After destroying Lin Hantian, Zhou Donghuang did not pay any attention to him. He turned his gaze to the distance, where a giant eagle circled the skies with a man standing on top of it. “If I am not wrong… you are Yang Yunji, chief of the Yang family?” Zhou Donghuang glanced at the man.
Since seeing Lin Hantian being crippled by Zhou Donghuang, falling to the ground after being severely injured and close to death, Yang Yunji’s expression had changed to one of despair. As Zhou Donghuang turned to him and acknowledged him, Yang Yunji was frightened.
Yang Yunji did not respond but rather squeezed his legs together as he called to the eagle beneath him. “Escape! Escape!! Now!! Do you want to die?!”
Just as Yang Yunji called out to the giant eagle, the eagle also seemed to come to its senses. Its eyes seemed to flash with disgust as the white glow of inner Yuan on its back trembled, flinging Yang Yunji off its back.
Boom!!
Yang Yunji fell to the ground from a height of more than ten meters. With a crushing sound, he landed with his legs broken, groaning in pain.
Whoosh!!
The huge eagle seemed to transform into a bolt of lightning as it streaked towards the distance.
However, although it was very fast, Zhou Donghuang was even quicker. In a flash, he had appeared in front of the giant eagle.
“S… Sir… I… I don’t think… I did anything to you?” The giant eagle looked at Zhou Donghuang with fear, its massive body trembling in fright. The man before him could even cripple an established Silver Essence adept like Lin Hantian; he could easily kill this early Primal Core stage demon.
“You’re trying to say that… you had nothing to do with the destruction of all those buildings?” Zhou Donghuang glanced at the courtyard, where more than half of the structures had been destroyed. He looked at the giant eagle again.
“Sir, I shall be your slave for ten years to make up for this!” begged the giant eagle, its voice quivering.
“No need,” replied Zhou Donghuang, shaking his head.
Just as the eagle’s eyes lit up, Zhou Donghuang spoke again, “I am more interested in your inner core, your beak and those sharp claws.”
With that, Zhou Donghuang struck. In the instant that the eagle’s eyes revealed its despair, Zhou Donghuang had already removed the inner core from within its body, and killed it with a blow, dragging its corpse to the sky above the courtyard.
Boom!!
He let the corpse of the giant eagle drop to the ground below. Zhou Donghuang floated in the air as he looked down upon Lin Hantian, his lips curling into a smirk.
“Tenth elder of the Divine Light Sect?”
“Zhou Donghuang, you will die a terrible death!” Lin Hantian screamed. He then killed himself.
“At least he has some backbone.” Zhou Donghuang raised his eyebrows, his gaze landing on Yang Yunji, who had fallen and broken both his legs. “Yang Yunji, you didn’t want to stay in the Chu royal city as the Yang family chief and chose to come all the way to Qingshan town… just to see me fail?”
“Young… Young Master Zhou.” Yang Yunji lay sprawled on the ground, kowtowing to Zhou Donghuang with fright. “You are such a high and mighty Primal Core adept, I am just like an ant compared to you… May you be magnanimous and forgive me this once. I swear, if you spare my life, I will never appear in front of you again. Please! Please!” Yang Yunji begged.
“Brother Zhou!” Before Zhou Donghuang could respond, Yang Zixi, who had already recovered from some of her injuries, barely stood up as she asked Zhou Donghuang, “Can you leave this Yang Yunji to me to settle?”
Zhou Donghuang looked deeply at Yang Zixi, before finally nodding. “Yes.”
“Zixi!” Hearing Zhou Donghuang agree to Yang Zixi’s request, Yang Yunji’s eyes lit up with hope that he had been saved.
He would never have imagined what happened next.
Yang Zixi pulled out the sword at Freezing Wind’s waist and placed it right at Yang Yunji’s throat. With just a quiver of the sword, she could easily kill him.
“Zi… Zixi! I… I… I am your uncle! Don’t forget that I raised you up! You cannot be ungrateful!” Yang Yunji was flustered. He never expected his niece to treat him like this.
“At this point, you still have the cheek to say something like this?” Yang Zixi’s eyes turned icy cold. “Ever since I knew that you killed Third Uncle, I have not taken you as my uncle… trying to use the fact that you raised me against me now? Back then, my parents saved your life… that should be more than enough to make up for you raising me.”
“Zixi!” Seeing Yang Zixi so resolute, Yang Yunji’s face turned chalk-white. “I am your uncle, your uncle…. you cannot… you… no!!”
With a twitch of her hand, Yang Zixi sliced his throat, ending him instantly.
“Brother Zhou.” After returning the sword to Freezing Wind, Yang Zixi turned to Zhou Donghuang, her face filled with regret. “Sorry, I’m sorry…. I did not think that Yang Yunji would bring a Primal Core adept here to cause trouble for Auntie Lan. I’m sorry. I’m really so sorry.” Yang Zixi could not stop apologizing, tears flowing out of her eyes.
“This is not your fault.” Zhou Donghuang glided down and landed in front of Yang Zixi. He reached out and stroke her head, comforting her gently. “That Primal Core adept was here for me. Even if Yang Yunji did not bring him here, he would have found someone else to bring him here. The result would be the same. You do not need to blame yourself,” said Zhou Donghuang with a smile.
“Brother Zhou!” With an outburst of courage, Yang Zixi reached out with her hands and hugged Zhou Donghuang tightly, crying into his shoulder.
The sudden act made Zhou Donghuang’s body stiffen. It took a second before he relaxed, patting Yang Zixi’s back softly. “Zixi, I am not trying to comfort you. This really has nothing to do with you.” Zhou Donghuang smiled in resignation.
He did not know that Yang Zixi was like this not just because Yang Yunji had brought a Primal Core adept here to cause trouble, but more so because of what Lin Lan had said previously. Knowing that the Brother Zhou whom she loved already had someone else he fancied, Yang Zixi could not help but feel that her heart had been shattered.
In the past, Zhou Donghuang had said that he treated her like a younger sister, but she still believed that there was a chance. But now, knowing that Zhou Donghuang fancied someone else, her hopes were dashed.
Yang Zixi cried for half a day and eventually was so tired that she fell asleep right there. Zhou Donghuang turned to the lady who was attending to Yang Zixi and quietly instructed her, “Aunt Mei, please bring Zixi back to her room to rest.”
“Brother!” Not long after Yang Zixi had been brought away, Yun Lu rushed into Zhou Donghuang’s arms as if she had been in line for her turn. “Brother, Brother… Xiao Lu missed you so much.”
“Silly girl.” Zhou Donghuang stroked her head gently. “Isn’t Brother back now? Don’t worry… this time, I am here to bring all of you away with me,” said Zhou Donghuang.
“Really?” Yun Lu looked up at him expectantly, her eyes sparkling.
“Of course,” replied Zhou Donghuang, nodding his head.
“Donghuang,” said Lin Lan, who had been standing at the side. “Actually, we are living pretty well here in Qingshan town.” At the same time, she glared at Yun Lu discreetly.
Yun Lu blushed as she hurriedly added, “Brother, Xiao Lu is just kidding… actually, Xiao Lu also likes it here in Qingshan town, really.”
“Mother,” said Zhou Donghuang with a smile. “I have already asked Su Mo to arrange a residence for us in the Valley of Medicine Masters. It should be all ready by now. For now, you can stay temporarily at the Valley of Medicine Masters. Of course… you cannot stay for too long there. Because, next, there is somewhere better for all of you to live.” Zhou Donghuang paused, then added, “Mother, in the future, you do not need to worry that you are being a burden. When all of you are close by, I can be less worried. Otherwise, just like today, if I had been just a little later, who knows what would have happened!” His expression turned serious.
Lin Lan was then reminded of what had just happened, and broke out in cold sweat. “Yes… we will all follow you.
“The reconstruction of this place, we can leave it to someone else… you all prepare for us to leave tomorrow.” Zhou Donghuang took out a bottle of pills and handed the pills out to everyone there. “This is the healing elixir that I made after reaching the Primal Core stage, and it is much more effective than those that I gave to you previously.”
With the healing elixir, everyone’s injuries healed quickly. After all, they were only minor injuries. Aunt Mei had already recovered enough to be able to bring Yang Zixi away to rest, even without taking the healing elixir.
“Young Master?” Little Gold woke up not much longer after taking the healing elixir that Zhou Donghuang fed him. It looked at Zhou Donghuang with disbelief.
“I… I’m not dreaming, right?” said Little Gold to itself.
“You’re not.” Just then, Big Gold, which had been circling in the sky above, flew down in front of Little Gold. “Little Gold, you have made good progress… you’ve already achieved the Connate stage.”
“You… you are Big Gold?!” Little Gold’s eyes narrowed as it looked at the twenty-meter wingspan of Big Gold. It swallowed nervously. “You… you are already in the ultimate Connate stage?”
“Haha… you improved by a bit, but my progress was even more,” replied Big Gold gleefully.
“But this is nothing… Young Master is already in the Primal Core stage,” added Big Gold.
“Primal Core?” Little Gold looked at Zhou Donghuang with disbelief. It remembered what had happened before it had been severely injured and scanned its surroundings only to realize that the Primal Core adept and demon were both dead.
“This…” Little Gold was stunned. It was well aware of how powerful that Primal Core adept was. With just a flick of his hand, without any effort, he had simply blown it away and knocked it unconscious.
Yet now, the man was dead.
