148. Ancestor?

Qin Gang's words left everyone present stunned.

They had thought the mistress's plea would make him relent.

But unexpectedly, he turned his attention to her instead!

What was this? He wouldn’t leave without taking someone?

How desperate could he be?

“Mistress Xin, I don’t have all day. You have five minutes to give me a satisfactory answer, or I’ll raze the Nine-Tails Village to the ground!” Qin Gang crossed his arms, his eyes gleaming with malice, and his tone brimming with threat.

The mistress clenched her fists within her sleeves, her expression conflicted.

The other elders of the Nine-Tails Clan also looked grim.

Qin Gang’s words were not just a slap in the face—they were a direct insult, trampling their dignity.

But if they didn’t meet his demands, the Nine-Tails Village could face annihilation.

Would they preserve their bloodline by sacrificing their leader?

Even if the leader was sacrificed, with Qin Gang’s character, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t come back for Xin Qing or make new demands later!

It was a no-win situation.

“Fine! I... I’ll go with you, but you must not harm my people!” The mistress’s eyes flickered before she gritted her teeth and made her decision.

“Mother!”
“Mistress!”

Xin Qing and the other clan members cried out, their eyes brimming with tears.

“Sacrificing myself for the safety of the entire clan is worth it,” the mistress said with a gentle smile.

“Mother, no! Let me go instead! Don’t go!” Xin Qing rushed forward, clutching her mother tightly. Tears streamed down her delicate face and fell to the ground.

“Xin Qing, you’re still young. Train hard. I believe you’ll one day lead the Nine-Tails Clan to become the rulers of the beast realm,” the mistress said, stroking her daughter’s head lovingly.

Xin Qing wept uncontrollably. “Mother!”

“Hahaha! If you can’t bear to part with your mother, both of you can come back to the Beast Ridge with me,” Qin Gang said, licking his lips in excitement.

The mistress quickly shielded Xin Qing behind her. “Qin Gang! I’ll go with you, but Xin Qing cannot!”

“This... fine,” Qin Gang hesitated briefly but agreed.

He’d take the elder first. Once he’d had his fill, he could come back for the younger one later.

With the Beast Ridge’s power, he wasn’t worried about any retaliation from the Nine-Tails Clan.

With the matter seemingly settled, the mistress pushed Xin Qing aside and prepared to leave with Qin Gang.

At that moment, Chen Xuan’s voice broke the silence.

“This farce ends now. If you don’t want to die, get lost!”

“Huh? Who do you think you are, daring to speak to me like that?” Qin Gang sneered, glancing at Chen Xuan. Finding nothing remarkable about him, he snapped coldly.

In the Beast Ridge, aside from the leader, no one dared speak to him that way.

“Men! Arrest this kid!” one of Qin Gang’s subordinates commanded with a wave of his hand.

“Yes, sir!”

The Iron Mountain Guards stepped forward, their gazes cold and murderous.

But Chen Xuan remained unfazed. He raised his hand and clenched his fist.

“Spatial Shred!”

In an instant, the space around Qin Gang and his guards shattered like glass, revealing countless thin, thread-like lines.

Swish swish swish!
Shlick!

In mere moments, the threads sliced through Qin Gang and his men, reducing them to fragments.

Their souls were swiftly absorbed into Chen Xuan’s Soul Banner.

The air outside the Nine-Tails Village became eerily still.

Everyone was frozen in shock.

Qin Gang’s death left the remaining Beast Ridge forces trembling and paralyzed with fear, unable to even think of fleeing.

It had taken just one move!

One move to obliterate Qin Gang and dozens of Iron Mountain Guards!

The sheer terror of it!

Nobody knew the extent of Chen Xuan’s power, but one thing was clear: it was likely on par with or even greater than the leader of Beast Ridge.

“Y-you dare kill someone from Beast Ridge! Our leader won’t let this slide!” stammered Meng Shan, a trembling Beast Ridge officer.

“Enough!” Chen Xuan shot him a cold glare, shattering Meng Shan’s knees with the sheer force of his gaze. Blood splattered everywhere as Meng Shan fell to his knees.

“Don’t come near me!” Meng Shan cried, fear overcoming him as he soiled himself.

“Go back and tell your leader that if they want to live, they’re never to demand tribute from the Nine-Tails Clan again. Otherwise…”

Chen Xuan raised his hand, summoning a small orb of energy.

Boom!

The energy ball obliterated a distant mountain peak with ease.

“Y-yes, sir! Thank you for sparing us! We’ll deliver the message immediately!” Meng Shan stammered, drenched in sweat.

He vowed to report back to the Beast Ridge leader and have him deal with Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan didn’t waste any more words. “Scram!”

“Yes, yes, we’re leaving now!”

The once-feared warriors of Beast Ridge groveled and rolled away like worms, leaving the Nine-Tails Clan to sigh in relief and cheer in triumph.

“Finally! No more bullying from Beast Ridge!”
“Chen Xuan is incredible!”
“Chen Xuan, do you take disciples? I’ll be obedient!”
“Chen Xuan, do you need a maid? I’m very capable!”

The clan members, especially the women, surrounded Chen Xuan, chirping praises like a flock of sparrows.

The mistress glanced at Xin Qing, then at Chen Xuan, her gaze flickering with an indescribable emotion.

“Everyone, disperse!” she said, silencing the crowd.

She turned to Chen Xuan, bowing deeply. “Thank you, Lord Chen Xuan.”

“Let’s talk inside,” Chen Xuan replied.

“Of course.”


---

Eastern Xuan Region

Deep within a remote mountain range, an ancient stone door exploded outward.

Boom!

Amid the dust and debris stood a tall, sharp-eyed man.

“Ten years... Finally, I’ve completed my training!” he exclaimed, stretching and breathing in the fresh air.

“I wonder how Qingzhu is doing!”

Without hesitation, he leaped into the air, heading straight for the Nine Heavens Supreme Purity Palace.

But what he found along the way shocked him—many great sects had vanished, and the once-thriving Yuan Region was in ruins, as though a massive war had taken place.

When he arrived at the palace near sunset, his astonishment deepened.

“Huh? Not a single guard at the gate after ten years?” he muttered, displeased.

But when he ventured further in, his expression darkened.

It wasn’t laziness—there wasn’t a single living soul left in the Nine Heavens Supreme Purity Palace.

Deep within his heart, a faint sense of foreboding arose.

The moment he stepped into the plaza, his expression darkened. In a flash, he appeared before the barrier, his speed like a streak of lightning.

"Qingzhu! You… why are you… inside this?"

Inside the barrier stood Ling Qingzhu, whose snow-like skin and elegant brows once epitomized beauty. Yet, under the torment of the Heart-Eating Gu over the past few days, her face had become unnaturally pale.

Her fragile figure lay curled on the ground, a sight that tugged painfully at the man’s heart.

"Qingzhu, it’s me, Zhao Guangjun!"

"Zhao Guangjun?"

Within the barrier, Ling Qingzhu weakly raised her eyes to look at him.

"Qingzhu, what happened to you? What happened to the Nine Heavens Supreme Purity Palace? How did things become like this?" Zhao Guangjun cried out in desperation.

He could not have imagined that after ten years of seclusion, the Nine Heavens Supreme Purity Palace would fall into such ruin.

Who was behind this?

"Save… save me…" Ling Qingzhu murmured weakly.

"Alright, alright! Qingzhu, wait for me. I’ll get you out of there immediately!"

Wiping away his tears, Zhao Guangjun summoned a surge of his internal energy, forming a colossal gray sword.

With a mighty slash—

Boom!

Crack!

The barrier remained intact, while Zhao Guangjun’s energy-formed sword shattered instead.

Panic-stricken, Zhao Guangjun condensed another sword and tried again.

Boom!

Crack!

...

The pattern repeated over a hundred times until his energy was completely drained. Yet, the barrier remained unbroken.

His face was filled with disbelief. With his current terrifying power at the Samsara Realm, was there still a barrier in the Eastern Xuan Region that he couldn’t break?

"Qingzhu, who trapped you in here? Who? I’ll tear them to pieces!" Zhao Guangjun roared angrily, his voice reverberating into the distance.

"It was… Chen Xuan," Ling Qingzhu said weakly. Sweat glistened on her pale face, revealing the tremendous pain she was enduring. This sight made Zhao Guangjun’s heart ache even more.

"Chen Xuan? Who’s that?"

When Zhao Guangjun entered seclusion years ago, Shen Qing had yet to take Chen Xuan as her disciple. Thus, he did not know him.

"The… Dao Sect…" Ling Qingzhu replied weakly after some thought.

What?!

The Dao Sect?

Zhao Guangjun’s rage surged instantly.

"Qingzhu, wait for me. I’ll destroy the Dao Sect and avenge you!"

"Make sure… to capture Chen Xuan alive."

"Don’t worry! I’ll cripple his powers and bring him to you myself!"

Clenching his fists, Zhao Guangjun stormed off in fury.

Watching his retreating figure, a peculiar smile flickered across Ling Qingzhu’s pale face.


---

"Lord Chen Xuan, won’t you rest for a while?"

The matriarch of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan gazed at Chen Xuan with concern.

"There’s no need. Time is short, and I still have tasks to complete," Chen Xuan replied, shaking his head.

The matriarch hesitated. She had initially planned to have him stay the night, hoping to create an opportunity for Xin Qing to "sacrifice" herself. Now, she had to abandon the idea.

Led by the matriarch, the group arrived at the depths of the Nine-Tailed Clan’s settlement.

In the heart of a jungle ruin lay a towering altar.

The matriarch placed her palm on the stone platform at its center. Instantly, a palm-sized blood-red fox statue emerged, exuding a strong ancient aura.

With a flick of her finger, she conjured a blood orb radiating a pungent scent. It contained the collective blood essence of the Nine-Tailed Clan, the only way to open their ancestral hall.

However, due to repeated use over millennia, the statue could now only sustain one final activation.

As the blood orb merged with the fox statue, the statue seemed to come alive, letting out an ear-piercing howl.

A massive blood-red gate slowly opened.

"Lord Chen Xuan, we entrust this to you," the matriarch pleaded, her hands clenched tightly.

As Chen Xuan approached the portal, Xin Qing quickly reached out.

"Lord Chen Xuan, wait! Without me, you might be isolated outside."

She took his hand and entered the gate alongside him.

Watching their figures disappear, the Nine-Tailed Clan members murmured anxiously.

"Can this Chen Xuan really handle it?"

"He defeated Qin Gang and dozens of others with a single move. He’s clearly not ordinary."

"But even Samsara Realm experts have entered the ancestral hall before, only to never return…"

The matriarch clasped her hands before her chest, muttering prayers under her breath.


---

Inside the blood-red gate, Chen Xuan and Xin Qing traversed a long corridor before arriving at an enormous plaza.

The moment they stepped in, Xin Qing seemed to transform. She rushed forward and knelt before an immense stone statue.

Moments later, a radiant figure emerged—a glamorous woman dressed in ornate attire.

"Ancestor…" Xin Qing choked out, tears streaming down her face.

"My descendant, I’ve waited for you. Come and receive my inheritance!"

The ethereal figure reached out impatiently, grabbing Xin Qing as if eager to take her away.

Although startled, Xin Qing relaxed, trusting this to be her ancestor.

"And where exactly do you plan to take her?"

Chen Xuan suddenly appeared before the figure.

"You… you’re not of my clan. Who are you?" the figure demanded sharply.

Xin Qing panicked, hurriedly explaining, "Ancestor, this is my friend. We brought him here to help—"

"Silence! Outsiders are not welcome in the ancestral hall!"

Before Xin Qing could reply, Chen Xuan stepped forward and said calmly, "I’m not here to help. I’m here to destroy you."

"...What?"

Stunned, Xin Qing froze, while the ethereal figure’s voice grew icy.

"How dare you enter the ancestral hall of the Nine-Tailed Clan and spout such arrogance! Die!"

"Ancestor, Lord Chen Xuan isn’t our enemy!" Xin Qing exclaimed in desperation.