25: Chapter 25: Destroying the Wang Family, A Rich Harvest

Inside the brightly lit study of the Wang Family manor, the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive.

Family Head sat upright in his grand armchair, his expression gloomy. The white jade teacup in his hand had long since been replaced by a warm wine cup. Yet, he did not drink, merely tracing the smooth surface of the cup with his fingers, over and over again.

Beside him, Wang Tianba, his arm still in a sling, paced back and forth in the room, anxious and restless like an ant on a hot pan.

"Father! What time is it already? Why is there still no news from Black Wind Stronghold?" His voice was filled with anxiety and impatience.

"What are you panicking about!" Family Head barked. "Chief is a Qi Refining Level 5 Cultivator, and he has dozens of fierce bandits under his command. Gu Yan is merely at Qi Refining Stage 4, and the Gu Family's guards are nothing more than loose sand. This battle is a guaranteed victory."

Despite his words, a strange sense of unease was faintly rising in his heart.

Tonight's rain was too heavy. Tonight's thunder was too loud.

It made him feel as if something uncontrollable was happening.

Just then, the door to the study was slammed open from the outside with a loud "bang"!

A servant responsible for the night watch scrambled in, his face completely drained of color, as if he had seen the most terrifying sight in the world.

"M...Master! Y...Young Master! It's bad!" His voice had become sharp and piercing due to extreme terror.

Wang Tianba's heart skipped a beat, and he snapped, "Panicking like this, have you no decorum! Did Chief succeed and send you back to report the victory?"

"N...No..." The servant collapsed to the ground, his crotch quickly soaking through, and a foul, pungent odor spread. "B...Black Wind Stronghold... it's... it's all over!"

"What?!" Family Head abruptly stood up from his chair, the wine cup in his hand slipping and shattering into pieces on the floor.

"Chief... Chief... he was nailed to the plaque of the Gu Family gate with a single sword strike!"

"Gu... Gu Yan... he is carrying a sword, and he is... he is coming here... to kill us!!!"

Boom!

Outside the window, a pale flash of lightning tore through the night sky at that very moment.

The blinding light illuminated the faces of Family Head and his son, which had instantly lost all color and were etched with shock and disbelief, making them look as pale as paper.

It was all over?

Chief... was dead?

Gu Yan... was coming to kill them?

Family Head's mind went blank with a buzzing sound.

All his schemes, all his greed, and all his ruthless Heart-Nature were shattered in this moment by the "bad news" that had descended from the sky!

"Father... Father! What do we do? A devil... a devil is coming to kill us!" Wang Tianba had completely lost his composure. He grabbed Family Head's arm and screamed incoherently, "Let's run! Let's run out the back door!"

However, it was already too late.

Boom!!!

A massive sound, several times louder than when the servant had crashed through the door earlier, came from the direction of the manor gate!

The heavy vermilion-painted gate of the Wang Family, which even several strong men could not break down together, seemed to have been struck head-on by a prehistoric beast, and the door panels, along with the door frame, exploded inward!

Amidst the flying wood splinters, a figure drenched in blood, holding a dripping iron sword, walked in slowly, bathed in the wind and rain, stepping over the wreckage.

Every step he took felt like it was trampling on the hearts of Family Head and his son.

An intense, unyielding Killing Intent, mixed with the cold rain, rushed towards them, making the temperature of the entire Wang Family courtyard seem to plummet by dozens of degrees.

"Gu... Gu Yan..."

Looking at the God of Slaughter who seemed to have returned from the Nine Nether Hell, Family Head's legs went weak, and he could no longer support his own weight, collapsing onto the floor.

Beside him, Wang Tianba made an even uglier spectacle of himself, rolling his eyes back and fainting from sheer terror.

Gu Yan did not speak.

He simply held his sword and, step by step, walked across the courtyard, climbed the steps, and arrived at the door of the study.

His eyes, reflecting a terrifying light under the candlelight, calmly stared at the collapsed Family Head.

"You... you cannot kill me!"

In the face of the immense fear of death, all of Family Head's ruthless demeanor vanished completely. He scrambled backward on his hands and knees, trembling as he begged for mercy: "Gu... Immortal Master Gu! Spare me! Please, spare my life!"

"All of this... all of this is a misunderstanding! It was Chief! It was Chief acting on his own! It has nothing to do with me!"

"I... I am willing to compensate! I am willing to offer half of the Wang Family's assets, no! All of our assets, to you, Immortal Master! I only beg... I only beg that you spare our lives!"

He wept bitterly, kowtowing to Gu Yan repeatedly, his forehead bloodied and bruised.

Gu Yan watched his performance quietly, his eyes showing no flicker of emotion.

Only when the other man was dizzy from kowtowing and could no longer speak a coherent sentence did Gu Yan slowly open his mouth.

"Three years ago, my son Changfeng was also kneeling like this at the gate of your Wang Family, begging you to let him go, to let the Gu Family's rice shop go."

His voice was very soft, very calm, as if he were recounting a past event that had nothing to do with him.

"Did you let him go?"

Family Head's body stiffened abruptly.

He looked up and met Gu Yan's indifferent eyes.

In those eyes, he could see no anger, no hatred.

There was only a judgment-like... dead silence.

He knew that today, he could not escape his fate.

"Wang Tianba forcefully seized a civilian woman; crippling one of his arms was merely a minor punishment."

"You did not reflect on your mistakes, but instead vented your anger on my Gu Family; this is your first crime."

"For your own selfish desires, you colluded with bandit Cultivators, intending to plot against my Gu Family's assets and slaughter my entire household; this is your second crime."

"And the greatest crime..." Gu Yan's voice suddenly turned sharp, "is that three years ago, you caused the death of my son, Changfeng!"

"With these three crimes combined, your Wang Family shall be... exterminated!"

The moment his words fell, Gu Yan moved.

A blood-colored sword light flashed through the study and vanished.

"No—!"

Family Head let out a desperate roar.

However, the sword light was not directed at him.

It was aimed at the person beside him, who had just slowly awakened from his faint and had not yet understood what was happening... Wang Tianba!

Splat!

A fine head soared into the sky!

Warm blood sprayed all over Family Head's head and face.

"Ahhh! My son!" Family Head looked at his son's headless corpse and let out a beast-like wail of grief.

He raised his eyes, blurred by blood and tears, and stared at Gu Yan with venomous hatred.

However, what he saw was the second, and final, sword light slashing towards him.

...

A moment later.

Gu Yan walked out of the study, carrying his still-dripping iron sword.

He said calmly to the Wang Family servant outside, who was already scared to the point of Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering: "Take me to your treasury."

How could the servant dare to disobey? He scrambled on the ground, leading the way in front.

The Wang Family's treasury was built very secretly, located beneath a rockery.

Gu Yan couldn't be bothered to find the mechanism, so he simply slashed with his sword, splitting the heavy refined iron door along with the surrounding rocks!

Boom!

Amidst the flying dust, a deep, dark opening revealed itself before him.

Unlike the heavy smell of blood outside.

A luxurious aura mixed with gold and silver, along with the unique fragrance of medicinal herbs, rushed out from the opening!

Gu Yan walked in.

Inside the secret room of several dozen square meters, gold bricks and silver ingots were piled into two small hills, reflecting a blinding light under the illumination of the torches.

On the wooden shelves on the other side, various brocade boxes were lined up.

Gu Yan opened one, and inside was a crystal-clear, century-old wild ginseng.

He opened another, and it was a Medicinal Pill emitting a faint Spiritual Qi. Although it was only a low-tier, ordinary Medicinal Pill, it was still quite useful to him now.

Besides these, there were a few thread-bound books recording crude martial arts and cultivation methods.

What surprised Gu Yan the most was that in an inconspicuous corner, he found a black iron box that Family Head had hidden.

Inside were exactly one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

Looking at this dazzling harvest, a sense of satisfaction finally surged in Gu Yan's heart after his revenge.

With these resources, the rise of the Gu Family would face no more obstacles!