Firmament Sword

From the very beginning, Li Ye felt that something was wrong. The time between receiving the ancestor's gifted treasure and leaving Honglou Ancient City had been very short.

Even if someone had spread the news that he had received a second treasure from the ancestor, it shouldn't have caused such a huge reaction so quickly!

In other words, even if these people had heard the news and their hearts were filled with envy and jealousy, sparking the desire to snatch it... they still needed the strength to back it up!

Moreover, these people didn't have the ability to keep him here. Even if they managed to steal the treasure, they wouldn't dare keep it for themselves. They could only give it to his younger brother, Li Hua. If that was the case, then what... were these people truly after?

Therefore, the people before him... including his own brother, had likely been used!

Li Ye had started traveling a few years ago. While his experience in the Jianghu couldn't be called vast, he wasn't some clueless fool either.

Thus, as he was defeating these young men, he had been carefully sensing the fluctuations in his surroundings. He finally discovered that someone... was hiding in the shadows, observing the situation!

That was why Li Ye had let his brother handle it himself. Firstly, it was to temper Li Hua—young people needed to be tempered to truly mature. Secondly, it was to prevent the person in the shadows from suddenly rushing out!

Li Hua looked at the weeping men before him, a bitter taste in his mouth.

Although he hated them with every fiber of his being, when it came to killing them outright, Li Hua found he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

No matter what... they were companions he had grown up with, people he saw day in and day out. It was easy to talk about landing a killing blow, but how many could actually do it?

Li Hua hesitated, thinking... 'Maybe I should just ask my brother to let them go this once. After all, as detestable as they are, they haven't caused any irreparable harm.'

Just then, a vicious glint suddenly flashed in the eyes of a young man around twenty years old. His figure erupted forward, charging straight at Li Hua. The others, aside from the one with the broken leg, all attacked Li Ye to buy time for the one trying to capture Li Hua!

Their coordination... was seamless, perfectly in sync!

An incredible rage suddenly erupted in Li Hua's heart!

'We were partners who grew up together!'

'We saw each other day in and day out!'

'I always saw you as brothers... no, closer than brothers! Just a moment ago, I was still thinking about how to make excuses for you, how to plead for you!'

'But you... not only do you have such perfect coordination behind my back, you actually planned to take me hostage!'

The cruel reality finally made the seventeen-year-old Li Hua understand. He finally understood why his brother always looked so helpless whenever he saw him, and why he looked so disgusted whenever he saw this group of friends.

'So... the problem was really with me all along. So, I was the one being deceived. So... the people I saw as brothers never once saw me as one!'

'I'm such a fool! Such a fool! I'm the biggest... idiot in the world!'

Watching this "brother" he knew so well charge at him with a savage expression, a world-weary smile that didn't fit his age suddenly appeared on Li Hua's face.

"You're already heavily injured, and I know you so well... If I don't want to be caught, do you really think... you can capture me?" The youth gave the young man who was rapidly approaching him a deep look, and then his body suddenly... erupted with a brilliant radiance!

Streaks of draconic light coiled around the youth's body, making him look like a deity!

As the light flowed around him... the youth's face was devoid of joy or sorrow. He raised his hand, and five streaks of draconic light shot from his fingers toward the charging young man.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The young man barely managed to dodge, avoiding two streaks of draconic light, but he couldn't evade the other three!

The three streaks of draconic light were three incomparably sharp streams of Sword Qi!

Three bloody holes instantly appeared on the young man's body. Fresh red blood, emitting a pungent, coppery smell, gushed out from the three wounds.

With a look of disbelief on his face, the young man stammered, "How is this possible... How? This... this is Li Ye's Coiling Dragon Technique... You hate your brother so much, and we know you so well... How could you know it too?"

Li Hua lowered his gaze, as if defending himself, and also as if answering the young man. He said faintly, "While I've never liked him, I happen to like this Cultivation Technique very much... He saw that I liked it and taught me directly, without me even having to ask. I was afraid you'd say I had no ambition... afraid you'd laugh at me, so I never said anything. This... was the one and only thing... I ever hid from you!"

THUD!

The young man fell to the ground, dead. His eyes, gradually losing their light, were filled with unwillingness and regret. But life has no do-overs, and even if he had another chance, he might still have made the same choice!

Because from a very, very young age, this group had never truly seen Li Hua as one of their own!

Although... this was indoctrinated into them by adults, they were, in the end, the ones who carried it out.

Li Hua felt his legs go weak. His heart was pounding, and his hands... were still trembling.

Looking at the companion he had killed with his own hands, Li Hua's mouth twitched... After a long moment, a cold smile appeared on his face.

The naive boy from before... was dead!

The Li Hua who appeared before everyone from now on... would never be that naive, stubborn boy again!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Meanwhile, Li Ye had sent the men desperately attacking him flying in the blink of an eye, but he had no time to say anything, because the person who had been hiding in the shadows... had finally made their move!

An unimaginably terrifying aura blotted out the sky and instantly filled the surrounding space.

It was as if an invisible mountain was crashing down on them!

A cold voice suddenly rang out, "Li Ye, you have brazenly killed a disciple of the Sect. Your crime is unforgivable. Today, I will represent the Honglou Sect and punish you, the sinner!"

"Martial... Uncle?" Li Hua, at his side, was stunned. He never would have imagined that the Martial Uncle who had doted on him since he was a child would appear here. And... it didn't look like he had just arrived.

The youth's heart may have been immature, but he wasn't so foolish that he couldn't see what was going on.

Li Hua's mouth twitched violently. He looked up at the empty space above in disbelief.

Li Ye, however, let out a cold laugh. "The sinner is you, isn't it? I never would have thought... the one instigating all this from the shadows was you. You made my brother hate me for years. I can't imagine what 'certain people' offered you to make a Law Enforcement Elder like you willing to be their dog, even planning this more than a decade in advance... You really are a well-qualified dog!"

"Silence!" the cold voice snapped. A figure then materialized from the void, wreathed in light, its features obscured.

Looking down on the two brothers, Li Ye and Li Hua, he sneered, "The two of you conspired to kill so many of your own clansmen. This crime is unforgivable. I will kill you with my own hands and bring your heads to the Sect Leader!"

"You're lying! They were the ones trying to harm us! Besides, only one person died, and I'm the one who killed him! If you want someone, come for me! It has nothing to do with my brother!" Li Hua shouted emotionally at the figure in the sky.

"Only one died? Hmph, naive!" the figure in the sky said with a cold snort. Several powerful, sharp, and invisible streams of killing intent blasted toward the men on the ground.

Immediately after, the bodies of the already heavily injured men on the ground exploded!

Not even a single complete corpse... was left behind!

Li Hua stared, dumbfounded. This was something he had never even imagined in the past, yet today, it had happened right before his eyes.

'His most trusted companions had been framing and deceiving him all along; his most respected Martial Uncle had suddenly changed his colors, acting as if he and his brother shared a blood feud...'

'All these years... I actually thought of these people as my family?'

Li Hua felt his world collapse in an instant!

At that moment, a voice entered his ears, "In your youth, suffering some setbacks and blows isn't necessarily a bad thing. Be strong, you're a man! Remember, you still have me, and you still have Mom and Dad!"

Li Hua's body trembled slightly. He opened his eyes and looked at his brother, his eyes welling up. "Bro... you're still willing to forgive me?"

"Silly kid, the same blood flows in our veins. You're my little brother! I told you, I would never truly be angry with you!" Li Ye said emotionally.

"Bro, I was wrong! I was really wrong!" Li Hua's tears finally couldn't be held back and streamed down his face.

If his previous apology to his brother was for his own foolishness, then this time... he truly felt the unbreakable bond of blood and kinship!

In this world... what feeling is more precious than the bond of family?

"Tsk... what a touching scene of brotherly love. Even I'm a little moved. But it's too late... You two can continue your heartfelt reunion in the afterlife!" the figure in the sky, seemingly bathed in light, said coldly.

A look of determination appeared on Li Ye's face. He looked at Li Hua and said with deep emotion, "Li Hua, remember... never forget today!"

As he spoke, a heaven-shattering aura erupted from Li Ye's body. Streaks of draconic light, as if gone mad, swirled frantically around him, emitting an incomparably powerful presence.

Li Ye shot into the sky toward the figure in the light, roaring, "Run! Go home!"

"Bro!" Li Hua let out a roar of grief and fury. "If we die, we die together!"

BOOM!

Li Ye clashed violently with the figure in the sky, and his body was instantly sent flying like a kite with a broken string.

But at the same time, a great red curtain appeared in the sky, obscuring the brilliantly glowing figure, and countless bolts of lightning... suddenly struck down.

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