137: sin

Someone immediately jumped out, pointing at Jiang Liu's nose and cursing, "You bastard! What are you talking about? This is the beast left behind by the Ancestor. Even though it has passed away with him, we must keep its body here forever. How could you suggest pushing it down!"

Another person actually tried to issue an order to Holy Sun, saying, "Don't you dare! Didn't you swear an oath to protect the safety of the Jiang family members? I'm standing right in front of this tree now. If you want to knock it down, you'll have to kill me too!"

The ones reacting most violently were some Old fellows who were about the same age as Jiang Liu, or even older.

As for the younger generation, they didn't seem to understand why their elders were opposing Holy Sun for the sake of a dead Tree Emperor.

"It seems... there really are secrets hidden beneath this tree that only the high-ranking members of the Jiang Family know."

Holy Sun glanced at the group, then looked indifferently at Jiang Liu nearby. "If I knock this tree down, will you tell me everything that happened?"

Jiang Liu nodded.

"Then there's no problem!"

A massive iron staff appeared in his hand. "This Tree Emperor indeed reached level one hundred, but it's dead now, leaving only an empty shell. It's just a slightly larger tree!"

"Fall... for me!"

Holy Sun swung the staff in his hand twice before slamming it down violently.

Those Jiang family members who had just claimed they would live or die with the giant tree immediately scrambled far away.

They muttered, "It's over... the Jiang Family's reputation is going to be ruined..."

Although this giant tree was dead, its roots had long since spread throughout the ground beneath every part of the Jiang Family estate.

As the trunk crashed down under Holy Sun's strike, the roots also churned up almost the entire Jiang Family grounds.

Except for the secret room where Yi Yi was, which was protected by Holy Sun, all other buildings were reduced to ruins.

But he no longer cared about any of that; his gaze was drawn to the piles of white bones revealed beneath the tree.

"Heavens... how could there be so many bones beneath the family estate?"

"There must be over a thousand sets here, right?"

"They all seem to be human bones, and... they're children..."

At that moment, everyone seemed to realize something and fell silent together.

Looking at the bones, Jiang Liu couldn't help but laugh towards the sky. "I still underestimated you. I originally thought there were only one or two hundred remains, but I didn't expect... Jiang Family Ancestor, your appetite is truly massive!"

Holy Sun was also shocked by the scene. He asked, "Jiang Liu, what do you mean by this?"

The other elders of the Jiang Family shouted in unison, "Jiang Liu, shut up!"

But they were all silenced by a staff strike that slammed down right in front of them.

"Isn't it obvious? Do you really think that Old fellow lived this long on his own? He relied on the demonic mistletoe, an evil parasitic beast from who knows where!"

Jiang Liu broke off a section of vine that was wrapped around the fallen tree; the vine had withered along with the giant tree.

However, Holy Sun noticed that if the vine that had appeared above Yi Yi's head earlier was magnified hundreds of times, it would look exactly like this one.

Jiang Liu continued, "He first planted the demonic mistletoe on the beast that had accompanied him for many years, extending his life for nearly a century by sucking the beast's life force. That's why this tree actually died long ago."

"But he wasn't satisfied. Because too much life force is lost when converting a beast's life force into a human's, humans are the best parasitic hosts—especially children with vibrant life force!"

"So the Jiang Family began establishing orphanages, gathering orphans from all over the country."

"With so many children gathered together, no one would suspect anything if a few went missing or died young."

Then he pointed at the white bones and said, "And so, they all ended up here."

Holy Sun's pupils dilated as he heard this, and his body trembled slightly, because he had also come from a Jiang Family orphanage!

It was there that he met Yi Yi and eventually became her personal great sage equal to heaven.

And while in the orphanage, several of his close playmates had eventually disappeared.

Seeing this, Jiang Liu smiled and said, "You remember now, don't you? In fact, it wasn't just them; you were also a chosen target. It's just that back then, you were Yi Yi's best friend, and since the Ancestor still had a shred of humanity left, he chose to spare you."

"What happened after that? What's the deal with the demonic mistletoe inside Yi Yi's body?" Holy Sun asked with a trembling voice.

Jiang Liu sighed. "Yi Yi was a kind-hearted child. She later discovered the Ancestor's deeds and wanted to report him for the sake of justice, but she was captured by the Ancestor's preemptive strike."

"But what you all told me was that Yi Yi fell from a high place. She wasn't a Beast Tamer, just an ordinary person, and since it happened in her own home, I believed you..." Holy Sun said in a trembling voice, suppressing an indescribable rage.

Jiang Liu continued, "Exactly. Because you had already begun to show your brilliance by then, the Ancestor wanted to keep you and bind you to the Jiang Family. Yi Yi was the best medium."

"He cut off a small segment of the demonic mistletoe to create a fragment and placed it inside Yi Yi. Then, through the tree roots, he fed the life force harvested from the children to that fragment, which also helped keep the host alive."

"This created the illusion that Yi Yi's life could only be sustained by the life force of the Tree Emperor, ensuring you would never leave the Jiang Family."

"Furthermore... the demonic mistletoe had actually reached its limit. It needed to parasitize a more powerful life force. If he couldn't find a more suitable target, I think he was planning to use the fragment inside Yi Yi to parasitize an unsuspecting you!" Jiang Liu said to Holy Sun.

"Why are you telling me all this? What do you want?" Holy Sun asked, looking up after hearing everything.

Jiang Liu replied, "Actually, what I want to do is exactly what you want to do right now."

"I see... then you should know what I want to do now... Jiang Family, all of you can go to hell!"

Holy Sun's boundless rage converged into an earth-shattering strike. His staff slammed down heavily upon the Jiang Family he had been deceived into protecting for nearly a hundred years.

Then he swung his arm in a violent sweep; within the Jiang Family estate, whether it was people or objects, everything was crushed by the massive staff.

"I will only strike once. As for the few who survive... wait to atone for your sins in the Great Xia Spirit Guards' prison!"

He had looked closely just now; the high-ranking members of the Jiang Family all knew some of the inside story to varying degrees, but the younger generation was unaware.

So with this one strike, any Jiang family members with any status were unable to escape.

Even if they summoned their beasts, they were all crushed into mincemeat without any resistance.

The Jiang Family was, after all, an upstart family without much foundation.

Otherwise, they might have been able to last a few moves against him.

And the Jiang Family that Holy Sun had guarded for a century was finally destroyed by his own hands.

"I hope Yi Yi won't blame me when she wakes up..."

Holy Sun went into the only secret room that hadn't been affected and picked up the Jade Coffin.

By this time, the Great Xia Spirit Guards who had received Holy Sun's notification had also arrived and began cleaning up the mess.

Holy Sun and Xiao Sheng were both honorary legion commanders of the Great Xia Spirit Guards and could directly mobilize Spirit Guards from various regions.

Jiang Liu also followed behind Holy Sun.

Cradling the Jade Coffin, Holy Sun said, "What are you still doing here? Although you told me everything and I've spared your life for now because of it, you were involved after all. If you appear before me again, I can't guarantee I won't kill you!"

Jiang Liu shook his head and said, "I never intended to live. But do you really think you've successfully taken your revenge?"

"What do you mean?"

The Jiang Family Ancestor, Jiang Huairen, has long since been assimilated by the demonic mistletoe. With his parasitic abilities, how could he die so easily?"

"Like I said just now, the reason he abandoned his current body and gave up on parasitizing you was because he found a better target!"

"Abandoned his body? You mean... that old thing isn't dead yet?!" Holy Sun said, his eyes burning with rage. For this old thing who had discarded his humanity and caused Yi Yi's current state, he now felt only a desire to kill.

Jiang Liu's tone suddenly became urgent. "Yes. Because he has been completely assimilated by the demonic mistletoe, he cannot leave the host Tree Emperor for too long, but now he has actively abandoned that body."

"Changing hosts to re-parasitize means his power will have to start over and he'll enter a weakened state. The reason he was willing to take this risk... is because for this Beast Taming Grand Competition, the Wutong Space has been opened!"

"Once he completely parasitizes the wutong tree, he will possess power rivaling a divine beast. By then, it will be too late for you to take revenge!"