Heaven's Law, Earth's Reason?

Heaven Dou City, an external branch of the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect.

The night was deep. Inside a dim dwelling, flickering candlelight cast a suffocating atmosphere over the room.

The door creaked open, and Yin Suzhi drifted in like a ghost. Her skirt was stained with wet mud and grass clippings from the desolate hillside, her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were so red and swollen she could barely keep them open. She seemed to have been drained of all vitality, leaving behind nothing but a numb shell.

Ning Jin and Ning Mu followed behind her. Both wore expressions of grief, yet their eyes held a newfound touch of resolve.

Inside, Ning Jing sat at the table, holding a cup of tea that had long since gone cold. Hearing the commotion, he furrowed his brows, not bothering to look at the mother and her two sons.

"Well? Where did you bury that wretched spawn?"

Ning Jing set down his teacup, his voice cold and devoid of warmth, carrying an undisguised irritation. It was as if he were discussing not his own flesh and blood who had just died a tragic death, but some unlucky object finally discarded.

The cold, two-word label "wretched spawn" struck like a rusted, dull blade, piercing deep into Yin Suzhi's already bleeding heart.

She jerked her head up, her bloodshot eyes fixed on the man she had shared a bed with for over a decade, her entire body trembling uncontrollably.

"How can you say that about him?!" Yin Suzhi's voice was hoarse and fractured, filled with a despair and indignation pushed to the limit. "Zha'er was your own son! He had your blood flowing through his veins! He drew his sword and took his own life right in front of you, and you didn't shed a single tear—now you dare to insult him like this?!"

"My own son?"

Bang! Ning Jing slammed his teacup onto the table, splashing tea across the surface.

He stood up abruptly, his face livid. Looking down at his wife, his eyes were filled with nothing but disgust and anger. "Hmph, I truly regret siring such a wretched spawn!"

He pointed toward the courtyard gate.

"Look at what he did today! In front of so many people, spouting such treasonous nonsense! Cutting his flesh and carving his bones? Does he think he's being heroic? He was pushing our entire family into a pit of fire!"

He paced the room irritably, then suddenly turned, pointing a finger at Yin Suzhi's nose. Gone was any shred of marital affection as he hissed through gritted teeth:

"Besides, it's better that he's dead! It saves me the embarrassment of him living, and keeps others from knowing that our Ning family has such a waste who couldn't even awaken a Martial Soul!"

Ning Jing gritted his teeth, as if Ning Zha's very existence was the greatest stain on his life.

"Do you have any idea how many cold looks I received at this branch today because of him? The clan elders looked at me as if I were a joke!"

"You—" Yin Suzhi felt as if struck by lightning. She stumbled back half a step, her back slamming hard against the doorframe. She looked at her husband in disbelief, as if staring at a complete stranger—a monster.

"What about me?" Ning Jing ignored his wife's collapse, his face growing darker and his tone more caustic and severe. "And from now on, you had best stay out of sight! Don't go out and disgrace me any further!"

He strode up to Yin Suzhi, his eyes filled with undisguised contempt and resentment. "Look at yourself. It's bad enough that none of the children you bore me could inherit the Seven Treasures Glazed Tower Martial Soul. Ning Jin and Ning Mu are at least Soul Masters, but in the end? You actually gave birth to a troublemaking wretch like Ning Zha!"

Ning Jing's chest heaved violently, as if he were the one who had suffered the greatest grievance today. "He nearly caused our entire branch to be buried with him! I haven't even settled the score with you for your failure to raise him properly! You still have the nerve to stand there and cry at me?"

Yin Suzhi leaned against the cold doorframe, her tears long since spent. Looking at this hideous man and hearing those heart-piercing words, she suddenly found it all so laughable.

In that moment, her heart died completely.

Ning Jin and Ning Mu could no longer hold back.

Ning Jin stepped forward.

"Father! Third Brother did nothing wrong! It was that person from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan who killed first! And Mother is even less to blame!"

Slap!

A sharp, resounding slap.

Ning Jin's head was knocked to the side, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"Big Brother!" Ning Mu cried out, rushing to steady him.

Ning Jin clutched his face, looking at the father who had become a stranger to him, his heart filled with desolation.

"Father, we have always respected you as a father, and Mother has treated you with nothing but devotion. How can you treat us this way!"

"Insolent! How dare you speak to me like that? No sense of hierarchy at all. It seems you've been corrupted by your mother as well!" Ning Jing barked, showing no mercy.

He then sneered and added, "You must understand: everything you possess today, I gave you. Without me, what are you?

As your father, Whatever I want, you must give.

Even if I want your lives, you must hand them over obediently."

The words were naked, like a predator devouring its prey, yet coming from Ning Jing, they sounded as natural and righteous as if they were the way of the world.

"Father, you—" Ning Mu could not accept this. His eyes widened, his fists clenching involuntarily.

"What, you rebellious brat, are you thinking of raising a hand against your own father?" Ning Jing roared, raising his hand to strike again!

Yin Suzhi, finding strength from somewhere, lunged forward to shield her two sons behind her.

She looked up, staring fixedly at Ning Jing.

No crying, no screaming.

Her eyes were so calm they sent a chill to the bone.

"Ning Jing," Yin Suzhi said. "Rest assured."

"From today on, the three of us will never stand in your way. If you want your career, go beg for it. If you want to curry favor with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, go kneel."

She took Ning Jin and Ning Mu by the hands.

"We will never hold you back."

Yin Suzhi's frame was frail and her face pale, but her gaze and her words revealed the resilience and resolve of a mother.

With that, she turned and led her two sons toward the side wing.

Ning Jing stood where he was, watching the backs of the mother and her two sons as they departed.

He snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and slammed the door to the main hall shut.