A figure streaked down from the sky like a meteor, with an overwhelming momentum. In only a few breaths, he arrived before them.
The palm force that had just smashed the servants’ heads had actually traveled several li. Its might was astonishing. How much more powerful would it be at close range?
A Xiantian martial artist!
Every Xiantian expert could fly through the air. Though they could not stand still in empty space as Nascent Soul ancestors could, it was still an extraordinary power.
The Xiantian expert rushed over, saw the dead Peng Yu, and became so furious that his eyes almost split, rage burning through him.
“Who—killed my grandson!”
Many in the crowd recognized him at once and cried out, “Elder Peng!”
In Cheling, it was customary to retain Xiantian experts as honored protectors. Every great sect, clan and even the royal court sought their service. Naturally, those of higher Xiantian ranks were more highly regarded.
Elder Peng was one of Xuantian City’s retained experts. On the city lord’s orders, he was serving as an inspection elder supervising this year’s Xuanwu Assembly. Many martial artists respected him greatly. Yet seeing him in such a rage made some afraid and others puzzled.
Elder Peng had lived in Xuantian City for years and had always appeared to be alone. No one had ever heard of relatives or descendants. Now, however, he was speaking of a grandson. Was there truly some relationship between him and the Gale Sword Peng Yu? If Peng Yu was indeed his grandson, why had he kept it secret?
After landing, Elder Peng hurried to Peng Yu’s body. He checked the young man’s breathing, grabbed his hand and felt for a pulse, repeating the examination several times. At last, realizing there was no hope, he rose. One foot had sunk deep into the ground, leaving a distinct footprint.
Elder Peng raised his eyes and saw Yun Tiangang standing solemnly in the courtyard. His fists cracked as he clenched them. In a heavy voice he asked, “Were you the one who killed my grandson?”
Yun Tiangang’s expression did not change. “I killed Peng Yu.”
Elder Peng roared, released the internal force throughout his body, and smashed both fists toward him!
“You deserve to die—”
His anger was not entirely without cause. Peng Han had only ever had one son, whom he had spoiled terribly. That son had become an idle wastrel. Later he offended a powerful opponent and was killed, leaving behind only his child, Peng Yu. Peng Han had never found the person who murdered his son. Heartbroken, he became severe with his grandson. He believed that if his son had not been weak and obsessed with pleasure, he would never have come to such an end. So Peng Han poured all his hopes into Peng Yu, keeping their relationship secret so the boy would be compelled to rely on his own effort and strive to advance.
Apart from his arrogance, Peng Yu had not disappointed him. He had earned the title Gale Sword while still quite young. Peng Han had intended this Xuanwu Assembly to give his grandson a chance to challenge experts from across the world and advance another step. Instead, his life had been cut short midway through, at the hands of an obscure boy from the countryside!
Peng Han was already old, and Peng Yu had been the last of his bloodline. How could he not be furious now that his only heir was gone?
This was a blood feud that had extinguished his family line!
Ignoring his reputation, he attacked a junior who could not even cultivate internal force, using all the strength of a Xiantian expert, caring only about revenge!
Yun Lie’s primordial spirit had been reborn into a mortal body. Through years of practice, Yun Tiangang could use his bodily strength to evade attacks swiftly. But naturally, the stronger an opponent was, the more difficult evasion became.
Elder Peng was a second-level Xiantian expert, far beyond what Yun Tiangang’s present mortal body could withstand.
Even so, Yun Tiangang felt no fear. His gaze was icy as he searched for an almost undetectable weakness in his opponent’s attack.
He did find it. But his physical body could not move quickly enough to exploit it!
Xu Ziqing stepped forward, preparing to intervene.
Since the other party had been the first to disregard the rules, there was no need for Xu Ziqing to show excessive tolerance.
Just then, another person shot in from beyond the courtyard gate.
The newcomer moved so fast that although he had started farther away, he was already standing in front of Yun Tiangang when Peng Han’s fists began their strike.
Green light flashed in Xu Ziqing’s palm, then disappeared again.
At the same moment, a young man in yellow robes strode forward and shouted, “Elder Peng, stop at once!”
As his words rang out, the person who had intercepted Peng Han caught both his wrists and dispersed all the force behind the attack.
Then he brought Peng Han before the yellow-robed youth and withdrew to stand behind him.
Only now did the crowd clearly see the faces of the two newcomers.
The young man in yellow was handsome and slender, with dignified bearing and an indescribable nobility that inspired admiration at first sight. The man behind him was powerfully built and dark-skinned, radiating masculine fortitude and heroic grandeur.
The moment they appeared, they suppressed the presence of many others. People could not help following them with their eyes, forgetting the disturbance just before.
Xu Ziqing was slightly stunned when he saw them.
Even after decades, he would never forget their appearances.
Dongli Xi. Jiao Tu.
The noble crown prince of the Kingdom of Chenghuang, and the great general who had been threatened by the demonic path and ultimately, unable to resist it, had calmly accepted death.
Xu Ziqing had only just begun immortal cultivation when they met. He was a wandering cultivator traveling alone through a small world, without sect, status or resources.
All he had was a knowledgeable confidant, Brother Yun.
It was then that Xu Ziqing had first encountered a demon who devoured people, and the first time he had fought such an enemy. These two men, who had shared a bond of love before the demonic path severed their fate, had left an unforgettable impression on him.
They had also taught him the fragility of mortal life and the impermanence of worldly affairs.
And now, in the Hengwu Small World, Xu Ziqing saw two men with exactly the same faces.
They were not behaving especially intimately, but Xu Ziqing could perceive the tacit understanding between them, the affection they concealed so deeply, and the mutual love neither could easily confess.
Xu Ziqing sighed softly. Sweeping his spiritual sense over them, he confirmed that they had indeed been those two men in their previous lives.
Unexpectedly… their bond had continued in this life.
Perhaps this was the Heavenly Dao’s mercy.
At that moment, murmured conversations nearby reached Xu Ziqing’s ears, allowing him to learn their identities.
It turned out that the pair were quite famous in Cheling in this lifetime.
Dongli Xi had been reborn as Qiu Yuchen. The Qiu family had originally been an obscure minor clan. Jiao Tu had been reborn as an orphaned beggar. Begging was arduous for such a small child, and his body was riddled with sickness. When the beggar child was near death, Qiu Yuchen happened to see him. For reasons nobody understood, Qiu Yuchen felt an immediate affinity for him. Defying his family, he brought the child into his own courtyard, cared for him and diverted his own allowance to pay for treatment. Qiu Yuchen was only six or seven at the time, yet through sheer determination he pulled the beggar back from death.
Naturally, the child remained with the Qiu family afterward. Qiu Yuchen treated him as his personal guard, named him Qiu Hu, and had him study martial arts alongside him.
Perhaps both were exceptionally gifted. Within a little more than ten years, they advanced into the Xiantian realm together at the age of twenty, becoming the youngest Xiantian masters Cheling had seen in a thousand years!
Qiu Hu had never signed a bond of servitude, so many great clans and noble families tried to recruit him. He nevertheless stayed faithfully by Qiu Yuchen’s side, unmoved by any offer of money or beautiful women. In the following years, the Qiu family had two Xiantian experts, and people flocked to join them. Vast wealth arrived in tribute. In a short time the clan’s status rose dramatically, and even Cheling’s ruler regarded the two men favorably, transforming the Qiu family into a major power.
Qiu Yuchen had now reached the fourth Xiantian level, while Qiu Hu was even stronger, at the fifth. Even the ruler of Cheling had to show them respect.
They had been appointed by the ruler to supervise the Xuanwu Assembly, including its inspection elders and the Xiantian experts who had come to accompany their clans’ disciples. Their duty was to prevent disturbances. That was why they had intervened now.
Hearing all this, Xu Ziqing sighed in his heart.
When the Kingdom of Chenghuang had suffered calamity, Dongli Xi had borne considerable responsibility as crown prince. But imperial dragon qi had protected him, and mortals had been powerless to stop what happened, so his actual guilt was not great. He had spent many subsequent years making amends, until his karmic debts were finally cleared. Still, he had failed to protect the people properly, so in this lifetime he was not destined to be an emperor, but was reborn into an ordinary family.
As for Jiao Tu, although he had been innocent, the blood demon had used his body to slaughter the people of an entire country. The crime was unforgivable. The Heavenly Dao was impartial, and so he had been born as a beggar, beset by illness, despised and unable to obtain treatment.
Yet the Heavenly Dao had left him a single chance to live, allowing the two to meet again.
Had Dongli Xi not loved Jiao Tu, Qiu Yuchen would not naturally have felt such immediate affinity for a beggar child. But if Dongli Xi’s love for Jiao Tu was sincere, he would recognize something of him, bring him home, and restore him to health. Jiao Tu was fortunate: even after reincarnation, the imprint of their former bond remained within Dongli Xi’s soul. Qiu Yuchen had insisted on saving him, and finally succeeded.
It was for this reason that their relationship could continue.
Xu Ziqing was moved and happy for both men.
But the brotherly bond between Dongli Zhao and Dongli Xi in their previous lives had, because of Xu Ziqing, now been broken.
The deeper a cultivator’s cultivation grew, the better he could deduce and calculate the fates of mortals.
That was why many cultivators treated mortals as beneath them. They could glimpse a mortal’s past and present lives so easily.
Xu Ziqing was a Golden Core Perfected. When he had seen Dongli Zhao reborn as Yun Tianheng, he had sensed only a master-disciple connection between them.
Because their relationship was relatively close, he could not readily calculate Yun Tianheng’s destiny in this life.
Now, however, upon meeting Dongli Xi reborn as Qiu Yuchen, he was able to deduce Yun Tianheng’s original fate.
Had Yun Lie’s primordial spirit not been reborn here and Xu Ziqing never come, Yun Tianheng’s meridians would have remained frail. By eighteen, he would still have failed to cultivate internal force. Depressed and unwilling to burden his parents, he would have left home alone to wander.
On the road he would have been chased by a fierce beast and nearly killed. Qiu Yuchen and Qiu Hu would have rescued him.
Qiu Yuchen would have taken a liking to Yun Tianheng. Remembering how he first met Qiu Hu, he would have brought the boy home and cared for him.
As time passed and Yun Tianheng recovered, he and Qiu Yuchen would have become close. Qiu Yuchen would eventually have asked him to stay, accepting him as a sworn younger brother.
After that, Qiu Yuchen would have cared for Yun Tianheng attentively, inviting famous physicians from various countries to examine him. Though they could not widen his meridians, they would make them much stronger. Qiu Yuchen would then repeatedly use his own Xiantian energy to unblock the meridians, finally allowing Yun Tianheng to condense internal force. He would reach only the fifth Houtian level in the end, but that would still be far better than his former state.
Their bond as brothers would have continued until Yun Tianheng’s life came to an end.
Now, however, Yun Tianheng had met Xu Ziqing first and was still cultivating in seclusion at Yun Family Manor. He would probably never wander far in the future, nor would a mere beast be able to injure him so grievously. Naturally, he was unlikely ever to meet Qiu Yuchen, much less be taken in and cared for by him.
Having first embarked upon the immortal path, he had severed a family bond that had not yet resumed.
Such was the cycle of life, death and reincarnation.