A Family of Hopeless Romantics, Except for the Evil Little Junior Brother

A turbulent force surged through Li Xuanxiao's chest like crashing waves. He stared at the divine lightning striking down his master's remnant soul in the sky. In that moment, everything he had believed over his forty-plus years of life seemed to collapse instantaneously.

Fight for the world? This world didn't need him. Fight for family? What family did he have left? Fight for himself? With what power could he oppose all the forces of this world, even defy the Heavenly Dao itself?

All his previous schemes and calculations now seemed utterly laughable. What could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like him - a brat who hadn't even lived half as long as his enemies' spare change - possibly do to protect Mount Shushan...

Suddenly he remembered traveling with the old man years ago when he first learned divination techniques. His first divination query to the heavens had yielded the "Fire Over Water, Not Yet Fulfilled" hexagram. Back then, young Li Xuanxiao didn't understand. He squatted on the ground, staring curiously before looking up and shouting: "Old man! What does this mean?"

That yarrow stalk trembling in the wind and rain... it had been foretelling his own fate all along.

Li Xuanxiao raised his head to gaze at the cracked heavens. The fractured sky seemed to smirk at him with the grin of a successful scheme. His fingers clawed into the ground until blood seeped between them. "Fuck you and your entire family!" Li Xuanxiao cursed aloud.

Can't die. I... can't die!!

He staggered to his feet and fled toward the Sword Mound. Mount Shushan would remember today's events. Retribution would come.

In mere moments, Li Xuanxiao reached the Sword Mound's entrance. Then—BOOM!!

His consciousness blurred instantly before his body collapsed like a felled tree.

.........

Mount Shushan had fallen! Those who had previously fled fearing for their lives now felt their greed ignited like wildfire. They rushed back like madmen, terrified of missing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Any single treasure from Shushan's vaults or ancient texts could sustain someone for life. With Shushan gone, these became ownerless goods - first come, first served.

Thus began a frenzied free-for-all. The mountain now lay in ruins, littered with debris. People scoured the wreckage desperately, even coming to blows over discoveries. Curses and battle cries filled the air.

"Hahaha!!" someone cackled madly while clutching a secret manual.

"That manual's mine!" another roared furiously.

"Bullshit! I saw it first!" the first retorted without backing down.

"You're full of shit!"

"You're the shit-filled one!!"

Their argument escalated instantly into lethal combat. Such scenes played out everywhere across Shushan's ruins. Treasure lust had stripped people of reason. Some grabbed what they could and fled without fighting—only to run straight into ambushes waiting precisely for such opportunists. These runners barely made it a hundred paces before being slaughtered, losing both treasures and lives.

"Hahaha!" A cultivator laughed after stabbing his companion in the back for a pile of treasures, only to freeze in terror upon turning around.

Di Nü Feng!

Indeed, it was her. That overwhelming aura. That dazzling face. Why would Di Nü Feng be here? Wait—of course. With so many factions besieging Shushan, how could Tian Sha Hall, Zhongzhou's foremost demonic sect, stay out of it?

Though the treasures in his hands were priceless, the cultivator knew life mattered more. After brief hesitation, he made his choice—dropping the treasures and retreating.

Di Nü Feng glanced at the loot, then at him, before walking past it all. The cultivator bit his lip as if watching his own possessions being taken... except she ignored them completely. How strange.

".........."

Di Nü Feng minced through the ruins, peering around curiously. Occasionally she'd poke through debris to examine dead Shushan disciples. She dragged out another corpse for inspection when suddenly—her head snapped up toward a Tribulation Transcension expert watching her with puzzlement.

Di Nü Feng: (*´з｀*),

"Hey!"

She suddenly stomped on the Shushan disciple's corpse. "These Shushan bastards killed my disciples, destroyed my sect—death's too good for them... Stomp! Stomp!!"

The expert nodded slightly. Now this was proper hatred.

Di Nü Feng wandered on, observing the numerous Dharma Forms manifesting in the sky with inner trepidation. Though she too had reached Tribulation Transcension, she'd never witnessed so many peers gathered simultaneously. What a spectacle.

Her dainty feet lightly tapped the corpses littering her path as she moved, until—she froze. Cautiously, she approached one particular body. Pitch black... no detectable aura. She wiped grime off its face with her fair fingers.

Holy shit!

Who beat you up this bad?

╰(*°▽°*)╯

It was Li Xuanxiao. Still breathing...

Di Nü Feng glanced around frantically before grabbing him, transferring energy to stabilize his soul. Just then, she noticed that same expert watching her entire rescue operation.

Blinking innocently, she shook Li Xuanxiao by the neck and screeched: "Finally caught you, you bastard! Our hatred runs deeper than the seas! Dying's too merciful—I'll revive you just to turn you into a human pig! Make you beg for death!!"

She planted hands on hips and cackled evilly. "Kekekeke!!!"

The expert nodded thoughtfully. Truly worthy of Tian Sha Hall's infamous Di Nü Feng—thoroughly wicked. Such vindictiveness.

Grabbing Li Xuanxiao, she prepared to flee—only to be blocked mid-flight by a white-haired elder. His aura felt terrifyingly powerful, certainly no weaker than hers.

"Who... who are you?"

The old man said calmly: "Not a single living Shushan disciple shall escape today!!"

............