The rain poured heavier and heavier. The Beast Realm was prone to rain, especially after autumn set in.
Raindrops the size of beans splashed into the pond, silencing the chirping of insects and the calls of birds amidst the downpour. On the layered tiles above, a nine-tailed fox stood still atop the roof.
Its beastly eyes coldly observed the figure in the courtyard. The person in the courtyard seemed unaware that an outsider had entered his residence. The gap in cultivation levels was so vast that he couldn’t sense the intruder’s presence.
Rain fell onto the man in the courtyard. He appeared deranged, disheveled, drinking in the rain-soaked courtyard. His body swayed unsteadily, as if he were dreaming.
Clearly a demon cultivator, yet he hadn’t even formed a protective shield of spiritual power around himself, allowing the rain to drench him.
After finishing one jug of wine, he began drinking a second, then a third. In just two brief moments, he had emptied six jugs.
Finally succumbing to the effects of the alcohol, he collapsed onto the ground, limbs splayed out as he lay on his back, dazed eyes staring at the rain that fell upon him.
Naturally, he also noticed the nine-tailed fox standing on the roof.
That nine-tailed fox was unlike any other in their race. Su Xuan was a royal within the Beast Realm, the most powerful nine-tailed fox in countless years.
Since the Great Wild era, the royal family had produced only three individuals with awakened Heaven-grade spiritual roots. Su Xuan was one of them.
“How ridiculous…”
The man lying in the rain began to laugh, his soft, deranged voice carrying through the storm.
“Just the child of a concubine, merely the offspring of an ordinary nine-tailed fox. Her bloodline was so weak—how could she give birth to a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener?”
“Absurd! Absurd! I refuse to accept it!”
He raised his hand to hurl a wine bottle at the roof, but, drunk and lacking strength, the bottle slipped and shattered into pieces upon the ground.
The nine-tailed fox on the roof vanished, transforming into a young man clad in dark, elegant robes.
The tall figure remained standing on the roof. Spiritual power shielded him from the rain cascading from the heavens. His silver hair, half tied with a jade crown today, glimmered in the storm.
Su Xuan coldly glanced at the man lying in the courtyard and spoke, “Su Chengfeng, where is my mother consort’s body?”
Su Chengfeng lay on the ground, drunk, staring up at him. “You’ve asked this question dozens of times already, Su Xuan. I’ve told you, I don’t know.”
He swayed as he sat up, propping himself on his arms, tilting his head back to look at Su Xuan on the roof, and laughed. “I don’t know. I simply don’t. The nine-tailed fox race is immune to soul-seizing techniques. You can’t use them on me.”
At this, he found it somewhat amusing. “Aren’t you the Beast King now? The entire Beast Realm is yours. You’ve wiped out the Twelve Palaces. If you’ve got the guts, go slaughter the rest of the Beast Palace to find her.”
He was certain Su Xuan wouldn’t dare.
Su Xuan cared too much for his mother consort. For years, the royal family had been using this fact to stir up trouble without consequence. He had never dared to make up his mind to eradicate the royal bloodline entirely.
Su Chengfeng sneered and chuckled as he reached into his Qiankun Pouch to grab another jar of wine.
But faster than his movements was the flash of a sword cutting through the rainy night. Su Chengfeng’s eyes widened in terror as he tried to summon spiritual power to defend himself, but in the next moment, blood sprayed into the air.
Blood splattered everywhere. He blankly looked at his shoulder…
The arm he had just used to grab the wine had fallen to the ground. The torrential rain washed the blood across the courtyard.
“Su Xuan!!!”
A pained howl echoed throughout the entire courtyard.
Su Chengfeng frantically pressed on his own acupoints to stop the bleeding, using his other hand to retrieve a jade token in an attempt to summon the guards. However, no matter how many commands he issued, no one came.
It was as if they had been completely isolated.
Su Chengfeng’s eyes burned red with rage as he glared upward. “You dare harm me? Your mother consort’s corpse is still within the royal family! If anything happens to me, the king will never let you go! Aren’t you afraid of what might happen to your mother consort—”
A dark shadow flashed before his eyes. The young man who had been standing on the rooftop appeared in front of him in an instant. With a single thrust of his sword, he pierced Su Chengfeng’s shoulder, pinning him to the ground.
“Su Xuan!!”
The spiritual pressure of a Grand Ascension stage demon cultivator bore down on him. The gap in their cultivation levels was insurmountable, leaving Su Chengfeng utterly defenseless under Su Xuan’s sword.
“I’ll ask you one more time—where is my mother consort’s body?”
Thunder rumbled overhead, and the young man’s pale face loomed over him, an oppressive aura weighing heavily on Su Chengfeng, who writhed and struggled on the ground.
Under the excruciating pain, Su Chengfeng grew even more deranged, casting aside any semblance of princely demeanor. His eyes filled with hatred as he looked at Su Xuan, whose appearance remained clean and unblemished. The resentment he had suppressed for years erupted.
“Do you want to know? She’s dead. Dead! Where do the dead go? Burned, thrown into a river, fed to snakes—why don’t you go find her yourself?”
“Aren’t you the Beast King? Aren’t you so capable? What gives you the right to be king? Why should it be you? How could a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener be born to a useless woman? My mother was the nine-tailed fox with the strongest bloodline! We were born on the same day, so why did Heaven grant you the Heaven-grade spiritual root?”
“But what’s truly laughable is this: if you weren’t a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener, your mother consort wouldn’t have died. That disgusting, lowly creature not only caused her own death but also wants to kill her own son?”
Su Chengfeng hurled one insult after another.
Su Xuan’s face remained cold as he tightened his grip on the sword, driving it deeper into Su Chengfeng’s body.
Blood pooled on the ground. The sound of the rain and Su Chengfeng’s cries of pain echoed through the courtyard, pushing Su Xuan’s mind to the brink of collapse. The man writhing in agony on the rain-soaked ground dragged his thoughts back to many years ago.
It had also been a day of heavy rain. Beaten half to death, Su Xuan was carried away, while his mother consort knelt in the mud, pleading with the cold-faced king who stood by indifferently.
The last time he saw her, her face was streaked with tears. The rain had soaked her clothes, leaving her pale and fragile, filled with despair.
She had lunged forward to embrace him, only to be pinned to the ground by demon soldiers. Her delicate face pressed against the muddy ground, the once-elegant and dignified consort now devoid of all grace. Her luxurious garments were stained with filth.
She had cried out to him, telling him not to be afraid, to hold on, and to wait for her to save him.
A somewhat foolish, not particularly bright nine-tailed fox demoness, with nothing to her name but beauty, had dared to commit treason.
When she was executed, what had she been thinking? Did she hate? Did she resent?
Did she regret giving birth to him?
Su Chengfeng was right. If he hadn’t been a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener, she wouldn’t have died.
Su Xuan seemed to lose all reason. He twisted the hilt of his sword, widening the gaping wound in Su Chengfeng’s shoulder.
They deserved to die. All of them deserved to die.
All of them deserved to die.
Deserved to die.
Su Chengfeng’s cries of pain grew weaker and weaker. The sword intent emanating from the Qingwu Sword seeped into his meridians, severing them almost entirely.
His breathing became faint, yet Su Xuan’s expression remained cold as he continued to drive the sword into him.
The jade token at his waist suddenly lit up, its flickering light illuminating the darkness.
Su Xuan abruptly snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that Su Chengfeng’s eyes were wide open, on the verge of losing their light.
The little fox blinked blankly, still dazed. The jade token was still glowing.
His consciousness fully returned, and he realized that his emotions had just been manipulated by a surge of murderous intent.
The jade token…
The jade token was his communication device with Sang Dai.
His sword cultivator was calling him.
Su Xuan dropped his sword and hurriedly connected the link.
“Su Xuan.”
The sword cultivator’s voice was soft and gentle.
Su Xuan closed his eyes, turned his head away, and exhaled a long breath.
When he opened his eyes again, the madness in them had been forcibly suppressed.
“Mm, I’m here, Dai Dai.”
“The Eight Elephants Fire Array in the royal palace has been broken. I’m heading to the next location now. How are things on your end? Have you gotten anything out of Su Chengfeng?”
Su Xuan covered his eyes, his breathing slightly unsteady.
“Su Xuan, what’s wrong?”
“…Nothing. I’ll deal with it soon.”
“…Alright.”
Fearing he might lose control of his emotions again, Su Xuan hurriedly tried to end the call.
But the sword cultivator’s voice came through once more.
“Su Xuan, no matter what he said or what you’ve been thinking, the past cannot be changed. But we can always move forward.”
“I’m waiting for you. Come back soon.”
She ended the transmission.
The only sounds remaining were the pattering rain and the faint breathing of the person behind him.
Su Xuan stared at the jade token in his palm. Just moments ago, he had been consumed by murderous intent, but now his heart felt incredibly calm.
So calm, so peaceful.
She always had this kind of magic—no matter when, she could bring him peace.
Su Xuan put away the jade token and turned back to look at Su Chengfeng lying on the ground.
This older brother had once trampled him underfoot, humiliated his mother consort, and claimed the throne of the Beast King as his birthright—if Su Xuan hadn’t seized it from him.
But Su Xuan had only seized the throne after being pushed to the brink of despair, forced to counterattack in a desperate situation.
The cycle of karma had finally come back around to Su Chengfeng.
Su Xuan’s eyes curved into a smile as he said, “There’s still plenty of time. Let’s take this slowly.”
He withdrew the Qingwu Sword, the searing pain forcing Su Chengfeng into temporary clarity.
“What I, your lord, wish to know—you’ll confess it, even if it means dying first.”
Su Chengfeng’s eyes widened in horror.
—
Sang Dai disconnected the transmission through the jade token, her elegant brows furrowing slightly.
Beside her, Tian Yuxue leaned in. “Dai Dai, is something wrong?”
Sang Dai shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
All around them were corpses, blood pooling across the ground. As a sword cultivator, Sang Dai killed decisively, often with a single fatal strike.
The corpses remained largely intact. Some were covered in frost flowers, a clear sign they had been frozen to death by Tian Yuxue.
Tian Yuxue asked again, “But why are you here at the royal palace while Su Xuan is somewhere else?”
Sang Dai replied in a calm tone, “I insisted on coming. I can handle the royal palace myself. He’s still recovering from his injuries, and this place doesn’t require his presence. He has other matters to attend to.”
Tian Yuxue scratched her head and asked, “Then where are we going now?”
Sang Dai gazed forward. “To take care of something.”
“…What is it?”
“Something very important.”
Only by completing this task could Su Xuan pursue what he wanted to do without any worries.
In the distance, the sound of footsteps echoed. Dozens of people descended from the sky, each armed with long blades and glaring at her with fierce intensity.
“Who are you? Halt!”
Tian Yuxue shrank behind Sang Dai. “Dai Dai, these people look like royal palace generals. Their cultivation is all at the Nascent Soul Peak Stage.”
Ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t be a match for Sang Dai, but now she faced dozens of Nascent Soul powerhouses.