PID Chapter 24.2

Although Chu Tianshi was an incompetent playboy, he was still of Chu family blood. With him killed, the elders certainly had to avenge him. Wan Yu had died on the spot, settling that matter, but Chu Jinglan was a problem.

 

The Chu family elders who had watched him grow up knew how stubborn Chu Jinglan was at his core. If they hadn’t used his mother to tie him down, this youth might have long since leapt out of the Chu family’s grasp. Now that he had witnessed Wan Yu die at their hands, this grudge was surely etched in stone.

 

The Third Elder sighed: “We had hoped to have him offer up his spirit root, but now that seems impossible.”

 

“What should we do? Kill him, or…?”

 

The Great Elder thought for a moment before making his decision.

 

“Chu Jinglan is already crippled and no longer a threat. He is still of Chu family blood and has done nothing wrong. He even recently saved some people from other families. If he dies by our hands, it might be used by others to cause trouble, affecting our plans in Mu City.”

 

“But his heart is no longer with the Chu family. Keeping someone who harbors ill will towards the entire family in our home will only bring unrest.”

 

The Third Elder immediately understood: “Let him go. If he dies outside, it won’t be related to the Chu family. The eldest and fourth branches of the family hold the most grudges against Chu Jinglan. If something happens, who would know?”

 

The elders exchanged smiles, thus deciding Chu Jinglan’s fate.

___

 

Another major event occurred in the Chu family. Chu Tianshi and his wife died unnaturally, and Chu Jinglan was expelled from the Chu family. Outsiders speculated about the cause of these changes. Some guessed the truth, while others remained puzzled.

 

But they knew that the Chu family’s once-brilliant star had truly fallen to rock bottom, amounting to nothing now.

 

Dai Zisheng had been busy with his own affairs deep in the mountains. When he entered the city, he heard the discussions on every street corner and was shocked to learn of Chu Jinglan’s misfortune. But apart from the Chu family, no one knew where Chu Jinglan had gone.

 

Dai Zisheng hurriedly sought out Su Baimo, but Su Baimo said he didn’t know either.

 

“What should we do?” Dai Zisheng was truly anxious. “I’m staying at the small cabin. If he comes looking for me, I could take him to the Middle Realm. A mere Chu family is nothing. How can it compare to even a finger of my Huanjian Sect!”

 

Su Baimo’s eyes flickered slightly: “You’re a disciple of the Huanjian Sect?”

 

“Ah,” Dai Zisheng realized he had let it slip, but since he had finished his business and was preparing to return to his sect, there was no need to hide it anymore. “Yes, to be honest, I’m the young master of the Huanjian Sect. I had planned to reveal my identity to my two benefactors after tying up loose ends, but now…”

 

He sighed. Who could have imagined Chu Jinglan would face such a calamity!

 

Moreover, didn’t Su Baimo like him very much? Why didn’t he seem too anxious?

 

Dai Zisheng felt something was off deep down, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

 

Su Baimo wiped the corners of his eyes, his expression sorrowful and melancholic. “Brother Jinglan must not want us to see him in such a destitute state. He’s so proud, yet he’s been utterly ruined. Let’s search near Mu City again; perhaps he’s still there.”

 

Hearing this, Dai Zisheng immediately set aside his chaotic thoughts and nodded. There really wasn’t a better plan at the moment.

 

“I hope we can find Brother Jinglan,” Su Baimo said softly, lifting his hand to gently tug at the corner of Dai Zisheng’s robe. “If we truly cannot find him, I don’t want to stay in this sorrowful place any longer. Can you take me to the Huanjian Sect?”

 

His words were pitiful and moving. Dai Zisheng, already indebted to Su Baimo for saving his life, couldn’t refuse. He immediately replied, “Of course, no problem!”

 

Su Baimo forced a smile through his grief. “Thank you.”

 

Quietly, he tightened his grip on Dai Zisheng’s robe, as if grasping onto a new lifeline.

 

Meanwhile, outside the eastern gates of Mu City, Chu Jinglan leaned against a freshly dug grave, motionless.

 

The Chu family had expelled him from their household, confiscating his storage artifacts and all his possessions. They hadn’t even left him a single coin—only the clothes he often wore. Although the garments were made of fine material and exuded nobility, they now felt like a cruel mockery. Stripped of everything else, even these clothes seemed to ridicule him.

 

Wan Yu’s body had initially been destined for an unmarked grave at the mass burial site. However, at the city gates, her former maid Xiao Tao had bribed the corpse carriers with silver to secure a solitary grave for her mistress. Xiao Tao had wanted to leave some money for Chu Jinglan as well, but he had refused and thanked her solemnly.

 

Xiao Mo, who had been recuperating in Chu Jinglan’s spiritual sea for half a day, finally felt somewhat better despite lingering pain. He leaned against Chu Jinglan’s side—two weakened beings supporting each other.

 

Xiao Mo extended his hand toward Chu Jinglan, revealing a hairpin. The peach blossom ornament at its end was stained with blood that could not be washed away. It was Wan Yu’s peach blossom hairpin, which Xiao Mo had kept.

 

Chu Jinglan took the hairpin with great care and clenched it tightly in his hand. His vacant eyes stared coldly into the distance, like an abyss—his gaze hollow and ethereal.

 

He spoke: “If I give you my body, can you kill them all?”

 

Even someone as proud as Chu Jinglan, who had retained his dignity despite being reduced to a crippled state, was now willing to abandon everything. He treated himself as a cheap bargaining chip and wagered it all without hesitation.

 

Beneath his icy gaze burned a tempest of fury so intense it seemed capable of consuming everything—including himself.

 

Xiao Mo stood clad in white today, colder than even the solitary grave beside them. “If we launch a surprise attack, we could kill one of the three elders. But once the Chu family notices us and mounts a counterattack, we won’t stand a chance. The Chu family’s Grand Elder is at the mid-stage Nascent Soul level; I’ve only just reached the early stage and am unfamiliar with many techniques. We can’t win.”

 

If they couldn’t win, they would die together. Xiao Mo stated this plainly without offering advice or discouragement. It was as though he would accompany Chu Jinglan even if he impulsively decided to seek revenge against the Chu family right now.

 

Chu Jinglan placed the hairpin against his chest and murmured: “One isn’t enough.”

 

“I want them all gone—every single one.”

 

When he said this, there wasn’t even a trace of killing intent in his voice; it sounded like mere self-talk. But Xiao Mo knew that when Chu Jinglan made such declarations, he meant every word.

 

In the original story, after recovering his cultivation and reemerging as a prodigy of unparalleled talent in both the middle and upper realms, Chu Jinglan shocked everyone by committing an unspeakable act: he annihilated his entire paternal family line. Among all direct descendants of the Chu family, only one terrified survivor—Chu Shi—was left alive to spread news of the massacre far and wide so that no one would be unaware of who was responsible.

 

While exterminating one’s family wasn’t unheard of in secretive circles, doing so as brazenly as Chu Jinglan—especially targeting one’s own clan—was unprecedented.

 

From that point on, Chu Jinglan’s reputation became polarizing; everyone knew not to provoke him because when pushed to madness, he recognized no kinship or boundaries.

 

Noticing that Chu Jinglan was about to rise to his feet, Xiao Mo reached out to support him. Though Xiao Mo was also in pain, he could still fly and move with ease.

 

Chu Jinglan knelt before Wan Yu’s grave and kowtowed three times while Xiao Mo bowed deeply beside him.

 

After paying their respects at the grave, Xiao Mo asked: “What now?”

 

Chu Jinglan used his sleeve to wipe dust off Wan Yu’s gravestone. “We go to Wei City first. Then I’ll find a way to reach the middle realm—I can’t remain a cripple if I’m going to kill them.”

 

He intended to reach the middle realm and start anew in cultivation.

 

“Why not seek help from Dai Zisheng if you want to go there?”

 

The gravestone was made of cheap stone; after cleaning off its last speck of dust, Chu Jinglan replied: “The best healer in the middle realm has some enmity with Huanjian Sect’s patriarch. If I want access to that healer later on, it’s best not to associate with Huanjian Sect for now.”

 

Chu Jinglan wasn’t an ignorant young master; on the contrary, he was exceptionally shrewd and calculating. To rise from being a crippled man to soaring above all others would require unimaginable effort.

 

Whenever opportunities arose for him to enter the middle realm in the past, he had always gathered information meticulously. The plans he had made for Wei City were originally meant for himself and Wan Yu—but now Wan Yu could no longer use them.

 

Chu Jinglan steadied himself against Wan Yu’s gravestone as he rose: “Mother… I’m leaving.”

 

When he returned one day, it would be with their enemies’ blood as an offering for her peace in heaven.

 

A gust of wind swept through the forest—chilling yet resolute—as though bidding them farewell before carrying itself away into the distance.

 

Though uncertain about what lay ahead… neither of them would walk alone anymore.

 

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T/N: opened again~

1 kofi = 1 extra update ~