Chapter 632 – Spirit Root Extraction

Liu Peiyuan couldn’t describe what he felt, even if he wanted to. This spatial fragment was not large, only about five hundred zhang in radius.

The nauseating stench of rotting flesh filled the air, mixed with urine and other smells he couldn’t place. The stone tiles beneath his feet were covered in a sticky, red liquid. Dry bones littered the ground, alongside bodies that had stopped breathing.

Some men and women still clung to life, their breaths faint. But they merely stared ahead with empty eyes. They lay face down, expressions dazed, drool leaking from their mouths. Someone had used a vile method to drain their spirit roots and strip them of all cultivation. A cultivation method based on devouring other spirit roots was no different from what heretical cultivators practiced.

These people were covered in wounds. Even Liu Peiyuan felt a chill at the sight. It was hard to imagine what they had endured before their spirit roots were stripped away.

Liu Peiyuan stood frozen, mouth agape. His hands and feet were ice-cold. He wanted to walk farther inside, but his feet felt like lead. He couldn’t imagine how many evils the Liu family had committed during the thousand years he’d spent in closed-door cultivation.

After a long pause, he steeled himself and walked forward. The deeper he ventured, the more gruesome it became. More cultivators lay on the ground, each stronger than the last, all penned up like livestock. Fury burned in Liu Peiyuan's chest. His cheeks and eyelids twitched.

He quickened his pace and soon came upon a stone bed where a girl was suspended in mid-air. Chains had been driven through all four of her limbs. The stone bed was covered in bloodstains. Her robes were tattered, and she was covered in wounds.

Her vital force had been sealed. She was wide awake but couldn’t move. She was aware of everything happening around her, yet helpless to stop it—just like when the Purple Sun Pavilion had tortured her.

Her eyelids stirred when she sensed Liu Peiyuan, thinking that she was about to be saved. Two lines of bloody tears fell.

Liu Peiyuan clenched his teeth so hard his cheeks bulged. He knew this was the girl You Ming had mentioned.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she struggled to look toward him. Tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes, a silent plea.

Liu Peiyuan roared, “Animals!”

He knew the girl was begging him to let her go.

A terrifying aura erupted from him, and the spatial fragment shattered.

Boom!

He couldn’t believe this dark place was where his own progeny got their so-called talent.

To the outside world, Liu Yunxuan was the Liu family’s young master, an ancient sect’s warm and sophisticated gentleman. However, behind this facade, he harbored a vicious nature. He was even worse than an animal.

Liu Peiyuan had been a servant most of his life. He’d killed countless people, including innocents, but even he was horrified. Liu Yunxuan used cultivators as his nourishment so that he could parade around as a prodigy. It was beyond comprehension. Never underestimate the evil of mankind.

The realm was collapsing. Blinding light poured in from the outside world, but it couldn’t warm the hearts of those who had long since lost their minds. Many people sobbed, doing their best to curl up and bury their heads, as if it would lessen their torture.

Every one of them was once an arrogant prodigy, but now...

Yu Sui’an’s heart sank. The old man hadn’t saved her the moment he saw her, which meant he had reservations. If he truly wanted to save her, he wouldn’t have shattered the realm’s boundary.

She gazed at the light. It was warm and blinding. A bitter smile touched her lips. This light would only carry them from one abyss to another.

The sunlight stung her. Bloody tears flowed from the corners of her eyes. She looked at him with widened eyes, a silent, desperate plea that needed no words.

Liu Peiyuan’s killing intent had reached its peak, but he still hesitated. He wanted nothing more than to kill Liu Yunxuan.

He recalled how You Ming had specifically mentioned Yu Sui’an, then spoken with Liu Yunxuan alone for a long time. She was likely the reason the Liu family still lived.

Liu Peiyuan was torn between justice and reason, hesitating. Ultimately, with the Liu family on the brink of annihilation, he chose reason. Despite everything he saw, he turned away.

Yu Sui’an’s heart sank. Numbness and despair filled her eyes. She’d thought he would save her.

He shot a ray of spirit light from his hand. The wisp of pure vital force would barely be enough to sustain her.

Her spirit root was already gone, so she would never cultivate again. However, she did not absorb the vital force. She refused to drag the people she loved into danger because of her. Not again. She decided to accept death.

Liu Peiyuan sighed. For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether that wisp of vital force was meant for her or his own conscience.

Boom! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The realm shattered. He vanished without a word.

Before leaving, he escorted Liu Yunxuan’s subordinates out of his residence, then sealed it behind them with an opaque barrier.

Boom!

A deep roar shook the sky. “No one is allowed within a thousand zhang of this place!”

The Liu family fell silent in terror.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Whoosh!

Liu Yunxuan jolted awake in a luxurious bedchamber. He was still severely injured, barely able to move from his bed.

He turned and stared at the old man beside his bed, frightened. Liu Peiyuan had blasted everyone out.

Liu Peiyuan planted his foot on Liu Yunxuan’s chest. The bed collapsed beneath them, cracks spidering outward.

Liu Yunxuan felt a wave of terror as he sensed Liu Peiyuan’s killing intent.

“Speak! What did the Blood Sovereign tell you? Don’t hide anything! Tell me everything!”

Liu Yunxuan, trembling and terrified, told him everything. His secret was out, and he knew it.