Where in life do we not meet again?

Where in life do we not meet again?

The Su Family was working hard to break down the door.

The sound of giant hammers pounding never ceased.

Elsewhere, the corpses of over ninety Su Family members had been piled into a heap.

Some had already been gnawed down to gleaming white bones.

At last...

With several experts joining forces in their assault.

The thick Stone Wall sealing the cave entrance finally shattered with a thunderous crash.

"It really is here!"

Su Yunhe was overjoyed.

Twenty-eight or twenty-nine people crowded before the Mountain Cave, peering eagerly inside.

At that moment, they had completely forgotten the grief of losing their loved ones moments earlier.

The Monarch Inheritance!

To a minor family in remote Azure Wave City, that was a figure high above the clouds! Every Monarch was a legend of the martial world, the dream of the young.

This was the hope of the Lineage's rise!

Just as they were brimming with delight and wild imaginings...

A gray, murky mist suddenly drifted out from the shattered entrance alongside the dust, swift and fierce.

The instant it appeared, it enveloped the entire entrance.

Su Yunhe and Su Changying bore the brunt of it, swallowed directly by the gray mist.

Then the gray mist surged outward, engulfing all twenty-eight people at the entrance!

The gray mist seeped through every crack and crevice.

Earth-shaking screams erupted.

No one was spared.

All their exposed skin began to rot.

Their eyes especially.

In an instant, all twenty-eight people fell to the ground and rolled about madly, screaming in agony. Among them were the Family Head, all the elders, the retainers...

As well as every direct-line descendant who had survived until now.

The poisonous mist took effect quickly. The screaming and struggling ended after only a brief time.

More than twenty people lay sprawled on the ground, motionless, already beginning to rot away slowly.

Among them was Su Fei, Su Yue's Big Brother and the Su Family's first heir.

When this eldest young master of the Su Family saw that his younger brother had obtained such vital information, he became anxious.

Terrified that his younger brother would use this opportunity to rise in status and replace him, he had wept and clamored to come along on this treasure hunt and contribute to the Lineage.

In the end, he rotted into a lump of mud here.

Without a sound.

Only two people remained alive: Su Yue, who had been assigned to guard the corpses, and his cousin Su Yun, who was even younger than him.

Now, the two brothers stood stiffly in place, their faces blank with terror.

Their hollow eyes stared at the corpses strewn chaotically before the cave entrance.

Those corpses were rotting.

They were their family.

Father, mother, grandfather, uncles, elder brothers...

The matter was too confidential, and the stakes were too great.

Thus, everyone who had come on this journey was of the Su Family's direct bloodline.

Even their maternal relatives had been kept in the dark until now.

This wave had nearly wiped out the Su Family!

The key question was that they did not even know why.

How had this happened? The two were utterly dumbfounded, their minds blank.

Looking at the twenty-eight corpses ahead, they felt as though the entire universe had exploded inside their minds in an instant.

They simply could not understand how this had happened. Just moments ago... there had still been over a hundred people! How could they suddenly...

Be gone?! The mountain wind howled, stirring the treetops, its sound like ghosts wailing.

In this remote, desolate place, it was especially chilling.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

Several shrill, sinister cries added another layer of terror.

They came from unknown strange birds that had caught the scent of blood and corpses.

Su Yue and Su Yun shuddered violently and came back to their senses. Their legs had gone weak, and they crawled over, wailing through their tears.

"What happened? What happened to all of you?"

"What happened to you all?!"

"Dad! What happened to you? Say something!"

No matter how they called, the people on the ground could never answer again.

The two wailed to heaven and earth, their faces streaked with tears and snot.

Amid the howling mountain wind, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Hello there."

A warm smile hung on Fang Che's face. With his hands clasped behind his back, he wore a black robe patterned with dark gold as he strolled leisurely out of the Mountain Cave.

As he moved, faint glimmers from the dark-gold threads flickered in and out of sight.

He walked out of the cave with his hands behind his back. His first step landed on the head of Su Yue's father, Su Yunhe, the Su Family Head; his second step landed on Su Changying's head.

Crunch, crunch.

He walked forward, one step on one head after another, flesh and blood falling away beneath his feet.

Yet Fang Che's expression did not change. He remained gentle, refined, and mild.

When he reached Su Yue, Fang Che looked warmly at him through Su Yue's bewildered gaze and said, "Brother Su, what a coincidence. We meet again. Truly, where in life do we not meet again?"

Su Yue seemed to understand something, yet he still could not fully comprehend it.

His eyes blazed as though breathing fire while he stared at Fang Che's face, gritting his teeth. "Fang... Fang Che? Why are you... why are you here?"

Fang Che smiled. "Because you're here. You're my best friend, my best brother. You've taken such good care of me all these years, so naturally I had to come repay you."

"Repay me?"

For a moment, clarity flashed through Su Yue's bewildered mind.

He remembered Fang Che's words once more.

"This is just a small token of repayment from your little brother for all Brother Su's care over the years."

He finally understood.

"You... you..."

Su Yue choked on a breath, unable to speak. "...This was all you? You planned it? What vicious methods!"

Fang Che smiled faintly, and the long blade in his hand flashed.

Blood sprayed.

Su Yun, who was standing to one side in a daze and had yet to recover, was cut down with a single slash.

His head rolled away.

Su Yun was merely a Martial Apprentice, his cultivation even lower than Fang Che's before his breakthrough. He had only been brought along to broaden his horizons. Having experienced such a tremendous upheaval in life for the first time, his mind had been shaken to pieces, and he was still out of sorts. Fang Che killed him with one stroke.

Fang Che wiped the blade on Su Yue's clothes. Then, as if carelessly, he held its tip in the air against Su Yue's right kneecap and smiled softly. "When two brothers are having a heart-to-heart, having an outsider listening nearby is always a little uncomfortable, isn't it?"

His voice was very gentle.

But Su Yue's body shrank back.

His vacant eyes shifted toward his younger brother's headless corpse. Blood streamed from the severed neck, spreading over the rocks and spilling over their edges.

Drip, drip.

His eyes met his younger brother's wide, bewildered eyes, still open even in death.

Su Yue began trembling all over.

When he turned to look at Fang Che, infinite terror suddenly filled his eyes.

"Demon!"

He roared.

He tried to draw his sword, but when he reached out, his hand touched something sticky.

It was his younger brother's blood.

Suddenly, everything before him felt so unreal.

"Demon?"

Fang Che smiled. "More evil than your Su Family?"

Su Yue roared and drew his sword as he charged forward, only for Fang Che to stab his knee without hesitation. The gleaming blade tip pierced through his leg, trailing strands of blood.

His blade tip had been hovering there all along.

Su Yue had charged forward in his fury and impaled himself on it instead.

Just as a shrill scream burst from him, a rock smashed into his mouth.

With a pop, broken stone and teeth fell together.

Su Yue fell backward, face raised to the sky. One foot planted firmly on his chest, just below his throat.

The toe pressed against his throat, leaning forward and pushing down slightly.

It forced his Adam's apple to sink inward.

"Don't scream. Let us brothers have a proper talk. And while we're at it, help me sort out my thoughts."

Fang Che said earnestly, "Brother Su, I need you."

Su Yue completely broke down.

Listening to Fang Che's gentle, serious voice, he could not stop trembling.

He had never imagined that this little brother who had obeyed his every word for so many years would suddenly turn into Fierce Gods and Evil Spirits.

His entire body radiated a cold indifference that treated human lives like blades of grass.

He had forgotten hatred now. Only fear remained.

He trembled uncontrollably. "Talk... talk about what?"

"Talk about your Su Family's identity. Talk about your purpose. Talk about what you wanted to do by approaching me from the age of twelve and beginning to influence me."

Fang Che patted Su Yue's face with the flat of his blade, producing sharp slaps. "Tell me the things I want to hear. Understand, Brother Su?"

Su Yue trembled harder and harder.

Fang Che sighed. "Actually, I rather look down on people like you. Exploiting a child who had never seen the world, exploiting a child's natural rebelliousness, exploiting the sensitivity of a child living at his maternal grandfather's home and naturally feeling like he was dependent on others—using all that to do your dirty work. Don't you think that's rather... despicable?"

Su Yue's lips trembled. The intense pain had left his thoughts almost entirely blank.

Fang Che was in no hurry.

He simply organized his spoils nearby.

This haul from the Su Family was truly abundant.

He had no concerns about Su Yue. With his combat experience from his previous life, even if Su Yue's cultivation were several levels higher than his, he would not fear him.

What was more, this fellow had been pampered since childhood and possessed poor mental fortitude.

His mind had already been shattered by the string of blows, and Fang Che had crippled one of his legs. There was even less chance of retaliation.

More importantly... when he killed Su Yun and wounded Su Yue, he had distinctly felt the Five Elements Spirit Gu stir within him.

Then a bloodthirsty malice abruptly rose up. That malice was fueling his Killing Intent.

Fang Che's heart chilled, and he seemed to understand something.

"So that's how it is."

He immediately activated the Limitless True Scripture and thoroughly suppressed the Five Elements Spirit Gu. At once, his mind became clear.

Then he silently repeated in his heart, So that really is how it is!

A moment later, under Fang Che's renewed questioning, the broken Su Yue finally began to speak.

Though he did not know much, it was already enough for Fang Che.

Simply put.

The Su Family and the Fang Family were both Ninth Grade martial families. The difference was that, twenty years ago, the Fang Family had suffered tremendous losses in an accident, and its power had never recovered.

For all these years, it had hovered on the brink of being demoted.

The Su Family, however, had secretly joined the One Heart Sect under the Sole True Sect years ago. With the sect's hidden support, it had remained stable.

Thus, it had long harbored ambitions. If it could swallow the Fang Family's power, it might advance to an Eighth Grade family.

There were twelve grades of martial families. Twelfth Grade was the weakest, belonging to newly established families; Eleventh Grade was the period of branching out, while Tenth Grade was essentially a strengthened Eleventh Grade, and Ninth Grade was the stage of stability.

A Ninth Grade family could already be called enormous. At the very least, it had several hundred blood relatives and Martial Ancestor experts overseeing it.

Twenty years ago, Fang Xingmeng, one of the Fang Family's two martial Grandmasters, died unexpectedly while carrying out a mission.

Fang Qianyi, a cultivation genius of the Fang Family, disappeared together with her close friend while they were out traveling.

Two years later, Fang Qianyi returned, but she brought back a child with her: Fang Che.

It caused quite a stir at the time.

Setting aside the gossip.

The Su Family attacked from several fronts at once. It suppressed the Fang Family in business, obstructed it in martial affairs, and interfered with its Guardian Hall missions.

It exerted pressure in every possible way.

As Fang Qianyi's martial cultivation grew higher and higher over the years, and she gradually began to become a core pillar of the Fang Family, the Su Family began to lure in Fang Che, who was only around ten years old at the time.

Through all manner of overt hints and subtle suggestions, they successfully planted in the heart of that rebellious young man a feeling of "living under another's roof."

Once such feelings took root, dissatisfaction and hatred toward her maternal grandfather's family naturally arose as well.

They used this to influence Fang Qianyi—though a child might be disobedient, he was still her flesh and blood. If he acted up at his maternal grandfather's house and was scolded by them, how could she not feel uncomfortable? Thus, over the past few years, under the relentless torment of an immature child, the Fang Family could hardly be called happy.

On one side, the crisis of their aristocratic family being downgraded hung over them; on the other, the pressure of missions loomed before them. And at home, there was an unreasonable child who found fault with everything and had to be coaxed at every moment...

Those who understood, understood.

After several years of this, the Fang Family finally encountered an opportunity. By a twist of fate, they obtained a fragmentary Treasure Map.

So Su Yue began influencing Fang Che again and again...

And this was their final chance.

A master from the One Heart Sect, a subordinate sect of the Sole True Sect, happened to be passing through Azure Wave City in search of Five Elements Seeds for the sect.

The Su Family simply pushed Fang Che forward.

If he succeeded, he would become a dog of the One Heart Sect completely. Once he completed a few missions, they would report him immediately. That would conveniently drag the Fang Family down with him as well! They could even earn rewards from the Guardian Hall.

If he failed, Fang Che would die on the spot.

Then Fang Qianyi would surely go mad: her son had died at his father's family—how could she possibly remain unmoved?

Thus, no matter how things turned out, this was a scheme that benefited the Su Family.

At the very least, it could drive a wedge through the Fang Family and leave them badly weakened.

Once the Fang Family was badly weakened and failed the Guardian Hall's aristocratic family evaluation, they would naturally fall to Tenth Grade. The Fang Family's Ninth Grade resources would then naturally be divided among the Su Family and several other families.

And with the One Heart Sect secretly backing them, the Su Family would certainly be able to seize even greater benefits.

The Su Family had made the entire plan exceedingly thorough.

But no one in the Su Family had expected it.

This plan, which would have benefited them no matter how it developed, had somehow gone wrong at the crucial moment.

That fool Fang Che, who had always let others manipulate him, had suddenly thrown out an inheritance of the Absolute Sword Monarch—an utterly fatal temptation to the Su Family.

So the Su Family's elite had muddleheadedly buried themselves en masse in these desolate mountains.

And no one knew.

Everyone who knew had come! The Su Family simply did not dare leave anyone in the know at home, because that One Heart Sect envoy was about to arrive.

The envoy had many methods. What if he managed to wheedle this information out of someone? Would the "inheritance of the Absolute Sword Monarch" still have any share left for the Su Family? Things were just that twisted and bizarre.

Who could have imagined that a car speeding steadily and fiercely along the highway, with no one inside making any wrong move, would suddenly, clear-headedly, turn into a ditch? And that ditch would turn out to be a cliff leading straight to hell.

A new book has been released. Everyone is welcome to bookmark it. Through the storms and rains of the martial world, let us join hands and walk another stretch of the road together.

On the first day of release, too few words would not look good, so four chapters will be posted this morning. There will be another chapter at six this afternoon, to accompany everyone's meal.