Chapter 313: Back To The Martial Arts Hall
Yan looked at Grey's fallen body indifferently and without a single trace of sympathy. She immediately followed behind her older brother, Zen. Having left the Luo Clan a few years ago, she was not familiar with Grey. Yet, in her opinion, since her older brother killed him, he must not have been a good person.
As Tristan passed by Grey, he spat on Grey's face and followed Zen as well.
After a while, when Grey's twitching corpse had stilled, a murky vapor left his body and flew toward Zen. It was a malicious aura, the power of curse formed by someone who was unwilling to get killed.
The more strength a living creature had, the heavier was the malicious aura formed on his death.
An insignificant and weak figure like Grey had a small malicious aura.
However, Zen wouldn't reject even such a small amount. The more malicious aura he absorbed, the higher his strength would be. Today, he was to kill all his enemies in the Luo Clan with the toughest means possible, which meant using his killing way of practicing.
In the olden days, Zen's father, Mike, had been much too good to his brothers out of a feeling of benevolence. Eventually, his two younger brothers, Bryson and Ken, murdered him.
Although Mike had been softhearted and responded to evil with kindness, in the end, he still suffered the fatal disaster of getting killed.
Zen had long decided never to follow his father's path.
Stepping into the Luo house, they saw the wide muster station.
When Zen left Luo Clan, he was forced to fight his younger cousin Andrew at the muster station while desperately seeking to stay alive.
Yet, at the end of the fight, even when he beat Andrew, his uncle Ken didn't keep his promise that he would allow Zen to leave the Luo residence!
The noise outside the front door had attracted the attention of the people in the house.
Yet, since they were at a distance, they did not hear the conversation between Zen and Grey. They never suspected that outside the door were Zen and Yan, the two descendants who had left Luo house long time back.
In any case, killing someone on the front doors of the Luo house was a mighty offense.
“Who are you? How dare you kill our steward!” someone roared in anger. A couple of them drew their swords, pointing them at Zen and his companions.
“Who are they?” Zen asked Tristan—who stood behind him—in an indifferent tone.
“Group of thugs hired by Grey. Some family members of the Luo Clan protested because they were not satisfied with the family asset arrangement. So, Grey hired these people to threaten those members,” Tristan explained quickly.
“Indeed,” Zen said simply, nodding.
The Streamer Sword Zen held glistened with a cold, silver flash of light. Whichever way he wielded the sword, this cold light flashed, splashing blood. Zen killed the thugs with no second thought. The strength of each thug lay in simple flesh-refining or bone-refining level. They didn't have the slightest advantage in front of Zen, and their skills offered them no resistance.
Plop, plop…
One by one, the thugs collapsed in a pool of blood.
Not far away from the scene, some descendants of the Luo Clan watched Zen in horror. They wondered who sent this malefic killer. Was this the end of the Luo Clan?
Desperate and eager to escape, they still did not dare make noise in fear of attracting Zen's attention. Their legs felt like lead, so heavy that they were unable to move a single step.
The terrible thought that it was the last day of the entire Luo clan flashed in their minds. They would get killed on the hands of this madman. Horror filled their insides slowly even as they fumbled, thinking on a plan of escape.
But why was Tristan following this man and woman? Had he brought them here? Did he accompany the killer? The thoughts struck them unbidden. It was entirely possible that Tristan was an accomplice, judging from the way he stood close behind the killer.
Just as the descendants worried about their fate, wondering who Zen was, Tristan announced in a firm voice, “Do not panic, my fellow members of the Luo Clan. He is Zen, our young master! As a matter of fact, he is the true master of our clan now!” Immediately, the crowd grew noisy, lost in a buzz of excitement.
“Zen?” a member cried out in amazement.
“He's Zen?” a second member repeated, startled.
“Zen!” a third member yelled, sounding thrilled and happy.
Despite the change in Zen's temperament, they seemed to immediately recognize the young boy in him now that they were told his name.
Like an old and long-lost friend that they hadn't seen in some time, Zen was in their faintest memories. Somehow, they couldn't remember him until his name came up, and then, the rich recollections surged up in an instant.
“Of course, he is Zen!” another one of them recognized Zen, confirming this out loud.
“Yes! He is our young master!”
“No, he is the master of our clan now! He's the son of our former master, Mike. The eldest son of the eldest branch of the Luo Clan! Since Mike passed away, the leadership should pass down to Zen. He must become the new master of our clan!” The members of Luo Clan were astonished but thrilled to have Zen back.
Moments before, they had been nervous and horrified, but now, their moods elevated from terror to joy.
Zen was back, and he had such great power! The Luo Clan was not to be destroyed. In fact, it was to be saved by Zen.
The Luo Clan was slowly being ruined since Bryson, the current master of the Luo Clan, allowed those thugs to run amok inside the house. But they were still members of the Luo Clan, and none of them wanted to see their own family wasting away! It was the reason they did not want to leave the Luo Clan. They were born and brought up in this clan, which meant that their roots belonged here.
Even if the roots were rotten to the core, they were still reluctant to leave. Yet, they could do nothing but swallow the pain as they watched the Luo Clan grow decadent slowly, crumbling away ceaselessly only to eventually be destroyed.
But at this very moment, they understood.
They understood that Zen came back to bring light and hope to the Luo Clan. Thanks to him, the clan would be saved.
The members rushed over to Zen one by one, gathering around him in a circle.
Many of them had tears in their eyes that threatened to spill over. They were much moved by Zen's arrival for it brought hope for their family. It was hard to express this appreciation in proper words. They were truly touched.
“Hey, you guys! You welcome my older brother but forget about me?” asked Yan from behind them. Her eyes blinked and her lips turned down in a pout.
“Brother?” one of the members heard Yan's words and had a close look at her. “My goodness! It's Yan!”
“Yan is back, too!” someone yelled loudly.
“What? Didn't Perrin tell us that Yan was locked up Mountain?”
They didn't have comprehensive knowledge about Mountain, only that it was a place that held complete misery—the place any disciple of Cloud Sect who violated the rules was thrown into to suffer endless torture and inhuman treatment.
Once, Yan had been the best descendant of the Luo Clan. She had been admitted to Cloud Sect especially because of her great talent in the martial arts. It had been a proud moment for every member of the Luo Clan.
Later, they heard that Yan was punished and imprisoned at Mountain. No one received any information about her ever since. They still didn't know what happened to her in all those years.
Now, to their amazement, Yan was back!
And Yan's strength seemed… profound—too great to be detected by them. How strong was she now? It seemed that the momentum exuding from her body was a million times stronger than Bryson's.
Zen was at the third grade of the nature level and was restraining his real momentum. The descendants then thought that Zen's strength was comparable to Bryson's. It might even be slightly better than his, but not much more. Of course, they still felt that Zen's strength was sufficient enough for him to take over the master's position of the family even at such a young age.
Meanwhile, they sensed that Yan's strength was far stranger from theirs.
Seemingly, she had stepped into the level of the Illuminating Soul Realm. The life vitality inside her body felt much more delicate and the momentum she emitted was simply impossible for them to ascertain. Bryson paled in comparison to her strength. He was at a much lower level and far weaker than Yan.
Although Yan's actual strength was comparable to Zen's—even a little bit poorer than his, the members of the Luo Clan concluded that she was much stronger.
The little girl who used to run around in the yard of the Luo house all day long had now become a girl with such formidable power! It was incredible.
“Keep walking!” Zen interrupted simply.
Armed with his Streamer Sword, Zen shuffled forward inside the Luo house, followed by his companions.
Those who dared to resist him, show hostility, or were identified as enemies of the Luo Clan were to be killed by Zen instantly without demur.
Any member of the Luo Clan who was willing to side with Zen followed behind him. Some members from the other branches of the Luo Clan too tagged along.
After all, they were all members of the same family. They were supposed to be each other's flesh and blood, to stick together through thick and thin. Zen intended to rid the Luo Clan of the unpleasant sores that plagued it through cruel means, and if any of the members showed signs of genuine repentance, Zen would allow himself to forgive them initially and spare their lives. Yet, after he was through sorting out the affairs of the family and putting it in the right order, he would still punish those who had bad behaviors, as per the rules of the family.
The further they walked, the larger the number of people who joined Zen's entourage became, and the greater momentum the group had.
Unwittingly, Zen led his team members to the doors of the Martial Arts Hall.
Seeing the hall where he had been punched and tortured for two whole years, all sorts of emotions welled up in Zen.
At the moment, many children were exercising martial arts inside the hall.
How did they exercise? They threw punches after punches at the men before them, most of whom were prisoners sentenced to death but bought by the Luo Clan at high costs. The prisoners were tied up and unable to resist, most of them on their last breaths thanks to the continuous blows.
Yet, a small number of them were not condemned as prisoners. Such was the case with Melvin, who was a member of the Luo Clan. At this very moment, wearing a piece of leather armor to protect himself from getting punched too hard and dying, he was handcuffed and shackled while being beaten violently, punch after the next punch.
Melvin was born with superhuman strength, and although he was the son of a concubine, he had good talent. He had punched Zen back during his training. Later, after Zen hit Grey, he had approved of Zen's behavior.
In Zen's view, he was one of the members of the Luo Clan who were both courageous and honorable.
But according to the current state of affairs, his courage and uprightness meant that he was bound to offend an increasing number of people. As a result, he ended up being framed by vile characters: punished, locked in the dungeon and turned into a training tool.
The person who was punching Melvin was Miles, the son of the second branch of the Luo Clan. He was also Perrin's younger brother. Since Perrin's rank as the young master of the Luo Clan was now abolished, the title was naturally taken up by Miles.
A young man in a yellow robe stood next to Melvin. “Little rat, I see you're quite enjoying yourself,” he said. “This looks very interesting. Let me try too, would you?”
“Well, Darcy, if you so want to,” Miles said, a wide smile on his face. “Go ahead!”
“But if I throw a punch at him, I'm afraid he'll die. What should I do?” asked the man named Darcy.
“Darcy, there is nothing to be afraid of. These training tools are just that—tools. Nobody cares if they die. Rest assured and punch him as you wish. Even if they die, nobody will trouble you. Haha!” Miles said to him, smiling courteously while he threw a contemptuous glance at Melvin.
Melvin, all battered and abused, burst out with a heavy face, “Miles! Even if I, Melvin, am the training tool, it's only for the purpose of training the members of the Luo Clan. He is an outsider. What allows him to punch me?”