Chapter 67: Jidengqi

That year, Ji Dengqi knelt behind his father, trembling in the biting autumn wind. He watched as the Wan family head slowly lifted his father, then spat on his father's blood-streaked face, mockingly sneering: "The Ji family is nothing more than this."

He hung his head low, tears continuously streaming down his face. They dripped from his chin, dampening his thin autumn clothes and soaking into the brick cracks on the ground.

He painstakingly lifted his head. Behind the Wan family head stood a young man in luxurious robes, staring at him with a cold, mocking smile.

Later, he learned that the young man was Wan Xiaohua, the young master of the Wan family.

Wan Xiaohua stood there, sneering, while Ji Dengqi knelt, weeping.

What an unbearable humiliation! The Wan family had launched a surprise attack on Huashan. In just nineteen breaths, they breached the mountain protection array that had only been built three years prior. They killed the current Ji family head, dragging out every member of the Ji family, even those still in their sleep, dressed only in their undergarments.

Twenty-nine direct descendants of the Ji family, most still in their undergarments and wrapped in blankets, trembled as they knelt in front of the courtyard, watching Ji Dengqi's father, the young master of the Ji family, being humiliated.

Even outside the collapsed courtyard walls, a multitude of commoners knelt—people who lived under the Ji family's rule. They watched as the once-revered immortal descendants endured humiliation: female family members had their blankets torn away and huddled together, while male family members were trampled underfoot, struggling.

Every night, when this scene replayed in his dreams, Ji Dengqi's eyes burned with fury, tears streamed endlessly down his face, and he would sit up to resume his cultivation.

The Wan family head brutally kicked his father, making him spit blood and collapse limply. Ji Dengqi, weeping, clung to the man's leg and cried out: "My Ji family will be your dogs! The Ji family will watch over the Yu family for you under the Tangjin Gate! The Ji family will offer tribute every year..."

The man sneered, kicked Ji Dengqi away, sending him sprawling, dizzy and with two teeth knocked out. He laughed heartily, saying: "Our two sects are sworn enemies to begin with. Countless families have perished along the border. If we weren't afraid of bordering the Yu family by wiping out your Ji family, why would my Wan family spare you? Your Ji family wants to be dogs? My Wan family wouldn't dare take you in."

Wan Xiaohua stood behind the man, watching Ji Dengqi with a smiling face, his eyes filled with mockery.

The man plundered all of the Ji family's assets, and left with the arrogant Wan family members, leaving behind Huashan in ruins, the Ji family utterly disgraced, commoners staring with strange looks, and corpses strewn across the courtyard.

Three days later, his father also died. His Xuanjing Wheel had been shattered, causing his spiritual energy to dissipate, leading to his death. Lying on the bed, he groaned weakly. Ji Dengqi, weeping, leaned his ear close and heard his father weakly utter: "Never forget... the hatred... of the broken array... and your father's murder."

Ji Dengqi bit his lip until it bled, and ascended to the position of family head.

Ji Dengqi began to kill, targeting commoners who dared to look up at him. He killed until blood flowed profusely, staining his hands crimson, killing until no one dared to remember the night the Wan family ascended Huashan. The thirteen-year-old boy often enjoyed smashing the heads of those commoners, watching the gory spectacle.

Two years later, news arrived that filled Ji Dengqi with both ecstasy and deep regret. The man, a Qi cultivation master highly skilled in array formations, had died violently in the Great Li Mountains at the hands of an enemy. The glorious era of the Wan family had come to an abrupt end. Wan Xiaohua, who had hastily ascended to the family head position, once again consolidated their power. All the lands to the east reverted to the Lu family.

"But it's still not enough. Wan Xiaohua's talent surpasses mine, and the Wan family's foundation is profound. This is far from enough."

Fortunately, an opportunity arose. The young master of Tangjin Gate was searching for a particular spiritual energy of heaven and earth at Wangyue Lake. Ji Dengqi, like a dog, diligently attended to him, entertaining the bored man under the tree, despite the cold stares of the surrounding guards. The man in golden robes finally burst into laughter and asked him what he desired.

He knew well that the man wasn't asking what he wanted, but rather what he had to offer. Ji Dengqi replied that the "dog" desired nothing for himself, but wished to present a woman.

Ji Dengqi noticed the cold indifference in the eyes of the many guards surrounding the man in golden robes. He whispered obsequiously: "Your Highness needs a confidante, someone with good spiritual aperture talent to be close to you."

Ji Dengqi offered his own sister, an innocent girl with a spiritual aperture, the twelve-year-old girl who would laugh and hug him, calling him "brother." The girl cried, covering her face, then spoke with a choked yet determined voice: "Brother, I want revenge too."

And so he watched his sister lie on that man's bed, her pale, delicate feet dangling at the foot of the bed. He dared not cry, nor did his sister.

His sister went with him, becoming the young master's maid. Afterward, elixirs and resources were sent to their home every year. Ji Dengqi cultivated relentlessly, forgetting sleep and food, finally breaking through to the Qi cultivation stage. The entire Ji family, rather than celebrating or cheering, immediately burst into tears, overcome with emotion.

He immediately executed an old Wan family cultivator at the peak of the Embryo Breath stage, who had been guarding the Ji family's lost lands. This was Wan Xiaohua's uncle. Only then did he discover that Wan Xiaohua on Wan family's Huaqian Mountain was merely at the Jade Capital Wheel stage.

No one could have predicted that the Wan family's Qi cultivation master would suddenly die, or that Ji Dengqi would reach the Qi cultivation stage in just over a decade.

However, the grand array left by the Wan family's ancestor, Wan Huaqian, was as hard as a tortoise shell. Ji Dengqi harassed them for over ten years, watching as the Wan family connected with other surrounding families, about to regain their strength. He was filled with such hatred that he suffered from sleepless nights.

A few nights prior, Ji Dengqi received a message from his sister, stating that the young master of Tangjin Gate was once again heading to Wangyue Lake. He read the letter repeatedly, a plan already forming in his mind.

After many years, that man returned to Wangyue Lake, still searching for that specific spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Ji Dengqi didn't know what kind of miraculous spiritual energy it was that made the man return again and again to seek it, but the situation was clearly becoming favorable.

He had his sister reveal the deep-seated blood feud between the two families, and then exaggerated the impregnability of the Wan family's grand array. This finally provoked the man's competitive spirit. The man in golden robes burst into laughter, saying: "Wan Huaqian was truly brilliant centuries ago, recognized by the Three Sects as an array formation genius. For Yu'er's sake, this young master will test the depths of this array."

And so, Ji Dengqi, along with the Ji family members, carrying long blades, slowly stopped at the foot of Huaqian Mountain. Behind him, the Ji family, clad in leather armor, silently watched the shimmering white light of Huaqian Mountain with him.

"Where are your reinforcements, Wan Xiaohua?"

Ji Dengqi murmured to himself: "No matter how many Qi cultivation masters arrive, it will be useless. The demise of your Wan family is today. Your reinforcements, your hidden cards, will have no effect."

Ji Dengqi suddenly felt a profound sense of destiny. The gazes of his father and grandfather silently watched him from behind, witnessing him conquer Huaqian Mountain.

"In this great battle, my Ji family has the formidable power of the Tangjin Gate behind us. Human strength has its limits, something you cannot see or imagine."

Tears suddenly streamed down his cheeks again. The expression on his face and his resolute demeanor no longer held any hint of servility. A surging malevolence and an unending sorrow condensed within Ji Dengqi's body, making his small, flesh-and-blood frame appear exceptionally solid and formidable. No longer could he be considered insignificant in the slightest.