The Rise of a Family: Starting from Daily Intelligence - Chapter 390 (Patreon)

Chapter 390: First Signs of Brilliance, Returning Laden With Spoils

“Yin-Fiend Golden Core?!”

Fu Changsheng’s pupils tightened as a tidal wave surged through his heart. The corpse puppet in the coffin had actually reached the Golden Core realm—completely beyond his expectations. A Golden Core cultivator, even as a corpse puppet, was absolutely not something a Purple Mansion cultivator like him could contend with. If he accidentally disturbed it, he feared he would leave not even bones behind.

Yet the Hundred-Bell Flower was right before his eyes. To give up here left a bitter taste. He had squatted in this tomb for a long time for that blossom, spending no small amount of time and effort.

“Give it a try!” Fu Changsheng grit his teeth and decided at once.

If it truly came to it, he could dive straight into the Five Elements Space to preserve his life. That was his final trump card—and the reason he dared to take this risk.

With a thought, his spiritual power surged.

A droning hum swelled.

A cloud of Spirit-Devouring Insects howled out of the Five Elements Space. They swarmed over his body, even covering his eyes and nose, and with a boom knit themselves into a gleaming suit of golden armor.

His right hand formed a hand seal; crackling lightning ran wild.

As the first layer of the Sword Canon circulated, the instant Fu Changsheng moved his steps, nine afterimages appeared where he’d been. They were fast as lightning and charged the coffin simultaneously.

At the very instant his fingertips touched the Hundred-Bell Flower’s pistil—

“Wong!”

The Soul-Scouring Bone Bells on the coffin sang out. Their shrill peal rose like ten thousand ghosts weeping, and in a blink it nearly shattered Fu Changsheng’s protective radiance. Gravel rained from the tomb ceiling as the entire chamber trembled.

“Not good!” Fu Changsheng’s heart lurched. He yanked hard, only to find the Hundred-Bell Flower didn’t budge—it was as if it were tightly bound to the meridians of the person in the coffin.

At this moment, the clamor of all ninety-nine bone bells wailed like ghosts, nearly collapsing his protective light. Stones crashed down from the dome. Even so, the one within the coffin showed no sign of waking.

Fu Changsheng abruptly poured in more power and wrenched with all his strength. The Hundred-Bell Flower came up, roots and all—but those roots were fused to the meridians of the one in the coffin. Just as he was about to cast a spell to sever them—

The four-cornered Nether Bell-Lily Lamps all burst with ghostly blue light.

Fu Changsheng’s consciousness went hazy. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a canopy bed forged from celestialwood. Before the bed stood a man in the robes of a White Tiger Tribe chieftain, his face written with indecision.

“Great Priest, are we truly… going to take this final step…”

“Cang’er, only if I condense the Yin-Fiend Golden Core can I spare the tribe from disaster.”

“But if anything goes wrong with the Nether Soul-Locking Array, Great Priest, you will be utterly annihilated—without even a chance at reincarnation!”

“It matters not. Go.”

Horror prickled across Fu Changsheng. His entire body would not move, and even the words from his mouth were not his own. In that moment he had possessed the Great Priest’s body, yet he had no control at all—only the vantage of a bystander.

“No. I have to wake up—fast!” Anxiety roiled in Fu Changsheng’s heart.

Illusion or otherwise, the longer it dragged on, the greater the danger. He could not control the flesh, but his spiritual sense remained free.

At the instant the Great Priest was carried into the coffin, Fu Changsheng moved with a thought.

A hum.

In the next breath he truly slipped free of the old man’s flesh and sent his consciousness into the Five Elements Space.

He swept out with his sense—and his face changed.

In the tomb outside, his body was walking toward the coffin step by step. In a blink he lay crosswise—and was about to fuse into one with the corpse puppet within.

“Don’t!” Fu Changsheng was aghast.

He tried to return his consciousness to his body. But his gaze fell on the ninety-nine bone bells within the coffin; his recent separation from his body clearly had to do with them. If that method was not broken, then once he left the Five Elements Space he would only enter the old man’s body in that other time and space.

“Qiu Chan!” With a thought Fu Changsheng summoned Autumn Cicada from the Underworld.

The instant Autumn Cicada emerged, its mouth opened.

A roar!

The Extreme Cold Demon Chant became rolling soundwaves that collided head-on with the demonic chime of the ninety-nine bone bells.

Boom!

The air detonated, and the faint chanting within the tomb was severed.

“Now!” Fu Changsheng willed—and snapped back into his body.

Bing-Fire Divine Thunder howled out of him, weaving itself into a robe of lightning that clothed his frame.

Crackle!

The corpse puppet’s arms, which had been locked around him, loosened!

Fu Changsheng slapped a Lightning-Summoning Talisman and shot skyward!

Boom!

The entire tomb was blasted open in an instant.

“Master!” Qiu Niang, who had been waiting outside, stared, baffled.

Fu Changsheng, however, only willed once. He swept Qiu Niang and Autumn Cicada into his space and streaked toward Gloomcloud Valley like an arrow loosed. Though he had escaped, the Hundred-Bell Flower had ultimately slipped his grasp.

“So close!”

As he lamented, his expression suddenly shifted.

He flung on his mysterious defensive robe without hesitation and, with a thought, dove into the Five Elements Space.

At the same time—

An enraged roar shook the White Tiger Mountain graveyard.

“Roar!”

At once, a Golden Core aura spread in all directions.

Plainly, the slumbering Great Priest had awakened.

At the very instant Fu Changsheng vanished—

A Nether Bell-Lily Lamp appeared out of thin air, and the Great Priest ringed by ninety-nine bone bells flashed into view. His withered flesh, as the bone bells sank into his body, swiftly flushed with blood and grew whole. In a heartbeat he looked no different from a living man.

His immense spiritual sense swept out.

Finding the tribe reduced to a field of ruins, true qi billowed from him. His eyes burned with boundless fury. He had risked soul-destruction to condense a Yin-Fiend Golden Core for the tribe’s sake—who could have thought he still failed to avert the annihilation of his people?

Just as he was about to drag out the little thief who had intruded into the tomb—

A Shadow-Preserving Pod drifted toward him.

The White Tiger Great Priest flicked his index finger. The pod popped open with a bang, and scene after scene flashed by: people of the Tianyin Tribe and others entering Gloomcloud Valley, breaking the barrier; and True Person Tianyang destroying corpses to erase the truth.

The Great Priest’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “Very good.”

At the same time, another voice sounded from within the Shadow-Preserving Pod:

“Senior White Tiger, this junior had no intention of disturbing your cultivation. I only beg that, in light of my informing you of the truth behind your tribe’s destruction, you consider our misstep paid.”

Fu Changsheng feared that the other party would, by following traces at the scene, finally pin it on him. This man had already condensed a Golden Core, and with his tribe destroyed he had no scruples left. If he became a mortal enemy, the Fu Clan could never withstand him.

Thus—

At the instant he entered the Five Elements Space—

He also left behind that Shadow-Preserving Pod.

Now—

Within the Five Elements Space, he watched the White Tiger Great Priest with no small tension.

Hearing the words, the Great Priest swept his sense around yet found no sign of Fu Changsheng. All he had done while asleep had been driven by the last memory before death—by instinct. He had not even remembered Fu Changsheng’s face.

Even so—

It was precisely Fu Changsheng who had awakened him in time.

Had he not—

Without the tribe’s continued supply of source power, he would only have withered day by day until he vanished like smoke.

Thus—

In a sense—

Fu Changsheng was his benefactor. His earlier pursuit with the Nether Bell-Lily Lamp had been only to speak with him—he had never meant to take the man’s life.

The White Tiger Great Priest vaguely recalled that Fu Changsheng’s goal in entering the tomb had been the Hundred-Bell Flower. He flicked his finger, and a Hundred-Bell Flower whooshed out of his body to hang in the air.

In this way—

The two were even.

The Great Priest next turned his gaze toward Gloomcloud Valley.

By now the Skywolf Tribe and the Luo Clan were tangled in a brawl.

Staring at the surging radiance blasting into the sky, the Great Priest’s pupils turned like an Eight Trigrams wheel. After a moment, he turned back to the tomb, collected the coffin and the other three Nether Bell-Lily Lamps, and sped away in the opposite direction from Gloomcloud Valley. The treasure that had burst onto the scene did not seem to tempt him in the least.

“He left?”

Inside the Five Elements Space, Fu Changsheng blinked at the Hundred-Bell Flower floating in midair.

He had not expected the White Tiger Great Priest to leave him a Hundred-Bell Flower. From what he’d seen earlier, the blossom had already merged with the man’s body. For him to sever one and grant it over meant he took the truth of his tribe’s destruction very seriously indeed.

“Excellent.”

If the White Tiger Great Priest moved against the Tianyin Tribe and removed True Person Tianyang, so much the better.

Eyeing the Hundred-Bell Flower, Fu Changsheng feared that delay would breed change. He willed at once. With a hum, dozens of Spirit-Devouring Insects whooshed forth, snatched the flower, and—finding no one around—stowed it into the Five Elements Space.

From start to finish—

He never once showed himself.

His spiritual sense leapt past White Tiger Mountain and fell upon the battlefield at distant Gloomcloud Valley.

Above Gloomcloud Valley, wind and cloud churned; spiritual energy surged like a tide.

Fourteen Purple Mansion cultivators of the Skywolf Tribe trod the “Skywolf Chasing Moon Array.” Every step shook the mountains to cracking and split the ground with fissures. Fourteen wolf-head phantoms rose from every direction.

Boom!

The wolf-head phantoms stamped in unison in midair.

The Luo Clan’s “Boundless Sea Rolling Waves Array,” already veined with fractures, shattered at once with several sharp snaps. Luo Haitian, who held the core of the formation, was blasted away, a jet of blood spraying in midair.

Seeing this, Lang Xiaotian’s eyes lit. He bellowed, “Change formation!”

No sooner had he spoken than—

The fourteen men poured hand seals into the Skywolf Chasing Moon Array in perfect concert.

“Awooo—”

With the wolf’s howl, twelve skywolves shot upward, claws fast as lightning, raking at Luo Haitian as he was hurled through the air.

“Third Brother!”

Luo Haitian’s pupils shrank.

He moved to rescue—

But it was too late.

With a rip, Luo Haitian’s body-protecting light shattered. Twenty-eight wolf claws thrust in at once, and with a boom he was torn into a rain of gore.

“Third Brother!!”

The three remaining Luo cultivators blanched.

Yet anyone who had reached Purple Mansion had braved a thousand battles.

As the skywolf phantoms rushed in, Luo Haitian made a snap decision. “Form the Tortoiseshell Array!”

He crushed the jade pendant at his waist. The East Sea flood-dragon essence blood sealed within it turned into a hundred-zhang water curtain, enveloping the three in an instant. Back to back, they wove their seals, blending their power into a blue-gray tortoiseshell phantom.

Boom! The first wave of wolf claws crashed down.

The light curtain quivered.

A fissure appeared.

Lang Xiaotian seized the chance and swept his arm. The “Bone-Eroding Wolf Smoke” threaded through the crack in the formation. Luo Haifeng failed to evade; it bored into his body.

“No, no—no—”

In the next instant—

Luo Haifeng felt his true essence reverse. Black blood seeped from his seven apertures.

The Tortoiseshell Array faltered at once!

“Too much!” Luo Haiyue suddenly severed her topknot. Her green hair transformed into three thousand Weak Water swords. This was her life-nurtured technique, “Weak Water Three Thousand.” Each strand of sword qi weighed like a mountain and could rend the void. But just as the sword array rose, seven Skywolf Purple Mansion cultivators slit their wrists and spilled blood. A blood-red wolf totem surfaced on the ground.

“Awoooo—” Seven blood wolves leapt from the totem and devoured the Weak Water sword qi whole! Luo Haiyue spat blood and plummeted. The formation’s eye collapsed. Her face turned deathly pale—clearly she had no strength left to fight.

“Yue’er!” Luo Haitian’s eyes went bloodshot, a spark of grim resolve flashing within. He pulled a jade talisman engraved with “Jingtao—Roaring Waves.” It was a life-saving gift from Luo Haitang. Once activated, it called up thunderous seas—at the price of ten years of the caster’s lifespan.

Boom! The instant the talisman detonated, the summit of White Tiger Mountain became a world of raging waves. In the hundred-zhang swells glinted flood-dragon fangs. Three Skywolf Purple Mansion cultivators were too slow to dodge and were shredded into blood mist by the water blades. Yet the remaining eleven instantly formed a new array. Crescent marks lit at their brows—this was the Skywolf Tribe’s “Howling-at-the-Moon Sacrifice!”

“With our essence blood, we beg the Wolf God for strength!” The leader, Lang Xiaotian, saw his aura surge, briefly breaking through to the False Core Realm. He clasped empty air; his power congealed into a hundred-zhang wolf-fang mace that crashed down with mountain-breaking force onto the Tortoiseshell Array.

Crack! Fractures spidered across the shell. Luo Haiting fell to his knees first; his Heart-Guarding Mirror exploded into shards that stabbed into his chest. Already ravaged by the Bone-Eroding Wolf Smoke, he had reached his limit. A flash of resolve crossed his eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, he crushed the Soul-Burning Pill in his hand.

“Take Yue’er and run!”

The pill ignited his potential. Luo Haiting became a man-shaped torch and hurled himself into the enemy ranks. Flames rose as the Luo Clan’s secret “Nine Strikes to Burn the Sea” manifested; each blow carried the might to boil rivers and seas. Two Skywolf Purple Mansion cultivators were dragged into the inferno, but the others’ blades and swords tore through his ruined body.

“Second Brother!”

Luo Haitian had never imagined this.

They had come only because they glimpsed an omen above Gloomcloud Valley—yet his second and third brothers had fallen to the Yellow Springs.

Eyes blazing red, he seized his chance amid the chaos, scooped up his unconscious younger sister Luo Haiyue, and trod the “Parting Seas Escape” to flee.

“Don’t let them run!!”

Lang Xiaotian’s face changed.

If Luo Haitang’s two Golden Cores learned their kin had been killed by the Skywolf Tribe, their tribe would not withstand the wrath of Golden Core cultivators. From the very first strike, he had never intended to let the Luo four leave Gloomcloud Valley alive.

“Do it!!”

He swept his hands out. The Skywolf Purple Mansion cultivators snapped into formation. The crescent mark at Lang Xiaotian’s brow gleamed; their power gathered into a colossal wolf-fang mace that smashed toward Luo Haitian’s escape light.

Boom!

The blow struck Luo Haitian’s light. His protective glow collapsed; blood spurted from his mouth. He staggered, barely able to maintain his escape technique. Luo Haiyue remained unconscious. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself onward.

“Luo Haitian, you won’t get away!” Lang Xiaotian sneered, eyes murderous. He lifted the mace again for the killing blow.

At that hair-thin moment, a clear, cool shout rang from afar:

“Stop!”

A cyan sword light cut the sky and planted itself between Luo Haitian and Lang Xiaotian. When the radiance faded, it revealed Fu Changsheng, newly stepped from the Five Elements Space.

Lang Xiaotian swept him with his sense.

Finding no one behind Fu Changsheng, he snorted. “A mere mid-stage Purple Mansion dares play the hero? Courting death!!”

His curved blade came down wreathed in a blood-moon edge. Though the blade qi had yet to reach, the rock beneath Fu Changsheng’s feet had already split into a three-zhang trench.

“Patriarch Fu, be careful!”

Almost out of power, Luo Haitian nevertheless brightened at the timely aid. At council, Sister Haitang had said more than once that Patriarch Fu, Fu Changsheng, was no ordinary Purple Mansion.

In that instant—

He prayed her words were true.

He saw Fu Changsheng step—and wind, thunder, and cloud patterns blossomed beneath his soles. His body blurred into nine interlaced afterimages, true and false entwined. Lang Xiaotian’s blood blade cleaved down. An afterimage burst—and scattered as a streak of lightning.

Lang Xiaotian’s pupils shrank.

Danger was mounting.

He instantly shifted his seals. Rolling true essence became a colossal, sky-covering Five-Fingered Mountain that crashed toward the eight remaining phantoms.

No way to dodge!

Fu Changsheng trod the Yu Steps as three Thunderstriking Swords nailed into the ground in a triangular pattern.

“Star Axles, Take Your Places!”

The Big Dipper lines on the sword hilts lit one by one, drawing down pillars of light from the true Dipper stars above. Starlight and thunder wove a net that held the falling Five-Fingered Mountain at bay. The blast of lightning charred everything within a hundred zhang to ash.

At the same time, he shot a seal into the sword on his left.

Hum! The Thunderstriking Sword thrummed, and filaments of lightning sprayed from its blade like a web, snaring two Skywolf Purple Mansion cultivators. Those threads bore a magnetism of the stars; no matter how the two swelled their muscles to bursting, they were dragged back into the Stellar Heaven Thunder Sword Array. Neither had imagined Fu Changsheng would be so fearsome.

Seeing a hundred thunder-darts shriek toward them, they went pale with terror.

“Great Elder, save us!!”

Panic flickered across Lang Xiaotian’s face.

He had not expected Fu Changsheng’s sword array to be so ferocious.

He slammed a palm into his chest. A mouthful of essence blood sprayed onto the wolf-moon totem. With a roar, a hundred-zhang skywolf phantom rose at his back, tusks ten zhàng long. One claw shattered two pillars of light. The tiger’s mouth at Fu Changsheng’s hand split; the star tracks of the array cracked like a spiderweb. As the giant wolf’s second claw swept down, he bit his tongue and spat essence blood. The “Yuheng,” “Kaiyang,” and “Yaoguang” star glyphs on the three sword hilts lit at once!

“Dipper Turns—Stars Fall!”

The phantom Big Dipper swerved from its course and turned to streaking meteors that dropped into the array. In midair, the star-light condensed into seven meteor cores that dragged auburn tails of flame as they smashed into the wolf ancestor’s phantom.

Rumble—!

Lang Xiaotian was hurled away.

The Howling-at-the-Moon Sacrifice shattered!

A streak of violet, hidden in the void, flashed through Lang Xiaotian’s brow like lightning!

“Great Elder!!!”

The remaining Skywolf elders’ faces changed as one. The looks they gave Fu Changsheng brimmed with hatred—but even more with dread. His sword array had withstood a False Core-level strike without falling behind at all.

And his true essence still rolled forth—

Not the least sign of ebbing.

This was no Purple Mansion sixth-layer cultivator. The vigor of his true essence was comparable to an inferior-grade Golden Core.

In that moment—

A hint of retreat came to them unbidden.

But—

Staring at the treasure light flowing within Gloomcloud Valley, they were loath to give it up.

“Brothers—form up on defense!”

The eight survivors chose to stop attacking.

Luo Haitian, who had recovered a sliver of power and had intended to help, was left dumbfounded. He had always thought his elder sister exaggerated when describing Fu Changsheng. No matter how great a small Purple Mansion’s means, they had limits. But today, seeing it with his own eyes, he felt only self-reproach.

Yes—

He had already worn down much of the Skywolf group’s power—

But the wolf phantom they summoned with the Howling-at-the-Moon Sacrifice had truly reached the False Core realm. For Fu Changsheng to fight like this was terrifying.

If he grew to maturity—

His future would be immeasurable.

“Brother Fu, we can’t let them escape!” Luo Haitian moved to cooperate. Together, they encircled the eight Skywolf cultivators. Luo Haiyue stirred awake as well. After taking a spirit pill, she had regained a sliver of strength.

Meanwhile—

A familiar mechanical chime sounded in Fu Changsheng’s sea of consciousness.

“Ding.”

“You have slain three Skywolf Tribe Purple Mansion cultivators and gained four thousand Imperial Merit Points. You have also completed the Shadow Gate mission to assassinate Lang Xiaotian and gained one thousand points, plus three thousand Family Contribution Points.”

At once—

The Family Contribution tally on his panel changed to twelve thousand.

Joy stirred in Fu Changsheng’s heart.

With that—

He finally had enough Shadow Gate points to redeem the Drunken Dragon Pill formula.

Just then—

Three rainbows shot in from the horizon—Elder Shi, Shangguan Yu, and Ouyang Fei, all rushed over by summons.

The three brightened at the sight of treasure light over Gloomcloud Valley, but the eight Skywolf Purple Mansion cultivators made their expressions tighten. Seeing those eight hunkered down in defense, their nerves eased somewhat.

Six against eight—

Not unwinnable.

Fu Changsheng quickly sent a voice transmission to Ouyang Fei. “Uncle Fei, this place has become a vortex of trouble. We shouldn’t linger. If Senior Luo Haitang appears, we’ll withdraw at once.”

“Patriarch… and the treasures in Gloomcloud Valley?”

“They are not for us to touch.”

If he was not mistaken—

True Person Tianyang would soon return. The other Golden Core experts of the Eastern Wilds, even Nascent Soul True Lords, might be drawn by this omen.

Just as the message ended—

Clusters of begonia blossoms bloomed on the horizon.

A moment later, Luo Haitang appeared in white.

At the sight of her, Luo Haitian’s face lit with joy, and his eyes went red.

“Elder Sister, the Skywolf Tribe killed our second and third brothers. Please avenge them!”

To the side, Luo Haiyue’s tears fell like rain.

The four siblings had cultivated together since childhood, surviving countless brushes with death—only to have two die today at the hands of a mere Purple Mansion tribe.

The eight Skywolf cultivators felt their souls flee their bodies and fell into an ice cellar. All will to fight fled. They knew well that, before a Golden Core, all resistance was folly. The eight moved as one, each casting secret arts to flee in eight different directions.

“Run! If one escapes, that’s one saved!” one Purple Mansion snarled. His body flashed into a streak of blood light and shot away.

The others each used their methods—some turning into wolf shadows, some riding wind and thunder, some even burning essence blood—to flee before Luo Haitang could act.

But Luo Haitang only gave an icy smile. Her eyes flashed cold, as if watching the last struggles of dying ants.

“Escape? Too late.”

The Weak Water Lotus Platform beneath her feet exploded and became a three-thousand-zhang river of Weak Water hanging in the sky. Before the waters fell, the bone-deep chill had already frosted the Skywolf eight’s brows and beards—this was the seventh layer of the Luo Clan’s “Weak Water Profound Ice Technique”: the “Nine Nether Cold Domain!”

“Those who wound the Luo bloodline—sink into the cold hell.”

Her fair hand closed. The Weak Water river froze at once into a glacier. The eight Skywolf cultivators became like insects in amber; even their protective light was crystalline ice. In their pupils swam the shadows of ice Flood Dragon within the glacier—each phantom carried a wisp of the Fu Family Sword Mound’s “Dragon-Cleaving Sword Intent!”

“Break.”

With a soft sigh from Luo Haitang—

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!

The eight exploded in an instant.

Dead beyond all doubt.

Once a Golden Core True Person moved, eight Purple Mansions died in a blink. This was true power.

Moreover—

The golden core Luo Haitang had formed was certainly not of the lower three grades—at least a middle-grade core.

Fu Changsheng watched, deeply shaken.

No matter how strong he might seem now—

Before a true Golden Core expert, he still fell far short.

Fu Changsheng had no wish to remain. His goal was already achieved. He cupped his hands to Luo Haitang. “Senior Luo, the Skywolf Tribe has been dealt with. There are urgent affairs in my clan. I will take my leave.”

Elder Shi glanced at him, surprised.

The treasure of Gloomcloud Valley lay within reach, yet the man could treat it as if it were nothing.

Even so—

He was no fool. Staying would likely make them cannon fodder. He also cupped his hands and made to depart.

On the other side, Shangguan Yun did not move.

If the Luo Clan wished to claim the treasure within Gloomcloud Valley, they needed someone to guard it. Why would they let others go so easily?

Sure enough—

Luo Haitang said coolly, “Fellow Daoist Shi, Gloomcloud Valley needs guarding. Please remain.”

She paused, then turned her gaze to Fu Changsheng.

At his side, Luo Haitian hesitated, then cupped his hands. “Elder Sister, my fourth sister and I nearly died at the Skywolf Tribe’s hands. It was Brother Fu’s timely aid that saved us.”

He was pleading for Fu Changsheng.

Luo Haitang nodded slightly. “Since the Fu Patriarch has urgent matters in his clan, I will not keep you. Go.”

Whatever else—

Fu Changsheng’s daughter Yongxuan was now Luo Haitang’s adopted daughter. On top of their prior dealings, she could not refuse such a request.

“Many thanks, Senior Luo.”

Fu Changsheng bowed his thanks.

Just then—

Her voice sounded in his ear by transmission. “Patriarch Fu, I will remember today’s life-saving grace toward my two younger siblings.”

Another favor banked.

Fu Changsheng was pleased. He had no desire to linger. He and Ouyang Fei ignited the last Lightning-Summoning Talisman on his person and vanished from Gloomcloud Valley as a bolt of thunder. Clearly, he did not wish to remain even a moment longer.

Elder Shi watched the disappearing arc of light with a twinge of envy.

To the side, Shangguan Yun sent him a transmission. “Fellow Daoist Shi.”

“Patriarch Fu is even stronger after coming out of seclusion.”

So strong that Shangguan Yun could now only chase his shadow.

To think—

He had been the first to break through to Purple Mansion.

And the talisman Fu used while leaving—he had never even heard of it. It showed that the Fu Family’s foundation was far deeper than he had imagined!

Thanks for reading! That fight was wild—Fu Changsheng’s star-and-thunder sword array absolutely slapped. If you’re enjoying the ride, please consider supporting on Patreon; even a small pledge keeps me translating late into the night and helps me unlock more chapters for you. And if you’ve got a minute, dropping a rating or review on NovelUpdates really helps new readers find this series—thank you, truly!

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