Sword Pavilion.
Xia Wudao lay on the bed.
Even in a comatose state, his entire body kept convulsing, and pained groans continuously escaped his mouth.
Madam Liu sat to one side. Watching her miserable eldest son, she had cried her eyes red and kept cursing Xia Wuji.
After spending a long time calming himself at the ancestral temple, Xia Xuan now stood nearby, his expression gloomy and silent.
"Father, Xia Wuji is back!"
Xia Wuhui rushed into the room with an excited expression and spoke to Xia Xuan.
Xia Xuan still said nothing.
Madam Liu hurriedly rose, seized Xia Xuan's arm, and said, "Xia Xuan, look at what Wudao has become!"
"He's your own son! How can you bear to watch him suffer like this?"
"This is all that wretch Xia Wuji's doing. What are you still hesitating over?"
"Follow Wuhui's plan, obtain Xia Wuji's method for repairing his dantian, and save Wudao. That is what matters most!"
"Once Wudao repairs his dantian, he'll definitely become even stronger, just like Xia Wuji, and enter Azure Star Academy directly. And Wuhui will take the Azure Star Token and join Azure Star Academy."
"The one who'll enjoy the benefits in the end will be you. Your beloved son and daughter will both be disciples of Azure Star Academy. Who will still dare look down on Sword Pavilion? Who will dare look down on you?"
"As for that Xia Wuji? He's a heartless, ungrateful bastard. He won't remember all the years you spent raising him. Don't even dream of relying on him to repay you!"
Xia Wuhui also hurriedly added fuel to the fire. "Father, for Brother Wudao, for me, for Mother, for yourself, and for Sword Pavilion, you mustn't back down at a time like this!"
Xia Xuan drew a deep breath and finally made his decision. "Have someone bring Xia Wuji to the secret chamber!"
Madam Liu and Xia Wuhui were instantly overcome with excitement!
Xia Wuji entered Sword Pavilion's secret chamber with an indifferent expression and immediately saw Xia Xuan standing with his back to him.
"What exactly did my mother leave behind back then?" Xia Wuji barked coldly.
He did not want to waste even the slightest bit of time.
Xia Xuan slowly turned around and looked at Xia Wuji. "Are you truly unwilling to call me 'Father' even once?"
Xia Wuji let out a scornful laugh. "Do you deserve it?"
A flash of fury suddenly appeared on Xia Xuan's face.
"You unfilial wretch!"
He bellowed and suddenly flung out his hand.
Crack!
A jade bottle crashed to the floor.
The jade bottle shattered.
In an instant, a dark-red mist spread through the secret chamber.
"Bone-Eroding Incense?" Cold light erupted in Xia Wuji's eyes.
It seemed they truly had not repented at all. They had tricked him into coming back so they could attack him!
But since Xia Wuji had dared return, he feared none of their methods!
In an instant, the Sky Burning Art circulated. Flames from his dantian raced through his meridians, flesh, and blood, incinerating all the poisonous mist that entered his body!
"Father, leave the rest to me." Just then, the secret chamber's hidden door opened, and Xia Wuhui emerged with a smug look on her face.
Madam Liu came with her as well.
"Xia Wuji!"
"You've finally fallen into my hands. You made my son suffer so terribly—I absolutely won't let you off!"
Madam Liu's expression twisted into that of a vicious demon crawling out of hell. She wished she could flay Xia Wuji, rip out his tendons, tear out his heart and lungs, and chop him into a thousand pieces!
But right at that moment—
"Boom!"
A thunderous explosion rang out.
The entire Sword Pavilion trembled.
"Xia Xuan, where are you? Get out here!"
A furious shout echoed into the secret chamber.
Xia Xuan's expression changed drastically. "Damn it, that's Xu Yao. Three years ago, I fell into his trap and suffered a huge loss, but this is Sword Pavilion today. He actually dares come here? I'll go settle the score with him now!"
Then he glanced at Xia Wuji, his face filled with disappointment, before looking at Madam Liu and Xia Wuhui. "No matter how unfilial this boy is, he is still my son."
"Destroy his cultivation so he'll never be able to cause trouble again."
"Take back the Azure Star Token."
"Dig out the secret method for repairing the dantian."
"Spare his life. From now on, make him kneel at the ancestral temple gates day and night in repentance."
After saying this, he immediately left the secret chamber to deal with Xu Yao, who had come looking for trouble.
After Xia Xuan left—
Xia Wuhui burst out laughing. "Xia Wuji, Xia Wuji, weren't you incredibly arrogant when you tortured my brother today? What can you do now?"
"How does the Bone-Eroding Incense I specially prepared for you taste?"
"Forget you—even a true Primal Energy Realm expert couldn't withstand its poison after it entered their body without taking the antidote beforehand. Every bone in their body would be corroded, and they would ultimately become a maggot that could only crawl on the ground, left for anyone to trample!"
"This is your retribution!"
Xia Wuji's expression remained cold. "Shouldn't the ones who deserve retribution be you?"
"You wretched cur, you still dare run your mouth? I'll tear that mouth apart first!"
At the thought of her son Xia Wudao's condition, how could Madam Liu endure it any longer? She let out a shrill roar and charged toward Xia Wuji with a vicious expression.
"Smack!"
Xia Wuji suddenly swung his hand!
His palm slammed viciously into Madam Liu's face!
Madam Liu's head snapped to the side, and teeth mixed with blood sprayed from her mouth!
She froze.
"Smack!"
Xia Wuji spun around and struck her other cheek with another vicious slap.
This time, Madam Liu was sent crashing to the floor!
"You wicked woman, I've endured you for long enough!" Xia Wuji roared. With a swish, sword light flashed. The Jinghong Sword left its sheath, and he drove it down in a single thrust, piercing through Madam Liu's chest.
Madam Liu clutched her chest with both hands as blood gushed out.
"Are you satisfied with this retribution?" Xia Wuji said coldly.
At that moment, scene after scene surfaced in Xia Wuji's mind: Madam Liu scolding, humiliating, and framing him time and again over the years.
He did not want Madam Liu to die so quickly.
Madam Liu could no longer utter a single word. Her body lay on the ground, convulsing violently as her life force rapidly ebbed away.
"You..."
"How could this be? You didn't prepare in advance... There's absolutely nothing wrong with my Bone-Eroding Incense's poison..."
Xia Wuhui retreated again and again until she shrank into a corner of the secret chamber, utterly terrified.
She knew exactly how potent this poison was. Even a Primal Energy Realm martial artist could never withstand it.
Yet Xia Wuji acted as though nothing had happened.
"With such pathetic tricks, you still want to poison me? What makes you think you're worth anything?"
Xia Wuji held his sword and walked toward Xia Wuhui.
With each step he took, the shadow of death over Xia Wuhui grew heavier!
When Xia Wuji reached Xia Wuhui—
Plop!
Xia Wuhui's legs went weak, and she instantly dropped to her knees.
"Big Brother..."
"I was wrong!"
"I really know I was wrong..."
"Don't kill me... Don't kill me. I'm your Wuhui little sister... When we were young, you loved carrying me, and you always gave me delicious food... Whenever I made a mistake, you protected me and took my punishment..."
"You were the big brother who loved me most..."
"How truly... ironic!" Xia Wuji's voice grew even colder.
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would almost have forgotten."
"When we were young, I carried you, but you cursed me and called me a bastard with no mother. You found it disgusting whenever I touched you."
"I prepared the candies you liked, but you threw them onto the ground and trampled them. You even ran to your mother and told her I wanted to poison you."
"Whenever you made a mistake, I was indeed the one punished, because every single time, you pinned the blame on me!"
"Since you said I'm the big brother who loved you most, then this good big brother of yours will send you on your way!"
Xia Wuji shouted coldly as his sword edge swept past!
One sword sealed her throat!
Xia Wuhui died instantly!
Madam Liu watched helplessly as her precious daughter died beneath Xia Wuji's sword, yet she could do nothing. She could only widen her eyes as blood continued flowing from her chest, slowly feeling... death.
Xia Wuji cleaved open the tightly shut door of the secret chamber with a single sword strike.
He stepped outside.
He happened to see Xia Xuan's body flying backward and smashing through a stretch of buildings.
Xia Xuan struggled up from the ruins, his body covered in blood.
He looked at the arrogant enemy before him, Xu Yao, and at the blood-red longsword in Xu Yao's hand. Grief and fury surged to their utmost limits!
That was the Xia Family's Crimson Blood Sword!
Then he saw Xia Wuji walk out of the secret chamber completely unharmed. Although he did not know why Xia Wuji was fine, he had no time to think about it now.
"You unfilial son!"
"You bastard!"
"After stealing the Crimson Blood Sword, you actually gave it to Xu Yao..."
Xia Xuan roared.
At this moment, he feared Xu Yao, but he transformed that fear and humiliation into fury and vented it all upon Xia Wuji!
However, Xia Wuji did not even need to speak.
Xu Yao, holding Sword Pavilion's ancestral sword, sneered. "Xia Xuan, have you misunderstood something? This sword was given to me by your still-charming, soft and alluring wife, Madam Liu!"
"And she even begged me to accept it!"
"Hahaha!"
As soon as these words came out—
Xia Xuan's body was struck as if by lightning!
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