RUMBLE
Now that Qiao Qinghe was able to ensure that both his granddaughter and that kid with her were able to escape safely, he turned his focus toward Huang Mo. The man currently wore a frightening expression as flashes of black lightning appeared on his body; in fact, Qiao Qinghe swore he could see hints of red within Huang Mo's eyes that gave him the creeps.
These bastards from the Disciplinary Hall definitely have something sinister about them… why did I not do anything during that time? I'm such a coward.
Qiao Qinghe shook his head in regret, his mind drifting back to those days in the sect during the purge. It was at that time that the True Dragon Ancestral Sect had sent a decree stating that a so-called "Child of Calamity" was going to be born in the Azure Dragon Sect, and they had thus issued an order to kill all women who were pregnant during that period.
The Sect Master, Huang Dao, was a vehement follower of the True Dragon Ancestral Sect, and the Disciplinary Hall behind him was the most powerful faction within the Azure Dragon Sect. In fact, it was so strong that it could probably fight two or three of the other halls within the Azure Dragon Sect just on its own!
Truthfully, during that time, he had never wanted to sacrifice the life of his own daughter. After all, what kind of parent would possibly want their child to die for such a horrible reason?
Unfortunately for him, he was not the only person who would be implicated if he chose not to comply with the orders of the Sect Master; it would be the entire Medicinal Hall that would be put into a life-and-death crisis.
In fact, the Missions Hall, led by Head Grand Elder Huang Li, had tried to reject the orders of the Sect Master to help facilitate the purge. What followed was a one-sided massacre; a large number of disciples, elders, and even a True Profound Realm grand elder of the Missions Hall had died because of their choice.
The entire Missions Hall was almost completely destroyed, and it was only because Huang Li suddenly changed his mind about his mini-rebellion at the last minute—somehow convincing the remaining grand elders to stop their actions and submit to the authority of the Disciplinary Hall—that they were barely able to survive.
However, the consequences were quite clear. Compared to the rest of the halls within the Azure Dragon Sect, the Missions Hall—excluding the grand elders—was the weakest faction by far!
I probably would have made the same choice as Huang Li, but Qiao Mei was the person who pushed for me to comply…
To this day, he still felt a pain in his chest when he remembered the decision Qiao Mei made that day. That was because, by some stroke of good fortune, in the entire Medicine Hall, the only person who was pregnant during that time was Qiao Mei!
This meant that if the Medicine Hall was willing to sacrifice Qiao Mei, they could quite possibly survive the entire purge without suffering too many casualties.
However, there were problems with this decision. First was the fact that Qiao Mei was his daughter—the only child of the Head Grand Elder of the Medicine Hall.
Second was the fact that Qiao Mei was deeply loved by everyone within the Medicine Hall. Despite the fact that she had a weak constitution, she was still deeply passionate about medicine and would always try her best to help others, even at the expense of herself.
This means that when his daughter, Qiao Mei, found out about the upcoming purge the Disciplinary Hall was going to conduct on pregnant women—and when she found out the number of people who had died within the Missions Hall for trying to rebel against the sect—she eventually made her decision.
RUMBLE
As flashing emerald lights appeared all over Qiao Qinghe's body, huge amounts of plants and vegetation popped up all around him, creating a sort of mini-forest in his vicinity. Tears seemed to drop from his eyes as he pointed at Huang Mo and screamed:
[Verdant Sea Manipulation Manual – Verdant Sea Forest Bloom]
BOOM
All of a sudden, massive 30-meter tree trunks appeared all around his body, forming wooden roots that instantly rushed straight toward Huang Mo, aiming to incapacitate him. It was clear that, at this point, Qiao Qinghe—in his rage-filled reminiscence of his beloved daughter—had forgotten all about his original goal of protecting his granddaughter and had instead started on a path of vengeance as he remembered her final moments.
"Dad... it's okay... don't cry... this is my choice... I-I don't want the people of our Medicine Hall to suffer just because of me…"
"Even if we were somehow able to stop the Disciplinary Hall... we couldn't possibly say no to the orders of the True Dragon Ancestral Sect…"
"If the True Dragon Ancestral Sect found out that the sect didn't comply with their orders, they would definitely send cultivators above the True Profound Realm to our sect and ensure that it's annihilated…"
"I... want to give my life to the Medicine Hall!"
Qiao Qinghe had cried rivers and seas during that day; in fact, he had never cried so much in his life. He hated his weakness. He hated the fact that his beloved daughter had to sacrifice herself just to appease the whims of people they had never even met.
It was evil, it was barbaric, and yet deep inside, some twisted form of relief had appeared within him as he thought that his years of effort and the people he cared about within the Medicine Hall wouldn't have to sacrifice their lives for just a single person—even if that person was his daughter.
He had a lot of excuses and a lot of reasons, but truly, it all came down to the fact that he was too much of a coward. He didn't dare rise up to oppose them; he didn't dare to fight back. He was an embarrassment.
He was weak.