reached Great Perfection of Innate, while his true Combat Strength far surpassed his realm. His lightness skill in particular had reached an inconceivable level.

Name: Zhao Zhiqin (Zhao Sheng) Lifespan: 38/120 Realm: Great Perfection of Innate Physique: Hundred-Year Body (Mortal Grade), Light as a Swallow (Mortal Grade) Talent: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Grade)

Skills: Floating Light Swordplay (Unprecedented), Azure Sea Tide Rising Art (Peak Mastery), Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations (Unprecedented), Wind Chasing Archery (Peak Mastery), Iron Body Tempering (Great Completion)

Looking at the data on the page of the Hundred Lifetimes Book, Zhao Sheng wore a proud expression.

Not because of his cultivation, but because he had left behind an extraordinary, peerless lightness skill for the Zhao Family's descendants.

Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations had been derived from Cloud Dragon Three Transformations. Zhao Sheng had spent eight years and poured out immense effort before deducing it.

Once cultivated to Great Completion, one merely needed to circulate a full breath of true qi to tread nine steps through the air in succession—ten zhang per step, with clouds arising beneath every footfall.

To test this peerless lightness skill, Zhao Sheng had traversed all seven provinces of the Liang Kingdom over half a year. He called upon twelve major martial sects and successively challenged more than twenty Innate Grandmasters, yet not a single one could touch even the hem of his robe.

Two days earlier, he had even personally ambushed and killed an immortal cultivator at Qi Refining Level Four.

Suddenly,

Bang! The reception hall doors were slammed open from outside. Interrupted, Zhao Sheng looked toward the doorway with displeasure, only to see his wife, Wang Yuqi, burst in with tears streaking her face and panic written all over her expression.

"Husband, something terrible has happened! Our Wang Family—wah!"

Wang Yuqi crashed into Zhao Sheng's arms. After saying only one sentence, she burst into loud sobs.

Zhao Sheng's expression changed at once. He hurriedly soothed his wife while asking, "Don't panic. What exactly happened? What has made Qi Mei so grief-stricken? Tell your husband quickly. I'm here—everything will be handled."

"Waaah!"

Wang Yuqi was too choked with sobs to speak. Her right hand trembled as she passed the Thousand Mile Talisman clenched in her palm to her husband.

Zhao Sheng took it, opened it, and read. His face grew increasingly ugly, until it was completely livid.

"How is that possible?!"

At this moment, he was both shocked and enraged.

The Wang Family was finished!