A while back, Xing Qiufeng and Zi Mei had only just left the compound to chase after Bai Yunfei.
Within the compound was a single hidden room.
This was the most secretive room the house of Xing had in its compound, containing many of its most precious treasures and such. Only a select few knew of its existence, and even less were even able to enter. Even Xing Luo, the second son of the current head of the house, wasn’t able to enter.
In this moment where it seemed no one would be in the room, there was actually a single person searching through the place. All of the precious treasures that had been stocked neatly on the shelves were being thrown oh-so casually through the air by this person, as if uninterested by the things in his search.
At the entrance of the hidden room stood a single person dressed richly in fine silk. The person didn’t move from its spot, though his body trembled violently as if fighting against something as he watched the other person ransacking the place. The man was furious, but at the same time, terrified.
This man was the eldest son of Xing Qiuhong, Xing Shu.
Bai Yunfei saw this person once before actually. Back in the Soulbeast Forest, he had been the young man being protected by the others when they fought the blue-eyes wyrm. They had went into the forest for Xing Shu to find a contracted soulbeast, but thanks to Bai Yunfei, they returned to Ventia City empty-handed.
A precious guest of the Xing had been killed by him at that time, and Xing Qiuhong was all too furious about it.
The person currently ransacking the room was a friend of the one who died, the late-stage Soul Exalt. The two of them were at the moment being supported by the Xing and were highly regarded by Xing Qiuhong. But when all the experts went after to kill Bai Yunfei, this man took advantage of it to find the secret room and search for something.
Xing Shu was very afraid that this man would injure or hurt him, but as long as his father came back, then this man could be captured and dealt with.
“It really isn’t….here. Is that thing really not in this room? Or….did Xing Qiuhong take it with him?”
The person muttered as he continued to ransack every single spot and corner in the room. Most of the secret mechanisms and spots were already found by him, but nothing had what he wanted.
He whirled around and stalked towards Xing Shu. Thanks to the illumination of the lightstone there, this man’s face could finally be seen.
He stood at 1.8 meters tall and was cloaked by a black mantle. His short black hair could be seen by his neck, but his face could not….since he was wearing a golden mask.
Stripes of blood were painted on the mask, as if symbolizing scar wounds on a face, giving him a very demonic expression. And to add even more to his mystique, his eyes were a very peculiar combination.
One eye was normal, but the left eye was a strange silver, and its iris was a slit!
Yao Tong.
TL Note: Demon, Devil, Monster, Evil Eye, etc etc.
That was the name Xing Shu knew this man as.
Even from behind his golden mask, the icy glare could easily be felt by Xing Shu. “If you answer my questions, you may live.”
Once again, fear started to swell up in Xing Shu’s heart. He didn’t plea for his life, though, and nodded his head mutely. He was no idiot. Right now, following the man’s directions was the best way he could live.
“Xing Shuangqing, has he returned?”
“Grandfather?!” Xing Shu hadn’t expected for the man to ask about his grandfather. He shook his head, however, “Grandfather left ten years ago and hasn’t returned.”
“Ten years ago….” Yao Tong repeated. Xing Shu didn’t seem to be lying. But if this was the case, had his trip here been a waste?
“Has your family never received any messages recently?” He asked another question.
“I….I don’t kn….” Xing Shu started to respond, but then when Yao Tong looked dissatisfied, he quickly amended his answer, “Oh! I remember! Three years ago, I think I heard my father mention something about the third uncle coming across grandfather on his journey! He also said grandfather had only said a few quick words before leaving. I don’t know anything after that, grandfather hasn’t returned since then, I’m telling you….”
“Three years ago!” Yao Tong’s eyes lit up, “Do you know if your third uncle brought anything back with him?”
Xing Shu’s forehead was dripping with sweat now, “I don’t know about that….father never mentioned it before.”
His third uncle was Xing Qiugu, one of the fews sent to kill Bai Yunfei and died.
“If this is true, then perhaps Xing Qiugu brought it back home with him….if this place doesn’t has it, then it must mean Xing Qiuhong has it with him!” A pensive look entered Yao Tong’s eyes. He hadn’t accounted for Xing Qiuhong carrying it around, but this meant Yao Tong would just have to wrestle it away from him….
Xing Shu watched as Yao Tong thought to himself, fearful about accidentally doing something that might anger the man and lead to his death.
Suddenly, Yao Tong’s eyes dilated, as if realizing something. He looked up to his left, and then moving quickly, he disappeared from the room!
Xing Shu was surprised to see him go, but it did his heart some good to see him gone. If he was gone, that meant Xing Shu could relax and celebrate that his life had been spared. But before he could even call for help, there was a scream from up above!
Right above the hidden room in the Xing compound.
There in the wide open courtyards of the compound stood a single man dressed in white. His hair was equally white due to his age as a seventy-something year old man.
There was a middle-aged man besides his foot, the fourth attendant to the Xing, Xing Qiuyang.
Xing Qiuyang’s eyes were vacant and without light, as he was dead already. But the more surprising thing was the bloody hole straight through his forehead! It looked as if something had ate its way into his head!
A sense of forbidding was starting to settle in the courtyard as everyone started to run away in fright. But before they could even get far, they all fell to the ground, spasmed, and then moved no more.
If one looked closely, several small black lines were flying through the air, and whenever a person was touched by it, they would grasp at their neck in fear and try to scream, but no sound was uttered.
There was a flash of purple light in the courtyard before a giant cat with glowing red eyes and six tails came down to the ground. Even more surprisingly, there were five people wrapped up in its tails!
These five people were the remaining five Soul Exalts of the Xing! Not a single one of them had escaped, and now, almost every member of the Xing was dead!
Almost was the operative word. For there was still one person left alive.
And that person was Xing Shu!