Lu Xi'an's words gave Fang Donghuan no face at all. His face turned livid, his breathing grew heavy, and his hands clenched into fists. He glared at Lu Xi'an as though he might explode into action at any moment and punch his head down into his chest.
But the old True Person restrained himself and did not strike.
The Sea-Opening Marquis's Zeng Family was finished. Many of its members were still alive, including an Innate Master, but the family had made countless enemies over the years. Those enemies would never give them time to recover and stage a comeback.
Yet the Zeng Family was not entirely done for.
With Zeng Xiaoqiang, a True Person only a hundred years old, still alive, the Zeng Family could preserve its vitality.
They would have to leave their homeland and follow Zeng Xiaoqiang to the Western Regions, but fortune and misfortune went hand in hand. Perhaps in a few decades, or a few centuries, the Zeng Family of the Western Regions would rise again, perhaps even reclaim the glory of "Mountain-Cleaving, Sea-Opening."
The Mountain-Cleaving Marquis's Fang Family, however, had only one True Person: Fang Donghuan.
Of the four great families of Mountain-Cleaving, Sea-Opening, the Open Gate He Family had the most complete martial inheritance. Once foremost among the four, it was one of the renowned Eight Strange Gates, a school born from the fusion of the Yin-Yang School and the Military Strategist School during the Warring States era. The Eight Strange Gates lacked the fame of the Hundred Schools of Thought, but together, the eight branches ranked among their stronger powers.
Rest, Life, Injury, Obstruction, Scenery, Death, Fright, and Opening: these were the Eight Strange Gates. Together they formed Strange Gate Divination, weaving divination, medicine, martial arts, mechanical arts, and other skills into Formations.