The Annihilation Begins

Years later, Chu Hongshang still remembered the moment Chen Yuan had taken her hand and said he would help her wipe out an entire family.

But now, Chu Hongshang's eyes were wide as she stared at Chen Yuan's retreating back in disbelief.

Even she could not believe that someone would actually accept such an outrageous mission.

Chen Yuan led Chu Hongshang out of Myriad Connections Tavern and found an inn, where he booked them a room.

After entering, Chu Hongshang stared blankly at Chen Yuan. "Can you really help me wipe out the entire Zhu Family?"

"Why not? I accepted your mission in front of everyone."

Chu Hongshang gently shook her head. "I only posted that mission at Myriad Connections Tavern because I wanted to lure out one member of the Zhu Family, so I could perish together with them.

"The Zhu Family is very powerful. How could you, alone, wipe out their entire family? You should not go throw your life away."

Chu Hongshang took a small, exquisite dagger from her bosom. Its design was delicate, and a ruby was embedded in its hilt.

Chen Yuan smiled.

The Scarlet Chain Demon Venerable was rather kind-hearted at this point. She was actually worried that he was going to his death.

She was also incredibly naïve, thinking she could fight the Zhu Family to the death with nothing more than such an ornamental dagger.

"Don't worry. Wiping out a family is my business. I would not have accepted this mission if I were not confident."

Chen Yuan fixed his gaze on Chu Hongshang. "But since I've accepted the mission, we should discuss the payment."

"After the Chu Family was exterminated, the Zhu Family seized the property my family had built up over generations. My fiancé's family also drove me out.

"Now, I have only myself. If you can help me avenge this great hatred, I, Chu Hongshang, am willing to serve you like an ox or horse for the rest of my life and repay your kindness!"

Chu Hongshang immediately tried to kneel, but Chen Yuan sent out a strand of true qi and held her up.

In an instant, disbelief flashed through Chu Hongshang's eyes. Her eyes reddened as she stared fixedly at Chen Yuan.

Qi Forging Realm!

This young hero willing to avenge her was actually an expert of the Qi Forging Realm!

Though Chu Hongshang was young, she had been born into a martial family, so her martial foundations were quite solid.

She knew what the Qi Forging Realm represented.

A martial artist capable of cultivating true qi was already considered an expert in the martial world.

The reason the Zhu Family could dominate Lone Mountain City was because the Zhu Family head was an expert of the Qi Forging Realm.

His five sons were known as the Five Tigers of the Zhu Family, and three of them had reached the Qi Forging Realm.

Yet even Zhu Chengzong, the Zhu Family's most outstanding genius, who had entered Yongzhou's great Radiant Extreme Sect, had not reached the Qi Forging Realm at Chen Yuan's age.

Only then did Chu Hongshang truly begin to believe that Chen Yuan could help her take revenge.

"There is no need for you to serve me like an ox or horse. I only want one thing from the Chu Family."

Chu Hongshang smiled bitterly. "The Chu Family has nothing left now. Everything was taken by the Zhu Family."

"Then I'll take it back." Chen Yuan looked utterly unconcerned. "I want your Chu Family's Heavenly Star Divine Casket."

Chu Hongshang froze, then shook her head with a bitter smile. "That is merely a rumor left behind by our ancestors. My father even considered selling it to turn it into part of my dowry."

At that thought, Chu Hongshang's heart began to ache in spasms.

Her father had always doted on her. Afraid that she would be bullied or looked down upon after marrying into the Wang Family, he had begun saving up her dowry from a young age. Her brothers had done the same.

But now, they were all dead.

The so-called Heavenly Star Divine Casket was a box passed down by the Chu Family's ancestors. A star map was engraved upon it, making it rather beautiful.

Yet it had neither a lock nor any seams. It resembled a solid block of iron more than a casket.

According to their ancestors, an unmatched cultivation method was hidden within.

But over the years, the Chu Family had tried countless methods and failed to open it.

In the end, the Chu Family had even publicly brought out the Heavenly Star Divine Casket, inviting the major factions and martial artists around the North Sea to see whether anyone could open it.

The Chu Family had been clever. With that rumor around, everyone believed the Chu Family possessed a treasure, making them an easy target for covetous eyes.

It was better to bring it out for everyone to see that it was merely a piece of scrap iron.

In the end, after numerous martial artists studied it for several days, they reached only one conclusion.

This thing was a solid block of iron. It was not a casket at all.

Most likely, some Chu Family ancestor had gotten drunk and made it up while boasting to others.

Its only value was that its material was rather good. It was made from top-grade Cold Iron, a material used to forge Mystic Weapons. Melted down, it could still fetch some money.

From then on, no one mentioned the rumor that the Chu Family possessed a secret treasure, and even the Chu Family themselves no longer cared about it.

If the Chu Family truly declined one day, they might really melt down the Heavenly Star Divine Casket for money.

"That is not a rumor. It is only that your Chu Family never encountered someone capable of opening it."

Chen Yuan gently shook his head. The Chu Family truly had it hard.

They clearly possessed a great treasure, yet they had never been able to use it.

When Blood-Hand Fairy Shi Xueyan took Chu Hongshang away in the past, she had not helped her destroy the Zhu Family.

Her reason was that maintaining sufficient hatred would better stimulate Chu Hongshang's potential, so she had even kept suppressing Chu Hongshang and prevented her from taking revenge.

After Chu Hongshang finally gained the ability to take revenge and destroy the Zhu Family, she ended up causing quite a few troubles because of it.

After the Zhu Family obtained the Heavenly Star Divine Casket, they had also been unable to open it, so they had simply tossed it into a storeroom to gather dust.

After taking revenge, Chu Hongshang recovered the Heavenly Star Divine Casket. She originally wanted to keep it as a memento, but unexpectedly opened it by accident and found the Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method hidden inside.

But by then, Chu Hongshang had already become the Scarlet Chain Demon Venerable, standing at the pinnacle of the martial world.

The Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method was no longer all that important to her. At most, it was icing on the cake.

Chu Hongshang still wanted to say something, but Chen Yuan waved his hand and asked in a deep voice, "So, are you willing to exchange the Heavenly Star Divine Casket for the entire Zhu Family?"

"Of course I am!"

Chu Hongshang nodded heavily.

Let alone a vague and illusory Heavenly Star Divine Casket, she would give Chen Yuan anything he wanted right now.

"Then wait here. I have already instructed the innkeeper's assistant to bring you food every day. I will bring you the heads of everyone in the Zhu Family."

Having said that, Chen Yuan left the inn directly.

Chu Hongshang watched Chen Yuan's departing back, then slowly knelt down and knocked her head heavily against the floor.

Lone Mountain City was one of several small mountain cities near North Sea Market.

It was called Lone Mountain City because its terrain was steep, with only a single lonely mountain road leading down from the mountain.

It was only a third as large as Linked Mountains City, but because it stood at the mouth of the sea route, it was more prosperous than Linked Mountains City.

Because Lone Mountain City had been built relatively late, Youzhou had already slipped from Great Xia's control at the time, so there was not even an official government office in the city.

Previously, order had been jointly maintained by several small lineages. Now, the Zhu Family, which dominated Lone Mountain City, had the final say alone.

Thirty years ago, the Zhu Family had merely been an inconspicuous small family. It could not even be called a lineage. There had only been Zhu Chaofeng, the Zhu Family head, along with his wives, concubines, and two children.

He had left Lone Mountain City in his teens to roam the world. It was said that he had joined the Great Xia Military, later mixed with gangs, and served as a guest retainer for aristocratic families.

When he returned to Lone Mountain City, he had already accumulated a modest fortune and possessed Blood-Shifting Realm cultivation.

Over the next thirty years, Zhu Chaofeng had three more sons, and every one of them possessed excellent martial talent. They were known as the Five Tigers of the Zhu Family.

Zhu Chaofeng's martial arts had also improved over those thirty years, allowing him to reach the Qi Forging Realm.

Three of his five sons were in the Qi Forging Realm, while the other two were in the Blood-Shifting Realm. His youngest son had even entered Yongzhou's great Radiant Extreme Sect.

At this point, the Zhu Family's strength had surged. Even all the other small lineages in Lone Mountain City combined were not as powerful as the Zhu Family.

Thus, over the past two or three years, the Zhu Family had begun swallowing up and suppressing the other small lineages.

Those small lineages were either destroyed by the Zhu Family or thoroughly terrified into moving elsewhere.

The Chu Family had not left because they had always kept out of worldly disputes. From the beginning, they had declared their willingness to regard the Zhu Family as supreme and hand all authority to them.

The Chu Family had thought that they had already lowered themselves so far that the Zhu Family would spare them.

But they had never expected that merely refusing the Zhu Family's marriage proposal would lead to the extermination of their entire family.

At the very center of Lone Mountain City stood the Zhu Family's luxurious manor. It covered nearly half a street.

Heaven knew how the Zhu Family had transported enough materials along Lone Mountain City's narrow mountain road to construct such an estate.

"Father, news has come from North Sea Market. The Chu Family's legitimate daughter, Chu Hongshang, was driven out by the Wang Family and is currently in North Sea Market."

A proper-looking middle-aged man in his early forties was respectfully reporting to an elderly man with white hair and beard, dressed in a golden brocade robe and bearing an imposing countenance.

That elder was Zhu Chaofeng, the Zhu Family head. The middle-aged man was his eldest son, Zhu Chengan, likewise an expert of the Qi Forging Realm.

Among the Five Tigers of the Zhu Family, the eldest, Zhu Chengan, and the second, Zhu Chengguo, both possessed Qi Forging Realm cultivation.

The third, Zhu Chengze, and fourth, Zhu Chengzu, were in the Blood-Shifting Realm.

Though Zhu Chengzong, the fifth, was the youngest, he was also the most talented. He had entered Yongzhou's top great sect, the Radiant Extreme Sect, years ago, and word had arrived a year ago that he too had stepped into the Qi Forging Realm.

Zhu Chaofeng picked up a black-gold celadon cup, took a sip of tea, and chuckled. "The Wang Family of South Mountain City knows how to behave. Otherwise, I had been thinking of finding time to visit the Wang Family and have a talk with that old bastard of theirs."

"The Wang Family knows how to behave, but that girl from the Chu Family does not."

Zhu Chengan sneered. "After being driven out by the Wang Family, she did not flee. Instead, she went to Myriad Connections Tavern in North Sea Market and posted a mission for those blade-catchers, wanting to wipe out our Zhu Family!"

Zhu Chaofeng froze, then burst into laughter as though he had heard an exceptionally ridiculous joke.

Zhu Chengan laughed along with him.

Going to those lowly blade-catchers, no better than pigs and dogs, and asking them to destroy the Zhu Family—what an earth-shattering joke!

Not to mention those wretched blade-catchers, even if the Murong Clan and the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance, which dominated Youzhou, came, the Zhu Family need only bring up the Radiant Extreme Sect, and both sides would have to give the Zhu Family some face!

Zhu Chengzong's entry into the Radiant Extreme Sect had not been as an ordinary disciple, but as a core disciple of the direct line. In the future, he might even become one of the Radiant Extreme Sect's upper echelons.

With such a connection, even the Murong Clan and the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance would not touch the Zhu Family without an absolute conflict of interests.