In the core area of the Yin Clan, where skysc.r.a.pers climbed to the heavens and all of the important members of the family lived, a beautiful young girl presented a black sword, as thin as a cicada"s wing, to Yin Jiwu.

The handsome Yin Jiwu, who looked no older than twenty, took up the hilt of the sword and brandished it in the air. As he whipped the sword in an arc, a tall, robust, red-haired man standing behind him pulled out a 12-inch-thick metal pillar and struck the blade hard.

Similar to slicing fruit, the slender blade cut effortlessly through the metal pillar, sending half of it crashing to the ground. Yin Jiwu bent over to examine the section where the pillar had been cut.

“Good sword!” he laughed, running his finger down its now perfectly smooth surface.

“But it"s too expensive!” the robust, red-haired man muttered in a low, m.u.f.fled voice, aquamarine eyes wide. “That old fogy is too greedy!”

Expensive?

Yin Jiwu laughed. He was disinclined to explain to his old trusted friend why he had chosen to buy the sword. Although he had subdued the red-haired man almost a century ago, Wu"Er was still merely a servant to him. As such, there were some things the man did not have the right to know the answers to!

Still shaking his head with laughter, Yin Jiwu gestured for Wu"Er not to follow him. With the sharp nameless weapon in hand, he left his courtyard and walked in the direction of Fledgling Palace.

He was going to find his son, 14-year-old Yin Xuejiao, his pride and joy, the youngest person to become a Star Warrior since the establishment of Fledgling Palace. He wanted to present this precious sword as a gift in front of everyone.

He wanted the children and the deacons fix their eyes upon his son and envy him, G.o.d"s favored one. This treasured sword, originally from the Eastern Cultivation World, had been tailor-made for Yin Xuejiao. Yin Jiwu hoped that it would follow the growth of Yin Xuejiao and become a strong boost on his path of cultivation.

At the same time, he wanted everyone to understand the level of his strength and the depth of his personal connection!

So far, only he had been able to get such a divine weapon from the East! Even his elder brother, his compet.i.tor, had not been able to achieve this!

After the youths, the deacons, and their backers saw this sword, they would surely be able to comprehend the message! This was sword was more than just a weapon. It was a bargaining chip that would gain him the full support of the family!

“Well done, son!” Yin Jiwu"s eyes softened and he quickened his pace.

Along the way, he smiled at all of the Fledgling Palace deacons, stunning them because he had never been so kind to them before. 

But Yin Jiwu"s good mood quickly vanished as he stepped through the double doors leading into the grand hall.

He watched in stunned anger as Yin Xuege"s sword claimed half of his son"s neck. His mood worsened even further as he watched him then drop to the ground, blood fountaining.

With half of his neck detached, Yin Xuejiao could not reabsorb his blood back into his body. This was not some common scratch. Even with the special physique of a vampire, he would have to lie in bed for at least a month in order to recover completely!

“Evil creature!” Yin Jiwu shouted, finally recovering. Cold air rushed into his mind, and his eyes ran with blood.

Maddened with fury, mind blank, he crashed into the hall and aimed a palm at Yin Xuege causing a terrible smell of blood to fill the air. 

The hearts of the children beat violently in their chest. Their blood flowed uncontrollably and their eyes turned an abnormal scarlet as a pale blood mist covered Yin Jiwu"s hand. In his palm, a strange monster seal script dazzled with red light. With the appearance of the seal script, the speed of the blood flowing in the children further increased. They could hear the “huā lā lā” sound of blood rubbing against blood vessels.

Then, almost at the exact same moment, blood sprayed from their bodies and converged into Yin Jiwu"s palm. His palm, swallowing up the mist of blood like a black hole, clapped against Yin Xuege"s back.

Not once in Yin Xuege"s dreams had he expected that, Yin Jiwu, the father of Yin Xuejiao, someone who held real power in the clan, would disregard his status and attack him. What"s more inconceivable was that Yin Jiwu had attacked him, an 11-year-old child, from behind. Yin Jiwu was nearly two hundred years old, yet he had used a vampire secret skill to sneak attack him!

“Jiwu, you are being  shameless!” 

Even Yin Jiying, who had no real love for Yin Xuege, could not help but stare wide-eyed at Yin Jiwu"s action. 

However, Yin Jiying soon recovered and let out a heart-rending yell: “Second Brother, here is Fledgling Palace! There are laws that must be followed!”

A dull thumping sound followed Yin Jiying"s shout. Spewing out a stream of blood, Yin Xuege landed several meters away from Yin Jiwu"s outstretched palm. His shirt fell away in tatters, he lost his grip on his sword, and a huge, b.l.o.o.d.y palm print appeared on his back.

A strange cold air poured into his body, pressing his internal organs, his heart, and his blood vessels.

Soon, blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth and onto the arena floor as if he were a broken fountain.

When there was no more blood and no other fluid left to spit out, the gloomy and cold aura reached inside his chest. His heart grew ice-cold. Its beat slowed several degrees, and his blood vessels shrunk, reducing to the size of silk threads, shaking his internal organs.

Even though he had spent many years tempering himself in Fledgling Palace and even though he had been cut open by soft swords countless times, he had never felt a pain such as this–the kind that could break one"s resolve and crush one"s spirit.

At the same time, he felt as though Yin Jiwu"s palm had broken all the bones in his back. Fragments of bone rubbed and crushed against each other under the corrosion of the cold aura. The nerves and meridians nearby emitted a “gē gē” sound.

Yin Xuege"s vision slowly grew dark, an oblivion he found himself welcoming. But before he could fall completely to the promise of the numbing darkness, the cold aura reached his soul, jarring him to consciousness.

The body of a vampire was extremely resilient. But after being hit by Yin Jiwu, Yin Xuege felt as if he had been sealed in ice. All of his self-healing abilities had been neutralized. He could not move. He could not speak. He could only lie stiff on the ground, and bear the endless suffering in utter helplessness.

“Evil creature!” Yin Jiwu, moving like a ghost, appeared by Yin Xuege"s side, lifting the sword in his hand to pierce the only Achilles" heel of the Yin Clan–the heart!

Yin Jiying, who was rushing to the scene yelling ‘Fledgling Palace has its own rules", stagnated when he saw that Yin Jiwu really wanted to kill Yin Xuege.

“Kill him! Kill that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Yin Jiying was so excited his entire body shook.

Kill Yin Xuege! Kill him! Didn"t you want to rule as a despot, to call upon the wind and summon the rain, to fight against your elder brother for power and influence? If so, then kill Yin Xuege! Kill him!

Yin Jiying was curious to see what would happen if Yin Jiwu really killed Yin Xuege.

What would the elders, who were training in isolation, do?

After all, Yin Xuege"s very existence humiliated the Yin! He only brought endless shame and trouble to the clan!

Yin Jiwu, on the other hand, was hot enough to scald one"s hands.

Could he kill Yin Xuege? Did he dare to?

Silent, the long black sword, without any light and shadow, pierced flesh, pa.s.sing in-between Yin Xuege"s ribs.

But, when the tip of the blade nearly touched his heart, Yin Jiwu raised his head and looked deeply into Yin Jiying"s eyes. It was almost as if he heard the thoughts that had pa.s.sed through his mind.

Cold sweat rushed out of Yin Jiwu"s back as he suddenly thought of Yin Xuege"s mother. With a stiff wrist, he stopped the sword a centimeter beyond Yin Xuege"s heart. He slowly removed the blade after a short period of stagnation. Then, cold and detached, he looked down at Yin Xuege, kicking him before stepping away.

Yin Xuege vomited, but nothing emerged. He had nothing left to give.

Silence filled the air of Fledgling Palace.

Yin Jiying looked at Yin Xuege"s still form with a look of regret.

Why did you stop, Second Brother, he wondered as all of the children of Fledgling Palace lowered their eyes. They did not dare look at Yin Jiwu, who now looked like a malicious spirit. Yin Qi rolled off his body and soared to the heavens.

Stepping gingerly, Yin Jiwu arrived at his son"s side. At this moment, Yin Xuejiao had stopped bleeding and his wound had begun to show signs that it was slowly healing.

“Never forget today"s lesson!” he said, lowering his head, overlooking his son.

“Because, I had high hopes for you, I had specially asked some old friends of mine in the East to forge this sword for you!”

Shaking his head with regret, Yin Jiwu stuffed the four-foot-two-inch sword into the sleeves of his robe and sighed.

His son had not lived up to his expectations.

“In three months" time, the Yin Clan"s annual martial arts ceremony will begin. If you can win the tournament, I will present that sword to you!” he said, folding his hands into his sleeves.

As Yin Jiwu looked at his disgraceful son, thoughts of murder flashed through his mind.

Yin Xuejiao"s defeat at the hand of a junior three years younger had ruined all of his carefully laid plans.

“Remember, three months" time!” Yin Jiwu looked to Yin Xuejiao, sternly cool and unmoved. “Three months later, if you are still as incompetent as you are now…”

Three months later, if Yin Xuejiao was as incompetent as he was now, what would happen? Yin Jiwu did not say. But he did not need to. Yin Xuejiao understood and his face turned even paler because of it. He knew what kind of man his father was. He shivered with fear.

Just then, the sound of rushing footsteps appeared. Soon, a man, nine points similar to Yin Jiwu, equally handsome, equally evil, and equally cold all over, walked into the hall with dozens of people.

“Second Brother, there are rules to Fledgling Palace. This is the place where the family trains the young ones and pa.s.ses on the torch to the next generation. Are you here stirring up trouble? Are you not afraid to be punished according to clan law?” the man accused, refusing to wait for Yin Jiwu to open his mouth and explain himself.

Yin Jiwu"s complexion turned cold and a rich scarlet mist gushed out from his body, condensing into a scarlet flame behind him. He looked to the leader of the group of clansmen that had broken into the grand hall, this generation"s patriarch, his older brother, Yin Jihuang.

“This is quite the coincidence, huh, Elder Brother? You rarely ever step foot in Fledgling Palace!”

Looking at Yin Xuejiao who was covering his neck and struggling to stand, Yin Jihuang approached Yin Jiwu with hands folded behind his back. Once near, he cracked into a smile and shifted his gaze to Yin Xuege"s immobile form and the scarlet palm print marking his back.

“As luck would have it, I heard that you were coming to instruct the younger generation. I was curious to see what you might teach, so I came to observe.”

The two brothers stared at each other for a while until Yin Jihuang suddenly reached out and patted Yin Xuejiao on the shoulder.

“Xuejiao, you are the youngest talent in the history of the Yin Clan to become a Star Warrior! Uncle is curious. Who could hurt you to this extent? Is it possible that you were being careless?”

Yin Xuejiao"s complexion became difficult. He looked at his uncle then to his father. Even though anger soared in his heart, he did not dare express it. He could only bow his head respectfully and listen to his uncle"s taunts.

Yin Jiwu, furious, glanced at his son and stomped his feet. Afterward, ignoring Yin Jihuang, he turned into a dark shadow and rushed out of the hall.

Yin Jihuang grinned for a moment. Then his face grew cold and gloomy. He glanced at Yin Jiying, who was standing off to the side, and lightly said: “Let the children solve their own problems. Let us not interfere too much!”

Translator Suyi~>