Chapter 64: Human Swine
“Two Qi-Blood Realm cultivators!”
The gloom on Guo Taichang’s face instantly vanished, and a smile bloomed once more.
“Brother Xuanzhong, it has been a long time indeed. Guo failed to come out to welcome you, so I ask your forgiveness.”
Li Xuanzhong let out a cold laugh.
“I would not dare. The threshold of the Guo family is truly not an ordinary one.”
Guo Taichang gave a dry laugh, then shot a vicious glare at Guo Yulong beside him. Guo Yulong shrank his neck back a little.
“It was only because the servants of my Guo family failed to recognize what was before them. I ask Brother Xuanzhong, for the sake of the century-long friendship between our two families, not to hold it against us any further.”
Guo Taichang said with a placating smile.
“Hmph. Guo Taichang, stop trying to muddle things in front of me. You know very well why my Li Clan has come to your door today. If you cannot give my Li Clan an explanation, then the hundred years of friendship between our two families ends here! And perhaps your Guo family’s hundred-year foundation will go up in flames as well!”
Li Xuanzhong said in an incomparably overbearing tone. The threat in his words made Guo Taichang’s face turn extremely ugly.
Ever since breaking into the Qi-Blood Realm, he had never before been pressed so aggressively by another.
He could not understand why, after being in seclusion for only two years, the Li Clan’s strength had already swelled to such a terrifying degree.
But circumstances were stronger than men. With two Qi-Blood Realm cultivators coming to his door to demand justice, the Guo family had no choice but to lower its head.
So he cupped his fists toward Li Xuanzhong and said, “Please wait a moment, Brother Xuanzhong. I will definitely give the Li Clan a satisfactory explanation.”
He turned to Guo Yulong beside him and said viciously, “Why are you still standing there? Hurry and invite Xuling out!”
Although unwilling in his heart, Guo Yulong could see that the current situation was not favorable to the Guo family. He could only nod and summon one of his trusted aides.
“Go and bring Madam here.”
“Yes!”
Not long afterward, Li Xuling was led out. Her face was sallow, her body gaunt, and exhaustion hung all over her.
The moment Li Xuanzhong saw her, his lips trembled.
He almost thought his eyes were deceiving him. His niece, who was clearly not yet even forty, now looked as old as a woman in her fifties or sixties.
“Your Guo family has incredible nerve!”
Li Xuanzhong roared in fury. A mighty aura burst from him at once. At the side, Jiang Dao also released his own aura. Under the pressure of two Qi-Blood Realm cultivators, everyone felt as though an invisible hand had seized their hearts and clenched tight. They could barely breathe.
Behind them, all the Li Clan cultivators drew their blades in unison.
So long as their Second Elder gave the order, they would turn this flourishing Guo residence into a mortal hell.
Sensing that pressure, Guo Taichang’s scalp went numb. He knew in his heart that if he faced both men at once, he would die without question.
At once, he hurriedly said, “Brother Xuanzhong, calm your anger. Please, calm your anger!”
But after seeing Li Xuling’s tragic state, Li Xuanzhong was already filled entirely with rage.
Just as blood was about to flow like a river, Li Xuling spoke.
“Uncle Xuanzhong, please stop.”
Her voice was incomparably weak, as though her lamp were nearly out of oil.
Li Xuanzhong quickly walked over, supported Li Xuling, and sent a thread of qi-and-blood power into her body. Only then did a trace of color return to her face.
She gave a bitter smile and said sorrowfully, “Uncle Xuanzhong, I thought I would never see all of you again in this life.”
“That will never happen, Xuling. The family will forever be your backing!”
Li Xuanzhong comforted her with grief written all over his face.
“If anything had happened to you, then everyone in this Guo residence would have been buried with you. The Family Head has said that no one may bully a member of my Li Clan.”
When he spoke those words, Li Xuanzhong’s eyes swept across the Guo family, filled with cold killing intent.
“The Family Head? Is Uncle Family Head doing well?”
Li Xuling asked.
Li Xuanzhong shook his head and sighed. Seeming to recall his elder brother, his expression dimmed somewhat.
“He passed away more than a year ago. The one now leading the Li Clan is Xingge.”
“Xingge?”
Li Xuling’s eyes drifted into memory. At once, she recalled that nephew of hers, the one who had lost his parents when he was young, withdrawn and solitary, always carrying himself like a little adult.
Now, he had already grown enough to command such a vast family?
“Yes, Xuling. I will tell you the rest later. Right now, I am going to vent this fury for you.”
Li Xuanzhong said coldly as he looked toward the Guo family.
But Li Xuling shook her head.
She pleaded, “Uncle Xuanzhong, please, can I handle this matter myself?”
Li Xuanzhong froze for a moment, then nodded. He turned toward Guo Taichang and said, “Guo Taichang, did you hear what my niece said?”
Guo Taichang nodded, then loudly declared to all the Guo family members, “From this moment onward, Madam’s will is my will.”
The Guo family members all voiced their acknowledgement.
They had no choice. Looking at Li Xuanzhong’s posture, if the Guo family failed to satisfy the Li Clan today, then blood would flow through the entire residence.
“Xuling, what do you want to do now?”
Li Xuanzhong asked quietly.
Li Xuling drew a deep breath.
“Men!”
“Yes, Madam!”
Several Guo family cultivators stepped forward.
“Go bring that slut Zhang Wan’er and that bastard child here!”
Guo Yulong’s eyelids twitched. He had just opened his mouth to speak when he saw the cold, merciless look in his father’s eyes. At that instant, he did not doubt in the slightest that Guo Taichang wanted to kill him. He immediately swallowed his words back down.
“Yes, Madam.”
Not long afterward, Zhang Wan’er and a child of five or six were dragged over roughly by several Guo family members.
It had to be said that Zhang Wan’er truly possessed some beauty. No wonder she had made a dignified Family Head of the Guo family so infatuated.
Zhang Wan’er knelt on the ground. Seeing the tense atmosphere, she was terrified. When she spotted Guo Yulong hiding behind Guo Taichang, she seemed to see a life-saving straw and quickly cried out, “Brother Guo...”
Before she could finish, Li Xuling struck her with a loud slap across the face. Then another followed, and another after that.
Before long, Zhang Wan’er’s face had swollen into the shape of a pig’s head, too terrible to look at directly.
“A lowly actress. It was one thing for you to seduce the Family Head, but you even dared covet the position of Family Head!”
Li Xuling said through gritted teeth.
Clutching her face, Zhang Wan’er’s speech was slurred and indistinct.
“M-Madam... I... I dare not anymore.”
“And only now you say you dare not? Too late!”
Li Xuling sneered.
“Men! Gouge out the eyes of this slut and this bastard child, cut out their tongues, sever their limbs, and raise them in a rice vat. Take good care of them!”
The moment those words were spoken, not only Zhang Wan’er, but even Guo Taichang’s face turned pale.
Zhang Wan’er was only a lowly servant, but that son of a concubine was still his grandson after all. He had just been about to speak and plead for mercy, but when he met Li Xuling’s icy gaze, he ultimately could only let out a deep sigh.
As for Guo Yulong, he was completely stunned. Once he recovered, he roared in fury, “Li Xuling, do not go too far! Jun’er is my son, no matter what!”
Li Xuling let out a cold laugh.
“And is Qiu’er not your son as well? When they wanted to kill Qiu’er, where were you?”
Guo Yulong’s face turned deathly pale at once.
“What are all of you still standing there for?”
Several hesitant Guo family members gritted their teeth, drew their blades, and walked toward the mother and son.
Seeing this, Guo Yulong clenched his teeth. His Perfection in the Physical Body Realm cultivation burst forth as he tried to save Zhang Wan’er and her son.
Li Xuanzhong’s eyes turned cold. In a single step, he appeared in front of Guo Yulong and struck a palm into his dantian, crippling his cultivation. Even Guo Taichang was too late to stop him.
Seeing that his son had already become a cripple, Guo Taichang’s heart clenched with pain. Though this son of his was disappointing, he was still his only son.
Though rage burned in his heart, he was first the Guo family’s Old Ancestor and only afterward Guo Yulong’s father. Gritting his teeth, he asked, “Brother Xuanzhong, are you satisfied now?”
Li Xuanzhong let out a light laugh.
“Brother Taichang, now that Guo Yulong has been crippled, I find that my grandnephew has quite a bit of the makings of a Family Head. What do you think?”
Guo Taichang’s mouth twitched.
“Qiu’er is only fourteen. That would not be appropriate, would it?”
Li Xuanzhong narrowed his eyes. A trace of dangerous light flowed within them.
“My Li Clan’s Family Head took control of the entire Qingfeng Li Clan at seventeen. Qiu’er may be only fourteen, but is that not why you are here?”
Guo Taichang let out a long breath and gritted his teeth.
“Brother Xuanzhong is right. In a few days, I will hold the Family Head succession ceremony for Qiu’er!”
Only then did Li Xuanzhong nod in satisfaction.
“Brother Taichang, if not for the hundred years of friendship between our two families, and for the sake of my niece Xuling, your Guo family would already have become nothing but a pile of scorched earth. In the future, do not disappoint my Li Clan again.”
His voice carried a clear note of warning.
“Please rest assured, Brother Xuanzhong, and rest assured, Li Clan. If such a thing ever happens again, I, Guo Taichang, will offer my head in atonement.”
At the other side, Zhang Wan’er and her son had already been cut down into limbless human stumps...