Chapter 528 The Real Illegitimate Son of the Saint Emperor

In the vast hall, there were only two people. The one below spoke in a sinister tone, “Young Master, that formula is definitely inside the wooden box! This is your last chance! If that girl leaves, she will absolutely never return!”

“But she’s my own niece!” The man on the throne seemed to hesitate.

“Those two were your brother and sister-in-law, Young Master!” The man below was completely shrouded in a black robe, his face obscured. His voice alone was enough to give one a sinister feeling.

“Don’t bring that up!” The man on the throne flew into a rage. “If it wasn’t for you, they never would have died! I never wanted to kill my own brother!”

“Enough, Young Master.” The man below didn’t seem to fear the one on the throne at all. He said nonchalantly, “Only you truly know what you were thinking. If you hadn’t let me secretly pass the message to the Saint Emperor back then, the Saint Emperor never would have sent his bastard son to do the job. Heheheh, a bastard… hilarious, isn’t it!” The man in black seemed to be laughing with great satisfaction, yet his voice carried a hint of sorrow.

“Wasn’t your goal back then to snatch the formula and, while you were at it, get rid of your brother? Oh, but you didn’t want to get rid of your sister-in-law. I remember, she seemed even more beautiful than Yuyan is now! Ah, it was her maturity. The kind of maturity that would make any man’s heart flutter with a single glance, heheh!”

“Enough!” The slender man on the throne picked up an Inkstone and hurled it at the man below.

The man below simply shook his head and dodged. The fine Inkstone hit the ground and shattered into pieces.

The man in black said, “Young Master, there’s a devil in your heart. Just because you became the Patriarch doesn’t mean that devil has vanished. This is who you are! Stop trying to fight it!”

“Li Si, you beast! Everyone in your Saint Emperor Lineage is a beast!” The man on the throne practically spat the words through clenched teeth.

If Qin Li and Ji Yuyan had been here, they would have been utterly shocked. This man in black was the real Li Si! The one who died before was merely a decoy!

“Heheh, so what? Your father is probably still grieving over the fact that his son, the Patriarch, is a traitor. See? When that girl returned, he pointedly did not inform you. How does that feel? Pretty great, right? But that old bastard is ruthless enough. He actually killed my woman and my daughter! My dear Young Master, don’t you think that old bastard deserves to die too?”

Ji Ren, on his throne, suddenly let out a cold laugh. The laughter grew more and more cheerful until tears streamed from his eyes. “Li Si, you’re just a cuckold! HAHAHA! What makes you think you’re any better than me? Your woman cheated on you! Your daughter first called my brother ‘Father,’ then she called that decoy ‘Father.’ Don’t you find that the least bit tragic? HAHAHAHA!”

“Heheh, I have plenty of women. What do I have to be sad about? In any case, I control you. For you, even death is an impossible dream. Everything the Ji Family has… will be mine one day! All mine!”

The man in black suddenly grew agitated, his voice laced with hatred. “All the Tree Lotuses of the Ji Family will be mine! I can live for a very long time. Seven thousand years from now, I’ll still be alive! By then, I will become the most powerful expert on the Celestial Essence Continent! An Earth Immortal! Heheh, Ji Ren, I’ll let you live to see that day too. But today, I’m going to start by making that devastatingly beautiful niece of yours my woman!”

“Enough! Get out! GET OUT! GET OUT!” Ji Ren roared, his face twisted in a savage mask of agony.

“Fine, I’ll leave. I’m leaving right now. Young Master, you mustn’t get angry. It’s not good for you. You are, after all, a cultivator at the Pill Nascent Soul Transformation realm. Calm down. You must calm down!”

As the man in black spoke, his figure slowly faded into thin air, leaving behind a string of sinister cackles.

After the man in black had gone, Ji Ren slumped onto his throne. He hesitated for a long while before pulling a porcelain vial from his robes. He opened it and tipped out a single Elixir. It was the only one in the vial.

Ji Ren muttered to himself, ‘Brother, I’ve wronged you. I did a terrible thing and brought harm to you and our sister-in-law. I was blind, controlled by someone from the Saint Emperor Lineage. But no matter what, the mistake was mine. After all these years, Yan’Er has returned. I absolutely cannot stand by and watch him frame her too! Father, your son doesn’t ask for your forgiveness. I only hope that after I die, I can still be buried in the Ji Family’s ancestral tomb! Please don’t cast me out. Without the family’s protection, your son will be afraid…’

Tears slowly welled in Ji Ren’s eyes. Gritting his teeth, he swallowed the Elixir. Instantly, an astonishingly powerful force surged through his meridians, rampaging like a torrential river.

Ji Ren gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face as he spoke. “Little brother, I never realized you saw things so clearly back then! Not leaving that formula behind was the absolute right choice! This Elixir you prepared for me… after a hundred years, I can finally use it! HAHAHA!”

At that moment, the aura around Ji Ren surged to a critical point. Sensing the time was right, he took out a brush and paper, poured ink directly onto the table, and wrote a long letter with swift, flowing strokes. Then, with a flicker of his form, he vanished from the room.

…

Ji Yuyan murmured, ‘It can’t be him. He’s my uncle, my father’s own brother. My father always had a good relationship with him, so how could he possibly do something like this? Impossible, absolutely impossible! Qin Li, can we just stop investigating this? We already have the Tree Lotus, anyway. Let’s just leave tomorrow, okay?’

Qin Li sighed softly. ‘What right did he have to comment on another family’s affairs?’ He could only nod. But then, a cold sneer touched his lips. “Yuyan, you’re being too naive. It seems someone doesn’t want us to leave.”

Just then, Ji Yuyan also sensed a powerful aura slowly approaching. She glanced at Qin Li in astonishment, thinking, ‘Qin Li is only at the Pill Nascent Soul Transformation realm. How can his Divine Sense be so powerful?’

At that moment, Ji Changgeng’s shout echoed from the distance, “Who goes there? Who dares trespass in the Ji Family Valley?”

BANG!

Following the loud noise was Ji Changgeng’s pained cry, “Young Miss, run! There’s an assassin!”

Ji Yuyan flew into a rage and screamed, “Changgeng!”

By now, the person had arrived outside Ji Yuyan’s courtyard, letting out a series of cold sneers. “Heheh, Young Miss, if you don’t want to die, hand over the wooden box your parents left you!”

‘So they’re after the wooden box!’

Ji Yuyan and Qin Li exchanged a look, then opened the door and stepped out of the room. They saw a figure completely shrouded in a black robe, their face obscured. From the voice alone, Ji Yuyan couldn’t tell who it was.

“Who are you? Who sent you?” Ji Yuyan asked with great composure. She wasn’t afraid of the black-robed figure before her for a simple reason: in terms of power, she was also at the Thunder Tribulation Realm, and when it came to poison, she had Qin Li by her side, a man immune to all toxins.

Besides, this was the Ji Family!

This was her territory!

Even being away for a hundred years couldn’t change that fact!

A lecherous light shone from the black-robed man’s eyes as he looked Ji Yuyan up and down. His gaze finally rested on her long, slender, and shapely legs, and he laughed happily. “I thought you were already broken in, but it turns out you’re still a virgin. How lucky for me! Young Miss, hand over the wooden box and become my woman. I guarantee you’ll enjoy a life of boundless luxury!”

“Pah!”

A frosty mask fell over Ji Yuyan’s beautiful face. “You shameless beast!” she said coldly. “Tell me, who sent you?”

“Heheh, with your intelligence, Young Miss, surely you can guess who sent me?” The black-robed man laughed smugly. “Be smart about this. Don’t end up like your parents, meeting such a tragic death!”

“You—You’re spouting lies! I know! You must be the spy! You’re from the Saint Emperor Lineage!” In truth, Ji Yuyan didn’t know anything at all. But since her opponent was spouting nonsense, she decided to make a wild guess of her own. She never expected that her guess would be so accurate.

Just then, the sky overhead suddenly churned as winds began to howl. An incredibly powerful fluctuation erupted. The once star-filled sky was abruptly covered by roiling black clouds, shot through with countless bolts of raging lightning.

“Hm?” The black-robed man was momentarily startled. Then, his expression changed drastically, and he roared in that direction, “Ji Ren, are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

“Hmph! Li Si, you beast! You harmed my brother and sister-in-law back then, and now you want to harm my niece. So what if I throw my life away?”

The voice from the sky left Ji Yuyan stunned. She murmured, “Uncle… Why is he here? What… what is going on?”

“Ji Ren, so you want to be a martyr? Fine. Very well, I’ll grant you your wish! But if you think this will wash away your crimes, you’re far too naive!”

As the black-robed man spoke, a blast of Spiritual Power shot toward the sky, aimed in Ji Ren’s direction.

Qin Li’s brow furrowed slightly. He, too, unleashed a blast of Spiritual Power, shattering the black-robed man’s attack and causing it to dissipate into the air.

A roar of laughter echoed from the sky. “Li Si, I’m not making it out of this alive, but you’re dying with me! See? Even though I’m still under your control, there are others who can break this Technique of yours! Li Si, you cuckolded bastard! You beast from the Saint Emperor Lineage! Come on! If you’re any kind of man, then fight me!”

CRACK!

A deafening clap of thunder boomed!

The black clouds in the sky could no longer withstand the immense pressure, and a torrential downpour began to cascade down.

Li Si sneered. “Kill me? Dream on! Ji Ren, since you’re so determined to die, then go right ahead. I’m not sticking around for the show! But remember this: everything the Ji Family has, sooner or later… it will all be mine!”

With that, Li Si’s figure flashed, tearing a massive rift in the space before him. He flickered and slipped inside, but at that exact moment, three separate attacks slammed viciously into the spatial rift.