The rising sun illuminating Linzi City, a light shared equally by Jicheng in Daze Prefecture.

But for some, it brought warmth and glory; for others, scorching heat and torment.

Liu Xiao was not of the main lineage.

Indeed, he wasn’t originally named Liu at all, nor did he know his true surname.

He was an abandoned infant found by Old Master Liu by the roadside years ago. It was an act of momentary kindness, and he was raised within the clan like any other family-raised servant.

However, from a very young age, he displayed extraordinary martial arts talent.

Precious meridian-opening pills would never be wasted on a family servant. It was Old Master Liu who, against all opinions, bestowed one upon him.

And he did not disappoint. His mastery of various secret arts and techniques, and his progress in cultivation, far surpassed everyone else.

Old Master Liu valued him increasingly, providing him with resources. He, in turn, did not fail expectations, returning ample reward for every resource spent on him, cultivating until today to become a Divine Presence realm expert.

While Old Master Liu was alive, he was fiercely loyal to the Liu clan, achieving great merit. After Old Master Liu’s death, he spared no effort in supporting Liu Yingqi, the new Earl of Xuanhuai.

Later, when Liu Shentong met his end, he was the first to rush to Changming Prefecture, vowing to intercept Tian Anping on his return journey. Unfortunately, he did not succeed.

After that battle, the Liu clan fell drastically.

There was no second Liu Shentong.

Liu Xuanhu was completely different from his brilliant elder brother. He was slow and dull, with limited talent, truly uninspired. Trapped before the Heaven and Earth Gate, no one could help him.

Liu Xiuzhang was a very diligent child, but compared to Liu Shentong, he was still far too lacking, utterly insufficient to support the family. Only the marriage agreement with the Yan clan, settled in childhood, could still be considered a guarantee.

And Liu Yingqi…

The spirit of this Earl of Xuanhuai seemed to have utterly collapsed with the death of Liu Shentong.

Performing with mediocrity on the stage of a top noble family, he appeared to be well-rounded, yet everything he did seemed wrong. Since Liu Shentong’s death, nothing he did achieved its intended effect.

The Liu clan was in decline.

The outcome of the battle in Changming Prefecture was that Tian Anping was punished, the Tian family suffered losses, and the Liu clan received ample resource compensation. But the Fufeng Liu clan lacked not resources, but prodigies!

Liu Xiao watched helplessly as the Liu clan plummeted irrecoverably, step by step into the abyss. Yet, he was utterly powerless!

He only understood cultivation, only knew how to fight. Old Master Liu, after all, had not taught him how to revitalize a clan.

In a great empire like Qi, even with Divine Presence cultivation, he walked on thin ice.

Many things he dared not touch, many things he didn’t know if he could touch.

The scheming within top noble families, he witnessed with weariness.

He could only watch.

“I am like the Divine Presence,” yet the divine is powerless!

Now, Liu Xiuzhang’s engagement was broken, Liu Yingqi’s lineage would be displaced, and the Fufeng Liu clan was almost a laughingstock in the world. And Tian Anping, who caused all this, was nearing the end of his ten-year confinement!

The battle in Changming Prefecture all those years ago left Liu Xiao with a profound realization.

Once Tian Anping was free, the Fufeng Liu clan would never rise again.

And he had long since made up his mind.

He vowed to kill Tian Anping!

The timing couldn’t be too early.

In the first few years of Tian Anping’s confinement, to prevent the Liu clan from taking desperate measures, the Tian family would undoubtedly be on high alert. Moving then would guarantee failure.

Thus, the Fufeng Liu clan remained silent, seemingly trying to downplay this humiliation.

Nor could the timing be too late.

By the end of the year or early next year, the Tian family would become vigilant again.

The fourth day of the third lunar month next year was the anniversary of Liu Shentong’s death, and also the day Tian Anping would be freed.

With his Golden Physique and Jade Marrow shattered, his Four Sacred Towers destroyed, and reduced to the Inner Mansion realm, suppressed for ten long years. For any other person, there would be no possibility of recovery.

However, this person was Tian Anping.

An existence whose name struck terror in everyone, almost a forbidden taboo.

Whether people hated him or feared him, they only speculated on how long it would take him to return to the Divine Presence realm after his release!

Liu Xiao, who had personally clashed with Tian Anping, witnessed his ascension to the Divine Presence realm, and then watched him fall back to the Inner Mansion realm, would never doubt Tian Anping’s terror.

For all these years, he had done but one thing: observing the Tian family.

Lurking under the guise of seclusion, without relying on others, he observed personally.

The twenty-first day of the seventh lunar month in the fifty-fifth year of Yuanfeng was an excellent day.

Perhaps the best day.

A celebration ceremony was being held in Linzi City. The First Head of the Yellow River, the achievement of Qi’s hegemony, had returned to the Ancestral Temple.

Even Liu Yingqi went to Linzi to observe the ceremony, and Tian Xili, the Marquis of Gaochang, was no exception.

And Tian Huanwen was still overseas…

There were no Divine Presence experts guarding the entire Jicheng!

He wanted to kill Tian Anping, even if the Qi court held him accountable afterward, a life for a life!

He wanted the world to know that the Liu clan’s revenge could be taken in ten years, and would not be forgotten in a hundred!

If Tian Anping did not break through, facing Divine Presence with Inner Mansion, he would surely die. If Tian Anping broke through, violating his confinement agreement, he should also die!

As Liu Xiao smashed the city gate guards to death and the remaining guards struck the warning drum,

Throughout Jicheng, figures of cultivators soaring could be seen everywhere. Even Tian Huanwen’s cousin, that old man named Tian Huanchang, had already flown to the end of the main street.

But when Liu Xiao announced his name and rose from the main street, a large portion of those figures remained motionless. Tian Huanchang even retreated directly.

Divine Presence experts, who could withstand them?

He had seen Tian Huanchang in Changming Prefecture back then. At that time, the old scoundrel was arrogant, calling him “weak Liu” at every turn. Today, he was quick to shrink back.

Flying rapidly under the high-hanging sun, Liu Xiao immediately spotted the center of Jicheng and saw the strange two-story building.

The building at the very center of this damned, square city.

Like a vertical well rising from the ground, its “well walls” were covered in ugly and bizarre knots.

It had only one skylight.

Three of the four doors were bound with black chains, only the northern door was bare.

Tian Anping…

He silently chanted the name in his heart.

Suddenly, over a dozen figures rose before him, with various cultivation levels including Ascending Dragon, Inner Mansion, and Outer Building, forming a grand formation.

The leader held the formation diagram and declared in a loud voice: “Liu Xiao! The matter of those years was settled then. Do you know what crime you commit today?”

Liu Xiao grinned.

That’s more like it.

After all, this was the opponent he had faced alone for so long.

He intended to unleash a slaughter today. If the road ahead was clear and the Tian family consisted only of people like Tian Huanchang, it would be too disappointing!

It wouldn’t be worth him making such a resolution!

With his spiritual consciousness sweeping out, Liu Xiao said nothing more and pressed down with a palm strike!

One palm became six palms.

Above and below, left and right, front and back, six giant palms condensed out of thin air, like six tall walls, firmly enclosing the dozen or so cultivators, pushing simultaneously!

This was the Sixfold Collapse!

The dozen or so figures vanished, leaving only a broken formation diagram fluttering down in the sky-high blood mist.

This was Liu Xiao at full strength!

How could Outer Building and Inner Mansion cross the gap to Divine Presence with just one formation diagram?

Liu Xiao’s figure swept through the sky-high blood mist, and in a flash, he appeared above the Fubi Building, leaping into the “wellhead.”

Then he saw, on the floor inside the building, a barefoot man sitting cross-legged, clad only in a simple garment, looking up at him.

Sitting in the “well” observing him.

In his eyes, there was actually a hint of bewilderment!

Liu Xiao was now upside down, falling rapidly, pressing a palm in front of him. The power belonging to a Divine Presence realm cultivator instantly covered the two-story building.

“Tian Anping, you truly deserve to die!”

He felt almost no resistance. Inner Mansion level power should not be an obstacle to a Divine Presence expert.

Some of the measures within the Fubi Building were all broken through with overwhelming force.

His palm landed on Tian Anping’s face as expected.

Roaring True Essence surged madly into his body.

He wanted to destroy Tian Anping’s Five Mansion Sea, shatter Tian Anping’s five Inner Mansions, and also ruin Tian Anping’s Tongtian Palace!

He wanted to sever Tian Anping’s entire cultivation path and make it impossible for Tian Anping to recover!

Where the True Essence roared, it was empty!

With the strength of his spiritual consciousness, he couldn’t find Tian Anping’s Inner Mansion!

What was happening?

Liu Xiao exclaimed in surprise: “Where is your Inner Mansion?”

At this moment, his palm was still pressed tightly against Tian Anping’s face.

And Tian Anping’s voice, from between his fingers, slowly leaked out.

“You are in my mansion, yet you ask where my Inner Mansion is?”