Chapter 256: An Immortal’s Gaze Enters the World, Observing the Mortal Dust

Qin Haoxuan offered his thanks to the shop owner. “Don’t worry, Uncle. You just keep your shop open. Nothing will happen.”

With that, he walked towards the Pu family home with a grim face, saying nothing more. He was now very curious to see how his senior brother’s unworthy descendants would deal with him. He didn’t mind educating these good-for-nothings on his senior brother’s behalf.

…

Decades ago, Pu Hanzhong’s home had been just a few dilapidated thatched huts. Today, thanks to his legacy, his descendants lived in a spacious and magnificent mansion, leading the lives of local tyrants, something they could never have dreamed of before.

At this moment, in the Pu family’s grand ancestral hall, where a longevity monument for Pu Hanzhong was enshrined, the badly beaten Pu Wenru and his vicious slave were kneeling before it, crying and complaining to their elders. As the Pu family had prospered over the years, their numbers had swelled dramatically. Many distant relatives, upon learning that an immortal had emerged from their family, had flocked to them. Combined with their original relatives, the Pu family had grown into a large clan of several hundred people. Of course, the most powerful branch was still Pu Wenru’s. His grandfather was Pu Hanzhong’s biological elder brother, and his father was the current head of the family, Pu Hanzhong’s own nephew.

Pu Wenru knelt on the ground, wailing loudly, “Father, you must avenge me! Those three outsiders injured me in Puxian Town. They clearly have no respect for our Pu family, and even less for our immortal ancestor. You must capture them, skin them, and pull out their tendons, and cut them into eight pieces!”

Hearing that he had been beaten, the people of the Pu family, who had all gathered here, erupted in a furious uproar. The grand hall instantly became as noisy as a vegetable market. These well-dressed men, who looked like country gentry, were now spewing the most vulgar language.

“I’ll fuck his ancestors for eighteen generations! How dare he hit someone in our Puxian Town, and Young Master Wenru at that! We must break all their hands and feet!”

“Break their hands and feet? That’s too light for them! To dare to offend the family of an immortal, do they really think we’re soft persimmons?”

“Even the county magistrate has to give our Pu family face. What are these outsiders? I say we find out where their ancestral graves are, dig them up, and whip their ancestors’ bones!”

“That’s right! That’s what we should do!”

A group of beasts in human clothing cursed loudly in the ancestral hall, their faces filled with rage and a high and mighty sense of superiority. Who were they? They were the descendants of an immortal. Now that one of their own had been bullied, bringing shame upon their immortal ancestor, of course they had to retaliate fiercely. A few of the more hot-tempered ones even grabbed cudgels, preparing to go out and capture the culprits.

Just then, an old voice shouted, “Stop! All of you, stop!”

This seventy-something-year-old man was the Old Master Pu. He was the true decision-maker of the family, the most respected existence in Puxian Town, and also Pu Hanzhong’s biological elder brother.

Seeing this old master, who was dressed in a magnificent and expensive silk jacket and leaning on a dragon-head cane, Pu Wenru cried even louder. “Grandfather, you must seek justice and avenge your grandson!” As he shouted, he agitated his injuries, and a cold sweat broke out as he let out a series of miserable cries.

Seeing his most beloved grandson in such a state, the Old Master’s face turned grim. He tapped his dragon-head cane on the ground repeatedly and said, “Look at you all, shouting and clamoring. What do you look like? Those who know would know you are the relatives of an immortal. Those who don’t would think you are mountain bandits! How many times have I told you, what is our status? We are gentry, gentry with status, the gentry family of an immortal! Do not interfere in such matters. Immediately send a message to the county magistrate and have him arrest the three culprits and bring them here.”

A fawning voice sounded, “The Old Master is thoughtful and comprehensive. We were too rash. We’ll go and have the county magistrate arrest them right now.”

“The Old Master is wise!”

“Exactly! When they’re brought here, we’ll beat them to death!”

…

Ahead was the largest mansion in Puxian Town, the residence of his senior brother’s descendants. Although it couldn’t compare to any of the buildings in the Taichu Sect, it was still a grand and opulent residence, even when compared to those in the nearby provincial capital.

From a distance, Qin Haoxuan saw the mansion. Hanging above the main gate was a plaque with four large, golden characters: “Immortal’s Residence,” as if afraid that people wouldn’t know their family had an immortal as a backer. Seeing this plaque, Lan Yan and Xing couldn’t help but laugh, and Qin Haoxuan also felt a surge of anger. Not even the Taichu Grand Hall of the Taichu Sect dared to hang these four characters, yet this plaque had been hanging in Puxian Town for decades. Such ignorance was truly fearless.

When they reached the gate, with their keen senses, the three of them naturally heard the clamor from within the ancestral hall. Qin Haoxuan sneered, his face growing even darker. They walked directly into the Pu family home. How could the wolf-like guards possibly stop them? They soon arrived at the ancestral hall.

He kicked open the grand, red wooden doors. The first thing he saw was the longevity monument for his Senior Brother Pu. Below it was a giant incense burner, and at this moment, nine sticks of incense, each as thick as a baby’s arm, had just been lit, their smoke curling upwards.

This group of unworthy fellows were actually discussing such vile schemes under his senior brother’s monument. Seeing this, Qin Haoxuan’s chest heaved with anger.

“You don’t need to look for me. I’ve come,” he said, his cold gaze sweeping over the descendants of the Pu family, finally settling on the old master who was leaning on the dragon-head cane and whose face lacked the kindness an old man should have. Beneath his wrinkled face, he could vaguely see the features of his Senior Brother Pu. But no matter how similar they looked, he could not compare this old man, the source of the Pu family’s evil, with his kind and honest senior brother.

Seeing the three of them, especially Xing who was behind him, Pu Wenru cried out hoarsely, “Grandfather, it’s them! It’s them!”

There was no need for the Old Master to give an order. A group of ferocious slaves, as well as some of the Pu family descendants who prided themselves on having learned a few fancy moves, all rushed forward, brandishing cudgels that were enough to beat a person to death. If it had been an ordinary person, under their rain of blows, they would have surely died.

Qin Haoxuan casually waved his hand. A cyan blade of qi from a Heaven-Cleaving Slash shot out, accurately cutting all of the cudgels in two without harming a single person.

Just a single slash. The courtyard, which had been so noisy just a moment ago, instantly fell into a deathly silence. An immortal’s technique! This was an immortal’s technique. If these self-proclaimed descendants of an immortal still couldn’t see their identities, then they were truly blind. Only at this moment did the people of the Pu family know that the people they had provoked were not ordinary people, but immortals.

As all the Pu family descendants stood there stunned, it was the Old Master, leaning on his dragon-head cane, whose eyes lit up. He quickly walked a few steps forward, and with a look of astonishment on his face, he was the first to kneel on the ground, respectfully proclaiming, “I did not know a High Immortal had graced us with his presence. Please forgive my failure to welcome you.”

The slaves holding the half-cudgels and the dumbfounded descendants also quickly knelt on the ground. When he realized that Qin Haoxuan’s group were actually immortals, the face of Pu Wenru, who was lying on a stretcher, turned pale with fright. He prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to even breathe too loudly.

Just as Qin Haoxuan was about to speak, an unexpected change occurred.

The Old Master, who had been the first to kneel, secretly took out a talisman from his robes, pricked his finger, and squeezed out a drop of blood onto it, forcibly activating it and attacking him. This was a talisman that Pu Hanzhong had left for his elder brother back then, for emergencies. There had been three in total, and for these past few decades, the Old Master had treated them as a family heirloom. Now, seeing that he had provoked an immortal, he could no longer worry about such things. He had to kill this immortal first.

He was very confident. After all, Hanzhong was from his own family. Even if this immortal was his junior brother, in the end, Hanzhong would surely side with his own family.

Sealed within the talisman was a streak of Heaven-Cleaving Slash blade qi. It was pale white, the most basic kind, and its spiritual energy fluctuation was only at the level of the second or third leaf. An attack of this level naturally could not harm him. The blade qi struck his body directly and then disintegrated.

However, being hit by it, Qin Haoxuan was stunned. He was not stunned by the power of the blade qi, but because this talisman had been personally made by Pu Hanzhong. The spiritual energy fluctuation it emitted had a very familiar aura of his senior brother. He still remembered when he had chosen him as his Guiding Senior Brother, in his own small room, his senior brother had taught him the Heaven-Cleaving Slash and had personally demonstrated it. This was that same familiar spiritual energy fluctuation. For a moment, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness.

He was stunned, and so was the Old Master. He never thought that the talisman his immortal younger brother had left him would be unable to harm Qin Haoxuan. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do.

After a moment, Qin Haoxuan came back to his senses. The face of his senior brother in his memory was so kind and amiable, with an air of detachment from the world. But his brother, this man before him, was so vicious and sinister, and he even had the face to enshrine his senior brother’s longevity monument. He desperately wanted to smash it to pieces; these people were simply not qualified to worship him. But… this was, after all, his senior brother’s monument…

“I never thought that such a good person as Senior Brother Pu Hanzhong would have such unworthy family and descendants, who tyrannize the countryside and bully the market! If he knew, he would surely be so angry he would start coughing again…” Thinking of how his senior brother would cough whenever he overexerted his spiritual energy or became emotional, his expression immediately darkened, and his tone softened a great deal. He pointed at the Old Master. “You… you have truly… disappointed me so much!”

“You’ve seen my younger brother?” The Old Master had originally thought that since this immortal was so powerful, and he had ambushed him, he would surely die. But now, hearing him speak of his younger brother, and in such a familiar manner, he was pleasantly surprised.

Qin Haoxuan coldly swept his gaze over the hall full of Pu family descendants. “Senior Brother Pu asked me to come down the mountain and see you all. If you were in any difficulty, I was to help you as much as I could. Hehe… but I never thought that not only are you all doing very well, but you are also tyrannizing the countryside, bullying the men and dominating the women, committing all sorts of evil! You have brought shame upon his good name.”

Hearing that he was indeed an acquaintance of Pu Hanzhong, the Old Master and the rest of the family finally felt at ease. It seemed their lives were not in danger. But in front of this friend of Pu Hanzhong, they appeared very timid, like children who had been caught doing wrong by their backer.

“I advise you to restrain yourselves. Senior Brother Pu has already passed away. Your backer is gone. If you continue to act so unscrupulously, you will receive your retribution sooner or later,” he said coldly, as if lecturing his own descendants. Although he was not as old as any of them here, he was a high and mighty cultivator, and these were all mortals. The absolute difference in status and strength, the insurmountable gap between an immortal and a mortal, gave him the right to speak loudly, and these old and young masters kneeling on the ground could only bow their heads and listen, not daring to retort a single word.

When they heard from his mouth that Pu Hanzhong was already dead, the faces of these arrogant Pu family members all collapsed. He was their greatest backer. Because of him, no one had dared to move against them. But now, their backer was dead. They were not crying for him, but for themselves.

In an instant, the entire ancestral hall was plunged into a vortex of despair.

The Old Master, after all, had seen the world. With tears streaming down his old face, he threw himself at Qin Haoxuan’s feet, his voice trembling. “High Immortal, High Immortal, you were a good friend, a fellow disciple of Hanzhong. You must not stand by and watch us die. You must protect our Pu family! We… we will erect a living shrine for you, a longevity monument…”

A deeper disgust welled up in Qin Haoxuan’s heart. “It is you who have harmed him. Your sins have all been added to him, causing him to lose his lifespan and die young, and you still want to harm me and shorten my life? If you were to honestly be a normal gentry family, for his sake, I might protect you. But if you continue like this, I will punish you on his behalf.”

Hearing that he was willing to be their backer, the Pu family, who were accustomed to having an immortal’s support, quickly agreed. “We will definitely change our ways! We will definitely change our ways…”

He sighed in his heart, and then his gaze fell on Pu Wenru. “Send this fellow to the authorities for severe punishment! The rest of you, reflect on your actions at home. I know you have done much evil. According to the laws of heaven, I should deal with all of you. But you are very lucky, because the blood of my senior brother flows in the veins of you bastards. If there is a next time, I will clean up the family on his behalf.”

After speaking, he walked out of the ancestral hall without turning back, leaving behind a final sentence. “I will come back in a while. If you have not changed your ways, do not blame me for being merciless.”

The entire room of arrogant Pu family descendants watched him leave with trepidation, and only then did they collapse in a heap.

After he had gone, the Old Master stood up with the support of his family members. His gaze swept fiercely over everyone present, and he gave a decisive order. “Remember this, restrain yourselves! Anyone who dares to act recklessly will be driven out of the family and removed from the family register. In addition, no one is to spread the news of Hanzhong’s death. Otherwise, they will be beaten to death with clubs.”

At this moment, the Pu family had none of the arrogance they had before. Hearing his order, they immediately nodded repeatedly.

Without their backer, they had to be well-behaved. And the news of their immortal ancestor’s death could not be spread. Otherwise, with the enemies they had accumulated over the years, upon hearing that they had lost their backer, they would surely come to their door and tear them to shreds. Without their backer, the Pu family had gone from a fierce tiger to a sick cat. The influence of a single cultivator in the mortal world was so great. Even the indirect party involved, Pu Hanzhong, probably could not have imagined it.

Leaving the Pu family home, Xing sighed with emotion. “That senior brother of yours wasn’t even strong; he didn’t even rank in your Taichu Sect. Yet his influence in the mortal world was so immense. It’s a pity that such a good person had such a bunch of descendants. It’s a real shame.”

Qin Haoxuan was silent. He was also sighing with emotion at the difference between immortals and mortals. The strength of his senior brother was only at the bottom of the sect, yet his mortal descendants had used his name to tyrannize the countryside for decades, and no one had dared to touch them.

The difference between an immortal and a mortal, a single thought, heaven and earth, like clouds and mud. He had a kind of indescribable comprehension. He had previously thought that “Entering the Mortal World” was just to make him recognize his own high and mighty status, his position above mortals. But now it seemed… it was not so simple. These days of wandering the mortal world, a kind of indescribable feeling, as if he had comprehended something, yet it was not so clear.

After walking aimlessly for a while and leaving the range of Puxian Town, Xing, seeing that his mood seemed to have improved a bit, asked, “Where are we going next?”

Qin Haoxuan was taken aback. He had finished his business; it seemed there was nowhere else he needed to go. He said, “Where else can we go? Back to the Taichu Sect.”

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