Chapter 242: Chapter 239: Enmity Resolved, a Devil is Born

"Brother Zhang Shao, I must offer you this toast!"

Wang Chen raised his cup. "If you hadn’t brought news of that little thief Mo Qi, who knows when I could have avenged my son."

Zhang Shao raised his cup as well, a sorrowful look on his face. "No, I should be the one thanking you! Without your help, even if I had lured Mo Qi to the Imperial City, I still wouldn’t have been able to kill him."

"In any case, Mo Qi is dead now, and my vengeance is complete. My son’s spirit can finally rest in peace! Drink up!"

"Bottoms up!"

After they finished, Wang Chen refilled Zhang Shao’s bowl.

"This second bowl is for you as well! You were the one who persuaded the Blessed One to take us in. Bottoms up!"

"Bottoms up!"

Another bowl went down, and Wang Chen poured a third.

"This third bowl... I... Why am I feeling a little dizzy?"

Wang Chen felt his vision blur, and the scenery around him began to spin.

’This isn’t right. This wine is strong, but forget two bowls, even twenty or two hundred bowls shouldn’t be enough to get me drunk!’

Wang Chen subconsciously tried to circulate his True Essence to expel the alcohol, but he quickly discovered he couldn’t sense its existence at all.

’Damn it, I’m poisoned!’

He realized what was happening, but it was too late.

His head grew dizzier, and his consciousness began to fade.

He looked over at Zhang Shao, who opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of wine. He and Yan Hong were smirking at Wang Chen.

"You! Wh-why?" It was all too clear to Wang Chen now. They were the ones who had poisoned the wine!

Zhang Shao sighed, feigning regret. "Brother Wang Chen, the Blessed One gave the order. We had no choice. I wish you a safe journey."

"I... I..."

Wang Chen wanted to say more, but his mouth was no longer under his control. He could only force his eyes open and stare daggers at Zhang Shao.

Zhang Shao walked up to Wang Chen and whispered in his ear, "Don’t say I never looked out for you. The Wang Family line isn’t broken. Before your precious son died, he had a tumble with someone and left a seed behind—your very own grandson. He’s at my Wolf Fang Sect now. Don’t worry, I’ll raise him to be a man."

Hearing this, Wang Chen’s breathing became ragged, but the light in his eyes grew dimmer and dimmer.

"Do it!"

Zhang Shao and Yan Hong struck at the same time. Two Grotto Heavens descended, their tyrannical power instantly tearing the defenseless Wang Chen to pieces. His flesh, blood, and scattered Power of the Soul were crushed to dust by the Grotto Heavens, ultimately dissipating into the world, leaving nothing behind.

"We can’t stay here. Let’s go!"

Zhang Shao let out a low shout and was the first to transform into a streak of light, flying off into the distance.

Yan Hong retracted his Grotto Heaven and followed close behind. Just at this moment, when his guard was at its lowest, a golden light suddenly shot out from the ground.

"Damn it!"

Yan Hong’s face paled in horror, but by the time he tried to react, it was already too late.

PFFT~

The golden light effortlessly pierced through Yan Hong’s Dantian without any resistance.

All his strength dissipated. Like a kite with a snapped string, Yan Hong fell from the sky and crashed to the ground.

PUH!

A mouthful of blood spewed from his lips, but Yan Hong began to laugh hysterically.

"Hahaha, Zhang Shao, I should have known a leopard can’t change its spots! This Iron-Winged Golden Cicada was raised on my own flesh and blood, wasn’t it? To think I’d fall to it in the end... Pathetic. Utterly pathetic!"

Zhang Shao, who had already flown far away, reappeared before Yan Hong. A fist-sized golden cicada was perched on his shoulder.

"That’s right. This little guy was indeed raised inside your body back then. Feels familiar, doesn’t it?" Zhang Shao asked with a smile.

"Cough, cough." Yan Hong’s laughter pulled at his injuries, and he began to cough violently. Each cough brought up a fresh spray of blood.

When the Iron-Winged Golden Cicada destroyed his Dantian, the immense piercing force had also shattered his internal organs.

His Vitality was rapidly fading. The only reason he hadn’t died instantly was that he was holding on by the sheer depth of his Cultivation.

"Don’t blame your master. Everything is..."

"Everything is fate!" Yan Hong cut in, finishing Zhang Shao’s sentence. "That’s what you always used to tell me."

"Cough, cough... Zhang Shao, you know, I don’t blame you. I never have," Yan Hong said with a wretched smile. "Even though you put all your effort into raising me, when in reality you were just cultivating the cicada larva you planted in my body, I still didn’t blame you!"

"Because you were the one who saved my life in the first place."

Zhang Shao’s smile froze on his face. There were some memories he couldn’t forget either. He said in a low voice, "Stop playing innocent with me. You don’t blame me? Then why did you leave the Wolf Fang Sect?"

"Hahaha, why did I leave?" Yan Hong gave a wretched laugh. From the blood loss, his face was ashen-white, making him look somewhat crazed.

"Because I couldn’t accept that the man I saw as my own father had been deceiving me the entire time!"

"I don’t blame him, but I couldn’t accept it, so my only choice was to run away!"

Hearing the phrase "my own father," Zhang Shao froze as if struck by lightning, his entire body trembling.

A strange emotion surged in his heart, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Hmph. Trying to sway me with sentimental nonsense when you’re at death’s door? You underestimate me. Now die!"

Zhang Shao gave a cold shout, drew a longsword, and thrust it toward Yan Hong.

Yan Hong’s face showed no fear. The look in his eyes as he gazed at Zhang Shao was just incredibly complex.

It held respect, love, dependence, and nostalgia... but not a trace of the hatred Zhang Shao most wanted to see in that moment.

"I don’t blame you, Master."

SHIING!

A flash of the sword, and a trickle of blood seeped from between Yan Hong’s eyebrows.

His soul shattered. Yan Hong had fallen.

CLANK!

The longsword fell to the ground. Zhang Shao stared blankly at Yan Hong’s body, his spirit seemingly gone.

Yan Hong’s final words, "I don’t blame you," and his last cry of "Master," were like a thousand needles stabbing viciously into his heart.

A man speaks truthfully on his deathbed.

Although he was unwilling to believe it, Zhang Shao knew that Yan Hong had been telling the truth—his heartfelt truth.

It wasn’t that he had no feelings for Yan Hong. On the contrary, just as Yan Hong had seen him as a father, he too had once seen Yan Hong as a son.

Otherwise, how could Yan Hong possibly have survived being host to the Iron-Winged Golden Cicada?

It would have been even more impossible for him to retain the foundation of his Martial Dao, let alone cultivate all the way to the Void Realm.

He would have been long dead.

Zhang Shao’s phrase, "Everything is fate," wasn’t just for Yan Hong’s ears. It was mostly for his own.

He remained frozen in that position, staring at Yan Hong’s body for the entire night.

The first ray of morning sun fell upon the land, stinging Zhang Shao’s eyes and jolting him from his dazed state.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, all trace of sorrow was gone. The old Zhang Shao was back.

’I am the Sect Leader of the Wolf Fang Sect!’

’I can improve upon my next decision, but I will never regret the last one!’

’Cheng’er is gone, and now that brat Yan Hong is gone too. It seems I have no one left to care about. This feeling... it’s strange. Inexplicably refreshing. Yes, this is the feeling of freedom!’

When a person has no more attachments, no one and nothing left to care for, with only themselves remaining, there are only two paths ahead: death or the devil.

Zhang Shao had clearly chosen the latter.