Chapter 749: Campaign against the Southern Wasteland. Late at night.
The bright moon hung high, and stars filled the sky.
On a mountaintop.
A lone figure stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
He wore martial robes. Though he looked middle-aged, his temples were already gray.
He tilted his head back, staring fixedly in one direction.
That was...
The direction of the Ancestral Land.
A place that haunted his dreams, yet remained impossibly far beyond his reach.
His hands clenched tightly behind his back.
His nails dug into his flesh, drawing blood, but he felt nothing.
The night was deep, and all was silent.
Just then.
Rustling footsteps sounded behind the middle-aged man, treading through the thick fallen leaves.
The middle-aged man did not turn.
"Father, it's late, and the wind is cold. Why are you standing out here alone?"
A boy of about six or seven walked up beside him.
The boy's name was Li Qingshan. He had delicate, handsome features, and his eyes held a resolve far beyond his years.
The middle-aged man remained silent.
He merely gazed quietly into the distance in that direction.
His eyes were filled with bitterness and unwillingness.
Seeing that his father did not answer, Li Qingshan asked no more.
He had some idea of what his father was thinking about.
It was a scar across his father's heart that would never heal.
Ten years ago, his Lineage had been a side branch of the Yang Province Li Clan, the Divine Mansion Immortal Clan now blazing like the midday sun.
But back then, his grandfather, who had headed their branch...
Had committed a monstrous wrong out of greed.
He had inflicted tremendous losses on the Lineage and even planted the seeds of a grave hidden danger.
Later, the truth came to light.