Chapter 428 – The Liu Family’s Circumstances

　　However, Liu Zhaoyue was very insistent. “My Dage definitely won’t tell outsiders, so I won’t say it either.”

　　Wan Yitong shrugged indifferently. “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t say it. However, you should still pray that you’re not one of the Yan family’s subjects.”

　　Liu Zhaoyue abruptly stopped walking and turned to stare at Wan Yitong. “Why can’t we be the Yan family’s subjects?”

　　Wan Yitong was stunned by his reaction. He stared blankly, then replied, “Because Yan Zizhang already took control of the Yan family many years ago. Yan Zizhang is not a kind-hearted person; if the reclusive family in his hands did anything that went against his orders, he would order the entire family to be slaughtered. When I was in the Nine Lands before, I heard many secret rumors about Yan Zizhang. However, even today, I still can’t be certain if Yin Xinghan vowed loyalty to the ruler of the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital or Yan Zizhang.”

　　Wan Yitong looked at Liu Zhaoyue’s increasingly ugly complexion and couldn’t help but ask, “Little Yueyue, don’t tell me that your Liu family is actually one of the Yan family’s subjects?”

　　Liu Zhaoyue denied with a pale face, “There are so many branches in the Yan family. We might not necessarily be serving the same branch as the one Yan Zizhang controls.”

　　Wan Yitong tilted his head and thought for a moment. “Who did the Liu family make the original contract with?”

　　Liu Zhaoyue seemed to have a fierce struggle in his heart. In the end, he hardened his heart and made a decision. He spoke with clenched teeth, “My Dage said it was a man named Yan Xi.”

　　Wan Yitong showed a startled expression. He immediately remarked, “Yan Xi’s descendant is the current ruler of the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital, while Yan Zizhang and Yan Zhonghua are both heirs of the main branch. If the Liu family has never made another contract with one of Yan Xi’s descendants, then it means that all of Yan Xi’s direct descendants can inherit the power of the contract. The Liu family…..if your Dage was called away by Yin Xinghan, I’m afraid all signs lead to disaster.”

　　Esteemed Lan Yue frowned slightly. “Didn’t Yin Xinghan vow loyalty to the ruler of the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital?”

　　Wan Yitong shook his head. “Master, you’ve been away from the Nine Lands for too long. After you left, great changes took place in the Nine Lands. Even before I left for the Five Continents, the current Emperor of the Nine Lands had already been ignoring the Nine Lands’ affairs for many years. The entire Qianyuan dynasty is controlled by Yan Zizhang. In accordance with Yin Xinghan’s sky-high ambitions, the possibility that he turned and is now pledging allegiance to Yan Zizhang is the greatest.”

　　Esteemed Lan Yue sighed deeply.

　　“All of you stop talking!” Qing Zhu bit his lower lip, his complexion ashen. “Let’s hurry back quickly and see the situation.”

　　Originally, Liu Zhaoyue was carefree and didn’t think much about anything, but after hearing Wan Yitong’s analysis, he also became scared and on the edge. While on the road, his mood was difficult to placate, and he couldn’t help wondering what Wan Yitong’s words meant.

　　It took them five days to walk out of the secret passage when leaving, but it only took them three days when returning.

　　However, as soon as they left the secret passage, everyone smelled an unusual smell.

　　Liu Zhaoyue hurriedly rushed through the woods and ran towards the Liu family villa’s back entrance. The others followed closely.

　　Yan Tianhen sucked in a cold breath and also had an expression of disbelief.

　　They were still living here until a few days ago, talking and laughing with the people, but now, those people who conversed with them had already become corpses.

　　Liu Zhaoyue looked on blankly for a while, then he started to run towards Liu Mengchen’s room. At first he saw nothing; then he went to the main room.

　　On the ground laid the housekeeper, grandma, maid, and serving child, all of whom he was familiar with. Every single one of them was covered with blood. Their eyes were wide open, as if they had died with a grievance. There were also several Liu family elders who had already locked themselves in closed-door cultivation in their early years. At this time, they were also dead.

　　Liu Zhaoyue cried out in grief and indignation. His legs became soft and he nearly fell to the ground, but he supported himself with his right hand. He stood up with difficulty and stumbled towards the outside of the villa.

　　Qing Zhu was faster than him and also rushed to one of the mountain villa’s streets. This was another Twin Moons City; besides the fact that the perpetrators didn’t set fire to everything, there was no major difference.

　　Wan Yitong closed his eyes. “It looks like the Yan family still took action.”

　　The veins in Bei Shitian’s neck bulged out suddenly and violently, as if he was trying to suppress something.

　　In the end, he couldn’t hold back and turned to Wan Yitong. “This truly is exactly the same as the Wan family’s style.”

　　Wan Yitong looked at Bei Shitian in astonishment. Just as he was about to say something, he saw that Bei Shitian had already walked away with great strides.

　　Wan Yitong showed an uncomfortable expression. He bowed his head and pursed his lips. Unbidden, his eyes became watery.

　　Esteemed Lan Yue sighed. “Let’s take a look and see if there are any survivors.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi and the others looked for two hours inside the villa, but they found that even a dog was killed, and some children still in their infancy had been stabbed through their hearts.

　　Yan Tianhen couldn’t help feeling chills all over his body. He choked back tears. “They…they’re not human! Why slaughter the family? Why did they have to slaughter the family?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi was grim-faced, and the fist hidden in his sleeve was clenched so tightly that it had already drawn blood — I didn’t kill them, but they died because of me.

　　Lin Xuanzhi felt nauseous.

　　The hardest hit was Liu Zhaoyue, who fought back tears and went door to door looking for survivors. When he found that there was not even a fly in the whole villa, he could barely even cry, probably because the trauma was so great.

　　At a loss, Liu Zhaoyue stood at the gate of the mountain villa, looking at the thoroughly destroyed barrier. He did not move for a long time.

　　Qing Zhu felt cold all over and couldn’t believe what was happening in front of his eyes, but all of this truly happened.

　　Everyone’s mood was extremely painful and sorrowful, unable to be put into words. At this moment, it seemed that all the languages were too pale and feeble to describe this.

　　Liu Zhaoyue stood alone behind the barrier and touched the tall tree closest to him.

　　Esteemed Lan Yue sighed and looked into the sky. It was already sunset, and the stars shone faintly through the clouds, their lights dim.

　　“These people died five days ago,” Bei Shitian came over and reported to Esteemed Lan Yue. “Most of them have sword wounds. Moreover…some of them look like Sky Peak Sect’s 《Spiritual Firmament Swordsmanship》, but some others should be wounds caused by magic weapons.”

　　“Sky Peak Sect?” Liu Zhaoyue turned his head towards them, the rims of his eyes faintly red, with a kind of fierce glint to them.

　　Wan Yitong explained, “It’s not hard to imagine. Nowadays, Yin Xinghan is already in cahoots with Ren Bulin, and Ren Bulin also happens to have full control of Sky Peak Sect. It may be assumed that Sky Peak Sect’s forces certainly became entangled with Yin Xinghan.”

　　Liu Zhaoyue gnashed his teeth. “Ren Bulin is not so capable that he can rely on a mere Sky Peak Sect’s power to massacre my Liu family overnight!”

　　The reason why reclusive families could be superior to other cultivation families was because reclusive families had their own powerful cultivation methods and sitting elders.

　　The Liu family had enough forces to rival the strength of a sect. It had secretly developed into a small country over the span of thousands of years, and its relations with other organizations were twisted and intertwined in a complex, hierarchical web.

　　The head of the Liu family, for example Liu Mengchen, could be regarded as an expert among experts in any corner of the Five Continents. Thus, the Liu family should not have been so easily wiped out.

　　However……

　　Esteemed Lan Yue’s face was ashen as he analyzed, “When Yin Xinghan came to the Five Continents, he must have brought many high-level magic treasures and subordinates with him. He likely brought along people to break through this barrier. If Yin Xinghan is behind everything, it’s not impossible for the Liu family to perish. What’s more…”

　　“What’s more, the Liu family is the Yan family’s subject, and Yin Xinghan just happens to represent the Yan family,” Bei Shitian coldly finished. “The ruler-subordinate contract will instill natural submission towards the upper family in the subordinate’s bloodline. It’s the so-called ‘If the king wants the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die’. If the contract owner wants the contracted servant to die, the servant’s cultivation will inevitably be suppressed.”

　　“But Yin Xinghan might not necessarily be the one that the Liu family swore loyalty to.” Yan Tianhen frowned in confusion.

　　“But if the contract owner shared the right to the servant’s life and death with Yin Xinghan, he would have the same authority as the contract owner.” Wan Yitong couldn’t help sighing, “I just didn’t expect that Yin Xinghan would have such high treatment in Yan Zizhang’s mind.”

　　Not every contract owner was willing to share the right to their servant’s life and death.

　　It could be seen that Yin Xinghan was deeply trusted by that person.

　　But…based on Wan Yitong’s understanding of Yan Zizhang, he wasn’t a person who trusted others easily.

　　Liu Zhaoyue was full of rage, and he hated Yin Xinghan to the extreme. His voice was like a cuckoo crying blood, a plaintive lament full of sorrow and hate, “Yin Xinghan, if I don’t kill you, I vow that I will not live as a human!”

　　Just then, a sudden sound came from the air in the distance. When Lin Xuanzhi and the others looked intently, the noise turned out to be from the Jian family’s pupils who came over on their swords.

　　At the head were the Jian family head and Jian Yunxi.

　　Over twenty Jian family members came at once; the sight looked very magnificent.

　　The Jian family head jumped down from his sword and held it in his hand. He looked at Liu Zhaoyue in surprise and asked, “Why did you return?”

　　When Liu Zhaoyue heard this, his eyes immediately reddened. He rushed up and pointed at the Jian family head’s nose as he shouted, “Why did you come here? What are you all doing here? Here to watch the show?”

　　Jian Yunxi walked over, frowning. “Don’t point at my dad like that. I already arrived here three days ago, but at that time, the Liu family had already become like this, so I went back to Fenghui City first and informed my dad, who just arrived today.”

　　The rims of Liu Zhaoyue’s eyes suddenly turned red. “Why did all of you come here?”

　　Jian Yunxi couldn’t help feeling a little uncomfortable when he saw Liu Zhaoyue like this, and his tone also became gentler as he answered, “Before, you sent a voice transmission asking me if the Jian family made an appointment with the Liu family head to meet him in Central Continent’s Sky Peak City. I asked my dad. My dad said that he never contacted Master Liu this entire time, so he felt something was wrong and had me come here to scout out the situation first. Coincidentally, just before I left, my dad received a transmission from Master Liu–“

　　He looked towards the Jian family head.

　　The Jian family head’s expression seemed as though he couldn’t bear to say anything. He looked at Liu Zhaoyue and swept a glance over the other people. “This is no place to talk. Let’s make a long story short. Master Liu and I are both reclusive families in the Five Continents who cut off contact with the Nine Lands all the year round, so in private, our relationship is not bad. Master Liu and I have a pair of Voice Retention Stones. The use of this kind of Voice Retention Stone is to transmit what happened in one place to the other Voice Retention Stone in real time and condense it into sound, which will last for a long time. This type of Voice Retention Stone is extremely precious and hard to find, and it is also quite difficult to refine. Therefore, after Master Liu and I obtained the pair, we agreed that it should not be used casually unless it was a matter of life and death. A few days ago, I discovered that the Voice Retention Stone had actually been activated.”