âHow are you feeling, does it trouble youâ¦â
Li Tangyu began.
âThank you for your concern, Brother Li, my wounds are not a serious issueâ¦â
Zhang Yuan replied.
âCome in, pleaseâ¦â
With that, Zhang Yuan gestured for everyone to enter the house.
Once inside, everybody took their seats.
A beautiful maidservant came over and poured a cup of tea for each person.
After the maidservant had left, Huang Qingling began to tease:
âOhâ¦â
âZhang Yuan, I never thought that you, usually so quiet, would have such a pretty maidservant attending to you.â
After hearing this, Zhang Yuanâs face, which had been somewhat pale, flushed red in an instant.
He hastily explained to everyone:
âI was assigned a maidservant by the family to look after me only because of my injury.â
âNormally, I am on my ownâ¦â
Seeing Zhang Yuan a bit embarrassed, Li Tangyu quickly changed the subject:
âAlright, Sister Qing Lingâ¦â
âDonât tease Brother Zhang anymoreâ¦â
Having said that, Li Tangyu took a Pure Jade Box out of his Storage Bag and passed it over.
âWe heard you were injured, so we specially got you this Pure Healing Elixir, hoping you would recover soon.â
This was something the group had discussed on the way over, that Li Tangyu would present a Pure Healing Elixir to Zhang Yuan.
Originally, Lin Jing and Huang Qingling had suggested compensating Li Tangyu in other ways, but he had refused.
âBrother Li, thisâ¦â
Zhang Yuan, upon seeing the Wound Healing Elixir, intended to refuse, but was interrupted by Li Tangyu:
âTake it, now that youâre injured, itâll come in handyâ¦â
âYes, you should take itâ¦â
Li Qingqing also spoke up at that time.
âAlrightâ¦â
After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Yuan nodded and accepted the Elixir Medicine.
âBrother Zhang, can you tell us what exactly happened in the Demon Race Secret Realm?â
âThat even the Zhang Family Patriarch was injuredâ¦â
Li Tangyu asked.
After hearing this, Zhang Yuan was initially silent for a while before he spoke:
âNot hiding anything from you, actually, we encountered Demon Cultivators insideâ¦â
Zhang Yuanâs statement instantly provoked shocked exclamations from everyone.
âDemon Cultivatorsâ¦â
âAre you saying that those attacking you were Demon Cultivators?â
Li Tangyu asked.
Zhang Yuan nodded and said:
âYesâ¦â
âDemon Cultivators, and moreover, one that could absorb human blood, a Demonic Path Demon Cultivatorâ¦â
âAt the time, I was searching for Spirit Grass in the Secret Realmâ¦â
âBut while exploring, I suddenly came across signs of a battle and driven by curiosity, I followed the tracesâ¦â
âIt was during my search that I found Li Yao and several members of the Li Family.â
âWhen I found them, they had all been drained of their essence and blood, their bodies shriveled up, reduced to just skin and bones, it was extremely horrific.â
âIf it werenât for their clothing, and the shattered Magical Treasures nearby, I wouldnât have believed that those withered corpses were from the Li Family.â
Hearing this, everyone was astounded.
No one expected that such a terrifying Demon Cultivator would exist within that Secret Realmâ¦
Recalling the previous times they had entered the Secret Realm, Li Tangyu, his sister, and Huang Qingling all felt chills.
âIt seems we were really lucky the times we went in thereâ¦â
Huang Qingling said.
Li Qingqing nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Li Tangyu was still deep in thought.
After a moment, Li Tangyu addressed Zhang Yuan:
âBrother Zhang, you said it was a Demon Cultivatorâ¦â
âSo, you have actually seen him, havenât you.â
Zhang Yuan nodded and replied:
âYes, I have seen that Demon Cultivatorâ¦â
At that moment, Huang Qingling suddenly spoke up, saying:
âIâve heardâ¦â
âWhen the Demon Race Secret Realm had just opened, they encountered a beast-man cultivator with the head of a wolf, and his cultivation was very high.â
âAt that time, it took several Golden Core Immortals to join forces to kill him.â
âCould this beast-man cultivator be the same as that wolf-headed cultivator?â
Zhang Yuan shook his head and said,
âI have also heard about that wolf-headed beast-man cultivator, who was said to be several zhang (a unit of length) tallâ¦â
âThe one that appeared this time, however, is somewhat differentâ¦â
âIn terms of size, this beast-man cultivator is no different from an ordinary person, much smaller than that wolf-headed beast-man cultivator.â
âWhen I saw him, he was fiercely entangled in battle with the Li Family Patriarch. He wore a black cloak, so I couldnât see clearly and couldnât tell if he was a cultivator or a beast-man cultivator.â
âSoâ¦â
âI thought of getting closer to get a better look.â
âBut it was because of this move that I was discoveredâ¦â
âAs a result, that beast-man cultivator just struck and sent me flying with a single blow, fortunately, Uncle Wu arrived in time to block some of the attackâ¦â
âOtherwise, I fear I would have died from that one blow right then and there.â
At this point, Zhang Yuan gave a bitter smile and then continued,
âThe injuries on my body also came from this.â
âAfter that blow, I passed out due to the severity of my wounds.â
âHowever, before I lost consciousness, I still caught a glimpse of that beast-man cultivatorâs face.â
âHis appearance was not much different from that of the wolf-headed beast-man cultivator, and his eyes were blood-redâ¦â
âI suspect that this beast-man cultivator is very likely related to that first wolf-headed beast-man cultivator.â
As Zhang Yuan finished speaking, Li Tangyu exclaimed in surprise,
âYour Uncle Wu? Zhang Wu?â
âI remember my grandfather mentioning that he was not much younger than the Zhang Family Patriarch. I wouldnât have thought that after so long, heâs still aliveâ¦â
With Li Tangyu saying this, the rest of the people were even more confused.
âUncle Wu is about the same age as the Zhang Family Patriarchâ¦â
It sounded very chaotic.
Seeing Lin Jing and the other two puzzled, Zhang Yuan began to explain:
âMy Uncle Wu is called Zhang Wu, originally a pitiable child saved by our family patriarch when he was young. Later, with the patriarchâs help, he also embarked on the path of cultivation and followed the patriarch on his adventures.â
âHowever, he has always considered himself a servant of the Zhang Family. The patriarch has tried to persuade him several times, but ultimately had to let him be.â
âBut we younger generation usually refer to him as Uncle Wu.â
After explaining to Lin Jing and the others, Zhang Yuan said to Li Tangyu:
âUncle Wu is indeed not young, but for the past few decades, he has been in closed-door cultivation, rarely going out.â
âThatâs whyâ¦â
âThe outside world believes that he must have met his end long ago.â
âThis time, it was only because of the Demon Race Secret Realm incident that Uncle Wu came out of cultivation, to protect us younger ones.â
âSo thatâs how it isâ¦â Li Tangyu realized.
âAfter that, did your family patriarch and Uncle Wu also join the fray?â
Li Tangyu asked.
Zhang Yuan nodded and said,n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âYes, when I woke upâ¦â
âThe fight had already ended, and it was Uncle Wu who told me about what happened next.â
âAfter I passed out, the patriarch arrived, and together with Uncle Wu, they fought against that beast-man cultivator.â
âBut that beast-man cultivator was too powerful, and even the three of them together couldnât kill him, only managed to wound him before he escaped.â
âAnd because of his family members being killed, the Li Family Patriarch went mad, ignored their advice, and recklessly pursued himâ¦â
âUnexpectedly, he ended up tragically dead at the hands of that beast-man cultivatorâ¦â
Upon hearing this, the others sighed.
Li Tangyu let out a sigh and said,
âAlasâ¦â
âThe entire Li Family perished at the hands of that beast-man cultivator, and it was understandable for the Li Family Patriarch to make that moveâ¦â
Huang Qingling followed up,
âYes, I have heard rumors from the outside that the Li Family had discovered something valuable in the Secret Realm, with nearly the entire family mobilizedâ¦â
âBut who could have imagined, this would lead to the extinction of the Li Family.â
âNow, the Li Family can be said to have only the old and weak leftâ¦â
âWithout the protection of Golden Core Immortals, it wonât be long before the Li Family estate will be occupied by others, and the Li Family will be driven out of the Nanshan Immortal Cityâ¦â
âBy that time, when all their old enemies come swarming inâ¦â
âThe Li Family will be finishedâ¦â
Zhang Yuan also lamented,
âIndeedâ¦â
âIsnât that always the way of the Cultivation Worldâ¦â