58: Chapter 58 Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er's Final Sacrifice

After the funeral of Su Yuan, life in Tianyun Market returned to peace.

The Qianlong Su Family, under the management of the Su Yao, operated in an orderly fashion.

Su Yu had left Tianyun Market.

As a Golden Core Stage elder of the Cangxuan Sect, although he had applied for a remote posting, he still needed to return to the sect's main peak every few decades to report on his duties and show his allegiance.

One day later.

Su Yu transformed into a purple-gold rainbow, crossed the vast Cangxuan Mountain Range, and landed before the main hall of the sect.

The guarding disciples outside the hall bowed respectfully upon seeing him.

Su Yu nodded slightly and walked into the hall.

The Sect Master sat on a high seat.

Dozens of Golden Core Stage elders were present on both sides of the hall.

On the steps in front of the Sect Master stood two nameless spirit tablets that had not yet been buried.

These were the tablets of core sect disciples who had made great contributions, prepared to be sent to the Hall of Merit to enjoy incense for generations to come.

Su Yu stepped forward and bowed slightly to the Sect Master.

"Elder Su has returned."

The Sect Master looked at Su Yu, nodded slightly, and his tone revealed a hint of calmness.

Su Yu straightened up, his gaze falling on the two spirit tablets.

Actually, the moment he stepped into the hall, he had already guessed who the owners of these tablets were.

"Have Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er... passed away?"

Su Yu asked in a plain tone.

The Sect Master did not hide it and nodded slowly.

"Half a month ago, their life soul lamps in the Ancestral Hall were extinguished."

"They left very decisively; their souls were completely destroyed."

The Golden Core Stage elders in the hall were all silent.

Su Yu walked to his seat and sat down without showing any surprise.

Fifty years ago, when the Dao hearts of Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er shattered, and they decided to go down the mountain to seek revenge on Li Han, this outcome had already been destined.

To challenge a Son of Destiny who possessed strength far superior to theirs and countless trump cards?

Besides throwing their lives away, there was no other possibility.

"They found Li Han."

The Sect Master's voice echoed in the hall.

He did not feel regret for the loss of two former peerless geniuses; instead, his tone carried an extremely rare solemnity and pride.

"Not only did they find him, but they also completely severed Li Han's path to the Nascent Soul Stage for the sect."

Hearing this, Su Yu's gaze shifted slightly.

Severed Li Han's path to the Nascent Soul Stage?

With those two defective geniuses who hadn't even managed to form a First-Grade Golden Core, could they threaten a monster with a First-Grade Golden Core?

The Sect Master seemed to see Su Yu's confusion, as well as the bewilderment of the other elders present who had just come out of long-term seclusion.

He took a projection jade slip from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

"Actually, before they went down the mountain, the Supreme Elder had personally summoned them."

The Sect Master calmly revealed a sealed secret.

"After the Taihuang Secret Realm, Li Han seized the Nascent Soul inheritance."

"We all know very well that, given that rogue cultivator's terrifying cultivation speed and luck, he would be able to attempt to shatter his Golden Core and form a Nascent Soul in at most a hundred years."

"Once he steps into the Nascent Soul Stage, the total pursuit we, the Cangxuan Sect, and the various major forces of the Southern Wilderness launched against him back then will inevitably face an extremely tragic reckoning."

"The Cangxuan Sect is a large organization; we cannot run."

"And facing the revenge of a Nascent Soul Stage powerhouse, even if the sect's foundation is deep, it will inevitably pay a price of rivers of blood."

This was an extremely realistic dead end.

If you can't beat them and can't catch them, you can only wait for death.

The world of immortality is that cruel.

If you offend a Son of Destiny, even a major Nascent Soul sect will have a guillotine hanging over its head at all times.

"For the sake of the sect's inheritance, the Supreme Elder originally intended to ignore the rules and personally go to find him."

"But Li Han has a broken Xuantian Spirit Treasure to conceal the heavenly secrets, and his movements are mysterious; even Nascent Soul divine sense cannot lock onto his location."

The Sect Master paused, his gaze falling on the two spirit tablets.

"It was Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er who took the initiative to accept this death trap."

"They knew that in a direct confrontation, they were definitely no match for Li Han, so for these fifty years, they did not track Li Han's place of seclusion in the deep mountains and old forests at all."

"The Supreme Elder bestowed upon them a special magical artifact called the 'Hatred Heaven Blood-Drawing Plate' and taught them a set of extremely cruel causal tracking methods."

The Hatred Heaven Blood-Drawing Plate.

This was not a great treasure for killing, but a niche magical artifact specifically used to trace the source of a cultivator's bloodline and causal connections.

But this artifact had an extremely harsh and sinister activation condition.

It had to be driven by the caster's extreme, undying hatred for the target.

The deeper the hatred, the heavier the resentment, and the more clearly the threads of cause and effect would appear on the plate.

Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er's Dao hearts were shattered because of Li Han, and their promising immortal paths were ruined.

The resentment burning in their hearts for sixty years was the perfect firewood to drive this magical artifact.

"For these fifty years, the two of them hid their names and traveled through dozens of mortal kingdoms in the Southern Wilderness."

The Sect Master's voice was extremely cold, as if he were stating a dry sect mission.

"Finally, in a remote, small country in the far south, they found Li Han's roots."

That was an extremely insignificant, small family.

Not to mention Golden Core Stage, there wasn't even a single Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator; the strongest patriarch was only at the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Stage.

This was Li Han's background.

Before he went out into the world, he also had parents, and close friends who grew up with him.

He even had a female confidante who had never married and was bitterly waiting for his return in the mortal world.

Cultivators sever mortal ties, but cause and effect can never be severed just by saying so.

Although Li Han was decisive in killing outside, he did not bring his family to his side.

Because he knew well that he had enemies everywhere, leaving his family in that remote mortal country with no resources was actually a form of protection in disguise.

But this layer of protection, in front of two Golden Core Stage cultivators who were determined to take revenge and had the help of a Nascent Soul powerhouse, was like paper.

"They found that family."

The Sect Master took a deep breath.

"Then, Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er slaughtered the entire family of more than two hundred people, along with Li Han's parents, close friends, and that mortal confidante, clean."

The hall was silent.

Su Yu sat in his chair, his expression normal.

Exterminating a clan and slaughtering a family.

This kind of thing was too common in the world of immortality.

If you can't beat the old ones, kill the young ones.

If you can't kill your enemy, exterminate his entire family.

Pulling up the grass and removing the roots—this is a truth every cultivator understands from the first day they step into the world of cultivation.

"Li Han left a life jade slip in his family; when the family was attacked, he must have sensed it."

The Sect Master continued.

"He arrived."

"But when he arrived, he only saw a land of corpses and a home burned to white ground by a great fire."

"According to the projection aura that Lin Wan'er transmitted back to the sect using a secret technique before her death..."

The Sect Master's eyes flashed with an extremely rare tremor.

"Li Han's cultivation at that time was already at the peak of the middle stage of the Golden Core Stage."

"After seeing with his own eyes the destruction of his entire clan and the tragic death of his confidante, he went completely insane."

"Extreme grief and anger caused his magic power to go berserk on the spot."

"Under the stimulation of this extremely out-of-control emotion, he forcibly broke through the realm barrier and broke through to the late stage of the Golden Core Stage on the battlefield."

Hearing this, the few Golden Core Stage elders in the hall couldn't help but let out a low gasp.

Breakthroughs in the Golden Core Stage are extremely difficult.

Ordinary cultivators need to spend decades or even hundreds of years polishing their magic power and comprehending laws.

And Li Han had crossed the chasm from the middle stage to the late stage just by relying on his anger.

This kind of unreasonable breakthrough method could only be explained as being favored by the Heavenly Dao.

Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er, one a fifth-grade Golden Core, the other a ninth-grade Golden Core.

Facing a Son of Destiny with a First-Grade Golden Core who had attacked with hatred and whose cultivation had reached the late stage of the Golden Core Stage.

The outcome was already without suspense.

"They didn't even take three moves from Li Han."

The Sect Master's tone was extremely calm.

"Chu Tiankuo's life flying sword was crushed with bare hands, and his physical body was torn in two."

"Lin Wan'er's Dantian was directly pierced by a blood-colored spell."

"They died without any ability to fight back."

The Sect Master said this, stood up, and walked to the two spirit tablets.

"But, they won."

The Sect Master's eyes revealed an extremely solemn and proud light.

"The Supreme Elder told them that although a First-Grade Golden Core fits the Heavenly Dao and magic power is endless, and breaking through to Nascent Soul seems logical."

"But the Nascent Soul Stage has a chasm that all cultivators must face."

"The Heart Demon Tribulation!"

Shattering the Golden Core to form a Nascent Soul, besides the support of massive spiritual power, requires absolute perfection of the state of mind.

There can be no flaws, no debts.

Once the state of mind is lacking, the moment the lightning tribulation descends, the heart demon will be infinitely magnified.

Under the backlash of the laws, the cultivator will be driven to madness by their own obsession and burn themselves to death.

"Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er never thought about killing Li Han, and they knew they couldn't kill him."

The Sect Master looked at the elders below the steps.

"Their goal, from the very beginning, was to plant a heart demon in Li Han."

"At the very last moment when Li Han killed them."

"Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er did not beg for mercy, nor did they resist."

The Sect Master played the message from the projection jade slip.

"Li Han... do you think you have won?"

Chu Tiankuo stared fixedly at Li Han, using his last bit of strength to spit out the most vicious curse.

"So what if you have a First-Grade Golden Core? So what if you obtained the ancient inheritance?!"

"Look at these corpses on the ground... these, all died because of you!"

"If you hadn't snatched that opportunity, if you were just an ordinary rogue cultivator, why would we have needed to come and kill these ants?"

Lin Wan'er was down to her last breath, her eyes filled with extremely cruel mockery.

"The Great Dao you pursue was bought with the lives of your brothers and your women."

"The higher you stand in this life, the more miserably they will die!"

"Go ahead and use their flesh and blood to cultivate your longevity! From the depths of the underworld, we will watch how you face this debt of blood from your friends and family!"

Every word was like a knife, piercing the heart!

As these words fell, Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er passed away with smiles on their faces, their souls completely extinguished.

And for a Child of Destiny who values affection and righteousness above all else, and who holds the safety of friends and family in such high regard.

A curse built upon such bloody facts is far more lethal than any vicious spell.

Because what Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er said was the truth.

If Li Han had not snatched that legacy, if Li Han had not made so many enemies.

His family could have continued on peacefully in that remote little country.

All of this karma was caused by him.

Extreme regret, guilt, and pain, like a maggot attached to the bone, clung tightly to Li Han's once flawless Dao heart.

Even the ancient remnant soul hidden in his ring, witnessing all of this, could only let out a long sigh, powerless to do anything.

...

Inside the great hall, there was silence.

Everyone understood the true meaning behind the crazy revenge of Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er.

This was not a simple act of seeking revenge.

This was using two lives and prides that were already ruined to trade for a long-lasting peace for the Cangxuan Sect.

They used extremely cruel methods to destroy a Nascent Soul dream of a First-Grade Golden Core.

"Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er died for a worthy cause."

The Sect Master delivered the final verdict, drawing a close to this fifty-year-long grudge.

"Pass down the order to place their spirit tablets in the highest level of the Merit Pavilion, to be worshipped with the sect's incense day and night."

"As for their families in the secular world, the Cangxuan Sect shall protect them from decline for a thousand years!"

The meeting ended. The Golden Core Elders walked out of the great hall one after another.

Su Yu walked at the end, his pace steady.

After hearing the full story of this entire scheme, he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh from the bottom of his heart.

In this cultivation world, no one is a fool.

Even if you are a Child of Destiny, even if killing enemies above your rank is as easy as drinking water.

As long as you are in the game, there is karma.

Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er were indeed ruthless. But standing from the perspective of the sect, and from the angle of the avengers, this move was played with extreme precision.

Using the lives of Mortal to break the Dao heart of a high-level cultivator. This is the most unsolvable open conspiracy.

Li Han enjoyed the excellent luck bestowed by the Heavenly Dao and took the greatest legacy, so he must inevitably bear a price unimaginable to ordinary people.

In this world, there is never such a good thing as taking benefits without incurring karma.

The so-called "walking the Great Dao alone" is often not because geniuses are born cold and heartless.

It is because, on this path, your loved ones, your weaknesses, will at any moment become the most poisonous blades that enemies stab into your heart!

"What a pity." Su Yu said lightly in his heart.

He was not pitying Li Han, but evaluating this extremely extreme way of cultivation.

In his first life, he was in the secular world; although he lived a carefree life, he had no attachments because no enemy could threaten him.

In his second life, he established a family, but he never let the family get involved in opportunities that were beyond their capabilities.

He would rather hide in Black Wind Valley than stand out and be in the limelight.

Because he knew very well that one should only take as much as one can handle.

Li Han took the legacy of a Nascent Soul old monster while still in the Foundation Establishment Stage; this is the crime of harboring a treasure.

He, could not protect it.

...

The meeting ended. Su Yu left the Main Peak Great Hall.

He did not return to Tianyun Market immediately, but instead rode his escape light and left the mountain gate of the Cangxuan Sect.

More than fifty years ago, in a guest courtyard at Welcoming Peak, he accepted a "Purple Cloud Vermilion Fruit" from Lin Wan'er, and also accepted that incomplete scroll of the "Savage Dragon Tyrant Body Art" from Chu Tiankuo.

Su Yu had promised them at the time that if they died, he would do his best to look after their families.

He was a person who paid extreme attention to karma. If he took things and agreed to do something, he had to see it through.

Eastern Forest Region. The Chu Family was a renowned cultivation family in this area.

As a family that had been passed down for nearly a thousand years, the Chu Family had an extremely deep foundation. Although there was no Golden Core master sitting in the family, the number of cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage was very high.

The patriarchs of past generations all had the cultivation of the ninth level of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

After Chu Tiankuo was tested to have an Earthly Spiritual Root, joined the Cangxuan Sect, and achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, the status of the Chu Family rose even higher; the surrounding cultivation families didn't even dare to speak loudly.

But now, Chu Tiankuo's life soul lamp had extinguished in the ancestral hall. Although this news had not yet fully spread, the Chu Family interior was already filled with great panic.

Without a Golden Core as a backer, the abundant resources that the Chu Family had occupied over the years would soon become fat meat in the eyes of the surrounding wolves.

Inside the Chu Family great hall. The current Chu Family patriarch, an old man at the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment Stage, was sitting on the main seat with a haggard expression. Below him sat several powerful elders of the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

"Chu Tiankuo has fallen; although the sect has sent compensation and promised protection." The Chu Family patriarch's voice was dry.

"But the sect is high and mighty, tens of thousands of miles away. Distant water cannot put out a fire nearby; if those surrounding families join forces to apply pressure on our markets and mines, how should we respond?"

An elder with a fiery temper slammed the table. "What are you afraid of! Our Chu Family has a thousand-year foundation and deep resources; even without Chu Tiankuo, just relying on the family protection array and those of us sitting here, who would dare to move against us easily!"

"That's right! At worst, we open the family treasury and hire a few high-level rogue cultivators as guest elders at a high price!"

Just as the elders were arguing endlessly. "Hum—!" A terrifying pressure belonging to a Golden Core master descended without warning outside the Chu Family great hall.

The voices in the great hall stopped abruptly. The Chu Family patriarch and the several elders changed expressions wildly and stood up abruptly. A Golden Core master! When did their Chu Family provoke such a powerful figure?

Before they could react, the door of the great hall was pushed open by a gentle spiritual force. Su Yu, wearing the Golden Core Elder attire of the Cangxuan Sect, walked into the hall with his hands behind his back.

He did not deliberately release killing intent, but that suppression at the life-level still made everyone in the Chu Family feel difficulty breathing.

"Inner Sect Elder of the Cangxuan Sect, Su Yu." Su Yu stated his name in a flat tone.

Hearing the words Cangxuan Sect, the Chu Family patriarch breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and hurriedly led the several elders to walk down the steps quickly and bowed deeply.

"Junior, the current patriarch of the Chu Family, pays respects to Senior Su! We did not know of your arrival, and failed to welcome you properly; we beg for your forgiveness!"

Su Yu nodded slightly and walked to the guest seat on the side to sit down. He did not beat around the bush and got straight to the point.

"Chu Tiankuo once gifted me a cultivation manual." Su Yu looked at the Chu Family patriarch, his tone extremely calm. "Before he left, I promised that if he died, I would look after the Chu Family once."

Hearing these words, the Chu Family patriarch and the several elders raised their heads abruptly, and uncontrollable ecstasy erupted in their eyes. A favor from a Golden Core master of the Cangxuan Sect! This was simply timely help. It was far more realistic than the vague verbal protection from the sect!

"For Chu Tiankuo to be so highly regarded by you, Senior, is truly the fortune of our Chu Family!" The Chu Family patriarch's voice was trembling with excitement.

Su Yu took out a jade plate engraved with purple-gold formation patterns from his sleeve and placed it on the tea table beside him. "Sealed within this jade plate is a strand of my Golden Core true essence." Su Yu stood up, his expression calm.

"If the Chu Family encounters a crisis, crush the jade plate. No matter where I am, as long as I receive the signal, I will definitely take action to repel the enemy for you once."

This jade plate was an extremely clear trump card. It could only be used once, and would only be used once.

"Thank you, Senior Su, for your great kindness! The entire Chu Family will be forever grateful, even in death!" The Chu Family patriarch led the elders and knelt on the ground extremely solemnly, performing the highest-level kowtow ceremony.

Su Yu did not stay long. After putting down the jade plate, he turned into an escape light and left the Chu Family.

A few days later. He went to the Lin Family in another state. The situation of the Lin Family was extremely similar to the Chu Family, also a thousand-year Foundation Establishment family that had lost its Golden Core. Su Yu followed the same procedure, met the Lin Family patriarch, left a jade plate sealed with Golden Core true essence, and severed the karma of that "Purple Cloud Vermilion Fruit" from back then.

The transaction was complete. The karma was cleared. Su Yu stood in the clouds and looked back at the Lin Family's massive mansion. These families with deep foundations, although they had lost their geniuses, their roots were still there. As long as they didn't court death themselves, relying on the deterrence of these two Golden Core jade plates, passing on stably for a few hundred years would not be a problem. As for the future, that would depend on the fortune of their descendants.

After finishing all of this, Su Yu no longer had any attachments. He turned around, faced the long wind, and transformed into an extremely brilliant purple-gold rainbow. He sped back towards the direction of the Tianyun Market in the Yue Kingdom. The karma of the past was cleared. This grudge among the geniuses of the cultivation world was now completely turned over.