A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

The empty room held only Xiao Chen.

He lowered his head, and crystal-clear tears fell onto his blood-stained robes.

Looking at the blood covering him, Xiao Chen lifted his hand and, astonishingly, absorbed it all back into his magical robes. His eyes flickered with wild hatred, but he forced it down.

In a voice only he could hear, he snarled through clenched teeth, “Abyssal Demon! Sha Organization! No matter who you are... No matter where you are... I will find you!“

The barrier-sealed room was completely silent. Meng Jiangchu had remained outside the entire time.

After an unknown amount of time, the door opened. Xiao Chen emerged in a blood-red robe, his expression perfectly calm. Even his hair was neatly combed. The only mark of the previous chaos was a massive scar on his chest.

He deliberately kept the scar as a reminder to never forget this day.

His eyes red and swollen, Xiao Chen turned to Meng Jiangchu and said softly, “Uncle Meng, I’m preparing to hold a family meeting. I’ll need you to excuse yourself.“

Meng Jiangchu was taken aback. He had assumed that Xiao Chen would want him to stay and help oversee things. Yet here he was, asking him to leave.

After a brief pause, Meng Jiangchu took a golden jade pendant from his neck and placed it in Xiao Chen’s hand. “If anything happens, crush it.”

Xiao Chen nodded silently. After Meng Jiangchu left, he prepared to close the domain but noticed a golden-haired man in a white robe approaching on a lone sword.

Ye Feng grumbled, “You’re seriously going to face all those people who want you gone by yourself?”

Xiao Chen lowered his head and murmured, “This... is my family’s problem.”

Ye Feng gave him a solid kick on the rear with a roll of his eyes. “Your family’s problem? My brother’s matter is my matter! If some elder tries to seize power now, could you actually bring yourself to kill them?”

Xiao Chen pursed his lips and remained silent. He didn’t want the legacy his father left behind to crumble. Yet there was little left in this family that he still cared about. He had even considered letting go of power if challenged, thinking he and his mother could simply leave the Xiao family and settle down at the Daxia Sword Sect.

Ye Feng draped an arm around his shoulder and said solemnly, “Don’t worry. I have your back.”

Xiao Chen took a deep breath and lifted his head. His voice, charged with vital force, reverberated across hundreds of li, “All Xiao family members, assemble at the council hall!”

Every disciple looked up toward the sky. There, a figure in a blood-red robe stood in the void. His sharp, resolute expression made many of the disciples shiver, and some glimpsed a shadow of the late family head in him.

Xiao Chen, accompanied by Ye Feng, headed toward the Xiao family’s main hall. Ye Feng stayed half a step behind him, like a junior brother.

As they walked, Ye Feng asked the question that had been on his mind. “I remember you mentioned your family once had six Combined Body Realm elders. Are they...”

Xiao Chen’s face fell, a trace of bitterness crossing his features.

“That was back when the family was at its peak. Some fell to their Heavenly Tribulation, others died before reaching the end of their natural lifespan, and some entered secluded cultivation but failed to break through. This time, no one succeeded... perhaps...” Xiao Chen trailed off.

Ye Feng, however, knew the truth: if the family still had living elders, the current disaster would never have occurred. The Xiao family had likely begun to decline long ago.

Soon, the two arrived at the Xiao family’s council hall. The hall had not yet been fully repaired—many disciples were still outside treating the wounded, unable to attend to the damaged building.

When they reached the entrance, several elderly men and women with graying hair were already seated inside. They looked distinguished, their expressions solemn, yet Ye Feng noticed that many of their gazes were slightly evasive, or their eyes glinted with a sharp, inscrutable focus as they watched Xiao Chen.

The doors of the hall had long since been destroyed. The moment the two appeared, all eyes fell on them, and the hall went silent, gazes attentive but wary.

Seeing everyone obediently seated, Ye Feng’s eyes flashed with a cold gleam.

As Xiao Chen stepped forward, his foot hovering just before the threshold, he felt something solid beneath him, as if he had stepped onto empty air before his foot could even land.

Xiao Chen was puzzled. What is Ye Feng doing?

Ye Feng stood behind him, ghost qi swirling around him, his right eye emitting a strange crimson glow. His eyes narrowed to slits as they swept across everyone in the hall. A terrifying pressure radiated outward, subtly warping the space itself.

A wall of black flames, a hundred zhang high, rose around the hall. It enclosed the building like an inverted box, flames pouring in from above to seal the interior completely.

The flames surging inward drew sharp intakes of breath and drained the color from several faces. Everyone under Ye Feng’s gaze felt their hair stand on end, cold sweat running down their faces.

Ye Feng’s cold, calm voice rang out behind Xiao Chen. “Stand up.”

The voice was not loud, but clear enough for everyone to hear. Still, no one rose.

Even the elders closest to the door could not withstand Ye Feng’s oppressive aura. Their faces drained of color as they glanced at the elder closest to the main seat.

This elder, seated to the lower right, had white hair and a long beard. He wore a dark-gold python robe, and his aura wasn’t weak. The man had a hooked nose, triangular eyes, gaunt cheeks, and thin lips. A white jade ring adorned his left hand, and he spun two purple beads in his palm.

He was at the Illusory Refinement Realm, though his energy was unstable and he was clearly an early-stage cultivator. The elder acted as if he had heard nothing, as if none of their stares reached him. He sat calmly in his chair, turned his back slightly, and took a sip of his tea.

“What... the hell is this...” Ye Feng’s mouth twitched.

Beside him, Xiao Chen whispered, “Forget it... That’s my grandfather’s elder brother. I even have to call him ‘Elder Grandfather.’”

Boom!

Violent vital force surged as two sword lights sliced through the Xiao family hall, splitting it into three sections. The blades swept past the toes of the elders seated on either side.

The sword lights tore through the mountainside beyond. Beams and roof tiles came crashing down as the ground split open, the gap between the two cuts carving straight toward the main seat—the symbol of the family’s authority.

The sight made everyone recoil. Many yanked their feet up onto their chairs, eyes wide, staring at the entrance in horror.

Ye Feng did not even use voice transmission. In front of every Xiao family elder, he addressed Xiao Chen directly, “I don’t care if he’s your Elder Grandfather or your actual grandfather. Right now, in the Xiao family, only you, Xiao Chen, can be the head. This family answers to you!”

He spun toward the hall and roared, “Everyone! Stand up!“