Chapter 70

After nightfall.

Zong Zi Heng quietly got out of bed and changed into a night outfit.

After distracting everyone with great difficulty, he did not care that his injuries had not yet healed and was eager to make sure his uncle was well.

Wuji Palace is built near a mountain, and there is a cave house on the mountain where the Zong's high-ranking cultivators go into seclusion to cultivate. A cave house is a place in Jiuzhou where spiritual energy is very dense, and was formed during the ancient times. Over the past millions of years, as the spiritual energy in the human realm has become thinner and thinner, cave houses have become extremely rare. The ancestors of all the great sects have fought for this cave to start their sects. Cave house, techniques, and magical weapons; only when they have all three are they worthy of being called a famous clan.

The Zong clan's cave house is heavily guarded and has a strong boundary, and there is an ancestral order: no one other than the Zong's bloodline are allowed to enter. Zong Zi Heng had been there several times, but it was the first time he had to sneak in. Since he has the Zong's blood, the boundary would not stop him.

Zong Zi Heng snuck all the way in, dodging all the guards, and entered the cave without any problems.

Outside Zong Ming Fu's simple abode, there was a layer of boundary to prevent disturbance. It’s a spell seal invented by the Zong clan. Zong Zi Heng unsealed it directly without breaking it, and he stood in front of the house, looking at the tightly closed doorway and hesitated for a long time.

After going into seclusion, the cultivator will abstain from eating and would not allow anyone to come near, so whatever happened inside, no outsiders would know. If Lu Zhao Feng lied, he would be disturbing his uncle's cultivation, and if anyone found out, he wouldn't even be able to explain.

He took a few steps back and silently flipped up onto the roof, carefully lifting a few tiles and looking down.

There was no one inside.

Zong Zi Heng felt his scalp tingle and all the wounds on his body ached at the same time.

He jumped off the roof, opened the door directly and rushed in.

In contrast to the extravagant beauty and splendor of the Wuji Palace, this room was very plain, with almost no superfluous items to distract the mind from the fact that seclusion is traditionally an ascetic practice, cultivating the body as well as nature.

A quick glance over the room showed no place to hide.

There was no one here, no Zong Ming Fu.

Everyone in the whole world knew that Zong Ming Fu was in seclusion and had been cultivating for five years. Seclusion was not child's play, thus it was impossible to leave whenever one wants, so why was there no one here?

Zong Zi Heng took a deep breath and spun around helplessly in the small room, not knowing what to do.

Could it be, could it be that what Lu Zhao Feng had said was true, and that his uncle had been ...

Suddenly, Zong Zi Heng noticed that the straw mats laid on the floor had two pieces that were not aligned, one pressing against the edge of the other.

His uncle had a somewhat eccentric nature, demanding cleanliness, neatness and order in everything, and would never allow the mats he sat on to be unevenly laid. Someone else must have been here.

He went over and lifted up the straw mat and saw dark brown marks underneath it. His heart sank and he lifted off the whole mat, and there were patches of dried marks on the ground --- it was blood!

Zong Zi Heng's legs went limp and he fell to the ground.

"Uncle ..." Zong Zi Heng used trembling fingers to stroke over the blood on the ground, the boundless chill engulfed him ferociously, freezing his blood.

His uncle, his master, had taught him cultivation since he was three years old and gifted him with the first sword in his life ...

He remembered five years ago when his uncle squeezed his shoulder and said to him, "Heng Er, you have become an adult today. Teaching Zong Zi Xiao is enough. Uncle can go into seclusion without worrying. The day I come out of seclusion, I will definitely cultivate the eighth Chongtian and revive the might of my Daming Zong clan."

Zong Zi Heng knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily to the puddle of blood, his forehead resting against the cold ground, pain entering his bone marrow and tears welling up in his eyes.

Lu Zhao Feng could not enter Zong clan's cave at all, so there was no way for him to know what was going on in here if someone had not told him, so what he said ... was true?

Father, could it really be you, that you ... killed your own blood brother?

--- PS: geez I legit feel chilly while translating this…

Zong Zi Heng returned to his bedchamber in fear and trepidation, only to see Zong Zi Xiao sitting on his bed with his arms across his chest, a pretty little face with a very serious expression.

"Why are you ..."

"Where have you been?"

Both of them spoke at the same time.

"You're still injured, so what on earth have you been doing dressed like that?" Zong Zi Xiao walked over and reprimanded right in his face, "What exactly are you hiding from me? There have never been any secrets between us brothers, so why are you always hiding from me ever since you met Xu Zhi Nan?"

Zong Zi Heng had not yet been able to free himself from his grief, and was so physically and mentally exhausted at this point that he did not even want to say a word more. He shook his head, "You are still young, don't ask anymore."

Zong Zi Xiao was even more furious: "You have never perfunctorily treated me like this, what are you hiding from me?"

Zong Zi Heng collapsed helplessly onto the bed, as if he had been through a battle of life and death, leaving only a bruised and battered body.

"What, what’s the matter with you?" Seeing him like this, Zong Zi Xiao became worried again, "How dare you run around when you're not even healed! Father obviously won't let you go out, what if you are found out?" He probed Zong Zi Heng's pulse and checked the injury, saying with both heartache and anger, "Look at you, the wound is seeping blood again."

Zong Zi Heng was unresponsive, letting his younger brother bustle about re-cleaning, dressing and bandaging him.

When he was done, Zong Zi Xiao sat on the edge of the bed and stared at Zong Zi Heng for a moment, then suddenly reached out and stroked the corner of his red eyes, "Big brother, have you been crying?"

Zong Zi Heng's vacant gaze finally moved over. Those deep, dark eyes were no longer gentle and sparse. They seemed to be bearing the weight of a far-reaching sadness.

Zong Zi Xiao gritted his teeth, "Because of Hua Yu Xin?"

Zong Zi Heng did not deny it.

"You really liked her?" Zong Zi Xiao's tone was full of no resignation.

Zong Zi Heng nodded gently, "Xiao Jiu, you know, before she left, she told me that she was willing to marry me."

Zong Zi Xiao turned his face away, his gleaming gaze glaring angrily ahead, his jaw already showing the first hints of a man's profile, taut and tight at the moment, "But she's dead and will never be able to marry you."

Zong Zi Heng lowered his eyes, his pale lips stuttering slightly, and in the end, he said nothing.

Zong Zi Xiao looked at his weeping-with-emotions appearance and regretted saying those mean words again, "Big brother, if you want to get married, then wait until I grow up, I will marry you."

Zong Zi Heng only took his childish words for what they were, and said indifferently, "Silly boy."

"Isn't it good? Mother has said that to marry the person you like the most is the greatest happiness in the world." Zong Zi Xiao looked at him, his eyes as bright as the stars in the sky, "I like big brother the most, and big brother likes me the most, isn’t it?"

Zong Zi Heng did not notice Zong Zi Xiao's extraordinary seriousness. He shuddered at the thought of what was going through Chu Ying Ruo's mind, and what was she doing behind his back when she said this.

"Big brother?" Zong Zi Xiao nudged him, wanting a response, "Isn't it?"

Zong Zi Heng said perfunctorily, "Spouting nonsense again. There is no such thing as brothers getting married."

"Just because there weren't before, doesn't mean there can't be afterwards. There will be if it starts from us."

Zong Zi Heng slowly lay back down on the bed, "I'm tired, you go back."

Zong Zi Xiao gazed at his big brother and murmured, "I’m being serious.”

"Hmm." Zong Zi Heng remained unconcerned. His youngest brother had grown up arrogant and conceited, and this was not the first time he had said something whimsical.

Zong Zi Xiao pouted and grunted in dissatisfaction, "You still haven't answered me. Where exactly have you been sneaking off to?"

"I wanted to leave the palace, but found that I couldn't get out and turned back."

"To see Xu Zhi Nan?"

"Mm."

"Hmph."

There was a sudden silence in the room.

After a long time, Zong Zi Xiao spoke up, his voice was despondent: "Big brother, why are you not even close to me these days?"

Hearing this grievance made Zong Zi Heng’s heart softened. He looked at his brother, who was sitting on the bed with his back to him, and thought of how the boy used to face himself with the back of his head when he was being difficult. From a small and chubby back to a sturdy teenage figure, in a few years' time he would grow into a man's framework, perhaps even taller than himself, and no longer the youngest brother who relied on him in every way.

Why does time pass so quickly? Life is just like a shooting star, passing through the night without a second thought.

Zong Zi Heng softened his voice and said soothingly, "Big brother is having a hard time and needs some time, it’s not because of estranging you."

"I know you're having a hard time, that’s why I’m accompanying you ah." Zong Zi Xiao turned around and said grimly, "I feel regretful. I should never have let you take me out of the palace in the first place, so that we wouldn't have gone through Gutuo Town and been involved in so many disputes."

These words pierced Zong Zi Heng's heart. Thinking back on everything that had happened in the past four years, if he could do it all over again, what would he choose? He would have participated in the last Jiaolong assembly, won the championship, won his father's approval, and given his mother what she wanted, and then none of this would have happened.

Was it? Is that right?

No. Chen Xing Yong and Lu Zhao Feng would still be brutalizing cultivators, his uncle would still be dead, and his own father, perhaps by other means, would seek his golden core. Nothing would change, except that he would be kept in the dark. Then, he would rather come to his senses sooner.

Zong Zi Heng closed his eyes, unable to control the fear seeping into his limbs.

Even at this moment, he still did not dare, did not want to believe. He made all sorts of excuses. He just could not accept that his own father wanted to dig out his golden core.

Even if he was from a bad background, even if he was unloved, they were after all father and son ah.

Zong Zi Xiao looked at his big brother's lost in thought appearance once again and immediately regretted saying those words, "Big brother, you should rest. I will come back to keep you company in the morning." He reluctantly got up and headed for the door.

"Xiao Jiu."

Zong Zi Xiao turned his head back.

Zong Zi Heng said with certainty, "No matter what happens, you are my younger brother. The one that big brother likes the most."

Zong Zi Xiao smiled with a glowing face, "Mm, I know."

No matter what happens, big brother will definitely protect you.

----

PS: volume 3 starts from chapter 72

 

Edited on 31 Mar. 21 (Emzie)

 

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