Cough…”

At this instant, this lad was overwhelmed with traumatizing fear that dug deep within him. He knew that if the sword pierced him an inch closer, he would have been dead in an instant!

That was not the worst of it. If the edge of the blade had been a hairline sharper than it was, or perhaps if the blade was whole and not broken, this young lad would have been dead right where he stood!

His mind was bombarded with questions, mystified by how Zhou Yan managed to unleash such an attack. However, the bitter truth was his untimely defeat!

The lad was unable to satiate his growing dissatisfaction of his defeat, since he could not bear being humiliated in the presence of Zhou Lingyi.

“You ambushed me! Such shameless trash you are, and yet you dare to strike first without honoring or even understanding the basic rule of a duel! Perhaps your parents met their demise far too early before they could teach you the basic rules of a duel!”

As Zhou Cheng spoke, his face contorted into a malicious expression.

“Do you have a death wish?”

Zhou Yan could not be bothered to argue with the likes of him. Thus, the young lad simply responded with an odd question. At this moment, Zhou Cheng noticed the overwhelming menace in his gaze. It was akin to a wolf’s menace as he feared that if he had spoken another word, he was sure that despite being in Zhou Lingyi’s presence, he would have been dead.

“Hmph, it seems I’ve underestimated your abilities. You’ve managed to master the fourth form of the Sword Art of Clear Waters Heaven’s Blade? You’ve even managed to bring out the depths and intricacy of this sword art. It is without a doubt that if you hadn’t pushed your body beyond its physical limits, you would be a useless piece of trash.

“However, if you assume that this little showcase of your might earlier would give you any sort of leniency to do anything you please such as to harm anyone in our family, then I will never show you mercy!

“Since your father contributed greatly to the cause of our family in the past, if you can bend your knee, repent for your action and give yourself a tight slap across your face, I shall forget about this violation you’ve done.”

Zhou Lingyi’s arrogant voice echoed loudly in the air.

“My Lady!” exclaimed Zhou Shuangshuang.

She was extremely dissatisfied with Zhou Lingyi’s response.

Since her own brother was wounded to such a great degree, she was unwilling to leave the trash, Zhou Yan, unpunished for his wrongdoing.

“Speak no more of this. I know what I’m doing.”

Thus, Zhou Lingyi stopped Zhou Shuangshuang from speaking further with a wave of her hand. With a gentle and compassionate tone, she spoke, “Be a common-folk now, there would be no need for any sort of training. This would be a good thing for you, so know your place.”

“Hahaha. How comical!”

Zhou Yan burst into uncontrollable waves of laughter; it was unhinged madness!

These maniacal waves of laughter seemingly shrouded the deafening silence of the City of Cang Lan with a cloud of a mysterious aura.

“Is there anyone left in the face of the Zhou family who could stand against me? What sort of tricks do they have up their sleeves to face me? There is never a need for them to send a group of trash like you for me. Do you happen to know the truth behind the hand-carved effigy my father left for me? This is because it is capable of destroying everything the Zhou family built! This happens to be a secret artifact!

“So, tell me, are you lot trying to force my hand in destroying everything along with myself?” yelled Zhou Yan with a thundering roar!

At this moment, this young lad could not allow his impulsive nature to destroy everything in the wake of his fury!

Judging from his current state, his raw power would be no match for Zhou Lingyi. However, he did not wish to unleash his full potential at this moment.

He could now very clearly see through all their façade. These lot had indeed gone mad! There were no lengths these people would never go to in the name of achieving their goals!

Perhaps, everything that transpired was a carefully orchestrated illusion from the elders. However, with a little extra thought, he knew that it was solely the doing of these fools and had absolutely no connection with the elders.

Worse still, these people had so delicately orchestrated the illusion of false encouragement to motivate him to do better. This was done for the sole purpose of guilting him into submission.

If not, why else had the lad felt that his natural gifts were ultimately held back, shackled down even? These mental shackles felt similar… to sealing his gifts completely.

At this very moment, Zhou Yan truly snapped as he lost himself within the realms of his mind. He had finally gone ‘mad.’

Yelling his lungs out, with a single swing of his broken blade, Zhou Yan shaved off half of Zhou Xian’s face along with his ear. Zhou Xian screamed out loud in agonizing pain.

This scene alone shook every single person to the core.

At this moment, Zhou Yan was extremely reckless with his unhinged power. Others present had grown increasingly cautious at the same time.

“Argh…”

Zhou Xian let out a blood-curdling shriek of pure agony, it was a haunting scene indeed.

Covered in blood, this poor lad gripped the side of his bloodied face tightly as both his hands were trembling in fear. His piercing shrieks of agony paired alongside his tormented agonizing look clearly shocked everyone present.

It was notably more frightening for Ping’er. It was the very first time in her life ever witnessing her master go to such lengths to defend her honor!

As a lowly handmaiden of no status, she had no idea how she was worthy of her master’s grace until this moment. She now knew that it was worth everything her life had to offer to serve a master of such great compassion for several lifetimes, for an eternity, and even if for countless lifetimes did she reincarnate as a lowly handmaiden, she knew it was worth everything!

Ping’er’s heart was moved by her master’s grace, and by impulse, she made the most determined choice of her life… She decided to serve her master exceptionally well for eternity. It did not matter if it cost her life or even the disintegration of her soul. This young lass cared not for her own life anymore, for she had sworn a lifetime of servitude to her master alone!

…

“Zhou Yan, so bold of you to act with such reckless impunity. Did you know that your ruthlessness had started your path of evil? You are beyond salvation!”

Zhou Lingyi frowned as her expression was clear with extreme killer intent.

“You piece of trash. How bold of you to show Lady Zhou such disrespect. Who in the world gave you such courage? You need to know your…”

A lass with a long and narrow face yelled out furiously while standing next to Zhou Lingyi.

She was Zhou Lingyi’s personal handmaiden, little Yu.

At this very moment, the young lad, Zhou Yan, simply cackled in madness, then, once again, he attacked unexpectedly.

The only sounds that could be heard were the slashing noises emanating from the blade. With a single swing of his blade, a dark light that resembled a viper instantly struck Little Yu’s neck.

Before Little Yu could finish speaking, with a spiraling light, the broken edge of the blade surrounded her pale neck. All it took was a single light spin, and Zhou Lingyi’s personal handmaiden was decapitated.

This was followed by a fountain of blood gushing out from the gaping hole in her neck that was once her head. The speed of blood spurting was as swift as a loose arrow. It was indeed a horrifying and daunting sight. Before the lifeless head fell to the ground, due to the jet of blood being shot out at an unprecedented speed, her dark hair was instantly stained red. Her head spun twice in midair, raining blood, before its ghastly fall onto the ground along with a glorious splatter of blood.

The purple silk cloak that cladded Zhou Lingyi’s body was instantly stained by the splatter of blood. Surprisingly enough, she did not manage to react in time as she still had a cold expression on her face.

With that, her personal handmaiden was murdered in an instant.

It was odd for her handmaiden to be murdered so easily since she was still a rank one blade’s cardinal.

Even so, how was this trash capable of committing such acts of inhumanity and ruthlessness?

It was not only Zhou Lingyi that was stunned by this atrocious act but also Zhou Shuangshuang, Zhou Xian, Zhou Cheng, the maiden in white, Ning’er and Ping’er were all shaken by this barbaric act.

The trio, Zhou Xian, Zhou Shuangshuang, and Zhou Cheng were wholly overwhelmed with mixed emotions of shock and absolute fear as their feet were trembling uncontrollably while their heart grew colder by the second.

“Little Xu!”

A menacing chilly aura was forming in Zhou Lingyi’s pearly eyes at this moment. A wave of extremely dense pure killer intent was radiating out of the young lass’s body. This time, her killing intent was real and genuine.

“Since it’s death you seek, then I shall oblige to your wish!” yelled Zhou Lingyi.

“Really? Then you’ll die too!”

Standing his ground without any hint of fear in Zhou Yan’s heart, the lad immediately took out a dark hand-carved effigy!

The two distinct Sword Ways were not the only thing carved onto the body of this effigy. It was also a hidden artifact. This artifact was capable of releasing a wave of extremely overwhelming, powerful blade’s menace.

Perhaps this lad’s father knew some indescribable things and had intentionally left this artifact for him.

Zhou Yan targeted Zhou Lingyi in an instant. Her face grew pale as the simple action of targeting her alone was filled with the impending doom of death. This situation alone was enough to terrify her.

As much of a genius, she was, in the face of such raw and powerful blade’s menace, she was forced into immediate submission!

The haunting sensation of death scarred her very soul for the first time in her life. This instantly pushed her off her pedestal of an inflated ego.

At this moment, Zhou Yan looked like a complete mess as his dark, messy hair was fluttering in the wind uncontrollably. This lad was like a vampiric demon as the bloodstains on his hair resembled a veil of blood.

This young lad’s manic state was seemingly unchained, free from the shackles of humanity, no longer bound by his mind. There was no longer concern for anyone or anything.

“Enough!”

A thundering roar rumbled through Zhou Yan’s ear, causing the young lad to instantly cough out blood. However, Zhou Lingyi was unharmed as her face had regained some colors. The looming threat of impending death before had seemingly vanished as Zhou Lingyi apparently recovered from some mysterious energy.

The arrival of this man showed such great care and compassion towards Zhou Lingyi. However, he was ruthless and unmerciful towards Zhou Yan. This unfair treatment once again stirred unrest in Zhou Yan’s heart!

Zhou Yan began to violently cough up splatters of fresh blood, and every cough created a fresh puddle of blood as it dripped slowly from the lad’s mouth. A melancholic beauty was reflected through the pools of blood, which looked like blooming flowers.

The humiliation he experienced today affected him deeply.

However, he refused to lash out in anger, as that would only be a foolish action. If he lashed out and fought back, the enemy would undoubtedly slay him in his spot. This was also the only reason for him to unleash fury on a lowly handmaiden and not anyone else related to the family.

Regretfully for the young lad, the miracle he experienced, and all the skills learned had been wasted.

Death did not terrify this young lad, nay, what was more terrifying was the young lad’s determined will, forcing himself to temporarily live on!

Hence, even with his blood-stained tears, this young lad would endure every bit of the pain. Since in a cycle of moon’s time, he would make sure to return to the main branch of the majesty that was his Zhou family, and he would strike down and defeat every single person they deem a genius. He had sworn to reclaim the rightful status that was once his!

It did not matter how difficult of a task it would be to enter the main branch of his family. However, he would never stand to see the title his father had fought so hard with his life being given to someone else that easily!

Plenty of baffling thoughts plagued this young lad’s mind, however, he simply stared calmly at this man who had unfairly intervened.

Unsurprising to him, this very man was none other than the Elder of Lore, Zhou Wuyan.

Judging from how unfairly this man had intervened and treated him, the little love he had for his family vanished, and just like that, what little feelings he shared with this family had disappeared entirely.

An orphaned child with no parents would be subjected to a tremendous amount of bullying and judgment. As he pondered about the glory days of his father, his father’s position and his father’s glory, once again, Zhou Yan grew silent.

“The family forbids any sort of infighting, it’s even more forbidden to raise one’s blade! Zhou Yan, you are truly a shadow to your father’s glory!”

“I’m no longer a member of the Zhou family,” replied Zhou Yan calmly.

“As long as you’re still in this household, you’re still a member of the family! The atrocities you’ve committed today are no different from a scholar to the evil arts. What disgrace you’ve brought to the ancestors for committing such crimes!” yelled The Elder of Lore, Zhou Wuyan, furiously at Zhou Yan.

At this moment, Zhou Yan chuckled.

“Laugh? How dare you so shamelessly laugh right now?”

As furious as the Elder of Lore was at the moment, he never attacked Zhou Yan since the young lad looked pale and was continually coughing out blood. His fury was similar to a smoldering hot flame relentlessly burning his flesh and soul.