The Rise of a Family: Starting from Daily Intelligence - Chapter 423 (Patreon)

Chapter 423: Gifted Treasure, Bloodline Opens, Lunar Body-Refining

Over Qingming Valley, treasure-light flowed like water, drawing more and more cultivators.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds had gathered at the mouth of the valley, each staking out a patch of ground, waiting in silence for the Taixu Hall to open.

In the shadowed northwestern corner, Wu Liangba and his two companions sat cross-legged.

Wu Liangba’s cultivation had already fallen to the False Core realm. Outwardly he appeared to be meditating, but in truth his spiritual sense was sweeping the crowd.

When that sense skimmed across Fu Changsheng, his heart jolted.

This aura—

It was almost identical to the masked man in Heavenly Secrets Valley who had seized the Ethereal Cloud Mica.

Wu Liangba’s eyes narrowed. He immediately sent a voice transmission to the two by his side.

“Junior Sister Kui, Senior Brother Yin—over northwest, that brat chatting with two female cultivators. Do you notice anything?

If my guess is right,

he’s the one who snatched the Black-Scaled Profound Python in Bramble Mountain.

Do we strike now?”

“No!”

The old man at his left, swathed in a corpse-shroud, vetoed at once.

“Junior Brother Wu, don’t be rash.” The old man’s voice was hoarse. “That person’s azure Flood Dragon and the Black-Scaled Profound Python he subdued are the key to us taking treasures on the third floor. If we act now and ruin the grand matter, when Master holds us to account, neither of us can bear it.”

The cloaked woman on the right spoke coldly as well. “He’s right in front of us, Senior Brother Wu. Your revenge can be taken any time. For now, endure.”

Wu Liangba clenched his fist until the knuckles whitened. Murderous intent surged in his eyes, yet he had no choice but to press it down.

At the same time,

Fu Changsheng seemed to sense something and let his gaze drift across the direction where Wu Liangba sat.

So, Wu Liangba had already recognized him.

Fu Changsheng was just about to warn Yaoyao and the others to be careful of the trio, when a baby’s wail rang out. After a moment, two rainbow streaks shot in and halted before Qingming Valley. When the light fell, a man and a woman were revealed—the woman holding a newborn girl not yet a full month old.

“The Liu Bingqing couple are here too!”

Fu Changsheng sent his sense across the infant in her arms. The baby’s eyes were closed; nothing could be discerned.

However,

the intelligence had said

that the girl Liu Bingqing bore had been born with innate Yin-Yang Eyes.

At his side, Yaoyao muttered under her breath, “Father, this woman is too desperate. For the sake of treasure she doesn’t even care about a newborn’s safety.”

At that,

Yu Qingru awkwardly touched her rounded belly.

Realizing her slip, Yaoyao hurried to make amends. “Aunt Yu, I didn’t mean it like that. Your situation isn’t the same as theirs. The little brother or sister in your belly still has several months yet.”

Yu Qingru shook her head, taking no offense.

While they spoke—

Boom!

Up in the air, the Taixu Hall blazed with seven-colored radiance.

Next,

the two stone doors a hundred zhang tall rumbled open.

Hum!

A seven-hued barrier came into view.

Fu Changsheng narrowed his eyes; within the barrier, countless resentful souls swarmed, packed tight. They were pounding the barrier for all they were worth, as if trying to break out from within.

Yet

the barrier was indestructible.

“So that’s the Taixu Hall?”

Fu Changsheng frowned.

Yaoyao, obsessed with arrays and barriers to the point of madness, was already itching to go. “Father, why don’t I go take a look first?”

Fu Changsheng shook his head.

With so many gathered here,

someone was bound to know the truth of the Taixu Hall. Watch how they handle it and one would know.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The instant the stone doors opened,

several figures shot toward the barrier without a second’s hesitation. With a hum, ripples flashed across it, and their bodies passed straight through. Fu Changsheng watched closely—none of them used any treasure that could break an array.

“It seems this barrier is targeted at ghosts.”

Even so,

his spiritual sense could not penetrate it at all; the situation within was completely unknown.

The crowd hesitated for a moment,

then leapt up one after another.

Patriarch Cao grew anxious. “Patriarch Fu, shouldn’t we move as well?”

Fu Changsheng was about to nod

when a voice brushed his ear.

“Little friend, you look a bit like my late younger brother. Call it fate. Don’t hesitate—enter the hall at once. This hall is merely the doorway to the true Taixu Hall, but places are limited. Slay ghosts to have a chance at a token for transmission. If you’re late, you won’t get even one.”

Fu Changsheng turned his head.

It was Wu Liangba.

Wu Liangba forced out a friendly smile and nodded at him.

“So the old ghoul truly needs that Black-Scaled Profound Python…”

Fu Changsheng snorted inwardly.

He’d heard every word Wu Liangba had said back in Bramble Mountain; he naturally understood the man’s aim.

“Many thanks for the reminder, Fellow Daoist.”

Fu Changsheng cupped his hands.

Since the other wanted to put on a show, he would play along.

With a pained look, Wu Liangba took out an Exorcising Pearl from his breast.

“Little friend, take this. It will help you out of danger. We’ll meet at the transmission array.”

Fu Changsheng blinked.

An Exorcising Pearl was a quasi fourth-rank artifact. Its materials were exceedingly rare, and it specialized in restraining yin and evil. Its value was no less than that of a common fourth-rank lower-grade artifact. For Wu Liangba to part with such a treasure—

it showed

just how valuable the final layer’s prize must be.

Knowing the man’s purpose, Fu Changsheng did not refuse. Smiling, he said, “Many thanks, Fellow Daoist.”

Patriarch Ouyang frowned when he saw this. A stranger’s gift shouldn’t be accepted lightly. He wanted to transmit a warning, but on second thought it felt improper. After all, the other wasn’t his clansman, and Fu Changsheng was himself a clan patriarch.

Yaoyao swept the Exorcising Pearl with her sense, found no abnormality, and laughed. “Father truly is blessed with great fortune.”

Fu Changsheng smiled without comment. Seeing Wu Liangba stand behind him without moving—clearly wanting to watch him enter with his own eyes—

“Let’s go.”

He flicked his sleeve,

while warning himself inwardly.

Since Wu Liangba wasn’t following, the barrier ahead must scatter entrants at random. After a few quick reminders to those beside him, just before passing through the seven-colored veil, he slipped the Exorcising Pearl unnoticed to Yu Qingru. If they were scattered, a pregnant woman carrying such a treasure would be that much safer.

Hum!

The scene before his eyes changed.

A gray, hazy void stretched in all directions. Innumerable resentful souls surged like a tide, their shapes twisted—some nothing but bones, some wearing tatters—with ghost-fire burning green in their eyes and wailing in misery.

Fu Changsheng reflexively looked left and right. Empty. No one at his side.

So, it scattered them…

Fortunately, he’d given the pearl to Qingru in time.

A long, low moan.

Dozens of resentful souls, smelling living qi, locked onto Fu Changsheng at once and lunged, claws sharp and wreathed in yin energy. A single scratch would let cold yin invade the body; worse, it could wound the soul.

Fu Changsheng snorted.

His palm flipped,

and a crimson flame like blood rose roaring—the Nine-Sun Red Lotus Flame!

It was a fusion of two different heavenly flames, inimical to yin. The instant it appeared the surrounding yin hissed and seethed.

“Burn.”

He flicked a finger.

The Red Lotus Flame turned to a rain of fire and shrouded the onrushing ghosts. The moment the flames touched them, they erupted. Shrill screams ripped through the void.

A few breaths later—

the ghosts reduced to ash began to congeal again, reforming by drawing on the ambient yin!

“So they can reconstitute themselves off the yin?!”

This was a first for him.

Meaning—

ordinary attacks could not truly kill them.

Fu Changsheng frowned. “Xiao Qing.”

A dragon’s roar shook the void.

The azure Flood Dragon flew from his sleeve, expanding to a ten-zhang giant, scales bristling, dragon might billowing. It swept out a breath of azure wind, mowing down a swath of ghosts—yet they still re-formed on the yin.

“Still no?”

His pupils tightened.

And more and more ghosts were gathering to the fray—several already at Purple Mansion strength.

“I must find a way to annihilate them completely.”

Otherwise,

if a quasi–fourth-rank ghost appeared—

that would be dangerous!

With that thought,

hum—

an ancient bronze lamp flew out of his dantian to hover over his head: the Three-Turn Treasure Lotus Lamp. Its wick lit with a thread of golden Buddha-flame, spreading a protective halo. Ghosts that touched it recoiled, not daring to approach.

“If plain strikes won’t do, let’s try this.”

Fu Changsheng formed a spell seal. The Nine-Sun Red Lotus Flame swelled, coiling into a dragon of fire that circled him. Cold light flashed in his eyes as he thrust out a palm.

“Nine Suns Burns the Heavens—Red Lotus Soul-Extinguish!”

Boom—

The fire dragon roared, swallowing dozens of ghosts in an instant. Inside the blaze, they had no time to scream before they were utterly reduced—no trace of yin left behind.

“As expected.” Joy pricked his heart.

Clearly,

the ghosts were not immortal—so long as the yin fueling them was destroyed in one stroke, they could not re-form.

At that moment—

Hum.

From the depths of the void came a strange, low resonance.

Crack—

A rust-eaten shard of a flying sword ripped through the air, the blade wreathed in thick death-qi—a quasi–fourth-rank ghost!

“So that’s it…”

Fu Changsheng’s pupils shrank.

The ghost had parasitized a remnant treasure—likely its original owner’s resentment clinging after death, turning even the treasure into part of the ghost!

“Heh, finally something worthy.” He sneered, battle intent surging.

Zheng—

The flying-sword ghost was frighteningly fast, stabbing straight at his throat. He shifted; the Lotus Lamp’s light-screen took the blow head-on. Golden light shuddered—the ghost carved a crack into it!

“What a vile death-qi.” Fu Changsheng’s heart tightened. He dared not be careless. He set the azure Flood Dragon to harry from the flank, while his hands flew through seals. The Nine-Sun Red Lotus Flame condensed into a scarlet spear that he hurled with all his might.

Boom!

The spear pierced the ghostly sword. It let out a shriek—but did not disperse. Instead, it madly drank in the surrounding yin to recover.

Alarm bells rang in Fu Changsheng’s heart.

With a thought,

a seven-hued stream of light shot forth and turned into a crystal-clear glazed beast.

“Xiao Cai, help me!”

The Seven-Colored Glazed Beast howled. Seven bands of radiance burst from its body and twined about Fu Changsheng like rainbows.

In an instant,

his aura climbed step by step—from late Purple Mansion surging toward False Core! Spiritual power roared through him like a river; even the tips of his hair gleamed with prismatic light.

Zheng—

Sensing the threat, the sword-ghost vibrated violently.

Hum!

Within a hundred zhang, low-rank ghosts screamed as they were swallowed into the blade. Rust fell away to reveal a dark-red sword-body; its aura pressed toward Golden Core!

“Not good!”

Fu Changsheng’s pupils contracted.

Space around the blade warped. A blood-red sword light ripped the void and slashed for his brow!

“Thunderstriking Sword!”

His sleeve billowed. Three violet Thunderstriking Swords sprang from within, floating in a pin formation. Lightning lines crawled along their blades. In a blink they wove a Starry Heavenly Thunder Array.

At the moment the lightning net condensed,

boom!

The blood sword light arrived.

Clang!

Sparks flew.

The collision

unleashed a shockwave that ground hundreds of ghosts to powder.

Fu Changsheng staggered back a dozen steps, a thread of blood at his lips. The sword-ghost seized the opening to devour dozens more ghosts. A hideous face bulged from the blade, cackling shrilly.

“Abomination!”

Wiping the blood away, Fu Changsheng’s hands blurred.

The three Thunderstriking Swords dissolved into eighty-one thunder awls, arranged by the cycles of the stars within the array. Each awl drew down a strand of violet heavenly thunder. Thunderclouds blanketed the void.

A low, wavering wail—

The sword-ghost

clearly wavered.

“Want to flee now? Too late.”

Fu Changsheng snorted,

pinched a seal,

and barked,

“Tianshu, Summon the Thunder! Yaoguang, Exorcise the Evil!”

Rumble—

Eighty-one bolts fell as one.

The sword-ghost spun madly, shaping a blood vortex that swallowed half the thunder! The rest smashed into the blade. It screamed; cracks like a spiderweb spread across it.

“Now!”

Fu Changsheng bit his tongue. A mouthful of essence blood sprayed onto the array’s core sword. The three swords snapped together into a ten-zhang spear of lightning, its tip aglow with blinding white—the very essence of heaven’s thunder.

“Perish!”

The instant the spear skewered the sword-ghost, the void went still.

A last, unwilling moan—

The ghost unraveled

and dissipated as smoke.

Clang—

A bronze token engraved with the two characters “Taixu” dropped to the ground.

The prismatic glow around Fu Changsheng faded.

He crooked a finger.

The Transmission Token fell into his palm.

“At last.”

But

the joy on his face flickered and vanished. If Transmission Tokens only dropped from quasi–fourth-rank ghosts, then Yaoyao and Yu Qingru might struggle to earn one.

“I have to find them quickly.”

He was just about to kindle a light and search when a baby’s wail, mixed with the boom of clashing spiritual power, tore the air ahead.

A hundred zhang away where yin boiled,

Liu Bingqing was besieged by dozens of Purple Mansion ghosts.

The baby at her chest was bound by a red sash. In her hand, a vermilion paper umbrella spun; dense talisman-lines rippled on its face, barely holding a blood-red barrier. But the ribs were cracking; it wouldn’t last long.

“Fellow Daoist, save me!”

Blood at the corner of her mouth, Liu Bingqing rasped, “Afterward, I will gift you the Taoyin Refining Form Technique!”

This secret technique was one of the Three Great Secret Arts of the Taoyin Gate.

If he could obtain it, his family’s foundation would grow deeper still.

Fu Changsheng was about to strike

when the baby suddenly opened her eyes—left eye black as ink, right eye white as snow. Two beams of divine light hummed and lanced through the void, freezing three charging ghosts in midair!

“This…”

Fu Changsheng’s heart rocked.

The three Purple Mansion ghosts hung there, and their bodies began to melt like wax, hissing as if corroded.

“So terrifying—innate Yin-Yang Eyes!”

He was inwardly aghast,

his interest in Liu Bingqing’s daughter piqued.

With a sweep of his sleeve, the azure Flood Dragon shot out and swelled into a ten-zhang dragon, blocking in front of Liu Bingqing. One lash of its tail turned seven or eight ghosts to ash.

“Fellow Daoist, fall back!”

At his clear shout, the Three-Turn Treasure Lotus Lamp floated from above his head to above Liu Bingqing’s. Curtains of golden Buddha-flame poured down, forcing the remaining ghosts back. His hands flashed through seals; the Nine-Sun Red Lotus Flame traced profound arcs in the air and coalesced into nine crimson lotuses.

“Red Lotus Karmic-Fire Array—rise!”

The nine lotuses bloomed as one, their hearts spurting blazing white fire into a heaven-woven net. The Purple Mansion ghosts ignited on contact, shrieking hideously.

Two fingers like a sword,

a violet bolt snapped from his fingertip, bursting a skulled ghost sneaking up behind Liu Bingqing.

The ghosts broke.

But the baby suddenly burst into wails; blood tears trickled from her black-and-white eyes.

Liu Bingqing frantically bit her finger and pressed a drop of essence blood to the baby’s brow. Strangely, the bead was drawn into the pupils. The infant’s gaze flared brighter, and a giant Taiji shadow manifested in the air.

“Not good!”

Fu Changsheng sensed the yin and yang within her going berserk—the child was burning through her innate source.

Such talent, to die here, would be a waste.

Just then,

Liu Bingqing slapped her pouch. With a flash, an ancient bronze seal shot out.

“Suppress!”

The seal swelled to a three-zhang bronze mountain and crashed down. The four archaic characters “Ever-Suppress Mountains and Rivers” blazed with gold, forcing the rampaging yin-yang back into the infant’s body.

Then it turned into a streak of light and sank into the baby. She let out one last cry and fell instantly asleep.

“Thank you for saving our lives.” Liu Bingqing’s voice trembled, gratitude filling her eyes. “Without you, my daughter and I would not have survived.”

Fu Changsheng inclined his head, gaze passing over the baby. “A mere lift of the hand. No need for thanks.”

Liu Bingqing gave a wry smile and shook her head. “For you it may be small, but for us it was life and death.”

She drew out an old jade slip and offered it with both hands. “As agreed, this is the Taoyin Refining Form Technique. Please accept it.”

Fu Changsheng took the slip. A sweep of his sense confirmed it; he tucked it into his sleeve. “Fellow Daoist keeps her word.”

“After a life-saving grace, how could I go back on mine?” Liu Bingqing said with a thin smile. “Precious as it is, compared with one’s life it is worth little.”

Seeing her aura in disarray and her injuries heavy, and the infant having just burned innate source, Fu Changsheng advised, “Your wounds are not light, and your daughter’s source is damaged. If you don’t tend her now, she’ll be left with hidden wounds. This place is too dangerous. Better to leave first and return when you’ve recovered.”

Liu Bingqing looked down at her daughter, pain flitting across her eyes, and hesitated. “But…the Taixu Hall’s chances are rare. To give up now…”

Fu Changsheng cut her off, his tone firm. “Fortune is good, but life is better. With such a gift, if her foundation is harmed for a moment’s greed, what could be more foolish?”

Startled, she clearly felt the sting of truth. She held her silence for a beat, then nodded.

“You’re right. I was foolish.”

She bowed deeply once more. “Great kindness needs no thanks. If I get the chance, I will repay you.”

Fu Changsheng waved it off. “Take care.”

He had stolen the Ethereal Cloud Mica in Heavenly Secrets Valley; today he had saved mother and daughter. The karmic thread could be considered even.

Liu Bingqing turned to a rainbow and sped toward the barrier of the Taixu Hall—bright as a lighthouse in a dark sea.

Just then,

the familiar mechanical chime rang in his mind.

Ding.

“You have added the Taoyin Refining Form Technique to the family. Gained 500 Family Contribution Points.”

At once,

his contribution on the panel changed to fifteen thousand five hundred.

After Liu Bingqing left, a faint unease stirred within Fu Changsheng.

“If Yaoyao and Qingru were scattered, they may not be a match for these ghosts…”

His gaze hardened. He spread his sense, seeking a trace of them—but in this void the yin was too dense. His sense was heavily suppressed, reaching barely a hundred zhang.

“I must find them, fast!”

He didn’t hesitate. His mind touched the panel in his sea of consciousness.

“Redeem intelligence.”

Hum.

The panel quivered.

Waves of yellow light surged.

Images unfolded one after another.

The first showed Yu Qingru and Yaoyao under attack by a quasi–fourth-rank ghost.

“Bad!”

Fu Changsheng stopped the redemption at once. Following the text after the image, he instantly triggered a Thunder-Guiding Talisman and streaked southwest as a lance of lightning.

He hadn’t gone far when the yin ahead exploded; a black shadow lunged!

A thunderous roar—

A colossal ghost-beast, tiger-shaped with three heads, each a snarling horror with bared fangs, wrapped in dense death-qi.

“A quasi–fourth-rank ghost!”

Fu Changsheng’s eyes narrowed. Alarm flared.

Its aura was even stronger than the sword-ghost’s!

The beast roared. All three jaws gaped and spat three beams of pitch-black yin-miasma. Wherever they passed, the void hissed and corroded.

“Not good.”

He dared not meet it head-on. A shift of his body took him narrowly aside—but where the miasma splashed, dozens of small ghosts rose and pounced!

“What a nuisance.”

He flipped his palm. The Nine-Sun Red Lotus Flame surged up and fell as a rain of fire, incinerating the small ghosts in a heartbeat.

But the beast had already closed. Its claws tore the void, raking for his throat.

Clang!

The Lotus Lamp’s light-screen shuddered, golden light bursting. With one claw it ripped a rent open!

“What power!”

The blow sent Fu Changsheng skidding, blood and qi churning. His eyes hardened. No more holding back—his hands cut seals and he barked, “Azure Flood Dragon—come forth!”

A dragon’s roar.

The ten-zhang azure Flood Dragon flashed out again, dragon might rolling as it tangled with the ghost-beast. But the three heads spat yin-miasma at once, forcing the Flood Dragon back step by step.

“This brute is a handful!”

Fu Changsheng’s brow knit. If he dragged this out, it would draw even more ghosts.

The Glazed Beast appeared again. Seven-colored light fell around him; his aura surged to False Core. He drew a breath, cold light in his eyes, bit his tongue, and spat essence into his palm.

“Nine Suns Burns the Heavens—Red Lotus Soul-Extinguish!”

Boom—

Scarlet fire erupted, becoming a hundred-zhang dragon that hurtled at the ghost-beast.

Where it passed, yin was burned clean.

A dying wail—

The three heads were swallowed first. The hulking body writhed in the flames, then finally collapsed to smoke.

Clang—

Another bronze token hit the ground.

Fu Changsheng snatched it. The same two characters—Taixu.

…

Yin winds howled; black fog boiled.

Back to back, Yaoyao and Yu Qingru held up a pale-cyan shield of spiritual power, barely resisting the siege of dozens of Purple Mansion ghosts. The ghosts shrieked like banshees, their claws raking at the light. Each impact sent shudders through it.

Farther off,

a quasi–fourth-rank ghost—the Soul-Devouring Ghost Flood Dragon—coiled in the void.

It resembled a giant serpent with four claws, drowning in black death-qi. Blood-red pupils pinned the two women, as if waiting for the moment they ran dry.

“Aunt Yu, like this we won’t last!”

Yaoyao gritted her teeth. With a flick, a tongue of red flame leapt from her sleeve and burned three lunging ghosts to ash. Her face was paper-white; she was breathing hard—spiritual power nearly spent.

Yu Qingru formed a seal with one hand, the other guarding her belly, worry in her eyes. With a sweep of her sleeve, seven crystal hairpins of ice shot like needles and pinned two ghosts—but before she could recall them, the ghost Flood Dragon surged. Its tail fell like a meteor.

Boom!

Cracks webbed across the shield.

Yaoyao grunted, blood at her lip. Glancing at Yu Qingru, she sensed the child in the womb reacting to the yin, her aura in chaos. They could not last.

“We can’t delay!”

Resolve flashed through Yaoyao’s eyes. She slapped the Spirit Beast Pouch at her waist and snapped, “Xiao Hong—out!”

A scarlet streak burst forth—the three-rank spirit pet, the Four-Winged Scarlet Python. Three zhang long, four wings on its back, scales like blood-jade, its gaze knife-cold, it coiled around the pair and vomited a column of fire that turned several ghosts to ash.

“Aunt Yu, you go!” Yaoyao seized Yu Qingru’s wrist, voice urgent. “You’re with child—if we keep this up, the baby will be tainted by yin!”

Yu Qingru clenched her teeth. “No! If I go, how will you hold this thing off alone?”

A sly light flickered in Yaoyao’s eyes; she whispered, “Don’t worry. I have a life-saving card. Father gave me a Skyfox Void-Evasion Talisman. I can escape.”

Doubt lingered in Yu Qingru’s gaze—but Yaoyao would brook no refusal. She shoved her shoulder and yelled, “Xiao Hong, take Aunt Yu!”

The red python swept its tail, wrapped Yu Qingru tight, and beat its wings for the sky.

“Yaoyao!!” Yu Qingru twisted to look back. Yaoyao had already turned, standing alone before the ghost Flood Dragon, her white robes snapping in the chill.

“Don’t worry. I won’t die here…”

Her mouth curved in a fierce smile. Her fingertip slit a line of blood between her brows.

“My turn.”

“Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Bloodline—open!”

Boom—

Ancient, feral demon power exploded out of her. Her hair blanched silver strand by strand; her pupils slit into beast-verticals. Nine phantom fox tails rose from her spine, each burning with red-gold fox-fire—three already solid.

The ghost Flood Dragon’s pupils shrank. In a harsh, human voice it spoke, “Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox?! Impossible! You are clearly—”

“Too late to realize it!” Yaoyao snapped.

She vanished.

When she reappeared she was above its head, nine tails lashing down like chains.

“Qingqiu—Soul-Burn!”

Fox-fire burrowed along the seams of its scales to sear its soul.

The Flood Dragon’s howl was piercing.

Unwilling to yield, death-qi congealed about it into a pitch-black spear. With a hiss it shot up. Yaoyao twisted aside, but it grazed her shoulder—soul-pain flared; her vision swam black.

Seizing the moment, the Flood Dragon pinched a seal and roared,

“Ten Thousand Ghosts Devour the Heart!”

Countless ghosts surged from its body to form a feral face and bit down. They were remnant souls of cultivators it had devoured, each boiling with boundless resentment. One bite would tear her soul to shreds.

Yaoyao clenched her teeth. Her nine-tail flames roared up into a wall of fire—but there were too many ghosts. The wall was gnawed away inch by inch.

Her cultivation was only fourth layer of Purple Mansion; even with the bloodline opened, against a quasi–fourth-rank ghost Flood Dragon—a host to a human remnant will—the gap was too great.

“A mere three-tail fox dares vie with me?!” it jeered, four claws shrouded in death-qi as it pounced, jaws gaping for her throat.

“Beast—die!”

A shout cracked the sky like thunder. Violet qi flooded the heavens. A figure strode across the air, surrounded by coiling lightning, killing intent towering—

Fu Changsheng!

His eyes fell on the blood at Yaoyao’s shoulder; his pupils knifed down. A storm of fury exploded within.

“You hurt my daughter… I’ll scatter your soul!”

Boom—

He swept his sleeve. Divine light of purple qi poured like the Milky Way, washing the ghost tide clean. Then he formed a single seal; lightning gathered at his fingertip as he pointed to the sky.

“Bing-Fire Divine Thunder—Exterminate Evil!”

Crack—

A scarlet thunderbolt split the firmament, like heaven’s punishment, crashing onto the Flood Dragon’s skull.

The Flood Dragon’s howl tore and broke. Its scales burst; death-qi burned to cinders. It thrashed, claws rending the void, but could not escape the thunder’s suppression.

Cold light blazed in Fu Changsheng’s eyes. He stepped forward. Purple qi in his palm coalesced into a three-foot blade; where it pointed, the void trembled.

“Sever!”

A rainbow of sword light flashed—

The Flood Dragon’s roar cut off. Its massive body split from crown to tail. Black death-qi flooded out like a tide, then was burned away by thunder and fire until nothing remained—not even a scrap of remnant soul.

Clang—

Another bronze token fell.

Fu Changsheng reached out; the token jumped into his grasp—etched with the same “Taixu.”

Yaoyao staggered. The nine tails faded. She looked up at the familiar figure, eyes rimmed red. “Father…”

In a blink, Fu Changsheng was at her side, catching her and sending spiritual power into her body. Feeling that she had no grave wounds, he finally let out a breath—and swept his sense around for Qingru, finding nothing. His heart clenched.

Thanks for reading! That climax had my heart pounding—Papa Fu going full thunder-dad is always a mood. If you’re enjoying the ride, please consider hopping onto my Patreon; your support seriously keeps these daily chapters flowing. And if you have a moment, dropping a rating or review on NovelUpdates helps more readers find the story—much appreciated!

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