Chapter 727: Chapter 626: A Fated Enemy

Bai Junfan considered himself strong-willed and had always maintained a positive, optimistic attitude, all because of a belief he held deep in his heart. However, the ten thousand yuan sent by Yang Liu’er, along with the cold, curt message on the money order, had struck a blow to his spirit. At times, his mood would darken, and he would sink into a low, brooding melancholy.

The Bai Family had fallen, and its collapse was so complete that Bai Junfan hadn’t just failed to hear any news beforehand—no one had even told him after the fact. Crucially, he had made a mistake at this critical juncture. It was a classic case of everyone kicking a man when he’s down. Without any discussion, he was directly demoted and left to await his discharge from the military.

He had originally thought his grandfather in Beijing wouldn’t just stand by and watch his most favored grandson fall to such a state. But who would have known that his grandfather would suddenly pass away? And while he was under investigation and in solitary confinement, not a single person had stepped in to plead his case, to let him return to Beijing for the funeral!

At this point, even if he didn’t want to believe it, he knew the tide had turned against him for good.

It wasn’t that he felt no resentment. ’How could Aunt have managed the family so poorly? She was always so astute. Was it old age? And that arrogant, clueless Second Uncle... the Bai Family was truly ruined by him. As expected, those from the side branches are useless!’

After Bai Junfan was demoted, not only did the colleagues and friends he usually associated with gradually distance themselves, but the few girls who had once vied for his affection also stopped coming around. Even the one he was closest to, Huang Minxia, who had sworn she would marry no one but him, had vanished without a trace. In response to all this, Bai Junfan just gave a faint smile, feigning indifference.

’It was all just for show anyway, nothing worth holding onto. There was a girl he truly cherished in his heart, and there were more important matters to attend to.’

It wasn’t that he had intentionally deserted his post by not returning to the barracks for several days. Rather, on his way back from Cultivation in the mountains, he had been trapped by an Array. It took him half a day to figure it out: a few large rocks and some clumps of dry reeds formed an irregular circle. He was like a caged animal inside it. The main road was clearly just ten meters ahead, but he couldn’t reach it no matter what he did!

The people and vehicles passing by didn’t seem to see him. Shouting was probably useless, and even if they could hear him, he was too proud to call out for help. To these ignorant ordinary people, Cultivators and Arrays were like something out of a fantasy tale. They might even mistake him for an idiot who’d somehow managed to get lost right next to a major road!

That was something he could not accept.

He was trapped in the Array for three or four days, unable to get out. The people from his unit couldn’t find him, and when he later returned to the barracks completely unharmed, he couldn’t provide a convincing explanation. Just like that, he was found guilty of breaking military regulations and punished.

At the time, Bai Junfan didn’t mind the punishment, as he didn’t yet know about the string of disasters that had befallen his family in Beijing. On the contrary, he was quite happy. The Array that had trapped him had also attracted another Cultivator—a Daoist in a traditional robe who called himself Daoist Ming Lun. Bai Junfan couldn’t discern his cultivation, but Daoist Ming Cang was able to break the Array, so he was clearly more skilled.

Bai Junfan remembered Gongsun Chongshan saying that there weren’t many Cultivators left in the world. In all of Huaxia Country, there were only three or four Cultivation Families like the Gongsun Family, and that didn’t even include the Gu family and the Bai Family, who had already lost their heritage. The situation with other Loose Cultivators was unclear, but they were generally too disorganized to be of any concern. The various Cultivation Families were scattered across the north and south, so for this Daoist Ming Cang to appear in the Northwest, he likely had a connection to the Jiang Family.

Sure enough, after the two spoke, Daoist Ming Cang admitted that his secular family name was indeed Jiang. Upon hearing that Bai Junfan was a direct descendant of the Beijing Bai Family, he couldn’t help but study him with curiosity for a few moments. He even showed the classic traits of a mystic, rambling on about fate and fortune. Unfortunately, Bai Junfan was in a hurry to get back to the barracks at the time. He simply offered a polite thank you, said they would meet again, and hastily took his leave.

When he later received the terrible news and all the other bad tidings from Beijing, Bai Junfan cursed himself in regret. ’Daoist Ming Cang had clearly warned me, but I just ignored him! Now it’s too late for everything!’

Bai Junfan felt that everything in the military was going against him, all because his family’s power had collapsed. How could he allow himself to be controlled and looked down upon by others? Without waiting for the official discharge orders, he deserted the military and left on his own. ’Since this path is already a dead end, the consequences don’t matter anymore. With my own intelligence and talent, I’m confident I can make the Bai Family rise again soon!’

Bai Junfan went to find Daoist Ming Cang, hoping for guidance, but he didn’t run into him. Instead, he met Daoist Ming Cang’s secular nephew, Jiang Wang. Like Bai Junfan, Jiang Wang was a Cultivator at the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer. He was passionate about searching for treasures and had his own set of brilliant techniques. At that moment, he was about to explore a promising location suspected to be a Cultivator’s immortal cave. His initial assessment was that it would not only contain treasures but might even have a Magic Artifact buried inside!

The thought of a Magic Artifact swayed Bai Junfan, and he accepted the invitation to go treasure hunting with him. They didn’t find the immortal cave, but they did unearth an ancient Cultivator’s tomb. It was indeed filled with many treasures, along with inescapable traps and Arrays. This was what truly fascinated Bai Junfan; in his view, just being able to evade and break those Arrays was a great achievement in itself.

He never expected someone to show up and try to snatch the treasure—and that the masked man was none other than Gu Shaofeng!

That’s right, it was Gu Shaofeng!

Others might not have known, but Gu Shaofeng had been challenging Bai Junfan to fights since they were children, always trying to prove he was stronger. Whenever he couldn’t win, he would drag Gu Shaojun in to take his place. Bai Junfan couldn’t be more familiar with the Gu brothers’ techniques and moves! They had also crossed paths in the military as adults, even studying abroad and fighting side-by-side once. Forget a piece of cloth over his face—even if the Gu brothers were burned to ash, Bai Junfan could still identify them both!

Gu Shaofeng was a Cultivator, but Bai Junfan and Jiang Wang were Cultivators too. And there were two of them. The thought of a two-on-one fight, of the chance to eliminate Gu Shaofeng right here and now, sent a strange thrill of excitement through Bai Junfan!

He knew one thing for certain: the fall of the Bai Family was definitely connected to the Gu family!

The Gu and Bai families were both Ancient Martial Arts Families, but in reality, they were constantly holding each other in check, mutually suspicious and on guard. Some grudges had been sown by their predecessors, and the younger generations could only inherit them, even if they didn’t know the full story. This was clear in the rivalries between Gu Qiming and Bai Lixin, and between Gu Shaojun, Gu Shaofeng, and Bai Junfan himself. Bai Junfan had even gleaned some clues from his grandfather’s fragmented words, which was why he was so certain there was immense hatred between the Bai and Gu families!

If that was the case, then it was a feud to the death. He couldn’t touch Gu Shaojun and the rest of the Gu family for now, but there was plenty of time; that day would come eventually. First, he would take out Gu Shaofeng. One down, more to go!

However, when they finally clashed face-to-face, Bai Junfan realized he had underestimated his opponent. Gu Shaofeng had merely been deliberately concealing his Suppression. In reality, he had already reached Qi Refining Perfection and was at the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment. He had come here to search for treasure as a form of training. The combined strength of Bai Junfan and Jiang Wang wasn’t even enough for Gu Shaofeng to warm up!

Bai Junfan had never underestimated Gu Shaofeng’s ruthless and vicious nature. If Daoist Ming Cang hadn’t arrived just in time, he and Jiang Wang would have been buried in that ancient tomb.

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