Firmament Sword

"Sigh, Brother Hai, what kind of talk is that? We've been old comrades for so many years, always fighting side-by-side, hardly ever apart. Now that we're facing a powerful foe, how could I possibly abandon you and flee alone?" another old man said with a smile, his expression tinged with emotion.

The Su Family's Great Powerhouse at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of the Divine Power Realm also smiled and said, "I've worked alongside you two Elders for so many years. You've been like mentors to me, showing me the utmost care. There are times when living together is a blessing, but there are also times when dying together is an even greater one!"

The leading Su Family Half-Saint Elder listened, a flicker of emotion in his eyes. He nodded. "Indeed. To have been together for so many years is a blessing... To die together is an even greater one!"

After speaking, the leading Su Family Elder looked toward Xu Luo and Su Qingyi and said in a deep voice, "On our side, there are still three of us left to fight!"

The other Elder smiled faintly. "To fight Beidou's Eighth Star, whose name shakes the world... it would be a worthy death. Let us fight!"

"We don't need pity. We only ask for a good fight!" The Su Family's Great Powerhouse at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of the Divine Power Realm had a serene expression, his mind showing signs of ascension in that very moment.

Su Qingyi's eyes flickered with emotion. "Our positions may differ. To you, I might be a traitor to the Su Family, but I am doing this for the sake of humanity! However, I don't blame you. You are all true scions of the Su Family. In this battle today, regardless of the outcome, you are worthy of respect!"

"If you were a true scion of the Su Family, you would not have done this!" the leading Half-Saint Elder said.

Su Qingyi shook his head. "You will never understand what Qianqian was facing in the Su Family."

The leading Elder sneered. "She is not of the Su Family!"

Su Qingyi froze for a moment, then gave a self-mocking smile. "Very well. In that case, I have nothing more to say. Let's fight!"

"Fight!" The Su Family's Great Powerhouse at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of the Divine Power Realm was the first to charge, and his target was not Su Qingyi, but Xu Luo!

"To die at the hands of the world-renowned Beidou's Eighth Star—I, Su Lianghong, will have no regrets in this life!" He let out a heaven-shaking roar as a turbulent, immense aura erupted from his body, far surpassing what a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of the Divine Power Realm should be able to unleash.

A Half-Saint!

This Great Powerhouse of the Su Family, once at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of the Divine Power Realm, had actually broken through to the Half-Saint Realm in that single instant.

And yet... he was clearly about to self-destruct!

Even after breaking through to the Half-Saint Realm, he was still resolved to go through with it!

"The Su Family has no cowards!"

The man's roar was like a clap of thunder, echoing between heaven and earth.

It was as if he was defending himself, defending the entire Su Family. The two Great Powers who had just fled had done too much damage to the family's reputation. He wanted the world to know that the men of the Su Family were not cowards—that they did not fear death!

Xu Luo sighed softly. His figure blurred as he executed the Shaking Light Step, rushing at an incredible speed toward the Su Family's Great Powerhouse who had ascended in battle and broken through to the Half-Saint Realm.

The other two Su Family Half-Saints, undaunted by the immense destructive power their comrade's self-detonation would unleash, charged toward Xu Luo as one.

A terrifying aura erupted from both Half-Saints as well. For a moment, the very air seemed to thicken and grow viscous!

The power of laws began to manifest in the void.

These two Half-Saints also had no intention of leaving here alive!

All three of them intended to self-destruct!

Such unspoken understanding, such trust... it was enough to move anyone.

It turned out the words they had just exchanged were their final goodbyes!

They knew full well that against Beidou's Eighth Star—the young man known as the Demon Saint—they stood no chance of victory. This wasn't false modesty; it was a sober and clear assessment of their own strength versus their opponent's.

They couldn't run, not just for the honor of the Su Family's scions, but for the sake of their own families.

The excuse used by the deserters—'If the Su Family harms our relatives because we fled, it just proves the family has no humanity'—was, in their eyes, nothing but a self-serving pretext.

No family or organization can exist without rules.

Once you are part of it, you must abide by its rules. If everyone acted selfishly, putting themselves first in everything, then the family or organization would have no reason to exist.

It would be better to disband it sooner rather than later, before it gets destroyed from within by its own members!

The members of the various great families of the Ancient Race, hidden throughout the Huo Family estate, witnessed the scene unfolding high in the sky. All of them were moved.

Though the two Su Family experts who had fled earlier had brought shame upon their family and earned everyone's contempt, the actions of these remaining three completely redeemed the honor of the Ancient Race's Su Family!

The men of the Su Family do not fear death!

The Su Family's Great Powerhouse whose eyes had been blinded by Xu Luo wept tears of blood. An unwilling roar came from his throat. He wanted to self-destruct too!

He wanted to join his comrades in death!

But it was too late...

It all happened in the blink of an eye, so fast that no one could react. The moment they felt that terrifying aura, almost everyone understood what the three Great Powers from the Su Family intended to do.

Everyone prepared to channel their energy to resist the violent shockwave from the three experts' self-detonation.

Everyone waited for the inevitable moment.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still...

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

Three muffled thuds, so quiet that the people below didn't even hear them.

The three Great Powers from the Su Family, who had been reversing their internal energy to strike their Dantians and self-destruct, were sent flying in three different directions!

The horrific scene everyone had braced for never came!

Looking again at the three Great Powers sent flying, they were spitting blood in mid-air, but none of them had managed to self-destruct.

"You can keep your lives for now. Your loyalty is foolish, but I have no desire to kill you." Xu Luo's cool voice echoed between heaven and earth. "I'm taking him. Whether it's the Su Family or the Bai Family, if you want revenge, feel free to find me on the Central Plains Star Continent!"

With that, Xu Luo pulled Su Qingyi along, stepping on empty air as they gracefully departed.

The three Great Powers from the Su Family were all gravely injured and fell from the sky. Their wounds would take at least a year or two to fully heal.

But they had all survived. Moreover, once their injuries healed, their cultivation realms would not have declined.

"Xu Luo showed mercy!"

The three Su Family Great Powers exchanged glances, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

Xu Luo's final words had left them with such mixed feelings they were nearly speechless.

"Foolish loyalty..." The leading Su Family Half-Saint Elder's old face was filled with desolation as he murmured, "When you belong to a family, loyalty... must come first. Does it matter if it's foolish?"

The Su Family's Great Powerhouse who had been blinded rushed over, crying out in anguish, "Are you all right?"

"We'll live," Su Lianghong, the Great Powerhouse who had just advanced to Half-Saint but was now gravely injured, said with a bitter smile. "But I don't know what will happen when we get back."

"Don't say such things. Nothing will happen when we get back." The leading Su Family Half-Saint Elder coughed lightly, a trickle of fresh blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. His injuries were severe, but his spirit was sound. He murmured, "Beidou's Eighth Star... he truly lives up to his reputation!"

The other Half-Saint Elder said, "It seems people have greatly misunderstood him. From what I've seen, he isn't so cruel and bloodthirsty..."

"That's right. Otherwise, we'd be dead by now. I have to admit... his power is truly immense, and terrifying," Su Lianghong said.

After Su Lianghong spoke, the few Great Powers from the Su Family sighed, their expressions grim. They had all lived for many years; it wasn't as if they had no sense of right and wrong.

The events of this day would be forever seared into their memories.

...

...

"Xu Luo, let go of me! I'm going back to the Su Family!"

Su Qingyi, having been dragged hundreds of miles through the air by Xu Luo, finally found a chance to speak.

"Go back to the Su Family? To get yourself killed? Don't you realize how much the Su Family Patriarch must hate you right now?" Xu Luo said, looking at him.

"But it's my home, after all. I took Qianqian away because I couldn't stand to see her become a sacrifice for the Patriarch's selfish desires. But the Su Family isn't just the Patriarch's personal dictatorship!" Su Qingyi said with a solemn expression. "When I go back, I'm going to file a complaint directly with the Elder Council. I will accuse the Patriarch of abusing his power for personal gain!"

"You're an idiot!" Xu Luo cursed mercilessly. "Is the Patriarch of your Su Family an idiot?"

Su Qingyi shook his head. "Anyone who becomes Patriarch is naturally an exceptional individual."

"Then that's that. If he's so exceptional, why would he risk universal condemnation to do something like this? Isn't he afraid of what people will say? Or are the Su Family's resources so depleted that this is the only way you can improve your strength?" Xu Luo shot Su Qingyi a sideways glance, his tone one of exasperated disappointment.

From the very beginning, Xu Luo had been suspicious. Were the other members of the Su Family just a bunch of lifeless statues? Why was there not the slightest backlash when the Patriarch executed those Ancient Race Su Family experts who had just massacred the Su Family of the Central Plains Star Continent?

It made no sense at all!

"Even if the Patriarch's authority is absolute, it's impossible that no one in the family would object to something like that!"

"To outsiders, those men were executioners, butchers, demons. They brutally slaughtered the Su Family of the Central Plains Star Continent with appalling cruelty!"

"But to the members of your Ancient Race's Su Family, those same men were heroes!"

"Everything they did, they did for the family, not for themselves!"

"So on what grounds can you just execute family heroes like that?"

"And after killing them, he immediately makes the little girl from the Central Plains the Su Family's Celestial Maiden, giving her a status second to none among the younger generation! She's revered beyond belief! Does that seem reasonable to you?"

"It's no use looking at me like that. You feel it's unreasonable too, don't you? If that's the case, then what do you think the real story is?"

"If the Su Family Patriarch didn't have someone backing him—someone so powerful that no one could possibly defy them—do you really think any of this could have happened in your Su Family?"

Xu Luo's barrage of questions left Su Qingyi speechless. After a long moment, he could only stammer, "You... you're really smart!"

"Bullshit. You're just too stupid!" Xu Luo sighed deeply. "Still want to go home? Still want to go and accuse your Patriarch?"

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