Chapter 144: Chapter 143: Annihilating the Xu Family

Still, he forced himself to remain calm, shouting with a mix of bravado and fear, "Stop! Who are you? Why are you attacking my Xu Family? My elder brother, Xu Cheng, is a Late-stage Qi Cultivator! I am Xu Hua, the Second Elder of the Xu Family! If you have any demands, just state them! Spirit Stones, Pills, beautiful women—the Xu Family will surely satisfy you! Let’s not do anything rash!"

He tried to use Xu Cheng’s name, dangling the lure of personal gain, all to stall for time and find some chance of survival.

Lu Zhao stopped a few yards in front of him. His icy gaze swept over the man as if he were already dead. Ignoring his pleas and promises completely, Lu Zhao spoke in a hoarse, direct voice filled with undeniable pressure, "I ask, you answer. Where is Xu Cheng?"

Xu Hua shuddered under that gaze. When the man asked directly for the Patriarch, his heart filled with alarm and doubt. His eyes darted about evasively as he answered in a dry voice, "My... my brother... he’s... he’s... out on patrol..." He stammered, trying to buy time.

At this, the last shred of patience in Lu Zhao’s eyes disappeared. He had no time for lies and evasions.

"It seems you’ve chosen not to speak," he said, his voice bone-chillingly cold as the scar on his cheek twitched.

Before he had finished speaking, Lu Zhao brought two fingers together like a sword. A demonic, bloody light suddenly erupted at his fingertips! It didn’t radiate outward, but rather condensed there, pulsing faintly as if alive. It exuded a heart-stoppingly cold and violent aura, tinged with the bloody scent of the Blood Shadow Corpse Refining Skill.

Xu Hua’s pupils shrank to pinpricks! Though he didn’t recognize this magic, the soul-piercing terror and ominous aura emanating from that bloody light made him realize in an instant what his opponent intended to do!

"No! Don’t! I’ll talk! I—" he shrieked, terrified out of his wits, desperate to confess everything.

But it was too late.

As fast as lightning, Lu Zhao’s fingertip, wreathed in that demonic bloody light, unerringly tapped the center of Xu Hua’s forehead.

"Blood Soul-Searching Skill!"

"Urgh, AHHH!!!"

Xu Hua’s body went ramrod straight, as if his spine had been yanked out. His eyes instantly rolled back, bulging so far they seemed about to burst from their sockets. Inhuman, agonized gurgles escaped his throat; he was in too much pain to even scream. All over his body, veins bulged and writhed beneath his skin like worms, turning a ghastly blue-black. His skin visibly lost its sheen, becoming ashen and shriveled.

A powerful and savage surge of Divine Sense, infused with a sinister energy condensed from Essence Blood, bored brutally into the depths of Xu Hua’s Sea of Consciousness like the sharpest drill.

In that instant, a flood of countless chaotic, fragmented, and emotionally-charged memories surged uncontrollably into Lu Zhao’s Sea of Consciousness, like water from a burst dam:

A dim, secret chamber: By the light of a flickering candle, a younger, nervous Xu Hua presented a sealed Jade Scroll with both hands to an aloof cultivator. The man was dressed in indigo robes, his cuffs embroidered with a ferocious Exotic Beast. His eyes were sharp as a hawk’s, his aura profound and heavy—he was a Late-stage Qi Cultivator! Behind him, the corner of a Token bearing the name "Zheng" was just visible.

The contents of the Jade Scroll flashed through his mind: High-Grade Spirit Root... Foundation Establishment... concealing one’s Cultivation... Certain key parts were blurry and indistinct. Perhaps it was due to a restriction placed by some magic, or maybe Xu Hua was too low-level and only knew the superficial details. Lu Zhao couldn’t see it clearly.

The next scene was Xu Hua’s fawning response: "Rest assured, my lord! I understand! The Lu Family was plotting something sinister; they deserve this fate! The entire Xu Family will cooperate with all our strength, even unto death!"

And the final, frozen image: Flames shot to the sky! Countless piercing screams echoed! The massive, ferocious phantom of a Demon Beast roared and lunged through the blaze! The familiar grand halls of the Lu Family estate crumbled and collapsed amidst the fire and blood!

BOOM!

As that final image of the Lu Family’s annihilation flooded his mind, an indescribable wave of violent rage, bitter grief, and icy killing intent erupted from within Lu Zhao’s chest like a volcano!

Lu Zhao’s Sea of Consciousness shook violently. The backlash from the forced Soul Search felt like countless steel needles stabbing into his mind, causing him to let out a muffled grunt. However, the gap in their Divine Sense was simply too vast, so the backlash was negligible.

As for Xu Hua, the target of the skill, the moment his memories were forcibly drained, his body convulsed violently a few times. The light in his bulging eyes vanished completely. His Essence Blood felt as if it had been sucked dry in an instant, and his skin resembled weathered bark. He fell backward, stiff as a board, and hit the ground with a dull THUD. He was no longer breathing. His death was a horrifyingly gruesome sight, the cruel price of the Blood Soul-Searching Skill, one that far exceeded any ordinary Soul Searching Technique: utter annihilation of the Spiritual Soul and the complete depletion of Essence Blood.

Lu Zhao retracted his finger, the bloody light at its tip dimming. His face was slightly pale, but his eyes were as frigid and still as an ancient Cold Pool, showing not a single flicker of emotion.

He glanced down at Xu Hua’s withered corpse, and the last ripple of emotion he felt from the act of killing completely vanished.

"The Zheng Family... the Xu Family..." Lu Zhao’s low, hoarse voice echoed through the silent woods, carrying a bone-deep chill. "It’s time to repay this blood debt."

He bent down, swiftly looted everything of value from Xu Hua’s person, then flicked a Fireball to incinerate the corpses of Xu Hua and the unconscious youth. Once he was finished, he looked up again, his razor-sharp gaze fixed on the direction of Black Stone Castle.

Cyan Stone Castle, the Xu Family...

「For the next five days」

The mountain forests outside Cyan Stone Castle became a graveyard for the Xu Family’s Cultivators.

Like the most patient of hunters, like a soul-reaping phantom, Lu Zhao roamed the fringes of the Xu Family’s territory. His Divine Sense was an invisible web covering the main paths to Cyan Stone Castle. Whenever the figure of an Xu Family Cultivator entered his range of perception—whether they were visiting friends to discuss their cultivation, gathering Spirit Grass from the mountains, or carrying out a routine family mission—they were met with Lu Zhao’s merciless slaughter.

Every kill was swift and precise. One moment, it would be a perfectly condensed Ice Cone shooting forth to pierce a Protective Spiritual Light; the next, it would be several Puppets erupting in a sudden, violent assault, their claws and fangs flashing with cold light.

There were no superfluous words, no cruel games of cat and mouse—only pure, cold efficiency. Within those five days, another five Xu Family Cultivators fell to Lu Zhao, including a respected Elder at the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer. Lu Zhao took their Storage Bags, and a single Fireball Talisman turned their bodies to ash, leaving no trace they had ever existed.

Fear spread through Cyan Stone Castle like a plague. With every piece of dreadful news that arrived, the faces of the remaining Xu Family members grew another shade paler. The castle square, normally a bustling place, was now deserted. The few people who dared to walk through it did so with hurried steps and terrified eyes. A suffocating, oppressive atmosphere hung in the air.

「Cyan Stone Castle, Core Quiet Chamber」

Flickering candlelight illuminated a room full of pale, distorted faces. The atmosphere was as heavy as lead, so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

An old elder, his hair and beard disheveled and his eyes blood-red, slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet. His voice was hoarse with bone-deep grief and despair. "Patriarch! We can’t tolerate this any longer! That bastard... in just five days, he’s killed another five of our cultivators! Even... even Fourth Brother was viciously murdered by him! Not even bones were left!" The "Fourth Brother" he spoke of was the Elder at the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer. "This is a blood feud that cannot be reconciled! Patriarch, you must avenge our people! Let’s fight him to the death! If this continues, the Xu Family will be completely exterminated!"

At the head of the table, the Xu Family Patriarch, Xu Cheng, sat ramrod straight. His expression was so dark it was terrifying. His knuckles were white from clenching his fists, and veins bulged on the backs of his hands. Clearly, a towering rage and hatred roiled within him as well. The constant loss of family members, especially the deaths of two Elders, had dealt a grievous blow to the Xu Family’s power. But as the Patriarch, he had to cling to his last shred of reason.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the killing intent that threatened to erupt. His voice was low and raspy, laced with a chilling coldness that had been pushed to its absolute limit. "The clansmen who were away... have they all returned?"

From a corner of the Quiet Chamber, another elder—his face gaunt and his eyes just as bloodshot—swallowed his grief and spoke, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly. "Patriarch, the last three clansmen on the procurement mission returned safely to the castle before noon today. But it’s strange." He paused, a look of confusion crossing his face. "That Demon seems to only target those who leave Cyan Stone Castle. He completely ignores anyone returning, even if they pass right under his nose."

Upon hearing this, Xu Cheng’s pupils contracted to pinpricks. An icy chill shot straight from the base of his spine to the top of his skull!

"Ignores them?" Xu Cheng’s voice suddenly pitched higher, sharp with disbelief. "He’s not sparing them, he’s waiting! He’s waiting for all of us... to be fish in a barrel!"

He leaped to his feet, his blade-like gaze sweeping across the few remaining core members of the family. Each word was forced through his clenched teeth, tasting of rust and blood. "That bastard wants to swallow my entire Xu Family whole! He’s not interested in picking us off one by one—he wants to pull us out by the roots! To wipe out the Xu Family in one fell swoop!"

Silence. A dead, absolute silence blanketed the Quiet Chamber. Everyone was shaken to their core by Xu Cheng’s terrifying conclusion. The icy grip of impending doom seized every heart in the room.

Seeing their reactions, the last glimmer of hesitation in Xu Cheng’s eyes vanished, replaced by steely resolve. He roared, "Send word to the entire clan! Prepare for battle! All Cultivators, regardless of your Cultivation, assemble in the square immediately! Distribute every Magical Artifact and Talisman we have! The women, children, and elderly are to take shelter in the underground chambers!"

With that, his gaze shifted to the elder in the corner, the one responsible for maintaining the clan’s Array. His voice was as sharp and decisive as hammered steel. "Sixth Brother! Immediately power the Black Water Profound Turtle Formation to its absolute maximum! Don’t spare a single Spirit Stone! I want Cyan Stone Castle to be impregnable! No, I want it to be a steel deathtrap!"

Xu Cheng’s eyes swept over their terrified faces as he let out a roar that was almost tragic in its intensity. "The Xu Family has once again come to a moment of life or death! This time, there is no retreat! We must make our last stand! We either survive, or our clan is wiped from existence!"

"Yes, Patriarch!" Infected by his do-or-die determination, the men in the room roared their assent. A raging fire ignited in their eyes, and a glint of madness shone in every pupil.

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