Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

Chapter 385 - 228: Returned from Death, Bloodline Mark

The night was deep, and a nameless valley lay a thousand miles north of Qingyun.

A trade caravan had halted for a rest, and amidst the flickering campfire, a large black flag embroidered with the character "Zhong" was being torn by the mountain winds, rustling loudly.

"Sir."

A gentle call came from afar as a maid in a lotus-colored dress moved slightly, approaching with respect and saying, "Dinner is ready, the young lady invites you to come."

"Hmm."

The silver-haired man nodded slightly, gently pulling up the hood of his black robe to cover half of his face. As he turned, the moonlight revealed a young and delicate face.

Seated by the campfire, the left side of the silver-haired man’s chest ached intermittently, and beneath his right chest, a heart beat weakly. Watching the flickering fire, his clean eyes reflected a raging inferno.

Rewind to a month ago, during the battle in Changfeng City, the Black Mountain Celestial King, the Left and Right Protectors, and the Four Celestial Generals all fell. The battle crushed the rebel army, ending in a complete defeat of the Black Mountain Rebel Army.

Li Feiyu, who slew Wang Xuantian, became the strongest in the Three Counties of Qingyun, Canghe, and Changfeng. Among them, Qingyun County Magistrate Tao Xingzheng was promoted four levels, and Canghe County Magistrate Lin Xing was promoted three levels, with many officials recognized for their contributions.

After the battle in Changfeng, newly promoted Golden Order member Zhou Qing was killed, and Shangguan Ke reunited with his family in Qingyun, bid farewell to Li Zhihe, and left with his family, intending to persuade Shangguan Qing’s family to return to the Shangguan family, but Li Zhihe of the Cyan Cloud Demon Slayer Bureau was powerless to control the mobilization of the Golden Order.

With the battle just ended, many affairs needed handling in the Three Counties, unable to spare too many strong warriors, the two counties dispatched several commanders and hundreds of elite soldiers to escort Wang Xuantian’s body to Qingyun, with county support along the way.

As they entered the chaotic land between counties, the escort encountered a wave of bandits.

"Form the ranks and kill!"

The Second Commander Zhao He of the Cyan Cloud Army commanded the soldiers, who arranged themselves, and upon seeing the formation, the bandits realized they had provoked something they could not afford to mess with, but it was too late.

Amid the bandits’ howls, the soldiers pursued wildly.

No one noticed that in the center of the original formation, the coffin behind several commanders suddenly moved.

"Hmph, don’t know life from death..."

Before the words were finished, Zhao He noticed the terrified looks in the eyes of several commanders looking at him, and he felt a piercing pain, looking down to find a withered hand shrouded in black mist had pierced through his chest.

"Is that demon not dead? ...Impossible, how can the dead come back to life?!"

In stunned eyes, the skeleton-like corpse swallowed its first mouthful of flesh, and the withered hands showed renewed vigor, visibly gaining flesh.

The black mist was far less dense than in the battle of Changfeng, but the people on the scene were no longer the formidable foes of old, the demonic qi was ferocious, and for a while, no one could stop it, flames roared.

Soon, everything returned to calm, with the corpses of bandits and soldiers lying scattered in pools of blood.

"Hahaha... Heaven hasn’t abandoned me, heaven hasn’t abandoned me!"

The sole surviving figure looked back at the land of the Qingyun Three Counties, laughed heartily three times, and staggered away into the distance.

...

Eastern Qing Province, Donglai Tao Mansion.

Inside the clan’s ancestral hall, a soul lamp inscribed with the words "Xingzheng" suddenly extinguished, the flame vanished, and the Tao clan member guarding the lamp changed color sharply, hurrying out the door.

The news spread, causing turmoil throughout the inner courtyard of the Tao family.

"Second Ancestor!" A middle-aged man rushed into the ancestral hall with bloodshot eyes, "Has the murderer of my son Xingzheng been punished?"

The elder on the dais meditated with eyes closed, then said slowly, "Still in the mortal world."

The man’s eyes shone with a fierce light, yet there was also a trace of hidden delight, as if he relished the opportunity for personal revenge.

"The murderer still lives? Could it be... the ancestor has not acted?"

"There’s a half-life character protecting him thoroughly."

"Life character?!" The man’s pupils contracted sharply, "Is it someone from Qingzhou Academy?"

The elder lifted his gaze southward, a doubt flickered in his aged eyes; the adversary somehow severed his surveillance:

"The murderer is a martial artist, not a Confucian cultivator... Your son fell in the southern territory, that man bears a bloodline mark, you can send people to trace him."

At the same time.

In a secluded courtyard of Qingzhou Academy, the gentle reading voice of the lecturer by the lamp ceased.

"Mr. Liu... has something happened?"

A sharp-minded girl about eight or nine years old asked at once.

The lecturer, with a jade-like face and gentle features, glanced out the window, smiled, and shook his head, speaking slowly.

"Nothing, it should rain soon, let’s call it a night... Rainy days are best for sleeping peacefully."

...

"Crack!"

Amidst the crisp shattering sound, a short black blade broke, and Su Mu looked at the shards, a trace of unhidden confusion appearing in his eyes.

"How can Wang Xuantian... still be alive?"

The scene of Wang Xuantian’s last moments in the battle of Changfeng appeared clearly in Su Mu’s mind, as he reviewed each detail repeatedly.

"Mr. Li, leave the corpse under your spear!"

"Li, leave him a whole corpse!"

The two voices in his memory suddenly echoed in his ears, Su Mu’s eyes narrowed, his body trembled, keenly detecting the anomaly.

These two voices belonged to the Lin Family Siblings and another Golden Order member, Shangguan Ke.

"So that’s it... truly a madman."

Su Mu’s eyes blinked, under his strong comprehension he understood many points of confusion, yet some aspects still eluded him. However, he wasn’t one to dwell on them, deciding not to think further if he couldn’t figure it out now; all he needed to know was that Wang Xuantian was indeed not dead.