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

"The Myriad Soul Banner?"

It's gone!?

Li Xuanxiao was shocked.

His first thought was the Sword Spirit.

Shencao Mountain was under the Sword Spirit's control.

The Sword Spirit also knew about him hiding the Myriad Soul Banner here.

But... would it be the Sword Spirit?

Li Xuanxiao couldn't be completely certain.

After all, the Myriad Soul Banner was far too special.

Bringing it to Shencao Mountain had taken considerable effort.

Hiding it at Shencao Mountain was meant as a precaution.

Who would have thought the worst would actually happen.

And now the Myriad Soul Banner had disappeared!

After some thought, Li Xuanxiao went to find the Sword Spirit.

"Where is the thing I buried here before?"

The Sword Spirit looked guilty. "I don't know either. Logically, the entire Shencao Mountain is under my control—every blade of grass is within my grasp—but that thing just vanished..."

Li Xuanxiao couldn't tell if the Sword Spirit was telling the truth.

But it was probably true.

If the Sword Spirit wanted the Myriad Soul Banner for itself, there was no need to hide it from him.

It could just kill him outright.

The Myriad Soul Banner.

This was practically Li Xuanxiao's last trump card.

And now even this trump card was gone.

Li Xuanxiao slammed his fist hard into the ground, that overwhelming sense of confusion and weakness washing over him again.

It was as if the heavens themselves were deliberately obstructing him at every turn.

Li Xuanxiao waved his hand dismissively. "Tomorrow, you'll accompany me to Mount Shushan."

"Understood," the Sword Spirit agreed without hesitation.

"What about Jia Sidao?"

The Sword Spirit replied, "After Mount Shushan's destruction, Jia Sidao also disappeared. But he was last seen leaving the Great Sui, heading in the direction of Daxia."

Li Xuanxiao wasn't surprised. After his severe injuries, he naturally lacked the strength to control his two avatars, Jia Sidao and Zhang Haoran.

He had previously set conditions on both avatars.

If he ever lost all consciousness and control,

the two avatars would immediately hide somewhere safe before that happened.

They would wait for Li Xuanxiao to awaken.

But this time, Li Xuanxiao's injuries were too severe—he had been unconscious for a full thirty years.

By the time he woke up, he could no longer sense the two avatars.

It made sense that they would have disappeared by then.

The next day.

The Sword Spirit attached itself to Li Xuanxiao.

Li Xuanxiao set off for Mount Shushan.

The closer he got to Mount Shushan, the stronger the desolation he felt.

For thousands of miles in every direction, there was nothing but barren wasteland, devoid of any signs of life.

Broken walls and ruins stretched as far as the eye could see—the once-sturdy city walls were now shattered into pieces.

Bricks and stones from the walls lay scattered everywhere, while bleached bones were either strewn across the ground or piled into small mounds.

Some had already been eroded beyond recognition by time.

The exhaustion of Mount Shushan's spiritual veins had triggered an anomaly in the natural order, creating a forbidden zone of perpetual night in the surrounding area.

For thousands of miles, there was no daylight, and cultivators couldn't absorb spiritual energy.

Li Xuanxiao stared at the darkness ahead before plunging into it.

He walked for three days and three nights without encountering a single living person—not even a living creature.

It wasn't until the fourth day that he finally came across a group of people.

Led by an old man with Golden Core Stage cultivation.

Scavengers.

That was what these people were called.

They lingered around Mount Shushan, searching for relics left behind from the great battle.

Finding even a single treasure in the ruins or buried beneath the dirt could greatly benefit them.

Li Xuanxiao took shelter from the black rain in the ruins.

The black rain caused obvious discomfort when it landed on the body, disrupting one's mental clarity.

Normally, this shouldn't have affected Li Xuanxiao.

He cultivated the Path of Heartlessness and wouldn't be swayed by something like the black rain.

But now, having just recovered from severe injuries, for some reason,

every drop of black rain that fell on him left him feeling disoriented.

The scenery before him kept shifting and changing...

This unsettled Li Xuanxiao, so he found a place to wait out the rain.

A woman from the group of scavengers approached.

She was quite attractive, dressed provocatively, with an unnatural look in her eyes.

"Uh... Fellow Daoist, my boss said you might have something to trade."

It was an unwritten rule among scavengers to exchange items they had found.

As she spoke, the young female cultivator deliberately exposed her chest.

Li Xuanxiao waved his hand. "I don't."

The female cultivator insisted, "Fellow Daoist, we have quite a few things here—two flying swords of decent grade."

"I don't need them."

Li Xuanxiao refused again.

Seeing this, the female cultivator could only return dejectedly, whispering to the old man,

"Boss, it looks like he's got something."

The old man studied Li Xuanxiao up and down, muttering to himself,

"He looks... familiar somehow. I feel like I've seen him before."

"Boss, that kid must have something to trade!"

The old man hesitated before shaking his head. "Let's go. It's better not to provoke someone we don't know. Something doesn't feel right."

The young female cultivator frowned slightly, while the two martial artists in the group were equally puzzled.

That young man didn't seem particularly strong—why let him go?

This wasn't like their boss at all.

The three exchanged glances.

The black rain continued for a full day and night.

Once it stopped, Li Xuanxiao resumed his journey toward Mount Shushan.

The old man led his group in the opposite direction, though the young female cultivator and the two martial artists had already begun scheming.

"........"

Li Xuanxiao arrived at what was once Mount Shushan.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself,

standing before Mount Shushan now, he couldn't help but gasp for breath.

He clutched his head, feeling as if the world were spinning, his steps unsteady.

Then, Li Xuanxiao suddenly noticed something.

He walked over to an empty plot of land, where simple tombstones stood.

These tombstones had clearly been erected recently.

Li Xuanxiao frowned slightly as he read the familiar names.

He had once monitored Mount Shushan and knew every person there.

Just seeing the names brought to mind the lives, experiences, and preferences of those Mount Shushan disciples.

Beneath these tombstones lay the remains of Mount Shushan disciples.

And they had been buried not long ago.

Who had done this?

Just as Li Xuanxiao was puzzling over this, he frowned impatiently.

"Boom!!"

Two flying swords aimed at the back of his head were instantly shattered by Li Xuanxiao's spiritual sense.

The female cultivator hiding in the shadows was shocked—the destruction of her magical artifact left her severely injured, blood spurting from her mouth.

The two martial artists didn't even have time to flee before their heads were separated from their bodies.

The female cultivator barely had time to stand before a hand pressed down on her shoulder.

Only now did she truly understand the weight of her boss's frequent warnings: "Don't act rashly against someone whose strength you don't know."

But it was too late!

The female cultivator trembled. "Don't kill me! I'll do anything—I was wrong, I shouldn't have disobeyed my boss."

Li Xuanxiao asked casually, "What did your boss say?"

"He said you were dangerous... and that... he thought he'd seen you before!"

The female cultivator stammered.