Chapter 43: A Single Word – ‘Tragic’

After reaching the True Core stage with his physical body, Zhang Shen had once asked about the prices of legacies related to alchemy, artifact crafting, array formations, and spiritual plants. Each one had a jaw-dropping price tag.

Even the Innate stage artifact crafting legacy that Li Shuang had offered was nearly as valuable as True Core stage cultivation techniques.

Financially constrained, Zhang Shen could only sigh and gaze longingly. He had initially hoped to acquire some of these legacies to bolster the foundational strength of Hongyuan City in the future.

Fortunately, Li Shuang had generously bestowed upon him all the legacies he possessed, ensuring that Zhang Shen wasn’t entirely bereft in these areas.

Impressed by Li Shuang’s unwavering loyalty, and given that he held the reins of Li Shuang’s soul, Zhang Shen earnestly imparted crucial insights on cultivation to Li Shuang and his two sons. This guidance would help them avoid taking the wrong paths or unnecessary detours in their cultivation journey.

In the last three years, the trio had indeed shown progress, gaining a modest increase in strength, but there had been no dramatic transformation.

To Zhang Shen, legacies in areas like artifact crafting, alchemy, and spiritual plants held nearly the same appeal as ordinary cultivation methods and martial arts techniques. Practicing the associated techniques could even grant him experience points. However, he wouldn’t earn any experience from the actual crafting or concocting processes, which led to his rather lukewarm interest in these practical aspects.

“In a few days, I’ll be leaving this area for a while,” Zhang Shen announced. “If you encounter issues you can’t handle during my absence, don’t act rashly. Prioritize your safety above all.”

Over the years, Li Shuang’s children also gained Zhang Shen’s trust and respect. Whether it was Li Li or Li An, both were reliable, level-headed, and not the sort to stir up trouble.

“We understand, Master. Li Shuang, Li An, and Li Li will keep that in mind,” they responded in unison.

“Exercise caution on your journey, Master,” they added.

“Very well,” Zhang Shen said, his silhouette dissolving into the nighttime shadows.

He left behind the bustling Sunfire Market and set his course toward his next destination, the Boulder Mountain Range.

The story actually began a year ago.

To maintain his rapid advancement in martial arts, Zhang Shen was a frequent visitor to the shops in Sunfire Market, where he acquired the resources essential for his cultivation. In the process, he formed connections with a variety of individuals.

At Zhang Shen’s stage of martial progress, not only did he need to focus on cultivation, but it was also imperative to broaden his understanding of the world beyond. To that end, his purchases weren’t limited to cultivation materials. He also invested in intelligence about the prominent figures and existing power structures in the nearby areas. This included biographies, all of which were basic information openly sold in most stores without any factions taking issue.

While perusing accounts of extraordinary individuals from the past few centuries, Zhang Shen came across a name, Master Li Yan.

After meticulous research and cross-referencing multiple records, Zhang Shen concluded that this enigmatic and low-profile Master Li Yan was indeed the same person whose skeletal remains he had found in that illusive array.

“The Soul-Seizing Arrow, the Great Sun Blade Technique, along with the potent and refined True Qi, this is definitive confirmation,” Zhang Shen thought to himself.

Master Li Yan’s legacy had been invaluable to him. The resources he now used for his own cultivation were essentially Master Li Yan’s accumulated wealth.

With that realization, he took extra precautions and started amassing information related to Master Li Yan. After all, this True Core-stage master had met his demise at the edges of the Endless Wilderness.

Who knew the circumstances of his death, or whether he had mortal enemies during his lifetime? 

Master Li Yan had practiced the Mountain of a Thousand Layers technique and had even refined an artifact at the True Core level.

Ignorance could be hazardous. What if an old nemesis of Master Li Yan were to suddenly resurface, mistaking Zhang Shen for Li Yan’s heir and targeting him?

That would be an outright catastrophe.

If the enemy turned out to be weak, that was one thing. But if they were formidable and insurmountable, it would pose a whole different level of threat. Therefore, Zhang Shen resolved to discreetly gather as much information about Master Li Yan as possible, just to be on the safe side.

Upon further investigation, Zhang Shen discovered that Master Li Yan truly exemplified a low-profile lifestyle. 

Throughout his life, he had made no major accomplishments but had successfully eliminated all his enemies, leaving no loose ends or lingering threats. This was a quality Zhang Shen deeply admired.

Zhang Shen humorously mused to himself, “I’d love to inherit a hundred more legacies just like this one.”

Master Li Yan was not a solitary figure. He came from a martial arts family in the Boulder Mountain Range, a family similar in stature to the Luo family. Originally just an Innate-level family, it had once flourished due to the rise of Li Yan. But ever since Li Yan’s mysterious passing two centuries ago, the family’s fortune had been in decline, year by year lacking the emergence of a new True Core cultivator.

Zhang Shen’s journey to the Boulder Mountain Range aimed to explore this very family. 

If they proved deserving, he would offer assistance as a tribute to Master Li Yan’s legacy. If they were unworthy, then, in the survival-of-the-fittest world they inhabited, let them come and challenge him if they dared.

In all honesty, regardless of whether he visited or not, the Li family would remain unaware that he possessed relics of Master Li Yan.

For Zhang Shen, what mattered was peace of mind.

He acted as his conscience directed him, always in alignment with his own moral compass.

When he felt compelled to repay a kindness, he did so. When he deemed it necessary to take a life, he would not hesitate.

He had his own code that governed his actions.

Taking to the skies, skirting around dangerous regions, Zhang Shen arrived in the Boulder Mountain Range half a month later. 

Positioned at the outer rim of human territories, this area was a bit closer to the central regions than Sunfire Market, albeit not significantly so.

Relying on the information he had gathered, he began his search, which ultimately led him to the Li family, who resided in the Black Iron City.

“Has the once-illustrious True Core family really dwindled to this state?” 

Observing the desolate Li estate, where only the faintest embers of life still smoldered, Zhang Shen couldn’t help but sigh.

Such was the result of a poor foundation.

Though blessed with the emergence of a True Core cultivator, they had failed to cultivate a successor to carry the mantle.

When the lone True Core individual, on whom the family’s prestige hinged, fell, the glory they had momentarily enjoyed turned on them, rebounding with a vengeance, amplified ten or even a hundredfold.

Images of the Luo family’s present prosperity and the Li family’s current decline flashed across Zhang Shen’s mind, intensifying a particular thought within him, ‘Even the brightest prodigies are but temporary flashes of brilliance. In the grand tapestry of time, they are mere ripples. Only eternal, only the invincible allows one to stand tall across eons.‘

This thought, previously somewhat nebulous, crystallized at that moment and deeply anchored itself in Zhang Shen’s heart.

Looking again at the Li estate, his earlier sense of melancholy evaporated.

He chose not to knock on the door, turning away instead.

First, he wanted to ascertain the current state of the Li family before making a decision on whether to interact with them.

For information gathering, his primary choice was the commercial establishments in Black Iron City.

There, he unexpectedly spotted the Four Seas Miscellaneous Goods store again. Keeping this in mind, he entered a shop rumored to be run by a major power. Only an organization of that stature would dare to trade in sensitive local intelligence without reservations.

Black Iron City was no major metropolis, and it had never been a stronghold for True Core stage practitioners.

Zhang Shen, disguising himself with the cultivation level of an eighth layer innate, proceeded to purchase the information he sought.

After parting with a certain amount, he acquired the intelligence he needed.

“The Li family’s True Core cultivator has not been seen for two hundred years. After a while, people came to the consensus that Master Li Yan had perished, and they began to divide the territories once controlled by the Li family. The Li family has been expelled from the ranks of elite True Core families. Yet during the era of Master Li Yan, they amassed a considerable fortune and resources. Such wealth has fanned the flames of greed among both established Innate families and independent cultivators. In particular, the presumed breakthrough insights of Master Li Yan have inflamed the avarice of these ravenous martial artists. Public sentiment prefers to believe that the Li family’s failure to produce a new True Core master stems from their own shortcomings, rather than entertain the idea that Master Li Yan had unique insights that have now been lost. As a result, the Li family has been reduced to a state of decline, despite initially surpassing the foundational strength of average Innate families. They’ve retreated to the confines of Black Iron City and don’t even count among the leading powers there.”

Looking back on the Li family’s tumultuous two centuries, the only appropriate description was one word–Tragic.

Recently, the Four Tigers Gang, currently active in Black Iron City, targeted the Li family. They have not only meticulously orchestrated the downfall of the last senior Innate cultivator in the family but have also forcibly seized all of the Li family’s assets within the city.

The remaining force of the Li family had tried to resist, but they’ve been beaten down, bruised, and battered. 

Now, the Li family had been whittled down to a pair of true-born siblings and an elderly servant. 

The only reason these three were still alive was because other opportunistic factions took advantage of the Li family’s weakened state to stir the pot. 

The Four Tigers Gang didn’t want their war spoils to fall into the hands of others,  thus, their most formidable members have left to secure their looted assets.

Those left behind did possess some level of capability, but the old servant was a formidable cultivator at the Ninth Layer Acquired. In the absence of the Four Tigers Gang’s strong fighters, they certainly don’t wish to gamble their lives confronting him.

“How utterly tragic,” Zhang Shen thought as he took in the entire situation. 

He couldn’t help but question whether the Li family had exhausted all their good fortune two centuries ago. They seemed to be the epitome of misfortune.

“It seems the conflicts within the human territories are even more vicious than I anticipated,” Zhang Shen mused.

With just a cursory glance, he had already sensed the intense undercurrents of violence and bloodshed that rivaled, if not surpassed, the ceaseless battles in the Endless Wastelands.

***

At the Li estate, the aging Li Zhong was engrossed in preparing meals. 

Since the Li family fell into the crosshairs of the Four Tigers Gang, they had been on a downward spiral. Not only had their commercial interests and mining operations been taken over, but even the household servants deserted them, one by one.

Those who remained loyal had been dismissed by the family’s young lady. 

It was painfully obvious to anyone that the Li family reached the point of no return. The 12-year-old young lady knew this too well, allowing even the most loyal of their servants to leave, sparing them from pointless sacrifices.

Yet, no matter what, Li Zhong remained steadfast. 

“What’s the story with this Li Zhong?” asked Hao Shuang, a sub-commander of the Four Tigers Gang, to his underling. 

With a cultivation level reaching the Ninth Layer Acquired, he was no less skilled than Li Zhong.

With the scuffle over the Li estate nearly resolved, the Four Tigers Gang was finally free to tie up loose ends, specifically, eliminating the remnants of the Li family. Hao Shuang was the man appointed for this grim task.

His loyal subordinate quickly relayed the background information, “I’ve heard that Li Zhong was originally just a beggar. More than two decades ago, he nearly froze to death in a snowstorm. He was rescued by the eldest son of the Li family, who happened to pass by and took him in as a servant. It’s likely due to this act of life-saving kindness that Li Zhong has remained unwavering in his loyalty, standing steadfastly by the side of the young siblings.”

“Hmm,” Hao Shuang pondered. “He indeed seems to be a loyal character. But if he obstructs the Four Tigers Gang, he must die. Gather our forces. Follow me, it’s time to eliminate them.”