19: The reckless elder

Night, deep as iron.

Inside the Ye Family Great Elder's residence, it was deathly silent, suffocatingly oppressive.

In the mourning hall, a solitary lamp flickered with dim yellow light. Ye Tian's cold spirit tablet rested quietly on the offering table.

The Ye Family Great Elder knelt motionless on a prayer mat. His withered old face looked even more ferocious and terrifying under the flickering candlelight.

He had returned.

But he had only brought back his son's cold corpse, along with endless despair and hatred that had seeped into his bones.

In his mind, scene after scene of what he saw in the mountains today replayed like a carousel.

His son was dead...

His only Bloodline, the son who carried all his hopes and ambitions, had just become a cold corpse!

The Yao Beast was dead...

The Crimson Flame Tiger, which he had spent half his life cultivating as his right-hand man and which possessed combat power comparable to the Foundation Establishment Realm, had just become a shriveled tiger skin lying at the enemy's feet!

And what about the other side?

That bitch Ye Feiyan not only didn't die, but instead turned a misfortune into a blessing; her Spiritual Root was completely repaired, and her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching the shocking Ninth Level of Qi Refining!

Even that Wasted Snake she had contracted as a joke back then had transformed into a Second Order Demon Beast with an extraordinary Bloodline and Heaven-Defying combat power!

Why?!

Why on earth was this?!

"Ahhh—!"

An extreme sense of unwillingness and venomous resentment, like the most potent poison, surged madly through his internal organs! He could no longer suppress it and let out a roar filled with endless pain and madness, like an injured beast!

He couldn't understand it! He hated it!

All his emotions were twisted at this moment, turning into heaven-soaring hatred for everyone!

He hated Ye Feiyan! If it weren't for this bitch, how could his only son have died so miserably?!

He hated Mysterious Ink! If it weren't for this damn beast, how could his Crimson Flame Tiger have ended up with not even bones left?!

He hated even more! He hated the entire Ye Family! He hated the Ye Family Patriarch who appeared impartial but was actually biased to the extreme!

"If it weren't for you! If it weren't for you holding onto illusions about that bitch and delaying the appointment of my son as heir, how could there be today's disaster?!"

"If it weren't for you, this muddle-headed Family Head, how could I have ended up in this state?!"

The Ye Family Great Elder's eyes were already bloodshot.

In his extreme pain and madness, he had attributed all his failures and the pain of losing his son to the Ye Family!

In his view, it wasn't that he did anything wrong; it was that this Family had betrayed him!

"Good... good... good!"

He slowly stood up from the ground, saying the word "good" three times, his voice hoarse and filled with heart-stopping madness.

"Since your Ye Family is unjust, don't blame me for being... heartless!"

A vicious, insane thought took over his entire Soul like a vine!

He wanted revenge!

He wanted to make everyone pay for his son!

He wanted to turn the entire Ye Family into scorched earth!

He swung his sleeve, extinguishing the candles in the mourning hall, and turned to walk into the secret chamber.

A moment later, a dark shadow dressed in night-traveling clothes, face covered with black cloth, and having used a Secret Technique to completely conceal its aura, slipped out of the residence like a ghost and merged into the endless night of Qingyang City.

...

Qingyang City, Liu Family residence.

Inside the study, the lights were bright.

The Liu Family Head, a slightly chubby middle-aged man with shrewd eyes, was looking at the uninvited "mysterious guest" before him with suspicion.

"Your Excellency... visiting so late at night, what might you want?" he asked in a deep voice, his guard already raised to the maximum.

The person before him, although their aura was suppressed to the extreme, he could still feel that this was a genuine Foundation Establishment Realm expert of the same rank as himself!

The man in black slowly raised his head and tore off the black cloth on his face.

When he clearly saw the familiar face filled with madness and venom, even with the Liu Family Head's composure, he couldn't help but stand up from his chair with a "whoosh"!

"Ye... Ye Family Great Elder?!"

"Family Head Liu, no need to panic." The Ye Family Great Elder's voice was as hoarse as two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together, "This old man has come today to offer your Liu Family a grand fortune!"

"Oh?" The Liu Family Head's eyes flashed, and he sat back down, signaling him to continue.

The Ye Family Great Elder didn't waste any more words and dropped a bombshell directly!

"That Heaven's proud daughter of the Ye Family, who was crippled for three years, Ye Feiyan... her Spiritual Root has been completely repaired!"

"What?!" The Liu Family Head's pupils contracted sharply upon hearing this, his face full of disbelief!

Heaven Rank Spiritual Root!

This news, for forces like them who had been eyeing the Ye Family covetously, was no less than a devastating disaster!

Seeing the Liu Family Head's shocked expression, a trace of morbid pleasure appeared on the Ye Family Great Elder's face.

"Not only that," he added, "her current cultivation has reached the Ninth Level of Qi Refining. I believe it won't be long before she successfully achieves Foundation Establishment! By then, the Ye Family will add another Foundation Establishment expert with infinite potential!"

The Liu Family Head's expression had completely darkened, his eyes so gloomy they could almost drip water.

"So..." the Ye Family Great Elder said slowly, his voice filled with endless temptation and malice, "Family Head Liu, are you willing? Are you willing to watch the Ye Family completely trample you underfoot from now on, with no chance of ever turning things around?"

"This old man, I am not willing!"

"My son Ye Tian died miserably at the hands of that Ye Feiyan! Between her, and the entire Ye Family, it is irreconcilable!"

"Today, I come on my own behalf to form an alliance with your Liu Family! As long as we coordinate from inside and out, attacking from both sides, why worry about the Ye Family not being destroyed?! By then, all the foundations and resources of the Ye Family will be split equally between our two families!"

These words, like a devil's whisper, made the Liu Family Head's heart race madly!

...

After sending away the seemingly insane Ye Family Great Elder, the Liu Family Head didn't hesitate at all and immediately went through a secret passage to the residence of another hegemon in Qingyang City—the Wang Family.

Inside the secret chamber, when he told the Wang Family Patriarch everything that happened tonight, that Wang Family Patriarch, who was known for his steadiness and ruthlessness, didn't show the ecstatic expression he had imagined, but instead frowned deeply.

"The Ye Family Great Elder wants to cooperate with us?" The Wang Family Patriarch tapped his fingers lightly on the table, a suspicious light flashing in his eyes, "Brother Liu, don't you think this matter is too strange?"

"Could this be... a trap set by that old fox, the Ye Family Patriarch, trying to lure the two of us in and wipe us out?"

Reminded by him, the Liu Family Head's brain, which had been dazed by ecstasy, instantly calmed down.

Yes! This matter was indeed strange! The Ye Family Great Elder was the Ye Family's number two figure; how could he choose to betray the Family so easily?

"But..." the Liu Family Head said, somewhat unwillingly, "I saw that Old fellow's expression; his grief and hatred did not seem fake."

"If he is sincerely defecting, wouldn't we be missing out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?"

The Wang Family Patriarch sneered at this.

"Whether it's true or false, a test will tell."

He looked at the Liu Family Head and said in a low voice: "For our two families, who is the greatest threat?"

"Naturally, it is that Ye Feiyan whose Spiritual Root has been repaired!"

"That's right." A sharp glint flashed in the Wang Family Patriarch's eyes, "Since the Ye Family Great Elder wants to sincerely defect to us, let him show some sincerity."

"Go tell him, if he wants to cooperate, he can. But first, bring a 'pledge of allegiance'!"

"And this pledge of allegiance is—the head of Ye Feiyan!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Liu Family Head was stunned, then clapped his hands and laughed!

"Brilliant! Truly brilliant!"

This strategy was killing two birds with one stone!

If the Ye Family Great Elder dared not or could not do it, it proved the matter was a trap, and their two families would have suffered no loss.

But if he really came carrying Ye Feiyan's head...

That would not only mean they had eliminated the Ye Family's greatest future threat without a fight!

It would also mean that the Ye Family Great Elder had completely broken with the Ye Family, had no way back, and could only be bound to their pirate ship wholeheartedly!

"Good! Let's do it!"

The Liu Family Head's eyes flashed with excitement and cruelty.

He seemed to have already seen that once-in-a-century qilin child of the Ye Family about to die. And the entire Ye Family, under their joint efforts, would fall apart and collapse with a crash.