Ye Qiu froze.
What level of power was that?
That flying vessel, those cultivators at Law Gathering Peak...
Just like that, they were gone?
An old man flashed to Lu Li's side, carrying the heads of Ye Zhen and the others.
Lu Li took the heads without a change in expression. "Go back."
The old man looked up at Lu Li and was about to speak when Lu Li said, "I'll be there within the allotted time."
The old man fell silent. His gaze flickered toward Ye Qiu, and in that instant, Ye Qiu felt his heart seize.
Lu Li frowned. "You've overstepped."
The old man immediately withdrew his gaze. Without a word, he bowed to Lu Li, then turned and vanished with the other old man in the blink of an eye.
The scene fell quiet.
After a long while, Ye Qiu looked at Lu Li. "Who were they?"
"They came to take me back," Lu Li said flatly.
"Central Province?"
Lu Li shook her head.
Ye Qiu was about to speak, but Lu Li said, "The Central Province Grand Selection is in five months. We'll go to Central Province first."
Ye Qiu looked at her. "Elder Wen and the others will set off tomorrow," she continued. "They'll go straight to Central Province!"
Ye Qiu frowned. "My grandfather's so old, and his health is poor. You're sending him all the way to Central Province..."
"What do you think Ye Zhen and the others were going to do?" Lu Li asked.
Ye Qiu fell silent. Then realization shook him to the core!
It all fell into place!
At West Mountain, the first group had been there to send Ye Qiu away. The second had come to intercept and kill him.
As for Ye Zhen and the others...
He looked in the direction they had taken. That was the road to South Mountain!
They were going to the Wen Family!
And with the power Ye Zhen and the others commanded, wiping out the Wen Family would have been child's play!
"Besides, Elder Wen is originally from Central Province," Lu Li said.
She looked at Ye Qiu. "The Wen Clan of Central Province."
Ye Qiu's eyes widened.
He hadn't known.
"Back then, Mother went to Central Province," Lu Li said. "That incident happened after she returned."
Ye Qiu's eyes narrowed sharply!
Mother?
Wen Xi!
Since childhood, Lu Li had called Wen Xi Mother, just as Ye Qiu did.
"My mother's death... was tied to Central Province?"
Lu Li nodded.
Ye Qiu clenched his fists. In truth, he had always had questions about his mother's death.
The news had come without warning. By the time he arrived, his mother had already been cremated!
He had not seen her one last time!
Over the years, he had asked his grandfather more than once, but the old man had always hedged and changed the subject, putting him off again and again.
So Central Province was involved!
"Does Ye Jiangshan know?" Ye Qiu suddenly asked.
Lu Li was silent for a long time. Then the Qi Sword flashed beneath her feet and carried them toward South Capital.
As they flew, Lu Li said, "He knows. But he can't afford to cross them, so he chose to abandon her and curry favor with them."
Ye Qiu's fists tightened. "So he drove me out of the Lineage for more than Ye Rudí. He wanted to cut off everything connected to my mother..."
Lu Li said nothing.
But a fire gathered in Ye Qiu's chest!
He had always believed that even though Ye Jiangshan kept a mistress, his mother had held an important place in Ye Jiangshan's heart!
After all, they had seemed so close.
His mother had been so exceptional.
Without her, Ye Jiangshan would never even have become head of the Lineage!
He had always believed...
That Ye Jiangshan treated him this way only because his mother was gone.
He had always believed... that however deep the pain ran, Ye Jiangshan still had some shred of decency buried inside him.
At the very least, Ye Jiangshan had given him life!
But now...
His wife had been murdered, and he had not dared stand up for her. He had cowered like a spineless wretch and even tried to curry favor with her killers...
He had severed every tie and sacrificed his own son without a care.
Was that a man?
Was that even human?
"Ye Jiangshan, how can you face my mother?" Ye Qiu roared, the Blazing Flame in his heart burning fiercely.
He had failed her!
He had failed Mother!
Lu Li tightened her hold on Ye Qiu's arm.
She pressed closer to him, as though she could give him some warmth that way.
Just as Ye Qiu had done years ago when he made her cry. Though he had feared Mother's wrath, he had held her like this, coaxing her and giving her warmth...
"I'm here. I'll make sure we get the justice we deserve," she said softly after a pause.
Ye Qiu said nothing. He closed his eyes.
After some time, he opened them again. He looked calm, as though he had forced everything down.
He gazed ahead. The outline of a vast city was faintly visible. A little later, the Qi Sword flew into South Capital.
They appeared above West Mountain. A large crowd had gathered there, and voices filled the air.
After all, too many bodies lay on the ground, their blood staining the earth. Many of the dead were no ordinary figures.
This was certain to cause an uproar.
Ye Qiu and Lu Li did not descend. They flew on, crossing above the Street as the people below looked up curiously.
At last, they landed outside the Ye Clan estate.
The guards at the entrance trembled at the sight of them. An instant later, they hurried inside and disappeared.
Lu Li wasted no words. She raised her sword and slashed!
Boom—
The Ye Clan's gates and the plaque above them exploded once again.
This was the third time!
The Ye Clan was a mighty Royal Family, among the foremost powers in Southern State, yet its gates had been smashed three times. It was as though someone had pinned the clan's dignity to the ground and ground it into the dirt.
The commotion quickly drew a crowd to the Street. Then a great stir rose from within the Ye Clan estate.
Ye Jiangshan and Liu Xiu personally led a group outside and faced Lu Li and Ye Qiu.
Lu Li said nothing. She opened her Storage Ring and tipped it. With a clatter, bloodstained heads spilled out and lined up before the Ye Clan estate.
Among them were Ye Clan disciples and elders, as well as Ye Zhen and the others.
At the sight of the heads, every member of the Ye Clan and everyone on the Street went pale.
"You can keep trying," Lu Li said softly. "Let's see which runs out first: your people or the reach of my sword."
Liu Xiu's expression turned ugly.
Even that had failed to kill him!
Damn Lu Li!
Ye Qiu ignored them all. His gaze fixed on Ye Jiangshan, who was looking back at him.
Ye Jiangshan's expression was cold.
He showed no surprise that Ye Qiu was alive, or that he was covered in blood.
So he had known.
Of course he had. With an operation this large, and several high-ranking Ye Clan elders taking part, how could he not have known?
"Ye Jiangshan," Ye Qiu said suddenly. Ye Jiangshan's gaze flickered. "From this day on, the Ye Clan and I will fight until one of us is dead! Send one of your people after me, and I'll kill them!"
"I told you: if you came after me again, you'd regret it!"
Ye Jiangshan remained silent.
Ye Qiu's gaze sharpened as he studied Ye Jiangshan closely,
the tremor of his lashes, the narrowing of his pupils, even the conflicted look within them and the few red veins showing at the corners of his eyes.
He missed nothing.
"And one more thing... Open your eyes and watch carefully." Ye Qiu looked away, turned, and strode toward the Academy. "I'll show you how to be a human being. How to be... a man!"
He would go to Central Province!
He would shoulder this blood feud!
Before you continue