Chapter 319

Li Zhuiyuan said, "The light is out."

As soon as he finished speaking, the amber glow enveloping the surroundings began to burn, rapidly fading into nothingness.

Zhao Luhai, who had just repaired his body and stepped out of the enclosure, only managed to take that one step. His next step never came.

Not only was his body paralyzed, but even his foremost foot began to burn.

Zhao Luhai exclaimed, "This... how is this possible?"

Deep below, the ancestors of the Zhao family, nearly all missing limbs, fell into a frenzy upon realizing they too were catching fire.

Some were screaming, some roaring, some weeping... and some knelt, kowtowing, unsure if they sought blessings from the heavens or their ancestors.

Everything here, including their very existence, was predicated on the flame flickering on Zhao Wuyang's skull.

The extinguishing of the flame signified the end of their dream of eternal life.

"Why... why did this happen?" Zhao Luhai muttered.

Even now, Zhao Luhai couldn't comprehend how the situation, which he had seemingly fully controlled, had suddenly deteriorated so rapidly, giving him no room to struggle.

All he could do now was await death.

Li Zhuiyuan shakily rose to his feet, first wiping blood from his mouth with his right hand, then rubbing his eyes with his left.

The young man looked somewhat dishevelled.

Fortunately,

he had succeeded.

He looked up, opening his eyes to gaze at Zhao Luhai before him, then down at the Zhao ancestors below.

Li Zhuiyuan felt that letting them simply burn to death was too easy for them.

After all, they had enjoyed this for so many years.

Although this "enjoyment" seemed meaningless and absurd to the young man, the Zhao family genuinely believed in it.

The young man gently shook his head.

No,

he couldn't let them die so easily.

Li Lan, now fully afflicted, had drawn a distinction between "human" and "god," perceiving most people in the world as not truly her kind.

While Li Zhuiyuan's condition was controlled and improving, some of his previous cognitive habits had not yet fully disappeared.

Zhao Yi's anger upon witnessing this scene stemmed primarily from his family name, Zhao, and his lifelong reverence for his ancestors as guiding figures.

Li Zhuiyuan, however, seemed to view Zhao Wuyang as his "kind," much like how he quickly accepted Xue Liangliang.

Furthermore, the countless ancestral tablets crammed onto the altar table in the East House subtly reinforced this perception for him.

Therefore, what the Zhao family had done to Zhao Wuyang gave Li Zhuiyuan a sense of "suffering with his own kind."

The young man truly felt the anger rising within him.

Li Zhuiyuan cherished all emotions that arose from within him and felt they deserved an outlet.

Coincidentally, having seen so many fish grow large in the pond of his consciousness earlier, the young man had an idea for an experiment.

Previously, he had only poured feed into the pond; he had never actually fished or netted anything.

Being a first-time endeavor with no reference point, it required time for him to explore and deduce everything himself.

After all, he was creating a new spell, or rather, a new secret art, one that only Li Zhuiyuan himself could use.

Thus, Li Zhuiyuan wished for Zhao Luhai to die slowly; he was an excellent experimental subject, along with the wailing Zhao ancestors below.

Zhao Luhai was the anchor point here; he was certainly going to die, and he had the ability to accelerate the process.

He needed something to keep him hanging on, to motivate him to hold out a little longer.

For example, by initiating a conversation.

Coincidentally, Zhao Luhai was also filled with confusion at that moment.

"Your scheme was indeed brilliant. I imagine if you hadn't spent your life figuring out how to live like a food-guarding dog, but instead applied yourself elsewhere, I might have found your books in my home's basement."

"The Dragon King's ancestral home... the Sutra Repository?"

"No, it's the basement of a self-built rural house in Siyuan Village, Shinan Town."

The anger in Zhao Luhai's eyes almost solidified. He felt the young man was humiliating him as a victor.

Yet, the young man's willingness to speak to him now was also his urgent need; if he was to die, he wanted to die with understanding!

"Why could you light that lamp? Even if you joined two Dragon King lineages, you wouldn't be powerful enough to use the Dragon King Lamp!"

Zhao Luhai had guarded this lamp his entire life; he believed no one in the world understood its properties better than he did.

Even though the young man had just announced his connection to two Dragon King lineages, and even if he had successfully become a disciple of both, Zhao Luhai still felt that this lamp should not have been lit.

Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes again with his left hand, then extended his right, pointing behind Zhao Luhai to the Grand Elder, who was frozen in shock like an open-mouthed statue.

"He should know why.

Because I am the contemporary and only inheritor of both the Dragon King Qin and Dragon King Liu lineages."

Zhao Luhai was unaware of the changes in the Qin and Liu families. In his perception, the Dragon King lineages were still mighty, flourishing entities.

Therefore, he naturally assumed the young man was a mere branch extending from the two Dragon King families, when in reality, Li Zhuiyuan was the combined root of both Dragon King lineages.

Before Ah Li formally completed her initiation ceremony, Li Zhuiyuan was the sole inheritor of the Qin and Liu families in this generation.

Although the spirits of both families' ancestors no longer existed, the full status and authority of both Dragon King lineages had fallen upon Li Zhuiyuan.

Thus, the young man was qualified to use this lamp.

This lamp had long been imbued with special properties by Zhao Luhai; its flame had been transferred by a unique method to the center of Zhao Wuyang's forehead, deep within the amber.

Li Zhuiyuan did not know, nor could he possibly know, this unique method.

The young man surmised that this was partly due to Zhao Luhai being a descendant of Zhao Wuyang, and partly connected to the arrangements made during Zhao Wuyang's demise.

Even a Dragon King nearing the end of his lifespan wouldn't choose to lie idly in bed; instead, he would seek a malevolent entity of sufficient power to orchestrate his final, glorious downfall.

This was a Dragon King's pride.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that before his demise, Zhao Wuyang had, likely to suppress something, transferred partial "control" to his descendants, similar to vital points in a formation.

During the previous wave involving the old hag, the young man had seen the stone tablet left by Zhao Wuyang, on which was inscribed: "Let my Zhao family descendants come to vanquish the demons..."

This Dragon King held extremely high expectations for his descendants.

He hoped his descendants would inherit his will, follow in his footsteps, and take on the responsibility of slaying demons and protecting humanity, much like the Foolish Old Man's endless generations.

Given such aspirations, it was understandable that he would leave behind methods for his descendants to help him completely suppress a certain malevolent entity.

Unfortunately, the actions of the Zhao family descendants had disappointed this Dragon King of humble origins.

Zhao Luhai had likely used means left by Zhao Wuyang for his descendants to steal Zhao Wuyang's head from its place of suppression and relocate it here.

He had transformed Zhao Wuyang's grand vow to suppress a region and protect its peace into a mere safeguard for the Zhao family.

The fire had reached Zhao Luhai's knees. He was indeed enduring it, asking the question he most wanted answered:

"Why did the flame from your second lighting of the lamp extinguish?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't rush to answer, merely observing him calmly, as if deliberately prolonging the suspense.

In fact, the young man was now reversing the secret art from the black book.

Deep within his consciousness.

His main body emerged from the basement, stood on the dam, and looked towards the pond.

Although the distance was considerable, his main body had always been too lazy to arrange the scenery in non-critical areas of his consciousness, so he could clearly see what was happening at the pond.

His main body saw:

Fish were flying above the pond.

Zhao Luhai demanded, "Tell me, what is this? Why did your second attempt to light the lamp fail? Why?"

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head to conceal the absolute coldness in his eyes.

Lin Shuyou, worried that Brother Xiaoyuan was unwell, bent down and tilted his head, trying to see Brother Xiaoyuan's expression.

When Ah You saw those eyes, his body instantly stiffened in fear, and he instinctively recoiled a few steps.

He had been afraid of this young man since they first met, and that fear had continued to this day, though it could now be described as awe.

Thus, when the young man displayed such a gaze, Ah You felt as if all his past psychological traumas were erupting at once.

Zhao Luhai pleaded, "Tell me, tell me, why!"

When the premise that a lamp is burning, yet its flame is not on the lamp itself, is established, then theoretically, there is indeed no possibility for that lamp to be extinguished.

Li Zhuiyuan acknowledged and chose to respect the process established by Zhao Luhai.

Therefore, when the young man actively used this lamp for his second lighting, the initial flame would inevitably transfer to the center of Zhao Wuyang's forehead under this established process.

When two flames burn on a single lamp, they are bound to merge.

In traditional river-crossing rituals, when one lights the lamp a second time to concede, the flame changes—some noticeably, some subtly. The initial change occurs when you "declare to the heavens," and the heavens, through the flame's alteration, signify that they have heard your prayer.

Once your declaration is complete, this change vanishes, and the flame returns to its previous normal state, signifying that your concession and departure from the river surface have been approved by the Heavenly Dao.

But what if the Heavenly Dao disagrees? This was precisely what Zhao Luhai couldn't understand, because in his perception, there was no scenario where the Heavenly Dao would refuse a second lamp lighting as a sign of surrender!

Conceding the lamp at an inappropriate time, for instance, retreating before a 'wave' is completed, would still result in the karmic consequences of that wave falling upon you, but the lamp would still allow you to light it normally.

Li Zhuiyuan said, "Because I was certain my second attempt to light the lamp would fail."

Terror filled Zhao Luhai's eyes; he had realized he was facing something truly terrifying, something on such a high level that even he, a man destined to die, felt a chilling tremble from his very soul:

"Wh-why... why?"

"Because I didn't even light the lamp for the river crossing myself."

Li Zhuiyuan had known for a long time that the Heavenly Dao would not allow him to leave the river's surface.

It was hard to imagine how deeply Wei Zhengdao had truly offended the Heavenly Dao back then.

But... it was also understandable.

Aside from everything else, Wei Zhengdao's quiet river crossing, becoming a Dragon King, and then doing nothing a Dragon King should do, shirking all responsibilities—it was as if he had forcibly extinguished that generation of Dragon Kings.

If he were the Heavenly Dao, he wouldn't allow a second "Wei Zhengdao" to appear either.

Perhaps the Heavenly Dao felt it wasn't yet time to dispose of him after his usefulness.

The Heavenly Dao still wanted to use him as a weapon and was reluctant to destroy him now.

Or perhaps the Heavenly Dao believed that even with the perilous situation of Zhao Luhai in front and the Grand Elder behind, it still might not be able to kill him.

If he were to escape and the lamp extinguished, he would be off the river and on land, no longer affected by the river waters, thus completely losing control.

In short, the Heavenly Dao had rejected his surrender request...

And extinguished the lamp.

When the flames, intertwined and indistinguishable, were extinguished, they couldn't be put out separately; they had to be doused together. This also meant that the original flame on Zhao Wuyang's head was extinguished along with them.

The Heavenly Dao is formless; this has always been the style of the "Questioner."

Therefore, this incident could also be interpreted as Li Zhuiyuan using the authority of both Qin and Liu Dragon King lineages to forcibly counteract the spiritual essence left by Zhao Wuyang.

Li Zhuiyuan's sudden collapse in agony, bleeding from all seven orifices, was also due to the backlash from the collision of these three Dragon King authorities, not a casual slap from the Heavenly Dao after its refusal.

However, Li Zhuiyuan himself knew the true reason.

In fact, to avoid this slap, the young man had previously sat on the ground, trying every method on that lamp.

None of them worked.

Therefore, when Li Zhuiyuan stood up and finally decided to use this lamp for his second lighting, a trace of helplessness lingered in his heart.

This slap was inevitable.

Zhao Luhai asked, "What do you mean, you didn't light the lamp yourself?"

Li Zhuiyuan replied, "You can understand it as my fate being tougher; I suppressed Zhao Wuyang's lamp until it extinguished, and I suppressed you until you died."

"F-fate... tougher?" Zhao Luhai stammered.

By now, the flames had reached Zhao Luhai's waist.

They couldn't drag this out any longer; he would burn away. Li Zhuiyuan, at last, was ready.

The young man raised his head, and as his cold eyes met Zhao Luhai's, Zhao Luhai felt a jolt in his heart.

"You..."

Li Zhuiyuan said, "You deserve to die, but not this easily."

The young man joined his index and middle fingers and walked towards Zhao Luhai.

As he advanced, Li Zhuiyuan spoke:

"Ah You, give me a step!"

Lin Shuyou instinctively leaned forward, his right knee rising.

Li Zhuiyuan stepped onto Lin Shuyou's knee to gain height, then pointed his finger at Zhao Luhai's glabella.

Actual physical contact wasn't strictly necessary; it could also be activated from a distance.

However, this was a newly deduced secret art, never tested, and its implications were too significant. Li Zhuiyuan worried that improper handling might cause it to spread and affect his companions.

Deep within his consciousness.

His main body still stood on the dam, gazing towards the pond.

He saw:

Countless fish, in teeming schools, flying from the pond towards the sky.

A black circle appeared on Li Zhuiyuan's fingertip, emanating a despair-inducing darkness.

It was as if all sentient beings in this world, before this blackness, were like rice paper soaked in water; the blackness, like ink, permeated upon contact.

In an instant, Zhao Luhai felt his consciousness shatter into countless fragments, each independently experiencing a myriad of extreme emotions. These emotions were then simultaneously transmitted to him, making him feel every single one acutely.

In that moment, he lost all sense of time; every second stretched into an endlessly prolonged eternity.

Countless fragmented selves within him wailed, knelt, and begged for an end to the seemingly endless torment.

Death, in the face of such torture, truly felt like a long-awaited blessing, like a refreshing rain. The phrase "worse than death" couldn't even begin to describe a fraction of the suffering here.

This was... an Asura's hell on the conscious level.

Since Zhao Luhai was the primary vessel for this domain, what he experienced was equally diffused and shared with all the Zhao ancestors deep underground.

Instantly, all the mutilated Zhao ancestors below experienced a pain a thousand times more intense than what they had felt when burning.

There was no wailing, no crying, and even those who had been screaming to the heavens,

now ceased all movement.

Yet this silence conveyed a terrifying sense that all living beings around them could perceive.

Lin Shuyou instinctively closed his eyes and covered his ears. He didn't know what he was trying to block, but instinct made him perform self-protective actions, which had no practical use but offered a sense of psychological safety.

The boy in his mind screamed frantically at Ah You:

"No wonder he's the successor of Emperor Fengdu! He belongs in Fengdu, he belongs in Fengdu!"

Tan Wenbin's five senses were already keen, but now he simply shut down his perception, withdrawing into himself.

As for the four obedient spirit beasts, they became even more subservient, each prostrating before Tan Wenbin's consciousness, trembling.

They were terrified that if they made another mistake or disobeyed again, "that one" would punish them in this manner.

Only Runsheng stood there, his expression unchanged.

The Grand Elder, standing at the periphery of the amber glow, was the most profoundly affected.

First, he witnessed Zhao Luhai's sudden failure.

Then he discovered that his longed-for sanctuary, for which he had paid a huge price, was about to collapse.

And finally, he perceived the invisible agony emanating from the entire Zhao family.

"Plop!"

The Grand Elder fell prostrate.

They say no sorrow is greater than a dead heart; at this moment, many sorrows converged within him.

His eyes glazed over, saliva drooled from his mouth, and his lower body, which had regained much vitality over the years, leaked a dark liquid, soaking his pants.

He had gone mad.

This was something Li Zhuiyuan hadn't anticipated.

Because the current Grand Elder, having been replenished, was unequivocally

the foremost living person of the Zhao family.

While torturing Zhao Luhai, Li Zhuiyuan had already been contemplating how to face the Grand Elder next; this was supposed to be the most brutal battle of this "wave."

As it turned out, he had gone insane, losing his mind.

Ordinary people might fear a madman, but at their level, a clouded mind inevitably meant a drastic reduction in threat.

"Two dragons, two dragons, hahahaha, I saw them, two dragons, haha!"

The Grand Elder began slapping his knees, both crying and laughing.

Such an abrupt shift would be extremely sudden at any other time, but then, considering this was the Zhao ancestral home and these were members of the Zhao family... it felt somewhat justified.

This entire family, cutting off Zhao Yi as a tail, and then severing Zhao Wuyang's head;

the large chunk in the middle was inherently a group of unsavory characters.

Well, it saved them a brutal fight. This was a temporarily inserted "wave," and it was fairly normal that no one ended up severely injured and incapacitated.

Upon closer consideration, Li Zhuiyuan realized that he seemed to have sustained the most damage within the team during this wave.

Finally, the last remnants of Zhao Luhai's head were burned clean.

Along with him, the Zhao ancestors below were also incinerated.

Li Zhuiyuan withdrew his hand.

However many years of "happiness" they had enjoyed, Li Zhuiyuan repaid them with countless times that amount in ultimate torment on the level of conscious perception.

Moreover, this was only the first round.

The rich scent of amaryllis permeated the air; next, they would be cast into Fengdu Underworld.

To continue experiencing... true hell!

The amber glow, already faded to near transparency, now shattered like glass. Not only did the area enveloping Li Zhuiyuan and his companions crack, but the space below them also fragmented.

"Crack!"

"Boom!"

Losing its underlying support, the ground of the Zhao ancestral home began to collapse.

The good news was that the area where the treasury was located didn't collapse severely and stopped after a while.

The bad news was that when the amber glow had burned earlier, it had "scorched" most of the items in the treasury along with it.

This fire was not ordinary; its nature was very similar to the karma fire Li Zhuiyuan wielded. It wouldn't burn mundane objects, but it could strip extraordinary items of their special properties.

Many valuable materials in the treasury were reduced to construction waste that even building sites wouldn't accept; many treasures were burned into common artworks, no longer even considered antiques.

Surprisingly, the air inside the treasury, which had been sealed for years, became exceptionally fresh.

Li Zhuiyuan took a deep breath. He had come in a large truck and didn't want to return empty-handed.

Tan Wenbin rummaged through a cabinet right in front of him. After digging to the very bottom, he let out a sigh of relief and said:

"Brother Xiaoyuan, fortunately, some parts at the very bottom weren't burned and are still usable. The same goes for here, and here; other areas should be similar."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded upon hearing this.

That was fine, acceptable.

At least it ensured the materials for his three talismanic armors and what was needed to set up a permanent formation dojo in the field behind his great-grandfather's house.

A preliminary estimate indicated... it would indeed be enough to fill the large truck.

Since the goal set upon arrival had been achieved, there were no regrets.

More important than getting rich was eliminating Zhao Luhai in this manner, ensuring his companions remained in good condition, and smoothly concluding this "wave."

After all, the purpose of accumulating the former was precisely for the latter; there was no need to put the cart before the horse.

Lin Shuyou asked, "So, that three-eyed guy's family fortune just completely burned away, didn't it?"

Tan Wenbin replied, "Ah You, what are you thinking? That's Zhao Yi's pre-marital property."

Lin Shuyou gasped, "Huh?"

Tan Wenbin continued, "Why are you feeling sorry for him? That's something Liang Yan and Liang Li should worry about, right, his second aunt?"

"His second uncle!" Lin Shuyou corrected.

"Heh, I quite like that seniority."

"Haha, two dragons, two dragons, I saw them, I saw them!"

The Grand Elder shouted at Li Zhuiyuan, immensely agitated.

Once the amber glow dissipated, there was no longer any barrier between the Grand Elder and Li Zhuiyuan's group.

Nevertheless, Tan Wenbin first went to check the materials in front of him.

Because no one believed the Grand Elder was faking madness; he was certainly going to be killed, and he knew it himself, so feigning insanity was pointless.

However, to be safe, Runsheng immediately gripped his Yellow River Shovel and kept a close eye on the Grand Elder after the barrier disappeared.

Once Tan Wenbin confirmed everything, the cheerful and relaxed atmosphere vanished.

Lin Shuyou stood beside Runsheng, holding his twin maces, while Tan Wenbin positioned himself behind both of them.

Playful when appropriate, serious when necessary.

Even if an enemy died right before them, one preferred to grind bones to dust, another to absorb souls on the spot, and a third to devour them.

In any case, carelessness leading to disaster was not a possibility within Li Zhuiyuan's team.

Li Zhuiyuan was tired; his vision was already tinged with a dark red filter.

If the next battle went smoothly, he didn't plan to use the red thread; he would simply observe from the side.

However, as Li Zhuiyuan prepared to walk over, he seemed to hear a crisp cracking sound beside his ear.

The young man stopped and turned. The lamp standing there had developed countless cracks and was on the verge of shattering.

Li Zhuiyuan walked towards the lamp, waving his hand as he said:

"Tan Wenbin, you take command."

"Understood!"

Tan Wenbin reached out, patted Lin Shuyou's shoulder, and asked, "Ah You, how are the needles affecting you?"

Lin Shuyou replied, "Huh? There's an effect, but I can still fight."

Tan Wenbin said, "Good, I understand."

After this exchange, both Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou were briefly silent.

They were accustomed to Brother Xiaoyuan commanding them telepathically via the red thread, where he knew everyone's real-time condition even more clearly than they did themselves.

Returning to verbal communication felt truly unfamiliar, like picking up a fountain pen to write a letter after getting used to making phone calls.

Tan Wenbin commanded, "Runsheng, go!"

Runsheng lunged forward, swinging his shovel. The Grand Elder scrambled backward in terror, but was still struck, sent flying.

"Lin Shuyou, attack and retreat!"

Lin Shuyou burst out from the side, sweeping his twin maces horizontally. The Grand Elder raised his arms to block.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

Two muffled thuds, and the Grand Elder cried out in pain.

Tan Wenbin breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that this Grand Elder was now relatively difficult to kill, but only relatively.

Li Zhuiyuan squatted before the lamp. As the "crack" sounds continued, the lamp shattered completely.

A white halo of light emerged from within, immediately showing signs of dissipating.

This was Zhao Wuyang's... final spiritual essence.

Logically, this should have gone to Zhao Yi, as it was the last trace of his ancestor left in the world.

But it was too late now; the young man didn't even know where Zhao Yi was.

Furthermore, Li Zhuiyuan didn't know how to seal and preserve such an entity, and even if he did... it wouldn't be appropriate to do so.

The aforementioned thoughts were not Li Zhuiyuan laying groundwork to justify "monopolizing" it for himself, nor were they about how to explain the matter to Zhao Yi later.

If Li Zhuiyuan truly wanted to "monopolize" it, he wouldn't care about Zhao Yi's feelings at all.

The key was that spiritual essence, especially a Dragon King's, was easily compatible with family members. If an outsider tried to forcibly take it, the good thing would turn into a potent poison, effectively transforming a blessing into a curse.

So Li Zhuiyuan simply did nothing, just squatted there, intending to watch it quietly dissipate.

He saw it as accompanying this Dragon King on his final journey in this world.

However, at that moment, the ball of white light voluntarily drifted towards Li Zhuiyuan.

Since it came to him of its own accord, Li Zhuiyuan wouldn't awkwardly dodge it.

The young man extended his right hand, palm open, and the white light settled into it.

Upon contact, Li Zhuiyuan felt a warm current flowing from his palm into his body, replenishing his nearly exhausted form.

And this was only the initial effect of the spiritual essence.

At the same time, a faint sigh echoed in the young man's ear:

"Alas, your family's spirits are all gone..."

There were no excess words, no preamble, and no conclusion; perhaps the phrase was merely an expression of a mood or emotion.

"Zhao Wuyang" had once visited Nantong, gone to the East House, and seen the countless spiritless ancestral tablets on the large altar table.

A Dragon King, having suppressed a generation of the martial world for humanity, even after death, his accumulated merits far surpassed those of river, lake, or sea deities.

Even without selfish intentions, the subtle guidance and protection from the netherworld could still manifest in his descendants.

This was recognized by the Heavenly Dao.

Originally, Dragon King lineages didn't lack this. After the Qin and Liu families intermarried, they should have been the wealthiest in this regard among the entire martial world.

Yet, Liu Yumei would still, night after night, curse and complain repeatedly at those ancestral tablets.

Because if the family had truly left behind even a shred of protection, her granddaughter wouldn't have been plagued by those malevolent spirits due to a lack of it.

And someone like Li Zhuiyuan, the sole contemporary inheritor of two Dragon King lineages, could be incredibly affluent in this aspect.

Therefore, Zhao Wuyang gave his last bit of spiritual essence to Li Zhuiyuan.

He felt the young man had too difficult a life, too pitiable.

It was like looking at a poor child from the same village living with his grandmother after his parents were gone.

Yet, he seemed to completely disregard that his Zhao family, the Jiujiang Zhao he had founded, had just... almost entirely vanished.

Moreover, it was this very young man before him who had personally destroyed the Zhao family.

The white light completely merged into Li Zhuiyuan's palm.

Li Zhuiyuan slowly clenched his hand.

One truly had to marvel at the magnanimity and spirit of this Dragon King of humble origins.

His posthumous affairs were not what he wished, and unfilial descendants could not be blamed on him, especially with the even more outrageous Yu family preceding them.

In summary, Zhao Wuyang's ability to claim the Dragon King title in his era was not his good fortune, but the good fortune of that era.

Li Zhuiyuan stood up. Although this wasn't a miracle cure, and its protective effects would manifest in many subtle details and in the future, the young man's eyes were no longer blurry; they had become clear.

Li Zhuiyuan, facing forward, first solemnly performed the Qin family's bow, then the Liu family's, both gestures of respect for elders within their respective families.

After the bows, the young man turned and walked out.

Over there, a fierce battle was in full swing—a one-sided slaughter.

Under Tan Wenbin's coordination, the Grand Elder was being severely beaten and was already gravely injured.

It likely wouldn't be long before he was completely worn down and killed, and the companions, aside from being tired, had sustained virtually no injuries.

However, when Li Zhuiyuan appeared, the battle changed.

It wasn't that the Grand Elder had regained his senses, but rather that he was terrified of the young man. Seeing him emerge, he was provoked into a scream, a burst of sudden power, and turned to slam himself into the diagonally positioned courtyard wall.

The ancestral home's formation slammed into him, but he neither dodged nor avoided it. In an instant, his flesh and bones rapidly separated.

But with a "boom," he actually broke through the courtyard wall and darted outside.

This wasn't an unexpected outcome after his madness. If the Grand Elder hadn't gone mad, Tan Wenbin and the others wouldn't have fought so easily. Furthermore, the Grand Elder would have certainly tried to escape, and given his deeper understanding of the ancestral home's formations, even against the modified array, he would have found a better way to break free without being blasted to his last breath.

And even if he did escape, how far could he run?

They just needed to pursue him. He couldn't run far, nor could he escape the confines of the Zhao ancestral land.

Zhao Yi, when he first opened the ancestral land, had left a bloody handprint on the stone tablet, which would seal this gate completely shut.

Li Zhuiyuan flicked his hand forward:

"Pursue."

Below the hillside.

A bloody struggle had just concluded.

The Second Elder knelt on the ground, leaning on his lantern pole.

Besides various visible, horrifying injuries, he was missing an arm and a leg, his abdomen was ripped open, and a section of his skull was gone.

Across from him, Bu Chen swayed. Having just unleashed the great ghost within him, he still hadn't managed to kill the Second Elder and was now completely paralyzed.

Monk Huiwu's golden body was completely depleted, leaving only blood smeared on him.

The young man's chest was caved in; he crouched on the ground, unable even to take deep breaths.

Luo An and the Big Woman were both dead.

The chains within Luo An's body had been completely ripped out and hung on the stone, while the Big Woman's dismembered remains were scattered everywhere.

As for Zheng Ming, he had long ago dissolved into a puddle, decaying there, whether dead or alive, he was certainly no longer human.

Both sides were at the end of their ropes.

In truth, Monk Huiwu and the other two knew that if it weren't for the "Grand Elder" standing on the hillside constantly prompting the old man, they should have dealt with him long ago, avoiding this prolonged stalemate.

The Second Elder's attention was no longer on the battlefield; he had turned his gaze

towards the ancestral home, which had completely collapsed inward along its central axis.

The power he could originally draw upon had also ceased its flow at that moment.

More than fear of death, what showed in the Second Elder's eyes was bewilderment.

When the commotion occurred, a smile appeared on Zhao Yi's face.

It worked, it actually... succeeded.

Zhao Yi didn't know how Li Zhuiyuan had achieved it.

But the exhilaration of that moment was extraordinary.

"Li, Li, you are truly too useful! If I were the Heavenly Dao, I would never let you leave this river surface!"

However, a roar interrupted the synchronized last breaths below the hillside.

The Grand Elder, looking utterly pathetic, ran out of the ancestral home.

The Second Elder stammered blankly:

"Brother, Brother!"

Bu Chen, Monk Huiwu, and the young man all looked at the Grand Elder.

The suspicion that had lingered in their hearts was now finally confirmed.

The Grand Elder on the hillside was indeed a fake.

But now, watching the real Grand Elder, frenzied, charging towards them, the three glanced at the corpses of their fallen comrades on the ground and felt that they themselves were the truly insane ones.

Li Zhuiyuan, who had pursued him out, spoke after seeing the scene on the hillside:

"Stop, don't pursue him anymore."

His own "wave" had, in fact, ended.

But the "wave" of the opposing teams had not yet concluded.

The objective of their wave had always been clear: to kill the Zhao family's Grand Elder.

Now, the Zhao family's Grand Elder was heading towards them.

Perhaps, initially, they themselves hadn't anticipated that the conclusion of their "wave" would manifest in this manner.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up at the sky; this indeed aligned with the "Questioner's" consistent style.

The Grand Elder, who had been meek and submissive before Li Zhuiyuan, now displayed his final ferocity and madness outside, as if to doubly vent all the grievances he had previously endured.

"Kill, kill, kill! All must die, all must die! Those who offend my Zhao family must die!"

This was the beast's final frenzy, while the hunters, originally prepared for him, were now as weak as lambs.

Bu Chen's neck was twisted.

The young man's body was crushed by a kick.

Monk Huiwu was lifted by the Grand Elder's hands and torn apart in mid-air.

Before dying, none of the three wailed; they only felt it was ridiculous.

If they had known that the Grand Elder would emerge severely wounded from the ancestral home on his own, they wouldn't have had to fight at all; they could have just sat there and waited.

Had they not been so depleted, any single team could have easily suppressed and killed the Grand Elder in this state.

After killing the three below the slope, the Grand Elder's gaze fell upon Zhao Yi, and hatred surged violently in his eyes.

Even in his madness, his hatred for Zhao Yi was paramount; subconsciously, he believed Zhao Yi was the culprit behind everything, the Zhao family's greatest traitor!

"Die, die, die! Traitor, traitor! I want you dead, I want you dead!"

The Grand Elder charged maniacally towards Zhao Yi on the hillside.

Lin Shuyou asked, "Should we save the three-eyed guy?"

Li Zhuiyuan replied, "No need, just watch. Respect Zhao Yi's own choice."

On the hillside, Zhao Yi watched the Grand Elder charging towards him, his expression calm.

He still hadn't signaled the Liang sisters to act. He was waiting, waiting for the one still in hiding.

Anyone who came to the Zhao family this time, apart from the guests Zhao Yi personally invited, those who uninvitedly flayed people and seated themselves at the table, all must die!

The true Grand Elder has appeared; can you resist killing him now?

I, I'm betting my own life against you!

The Grand Elder raised his fist, now only bare bone, and swung it at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi remained motionless, merely watching him coldly.

But just then, the Grand Elder's movement halted.

His fist didn't land on Zhao Yi; instead, it pierced through the Second Elder's body, while the Second Elder's lantern had already impaled the Grand Elder's heart.

With a flick of his wrist, the lantern shattered, and flames erupted, igniting the Grand Elder and simultaneously consuming the Second Elder himself.

The Grand Elder slowly lowered his head. In his mad eyes, a flicker of clarity seemed to return. He looked at the Second Elder and asked in confusion:

"Second Brother... you... why..."

The Second Elder replied:

"Brother, our Zhao family's foundation is completely gone. You must leave a capable descendant for our family!"