Chapter 12: Relics

Flower Creek Water Pavilion, winding bridges among pavilions, warm towers and terraces, a vast lake and emerald mountains.

Though the Chen clan residence was magnificent and splendid, with attendants and maids holding teapots and cups standing every few steps, the people in the main hall had no mind to admire the scenery; their brows were tightly knitted, their expressions dark with anger and humiliation.

"Ah-Heng's father's relics? Impossible, impossible!"

Hearing the clan leader Chen Kuang's question, Chen Zhan, whose back was already hunched, tapped his staff, and a trace of fury appeared on his aged face:

"Watching him being taken up the mountain by the Xuanzhen Sect back then was already the clan's act of unkindness; now, at this juncture, how can we take without asking, using his father's relics to repel the enemy? Unworthy of being a son! Unworthy of being a son!"

With Chen Zhan speaking first, several clan elders on good terms with him also urged restraint one after another, each voicing their opinion, and the originally gloomy hall suddenly became noisy.

"Enough! Stop!"

Blue veins throbbed wildly on Chen Kuang's forehead; he shouted loudly, and his aged body suddenly erupted with fierce blood qi, suppressing the sound waves into silence.

"Unworthy of being a son? Ridiculous, ridiculous! Has the clan not provided for his enjoyment, for his food and clothing? We have not even asked him to sacrifice himself for the clan, merely to borrow some of his father's relics, yet you, Chen Zhan, raise obstacle after obstacle; what exactly are your intentions?"

Chen Kuang's old eyes were sharp as he stared coldly at Chen Zhan:

"Back then, the clan merely entrusted you to raise Chen Heng; he has not yet been formally adopted by you! Why are you rushing to stick your head out here!"

"Moreover..."

He turned toward those several clan elders:

"Since Chen Heng entered the Xuanzhen Sect, he has not sent a single letter in three years. For such a stingy and ungrateful person, you speak up for him here as if he were a member of the Chen clan; as for himself, he likely long ago grew tired of this surname!"

"Back then, we indeed acted poorly; it is only right that he harbors resentment."

A clan elder mediated: "A proper Young Master reduced to becoming another's catamite—this is where the clan has failed him."

"The clan has not failed him; without the clan's support, how could he have become a Young Master? I—"

Before Chen Kuang could finish, Chen Zhan interrupted him by slamming his staff forcefully onto the ground.

"The clan did once raise him, but that debt of gratitude was repaid in full after he entered the mountain, with plenty to spare."

Chen Zhan stepped forward a few paces: "Do you dare admit plainly that after he went up the mountain, you did not use the Xuanzhen Sect's prestige to profit for yourself? Those several plots of residential land in the West City and the fertile fields outside the city—were they not earned in Heng'er's name by you?"

"Even this matter of Xi'er being demanded by the Daoist Yangshan Daoist—was that not your own arrogant presumption? Not only did you strike the Daoist Yangshan Daoist's young disciple, but you also boasted that you would call upon the Xuanzhen Sect to send out Daoist soldiers to destroy the Daoist Yangshan Daoist's Dharma field; who can you blame?!"

"..."

Chen Kuang was momentarily speechless, merely turning his face away in shame and fury.

Who could have expected that Yan Zhen would actually die!

The Chen clan's greatest reliance and backing had thus collapsed unexpectedly!

That day, borrowing the courage of wine, he had severely humiliated the Daoist Yangshan Daoist, against whom he had long harbored dirty thoughts; seeing the Daoist Yangshan Daoist's face, full of anger yet daring not to speak, his heart had truly felt delight.

But worldly affairs are always impermanent.

Not long after.

When the news of Yan Zhen's death and Chen Heng's punishment finally reached the State of Rong.

The entire Chen clan was stunned into silence.

The Daoist Yangshan Daoist clapped his hands in delight, drank wine for a day and night, and enjoyed eight women in succession.

After this.

The Daoist Yangshan Daoist not only demanded ten thousand taels of silver and ten boxes of pearls and yellow jade from the Chen clan, but also forcibly ordered the clan leader Chen Kuang to marry off his youngest daughter, Chen Xi, to him as a concubine.

Having lost the protection of the Xuanzhen Sect, the Chen clan was utterly powerless to resist the Daoist Yangshan Daoist; it seemed they were in imminent peril...

"Sigh, Xi'er, come in."

Facing the assembly of displeased clan elders, Chen Kuang heaved a heavy sigh and beckoned with his hand.

With footsteps too faint to hear, a pink-skirted young girl of thirteen or fourteen entered from outside; her skin was Bai Xi, almost delicate enough to break at a touch, her beauty delicate and charming, and her expression utterly pitiful, inspiring pity and love in anyone who saw her.

After being called in by her father, Chen Xi, tears in her eyes, performed a formal bow to the clan elders and stood timidly in the center of the hall.

"Brothers of the clan, Xi'er is after all my youngest daughter; how can I bear to part with her?"

Tears also filled Chen Kuang's eyes as he tremblingly pointed at Chen Xi, slender in the hall like a weak willow swaying in the wind: "Look at her inexperienced appearance; if she is sent to the Daoist Yangshan Daoist, how could she possibly return alive?"

"Thirteenth Brother, I know you dislike me; it is all because my foolish son took it upon himself to offer a scheme that trapped Heng'er in Yan Zhen's hands, causing you to resent me ever since."

Glancing at Chen Zhan, he suddenly kowtowed to the ground: "But Xi'er still calls you Uncle; you watched her grow up; Third Brother begs you, save her this once!"

Old tears streamed down Chen Kuang's face.

Chen Zhan's expression shifted between gloom and brightness.

But before Chen Zhan could reply, a youth's arrogant laughter echoed throughout the vast Chen residence.

"Save her? How to save? Do you have any other means?"

The youth's voice drifted unpredictably, like a ghost: "My father has set his sights on this girl; who dares to resist? Perhaps after he takes the lead, I can even follow and drink some of the rich soup!"

"Not good!" Chen Kuang's complexion changed drastically.

The laughter was so loud, yet the household servants and guards in the residence showed not the slightest reaction; clearly, they had been silently subdued, without even time to raise an alarm.

"Thirteenth Brother! Quickly! Third Brother begs you!"

Shouting loudly at Chen Zhan, he suddenly leaped down from the hall, hoisted his daughter onto his back, and attempted to flee.

But before he could rush out of the hall, a group of people in yellow robes blocked the exit; the bearded giant leading them struck with a single palm, sending Chen Kuang flying backward, spitting blood from his mouth.

"Damn it... Xiao Ding, go fetch that wooden box from my secret chamber!"

Seeing this scene, Chen Zhan hesitated no longer and shouted sternly.

Behind his seat, a thirty-year-old man with a white face and no beard nodded; with merely a shift of his toe, he instantly rushed out of the hall, so fast that even the bearded giant could not stop him.

"Good! Good!"

Seeing that Chen Zhan's guard possessed such superb movement techniques, Chen Kuang, though spitting blood, laughed wildly; he carefully placed his daughter Chen Xi aside, gathered his spirit once more, and engaged the bearded giant in combat again.

"Attack! Attack together! Hold out until Xiao Ding returns!"

The other Chen clan elders also roared, charging forward to fight against that group of people in yellow robes.

Although their momentum was passable for a time, they were ultimately old and weak, lacking in blood and qi, and were eventually suppressed by the fearless people in yellow robes.

"This is..."

Chen Kuang, who had just raised his palm to smash a yellow-clad man's skull until brains burst, suddenly went limp; disbelief filled his eyes: "This is poison? Such potent poison."

"Indeed. Without this poison, it would have been difficult for us to stride in so boldly," the arrogant youth's voice rang out again.

"Despicable! Shameless!"

"Old fool, are you trying to buy time, waiting for that thing called Little Ding to come and rescue you?"

The youth laughed again.

A sudden premonition of doom seized Chen Kuang's heart; as if guided by spirits, he lifted his head and saw, not far outside the hall, a flayed blood corpse lying there, appearing who knew when.

The blood corpse's former features were unrecognizable, yet it still clutched a wooden box in its arms.

Inside the box lay an ancient book and several strange talismans.

"Little Ding!" Chen Zhan's eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

Chen Kuang felt his mind go black; his movements slowed for an instant, allowing the curly-bearded giant to sweep his leg and snap Chen Kuang's arm bone, sending him flying so that he could never rise again.

"Hey, cousin, this little girl is quite tender and fresh."

The curly-bearded giant waved his hand again, striking an elder who rushed forward to block him; the elder flew sideways, his body smashing against the wall into a bloody pulp.

He extended a palm-sized hand and grabbed Chen Xi in his grip:

"After you and my uncle have enjoyed her, how about letting me have some fun with her too?"

"You crude oaf only know how to eat people; who would dare give her to you? No way!"

The youth chuckled eerily again, his voice drifting unpredictably; no matter how frantically Chen Zhan searched, he could not locate the youth's true form.

"You bad boy are becoming less and less cute."

The curly-bearded giant muttered, then looked at the wooden box and talismans in the blood corpse's arms: "What sort of thing is that? If I bring it to my uncle, will it please him?"

"Leftover heterodox tricks from Chen Heng's father; utterly useless!"

"Oh."

The curly-bearded giant responded with a disappointed sound.

By now, the fighting on both sides had lost all suspense; it was nearly a one-sided slaughter, with only a few elders like Chen Zhan still struggling to resist.

"Gulp... gulp..."

The curly-bearded giant scanned the scene boredly, then looked at the girl in his hand; wisps of fragrance drifted from her body, making his index finger twitch with appetite.

"Heterodox tricks left by my father?"

At that moment, a voice warm as jade suddenly arrived.

The combatants on both sides froze; in the distance at the mansion gate, two white horses could vaguely be seen, each carrying a rider.

"Why have I never heard that my father left behind any belongings?"

The curly-bearded giant's expression changed; as if realizing something, he grabbed a broadsword and prepared to hurl it.

But just as he raised his hand halfway,

an arrow abruptly shot through the air, piercing straight through his skull.

Blood erupted like burst watermelon pulp; splashed from head to face, Chen Xi stared in dumb shock, unable even to cry.

Sharp arrows pierced the sky.

Amidst a dense, dizzying shower of arrow shadows, fleeing yellow-clad men were casually shot down one by one.

Skulls burst open, red and white matter flowing across the ground, emitting a foul, bloody stench.

This scene, both highly artistic and extremely bloody, left Chen Zhan dumbfounded; looking toward the mansion gate, his hands trembled uncontrollably.

"Chen Heng? Have you gone mad! How dare you kill my cousin like this!"

The arrogant youth's voice rang out again, now lacking the leisurely composure of a cat playing with a mouse, but filled with urgency.

At the mansion gate,

Chen Heng glanced faintly behind him; the woman in the fox-fur cloak who had followed him all the way immediately understood, took an arrow in hand, and respectfully presented it to him.

"You hid too poorly."

Those fingers, which had played the zither since childhood, were slender and jade-like; he easily drew a six-stone bow into a full moon, yet his palm remained utterly steady, like an ancient pool undisturbed for ten thousand years.

The Heavenly Being drew his bow.

Arrow light flashed like lightning.

The bowstring thrummed; with a cry of pain, a figure tumbled down from a waterside pavilion nearby.