Liang Wu and three girls stepped out of the pavilion, leaving the trembling Qian family in their wake. The cool night air greeted them, but before they could continue, a frantic shout broke the silence.
"Wait!" Xu Min's voice rang out as he rushed toward them, his large frame heaving with each breath.
Liang Wu turned, his eyes narrowing as he asked sharply, "What do you want?" His voice cut through the tension.
Xu Min hesitated, his gaze darting to the little girl in Chen Li Li's arms. "You... you still have my daughter..." His voice shook, still haunted by the bloodbath they'd left behind. Xu Min had always seen himself as ruthless, but the carnage in the pavilion was beyond anything he had witnessed. His usual confidence had been shattered.
Liang Wu blinked, glancing at the unconscious girl in Li Li's arms. "Oh, right..." He sounded almost indifferent, secretly he was embarrassed, but he wasn't going to let that show. "I forgot about her." He frowned, taking a closer look. "Why is she unconscious?"
Li Li, who had been holding the child gently, gave Liang Wu a flat look. "Because of you," she said, her tone even flatter.
Liang Wu's confusion deepened. "What do you mean?"
If he hadn't just finished killing nearly a dozen people, he'd have looked quite cute with that silly confused look on his face. Minus the blood. With that thought, without a word, she reached into her spatial pouch with a fluid motion, her fingers closing around a small, intricately designed mirror before producing it with a flourish.
Liang Wu took it, lifting the mirror up to see his reflection. The image that stared back at him was that of a handsome man, yes, but one covered head to toe in blood. His eyes gleamed with a cold detachment, a remnant of the carnage he had just unleashed. For a brief moment, he paused, studying his own face.
"I look... quite handsome," he commented, a hint of amusement in his voice. But beneath the surface, his thoughts were far darker. The madness still lingers. Even after all these centuries, it remains within me. Remnants of my Qi Deviation.
He shook his head, pushing the thought aside. With a casual gesture to hide his dark emotions, he handed the mirror back to Li Li.
"You're still delusional I see." She shook her head, her expression stuck between amusement and disbelief. Then she stepped forward and gently handed Xu Beihe over to her father.
Xu Min accepted his daughter with trembling hands, his face a mix of relief and fear as he cradled her close, momentarily forgetting the horrors he had witnessed. His gratitude was evident, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word. The fear lingering from what he had seen held his tongue.
"I still haven't heard her answer," Liang Wu mused. After a moment, he decided, "We'll wait until she wakes up. You lead the way." He instructed Xu Min to lead them to his home.
Xu Min shook his head frantically. "No, no, no, my home is… it's… it's on fire right now!"
"Go," Liang Wu said, dismissing him with a wave. Xu Min needed no further encouragement. Without waiting, he hurriedly led the way, holding his daughter close to his chest like she was his last lifeline.
—
As the group departed, an uneasy silence fell over the Qian Manor. Inside, the atmosphere was tense as several elders gathered to discuss the night's events.
"We should have killed him," one of the elders growled, his voice filled with frustration. "He was weak! That was our chance!"
Another elder nodded in agreement. "Too weak to defend against us. If we had struck while he was vulnerable, the Qian family could have cleared away the embarrassment of losing three of our elders!"
Qian Xì, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, finally spoke. His voice was calm but firm. "You're all wrong."
The elders turned to him, their brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?" one of them asked. "That boy was on the brink of collapse."
Qian Xì shook his head slowly. "No. My intuition tells me otherwise." He paused, his eyes narrowing in thought. "If we had pushed further, if we had tried to kill him, our entire clan would have been wiped out."
Silence fell over the room as the elders absorbed his words. They exchanged uneasy glances, unsure of how to respond.
"I believe," Qian Xì continued, "that he is not just some rogue cultivator. He's from a hidden clan. And hidden clans always send their scions out with Dao Protectors. If we had struck, we wouldn't have been fighting just him."
The elders shifted uncomfortably, realization dawning on them. Hidden clans were not to be trifled with. Their power was vast, their resources immense, and their protectors ruthless.
"He let us live," Qian Xì concluded, "because we let him go. But make no mistake—if we had continued, none of us would be standing here now."
One of the elders swallowed hard, his previous bravado evaporating. "Then… what do we do?"
Qian Xì's gaze hardened. "We wait. We watch. And we do nothing to provoke him further."
The elders nodded in reluctant agreement.
But one of the younger elders raised their hand hesitantly. "Uh… didn't you try to kill him with Elder Yi and Elder Ba?"
Cough!
Qian Xì choked on his own saliva at the unexpected question. "I… made a mistake," he admitted, composing himself. "Let's forget that and move on."
The tension in the room eased slightly, but the weight of their decisions—and the potential consequences—hung heavy in the air. Nearly as heavy as Qian Pang.
—
As the quintet arrived at the Xu manor, they were surprised to find it actually on fire. A large column of smoke was rising above the grand walls surrounding the manor.
Several guards and servants were running around frantically at the front entrance.
"What the hell… Why is my home on fire!?" Xu Min shouted toward the servants.
"Patriarch!" One of the servants ran over, bowing before Xu Min. "A fire started in the kitchen, and since it's next to your private quarters for your late-night snacks, it spread and burned your room down…" The servant said everything in one breath, nearly suffocating himself.
"Hahaha! That's funny, I thought you just said that my bedroom was burned down." Xu Min laughed in denial, giving the gasping servant a few hearty slaps on the back, nearly breaking the poor man in two.
"Ah! Sir, please—" after a weighty snapping noise, the servant collapsed under Xu Min's heavy blows.
"Someone come, get him to a doctor," Xu Min ordered the other servants to take the man, whose back he just snapped, to get treated.
Liang Wu watched this exchange with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. "Well, shall we go in?" he asked, gesturing towards the still-smoking manor.
Xu Min nodded grimly and led the group through the grand entrance. As they made their way through the corridors, the acrid smell of smoke grew stronger. Finally, they reached what was left of Xu Min's bedroom.
The once-opulent chamber was now a charred ruin. Blackened remnants of furniture littered the floor, and the ornate tapestries that had adorned the walls were now nothing but ash. The ceiling had partially collapsed, allowing the night sky to peek through.
"My... my snacks," Xu Min whimpered, staring at the destruction.
As they stood there, surveying the damage, a small stirring caught their attention. Xu Beihe, still in her father's arms, was beginning to wake up.
Her eyes fluttered open, confusion evident on her face as she took in her surroundings. The burning smell stung her nose, causing her little face to scrunch up. "Father? What... what happened?"
Before Xu Min could answer, Liang Wu stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the young girl. "Ah, you're awake. Good. Now, about my previous offer..."
Xu Beihe's eyes widened as she remembered the events from earlier. She looked at Liang Wu, shuddering at his blood covered appearance, then at the girls behind him, and finally at her father's anxious face.
Liang Wu continued, his voice surprisingly gentle, "I asked you before if you wanted to be my disciple. I promised to help you reach the God Realm, where you could revive your mother. What do you say?"
The young girl was quiet for a moment, swallowing her fear, her brow furrowed in thought. Then, with a determination that belied her age, she spoke, "I... I'm grateful for your offer, big brother Wu. But I can't accept it."
Surprise flickered across Liang Wu's face. "Oh? And why is that?" Before she could elaborate, he pressed on, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "You know that reaching the God Realm is the only way to revive your mother, right?"
Xu Beihe took a deep breath. "I want to reach the God Realm on my own strength. I want to be worthy of reviving my mother, not just because someone powerful helped me."
A tense silence fell over the group. Xu Min looked terrified, clearly fearing Liang Wu's reaction. But to everyone's surprise, Liang Wu laughed.
"Well, well. You've got spirit, little one." He nodded approvingly. "Very well. If not my disciple, what would you ask of me instead?"
This little girl… she reminds me of myself.
Xu Beihe's eyes lit up. "Could you... could you give me something that would help me cultivate? Something that would guide me on my path to the God Realm?"
Liang Wu considered for a moment, his mind racing through possibilities. Finally, he turned to Xu Min. "Get me some paper and a pen," he instructed, his tone leaving no room for argument.
But it seemed Xu Min had reached his breaking point. "Enough!" he snapped, his face flushing red with anger. He couldn't put up with the young man's nonsense any longer. "You keep saying this and that about some God Realm, and reviving my wife! I've had enough, my wife can't come back to life, so stop trying to lead my daughter astray!" He cried out, panting from livid rage, his chest heaving with each breath.
Liang Wu's brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait, hold on. You don't know?" he asked, genuine surprise coloring his voice.
"I don't know what!?" Xu Min's biting reply came, still seething with barely contained fury.
Liang Wu's next words fell like a bombshell, shattering the foundations of Xu Min's understanding. "Your daughter's System Helper is your wife."
Xu Min's anger deflated like a punctured balloon, replaced by utter bewilderment. "How could my wife become some mystical being like a System Helper? She was just a normal human!"
Liang Wu shook his head, a hint of exasperation creeping into his voice. "Mystical being? The System Helpers aren't mystical beings, they're souls of the dead that refused to reincarnate."
The revelation hung in the air, heavy with implications. Xu Min stood frozen, his mind struggling to process this new information. Xu Beihe, however, seemed unsurprised, as if she had known this all along.
Taking advantage of the stunned silence, Liang Wu turned his attention back to the task at hand. With practiced movements, he began to write on the paper Xu Min had reluctantly provided, his brush dancing across the surface. As he wrote, he spoke, his voice taking on a teaching tone.
"This is a cultivation technique I developed myself. It's called 'The Heaven's Suppressant Technique.' It's not an easy road, but it will guide you towards the God Realm if you have the determination to follow it."
He handed the technique to Xu Beihe, who accepted it with reverent hands, her eyes wide with wonder. "Thank you, big brother Wu," she said, bowing deeply, the motion slightly awkward in her father's arms.
As Xu Beihe examined her new treasure, her small fingers tracing the characters with awe, Liang Wu turned to the others. "Well, I believe our business here is concluded. Shall we be on our way?"
The two girls nodded silently, and they began to make their way out of the ruined bedroom. As they left, Liang Wu paused at the doorway, looking back at Xu Min and his daughter. The father and daughter stood amidst the charred ruins, a picture of bewilderment and hope.
"Oh, and Xu Min?" he said, a mischievous glint dancing in his eye. "You might want to move your kitchen further from your bedroom. Late-night snacks aren't worth burning down your home."
With that parting shot, Liang Wu and his companions disappeared into the night, leaving behind the crispy remains of Xu Min's bedroom and a family whose world had just been turned upside down. As they vanished from sight, the first rays of dawn began to peek over the horizon, promising a new day and new beginnings.