I Will Make You Pay with My Son's Life (Seeking Follow-up Reads!)

Within the Black Rock Mountain Range, the Shenrong Clan.

The entire Black Rock Mountain Range stretches for nearly a million miles. Within these mountains, there are even plains, lakes, and a vast number of constructed cities.

The Shenrong Clan has stood tall in the Great Xia World for hundreds of millions of years, living and multiplying within this Black Rock Mountain Range for just as long. There are countless cities covering areas of a hundred to over a thousand miles, housing a massive number of mortals; a single city can hold over ten million people.

Underground, by the lakes, on the plains, along the mountainsides...

City after city, outpost after outpost.

The entire Black Rock Mountain Range is the absolute lair and ancestral land of the Shenrong Clan.

"Immortal Pingshan! Immortal!" A youth clad in armor rushed toward a palace. The entire palace was vast, magnificent, and incredibly ornate.

Inside the hall, a middle-aged man with black hair sat casually before a low table, flipping through the thick volumes laid out before him.

This man is a Return-to-Void Earth Immortal who is extremely famous even among the many Return-to-Void Earth Immortals of the Shenrong Clan: Shenrong Pingshan!

"What is it?" Shenrong Pingshan stopped his movements and looked up at the youth who had entered.

"News just arrived from the ancestral hall. Young Master Chong's life slip..." The youth paused, appearing to struggle. Everyone knew that while this Return-to-Void Earth Immortal, Pingshan, seemed carefree and unrestrained, he was a man who valued family ties deeply. If this news were to be reported by him...

"Hmm?" Shenrong Pingshan frowned. "What of Chong'er's life slip? Could it be..."

Shenrong Pingshan thought of that one possibility, and his originally calm face suddenly trembled.

"Reporting to the Immortal, Young Master Chong's life slip... just an incense stick's time ago, it suddenly shattered!" the armored youth said respectfully.

"Shattered..." Shenrong Pingshan was stunned, his eyes filled with grief.

Any member of the Shenrong Clan who reaches the Myriad Phenomena level leaves a life slip in the ancestral hall. A shattered life slip means that the person who left it has completely perished.

In an instant, Shenrong Pingshan's eyes turned blood-red. The dignified and powerful Return-to-Void Earth Immortal seemed to lose all his strength.

It is inherently difficult for cultivators to produce offspring, and the higher their cultivation, the harder it becomes. As a Return-to-Void Earth Immortal of the Shenrong Clan, he had only two children to this day. The youngest had already perished on Qianqiu Island in the North Dark Sea six or seven years ago.

Now... his only remaining child had also perished out there.

Shenrong Pingshan looked fiercely at the intelligence on the table, his expression incredibly ugly.

A long time passed.

"You may go," Shenrong Pingshan said, nodding gently at the youth.

"My condolences, Immortal!" The armored youth bowed respectfully, then turned and retreated.

"Chong'er..." Shenrong Pingshan said with red eyes, his gaze filled with bone-deep killing intent. "Ruoshui died. And now, Chong'er is dead too."

Shenrong Pingshan looked at the book on the table, where a page displayed a portrait of a handsome youth in black robes.

"Ruoshui, I have failed you! Our child..." Tears welled up in the corners of Shenrong Pingshan's eyes.

"Chong'er's God-Devil Body Refining was at the late Myriad Phenomena stage, and his Qi Refining Path had also broken through to the early Myriad Phenomena stage. That Lei Zhan, according to Tianbao Mountain's investigation, was only at the Purple Mansion level; even if he hid his cultivation, he would be at most Myriad Phenomena..."

"Damn it!"

The killing intent in Shenrong Pingshan's chest boiled over, but after a moment, he hid this raging intent deep within himself.

"That Immortal Juhua has lived for millions of years and still hasn't died... he has even slain a Celestial Immortal ancestor; his strength is unfathomable. If I go to seek revenge now, I am certainly no match for Immortal Juhua," Shenrong Pingshan whispered softly.

"I have only been an Earth Immortal for ten thousand years. If I survive the Heavenly Tribulation in the future... that will naturally be the day to settle both old and new debts."

The Heavenly Tribulation is an unprecedented ordeal. If one survives, they become a carefree Celestial Immortal. If one fails, those with good luck become Loose Immortals, while those with bad luck have their souls scattered on the spot.

He must survive the Heavenly Tribulation.

Success means becoming a Celestial Immortal, gaining the support of the clan, and having a status vastly different from his current one. That is when he will settle the score.

If he fails, he won't struggle in vain. By then, everything will have lost its meaning; a lone, solitary man has no reason to fear a life of lingering on.

"The Heavenly Tribulation, I will definitely survive it!" A trace of determination flickered in Shenrong Pingshan's scarlet eyes. "I, Shenrong Pingshan, will definitely have both you and your disciple buried with my son!"

Great Xia Imperial Capital.

Within a sprawling estate, the halls and pavilions all radiated an air of imperial grandeur.

In the center of the estate stood a massive palace made entirely of white jade, surrounded by a large number of beautiful handmaidens.

Each of these handmaidens was a peerless enchantress; some wore clothing so thin it was as if they were naked, their bare bodies visible through the gauze. Others were dressed like noble matrons, while some were vibrant young girls...

On the throne at the highest point of the palace sat a bewitching, handsome youth. The youth wore ornate robes embroidered with four-clawed golden dragons, looking listlessly at the many peerless enchantresses below, though his mind was not on the singing and dancing.

"Xia Yi," the youth said faintly.

"Second Prince, this subordinate is here!" The burly man in golden armor, who had been standing outside the hall waiting for a summons, walked in quickly. His gaze was clear and he looked straight ahead, clearly well-accustomed to the scene in the hall.

"Has that Shenrong Pingshan of the Shenrong Clan left the Black Rock Mountain Range?" The Second Prince looked at the burly man in golden armor below. He had been keeping a constant watch on intelligence regarding Immortal Juhua.

Back when he was weak, he, a Second Prince of noble status, had wanted to become a disciple of Immortal Juhua, but it never came to pass. He had eventually extinguished the thought; after all, having not taken a disciple in millions of years, it was understandable that he hadn't taken him.

However, this time, the news of Immortal Juhua publicly taking on a disciple had spread across most of the Great Xia World, and the story of how he had once tried to become a disciple and failed had become a private joke among the countless young masters and ladies of the Imperial Capital.

Although ten thousand years had passed and he had become a Return-to-Void Earth Immortal, he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth—when had he, the Second Prince, ever suffered such grievances?

Naturally, he harbored resentment toward Immortal Juhua in his heart.

"That Return-to-Void Earth Immortal, Shenrong Pingshan, has not left the Black Rock Mountain Range," the burly man in golden armor replied respectfully.

"He hasn't come out? He certainly has patience! Doesn't Shenrong Pingshan value the offspring left behind by his deceased dao companion above all else?" The Second Prince shook his head with a chuckle. "Since he isn't moving, then let's just watch for now!"

A moment later.

The Second Prince seemed to recall something. "What about Shaoyan Jingyu? With his vengeful nature, how is he remaining so composed? If Immortal Juhua hadn't wanted to avoid making things too tense with the Shaoyan Clan back then, he would have spared his life."

"Last month, Shaoyan Jingyu purchased a large quantity of precious materials at Tianbao Mountain, the vast majority of which were treasures for refining immortal-ranked magic treasures." The burly man in golden armor hesitated for a moment. "He should... be preparing to refine a powerful magic treasure."

The Second Prince's bewitching eyes glanced indifferently at the bowing, burly man in golden armor. "This Immortal Jingyu has been accumulating at the Earth Immortal level for nearly a hundred thousand years; he must be getting impatient."

"This play is truly quite spectacular!" A trace of gratified amusement appeared in the Second Prince's eyes. Although he could pay a heavy price to make things difficult for Immortal Juhua, how could performing on stage himself compare to the amusement of sitting in the audience and watching the show?

The schemes and calculations of various factions were difficult for ordinary cultivators to detect, and Lei Zhan, still in the North Dark Sea, was completely unaware of them.

Although Lei Zhan knew which three major powers had been purchasing intelligence on him and his master for years, and exactly who they were, even knowing this, he could only passively endure it.

Even someone as strong as Immortal Juhua would not dare to claim he could break into the ancestral lairs that the Shaoyan Clan and the Shenrong Clan had operated for endless years and retreat unscathed, let alone Lei Zhan, who was still extremely weak.

On the Dragon-Head Warship, Lei Zhan sat cross-legged on the deck, quietly cultivating. Although he was cultivating, he was merely refining the Essence Liquid and merging it into his Purple Mansion lake; even while traveling, he could stop at any time.

One had to know that the nearly three thousand jin of Essence Liquid obtained after slaying Shenrong Chong was enough to allow Lei Zhan to take another step forward toward the perfection of his Purple Mansion.

The Purple Mansion level was, in itself, a process of allowing the Purple Mansion lake to accumulate a vast amount of elemental power, eventually letting this "lake" transform into an "ocean."

Refining three thousand jin of Essence Liquid would allow the Purple Mansion lake within Lei Zhan's body to expand by a significant margin.

After a long while.

Lei Zhan slowly opened his eyes; the Essence Liquid in the jade bottle had completely bottomed out.

"Three thousand jin of Essence Liquid... it saved me several years of cultivation time." Lei Zhan put away the jade bottle in front of him, feeling satisfied.

"Next, I will continue to hunt down the demon race!"

The end of the previous chapter did feel a bit like a forced delivery of resources. However, since his sons are basically all dead, he should be taking action. I have made some adjustments.

The Qi Refining Path is about to break through to Myriad Phenomena and return to the Water Mansion. The pacing will accelerate quite a bit from here on.

Thanks to Beijin Han for the coin tip.