Chapter 648: The Whole Building Filthy

Chapter 648: A Tower Steeping in Filth

"Xu Haichao, do you have anyone left?"

Faced with Yang Baize's provocative inquiry, Xu Haichao remained unruffled, his face showing not the slightest hint of shame or rage.

"It seems that old thing truly prizes you, sending Li Jun to aid you alongside the Legalist Vanguard. Still, you are indeed worth such a price."

Xu Haichao’s demeanor was detached, as though he cared nothing for the fact that death stood at his doorstep.

"But if you are asking whether I have anyone left—"

Xu Haichao smiled and gestured toward the courtyard outside: "Are there not plenty down there?"

Yang Baize scoffed: "You said it yourself before—they care only for results. Now that the victor is decided, you actually pin your hopes on them?"

Beneath the vigilant and wary gaze of Shang Lu, Xu Haichao slowly rose to his feet, walked over to the balustrade, and cast his eyes downward.

Cowardly scholars, once kneeling and kowtow-ing in the ferocious aura of the martial artists, now still cautiously lifted their faces to look upon that figure standing on high.

Some eyes gleamed with relief, while some countenances were heavy with grief.

Some wore expressions of savage malice, while others looked utterly ruined, as if mourning their own parents.

Some dragged themselves forward on their knees, struggling to stand out, seemingly ready to risk their lives for a desperate gamble—to rush forward and tear at his corpse the moment that figure plummeted from the heights, merely to state their allegiance.

Others skulk-ed about, trying to evade the stares of the crowd, yet still unable to escape the panic in their own hearts, fearing they might be scorched by stray embers when the raging fire consumed the clan tower.

All manner of faces, an endless variety of vice.

The scene resembled a barren wilderness where a pack of hyenas encircled a towering tree, staring fiercely at the prey trapped in the branches above.

Calculating whether they should next indulge in a grand feast, or turn and flee.

Wu Cheng, accompanied by a black-robed Legalist Vanguard, stood right beside the carriage, his cold and indifferent gaze locking with Xu Haichao's.

"Does it sicken you to watch?"

The whistling night wind made his robes snap loudly, and Xu Haichao answered his own question: "It is indeed deeply sickening, but hope has never distinguished between the clean and the filthy. In Zhang Fengyue's eyes, the future of the Scholars rests upon people like you, Yang Baize. But to me, those people below are just as much the bargaining chips for the Spring and Autumn Society to defeat you in the future."

Xu Haichao turned half-away, looking back at Yang Baize with a smile.

"You have toppled the Xu family, but at the same time, you have terrified them completely—terrified them that they will be next. Believe it or not, before long, many among them will choose to betray the New Donglin Party and throw themselves under the banner of the Spring and Autumn Society."

Xu Haichao emphasized every single word: "So, Yang Baize, you may have won, but I have not lost either!"

"Vile beast! To think that with death imminent you still refuse to repent! For the Xu family to breed such a degenerate is the shame of our house!"

A coarse and furious roar suddenly erupted from the depths of the clan tower.

Immediately following, phantasmal figures appeared one after another. The antiquity of their attire varied, yet standing shoulder to shoulder now, they formed a long, unbroken lineage of history.

Yang Baize cast a cursory glance and estimated they spanned at least two to three hundred years.

Yet among this throng of projections, the only one he recognized was the old man standing at the very end.

It was none other than the previous head of the Xu family, Xu Shenyue.

Bright moon and rising tide—from the names of the father and son, it was not hard to see what immense hopes the elder had once pinned on Xu Haichao.

But now, there was no talk of mutual support or a son carrying on his father's legacy; that distorted visage was clearly that of a mortal enemy.

"Xu Haichao, if you still consider yourself a scion of the Xu family, surrender this instant! A man should bear the consequences of his own deeds; do not drag all three hundred souls of the Xu family to the grave with you!"

"To think my Xu family enjoyed a century of stainless reputation, only to breed such a monstrous plague! A family misfortune! A true misfortune for our house!"

"Imperial Commissioner, all the sins committed by Xu Haichao were done by his hand alone; they have nothing to do with the rest of the Xu family! May the Imperial Commissioner discern clearly and grant the Xu family a chance to live!"

Different voices and varying intonations all carried the exact same intent.

Xu Haichao’s death was well-deserved, but the rest of the Xu family were innocent and should not be made to perish with him.

Faced with these successive buckets of filth thrown upon him, Xu Haichao's placid face finally shifted slightly.

"All of you, shut your mouths!"

Xu Haichao roared, his mocking gaze sweeping across these ancestors who were scrambling to sever ties with him.

"I did indeed make a mistake, but it was not in joining the Spring and Autumn Society. It was in failing to overturn and smash all the ancestral tablets and brains of you old fools! How can the lingering, pathetic souls left behind by a pack of mediocre fools presume to condemn me here?"

"Rebellious son, what did you say?!"

Xu Shenyue trembled all over with rage, yet he forcibly suppressed the fury in his heart, pleading in a shaky voice: "Chao'er, do not remain willfully blind any longer. Wake up! Consider it your father begging you. You wanted the Xu family, you wanted to achieve a great enterprise—your father understood, and so I willingly gave up my own head to clear your path. But now that matters have come to this, give it up. Do not involve your innocent brothers and sisters any further."

When a man is about to die, his words are sorrowful.

When a man is already dead, the sorrow is vaster still.

Yet Xu Shenyue's weeping of blood met only with Xu Haichao's ruthless derision.

"My dear father, let us not continue this farce of paternal devotion and filial piety here, shall we? Did you truly believe I was blind to what you were plotting?"

Xu Haichao sneered: "You knew you could not stop me. Rather than sitting idly by to be killed, it was better to yield your position voluntarily, hiding away to see if I could lead the Xu family to victory in this battle."

"If I won, you could naturally continue to be the revered ancestor. If I lost, you could easily pin the infamy of patricide upon my head, neatly absolve the Xu family of responsibility, and let those bastard bloodlines you secretly left behind take over the estate, continuing to offer sacrifices so you could enjoy your sweet dreams in the Yellow Millet illusion. Am I right?"

Xu Shenyue’s figure grew increasingly faint, looking at him in utter disbelief: "Chao'er, how could you harbor such malice and suspicion toward your own father?"

"Stop acting."

Xu Haichao's expression grew monstrous: "Let me tell you, those bastard bloodlines you hid away have long since been slaughtered to the last by my hand. Once I die, the incense of your lineage will be thoroughly extinguished!"

"And don't you all celebrate just yet—"

Xu Haichao’s ferocious gaze swept across the ancestors before him.

"Your descendants will not survive either. With no one left to maintain and offer sacrifices to your Yellow Millet dreamscape, you old relics can die a clean and absolute death."

"Madman! You vicious dog! I should have slaughtered you with my own hands long ago!"

Xu Shenyue cursed furiously, but an ancient face suddenly flashed before his eyes.

An ancestor from some forgotten generation of the Xu family pounced toward Xu Shenyue with claws bared; light and shadow overlapped and tangled, brawling together like living men.

Though they knew it was entirely futile, this was the only way they could vent the burning wrath in their chests.

"The Xu family perishes at the hands of you father and son! Even as ghosts, we will never let you rest!"

Beside himself with attackers, Xu Shenyue's figure blurred, all the sorrow and resentment in his eyes vanishing entirely as he stood amidst the churning phantom ghosts, staring coldly at Xu Haichao.

"Hahaha..."

Xu Haichao burst into uproarious laughter, thoroughly amused by this farcical display: "Yang Baize, do you see? This is the deep-rooted corruption of these people. Do you truly believe Zhang Fengyue has the power to sever it, to root it out completely? His New Donglin Party is already rotten to the core. No matter how he tries to salvage it, its destiny can only be absolute destruction!"

"The Solitary Party perishes; Spring and Autumn arises."

Xu Haichao gazed intently at Yang Baize, who sat unmoving beside the chessboard, his voice slowing: "In the very end, who do you think loses, and who wins?"

As his words fell, Yang Baize suddenly felt a piercing chill envelop his entire body. The clamorous, cursing voices of the Xu family phantoms instantly faded from his ears, leaving nothing in his mind but Xu Haichao’s eyes, overflowing with ferocious malice.

An almost irresistible, overwhelming urge to submit reared up violently in his heart.

Yang Baize's eyes tore wide with strain, the ink-black color shifting within his pupils as it slowly traced the faint, blurred strokes of the character 'Xu'.

"Forbid!"

A sharp shout like a crack of thunder tore through his mind, shattering the illusion before Yang Baize’s eyes.

His clouded eyes regained their clarity once more. Drenched in sweat as though he had just been hauled out of the ocean depths, Yang Baize collapsed back into his chair, panting heavily for breath.

In that fleeting moment, Xu Hai Chao was about to stamp him with the Xu family seal, turning him into a puppet under his control.

It was Shang Lu who rescued him at the critical moment.

Shang Lu stepped forward, blocking Yang Bai Ze’s path, and engaged in an invisible battle with the dying Xu Hai Chao.

Yang Bai Ze, barely back to his senses, couldn’t see how the fight between the two was unfolding. He could only catch glimpses from the bodies of the Xu family ancestors.

At that moment, the group stopped their theatrical fighting, trembling and kneeling on the ground. Their figures melted away like snowflakes in the scorching sun.

Only Xu Shengyue remained motionless, his venomous gaze never leaving Xu Hai Chao’s body from start to finish.

Clang clang!

Meanwhile, deep within the valve tower, in the ancestral hall dedicated to the Xu family’s ancestors,

the tablets on the incense table kept falling over. The pale green liquid in the transparent tank behind the tablets swirled back and forth. The brain marrow immersed in it withered at a rate visible to the naked eye, and sharp screams echoed in the air.

Practicing the rituals of Ruoxu and the laws of Fuxu makes this group the most rule-bound among all sequences.

At that moment, Xu Hai Chao and Shang Lu fought without fists, without bloodshed—calm and light. Outsiders couldn’t see any danger.

This naturally included Li Jun, who had been waiting downstairs for half a day.

“What are you doing? Can’t you kill someone with your eyes?”

The sudden impatience shattered the invisible battlefield of ritual and law between Shang Lu and Xu Hai Chao.

“With this kind of dragging on, when will it end?”

Like a mountain pressing down on him, Xu Hai Chao was completely unable to move under Li Jun’s “Defeat the Enemy.” He could only let a huge hand strangle his neck and throw him off the terrace.

Xu Hai Chao, flying through the air, forcibly stopped the rolling and stood still in mid-air. His hair was disheveled, his black hair surging.

The ritual skills of the third level of Ruoxu were brought to the extreme. The people of the door and household kneeling on the ground were like marionettes, standing up under Xu Hai Chao’s control.

“Li Jun.”

The hoarse voice had just been spoken when a black and red thunderbolt suddenly appeared in front of Xu Hai Chao.

A bony fist wrapped in icy cold rain slammed directly into his face.

Boom!

The circular air waves rippled in the air, spreading layer by layer.

Xu Hai Chao’s figure was torn into a blurred line by the terrifying force and crashed straight into the wide pine road.

Dust flew everywhere, unable to be suppressed even by the heavy rain. In the terrifying pit, Xu Hai Chao lay at the bottom, his limbs broken and twisted. A blank, faceless face was embedded with a vacant eye.

Li Jun landed on the edge of the pit, raised his hand to point at the sky above the pit, and the refined force of the collapse slowly gathered, like a mountain suspended there.

The peaks fell, the mountains crumbled.

Xu Hai Chao, together with the ground beneath him, suddenly sank several inches and was completely crushed into a pool of rotten limbs and blood.

[Gain 60 mastery points]

[Remaining mastery points: 382]

[Consume 350 mastery points, improve martial arts sharpness]

“What are you standing there for? Keep kneeling.”

Li Jun waved his hand at the surrounding shocked Ruoxu people, and the group of figures knelt back in their places again, obediently and very well-behaved.

On the valve tower, Yang Bai Ze glanced at the crimson pit below and slowly exhaled a long, heavy breath.

“Imperial envoy.”

Xu Shengyue had not yet vanished. His figure appeared again behind Yang Bai Ze, wearing a solemn expression and bowing in greeting.

“Xu Hai Chao’s misfortune was self-inflicted, and he deserved it. Now that the main culprit has been eliminated, I hope the imperial envoy can be discerning and give the innocent Xu family a chance to live.”

Yang Bai Ze glanced at him with disgust and had no intention of wasting time with Xu Shengyue. He turned directly to Shang Lu and said, “Shang, the rest is up to you. Clean up all this filth.”

After speaking, Yang Bai Ze did not want to linger in this dirty place any longer and walked briskly downstairs.

Leaving behind only a bitter and desperate old face, which was gradually covered by a black robe.

“Junjie, this time you have to help me.”

Li Jun, who was studying the extreme changes of “Sharpness,” heard the voice and turned to look. He shook his head and said, “These are all hidden tests, not a big deal.”

Li Jun paused, pointed to the surrounding kneeling figures with his chin, and asked, “What about you? What are you going to do next?”

“They are all people who work for the Xu family, and their deaths are not worth mourning.”

The young official’s expression was cold, and the words he spoke were even colder than the rain that soaked him, instantly causing a shiver.

Just as countless pleas were about to be uttered, the voice that had sentenced them to death suddenly changed: “But the Prime Minister said that you can be given another chance to redeem yourselves. Now, the coastal states and prefectures are plagued by serious chaos, and a large number of people are needed to suppress it. You should understand what the Prime Minister means.”

“Thank you, Prime Minister, for sparing our lives.” The crowd shouted in unison.

“Get out of here, and I advise you to open your eyes. The wind knows the strong grass, so don’t break your waist at this time!”

Yang Bai Ze waved his sleeves impatiently, driving away this group of wind-following weaklings.

“I thought you would kill them all at once.”

Li Jun folded his arms across his chest and smiled at the tired young man in front of him.

“I wanted to kill them, but dying like this is too easy for them. They should be made to vomit out everything they have eaten over the years before it’s over.”

Yang Bai Ze’s voice was heavy, as if he did not want to continue talking about the topic. He changed the subject: “Junjie, you have seen what these people are like. You have helped me this time, and they will definitely hold a grudge against you. Although they cannot threaten you for the time being, they will definitely do some despicable things behind your back.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve dealt with them before.”

Li Jun smiled: “Now that Xie Binian and Fan Wujiu have arrived at the East Court, and Chen Qisheng and Mo Qianjing have also sent news, they have successfully taken in Gui Wangda and the others. There is also Zou Sijiu in Chongqing Prefecture, so there should be no problem.”

“You still need to be careful, especially a man named Yan Dongqing. He is a mad dog even more ferocious than Xu Hai Chao.”

As soon as Yang Bai Ze’s worried words were spoken, he saw Li Jun’s face suddenly change. A cold killing intent suddenly surged up, hitting him and making his face turn pale, causing him to retreat repeatedly.

“Yan Dongqing, you really are the kind of person who can’t get revenge overnight!”