Huchen Wuding was, after all, an illegitimate son. His mother, a gentle woman, was the third wife. She disliked conflict, but Huchen Wuding's father had four wives, and the main wife was the most domineering, constantly suppressing the other three branches. Among them, only the branch of Huchen Wuding's mother came from a weak sect—an obscure, second-rate one. The other two concubines had powerful backings. In the end, almost all the grievances fell upon Huchen Wuding's mother. When Huchen Wuding was six, he revealed his extraordinary aptitude, especially in the art of poison refining, where he showed exceptional intelligence. If this had happened before the family's old ancestor had gone into seclusion, Huchen Wuding would have received extreme attention. That old ancestor had never cared about status; as long as you had the Huchen family bloodline and outstanding talent, he would directly grant you a large amount of cultivation resources and a very high status in the family. It was just that this old ancestor of the family had already gone into secluded cultivation decades before Huchen Wuding was born.
And although Huchen Wuding's father was the second-strongest expert in the family, he was extremely afraid of his wife, especially the First Lady. He was terrified of her. Although he also loved Huchen Wuding very much, every time he showed it, he would be put in his place by the matriarch until he was meek and submissive.
Huchen Wuding's talent brought him a lot of trouble. The matriarch, along with another branch, began to suppress him relentlessly from a young age. Sometimes, for an entire year, he wouldn't receive a single cultivation resource. Although Huchen Wuding's father would secretly give him some, he didn't dare to give too much, for fear of being found out. Fortunately, there was one other branch, that of Huchen Wuding's second aunt, who, while indifferent to his mother, never bullied the weak. Seeing how pitiful Huchen Wuding was from a young age, she would occasionally provide some support. In this way, Huchen Wuding stumbled through his cultivation until he was eight years old. Even with a lack of resources, his progress was still remarkable.
But this only made the matriarch and his fourth aunt's two lineages even more afraid. They feared that the Huchen family's great-grandfather would emerge from seclusion at any moment, which would be extremely bad for them. At this point, they had already developed the intent to kill. Huchen Wuding's father also received the news. In a rare display of courage, he secretly sent Huchen Wuding and his mother out of the family. He also transcribed a copy of the first to fifth layers of the Ghostly Poison Scroll for Huchen Wuding to take with him, instructing them that once the family's old ancestor came out of seclusion, they could return to the family after receiving the news at one of the designated Huchen family outposts that sold medicinal pills. Huchen Wuding's mother looked at this weak husband, who still had a trace of affection, and with a desolate smile, she quietly took Huchen Wuding and left the place where she had spent her youth.
From then on, Huchen Wuding and his mother wandered the world. They later went to his mother's sect and found Uncle Sang. This man was Huchen Wuding's mother's junior martial brother. After the two of them discussed it, they didn't feel the sect was very safe. Anyone with half a brain would track them there.
From then on, Uncle Sang took the mother and son to a remote, uninhabited mountain to live. That period was the happiest time of Huchen Wuding's life. Every day, his mother would wash clothes and cook. Then she would sit in front of their simple wooden house, watching him cultivate by the river at dawn. At sunset, he would see Uncle Sang returning from the more distant mountains with a lot of demonic beast meat. At that time, he really wished that life could go on like this forever.
Although Huchen Wuding was young, he had experienced a depth of experience that few his age had. In the eyes of Uncle Sang, who often sat in a tree drinking wine, he saw a kind of gentleness. It was a soft gaze directed at his mother. He did not reject this gaze; instead, he had always regarded this man as a true father.
At that time, Huchen Wuding would always faintly hear Uncle Sang, drinking wine on a tree branch, reciting in a low voice.
"The east wind knows of my journey, where mulberry and elm cast a deep shade, turning into the glistening silk of a spring silkworm."
"The west wind knows of my departure, as withered mulberry leaves fall, and on sunset branches, the wind blows cold and sharp."
"No snow upon the branches, only the parting pavilion of yesteryear..."
And every time, his mother's gaze would seem to dart away, with crystal-clear tears hanging on her face as she lowered her head to cook dinner...
Life went on like this for eleven years. But Huchen Wuding's mother, due to the unresolved sorrow in her heart, finally passed away. Just before her death, she sent Huchen Wuding out to be alone with her junior martial brother. Huchen Wuding didn't know what the two of them said. When he went back in, his mother had already died in Uncle Sang's arms.
And in the following days, what frightened Huchen Wuding was that Uncle Sang just held his mother in a daze, without eating or drinking. And his originally young and handsome face had aged to that of a middle-aged man in just a few days, as if he had experienced several decades in an instant. Finally, after three days, Uncle Sang came to his senses. He and Huchen Wuding buried his beloved in the green grass of the valley. Then he took Huchen Wuding and left the place where they had lived for eleven years. Finally, they settled down in a small mountain village for another six years. The Uncle Sang in Huchen Wuding's eyes became more and more taciturn. In just six short years, he had changed from a middle-aged uncle to a hunchbacked old man, often staring blankly at a certain place in a daze. It was the direction where they had once lived.
And in these six years, Huchen Wuding also went out with the hunchbacked old man several times a year. Besides gaining experience, it was to inquire about the Huchen family. But every time, the hunchbacked old man would go alone to inquire, and he was extremely careful, so they had never revealed their whereabouts.
As Huchen Wuding gained more experience, he slowly learned about the past of this Uncle Sang—"Demondog Moonshadow," Zhuo Lingfeng. As for why his mother had always had him call him "Uncle Sang," Huchen Wuding still didn't understand, but he seemed to recall those few lines that Uncle Sang had never recited again.
Zhuo Lingfeng, he was once a person who led his sect to compete with the prodigies of his generation. Although his sect was weak, it had produced an outstanding person like him. It was said that he had even fought against people from the four great sects. He was a famous figure back then, and his methods were ruthless, his character resolute. It was said that both the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the Supreme Mystery Teachings had tried to recruit him, but he had not gone. During that period, he had disappeared for a long time. When he reappeared, his personality had changed greatly. He would often take a person's life with a single strike, rarely leaving any room for error.
The news he heard could not be reconciled with the young man with a warm smile under the setting sun in his eyes. From this, he fully understood this man's feelings for his mother. For a person who came and went alone like this to be able to give up everything and accompany him and his mother for so many years... he was now an adult, how could he not understand? And his mother's gaze towards him also held tenderness. Why had his mother married into the Huchen family? Huchen Wuding never dared to ask.
Until last month, after Zhuo Lingfeng went out alone, when he returned, he said to him faintly, "We can go back to the Huchen family now!" Everything was so calm, as if he were talking about an ordinary matter. And at that time, Huchen Wuding could not have guessed that his journey would be a storm of blood.
This was what Huchen Wuding had told Li Yan privately over the past two days. Although most of it was through voice transmission, Li Yan knew that Zhuo Lingfeng knew what they were talking about, but he just pretended not to know. Every time he looked at Huchen Wuding, Li Yan always felt a trace of sadness in his eyes.
Similarly, over these two days, although Zhuo Lingfeng was still wary of Li Yan, his vigilance had lessened a lot. He no longer kept Huchen Wuding behind him at all times, but allowed Li Yan to talk to him, with himself in between. And along the way, besides Huchen Wuding asking once about Li Yan's cultivation, which Li Yan had laughed off and changed the subject, Zhuo Lingfeng had not asked a single question.
Huchen Wuding was able to say these things to Li Yan, partly because he was complaining to Li Yan. He had experienced hardships since he was a child. Although he knew that this mysterious person's goal was to obtain the "Netherworld Order" and had his own interests, generally speaking, Li Yan was not hostile for the time being. Most cultivators were cold and unfeeling. Huchen Wuding still put himself in a weaker position, hoping to gain a little sympathy. Secondly, he was shocked by Li Yan's methods of poisoning. Before meeting Li Yan, whether it was when he first showed his talent in the family before he was eight, or when he was roaming outside later, let alone among his peers, even some people who had been immersed in the "Way of Poison" for half their lives, he rarely paid them any mind. It wasn't that he was arrogant, but that it was indeed the case. But after the battle that night, he had thoroughly felt how insignificant he was in the face of a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator. The gap in strength made him unable to use many of his poisoning methods.
Li Yan's move had made Huchen Wuding feel the terror of a poison cultivator again, and it had rekindled his fighting spirit. He Manhua had been afflicted with two potent poisons, and it seemed as if Li Yan had deliberately set the order of their outbreak. Everything had erupted at the right time. Although he could also do it, to do it so lightly and yet with such weight, in his impression, only his father, with whom he had a complicated relationship, could do it. But the Li Yan before him, no matter how he looked at it, was not a Golden Core expert. Even if Huchen Wuding one day cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage, he was sure that he would find it difficult to achieve such control. That not only required a deep understanding of the refined poison, but also the perfect coordination of Divine Sense and spiritual energy when releasing it. A single mistake would lead to a chain of errors. Therefore, he also wanted to explore some of the meaning of the Way of Poison through his conversations with Li Yan.
Li Yan sat cross-legged, thinking about these things, a faint smile on his lips. How could he not know Huchen Wuding's thoughts? The other party wanted to get something about the Way of Poison from him, which was destined to be very difficult. Because even Li Yan himself was not too clear about it. The Fragmented Poison Body was a part of his body. Many times, it relied more on a feeling, an intuition, and even an instinct. And what he had to do was to dig out this potential.
However, through some exchanges, he had become interested in the Ghostly Poison Scroll cultivated by the Huchen family. Although Huchen Wuding was also secretive and would deliberately avoid the key points when it came to some poisoning methods, Li Yan could still feel the strangeness of the Ghostly Poison Scroll's cultivation technique.
The night before, he had used the Fragmented Poison Body with his Foundation Establishment cultivation. But Huchen Wuding had seized every possible opportunity and was also able to poison a powerful late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, who could destroy a town with a wave of his hand, in a moment of carelessness. According to Huchen Wuding, these poisons were all refined by himself. For a Qi Condensation cultivator to be able to refine a potent poison that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator could not detoxify in a short period of time, as far as Li Yan knew, there would not be more than fifty among the tens of thousands of Qi Condensation disciples in the Malevolent Spirit Sect. This was not talking about using demonic beasts to assist in attacks, but truly being able to refine the poison himself. He himself did not count, as he was still relying on his special constitution.
"If there's a chance, I'd like to take a look at the Huchen family's cultivation method. There are many things in it that I can learn from." Thinking of this, Li Yan put these things aside. Now he had other things to do.
After confirming that the small formation he had set up in the room was running correctly, Li Yan's expression became serious. With a flick of his sleeve, three storage bags appeared before him. Li Yan's Divine Sense directly split into three strands and simultaneously struck the three storage bags. In an instant, the room was filled with a brilliant light. The various colored spiritual lights made the room colorful and dazzling. It was just that all of this was isolated by the small protective formation in the room. Without an outsider using their Divine Sense to forcefully probe, it was impossible to see this.
The three storage bags belonged to the He brothers and Bloodhand Flying Sickle. Now that the three of them had long since fallen, the trace of Divine Sense left on the mouths of their bags had also turned to dust. Li Yan opened them without any obstruction.