Clan Annihilation Begins

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

But Chu Hongshang could only stare wide-eyed at Chen Yuan's back in disbelief.

Even she could not believe that someone had actually accepted such an absurd mission.

Chen Yuan took Chu Hongshang out of the Wantong Tavern and found an inn, where he rented a room.

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

"What else? I accepted your mission in public."

Chu Hongshang gently shook her head. "I posted the mission at the Wantong Tavern only because I wanted to lure out one member of the Zhu Family and die with them.

"The Zhu Family is very strong. How could you possibly wipe out their entire family by yourself? You shouldn't go throw your life away."

Chu Hongshang pulled a small, exquisite dagger from her robes. It was finely crafted, with a ruby embedded in its hilt.

Chen Yuan smiled.

The Crimson Refinement Demon Venerable was rather kind at this point. She was actually worried that he was going to his death.

She was also incredibly naive, thinking she could fight the Zhu Family to the death with nothing more than a decorative dagger.

"Don't worry. Destroying the family is my business. I wouldn't have accepted this mission if I wasn't confident."

Chen Yuan gazed at Chu Hongshang. "But since I accepted the mission, we should discuss the payment."

"My Chu Family was exterminated. The wealth my family had accumulated over generations was seized by the Zhu Family, and my fiancé's family threw me out as well.

"Now, I have only myself left. 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!"

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

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

Qi Forging Realm!

This young hero who was willing to avenge her was actually a Qi Forging Realm expert!

Though Chu Hongshang was young, she came from a martial arts family, and her foundations in martial arts were solid.

She knew what the Qi Forging Realm represented.

Martial artists who could cultivate true qi were already considered experts in the martial world.

The reason the Zhu Family could dominate Lone Mountain City was because the Zhu Family Patriarch was a Qi Forging Realm expert.

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 joined Yongzhou's great Huangji 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 avenge her.

"There's no need to serve me like an ox or horse. I only want one thing from your Chu Family."

Chu Hongshang gave a miserable smile. "My Chu Family has nothing left. The Zhu Family took it all."

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

Chu Hongshang froze, then shook her head with a bitter smile. "That was only a rumor left behind by our ancestors. My father even considered selling it to buy me a dowry."

At the thought of this, Chu Hongshang's heart began to ache.

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

But now, they were all dead.

The so-called Heavenly Star Divine Casket was a box passed down through the Chu Family's ancestors. It was engraved with a star map and looked quite beautiful.

But the box had neither a lock nor any seams. It looked more like a solid iron block.

According to their ancestors, it contained a peerless cultivation method.

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

In the end, the Chu Family even publicly displayed the Heavenly Star Divine Casket, inviting the major forces and martial artists around the North Sea to see whether they could open it.

The Chu Family had been clever. With such rumors circulating, everyone thought the Chu Family possessed a treasure, making them an easy target for greed.

It was better to show everyone that it was really just a piece of scrap iron.

After several days of study, the many martial artists came to only one conclusion.

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

It was probably something one of the Chu Family's ancestors had fabricated while drunk and bragging to someone.

Its only value was that its material was decent. It was made of high-quality cold iron, a material used to forge mystic weapons. Melted down, it could still fetch some money.

After that, no one ever mentioned the Chu Family possessing a secret treasure again. Even the Chu Family themselves no longer cared about it.

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

"That wasn't a rumor. Your Chu Family simply never encountered someone capable of opening it."

Chen Yuan gently shook his head. The Chu Family truly had been miserable.

They clearly possessed a great treasure, yet had never found a way to use it.

When the Blood-Handed Immortal Maiden, Shi Xueyan, took Chu Hongshang away, she had not helped her destroy the Zhu Family.

Her reason was that maintaining sufficient hatred would better unleash Chu Hongshang's potential, so she had even continued suppressing Chu Hongshang to prevent her from taking revenge.

After Chu Hongshang finally gained the ability to avenge herself and destroy the Zhu Family, it caused quite a bit of trouble.

After the Zhu Family obtained the Heavenly Star Divine Casket, they could not open it either and simply left it gathering dust in their storeroom.

After Chu Hongshang took revenge and recovered the Heavenly Star Divine Casket, she initially wanted to keep it as a memento. Yet she unexpectedly opened it and found the Inner Landscape Divine Contemplation Art hidden within.

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

The Inner Landscape Divine Contemplation Art was no longer terribly important to her. At most, it was merely icing on the cake.

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

"Of course I am!"

Chu Hongshang nodded heavily.

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

"Then wait here. I've already told the waiter to bring you food every day. I'll bring you the heads of the Zhu Family."

With that, Chen Yuan left the inn directly.

Chu Hongshang watched Chen Yuan leave, slowly knelt down, and heavily kowtowed once.

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

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

Its area was only a third the size of Linked Mountains City, but because it lay at the mouth of the sea, it was more prosperous than Linked Mountains City.

Because Lone Mountain City had been built relatively late, Youzhou had already slipped beyond Great Xia's control by then. There was not even a local government office in the city.

Its previous order had been maintained jointly by several small families, but now the Zhu Family, which dominated Lone Mountain City, had the final say.

Thirty years ago, the Zhu Family had merely been an inconspicuous minor family. It barely even qualified as a family, consisting only of Zhu Chaofeng, his wives and concubines, and two children.

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

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. Every one of them had considerable talent in martial arts, earning them the name of the Five Tigers of the Zhu Family.

Zhu Chaofeng's martial arts had also advanced over those thirty years, and he had reached the Qi Forging Realm.

Of his five sons, three were in the Qi Forging Realm and two were in the Blood-Shifting Realm. His youngest son had even joined Yongzhou's great Huangji Sect.

At this point, the Zhu Family's strength had surged. Even all the other minor families of Lone Mountain City combined were no match for them.

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

Those small families were either destroyed by the Zhu Family or utterly terrified into moving elsewhere.

The Chu Family had not left because they had always avoided conflict. From the very beginning, they had declared the Zhu Family superior and surrendered all authority to them.

The Chu Family thought they had already humbled themselves enough that the Zhu Family would spare them.

Yet merely because they had refused the Zhu Family's marriage proposal, their entire family had been exterminated.

At the very center of Lone Mountain City stood the Zhu Family's extravagant manor, which occupied nearly half a street.

Heaven knew how the Zhu Family had transported enough materials along Lone Mountain City's narrow mountain road to build such a manor.

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

A middle-aged man in his early forties, with regular features, respectfully reported to an elderly man with white hair and beard, dressed in a golden brocade robe and bearing a stern countenance.

The old man was Zhu Chaofeng, the Zhu Family Patriarch. The middle-aged man was his eldest son, Zhu Chengan, likewise a Qi Forging Realm expert.

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 was the youngest, he had the best talent. He had joined Yongzhou's top Huangji Sect several years ago, and news had arrived a year ago that he too had entered 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 chat with that old bastard."

"The Wang Family knows how to behave, but that girl from the Chu Family doesn't."

Zhu Chengan sneered. "After being thrown out by the Wang Family, she didn't flee. Instead, she went to the Wantong Tavern in the North Sea Market to post a mission for those blade-catchers, asking them to wipe out our Zhu Family!"

Zhu Chaofeng was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing as if he had heard an utterly ridiculous joke.

Zhu Chengan laughed along with him.

She wanted to hire those lowly blade-catchers, no better than pigs and dogs, to destroy the Zhu Family? It was simply the greatest joke in the world!

Let alone those miserable blade-catchers, even if the Murong Clan or the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance came, as long as the Zhu Family brought up the Huangji Sect, both forces would have to show them some respect!

Zhu Chengzong had not entered the Huangji Sect as an ordinary disciple, but as a core direct-line disciple. He might even become one of the Huangji Sect's upper ranks in the future.

With that connection, even the Murong Clan and the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance would not touch the Zhu Family unless there was an absolute conflict of interests.