You Dug Up My Ancestors' Graves?

Before Jiang Ming stood a pavilion.

Flying eaves and upturned corners, carved beams and painted rafters.

The octagonal roof was covered in glazed tiles, reflecting a cold, dim light in the rainy night.

Exotic flowers and rare grasses had been planted all around it. Even in the torrential rain, their swaying forms could still be seen in the wind.

It looked like a meticulously arranged garden painting.

But Jiang Ming felt only cold.

Bone-piercing cold.

This place should not have been like this.

There should not have been a pavilion here, nor flowers, grasses, or ornamental rockeries.

There should have been nothing but simple gravestones.

His parents' graves were gone.

The coffins buried beneath this land had been moved.

Or had they been destroyed?

He did not know.

He only knew that, standing here, he could not see a single grave or a single gravestone.

It was as if someone had used an enormous rag to wipe away every trace of a "cemetery" from this land.

Jiang Ming's hands trembled slightly.

It was not from the cold.

It was rage, suppressed to its very limit.

He had left Nuoding City when he was seven.

Right under the noses of Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he had used himself as bait and killed the Sky-Plundering Beast in a gamble between life and death, obtaining his first six-hundred-year Soul Ring!

He had strengthened his spatial origin ability and gained an enhancement-type soul skill!

Jiang Ming's first soul skill.

Spatial Amplification!

It increased the power of spatial skills by 50%!

After that, he had spent three years cultivating to level 20.

By chance, he had helped Qian Renxue purge poison and obtained a thousand-year second Soul Ring.

Then he had made another desperate gamble!

Using Dugu Yan as bait, he had lured Dugu Bo away and absorbed the immortal herbs of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

After his Soul Power broke through to level 30, he had killed a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast in a life-or-death battle.

After absorbing his third Soul Ring, he had not only gained the unrivaled Spatial Shift, but his Soul Power had also reached level 33!

What followed was the absorption of the Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone and the search for a ten-thousand-year spatial Soul Beast!

Jiang Ming had only been eleven that year!

An eleven-year-old Soul Ancestor!

Looking across the entire history of Douluo Continent, that cultivation speed ranked among the very best.

But a pseudo-Soul Ancestor at level 40 needed a Soul Ring to continue breaking through.

Jiang Ming's luck seemed to have been used up in those earlier years.

Spatial Soul Beasts were simply too rare.

He had crossed the dense forests of the Star Dou Great Forest, delved deep into the Sunset Mountain Range, and tracked down every ruin and secret realm that might contain spatial Soul Beasts.

He had encountered thousand-year Soul Beasts, ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts, and had even glimpsed the distant figure of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

But none of them were what he needed.

He needed a Soul Beast with a spatial attribute, one truly compatible with his Martial Soul.

That search had lasted a full two years.

Two years of sleeping rough and eating in the wild, two years of life-and-death battles, two years of disappointment and waiting.

Finally, one month ago, he had found a ten-thousand-year spatial Soul Beast.

Twenty-one thousand years.

Not especially strong, but certainly not weak either.

He had absorbed that twenty-thousand-year Soul Ring, breaking through another Soul Power bottleneck and reaching level 45.

Normally, a twenty-thousand-year Soul Ring raised one's level by roughly three ranks.

But during those two years, Jiang Ming had continued cultivating without pause.

Because he had been distracted by his search for Soul Beasts, he had only advanced about one level per year.

Thirteen years old!

A level-45 Soul Ancestor.

Over those six years, he had paid a price beyond ordinary imagination and gained rewards enough to shake the entire world of soul masters.

Yet when he returned to this homeland, intending to "have a talk" with his deceased parents and show them what their son had achieved...

His ancestors' graves had been dug up!

Jiang Ming turned and walked toward the foot of the mountain, allowing the rain to lash his face.

A newly built cluster of buildings stood at the foot of the mountain.

An imposing plaque hung over the entrance, bearing four large golden characters.

[Landscape Garden]!

Jiang Ming pushed open the door and walked inside.

The hall was paved with smooth marble tiles. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, scattering dazzling light across the floor.

Several uniformed maids were wiping down the counter.

When they saw Jiang Ming enter, they all froze.

A black-clad youth soaked to the bone looked utterly out of place in this luxurious hall.

"Hello, may I ask what you need?"

One maid put down her rag, her eyes clearly carrying a hint of wariness and disdain.

"Bring out whoever is in charge."

Jiang Ming's voice was calm, as calm as a pool of stagnant water amid a storm.

"Sir, it's already very late. If you have any business..."

The maid maintained a professional smile.

"I said."

Jiang Ming raised his head and looked at her.

His eyes were dark brown, as deep as a bottomless pool.

There was no anger, no killing intent, only a calmness that made one's heart quail.

"Bring out whoever is in charge."

Frightened by Jiang Ming's gaze, the maid took a step back before finally turning and running inside.

A moment later, heavy footsteps sounded from the inner hall.

A burly middle-aged man walked out.

He wore an expensive brocade robe, with four gold rings spread across his ten fingers.

"Who is it? It's the middle of the night. Whatever it is, come back tomorrow."

"A little beggar? You came to the wrong place to ask for food."

The middle-aged man looked Jiang Ming up and down, a sneering smile curling across his lips.

"Who built the pavilion on the mountain?"

Ignoring his mockery, Jiang Ming asked calmly.

"The pavilion? Oh, that one."

"What, are you some relative?"

"I've seen plenty of people come here to make trouble before, but you're the first one like this."

A faint red glow suddenly lit up around the middle-aged man.

The phantom of a Red Wolf appeared behind him.

Two Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet, slowly rotating in the red light.

White.

Yellow.

A ten-year white Soul Ring and a hundred-year yellow Soul Ring.

"Kid, see that clearly?"

"I'm a soul master, a two-ring Soul Grandmaster."

"I'm the person in charge of this Landscape Garden, and the City Lord's Wife's younger brother."

"Since you're young, I won't hold it against you. Get lost while you know what's good for you, and don't go looking for trouble."

Qin Aotian held up two fingers and waved them at Jiang Ming, his face full of arrogance and contempt.

The maids behind him all held their breath and cautiously stepped back, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

They had seen Qin Aotian lose his temper, and they had seen him attack.

The last time a family member who did not know better came to cause trouble, he had slapped three teeth out of the man's mouth before having him dragged out and thrown onto the street.

Jiang Ming looked at the two Soul Rings without any expression.

Ten years.

A hundred years.

He suddenly found it laughable.

Truly laughable.

"I'll give you one chance to keep your corpse intact."

"Tell me who approved this land, when construction began, and where my parents' graves were moved."

Jiang Ming's voice remained calm.

"Give me a chance?"

Qin Aotian froze for a moment, then...

"Hahahahaha!"

He laughed until tears nearly came out, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.