Chapter 84: Please Wait for Me at Home

Night had fallen.

It seemed that Dongqian Continent was stepping into winter, and the wind at night carried a biting chill.

Xu Zhe lifted his gaze toward the inky black sky but saw not a single star.

Lowering his head, he saw a pool of blood on the ground, streaked with fragments of bone dust.

He had followed all the clues and background references from Zhu Chongli’s recorded footage, tracking his way here, but in the end, he was still too late.

Far, far too late.

The assassin was long gone, and even Zhu Chongli’s remains had vanished.

The killer’s cruelty was unimaginable—there was nothing left, not even bones; they had been ground to ash.

…

Xu Zhe drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly, trying to ease the suffocating oppression in his chest.

Yet as he exhaled, he could clearly feel the air shuddering—his breath trembled, unsteady.

A violent rage, long suppressed in the depths of his heart, refused to be released.

His hands remained tightly clenched—from the moment he saw the recorded footage until now, the veins on his fists bulged, his knuckles purple, as if his blood would burst from his skin at any moment.

“Buzz—”

At that moment, the Myriad Phenomena Jade Tablet began to tremble, casting a ray of light dazzlingly bright in the night.

Xu Zhe ignored it, standing silently where he was, his eyes fixed on the pool of blood.

In his mind, the scenes Zhu Chongli had recorded before his death replayed over and over.

He had fled through the skies, leaving his final words for the camera, sobbing miserably, tears and snot streaming down his face, battered by the wind—utterly wretched.

But there was nothing ridiculous about it.

Xu Zhe could sense Zhu Chongli’s state of mind then—he was truly terrified, utterly helpless, and in the end, unable to hold back, he cried to Xu Zhe for help.

“Old Zhu, you really should have felt regret. You… right up to your death, you insisted you had no regrets. Why is that?”

Xu Zhe finally spoke, murmuring to himself.

“Yeah, why was that?”

Suddenly, a bitter laugh escaped him, tinged with irony, with coldness and vehemence.

“Because you did nothing wrong. All you did was lend a hand to a friend. You never offended them, but because they couldn’t get to me, they vented all their hatred on you.”

“Don’t worry. Everything you said, I’ll see it done.”

“I won’t change myself or become like the others.”

“I’ll take care of your family and won’t let them suffer.”

“And I won’t avenge you.”

…

“But those people—just breathing the same air as them makes me sick. My heart is stifled and restless.”

“Those assassins, that Mo family—they’re a blight. Every second they live, good people are in greater danger, their lives insecure.”

“So, I promise you, I won’t avenge you now. But I must rid the world of these evils for the sake of the people!”

…

The Myriad Phenomena Jade Tablet continued to vibrate incessantly.

A flood of communication requests poured in without pause.

After a long silence, Xu Zhe finally drew out the jade tablet and glanced at it.

It had just fallen quiet again, displaying over fifty missed calls—all from Chu Xiaotong and Qu Hongxiu.

There were more than a dozen messages, again from the two of them.

“Xu Zhe, don’t be impulsive. I’ll handle this myself—I won’t let the Mo family or those underground assassins escape.”

“Xu Zhe, answer the call! Hurry, I need to talk to you.”

“Xu Zhe, where are you? I’m coming to find you. Let’s drink together—I can outdrink the world tonight!”

“Say something!”

…

“Uncle Xu, those underground killers are revolting. Don’t worry, Master and I will make sure Uncle Zhu is avenged.”

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why are they so cruel—they’ve posted all the footage of Uncle Zhu and his family on the Spirit Net!”

…

Xu Zhe scrolled rapidly through the messages, until he reached the last one from Qu Hongxiu—his body shook violently, his eyes widening in shock.

Zhu Chongli’s family?

A surge of intense foreboding swelled within Xu Zhe. In his mind, a desperate pleading voice echoed again and again: No… please, no…

With trembling fingers, he opened the Spirit Net, navigated to the main page’s trending topics, and read the headlines—his mind went blank, thunderstruck.

The Spirit Net had erupted—countless people were in shock.

A post from Mo Xiaolian was pinned firmly at the top.

“Wow, saw two terrifying recordings on the Spirit Net today. A bit scary, but so exciting!”

Below, she’d attached a mocking, playful selfie.

She’d also reposted two video segments from others.

The first was Zhu Chongli being hunted by mysterious underground assassins—the process of his being hacked to pieces, his bones ground to powder, all recorded by the killers.

Yet throughout, Zhu Chongli never uttered a sound—he clenched his teeth and bore it to the end, leaving only a final message: “I have no regrets. Captain, don’t you dare die too. My wife and child still need someone to look after them.”

Then, beneath the assassin’s boning knife, his breath ceased—he died.

The scenes that followed were even more brutal, but Xu Zhe forced his eyes open, staring straight at the footage until the end.

But when he reached the second video, he found himself unable to summon the courage to click play.

For the title itself was something he could barely face: “In One Day, the Taiyi Sect Is Annihilated—Zhu Chongli’s Family Slaughtered.”

In the end, Xu Zhe steeled himself and opened the video.

What followed was a display of inhuman slaughter, again recorded by the assassins—dozens of Nascent Soul experts stormed the already weakened Taiyi Sect, killing everyone in sight.

Finally, they captured Zhu Chongli’s wife and daughter, saving them for last, deliberately giving them a close-up.

The little girl, only six years old, shook with terror on screen, her face ghostly pale, her pure eyes filled with terror and confusion. She seemed not to understand why any of this was happening.

Why had these people come to the Taiyi Sect? Why had they killed all the brothers and sisters who had once been kind to her?

Her cries echoed from the Myriad Phenomena Jade Tablet, resounding in all directions.

Then an assassin, wielding a blade, approached—invoking a spell, he swung down, and in a single stroke, mother and daughter were reduced to a bloody mist, leaving not even their bodies behind.

“Boom!”

In that instant, the righteous aura shielding Xu Zhe exploded with a deafening roar.

A wave of murderous fury surged from his soul, wild and boundless, sweeping outward.

A tremendous killing intent spread in all directions; Xu Zhe’s eyes turned blood-red, his long hair whipped into a frenzy.

He seemed possessed, golden-red arcs of lightning flashing in his eyes, blinding, almost demonic in the darkness.

The next moment, his lips curled into a smile.

A chilling, monstrous grin twisted his face.

He opened the Myriad Phenomena Jade Tablet’s Spirit Net and replied under Mo Xiaolian’s post:

“Wait for me. Be sure to wait at home. I’m coming to kill you all.”

Immediately, a bronze sword flew forth, emitting a piercing, resounding cry. Merging with him, it transformed into a streak of light that shot skyward, tearing through the night.

…

[End of First Chapter]