Chapter 1042: Youngest Son of the Tai Family

The reason why Xia Fei was still alive was not that the curse had run its course but that he had yet to have a child with Avril!

This startling discovery left both Xia Fei and Radix completely floored.

Radix let out a dismal cry comparable to that of a wild beast. “That spiteful woman! Here I thought that by your generation, the fact that the Wolfslayer ultimately did not get passed down meant you were safe, but in the end, it’s just a delayed activation!”

“The Woflslayer? Is that the name of the curse?” Xia Fei, who was not frightened by the curse, very calmly asked this.

“Yes… no.” Radix’s answer was contradictory. He slowly shook his head and morosely clarified. “Not long after the woman uttered her curse, plenty of strange occurrences transpired in the clan. After the elder court convened, they requested your grandfather to leave the clan and be exiled, never to return unless they were to call him back.

“Your great grandparents were, of course, absolutely unwilling for this to happen, but since it’s a decision made by the elder court, the two could not go against their wishes. All they could do was provide the best possible support in other ways to your grandfather, including commissioning a soul ship. As for the things that we stole, the clan didn’t dare to keep any of those, so they were all taken on board the ship.

“The blame lay entirely on the day before departure when your grandfather suddenly felt unwell. However, in order not to make anyone in the clan worry, we went ahead with the journey. Along the way, his illness worsened, so we could only consult a famed apothecary, and that’s where we learned about the Wolfslayer, the name of a universal miracle poison.”

Xia Fei was surprised. “You meant to tell me that my grandfather had died from poison, not some curse?”

“Well, that’s not exactly correct, either.” Radix continued speaking. “Yes, the Wolfslayer is a poison, but such a poison isn’t hereditary. You must understand that everyone in your family died to the poison of Wolfslayer, which is absolutely irregular!

“As such, I feel that what your grandfather was afflicted with should be a mutation of the Wolfslayer, or perhaps the curse just appears in the form of the Wolfslayer. Fortunately, you learned how the curse works in time, or else there’s no way to imagine what could’ve happened!”

Curses were a type of frightening spiritual repose. Xia Fei did not strongly believe that there was anyone in the universe strong enough to wish death upon someone by sheer will alone and in a myriad of ways to boot. However, Xia Fei’s immediate family dying through the Wolfslayer made him rethink what he knew of curses.

Radix was looking at Xia Fei strangely when he suddenly realized that there had been a fundamental change in his generation, and this was because he completely differed from other Auroreans! He was far more logical, and his methods were more insidious!

“I think that the inference of this curse is entirely plausible. I have already passed the age of twenty-four, yet I’m still perfectly fine; this shows that dying by the time anyone in my family reaches twenty-four is no more than an obfuscation.

“Once someone knows of their fate, they’ll usually turn self-destructive. With their mind devastated and upon knowing of their impending demise, the strong desire to continue their bloodline will come. This way, their lineage won’t be completely cut off in their time. The more one thinks like this, the more likely they’ll fall for the enemy’s ploy, as the real condition for the curse to work is by them having offspring!

“Also, the enemy has no idea that I exist. After all, much of what has happened occurred in another universe, but that may not be the case once I reach the Aurora Clan. That woman must be keeping a close eye on the Auroreans in secret, and the moment I return and show myself, she will know at once that the curse has lost its grip and will likely strike as needed. Thus, the plan needs to be changed; I won’t be returning to the clan—at least, not for now.

“Since I can’t return to the Auroreans to request support, the encirclement of the Law Realm will persist. From here on, I’ll prioritize making myself even stronger till I’m capable of dealing with the Inverse and killing my way to that woman’s abode!”

Hearing Xia Fei’s analysis, the only thing Radix could do was nod. This was not the first time he had seen this superhuman analysis, but this was when it had affected him the most!

The main reason why Xia Fei had survived until now was, behind his madness, his sophisticated thinking process, which could leave anyone breathless!

“That’s right! Kill your way to that woman’s abode! She has no idea that you’re still alive, and that’ll work to your advantage!” Radix enthused. He had garnered plenty of faith after hearing Xia Fei’s intricate and logical reasoning.

Xia Fei smiled, a cold glimmer flashing in his eyes.

‘That woman has calculated well, setting the curse at twenty-four years old, the perfect time to marry and have children, an age where the cultivation and contacts they have will unlikely be too strong. It’s the perfect moment to strike. Too bad, for I’m going to live much longer than what she stipulated!”

…

Tai family.

In a luxurious manor now devoid of its owner, the only people present were the mourners who brought in fresh flowers to commiserate.

The saying, ‘The tea cools when a person leaves,’ rang true. Though there were an extraordinarily large number of people coming to mourn, only a handful of them were sincerely grieving. Most had come for the sake of face, for others to see; some had even already begun plotting over how they could take the Tai family’s properties.

As the day gradually turned to night, the manor became a lot deserted, except for the guards the elders of Red Dwarf Star had sent over to man the place.

No one noticed that there stood a skinny, middle-aged man on a distant hill, putting down fresh flowers by his feet. The killing intent pervading his body made it evident that he had come to mourn the Tai family’s tragic demise, though no one had any clue for what reason this middle-aged man had not entered the Tai Estate and was only looking at it from afar.

*Whoosh*

Two figures appeared beside the middle-aged man; they were a bespectacled scholarly youth and a muscularly burly man.

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“Senior Hongtu. We took a closer look at the scene and didn’t find Nian Zi anywhere, but we did pick up traces of Nian Zi engaging in combat, so it’s very likely that he’s already been slain by someone,” reported the bespectacled youth calmly.

The burly man nodded in agreement, adding, “From the traces of battle, Nian Zi has most likely been forced to use the Soul Extinguishing Light at that time. Using that sort of mass-killing soul art shows that the enemy wasn’t just one man.”

The bespectacled youth frowned. “The method employed by the enemy seems average, hardly the work of a professional. I even learned from the people who had visited today that the tragedy was a result of infighting, with some warriors suddenly going mad and beginning to indiscriminately slaughter their comrades. The one point of suspicion, though, is that after these warriors wiped out the estate of all its inhabitants, they turned their weapons on themselves and took their own lives.”

The middle-aged man, who went by the name of Hongtu, had remained quiet this entire time, only opening his mouth when he could not take it anymore upon hearing that.

“Xiaolin, you’re a surveyor. I don’t need details, just answers,” rumbled Hongtu with a grim expression on his face.

The bespectacled youth quickly nodded. “Right, senior’s correct. I’ll inspect the scene once more, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll head to the city with Biao Zi, but we didn’t tell master about our trip here before we left. If he seeks someone to blame for this…”

“Relax. I’m here,” assured the middle-aged man without taking his eyes off the distant manor.

Helpless, Xiaolin and Biao Zi trekked down the hill and arrived at the Tai Estate in a flash. Those guards posted around the place were largely decorations for the pair, as they were on a completely different level.

“Just what relationship does this family have with Senior Hongtu? He even risked the wrath of our master just to bring the two of us here… Could he be related to the family?” asked the muscular but slightly simple-minded Biao Zi.

Xiaolin adjusted his spectacles and chuckled. “Do you know what Senior Hongtu’s name was before he joined the sect?”

“What?”

“Tai Hongtu,” replied Xiaolin.

“Tai? Wait. Wasn’t that also the surname of this family who got wiped out?!”

*Smack*

Xiaolin slapped Biao Zi on the head and laughed. “You dummy! Would Senior Hongtu have sent Nian Zi all the way out here if there were no relations? Though Nian Zi was chased out of the sect, he still could be said to be a level 1 Soul Eater with a complete Soul Mark! He’s as strong as you in terms of his combat strength.

“No matter how bad he was as a Soul Eater of that level, he wouldn’t have fallen so low as to land in a backward place like the Red Dwarf Star. He could’ve easily gone anywhere to make a living with his expertise, but a pity that Senior Hongtu has saved Nian Zi’s life back then. In order to repay him, Nian Zi agreed to guard Senior Hongtu’s second brother’s family for three years. Alas, he ended up losing his life in just two months.”

No way Xia Fei could know that the Tai family still had a fourth son, who had not gone into business like his father and brother; instead, he took up the path to be a soul expert! Even that mysterious Soul Eater had been assigned to the Tai family through his machinations.

“Oh, so this family is Senior Hongtu’s elder brother’s! No wonder he’s so angry, bringing the two of us here in a rush, but since he’s his brother, why hasn’t the senior made the trip down here to mourn?” Biao Zi was puzzled.

With a soft sigh, Xiaolin glanced at Tai Hongtu up on that hill and replied, “Senior had a falling out with his family and has long since given up his surname, only going by ‘Hongtu’ now. He even swore never to set another foot into the Tai Estate again.

“However, there are always exceptions to the rule. Senior has always maintained a fairly good relationship with his second brother. When he turned his back on his family, the only exception was his second brother, Tai Tingyu. It’s said that Tai Tingyu had very easily taken over the family business all thanks to senior secretly having a hand, killing his elder brother, his third brother, and also his father.”

Biao Zi had gone pale at this point after hearing all that. Patricide was something he had a hard time accepting, but seeing that cold glint in Hongtu’s eyes up on the hill, Biao Zi could feel cold sweat running down his back.

“It’s too bad. If only the Tai family’s old patriarch learned that senior has two and a half Soul Marks, he mightn’t have chased senior away, and he wouldn’t have died as a result,” Xiaolin muttered to himself.

Retracing his footsteps, Xiaolin closely inspected the site once more. It was raining last night, which made it all the more difficult for him to find clues in this confusing case.

“Forget it. There aren’t any clues here. Right now, we’re better off heading to the city and taking a look around there. According to that night’s event, Tai Ning and someone by the name of Xia Fei got into an altercation over a female servant called Enya. There were others who had been targeted by the Tai family. They’re strongly suspicious. Time for us to grab hold of those people; perhaps we can squeeze out some clues from them.”

Tossing his head, Xiaolin departed quickly with Biao Zi, while Hongtu remained standing on that hilltop motionlessly. His eyes were completely filled with killing intent!

…

Deep into the night, Xia Fei returned to his place of residence as always. He opened the door but did not see Enya coming and greeting him. These past few days, no matter how late Xia Fei returned, Enya would always be waiting for him with a well-prepared meal. She would only go to sleep after he finished eating and she finished cleaning up.

Wrinkling his forehead, Xia Fei looked at the empty table and became thoughtful.

“Well, your words today most likely really hurt Enya. She couldn’t have fled, could she?” Radix wondered.

Just as he said that, they heard an enigmatic voice coming from a dark corner of the room.

“Are you Xia Fei? I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.”