Chapter Forty-Two: Vengeance Taken, an Unexpected Encounter

Seeing the Grand Elder erupt in fury, the other elders suspended in the void dared not hesitate. They swiftly activated the formation, once more trapping everyone within its confines.

Noticing that the people of the Marquis of Martial King’s household were about to make their move, Shi Hao wasted no time. He gestured for Fire Spirit and Ape Demon to retreat to the side—this was his vengeance to claim, his grudge to settle, that he might taste the freedom of a life lived without regret.

At his side, Shi Hao let out a furious roar. His muscles surged, his body swelling to several meters tall. He struck the great formation with a fist, and with a thunderous boom, the phantom beasts that had almost reached the crowd trembled violently, nearly dissipating.

The elders maintaining the formation in the void all shuddered, nearly thrown from their ethereal perches.

Shi Hao smiled wryly. He could have forbidden anyone from intervening, for if any among his group took action, he himself would be denied the chance for personal vengeance. Yet he could not stop Shi Hao. In years past, Shi Hao had endured endless suffering in his stead. If not for the intervention of the Golden Spirit, Shi Hao’s life would have been naught but tragedy. His intervention now was justified.

No longer hesitating, Shi Hao flipped his right hand, his palm vertical as he struck toward the void. A blade-like flash of light swept forth, cleaving through the phantoms of countless ferocious beasts, rendering them to nothingness, and finally slashing directly against the ancestral formation.

No thunderous crash, no strange phenomenon—the ancestral formation, once woven with rune-chains traversing the air and visions of power capable of sealing the heavens themselves, now seemed as fragile as paper before that light. In an instant, it was torn asunder. The elders, furious, tumbled from the void, coughing up blood, their figures wretched and battered.

The Grand Elder and Shi Zi Teng’s followers stared, stupefied, at the scene before them, unable to believe their eyes. One move! With but a single strike, Shi Hao had shattered the town-defending formation of the Marquis of Martial King’s household—the peerless array left behind by the ancient sacrificial spirit once worshipped by the entire Stone Nation! Even the Human Emperor himself could not have accomplished such a feat.

In truth, though Shi Hao could break the formation, he could not have done so with such ease. Shi Hao’s fist had already shaken the array before Shi Hao’s strike, and the elders manning the formation were still unsteady in their stance.

Most in this realm wielded runes and various magics against their foes. Even those who cultivated the physical body could hardly compare to the Nine Revolutions Profound Art, created by Pangu, the founder who opened the Primordial World. With the natural suppression of their techniques, Shi Hao’s overwhelming force shook the array, and when the formation masters were at their most unstable, Shi Hao, whose cultivation and art surpassed even Shi Hao’s, struck with full force, creating the miracle that now stunned all present.

Watching Shi Hao dismantle the ancestral array with a single move, the Grand Elder gave a bitter smile. Only now did he understand why Fire Spirit had called him a frog at the bottom of a well. He had thought that, even if Shi Hao’s fortunes allowed him to outstrip his peers in cultivation at this age, he had lost the Supreme Bone and would ultimately fall to mediocrity.

Yet the Grand Elder could never have imagined that these two youths, barely ten years of age, would each break the proudest ancestral array of the Marquis of Martial King’s household with a single move. What words could describe such cultivation? Genius was inadequate—surely even Shi Yi, with his dual pupils and Supreme Bone, could not compare.

Gazing at the two proud figures standing in the field, the Grand Elder was filled with regret. All his life he had labored for the resurgence of the Marquis of Martial King’s household, yet he had not foreseen that one retreat into seclusion would lead to such tragedy—the departure of the Fifteenth Branch, and the loss of the household’s greatest opportunity.

His gaze swept coldly over Shi Zi Teng’s group, and the Grand Elder sighed inwardly. "I fear this day cannot end peacefully." He turned to Shi Zhongtian and Shi Ziling, asking calmly, "Fifteenth, I admit that today our household may not be able to stop you. But must things come to this?"

Shi Zhongtian replied after a moment’s thought, "To be honest, Ancestor, you should hand over Shi Yi and his branch. After all, we too are of this household, and do not wish to see it suffer calamity."

Hearing the implicit meaning in Shi Zhongtian’s words, the old man fell silent.

Seeing this, Shi Zi Teng—who had been too shocked to speak after the ancestral array was so easily broken—grew anxious, "Ancestor! We still have strength to fight. Do not forget, Yi has been taken as a disciple by that master, and the Demon Spirit Lake will not stand by. The Human Emperor himself will not allow our household to suffer such loss. Even if Fifteenth and his branch have come prepared, we are not without power!"

Shi Zi Teng had no wish for his branch to be abandoned. Though Shi Hao had shown strength surpassing the elders, his own son Shi Yi had been accepted by the Spider Sovereign of Demon Spirit Lake. Though the Spider Sovereign was now aged, she was still a mighty figure of the Divine Fire Realm, not someone the household could offend lightly. He let his words carry a veiled threat.

The Grand Elder was silent for a long moment before turning to Shi Zhongtian. "Shi Yi is not in the household; he has joined Demon Spirit Lake. Your grievance with the Ninth Branch must be settled among yourselves. The household will no longer interfere." With that, he stepped aside, closed his eyes, and sat in meditation. The neutral elders silently took their places behind him.

He knew Shi Zhongtian—if he dared speak so boldly, it meant he had absolute confidence to crush the household. The Grand Elder would not see its downfall, so he could only stand aside.

As the Grand Elder declared his abandonment of Shi Zi Teng’s branch, all their followers felt their hearts sink.

Though their numbers surpassed the others, even a single Shi Hao could match Shi Yuan. And what of those standing behind him? Could anyone truly believe their cultivation inferior to these two children? Impossible! And what of the once-feared Demon King Shi Zhongtian, and Shi Ziling, who had once thrown the household into chaos? With the elders neutral, they had no one left who could resist.

"Fifteenth Brother, must you truly pursue enmity with my branch to the death?" Shi Zi Teng asked coldly.

"When your son Shi Yi seized Hao’s Supreme Bone, our two branches were fated to be mortal enemies," Shi Zhongtian replied, his voice flat.

"Then let us fight!" Shi Zi Teng roared, waving his hand and charging at Shi Ziling. With a flick, a treasured halberd, wrapped in runes, slashed toward Shi Ziling’s head.

Shi Ziling wasted no words. He raised his spear and thrust at Shi Zi Teng’s face, paying no heed to the incoming halberd. With a slight tilt of his head, he let the halberd strike his shoulder.

With a metallic clang, Shi Ziling’s shoulder was left with only a faint white mark where the halberd cut his garment.

Shi Zi Teng was stunned, frozen in disbelief. Shi Ziling’s spear was now less than an inch from his throat—a moment more and blood would flow.

Elsewhere, Shi Yuan had been intercepted again by Shi Hao, his eyes nearly bursting with fury. The rest found themselves trapped in combat with Shi Hao and Shi Zhongtian, unable to help. Despair filled their faces—if even one strike could not be blocked, what hope was there?

Just as disaster loomed, a majestic voice thundered across the field, "Fifteenth, your branch goes too far!"

A gray flood dragon, entwined with mysterious runes, roared as it crashed into the tip of Shi Ziling’s spear. With a deafening blast, Shi Ziling staggered back seven or eight steps. As he steadied himself, he saw the dragon of arcane power surge down the spear toward his hand. With a cold snort, Shi Ziling shook his spear, shattering it to dust.

Shi Zi Teng, spared a fatal blow, broke into a cold sweat and hastily retreated, shouting, "Impossible! What cultivation have you mastered? How can your body be so unyielding?"

Ignoring him, Shi Ziling responded in a cold voice, "Marquis of Martial King, you have finally shown yourself. Is it not time to render justice to my branch?"

As his words faded, a figure emerged in the sky, bathed in ten thousand rays of multicolored light, descending like a god upon the mortal realm.