Events of the Past, Slaying a Golden Core

Buzz! A strange sound rang out abruptly. Immediately following it was a blur of five-colored light, with misty vapors surging upward. The effeminate, handsome young man seemed to blur and transform into a bright moon, reflected directly in the alluring woman's heart as boundless illusions rose and fell in rapid succession. In a single instant, Seventh Aunt was deeply entrapped within the illusion, devoid of any power to resist! This was the first time Zhou Fuyou had ever cast the illusion technique Mirror Flower Water Moon. Though he felt he had already mastered it to utter perfection, he still feared unforeseen accidents, so he immediately inquired into the events of the past. "Fourteen years ago, what was truly going on with that tonic?" Dazed and bewitched, Seventh Aunt replied involuntarily, "Its name was the Spirit-Strengthening Decoction, but in truth, a medicinal herb called ghost seedling-pulling herb was added to it. After repeated consumption, the imbiber would only feel robust in body and abundant in soul. Yet the ghost seedling-pulling herb would gradually take effect, damaging the foundation of their divine soul and compromising their future cultivation." Ghost seedling-pulling herb! The instant he heard the name of this herb, Zhou Fuyou's expression shifted. He had read about this herb in a Daoist classic before; it was entirely unfit for ordinary consumption. Descriptions of ghost seedling-pulling herb's uses almost always pertained to concocting pills that could stimulate human potential in the short term, granting a temporary surge in vigor. When facing a crisis of life and death against an insurmountable foe, consuming a pill refined with ghost seedling-pulling herb would multiply one's strength several times over. No ordinary cultivator would willingly consume such an herb, let alone a six-year-old child like Zhou Fuyou back then! Zhou Fuyou was enraged, his voice turning chillingly cold. "Why?" Seventh Aunt did not answer, for the question lacked a specific direction. Zhou Fuyou took a deep breath, suppressing the fury in his heart, and slowly asked, "Our two families have always been on good terms. Setting aside my cordial relationship with your son, the mere fact that my father and Seventh Uncle went through life and death together should have precluded you from laying such a vicious hand on me. Why did you do it?" With unfocused, misty eyes, Seventh Aunt murmured, "Because you were too outstanding. At a tender age, you already displayed extraordinary intellect. Once you began cultivating in the future, you were bound to achieve great things." "Just because of that?" Zhou Fuyou asked in disbelief. Seventh Aunt continued, "Also because your father was exceedingly capable and highly valued by the Clan Head. Back then, he was at the forefront of arranged marriages. Your mother was from the main lineage of the Qingtong Lin family!" Zhou Fuyou refused to accept it. "So what if my father was capable? Our two families are close allies. The more formidable he was, the more the clan would benefit. Could you truly harbor such jealousy toward him over that?" Seventh Aunt murmured, "Jealousy certainly existed, but it wasn't enough to make us move against him. It was a demand from my maiden family." "Move against him?" Zhou Fuyou frowned in confusion, and then, as if realizing something, his expression completely changed. Seventh Aunt nodded blankly. "Yes. During that sea patrol mission, your parents did not die of natural causes. Haiye lured them into a certain-death trap, leaving not even their bones behind." *Hiss, hiss, hiss...* Strands of spiritual power shot wildly from Zhou Fuyou's body, slamming into the surrounding marsh and splashing up countless spatters of mud. His face was filled with murderous intent. He had never imagined that there was such a sordid secret behind his parents' deaths. At this moment, he could barely resist the urge to slaughter this woman before him, whose face was as lovely as peach blossoms yet whose heart was venomous as a viper. Yet he forcibly suppressed it, his tone only growing colder and more sinister. "Why did the Yin family target my parents so ruthlessly?" "Because Zhou Yunshen's lifespan is nearing its end." "The Old Ancestor?!" Zhou Fuyou blurted out, his mind unsettled under the successive shocks. Even the high-grade illusion technique Mirror Flower Water Moon showed faint signs of instability. A look of struggle crossed Seventh Aunt's face, but beneath the suppression of the illusion, she was forced to answer her nephew's questions one after another. "The world knows that Zhou Yunshen does not have much time left and could pass away at any moment. Yet the Zhou family occupies the finest rank-four spiritual ground within a ten-thousand-li radius—Bailu Marsh. Once Zhou Yunshen sits in death and the Zhou family loses its Nascent Soul True Person, they will inevitably be unable to hold this place. Therefore, the two great allies, the Qingtong Lin family and my maiden Hanjiang Valley Yin family, have been secretly stirring with ambition." "Your father was too capable and was very likely to succeed as Clan Head or take a seat as an elder in the future. At that time, owing to your mother's background, the one to reap the benefits would have been the Qingtong Lin family." "Thus, my Yin family could not tolerate your father's existence. Poisoning you was merely a convenient afterthought." "Not only that, they also secretly provided Haiye with massive resources, helping him forcibly form his core to seize a high position within the Zhou family." "Once the Zhou family's Old Ancestor passes, Haiye will coordinate with my Hanjiang Valley Yin family. Working together from within and without, like a cuckoo usurping a magpie's nest, we will seize this sacred cultivation ground of Bailu Marsh." *So, in the end, it was all for profit?* Zhou Fuyou's expression turned desolate. His parents' murder, his younger sister's accidental harm—it was all merely because the Hanjiang Valley Yin family coveted the Zhou family's Bailu Marsh. Presumably, poisoning him as a convenient afterthought was merely intended to strike at his father's prestige back then. Suppressing his burning anger, he posed a question laced with wrath. "Seventh Uncle is a member of the Zhou family! How could he betray his own clan?" Seventh Aunt replied naturally, "He was never valued within the clan, and once the Old Ancestor is gone, the Zhou family will inevitably fall. Under such circumstances, my Yin family extended an olive branch, helping him form his core, aiding him in grasping authority, and even securing our son Zhou Yuqi a spot as an auditor at the Tiannan Dao Palace. In the future, even if the Zhou family ceases to exist, he will still have a place to stand. For Haiye, making this choice was the wisest path." Zhou Fuyou still refused to accept it. "Even if the Old Ancestor sits in death, the Zhou family still has First Elder Zhou Cang to make a bid for the Nascent Soul realm, as well as five or six Golden Core Masters and dozens of Foundation Establishment True Cultivators! The Hanjiang Valley Yin family cannot swallow the vast Bailu Marsh on its own!" "The Zhou family is no true aristocratic Daoist clan, whereas the Tiannan Continent is filled with humble and noble clans handed down from Daoist sects. Once the great tree falls, the monkeys will scatter. When the time comes, numerous families will swarm forward, and the Zhou family will not be able to withstand them. Meanwhile, my Hanjiang Valley Yin family needs only Haiye's cooperation to claim the richest, fattest portion of the spoils, and that will be enough." Having heard this much, Zhou Fuyou had no desire to ask anything more. He had only one last question. "Does Zhou Yuqi know about any of this?" Did his childhood companion, his only "friend," know about these deeds? A tender expression surfaced on Seventh Aunt's face. "Yuqi knows nothing." *Drip!* A drop of water fell into a small, calm puddle within the marsh. Ripples spread outward, and the mirror-like surface reflecting the bright moon shattered in an instant. Seventh Aunt blinked blankly and looked ahead. All that met her gaze was a whistling water arrow. *Pfft!* At the center of the woman's brow, a bloody plum blossom burst open. She collapsed into the filthy marsh. Suddenly! A beam of faint light drifted up from her corpse, and from within it came a furious roar: "Xixue!" *So Seventh Aunt's name was Yin Xixue?* Zhou Fuyou sneered coldly, his spiritual sense making contact with that beam of light. "Seventh Uncle, Fuyou awaits you!" The faint light shattered in an instant. His expression unchanged, Zhou Fuyou produced a blue jade ruler in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the jade ruler sank deep into the thick mud. Then, he sat down at ease. Though his countenance was serene, the murderous intent in his heart was surging with manic intensity. The vengeance for his parents was an irreconcilable feud under the heavens. This matter, he would settle with his own hands! Moreover, he was certain that Zhou Haiye would not bring anyone along—nor would he dare to. This provided him the perfect space to execute his vengeance in person. Would Zhou Haiye come? *Whew!* A shrill screech pierced through the air. Crimson magic power tore through the dense poisonous vapors, revealing the figure of a middle-aged man. Zhou Fuyou slowly rose to his feet. "Seventh Uncle, you truly came." Zhou Haiye's gaze fell upon the corpse on the ground, his face turning livid. "You little bastard, how dare you?!" Zhou Fuyou let out a light laugh. "Why wouldn't I dare? You dared to murder my parents and poison me when I was merely six years old. What would I not dare?" Zhou Haiye's expression shifted drastically. "How many secrets did she leak before she died?!" "All of them!" Zhou Fuyou pointed a finger. *Bang!* The alluring woman's corpse on the ground instantly exploded into a shower of bloody mist. Such a cruel and grimly vivid sight sent Zhou Haiye into a towering rage. "You are courting death!" "Do you dare to kill me?" Zhou Fuyou sneered. "I am favored by the Old Ancestor, a genius explicitly demanded by the Tiannan Dao Palace. Do you dare strike me?" Zhou Haiye hesitated. Zhou Fuyou shook his head. "No, you must strike. If you don't kill me, the clan will not spare you, Zhou Yuqi will not fare well, and there will be no place for you under the heavens of the Tiannan Continent." "Yes, I must kill you. Once you are dead, I will claim it was the work of the Bailu Demon King within the marsh, and no one will be able to blame me." As Zhou Haiye muttered to himself, the spiritual pressure unique to the Golden Core realm crashed down overwhelmingly. Zhou Fuyou neither dodged nor evaded, the spiritual power circulating through his entire body. *Boom!* In an instant, misty air currents erupted from within him, meeting the Golden Core spiritual pressure head-on. Not only that, but those black currents of air surged outward in all directions, centered around him. Within mere moments, they had blanketed a radius of ten li. Faced with this scene, Zhou Haiye found it utterly incomprehensible. Yet very quickly, he realized something. "Foundation Establishment? When did you advance to Foundation Establishment?!" "The moment I killed your wife, you should have realized I possessed at least the strength of Foundation Establishment," Zhou Fuyou said flatly, already taking a step back and vanishing into the dense black currents of air. Zhou Haiye felt that many things had spiraled out of his control, but his Golden Core cultivation allowed him to maintain his final shred of rationality. "You are barely twenty years old! Even if you achieved Foundation Establishment, it was through some hasty method, pointlessly squandering your exceptional talent! Furthermore, you have never fought anyone and have zero combat experience! On what basis do you dare provoke me?!" This time, Zhou Fuyou offered no reply. Concealed within the boundless black currents of air, massive amounts of spiritual power poured out like an ocean tide, churning up the foul Bailu Marsh into violent upheaval. His figure tread upon the waves, ethereal and elusive. One incantation gesture after another was cast from his hands. "Using the spell self-created by our Old Ancestor to slay you can also be considered cleaning up the clan." Zhou Fuyou muttered softly to himself, thrusting both hands forward! A wall of qi pressed toward the distant Zhou Haiye. The other man overturned his palm, shattering it. Immediately after, three more thick walls of qi pressed in from the other three directions. Not only that, an astonishing dragon's roar bellowed from the sky. A blue flood dragon pounced downward, shaking its head and lashing its tail. Countless water arrows rained down in dense barrages from every direction, sky and earth alike. The moment he struck, Zhou Fuyou held nothing back. Meanwhile, the shock in Zhou Haiye's heart grew ever greater. With a flick of his sleeve, he shattered the walls of qi; his flying sword magic treasure severed the blue flood dragon; a shield hovered around him, warding off the myriad water arrows. "How could he possess such abundant spiritual power, as if it were boundless and inexhaustible?!" "How can he cast spells so rapidly, linking them together without a single gap?!" "Wait!" *Sizzle...* Amidst the churning onslaught of black currents, Zhou Haiye's top-grade defensive dharma artifact was steadily corroding; even the Golden Core protective barrier he had cast was beginning to falter under that corrosive force. It was miasma! Zhou Haiye had a sudden epiphany. These black currents infused with spiritual power were clearly the deadly poisonous miasma that had lingered in Bailu Marsh for countless years. Recalling how the miasma in Bailu Marsh had steadily diminished over these past few years, an incredible thought surfaced in his mind. "Did Zhou Fuyou actually refine the miasma of the vast Bailu Marsh—miasma that even Golden Core cultivators would never wish to taint themselves with—into his own body?!" Had Zhou Fuyou known of his belated realization, he might have commended his wealth of experience. Over these past few years, Zhou Fuyou had indeed secluded himself in Bailu Marsh, refining vast quantities of miasma into the scalable spell *Qi Sea Floating Heaven*. This was the cultivation method left behind on a jade slip by Old Ancestor Zhou Yunshen. The art of *Qi Sea Floating Heaven* took the sea of qi as its foundation, accommodating the myriad qis of the world to achieve boundless might. Regarding these so-called myriad qis, the Old Ancestor had listed many examples: Miasma, baleful qi, toxic qi, and even numerous potent forces of extreme yin and bitter cold. So long as the sea of qi was vast enough and the cultivator could withstand it, they could continually absorb and accommodate them! Coincidentally, Zhou Fuyou possessed a sea of qi that resembled a bottomless abyss, and he had discovered that his constitution was entirely immune to such deadly poisonous miasma. Thus, in just three years, he had cultivated *Qi Sea Floating Heaven* to an extraordinary realm. In killing his Seventh Uncle Zhou Haiye, he possessed immense certainty. This was not merely out of Zhou Fuyou's immense confidence in his own strength, but also because Zhou Haiye's Golden Core realm had been attained through opportunistic shortcuts. Furthermore, after achieving Golden Core, he had become obsessed with vying for power and profit, never dedicating significant time to consolidating his cultivation. "Today is not only to avenge my parents, but also to clean up the clan!" Hardening his resolve, Zhou Fuyou unleashed all the spiritual power in his body through his broad meridians. The black air currents surged even more violently, trapping Zhou Haiye dead at the center. No matter how he lunged left and right, it was all in vain. Even more spells assailed him from all directions, from sky and earth, striking from all manner of unexpected angles. This manner of combat no longer had anything to do with combat experience. It was sheer squandering! A squandering of spiritual power, a saturation bombardment of spells. Under constant corrosion, in less than half a quarter of an hour, the protective shield around Zhou Haiye shattered completely. Right at this moment. A pool of blue light surged into the sky, transforming into over a hundred shadows that struck down in unison toward Zhou Haiye. "The Old Ancestor actually gave you his famed magic treasure, the Yin-Slaughtering Ruler?!" Amidst the roaring shout, a shrill scream rang out. Immediately after, Zhou Haiye produced a talisman and crushed it directly. *Boom!* A blazing sun detonated amidst the terrifying black currents. Seizing this opportunity, Zhou Haiye staggered as he soared into the air, attempting to break free. Yet the surrounding currents transformed into vicious, ferocious flood dragons, biting into him and dragging him downward once more. …… On the outer perimeter of Bailu Marsh. Zhou Junxiao, who sat presiding over the center and overseeing the overall situation, suddenly felt an uneasy tremor in his mind and looked up into the distance. As far as the eye could see, billowing black qi permeated the entire sky. Faintly, a figure seemed to break out of the dark curtain, only to be dragged back down by vicious flood dragons. That was Zhou Haiye! His expression shifted drastically. Tossing out the command "Hold the defensive line" to his clansmen, he charged straight into Bailu Marsh. Soon, Zhou Junxiao arrived deep within the foul marsh. Many Foundation Establishment members of the Zhou family were flying toward this area; they were all clansmen participating in this expedition to purge the demon beasts of Bailu Marsh. Zhou Junxiao bellowed, "No one is permitted to approach! This black qi is extraordinarily corrosive; your defenses cannot withstand it!" With that, he plunged inside. Advancing along the way, the protective barrier of magic power around his body made contact with the black qi, steadily being corroded. Zhou Junxiao's expression was grave. Not daring to halt his steps, he sped toward the center of the battlefield. He could not allow Zhou Haiye to die here; after all, the Zhou family possessed few Golden Core cultivators to begin with and could not afford such a loss. Yet when he set foot in the center of the battlefield, all he saw was a mangled, battered corpse. It was Zhou Haiye! His features were unrecognizable, his body torn and broken. Strands of black air currents were ceaselessly burrowing in and out of the wounds on the corpse, remarkably spirited. Witnessing this scene, Zhou Junxiao's eyes nearly split with rage, and he roared furiously, "Who is it?! Get out here!" *Whoosh! Whoosh!* The sound of whistling air currents arrived. Zhou Junxiao looked up. He saw an exceptionally handsome white-robed young man holding a blue jade ruler, slowly descending from the oppressive, dark sky. Upon seeing who it was, Zhou Junxiao was stunned instead. "Zhou Fuyou?" Zhou Fuyou calmly stowed away the blue jade ruler. "Fuyou greets the Clan Head." Zhou Junxiao glanced around in disbelief, his gaze finally settling upon Zhou Fuyou. "You did this?" "Yes. I killed Zhou Haiye." "How dare you?! He was a Golden Core Master of the Zhou family, and he was your Seventh Uncle!" Zhou Fuyou shook his head. "The details cannot be fully explained in a short time." Zhou Junxiao took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that surged within him once more. "No, I need an explanation from you!" The nearby black air currents were currently returning to Zhou Fuyou's body like swallows returning to their nest. That slender frame, though not particularly robust, was like a vortex. Seeing these bizarre air currents—potent enough to threaten even himself—being collected in such a manner, Zhou Junxiao's eyelids twitched wildly. This junior was merely twenty years old! How could he have cultivated such a terrifying lethal technique? Could this truly be an unprecedented genius? Zhou Fuyou curled his lips into a faint smirk. "Clan Head had better think about how to explain Zhou Haiye's death to the others. As for the true reason, I will await you at Coral Hall, where you will receive a satisfactory answer." With those words, Zhou Fuyou quietly sank downward, vanishing into the foul marsh of Bailu. Zhou Junxiao could hardly believe that the person who had displayed such demeanor moments ago was Zhou Fuyou. So willful, so aloof and cold. He had slain an elder of the clan, yet acted with such sheer arrogance before him, the Clan Head! Fury raged within him, but recalling Zhou Fuyou's aptitude and talent, and remembering the shelter of the Old Ancestor, he parted his lips, only to helplessly lower his head in the end. As the black air currents dissipated, streaks of escape light began to approach from all around. Upon seeing the mangled corpse on the ground, cries of shock rang out one after another. Zhou Junxiao sighed, offering an explanation that was hard to convince the crowd, yet one that everyone was forced to accept. "Sixth Elder Zhou Haiye fell at the hands of a hidden demon king within Bailu Marsh."