Sun Mao Falls; After a Bloody Purge, the Lineage Rises Again!

The first winter after Sun Yao's death.

White Cloud Temple experienced its first snowfall of the winter. Snowflakes fluttered down, covering the mountains of White Peak Cloud Gorge.

The entire sect was shrouded in a layer of pure white, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky ended and the earth began.

Sun Chengzu stood in front of the quiet room where Sun Yao had once secluded himself for cultivation.

The stone gate was tightly closed, and the restrictions on it had not yet been removed.

The room was empty, a thin layer of dust covered the prayer mat, and a faint trace of Cloud Dao energy lingered in the air.

He stood there for a long time.

Snowflakes landed on his shoulders, melting into water droplets, then freezing into ice.

"Aunt Yao."

He spoke softly, his voice swallowed by the wind and snow. "Your nephew has come to see you."

There was no response.

The quiet room remained as silent as ever.

Sun Chengzu suddenly smiled, a smile tinged with bitterness and self-mockery.

"Were you just as unwilling when you left?"

"The Grand Elder failed to Core Formation back then because he lacked the Heaven and Earth Qi. You have the Heaven and Earth Qi, yet you still failed..."

"Sometimes I wonder, is it that we, the Sun Clan, are simply incapable, or is it that fate and destiny are truly not on the Sun Clan side?"

The wind and snow intensified.

Sun Chengzu let out a self-deprecating roar, turned and left, his steps heavier than when he arrived.

The following spring.

Sun Mao's condition fluctuated; when he was in good condition, he could get out of bed and walk a few steps, but when he was in bad condition, he even had difficulty speaking.

He began to make arrangements for his affairs after his death, entrusting all the properties, Spirit Vein, and land under the Sun Clan name to Sun Chengzu for management.

"The Sword Dao Heaven and Earth Qi of Return to Origin Sword Tomb, our ancestor favored us once, but ultimately, the Heaven and Earth Qi belongs to the sect."

Sun Mao leaned against the headboard, his voice weak. "If you want to use it, you must use it openly and honestly, don't cause trouble for the old ancestor."

"Nephew understands."

"With the Sword Dao Heaven and Earth Qi and your Sword Dao talent, your success rate is higher than that of the Grand Elder and Yao'er back then."

Sun Mao looked at him. "But it's only high, not a sure thing."

You must be prepared to fail.

Sun Chengzu was silent for a moment, then said, "I'm not afraid of failure. What I'm afraid of is not even daring to try."

Sun Mao paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed. His laugh contained both relief and bittersweetness.

"Good."

"Truly worthy of being a descendant of the Sun Clan."

"But before you go into seclusion, there's one more thing you need to do."

"What's up?"

"Take over the burden from the Sun Clan completely."

"Take on the responsibility before going into seclusion; don't leave this mess behind."

"If you fail, the Sun Clan still has someone to clean up the mess. If you don't even leave yourself a way out, then you're gambling with your entire Lineage."

"Nephew... yes."

The third year, autumn.

Sun Mao closed his eyes on the autumnal equinox and passed away peacefully.

On his deathbed, he said nothing, but silently gazed at Purple Firmament Peak, as if recalling his ancestor's appearance in his childhood.

Sun Chengzu knelt before the bed, remaining silent for a long time.

The room was very quiet, so quiet that you could hear the chirping of autumn insects outside the window.

The autumn wind blew in through the half-open window, causing the white banner in front of the memorial tablet to flutter loudly.

Sun Mao perished as a result.

White Cloud Temple held a grand funeral for him. He was the fourth core member of the Sun Clan family to pass away in this generation.

Three consecutive funerals have depleted most of the Sun Clan's wealth, leaving their reserves of Spirit Stone stretched thin and their Lineage business shrinking.

With this, the second generation of the Sun Clan —Sun Lin, Sun Mao, Sun Yao— all perished.

The Sun Clan also handed over the reins to the third generation, Sun Chengzu!

At the funeral.

Zhao Yanshan and Sun Chengzu sat facing each other. In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. Zhao Yanshan never expected that Sun Mao, that old fox, would die before him.

Sun Mao is not actually old yet.

It was purely due to mental illness; otherwise, he should have lived for at least another eighty or ninety years. It's truly unexpected that a Foundation Establishment cultivator would perish before even reaching two hundred years old.

"You've heard the rumors circulating in the sect right now."

Some say the Sun Clan's fate is sealed and they should withdraw from the inner circle. Now, the second generation of the Sun Clan has passed away, and the fourth generation of disciples are mediocre and unproductive...

"Of all the Lineage, you're the only one we can rely on."

"The Sun Clan, which originally had five Foundation Establishment, has almost disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only you. It's truly a cruel twist of fate."

Upon hearing this, Sun Chengzu sighed but did not refute it.

He simply said, "The future of the Sun Clan is not for others to judge. The day I Core Formation, everyone will shut up."

Zhao Yanshan was taken aback, then gave a wry smile, "You've made up your mind?"

"I made that decision long ago, and I have no regrets."

After the seventh day following Sun Mao's death, Sun Chengzu officially succeeded as the third head of the Sun Clan.

He sat in the main seat of the council hall, looking around at the sparse clansmen in the hall. Apart from him, there were three other members of the Cheng generation, all of whom were at the Qi Refining Late Stage.

They are very old and have no chance of making any breakthroughs in their lives.

The thirty-odd people of the Qi generation mostly possessed four or Five Spirit Roots Four Spirit Roots, and their cultivation levels varied greatly, with the highest being only at the Qi Refining Perfection.

The oldest of the Yuan generation children is only sixteen years old, and there are more than fifty of them, but their cultivation levels are generally in the Qi Refining Early Stage.

This is all of the Sun Clan's assets at present.

Of the more than one hundred cultivators, after removing the old, weak, sick, and disabled, fewer than thirty were capable of fighting.

In an ordinary Golden Core sect, this number of people wouldn't even be enough to support a third-rate Lineage. But in White Cloud Temple, thanks to the legacy of the patriarch and the allocation of resources within the sect, it can still maintain its dignity.

But dignity is like a mask; it's easy to tear off, but difficult to maintain.

At this moment, an elder of the clan advised, "Patriarch..."

"The current situation within the clan... is quite unfavorable for our Sun Clan."

"The First Elder Dao Dissolution, then Aunt Sun Yao Dao Dissolution, and then the Old Master... three deaths in three years, what should our clan do now?"

"There's one more thing..."

Another elder hesitated for a moment, then said, "Several shops in White Cloud Immortal City are unable to pay their spirit tax for last month."

"The Spirit Stone in the clan's coffers probably won't last more than a few years."

"Patriarch, why don't we go up the mountain and ask the Sun Clan to intervene and request some assets from the clan on behalf of the Sun family to make a living?"

Upon hearing this, the hall fell silent.

Sun Chengzu glanced at this clan elder, a cousin of the Cheng generation who was familiar with him, but the moment he uttered these words...

This affection ends here.

With a thought, Sun Chengzu instantly killed the man with a single sword strike!

The entire hall was immediately filled with astonishment.

Yet not a single person dared to discuss the matter of the ancestor...

"The Lineage has fallen so low that you even need your patriarch to step in and secure benefits for you. The Sun Clan has truly degenerated."

"Now I understand why Uncle Mao died so tragically, and why Aunt Yao risked her life to break through the barrier. It's all your fault, you filthy parasites!"

At that moment, Sun Chengzu was filled with rage.

He never imagined that such a trend would emerge in the clan: when faced with difficulties, instead of reflecting on their own efforts or trying to salvage the situation, they would turn a blind eye.

Instead, they went up the mountain together and asked the ancestor to intervene and fight for their interests!

Truly, this is a reversal of the Heavenly Gang!

On this day, the Sun Clan underwent a thorough purge. In order to leave a way out for the clan, Sun Chengzu personally eliminated most of the powerful elders from three generations and executed them on the spot.

More than ten people from the Qi generation were also killed!

More than twenty fifth-generation disciples were also implicated, either expelled from the Lineage or stripped of their cultivation, as a thorough purge of those parasites.

Subsequently, Sun Chengzu promoted several disciples of the Qi generation to serve as new managers of the Sun Clan, which the Lineage considered a disgrace.

With absolute iron-fisted measures, corruption was swiftly eradicated, leaving no stone unturned.

Within a few months, the Sun Clan's situation stabilized.

Despite the deaths of four Foundation Establishment cultivators and a major reshuffle, the Lineage's decline was ultimately halted...

It won't cause it to completely collapse from within.