Chapter 35: Keeping an Ace Up One's Sleeve

The brilliance of that intense light was so blinding that Zhao Chun’s mind drifted into a trance; even the pain of the fist-wind striking her face, leaving bloody gashes on both cheeks, was momentarily ignored.

"The time has come..."

Tu Mian heard these words, but he did not know why they had come. Before him, flesh and blood flew through the air, yet Zhao Chun’s head did not burst under his fist as he had imagined.

Before his strike could even touch the tip of Zhao Chun's nose, his body had already been enveloped and shattered by the intense light. Before Tu Mian could even perceive the pain, the light had pierced through his internal organs.

This was the Heaven-Connecting Lightning Array, the final protection the Lingzhen Sect had left for the Tu family.

On the night he had invited her to be a guest official, Tu Cunshan had informed Zhao Chun of this matter.

Back when the Lingzhen Sect was still at Mount Song, the three disciplines of alchemy, talismans, and formations were all at their peak. The Sect Leader was also benevolent toward his subordinates, establishing great arrays for the subordinate families to defend against external enemies.

After the Lingzhen Sect relocated, the remaining families declined rapidly. Their formations were either seized or sold; they had become nothing more than memories of previous generations.

The Tu family's formation had once been stolen by evil cultivators, only to be secretly reclaimed by Tu Cunshan's father. However, he had been mortally wounded in the process and could only hurriedly pass the position of Family Head to the then Qi Refinement second-layer Tu Cunshan, which triggered the Chaos of Zuo Tu.

The Eye of the Formation was a token left by the Lingzhen Sect. With this token, one could relocate the clan to the Hidden Valley to replant their roots.

That was what Tu Cunshan had sought his entire life: a place of stability for the Tu family. Unfortunately, with the family's decline and lack of strength, it was difficult to preserve the token. Thus, they dared not relocate easily, and he remained confined to their ancestral lands at Mount Song until his death approached.

As Zhao Chun swayed to her feet, the area before the Tu family ancestral hall was already littered with corpses. The members of the Zuo Tu faction had all stained the martial arena with their blood; Tu Cunzhi's head was impaled upon a pillar by a longsword.

She should have felt fear or nausea, but she merely watched in silence. Picking up the Crimson Edge Dagger once more, she walked toward the struggling Tu Mian in the pool of blood...

The struggle between cultivators was nothing more than life exchanging for life. Standing before Tu Mian's corpse, Zhao Chun felt unexpectedly peaceful. Only slaughter allowed her to truly merge with this world—the law of natural selection, where humans are like beasts, all converging upon the same simple truth.

Tu Cunshan slumped at the entrance of the ancestral hall. He was as gaunt as a withered husk, yet his gaze burned like a torch. Restarting the formation had come at the cost of his entire cultivation; now, he had only a single breath left.

"Guest Official Zhao..." He tremblingly held up a piece of lustrous white jade talisman—the Eye of the Formation. "Please take this token... back to the Main Sect... If you can lead the Tu family there... that would be best... If not... if not..."

The talisman fell to the ground with a crisp clatter.

Zhao Chun felt only a heavy sense of sorrow. In truth, Tu Cunshan likely knew that the Lingzhen Sect did not place much importance on the families left behind at Mount Song; these words were merely spoken to comfort himself...

The members of the Tu family were also silent. Today, they had bid farewell to their old Family Head and personally slain their own kin.

From this day forward, there would be no more Zuo Tu, and there would be no place for the Tu family in the Great River Bend beneath Mount Song.

With Tu Cunshan dead and Tu Congwen heavily injured, the only one to step forward to handle the aftermath was the red-eyed Tu Xin.

"Now, we can only hope for Congwen's recovery. We will see how to proceed then." His back was hunched, looking as old as twilight after a single night. "As for the Main Sect, I hope Guest Official Zhao can exert some influence to provide us with some assistance..."

"I agreed to be a guest official of your Tu family, and I will not go back on my word. Wait here for news. If there is a result, I will inform you immediately." Although the Tu family's promise was driven by interest, once it was settled, Zhao Chun would not change her mind simply because there was no profit; she would do her best to see how the Lingzhen Sect handled it.

The Chaos of Zuo Tu was resolved, but the Ranyang Sect behind it was the real main event.

On Tu Mian's person, there was a small identity tag of unknown material that looked quite sinister. It was engraved with the seven words: "Ranyang Sect Commissioned Outcast." Zhao Chun pocketed it as evidence.

She also collected the Demon Moth beast head and two types of Gu insects—the Black Cicada and the Centipede—intending to return to the sect to report to the Elders.

In the days of their prosperity, they had still been harmed by the Ranyang Sect. She wondered if, under the current circumstances, they could still defend against the poisonous hands of the enemy sect...

(End of Chapter)