The yellow-robed middle-aged man remained silent for a long time, and the entire courtyard fell into a strange quiet. In the night, the three of them—one sitting, two standing—stared at each other.
After a long while, a dry voice broke the silence of the courtyard. "Wuding, you've grown up. You look just like your mother." The yellow-robed middle-aged man finally spoke his first words.
"Perhaps. I wonder what your purpose is in coming here? Do you plan to stop me from competing? I remember when I was a child, no matter what competition it was in the family, even if I managed to secure a spot privately, you would just strip me of it," Huchen Wuding said coldly.
The yellow-robed middle-aged man sighed, a bitter smile on his face. "Wuding, I know you hate me. As a child, I hardly gave you any cultivation resources and didn't let you participate in family competitions. But wasn't it I who sent out the news you received this time? I once told your mother to have you wait for news at the two outposts outside the family at irregular intervals. Since that's the case, how could I stop you from coming to the family to compete for the position of successor? On the contrary, I hope you can get this position. And you must get it." The visitor was none other than the head of the Huchen family, Huchen Wandong.
Hearing Huchen Wandong's words, Huchen Wuding's face remained as cold as ever. He just stared at the other party, as if trying to recall this person whom he had once somewhat hated and feared.
This time, Huchen Wandong averted his gaze and looked at Zhuo Lingfeng. He suddenly bowed deeply to him. "You must be Zhuo Lingfeng, Brother Zhuo. For all these years, Wuding and his mother have been under your care. Wandong thanks you here."
This bow, though unexpected, only made Huchen Wuding and Zhuo Lingfeng's eyes flicker. Zhuo Lingfeng's aged voice slowly came out, "I am but a minor Foundation Establishment cultivator. How could I dare to receive such a grand gesture from a powerful Golden Core cultivator? I am even more unworthy of the title 'Brother Zhuo.' I was just doing my best for the sake of a fellow sect member. If worse comes to worst, what does it matter if I lose this worthless life?"
Although his words were filled with indifference, there was also a faint trace of anger within them. He was not in the least bit afraid of the other party, who was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator far stronger than him.
In front of a Golden Core cultivator, all of his cultivation was a joke. The other party could take his life in a single exchange. But knowing this, Zhuo Lingfeng still did not fear the consequences.
Hearing Zhuo Lingfeng's words, there was not a trace of anger on Huchen Wandong's face. Instead, a deep sense of apology appeared. "Brother Zhuo is too modest. Wuding, how is your mother now?"
Huchen Wandong cupped his hands to Zhuo Lingfeng again, then looked at Huchen Wuding, his eyes showing a sense of urgency. In his heart, he naturally thought that since they had come to the family this time, they had traveled light and hidden their tracks to be more covert.
"My mother? You don't need to concern yourself with her. You should first state your purpose for coming here," Huchen Wuding said, a sharp pain flashing deep within him as he heard Huchen Wandong's words, his expression growing colder.
A trace of disappointment appeared in Huchen Wandong's originally hopeful eyes. He knew that the current situation was all of his own making. This was also the main reason he had come tonight. He took a deep breath, glanced at Zhuo Lingfeng standing behind Huchen Wuding, and after a moment's thought, he waved his sleeve. A huge restriction appeared on the courtyard wall, enveloping the entire courtyard.
When he waved his sleeve, Zhuo Lingfeng had already released his spiritual energy to protect Huchen Wuding. Although he knew that with his Foundation Establishment cultivation, if the other party wanted to deal with them, they would be powerless to resist, he still did it.
He had come here this time with the intention of dying. Everything was to fulfill the request she had made back then, and the wish of this child he had depended on for more than ten years. When he sensed that this restriction was only for soundproofing, his heart also relaxed.
After setting up the restriction, Huchen Wandong looked at Huchen Wuding and said, "Father came late, not because I was afraid of your First Aunt and the others." When he said this, he clearly saw Huchen Wuding's lips curl in disdain. He pretended not to see and continued.
"If Wuding doesn't believe what I'm about to say, Brother Zhuo can still provide some corroboration." Huchen Wandong said such an unprompted sentence. Without waiting for the two in front of him to show a strange expression, he began to speak on his own.
"Your mother came from a very small, second-rate sect..." As Huchen Wandong narrated, great waves crashed in Huchen Wuding's heart. The confusion that had plagued him for many years finally began to clear up, especially regarding why his mother had married into the Huchen family back then. This was something he had never understood. In his childhood memories, his mother's feelings for this father before him seemed very indifferent.
Yue Xiangyun, a young girl from an unremarkable second-rate sect, was beautiful and the ideal woman in the hearts of many young disciples in the sect. When she had just reached Foundation Establishment more than twenty years ago, she was also a prodigy of the sect. But in order to find a powerful backer for the sect, the sect master had married her off to the head of the rising first-rate family, the Huchen family—Huchen Wandong.
At that time, Huchen Wandong was already a famous mid-stage Golden Core expert. In terms of age, the two were extremely mismatched. Huchen Wandong was already over three hundred years old and had already married two wives. But the sect master of Yue Xiangyun's sect had reasoned with her and appealed to her emotions. He had even brought several elders to beg her. Poor Yue Xiangyun had grown up in the sect since she was a child. How had she ever seen such a scene? She could only agree with tears in her eyes and, against her will, married into the Huchen family. But she did not know that once one entered the gates of a noble house, there was no turning back.
The marriages of the Huchen family were all alliances. This was the most common practice among cultivation families. The Xie family, where the First Lady, Xie Xiaoxiao, came from; the Chi family, where the Second Lady, Chi Dongli, came from; and the Ye family of the Fourth Branch's Ye Luoyan, who had married in after Yue Xiangyun, were either first-rate families or top-tier second-rate families. They were not comparable to the sect behind Yue Xiangyun. Therefore, she was often bullied by the First and Fourth Branches. But fortunately, the Second Branch's Chi Dongli would occasionally speak up for her, which somewhat restrained the unscrupulous behavior of the First and Fourth Branches.
And at that time, Huchen Wandong's favorite wife was actually this third wife who had no backing and was very gentle. It was just that in the face of the First Lady Xie Xiaoxiao's dominance, he dared to be angry but not to speak out. The reason for this was that the family's old ancestor had entered a life-or-death seclusion and had not appeared for decades. There were even rumors in the clan that he had already died. And the place where the Huchen ancestor was in seclusion, apart from himself, even Huchen Wandong, with his mid-stage Golden Core cultivation, was powerless to open from the outside. This put the Huchen family in danger of being surrounded by powerful enemies from the outside.
The Huchen family's greatest external enemy was the Xie family, where the First Lady Xie Xiaoxiao came from. The Xie family's ancestor had also entered the early stage of the Nascent Soul decades ago. When they had formed a marriage alliance with the Huchen family, their purpose was to use the Huchen family's power and resources to develop their own family. Now that there were problems within the Huchen family, how could they let it go? It was just that the Xie family's Nascent Soul ancestor was very afraid of the Huchen ancestor. He had only formed his Nascent Soul for a few decades, while the Huchen ancestor had been stuck at the early stage of the Nascent Soul for several hundred years. They were not opponents of the same level at all. So, on the one hand, he had the First Lady Xie Xiaoxiao keep an eye on the Huchen family's movements, and on the other, he began to seize power from within the Huchen family.
The elders of the Huchen family were all veterans and were loyal to the Huchen family to the core. It was almost impossible to bribe them. So the Xie family turned their attention to the next generation. As long as they obtained the position of family successor, everything would be resolved. In another few decades or a hundred years, the center of power would naturally be handed over. And all of this naturally fell on the eldest son born to the First Lady Xie Xiaoxiao. She constantly brainwashed her son, instilling in him the benefits of her maternal family, the selfishness of the Huchen family, and so on. And from the outside, the Xie family's ancestor constantly put pressure on the Huchen family. This made Huchen Wandong and the few Golden Core elders dare to be angry but not to speak out.
But with the birth of Huchen Wuding, and the talent he showed after he was six, the First Lady Xie Xiaoxiao felt a great threat and began to constantly suppress Yue Xiangyun. In addition, the Fourth Branch's Ye Luoyan, in order to deliberately get close to her, would step on anyone the First Branch disliked. One can imagine how miserable Yue Xiangyun's life was.
Finally, when Huchen Wuding was eight years old, his aptitude became more and more outstanding, and his brilliance had surpassed that of the eldest son, Huchen Wanli, and the youngest son, Huchen Jianghai. And the Huchen ancestor might come out of seclusion at any time. This made the First and Fourth Branches decide to kill the mother and son. But fortunately, although Huchen Wandong had endured humiliation to survive, he had been paying close attention to their movements. After learning of this situation, he sent Yue Xiangyun and her son out at the first opportunity.
This move of his made the First Lady Xie Xiaoxiao furious, and she almost directly had the Xie family launch an attack. But at this time, the Second Branch's Chi family's only Nascent Soul ancestor unexpectedly came to the Huchen family, saying that he was visiting his daughter, and then he stayed there for three years. Anyone could see the unusualness in this. The Chi family could not let the Xie family become the sole dominant force. And perhaps the Chi family's ancestor's stay in the Huchen family was also for the purpose of finding out about the Huchen ancestor.
Even after the Chi family's Nascent Soul ancestor left, the Xie family had no intention of attacking the Huchen family. They just began to increase their cultivation of Huchen Wanli, and at the same time, constantly pressured Huchen Wandong to hold the competition for the position of successor sooner. But after sending Huchen Wuding away, Huchen Wandong, as the head of the family, actually slowly became tougher. No matter how much the First and Fourth Branches pressured him from inside and outside, he just wouldn't announce the start of the competition for the position of successor. Instead, he used the excuse that as long as the old ancestor didn't come out of seclusion for a day, the successor would be invalid, and dragged it on again and again. This drag lasted for seventeen years, and he actually managed to drag it on until the Huchen ancestor successfully came out of seclusion. In this way, a part of the Xie family's plan was foiled. Their hope that the Huchen ancestor would perish was gone. But they were also secretly glad. If they had rashly attacked the Huchen family back then, and that old undying one had desperately come out of seclusion to fight, plus the Chi family's old ghost was watching from the side, the final result might have been that the Chi family would benefit, and they and the Huchen family would both be seriously injured.
"Your talent, I have also reported to the old ancestor. He was very happy after hearing it," after Huchen Wandong had said everything, he looked at Huchen Wuding with a gentle gaze and said.
A complicated look appeared in Huchen Wuding's eyes. He naturally did not know about these things. His mother had never told him. In his memory, all he had was the various bullying and deep hatred of his childhood.
He turned his head to look at Uncle Sang. Zhuo Lingfeng had not spoken from beginning to end. When his father and son were talking, no one had noticed that when Huchen Wandong said the three words "Yue Xiangyun," Zhuo Lingfeng's body had trembled slightly and imperceptibly, and then he had returned to normal. But when he later described how the sect master and several elders had begged Yue Xiangyun to marry into the Huchen family, a trace of sorrow and anger appeared deep in his eyes. No one knew that when he had learned of this matter back then, he had gone to see Yue Xiangyun in private. The latter was silent, her eyes empty, as if she were a walking corpse. No matter what he said, his senior martial sister remained silent. This finally made him understand that the so-called pedantry in this world, the so-called sacrifice for the sect, was nothing more than this. With his heart dead, he had directly left the sect. When he returned to the sect again, it was several years later. But that person had come to seek refuge with him with her child.
Noticing Huchen Wuding looking back at him, Zhuo Lingfeng remained silent for a while before saying in a hoarse, deep voice, "What he said about your mother marrying into the Huchen family is true. It was the sect's decision. I have also heard from your mother about the things that happened later. It should be roughly the same." As he said this, Zhuo Lingfeng's body seemed to have hunched a little more. His expression was indescribable, whether it was hatred for the Huchen family, or whether he should place all this hatred on the Xie and Ye families, or even on his own sect.