Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

After a long silence, Ye Feng spoke, his tone heavy. “No, we need to report this to Boss!”

Meng Wanshu frowned. “That seems unnecessary. One Combined Body Realm cultivator is dead, and another is seriously injured. They probably won’t dare to act recklessly for quite some time.”

A sharp light flickered in Ye Feng’s eyes, his unfocused gaze narrowing. “No… This organization is probably plotting something far bigger.”

“Why do you say that?” Meng Wanshu’s brows were tightly knit, unable to see any connection.

Ye Feng closed his eyes and thought for a long time, yet still could not find any link between Meng Wanshu’s assassination and the affairs of the Xiao family.

He turned to look at the unconscious Xiao Chen and sighed. “I’m afraid we’ll have to wait until he wakes up to see if there are any clues. But with a massive organization behind them, whatever they’re after won’t be anything small.”

Ye Feng tapped his own head. Normally, analyzing such things was Li Guanqi’s job. Having to work through it himself made him rather uncomfortable.

Meng Wanshu took the mask and mobilized the Divine Treasure Territory’s entire intelligence network to investigate.

Watching her work, Ye Feng remembered that the Heavenly Intelligence Pavilion seemed to be on very good terms with Li Guanqi. Ye Feng simply didn’t have much contact with them; they seemed to acknowledge only Li Guanqi.

It looked like everything would have to wait until Li Guanqi finished creating his illusory body.Lost in thought, Ye Feng suddenly sensed something. Turning his head, he saw a single tear slide down from the corner of Xiao Chen’s eye as he lay on the ice lotus.

Meng Wanshu was about to say something, but Ye Feng stopped her with a soft voice transmission. “Wanshu, you should step outside.”

“But…” Meng Wanshu gave Xiao Chen a complicated look.

He seemed to sense something. She turned her head away stubbornly.

Ye Feng sent another quiet voice transmission. “Go out.”

Meng Wanshu acted as though nothing were wrong and left the cultivation room. As soon as she left, Xiao Chen’s shoulders started to shake. His stifled sobs came out as choked, gurgled sounds.

The sound made Ye Feng feel uncomfortable. He walked straight to Xiao Chen and sat down beside him.

Leaning against the cold ice lotus, Ye Feng lowered his head, not knowing what to say. After a long silence, his deep voice rang out. “Cry it out… you’ll feel better.”

The words echoed in the room. Xiao Chen, who had been suppressing his sobs, could no longer hold back and burst into loud tears.

The sobbing grew louder, and Xiao Chen covered his face with his arm. Even while crying, he was still suppressing his voice. But in the end, his voice turned into a raw roar.

“Ah!!! Ah!!!”

Cold killing intent spread outward, yet Ye Feng did not stop him. He merely sealed off the cultivation room, preventing any sound from escaping.

Bang!

Xiao Chen smashed his fist into the ice lotus, splitting the skin on his knuckles. He seemed oblivious to the injury, relentlessly pounding the ice beneath him, his grief finding release in brute force. Ice shards from the shattered lotus scattered in all directions.

After a long time, Xiao Chen calmed down enough to open his eyes. They were bloodshot, empty, and numb, staring blankly at the ceiling with no focus at all.

His hoarse voice sounded like that of an old man on the verge of death. Trembling with sobs, he spoke. “Second Brother… I… I… I don’t have a father anymore…”

Ye Feng, leaning nearby, felt his heart clench. He had assumed that since Xiao Chen fought so desperately to protect the domain behind him, he must have already settled his immediate family somewhere safe. Ye Feng wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t speak, yet he couldn’t stay silent either.

Ye Feng stood up and pulled Xiao Chen into his arms, gently patting his back as if soothing a child. At some point, even his own voice had grown hoarse. “Don’t be afraid… You still have… your brothers with you.”

Xiao Chen sat up, leaning his head on Ye Feng’s shoulder. His blood-soaked arm hung limply at his side. His lips quivered as tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. He buried his head in Ye Feng’s shoulder and sobbed loudly.

Xiao Chen had thought his father was lying to get him to come back. But halfway there, he received an emergency message from the clan.

Before his death, his father had repeatedly yelled at him not to return. It was the first time Xiao Chen had felt his father’s anxiety and urgency so keenly.

Murmuring, he choked out, “My old man knew… If I had returned… more people would’ve survived… He knew I had heavenly fire! He knew… I… I…”

Ye Feng could almost imagine the desperate, protective love Xiao Chen’s father had shown in his final moments.

Xiao Chen’s thoughts were so tangled now that he could not even form a complete sentence. Ye Feng could not truly share that pain, but he could feel its depth.

Xiao Chen, a man who had once harbored deep resentment toward his family and his father, now felt nothing but regret. Perhaps even now, he still couldn’t understand why his father had been so strict with him, so distant and cold. Maybe his father had his own reasons, but whatever they were, until the very last moment of his life, all he thought about was keeping Xiao Chen from coming back.

Ye Feng thought of his own father. If not for Li Guanqi, Ye Feng might still be blaming his father for neglecting him and his mother.

The strongest Abyssal Demon might not have appeared early on. It was only at the very end, after discovering that creature, that Xiao Chen’s father realized he was no match for it. Not wanting Xiao Chen to risk his life, he would rather his son never return.

Why did my family have to suffer this? Xiao Chen thought.

His father’s dying voice echoed in Xiao Chen’s mind, over and over, making every scrap of his old resentment feel more tangled and unbearable. He didn’t even know where those demon-like creatures had come from, or what they wanted.

Ye Feng patted his back while using his vital force to smooth out the blocked aura inside him.

Gradually, overwhelmed by grief, Xiao Chen drifted off without realizing it.

Ye Feng did not leave. He stayed seated beside him, afraid Xiao Chen might do something foolish when he woke up. Ye Feng sighed again and again. He didn’t even know how to comfort Xiao Chen when he finally awoke.

At its height, the Xiao family had boasted nearly a thousand members. Yet this disaster struck them hard, leaving almost half dead or injured. Their patriarch, Xiao Yue, did not survive.

The Xiao family, a holy clan, would probably decline after this. And as for Xiao Chen, where would he go? The more Ye Feng thought about it, the more irritated he grew. A trace of killing intent flickered in his eyes.