"Young Master, something terrible has happened! Miss Yu Yao is marrying the Seventh Young Master!" A tall, graceful young woman burst through the door, panting. She was a stunning beauty with a fiery figure, long hair, and long legs. Her arched brows hinted at a youthful, vivacious spirit, but this beauty was marred by a single flaw: a blood-red birthmark that covered half her cheek.
In the room, a pale-faced young man erupted in fury. His eyes flashed crimson as he clenched his jaw, raw fury blazing in his gaze.
"How is this possible? Yu Yao and I have been betrothed since before we were born! How can she marry Qin Fang?" Qin Feng roared, his voice cracking with rage. "How could the Patriarch do this!"
"My father rendered immense service to the family! When the horse bandits from the north came to pillage the city, who was it that fought for three days and three nights? Who was it that used his own body to block the city gates? If it weren't for him, my mother wouldn't have been caught by those bandits and forced into premature labor amidst the chaos of battle! How can they treat us like this?!"
"I won't stand for this! I'm going to find the Patriarch and demand justice!"
Qin Feng didn't even make it out of the courtyard before he was stopped in his tracks by a group of people lying in wait. A young man with triangular eyes and a sinister expression glared at him, a malicious sneer on his face.
"You invalid, who do you think you are, daring to bother the Patriarch? Take a good look at yourself! Miss Yu Yao is one of the greatest beauties in all of Lu'an County. Not only is she as beautiful as a Celestial Immortal, but her talent for the Martial Dao is also exceptional! How could someone like you ever be worthy of her? Now, Miss Yu Yao has agreed to marry Seventh Brother. Heh heh... you'd best know your place!"
"Bastards... How can you be so tyrannical? Aren't you afraid of retribution!" Qin Feng's eyes blazed, blood rushing to his head. His fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms. Qin Feng didn't care what this Yu Yao looked like; what he couldn't accept was this humiliation!
With a frigid gaze, Qin Muhai looked down on Qin Feng, his eyes filled with disdain. He folded his arms, the corners of his eyes upturned in an expression of absolute superiority.
"There are Nine Layers in the Martial Dao: the First Layer, Refining Tendons; Double Bone Forging; Triple Blood Exchange; the Fourth Level of Qi Sensing; the Fifth Level of Inner Strength; the Sixth Level of Divine Power; the Seventh Level of True Qi; the Eighth Level Transformation Liquid; and the Ninefold Divine Transformation. Miss Yu Yao and Seventh Brother are both geniuses at the Peak of the Third Realm. A few days ago, Miss Yu Yao even broke through to the Fourth Layer and grasped the subtleties of Inner Breath. But you, you invalid, have been frail since birth. Your meridians are afflicted with a chilling cold, making cultivation impossible. As I see it, you're just wasting the family's resources by staying alive!"
"As for retribution..." Qin Muhai laughed derisively. He glanced at his snickering cousins and extended a hand with feigned elegance.
"Brothers, look how naive our Lao Jiu still is. Why don't you show him what retribution really is!"
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The moment Qin Muhai finished speaking, the men stepped forward and laid into him with a flurry of punches and kicks.
"Let me tell you, Qin Feng, we only call you Brother Jiu out of courtesy! Without that, you're fucking nothing! You're just a worthless bastard, and you still dare to curse us? I'll tell you what retribution is—it's our fists!"
"How dare you try to ruin Seventh Brother's plans? You're courting death!"
"The Patriarch himself approved this! Besides, your so-called betrothal has no marriage contract, no token of engagement, and no matchmaker to prove it. It's nothing but empty words—who would believe you? And you still dare go argue with the Patriarch? So naive!"
"A piece of useless trash like you dares to ruin Seventh Brother's plans? You're asking to die!"
Qin Feng fought back desperately, but his meridians had been weak since birth, afflicted by a chilling qi. His Martial Arts Cultivation had been stuck at the Early-Martial Arts First Layer. How could he possibly be a match for his cousins, who were at the Late-Martial Arts First Layer or even the Early-Martial Arts Second Layer?
Fists rained down on Qin Feng, but the physical blows were nothing compared to the agony in his heart. A deep, soul-crushing chill settled over him. 'It's all part of the scheming Patriarch's plan,' he thought. 'Abandon a piece of trash like me to help Qin Fang secure his position. Qin Fang is the genius of the Qin Family. If he takes my place and marries the young lady of the Yu Family, his own standing will be unshakable, and it will be a great boon to the Qin Family.'
'The only sacrifice required is me. Not only will the marriage my father bought with his blood be stolen, but to cover up the truth, I'll probably have to disappear for good!'
"Such a brilliant plan... sacrificing a piece of trash like me for the family's prosperity... COUGH, COUGH... Father, is this the family you gave your life to protect? 'So that's why the Patriarch ignored the engagement all these years, even forbidding the servants from speaking of it. He even spread rumors that he was protecting a weakling like me from my jealous cousins. It was all a setup from the very beginning, all to sacrifice me...' The Patriarch is truly a man of great foresight, hahaha..."
Bloody foam frothed at Qin Feng's lips, a tragic smile on his face as his life force faded. But his eyes remained fixed forward, brimming with hatred, unwillingness, and a final accusation against Cangtian. His vision slowly faded to black, and the last thing he heard was the faint, desperate cry of his personal maid, Honglian...
On a small hill not far away, two imposing elders watched the scene unfold. One of them gazed at Qin Feng's fading life force and sighed.
"Second Brother, are you really not going to intervene? Though Qin Feng's father was only your adopted son, he dedicated his life to the Qin Family. Our family already owes him a great debt. To now sacrifice his son as well... isn't that wrong?"
"Fourth Brother, you're too soft-hearted. Those who would achieve great things cannot be concerned with trifles. I took Qin Zhan in as my adopted son, taught him to read and practice martial arts, helped him start a family, and even added Qin Feng's name to the Direct Lineage family register. That was an immense kindness. Now, we are merely sacrificing his son. What's so wrong with that? Fang'er has shown exceptional talent for the Martial Dao since he was a child, and he is clever and perceptive. He is the heir with the best chance of revitalizing the Qin Family. By sacrificing Qin Feng, Fang'er can be with Yu Yao. As the family's matriarch, she will surely support him with all her might. With Fang'er's ability, he might just lead the Qin Family to even greater heights!"
The Qin Family was a prominent family in Shanghe Town, with businesses spanning the entire waterfront. Qin Feng was a grandson of the family's Direct Lineage, ranked ninth. Unfortunately, his reputation was in tatters, and he was widely known as a good-for-nothing. Qin Fang, however, was different. Though also of the Direct Lineage, he was the Qin Family's heaven-blessed prodigy, a renowned genius of his generation.
More importantly, Qin Fang was the current Patriarch's own biological grandson!
Yu Yao was the precious young miss of the Yu Family from Xiahe Town. The Yu Family was another powerful family that dominated its own town, and a marriage alliance between the Yu and Qin Families was a union of two powerhouses. With it, both families could reach a new level of influence.
In the eyes of the Qin Family Patriarch, Qin Qingshan, simply letting Qin Feng marry Yu Yao would be a terrible waste of a priceless treasure, squandering an opportunity for the Qin Family to reach greater heights. After all, Qin Fang was a direct grandson from the Patriarch's own branch, while Qin Feng, ultimately, was not of the Qin Family's direct bloodline...
The other elder understood all of this as well. His lips twitched, but in the end, he offered no further protest. In the small courtyard, Qin Feng was already lifeless...
A column of resentful energy, invisible to the naked eye, soared into the heavens, blanketing the sky above the courtyard. The dense resentment conjured dark clouds and thunderbolts, a terrifying, world-ending sight. RUMBLE! A bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and, as the young maid watched in stunned silence, struck Qin Feng's motionless body on the ground.
The air shimmered, and a faint wisp of Spiritual Light appeared, swiftly burrowing into Qin Feng's body. Amidst the blinding flash of lightning, a faint, almost inaudible voice murmured in pleasant surprise.
"Primordial Qi surges like the tides, Heaven and Earth are as one with Chaos, the land is primordial, an age of rising dragons and serpents... The thrones of the Heaven and Earth Demon Gods are mostly vacant. The heavens have not forsaken me, the Thunder God! To think I have arrived in such a grand new age..."