Chapter 118. Xu family [1]
The once-glorious Xu Family estate had become a place shrouded in mourning.
The great halls that had once echoed with discussions of cultivation and strategy now stood silent.
White mourning banners fluttered in the wind, while incense burned day and night before countless spirit tablets.
Several days earlier, search parties had finally discovered what remained of the missing experts.
Buried beneath the earth were the bodies of Xu Wenyuan, the Grand Elder, the Second Elder, and the other core elders who had disappeared together.
None of them had survived.
The discovery shattered the final thread of hope the clan had been clinging to.
The Xu Family’s backbone had collapsed overnight.
Without Xu Wenyuan and the Golden Core elders, the once-mighty Rank Seven family was little more than an empty shell.
The news spread across the kingdom with astonishing speed.
Like starving wolves smelling blood, countless eyes turned toward the Xu Family’s territory.
———————————————————
Inside the clan’s ancestral hall, dozens of acting elders and branch leaders knelt before the small figure standing solemnly before the ancestral tablets.
They were merely the deputy elders, managing clan affairs whenever the true elders were absent. However, after the previous generation of elders perished, they had no choice but to assume those vacant positions.
Not a single person among them had reached the Golden Core Realm. The strongest present had only managed to cultivate to the Third Layer of Qi Refinement.
The small figure was none other than Xu Qingyue. She was only twelve years old, yet she had already become the strongest cultivator remaining within the entire Xu Family.
She was the greatest genius the Xu Family had ever produced and her talent had surpassed every ancestor recorded in the clan’s history.
To the Xu Family, she was their final hope.
One elder stepped forward before kneeling.
"Young Miss!"
His voice was filled with desperation.
"Please... go and ask the Fairy for help!"
Another elder immediately echoed the plea.
"Only the Fairy can save the Xu Family now. If she is willing to intervene, no one within the Loushi Kingdom would dare lay another finger on us."
More voices joined in.
"Please ask the Fairy for help!"
"The clan can no longer hold on!"
"The patriarch is gone and the elders are gone..."
"You are our last hope, Young Miss."
Xu Qingyue silently looked at the kneeling elders.
The "Fairy" they spoke of...
Was Qin Xishu.
No one knew how powerful she truly was.
The only thing the Xu Family knew was that she possessed strength far beyond anything the Loushi Kingdom could contend with.
If she was willing to act, this crisis would disappear as easily as a passing breeze.
Boom!
Another violent impact shook the barrier.
A guard rushed into the hall with a terrified expression.
"Young Miss! The Peng Family and the Hao Family have begun another assault!"
Everyone’s expressions darkened.
The Peng Family and the Hao Family were both Rank Nine families based in Southwatch City.
Ordinarily, neither would have dared offend the Xu Family.
But times had changed.
The Xu Family’s Golden Core experts were all dead and their strongest remaining cultivator was none other than Xu Qingxue herself.
Outside the barrier, the allied forces showed no signs of retreat.
Their patriarchs stood side by side, calmly watching wave after wave of attacks batter the formation.
Neither of them intended to underestimate the Xu Family.
Although the clan had fallen from its former glory, the wealth accumulated by a Rank Seven family over generations was beyond imagination.
Spirit stones, cultivation techniques, martial arts, medicinal herbs, you name it, they would definitely still be treasures.
Even if they had to split the spoils in half, both families would become incomparably richer.
Of course, they also understood the greatest obstacle before them.
Xu Qingxue, her reputation as an unprecedented genius had spread throughout the kingdom years ago.
Neither patriarch believed they could defeat her easily.
Fortunately, there was no need to.
As long as the two of them kept Xu Qingxue occupied, the combined armies of both families would overwhelm the remaining Xu disciples through sheer numbers.
Once the clan’s ordinary cultivators were slaughtered, the Xu Family would truly cease to exist.
Boom!
Another violent impact shook the protective barrier.
Cracks of light rippled across its surface as waves of spiritual qi crashed against it without end.
Inside the ancestral hall, every pair of eyes instinctively turned toward Xu Qingyue.
She remained silent, her small hands slowly curling into fists beneath her sleeves.
Qin Xishu, she had no idea where that devil of a woman was.
In the end, all of this had begun because of her own mistake.
Even now, she could not understand what had possessed her to impulsively bid for the Pure-Quality Golden Core Pills.
Nor could she explain why she had accepted those very pills from Qin Xishu afterward.
Every time she thought about it, an immense headache assaulted her, accompanied by the same sentence...
You’re responsible for all of this, you’re responsible for everyone’s deaths.
The thought clung to her like a curse, refusing to leave no matter how hard she tried to suppress it.
The hall around her seemed to blur and the faces of the elders slowly disappeared from her sight, replaced by an endless sea of crimson.
Everywhere she looked, there was only blood.
An elder’s eyes widened in horror.
"Young Miss!"
His cry snapped everyone out of their daze.
"She’s... she’s bleeding from her eyes!"
Panic instantly swept through the ancestral hall.
Scarlet streams flowed from the corners of Xu Qingyue’s eyes, staining her pale face before dripping onto the cold stone floor.
"Young Miss!"
Several elders rushed forward at once, their faces filled with alarm.
They were terrified that the Xu Family’s final hope was collapsing before their very eyes.
Xu Qingyue gently raised a hand, stopping them from coming any closer.
"I’m fine."
Her voice was calm, almost unnaturally so.
She reached into her sleeve, took out a handkerchief, and quietly wiped away the blood trickling from the corners of her eyes.
Only after the crimson stains had disappeared did she slowly close her eyes.
"...How many people have we lost?"
The elders exchanged uneasy glances.
The image of their Young Miss bleeding from her eyes still lingered vividly in their minds, leaving none of them willing to answer.
The silence stretched for several breaths before one elder finally stepped forward.
His weathered face was filled with sorrow, and when he spoke, his voice had already turned hoarse.
"...One hundred and twenty-three."
Those four words seemed to drain the last trace of warmth from the ancestral hall.
"The Peng Family and Hao Family have been attacking us day and night and many disciples collapsed from exhaustion while maintaining the formation. Some... never woke up again."
A heavy silence descended upon the hall.
The Xu Family had not yet been breached yet they were already losing people.