Second Brother...

After a long silence, Ye Feng spoke in an exceedingly grave tone. "No, we still have to tell Boss about this!" Meng Wanshu frowned. "Is that really necessary? One Body Integration Realm cultivator is dead, and another is heavily wounded. It will probably be a long time before they dare make another reckless move." A sharp light flickered in Ye Feng's eyes as he slightly narrowed his unfocused gaze. "No..." "This organization is plotting something massive." "Why do you say that?" The young woman's brow remained tightly knit; she clearly could not see how any of this connected. Ye Feng closed his eyes and pondered for a long time, but in the end, he could find no link between the attempt on Meng Wanshu's life and the disaster that had struck the Xiao clan. Turning toward the unconscious Xiao Chen, he sighed. "I suppose we'll just have to wait until he wakes up to see if there are any clues. But an organization with such immense power can't be after anything simple!" Ye Feng knocked his knuckles against his head. Usually, Li Guanqi was the one who handled this sort of brainwork. Being suddenly forced to think through these matters felt thoroughly unnatural to him. Meng Wanshu took the mask, preparing to mobilize the intelligence network of the entire Shenbao Domain to investigate the matter. Watching her, Ye Feng suddenly remembered that Tianji Pavilion seemed to have very close ties with Boss. However, he had little contact with them himself, and Tianji Pavilion appeared to answer only to Boss alone. It seemed all of this would have to wait until Boss finished his Void Returning breakthrough. Lost in thought, Ye Feng suddenly sensed a subtle change. He turned his head and saw a single tear slip from the corner of Xiao Chen's eye as he lay upon the ice lotus. Meng Wanshu began to speak, but Ye Feng stopped her, sending a soft voice transmission. "Sister-in-law, please wait outside for a moment." "But..." Meng Wanshu looked at Xiao Chen with a complicated expression. The young man seemed to sense her presence, stubbornly turning his head away with great effort... Ye Feng transmitted softly once more, "Go ahead." Seeing this, Meng Wanshu betrayed no unusual reaction and quietly left the cultivation chamber. Yet the moment she departed, the young man lying on the ice lotus let his shoulders tremble slightly, his face still turned away. His weeping was desperately stifled, a choked, gurgling sound catching in his throat. Listening to him, Ye Feng felt a knot form in his own chest. He walked over and sat down beside him, leaning against the cold ice lotus with his head lowered, at a loss for words. After another long silence, Ye Feng's low voice gently broke the quiet. "Cry it out... You'll feel better." His words echoed in the room, and in that instant, the grief Xiao Chen had been holding back burst forth as he broke down in bitter tears! His wailing grew louder and louder... Xiao Chen threw his arm over his face... Even in his tears, he fought to keep his voice down. But by the end, his sobs gradually turned into ragged roars. "Ahhh!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!" A bone-chilling killing intent surged outward, yet Ye Feng made no move to stop him. He merely sealed the space within the cultivation chamber, ensuring not a single sound could escape outside. *Bang!!* Xiao Chen slammed a fist into the ice lotus, the skin and flesh of his knuckles splitting open instantly. Yet he seemed completely oblivious to the pain, pounding the ice lotus beneath him blow after blow to vent the agony tearing at his soul. Shards of ice flew in all directions. A long time passed before he finally quieted down, his eyes slowly opening. Bloodshot, hollow, and numb, his unfocused gaze stared blankly at the ceiling. In a hoarse voice that sounded like a dying old man's, trembling and thick with tears, he spoke. "Second Brother..." "I... I... have no father anymore..." Leaning nearby, Ye Feng felt his heart violently clench, as if gripped tight by an invisible hand! He had assumed that because Xiao Chen fought so desperately to protect the domain behind him, his closest kin must have already been relocated to safety. He had never imagined... that it would be like this... He wanted to say something, but any words of comfort stuck in his throat—unable to be spoken, impossible to swallow. Ye Feng rose, gathered Xiao Chen into his arms, and gently patted his back just like soothing a weeping child. Without him realizing it, his own voice had turned slightly hoarse. "Don't be afraid... You still have... your brothers standing by you!" Sitting up, Xiao Chen leaned against Ye Feng's shoulder, his bloodied arms hanging limp. His lips trembled as tears poured forth like a broken dam, and burying his face into Ye Feng's shoulder, he wept aloud. He had originally thought his father was only lying to trick him into returning. Yet halfway home, he had received the emergency distress talisman sent from the clan. Before drawing his last breath, his father had roared again and again, ordering him never to come back... That was the first time Xiao Chen had ever felt his father's frantic protectiveness and love. Xiao Chen choked back sobs as he murmured, "Old Xiao clearly knew... if I came back... so many of our clansmen wouldn't have died... He clearly knew... I have the heavenly flame!! He... clearly knew... I... I..." Ye Feng could picture it all too clearly: the desperate instinct of Xiao Chen's father to shield his son in his final moments. Xiao Chen was in such emotional turmoil that he could not even string together a complete sentence. Ye Feng could not truly share his exact pain, yet he could feel the depth of his sorrow. The young man who had harbored the deepest grievances against his clan and his father was now consumed by profound regret... Perhaps even now, he did not understand why his father had always been so harsh and cold toward him. This inevitably reminded Ye Feng of his own father. If not for Li Guanqi, perhaps Ye Feng would still be nursing bitter resentment toward his father for neglecting him and his mother, wouldn't he? Perhaps Xiao Chen's father had carried his own unavoidable burdens, but no matter what... right up until his dying breath, his only thought had been to keep Xiao Chen from coming back. At first, the strongest Abyss Demon might not have revealed itself. Only after discovering its presence did he realize he was no match for it. Unwilling to let Xiao Chen walk into mortal danger, he would rather die alone than let his son return! Xiao Chen's emotions were in complete disarray. His father's dying cries echoed over and over in his mind, making his past resentment toward him feel all the more bitter and tangled. He did not understand... Why did his clan have to suffer such a calamity? He did not even know where those fiendish creatures had come from, or what their purpose was... Ye Feng continued patting his back, steadily channeling primal energy to soothe the stagnant qi congested within Xiao Chen's body. Gradually, overcome by exhaustion and grief, Xiao Chen drifted into sleep. Ye Feng did not leave. He remained seated by his side, watching over him, afraid of what reckless thing Xiao Chen might do if he woke up alone. He let out a succession of quiet sighs, completely unsure of how to comfort Xiao Chen once he opened his eyes. The Xiao clan had commanded a force nearly a thousand strong, yet this catastrophe had battered their foundation, claiming nearly half their lives. Even clan head Xiao Yue was dead... The sacred Xiao clan would likely plunge into steep decline, and where would Xiao Chen go from here? The more Ye Feng pondered it, the more suffocating his frustration grew, and a sliver of killing intent slowly glinted in the depths of his eyes!