The Su Family was desperately breaking through the door.
The sound of the massive hammer striking, incessantly resounded.
On the other side, the bodies of more than ninety Su Family members piled up into a mound.
Some were already gnawed by poisonous insects, revealing their white bones.
Finally...
With the concerted effort of several masters,
the thick stone wall at the entrance finally shattered with a loud boom, revealing a dark hole.
"It's here for sure!"
Su Yunhe exclaimed with joy.
Twenty-eight or nine people crowded at the entrance of the cave, leaning over with excitement to peer inside, waiting for the turbid qi to disperse.
At this moment, they completely forgot the sorrow of their kin's recent deaths.
Monarch's heritage!
For a small family in the remote Bibo City, that was akin to a figure high above the clouds!
Any Monarch was a legend in the Jianghu, the dream of the youth.
This could be the family's hope for rising to prominence!
Just when they were brimming with joy and fanciful thoughts...
Suddenly, a grey fog surged out from the broken entrance, along with the turbid qi, rapidly enveloping the area.
It appeared quickly and directly enveloped the entire entrance.
Su Yunhe and Su Changying bore the brunt, being directly shrouded in the gray fog.
Soon after the fog surged out, enveloping the twenty-eight people at the door!
The grey fog was relentless.
Screams of agony resounded to the heavens.
Without exception,
everyone's exposed skin began to rot away.
Especially the eyes, the most vulnerable parts, which almost instantly became bloody cavities upon contact with the poison fog.
Immediately, the twenty-eight people fell to the ground, rolling around in agony, screaming pitifully, including the Family Head, all the elders, the elder...
And all the direct descendants who had survived until now.
The poison fog took effect swiftly. The screams and struggles quickly ended after a short while.
Two dozen people lay on the ground, motionless, already starting to slowly rot away.
Among them was the Su Family's eldest heir, Su Yue's big brother Su Fei.
When this eldest son of the Su Family saw his brother receive such important intelligence, his heart was anxious.
He feared that his brother would rise in status and replace him, so he had insisted on coming along to seek the treasure, to exert effort for the family.
Finally, his efforts led to him rotting into a pile of mud here.
Only two people remained alive: Su Yue, responsible for guarding the bodies, and another younger cousin, Su Yun.
Now, the two brothers stood there stupefied and terrified.
Their eyes were empty, staring at the haphazard corpses at the entrance of the cave.
Those bodies, still rotting.
Those were their relatives.
Father, mother, grandfather, uncles, elder brothers...
The matter was too secretive, the interests too great.
Thus, this trip consisted solely of the direct bloodline of the Su Family.
Even the relatives by marriage were uninformed up until now.
With this, the Su Family was nearly equivalent to being annihilated!
The two were completely dumbfounded, their minds blank.
Looking at the twenty-eight corpses in front of them, it seemed as if the entire universe had exploded in their minds at that moment.
They couldn't understand, how could this be?
Just now... there were over a hundred people, right?
How could it suddenly...
Be gone?!
The mountain wind howled, stirring the treetops, sounding like ghosts wailing.
In this desolate place, it was particularly sinister.
"Gah! Gah! Gah!"
Several shrill and eerie cries added a sense of terror.
Those were unknown strange birds, attracted by the smell of blood and corpses.
Su Yue and Su Yun shivered with a start, coming back to their senses. They collapsed to the ground, crying out.
"What's wrong? What happened to all of you?"
"What happened?!"
"Dad! What's wrong with you? Speak to me!"
No matter how they called out, the people on the ground would never respond again.
The two cried inconsolably, faces streaming with tears.
Amidst the howling mountain winds, suddenly a voice sounded.
"Hello there."
Fang Che, wearing a kind smile, hands behind his back, dressed in a black robe with dark gold patterns, walked out of the cave at ease.
The patterns shimmered with flashes of dark gold as he moved.
He stepped out of the cave, the first step on the head of Su Yue's father, the Su Family Patriarch Su Yunhe, and the second on Su Changying's head.
Crunch, crunch.
He stepped on one head after another, rotten flesh and blood falling beneath his feet.
Yet Fang Che's expression remained unaltered, gentle, demure, and mild.
Approaching Su Yue, in his bewildered gaze, Fang Che warmly said to him, "Big Brother Su, what a coincidence to meet again. Indeed, life is full of unexpected encounters."
Su Yue seemed to understand something, but couldn't fully comprehend.
His eyes blazed with fury as he gritted his teeth and said, "Fang... Fang Che? How come, how are you here?"
Fang Che's eyes twinkled with amusement, "Because you're here, you're my best friend, my closest brother. I've been so grateful for your care over the years, I naturally have to reciprocate."
"Repay me?"
Su Yue's confused mind briefly cleared.
He recalled Fang Che's words once again.
"This is just a small token of my appreciation for Brother Su's many years of care."
He finally realized.
"You... you... this is all your..."
Su Yue choked on his breath, unable to speak, "...this is all your design? Your tactics are so vicious!"
Fang Che gave a faint smile, and his long knife flashed in his hand.
Blood splashed.
Su Yun, who was standing dumbfounded to the side, still not fully recovered, was sliced down by Fang Che with one stroke.
His head rolled away.
Su Yun was just a Martial Disciple, his cultivation even lower than Fang Che before his breakthrough. This trip was merely to give him some exposure to the world. Plus, experiencing such a huge life-changing event for the first time, his mind was still in shock. Now, he was taken unawares and killed with a single strike.