Chapter 185: A Real Man Doesn’t Cry Easily

Chapter 185: Chapter 185: A Real Man Doesn’t Cry Easily

When Chu Fan spoke, the three from Lingyun Sect froze. Li Mosheng’s face, in particular, turned deathly pale.

Although Yu Zongding had some regrets, he remained relatively composed. At worst, he would just have to hand over the entire Lingyun Sect. After all, Chu Fan was once the Saint Heir of Lingyun Sect. If not for the battle at the Cloud Horse Jade Mine three years ago, the position of Sect Leader would have been passed down to him anyway.

As for Yun Keji, his heart was pounding with apprehension. However, he wasn’t overly afraid. ’After all,’ he thought, ’I’m Yun Xi’s father. Chu Fan wouldn’t possibly kill me.’

The members of the other sects just shook their heads and quickly left the area.

Some even spat in the direction of the three from Lingyun Sect as they departed, cursing that they got what they deserved.

Only the three from Lingyun Sect remained, along with Chu Fan, Yun Xi, Jing’an, Lan Bing, Che Dagui, Liu Yicai, and Ji Bufan.

"Bufan, arrange for some people to clean up the entire island. This place isn’t half bad, and it has a Spirit Vein. After the Eastern Domain is unified, we can all discuss who it will belong to."

After giving his instructions to Ji Bufan, Chu Fan turned to Yu Zongding and the other two. "Let’s go. To the Cloud Horse Jade Mine!"

Li Mosheng desperately didn’t want to go, but how could he possibly refuse?

Aside from Yun Xi, anyone else present could have slain him with ease.

As Chu Fan’s group made their way to the Cloud Horse Jade Mine, a battle erupted on the border of the Celestial Qi Kingdom. The combatants were not mortal armies, but Cultivators from the Red Blood Mansion and their staunchest allies. Their opponents, naturally, were the Profound Wind Mercenary Corps.

That same afternoon, many minor sects in the Eastern Domain met with annihilation. For these second and third-rate sects, the arrival of over seventy Dark Night Envoys was a death sentence from the grim reaper himself.

In the historical annals of the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm, this day would later be known as "The Day of Rectification."

"Rectification" implied restoring order from chaos and marking a turn for the better after a period of extreme adversity.

Unofficial histories, however, called this day the beginning of the "Darkest One-Eighty."

The "one-eighty" referred to one hundred and eighty days, or half a year.

This was because, starting from this day, any Cultivation Sect or Independent Cultivator who refused to submit to the unification of the Eastern Domain or obey the new rules of Cultivation over the next six months would suffer a catastrophic end.

It was also from this day forward that the Dark Night Envoys truly became the enforcers of the Eastern Domain’s shadows.

「On the thirteenth day of the first month, in the second year of the Great Unification,」 Chu Fan and his entourage arrived at the Cloud Horse Jade Mine on the edge of Yunmeng Mountain.

All of Chu Fan’s love, hate, and sorrow had begun right here.

Returning to the Cloud Horse Jade Mine, Chu Fan couldn’t help but feel a wave of melancholy.

The scene of his master leading him and his five senior brothers into battle here felt like it had happened only yesterday.

It might sound sentimental, but standing here, Chu Fan could almost feel the presence of his master and senior brothers.

But alas, the six people he revered most were now separated from him by death, forever.

"Aside from the laborers, kill everyone else without question!"

Gazing at the toiling laborers in the mine and the overseers who followed behind, periodically lashing them with whips, Chu Fan gave the order directly to Ji Bufan and the others behind him.

The men from Red Blood Mansion guarding the Jade Mine had no idea that Three Mountains Island had been taken two days prior. They were already like rootless duckweed, adrift and doomed.

When Ji Bufan and the other four attacked, the guards were completely bewildered, even trying to threaten them with the name of the Red Blood Mansion.

But the only response they received was merciless slaughter.

Five Divine Separation Realm experts—what was this if not tigers plunging into a flock of sheep?

In less than half an hour, everyone was dead except for the poor slave laborers and a single Steward Elder from Red Blood Mansion who had been guarding the Jade Mine.

The man’s Cultivation was crippled, and he was brought before Chu Fan.

"Who in the hell are you? Aren’t you afraid of the thunderous wrath of Red Blood Mansion?" Even with his Cultivation destroyed, the man still snarled threats.

"Three years and nine months ago, Lingyun Sect and Red Blood Mansion fought a battle here. Five bodies from Lingyun Sect were left behind. Then, three years ago at the Celestial Derivation Sect, your Red Blood Mansion cut off the heads from those five bodies. Tell me where those five bodies are, and I might spare your life."

"HAHAHA!" The man laughed wildly.

"So, you’ve come to collect those five headless corpses. Just you wait. When our Sect Leader Yan finds out about this, none of you will meet a better end than me."

Chu Fan waved a hand at Ji Bufan. "I’ll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Find out where my five senior brothers’ remains are. As for this man... let him die in the most painful way possible."

Where was the man’s earlier composure now?

Facing Ji Bufan as he walked toward him, the man began to struggle, shouting, "What are you going to do? What are you people doing?! I’m telling you, the Sect Leader of Red Blood Mansion is my brother-in-law! You’re all dead!"

Before long, the man’s blood-curdling screams and pleas for mercy echoed from a corner.

After a pause of several breaths, the man let out another scream like a pig being slaughtered, a shriek that reverberated through the valley.

Countless nearby birds, startled by the sound, took to the sky in a panicked flurry of wings.

Ji Bufan walked back and pointed to an abandoned mine pit. "My lord, your honored senior brothers’ remains are buried in that pit."

"According to his confession, their bodies were also... gnawed on by wild dogs."

However, because of that one sentence from Ji Bufan, every wild dog in Yunmeng Mountain would suffer a terrible fate—but that is a story for another time.

Hearing that his five senior brothers had been subjected to such desecration even after death, Chu Fan’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

He shot a venomous glare back at Yu Zongding and the other two before leaping into the air.

Arriving at the mine pit, he first dropped to his knees and kowtowed nine times.

Then, he began to dig at the pit with his bare hands.

Ji Bufan and the others wanted to step forward and help, but they were frightened into retreat by Chu Fan’s murderous glare.

Even when Yun Xi tried to help silently, Chu Fan stopped her.

Chu Fan dispersed his True Qi, relying entirely on his physical strength. Before long, his hands were dripping with blood.

He wasn’t doing this for show, of course. It was an expression of the deep guilt and self-reproach he felt toward his senior brothers.

He blamed himself for his own powerlessness.

His five senior brothers had died fighting for the Sect, yet not only were they denied any dignity in death, their very remains were desecrated. How could his heart not ache?

He dug for the entire day.

By the end, his hands could hardly be called hands anymore. In several places, the finger bones were exposed, and he had lost an unknown amount of blood.

Did it hurt?

How could physical pain ever compare to the anguish in his heart?

They were his senior brothers, yes, but hadn’t every one of them cared for him like a father?

Throughout it all, Yun Xi knelt beside Chu Fan, her vision blurred by tears. But she didn’t say a word. She knew that what Chu Fan needed right now wasn’t comfort.

When Chu Fan finally saw the tattered rags on the five skeletons, he could no longer hold back his sobs.

From the day he had woken up on Cuiyun Peak, seven days after his master had sent him back, until this very moment, he had not shed a single tear.

It wasn’t that he was heartless or that he didn’t want to cry; he was afraid that tears would dilute his will to fight.

But today, he could finally let himself weep without restraint.

They say a man doesn’t cry easily, but only because the pain hasn’t yet struck his heart.

After a long while, he wiped the tears from his cheeks. He took several sets of new clothes from the Juntian Mirror World, then brought out the heads of his five senior brothers. He gently dressed their remains in the new garments, then retrieved the coffins he had long since prepared and placed their bodies inside.

The group carried the coffins and headed toward Lingyun Peak...