Chapter 50: Visiting the Ancestral Graves with a Bundle of Explosives
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More than half a month later.
Mount Siming lay along the border of Yongzhou, a region of low hills and rolling terrain where peaks rose and ridges overlapped one another in endless succession.
At the foot of the mountain stood a town called Siming.
Because of its remote location, the town had rarely received visitors from beyond its borders. It was almost completely cut off from the outside world.
But after word of Duan Chuan’s Karmic Reckoning had spread throughout the entire world of adepts, more and more unfamiliar faces began appearing along the streets.
Zhao Zhen walked along a narrow road in Siming Town, silently observing the buildings around him.
Strictly speaking, this was the hometown of his old man.
...
“My hometown? It’s a place where red maples stretch as far as the eye can see. Whenever the leaves fall, the whole land turns crimson. You can’t imagine how beautiful it is.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been away from home for so long that I haven’t returned in several decades...”
“If you miss it so much, why don’t you go back and take a look?”
“Go back? I don’t dare...”
“What’s there to fear? You have your Golden Escape, Flashing Light. Even if your enemies were waiting for you there, you could escape whenever you wanted, couldn’t you?”
“You foolish boy, you don’t understand. If they learned that I still felt attached to my hometown, that place would never know peace again.”
“Serves you right. Who told you to make so many enemies? Would it have killed you to behave yourself when you were young? Now you’re old, and you’ve ended up with a home you can’t return to...”
“Why, you little brat! You actually dare lecture me now?”
...
Remembering that conversation with the old man, a bitter smile appeared at the corner of Zhao Zhen’s lips.
“That old fool... He’s spent his whole life running away. So this time, he’s finally decided not to run anymore?”
Just as Zhao Zhen was lost in thought, a figure approaching from ahead made him pause.
“You?!”
Lu Ci cried out. Surprise and wariness flashed instinctively through his eyes, but a moment later, his expression relaxed again.
“Of course. Since that fiend is your master, you naturally came here to collect his corpse.”
Zhao Zhen frowned slightly at Lu Ci’s taunt.
This mad dog. Had he done anything to provoke him?
Fine. Since Lu Ci had drawn his blade first, Zhao Zhen would not hesitate to draw his own.
“I was wondering who it could be. Isn’t this the second jade of the Lu clan’s Twin Jades?”
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“You’re the second jade! Your whole family is the second jade!”
Several veins immediately stood out on Lu Ci’s forehead.
“Brother...”
Behind him, Lu Ren’s helpless voice sounded once more.
“Brother Zhao, forgive me. My brother is young and thoughtless. If he offended you earlier, I hope you will pardon him. Allow me to apologize on his behalf.”
With that, Lu Ren bowed deeply to Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen glanced at Lu Ci, then slowly shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“Brother Zhao, have you also come to witness this Karmic Reckoning?”
“Yes.”
Zhao Zhen nodded, then looked around at the surrounding streets.
“There certainly are a lot of people here...”
“After all, this is a Karmic Reckoning rarely seen even once in several decades within the Totality Society. Of course, the sheer number of people here also has something to do with the one undergoing it.”
Lu Ren smiled faintly. Zhao Zhen knew what he really meant: the old man had accumulated too many enemies over the years, and that was why so many people had traveled thousands of miles to reach this place.
“Perhaps.”
“There is something I do not understand, and I hoped I might ask your opinion, Brother Zhao.”
“Please, Brother Lu.”
“Venerable Golden Light is an elder of the Totality Society. Though he bears many blood debts from all these years, everyone has been helpless against him because of his unique art, Golden Escape, Flashing Light.
“In theory, as long as he wished, he could use that technique to hide and flee for the rest of his life. Why, then, has he chosen to make such a grand spectacle of things now, even publicly withdrawing from the Totality Society through this Karmic Reckoning?
“Could it be that he truly believes he can survive all seven days, despite everything he has done over the years?”
“Forget seven days. Judging from the people we’ve already encountered on the way here, he may not even make it through the first day!” Lu Ci added.
Faced with the Lu brothers’ confusion, Zhao Zhen gradually fell silent. Only after a long while did he finally say, “Since the old man chose this place as the site of his Karmic Reckoning, that means he never intended to leave here alive.”
“Oh? What makes you say that?”
Lu Ren’s eyes filled with puzzlement.
“This is the old man’s hometown.”
“I see. Returning to one’s roots in death...”
“A fiend like him deserves to return to his roots?”
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Lu Ci clenched his fists, and an intense hatred flashed in his eyes.
To this day, he still remembered the terrible sight of the uncle who had doted on him most when he was a child, dying with his eyes wide open. Given Lu Ci’s nature, he would never forgive the murderer responsible for his uncle’s death—not even if it cost him his own life.
“Once that fiend is dead, I will personally cut off his head and take it back to my uncle’s grave as an offering!”
As he spoke, Lu Ci stared fixedly at Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen was not angered. A mocking smile merely curled his lips.
“You’re welcome to try.”
Seeing the tension between them grow increasingly volatile, Lu Ren hurriedly pulled Lu Ci behind him, his expression solemn.
“Brother, stop talking nonsense!”
“But, Big Brother—”
“Enough!”
After Lu Ren shouted at him, Lu Ci could only close his mouth, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
“I apologize, Brother Zhao. Regardless of anything else, Venerable Golden Light bears a blood feud with the Lu clan, and we will certainly not show him mercy during this Karmic Reckoning.
“Although you are his disciple, you are different from those other fiends of the Totality Society. The Left Sect Master and the Celestial Master have personally vouched for you. Therefore, I hope you will remain rational during this Karmic Reckoning and not bring disaster upon yourself.”
“Rest assured. Since this was the old man’s own choice, then whatever the result, it is the retribution he deserves. I will not interfere.”
Zhao Zhen nodded, but in the next moment, his tone suddenly changed.
“Yet when a man dies, all lights are extinguished. Once he is dead, every blessing and every curse, every kindness and every grievance, should vanish with him.
“I was raised by that old man. I cannot rely on him to support me in his old age, but seeing him off at the end of his life is the only way I can repay the kindness of his raising me.
“But if anyone refuses to grant the dead even a moment of peace, I would not object to one day taking a casual stroll around his ancestral grave with a pair of explosives.”
“You!”
Lu Ci clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked. His savage gaze seemed ready to tear Zhao Zhen apart and devour him alive.
It was a threat—an utterly blatant threat!
Did Zhao Zhen really think that such a threat would frighten him, Lu Ci?
Just as Lu Ci was about to say more, a cheerful voice suddenly rang out.
“Now, now, young friends. There is no need to lose your tempers...”
Lu Ci turned around.
The withered, stooped old man standing behind him was none other than Duan Chuan, the enemy he had longed for day and night. Who else could it be?
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