Chapter 589: Blood Splatters the Courtyard (Two in One)

Already the strongest body beneath the Demigod Realm, it now shattered its limits under the augmentation of the Power of the White Stone. Just as he had stacked the Fear Stance with the Old Man's fist to instantly kill the Hermit, Yan Jing's punch dealt a near-devastating blow to his opponent.

"Cough, cough..."

The Wrath Emperor coughed up blood. He stared at his gaping chest, stunned for several seconds.

He suddenly felt as though the boundless fury in his chest had nowhere left to go.

That rage was supposed to sit in his chest, burn in his mind, and course through his blood.

It was the source of his strength, the fuel for his weird energy, and the very foundation keeping him alive.

But now, it was spilling out like water through the gaping hole in his chest.

His mind cooled. The pitch-black cracks beneath his eyes seemed to go dormant, ceasing their flow.

So cold.

He stared blankly at his surroundings, as if he no longer recognized the world.

Ever since that person died, the world in his eyes had been completely blood-red.

But now, that blood-red color was gone.

Everything faded to black. It was like a canvas losing its color, the world marching toward its demise.

The crimson rage that kept him alive was slipping away.

"Xiujun!"

In his daze, he heard a familiar voice calling an unfamiliar name.

He snapped his head around and saw that familiar yet foreign figure.

"I've waited for you for a long time, Xiujun."

The figure smiled at him and spoke softly.

"I—I'm sorry."

The Wrath Emperor awkwardly wiped the blood from his hands, as if he didn't want her to see he had been fighting.

"It's okay, I know." The figure chuckled softly.

"You're always like this. Always late."

"But it's fine. I've been waiting for you."

The figure stepped closer, gently taking his hand just as she had centuries ago.

How long had it been since the last time this happened?

He couldn't quite remember.

So much so that when she lifted his hand, he felt a daze wash over him, entirely at a loss.

"Have you been well lately?"

The figure asked gently.

"Pretty good... not bad... alright... just alright..." His tender face, which looked far younger than his actual age, flushed red. He felt his ears burning with a boyish shyness.

At that thought, he suddenly remembered the patterns under his eyes.

They had only appeared after she left, and he worried she wouldn't like them.

"I... these are wrath patterns. I reached the Tenth Tier, and you get these at the Tenth Tier."

"I promised you back then that I would definitely reach the Tenth Tier, becoming Sin City's first Tenth Tier in a century. I did it."

He puffed up his chest as he said this. It was one of the few promises to her that he had actually kept.

He didn't mention the hardships in between; he was afraid she would worry.

Just like back then.

He was proud, too, secretly hoping for her praise.

Also just like back then.

"Really?! Xiujun is amazing!"

The figure clapped her hands. Her smile was filled with the most genuine joy imaginable, her bouncing steps as light as a deer's. It was a beautiful smile.

Eager to make that smile even brighter, he hurriedly moved to his next piece of news:

"I—I recently found a way to bring you back. It'll be soon. It's right in Old Sin City. I'm close to tracking down that item." "Really? Then did you succeed, Xiujun?" The figure looked at him, brimming with anticipation.

The anticipation in her eyes was so intense.

So intense that he didn't even dare to meet her gaze.

He didn't want to answer this question, because the answer wasn't very good.

But she was looking at him.

Under that gaze, he couldn't stay silent, and he certainly couldn't lie.

"N-no. I didn't succeed."

A sudden ache gripped his throat.

Just like every time he had failed and told her in the past—whenever she looked at him, he felt like crying.

"I lost. I lost to him."

As he spoke, tears spilled from his eyes, sliding down along the pitch-black patterns.

Those patterns that had once carried wrath were now filled entirely with sorrow.

"I'm sorry, I lost. He was too strong. I still couldn't do it. I lost."

He felt deeply ashamed. Not only had he lost and failed to bring her back, but he was also crying.

A centuries-old man shouldn't cry so easily. If something ever drove him to tears, he was supposed to smash whoever caused it to pieces.

But this time, he couldn't. Whether for the illusion before him or against the man who had just killed him, he was completely helpless.

This overwhelming powerlessness made his tears fall even faster.

But the figure reached out her hand and gently pulled him into her embrace.

"It's okay. Xiujun has already done his best."

"My Xiujun is the best."

Hearing her words, he couldn't hold it back anymore. The tears he had been struggling to suppress now streamed down uncontrollably, and he wept loudly in her embrace.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I really wanted to win, but I was careless and lost to him..."

"It's okay, it's okay."

She simply whispered to him softly, over and over again.

Until he exhausted himself crying and collapsed completely in her embrace, still murmuring softly.

"I'm so tired."

He lay on his back in her embrace, blankly looking at the pitch-black sky above, and spoke softly.

"Yes, I know."

The figure spoke softly, reaching out to gently close his eyes.

"Sleep, go to sleep. My Xiujun is too tired and needs to rest."

Yan Jing watched the Wrath Emperor's body fall to the ground. The killing blow he had prepared remained clenched in his hand, unused.

Tears spilled from the fallen man's eyes.

He muttered under his breath, and Yan Jing could hear every sentence he spoke.

Visible aging had finally caught up to the man who had previously seemed entirely untouchable; his youthful face instantly became mottled and weathered. "I won."

Yan Jing withdrew his killing blow, but the still-unsettled fury in his heart made him say those words.

Hearing this, the Wrath Emperor's pupils violently contracted.

And Yan Jing pressed further, determined to destroy the mind after killing the body:

"You made her lose again."

Perhaps there were no more heart-piercing words in the world than this. The Wrath Emperor lay on the ground, his life completely dissipating in despair. Countless motes of light materialized around him, danced in the air, and sank into the center of Yan Jing's brow.

This contained the Wrath Emperor's divinity, as well as his final ability.

Yan Jing turned to look at his brothers in the courtyard and smiled.

"Shall we continue, my dear brothers?"

Faced with Yan Jing's provocation, the others felt neither anger nor anything else.

When the gap in strength reached a certain point, many emotions simply vanished into thin air.

The strength Yan Jing had displayed was too overwhelming—so strong that it left everyone's minds completely blank.

"I admit defeat."

Right at that moment, Shi Sanchuan sighed and spoke up.

"I withdraw from the competition for the position of Family head."

"I will no longer meddle in the main affairs of the Family. Ah Ji, if possible, I hope you can let your older brother off. Your sister-in-law and I are going to have a child."

"Over the years, I've taken somewhat better care of the Mo Family, but aside from that, I have never done anything to betray our Family." "I'm withdrawing too." No one expected that the first to follow in Shi Sanchuan's footsteps would be Jiuhai, who usually seemed the most absent-minded. He laughed awkwardly, looking at Yan Jing:

"Ah Ji, you know your Third Brother is just a piece of trash. What's the point in killing your Third Brother? What threat could this brain of mine pose to you? It's not worth breaking a sweat over."

"...I withdraw."

Shi Yicheng wore a dark expression, gritting his teeth as he spoke coldly.

"Ah Ji, cut your Second Brother some slack. I will leave immediately and never return to the Fear Family from now on."

After the three of them finished speaking, everyone's gazes intentionally or unintentionally drifted toward the last one, Qi Hu.

Qi Hu's face was dark, and he didn't say a word.

It wasn't that he didn't want to speak.

He knew that even if he did, it would be useless.

He was the one who had done that deed back then.

He was also the one behind today's rebellion.

This man was here to avenge San Shan. The Wrath Emperor backing him was dead, so naturally, he had no reason left to survive.

But...

"If you want to kill me, fine. But there's one thing I want to make clear."

Qi Hu raised his head and spoke coldly.

"I wasn't the one who killed Ah He. Believe it or not, Ah He's death was caused by someone among them."

He pointed at the other three.

Hearing this, Shi Sanchuan and the other two all wore ugly expressions.

Qi Hu knew he was going to die and was determined to drag someone down with him.

But they all knew clearly that they hadn't lifted a finger, so they could only hope that one of the other two would step forward.

And right at this moment, Yan Jing smiled.

"Fourth Brother, I believe you when you say that."

"Fifth Brother was indeed not killed by you."

Qi Hu let out a cold laugh.

"As long as you know."

A second later, Yan Jing's words left him completely stunned.

"Of course, it wasn't the other three brothers either."

As his voice faded, Yan Jing summoned a rift in midair, and Wuhe walked out from within.

He wore a completely bewildered expression.

Where in the world was this?

Yesterday, not long after he left, he felt a punch strike him from behind, and then he ended up in a pitch-black place.

No matter how much he shouted or roared, no one responded.

Getting out was even more impossible; he couldn't even find the boundaries of that place.

He hadn't expected to be let out now.

The crowd looked in absolute shock at Wuhe, who had suddenly popped out.

And then, they fell into silence once again.

So, from beginning to end, Wuhe had been a decoy.

Yan Jing had done it on purpose.

He had abducted Wuhe to force the conflict to erupt this morning. With everyone's emotions already unstable due to the infection of wrath, this disturbance had forced everyone to reveal their hidden cards.

And there had only been one winner from the very start.

Having been in the Family for only a few short days, he had seen through the complex situation. Using just a few simple tricks, he had achieved his goal. Such scheming, such strength.

Shi Sanchuan couldn't help but sigh again.

It wasn't an unfair defeat.

He finally saw it clearly—he saw the purpose behind this setup and his father's true intentions.

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

"Then let's bring this farce to an end, my dear brothers."

He walked step by step toward Qi Hu, who just stood there.

Qi Hu kept his head lowered, fists tightly clenched.

That long-lost feeling of powerlessness swept over him once again.

After laying down so many traps and preparing so much groundwork, he had ultimately lost.

A long spike materialized in Yan Jing's hand. He gently raised it and pressed it against Qi Hu's throat.

In the next second, it was going to pierce right through his throat.

But... right at this moment...

A figure ran out from the house that had been nearly reduced to ruins.

"Ah Ji!!!"

The woman's speed was extreme. In almost an instant, she rushed in front of Yan Jing and Qi Hu, yanked Qi Hu backward, and shielded him with her own body.

She looked at Yan Jing, her eyes brimming with hot tears.

"Ah Ji, let your brother go."

"Ah Hu knows he was wrong. Ah Hu is a good boy. He won't do it again."

Yan Jing's expression was calm.

"Mom, move aside."

"I won't!!!" The woman's face was covered in tears.

"Ah Hu is my child!!!"

"So was Sixth Brother." Yan Jing lowered his eyes.

"I have to avenge him."

"Without him, I wouldn't have survived."

"Ah Shan is already dead!!!" the woman cried out. Her sorrowful voice made the surrounding crowd unconsciously lower their heads a little.

They hadn't expected that the woman actually knew everything.

"Ah Shan is already dead. He can't come back to life, but Ah Hu is still alive. Ah Ji, Mom is begging you, Mom begs you..." The woman tightly grabbed Yan Jing's arms and tried to kneel down, but Yan Jing firmly held her body up. Her tears broke like a dam.

"I can't lose Ah Hu, too."

Yan Jing looked at the woman. He knew she wasn't being partial to Qi Hu.

Perhaps there was some partiality, but not overwhelmingly so.

Just like on his first night arriving at this Family, when the woman sent Chu Fa to look for him.

The woman simply, as a mother, didn't want to see her child die.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm.

"On the way home, Grandpa Chengfa suddenly attacked, colluding with outside forces to make a move against Fifth Brother and me."

"Mom, I could listen to you and let Fourth Brother go. But if Fifth Brother and I had died, who would avenge us? Who would avenge Sixth Brother?" "Move aside."

"Just consider it for the sake of your other children."

Hearing Yan Jing's words, the woman wept bitterly. Unable to say another word of rebuttal, she could only shake her head continuously.

But she still clung tightly to Yan Jing's hands, refusing to let go.

After a few seconds of silence, Yan Jing spoke coldly.

"Coward!!"

Everyone was taken aback.

Yan Jing stared at Qi Hu across from him, his voice icy.

"Are you just going to hide behind Mom like this? Hiding behind a mother who has to kneel and beg her other child just to save you!"

"A man who, for the sake of power, could kill his Sixth Brother, his Seventh Brother, and even plotted to kill his Fifth Brother, is now hiding behind his own mother!"

"Coward!!!"

"Kill yourself. Don't make me look down on you, Fourth Brother."

The crowd looked at Qi Hu standing there, still wondering what he would do, when Qi Hu suddenly raised his head, his eyes a bloodshot crimson.

Immediately after, he took a step forward.

Amidst the woman's weeping and under the shocked gazes of the crowd, he drove his throat directly onto Yan Jing's long spike.

Blood instantly sprayed out like a fountain, drenching the terrified woman. It dyed her white dress red, staining a courtyard that had been incredibly harmonious just dozens of minutes ago.

Yan Jing's face was calm as he quietly retracted the weird energy carrying a dense wrath from his fingertips.

The ability he had just obtained was put to use immediately.

This was the final dignity he gave to Qi Hu.

And also the final dignity he left for this Family on behalf of the original owner of this body.