Chapter 416: Father and Son (Part 2)
Sunlight shone upon the main peak of Lishan, piercing through sword lights like rainbows, illuminating Qiu Shan Jun’s pale face, his calm eyes, and his blood-stained body—radiant yet brutal, enough to stir the soul.
No one spoke. The peak was shrouded in dead silence.
At this moment, the only ones with the right to speak were this father and son of the Qiu family.
“Father, go home. Let us handle the matters of Lishan ourselves.”
Qiu Shan Jun looked at his father and spoke. His voice was steady, without a single tremor, but everyone could hear the pain within it. To rescue the human cultivators trapped in the Zhou Garden, he had only awakened after dozens of days of slumber, his injuries far from healed. Now, with a sharp sword piercing his chest, he could barely stand. If not for Bai Cai supporting him, he would have already collapsed.
The Qiu family head’s gaze shifted from the sword through his chest to his son’s face. The disappointment in his eyes deepened, growing so intense it turned to indifference—an extreme, detached coldness. He looked at Qiu Shan Jun and said, “How much has the Qiu family sacrificed for you to earn such renown? And yet you threaten the family with your own life, even if it means inflicting unbearable losses upon us?”
Qiu Shan Jun remained silent.
The Qiu family head’s body swayed slightly.
Indifference was merely a facade; how could he not be furious?
“How did the Qiu family produce a thing like you, you unfilial son!”
With these words, he turned and walked away, not sparing another glance at his son, and shouted two words.
“Make your move!”
At those words, the tension on the peak instantly escalated.
Everyone knew those words were directed at the Qiu family’s honored elder. Qiu Shan Jun was already gravely wounded and near death—was the Qiu family head still unwilling to relent?
The two Law Hall elders’ expressions shifted slightly; they wanted to speak but ultimately held back. Xiao Song Gong and the Changsheng Sect’s Elder Jiang, however, looked much more relaxed. Though Qiu Shan Jun’s choice had surprised them, as long as the Qiu family remained firmly on their side, the situation was still within their control. That Qiu family honored elder, whose strength was unfathomable, had already pushed his cultivation to its peak to stop Qiu Shan Jun from drawing his sword. Now, hearing the Qiu family head’s command, he needed no further preparation.
The moment the Qiu family head’s words “make your move” still echoed in everyone’s ears, the Qiu family honored elder struck!
His first move was the Qiu Mountain Seal!
In the southern lands, there was Qiu Mountain, falling across the plains like a great seal. The Qiu Mountain Seal was a palm technique that, when unleashed, scattered petals in a flurry, capable of attacking dozens of enemies at once. When cultivated to its peak, it was like a mountain descending from the heavens, endlessly crashing into the plains, its power immense!
This Qiu family honored elder was the only one in the past century to have mastered the Qiu Mountain Seal to its ultimate level.
Mountain winds howled as the Qiu Mountain Seal broke through the clouds and descended upon the cave dwelling at Lishan’s main peak.
With a thunderous boom!
The Qiu family honored elder’s palm struck... heavily into the backs of the two Law Hall elders!
The two Law Hall elders, completely unprepared, felt as if a massive mountain had slammed into their backs. Blood sprayed from their lips, soaking their white beards and robes!
At that moment, the Qiu family head was turning, his right sleeve casually flicking as if to brush away the frustration in his heart and the anger from Qiu Shan Jun’s defiance. No one noticed his hand emerge from the shadow of his sleeve.
A soft snap sounded.
The Qiu family head’s sleeve swept up, and his hand silently reached out, lightly landing on Xiao Song Gong’s left shoulder.
Xiao Song Gong let out a furious and shocked shriek, raising his sword to block, but there was no time. That powerful and incredibly pure true essence directly shattered his shoulder, then surged like a flood into his sea of consciousness.
In the moment before he lost consciousness, he finally realized—the Qiu family head had struck at him!
And this man, rumored to be so ordinary, overshadowed by Qiu Shan Jun’s brilliance, possessed such terrifying strength!
The mountain winds were torn apart by the clash of violent energies, howling incessantly. The two Law Hall elders collapsed to the ground, sitting cross-legged, spitting blood continuously, barely clinging to life thanks to their profound cultivation. Xiao Song Gong was even worse off, his shoulder a bloody mess, knocked into the arms of a disciple, his fate unknown.
The winds gradually stilled, and the scene fell into dead silence.
No one could understand what had happened.
No one could fathom why the Qiu family head and his honored elder had suddenly attacked the three Lishan elders.
The turn of events was too swift, too sudden for anyone to react, leaving them stunned and speechless.
The Qiu family head took a handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped the blood of Xiao Song Gong from his hand, his expression calm.
The Changsheng Sect’s Elder Jiang stared at him, his voice trembling as he asked, “You... have you gone mad?”
The Qiu family head looked at him and said, “Elder, would you care to accompany me down the mountain?”
Elder Jiang, utterly baffled and furious, was about to shout a reprimand when he suddenly came to his senses. Whatever the Qiu family head intended, with the three Lishan elders already felled by their ambush, if he made a wrong move, the next attack might be aimed at him.
Like many powerful figures in the southern lands, Elder Jiang had always held a mediocre impression of the Qiu family head, even mocking him privately, thinking that without Qiu Shan Jun, no one would care about such an incompetent man. But now he understood—this man was anything but incompetent.
Though he still didn’t grasp why the Qiu family had suddenly launched this assault, he saw clearly how formidable the Qiu family head was. Even with a sneak attack, to casually and effortlessly cripple Xiao Song Gong with a single palm strike was a feat few on the continent could match.
And on top of that, the Qiu family head had that honored elder of equally unfathomable strength by his side!
Realizing all this, Elder Jiang said not another word and strode toward the mountain path. In just a few breaths, he vanished into Lishan’s winding trails, leaving without hesitation!
The peak was now in chaos. The Lishan disciples who had followed the three elders into the main peak were furious at their masters’ ambush and severe injuries, but more than that, they were lost and bewildered.
“We should leave as well,” the Qiu family head said calmly, ignoring the Lishan disciples glaring at him with grief and anger.
The Qiu family honored elder walked to his side, took the bloodstained handkerchief he handed over, tucked it into his sleeve, and together they headed down the mountain.
Throughout it all, the Qiu family head never turned to look at Qiu Shan Jun, not even as he left.
A gentle breeze swirled, and their figures vanished.
On the stone platform at Lishan’s main peak, only a few bloodstains remained.
Qiu Shan Jun stared in the direction of the mountain path, silent.
About the Qiu family, there were things he had never understood since childhood.
That old honored elder was actually his third granduncle. In aristocratic clans, strength always determined status. He had never understood why his third granduncle, who had reached the peak of the Gathering Stars realm, had not become the Qiu family head, while his father, ordinary in every way, had. He had thought it might be related to his own True Dragon bloodline, but in that moment, watching his father strike, watching his third granduncle respectfully and silently take the bloodstained handkerchief from his father’s hand, he finally truly understood. Yet, he still couldn’t fathom why his father had done what he did in the end.
...
...
A luxurious carriage traveled from the foot of Lishan toward Qiu Mountain.
The carriage was pulled by Dragon Blood Horses, inside were Dragon Blood Wine and carpets woven from demon rabbit fur.
Seated within the carriage were naturally the Qiu family head and the honored elder.
“Plotting to seize the Lishan Sword Sect—looking back now, it was still a bit too hasty. The losses this time will be considerable.”
The Qiu family head gazed out the window at Lishan, half-hidden in the mist, as if the one who had ambushed Xiao Song Gong on the peak and derailed this plan was not him.
The honored elder smiled and said, “I wonder what Elder Jiang will say when he returns to the Changsheng Sect.”
The Qiu family head let out a mocking laugh. “After Mr. Su’s purge over a decade ago, the Changsheng Sect is already crippled. No matter what he says, would the Changsheng Sect dare to declare war on my Qiu family?”
The honored elder’s expression grew serious. “But what about... the Empress? How do we explain this to her?”
The Qiu family head raised an eyebrow slightly. “The Empress is merciful; she can’t force me to kill my own son... Yes, he is my son. I’m not as ruthless as the Empress.”
Unwilling to dwell on it, he sighed and said, “After the Zhou Garden incident, my son has grown again. To think he could come up with such a desperate move.”
Threatening his own father with his life—no matter how you looked at it, it was a desperate move.
Just as the Qiu family head had initially tried to use their father-son bond to pressure Qiu Shan Jun, it was equally desperate.
But the son was more ruthless than the father.
“He is more heartless than I am, so I can’t force him to help me. Naturally, I have to help him instead.”
“I just wonder when Qiu Shan will realize this.”
“He doesn’t need to realize it; he just needs to act. Like his ruthlessness—it’s a necessary trait for those who achieve great things. Though it does reveal an unpleasant truth.”
“What truth?”
“I love him more than he loves me.”
After saying this, the Qiu family head fell silent for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. “...But isn’t that always how it is between father and son?”