Chapter 337

Chapter 337: Yearning for Freedom

Earlier, Lou Yun had been sinking into deep concentration as he struggled to uncover a method to train the soul. When he finally found it, it felt like no more than an instant had passed. Hence, upon awakening, he did not trouble himself to ask Chang Xiang. Yet in reality, half a year had already slipped by!

Had Lou Yun known time had flown this swiftly, he would never have continued sinking into meditation seeking dominion over heaven and earth’s energy. Far too many weighed on his heart.

Naturally, he likely wouldn’t believe that a seeming instant had actually spanned half a year!

However, among the countless masses of existence, those able to sense the way of nature and perceive heaven and earth’s energy were already incredibly rare. Among those who truly could achieve such awareness, which had not taken centuries? Yet someone like Lou Yun—advancing to such a stage in merely half a year—truly stood alone in history. Others who knew might well perish from sheer envy!

…

In the Ghost Sea area of the Huangfu Family, all members had relocated from the shore to Huangfu Xuanlan’s two-story abode. As it stood, every person—including Huangfu Xuanlan, the clan head—stood rigidly straight within the hall. Only one occupied a chair: a figure whose face twisted with breathless rage and disbelief, an undercurrent of barely hidden fear coiled beneath.

The one who commanded such reverence from the Huangfu Family could only be Huangfu Ao from that other world!

Huangfu Ao and Gui You Quan had charged into the depths of the Ghost Sea for battle with similar motives. None could see what unfolded in the fight’s course. Yet its conclusion saw a discomfited Huangfu Ao resurge from the depths while Gui You Quan vanished without a trace. Everyone presumed Huangfu Ao had slain Gui You Quan; two of the Huangfu Family even stepped forward, eager to offer flattering praise. But Huangfu Ao kept his face expressionless and wordless, walking stiffly to this very hall.

He now held his demeanor upon that seat for a solid hour. Not a syllable crossed his lips throughout. And none dared speak. Hearts laden with disparate thoughts, they waited in silence.

Others were blind to the fight’s true progression, yet Huangfu Ao recalled it with crystalline clarity. At its onset, Gui You Quan appeared to cower. His attacks and defense were hesitant, both locked in struggle until they edged close to Huangfu Family’s concealed vault—where the Divine Heavenly Weapons lay.

Only then did the tide turn: Gui You Quan transformed, sudden as lightning, each blow fiercer than the soul-stealing winds. Caught unprepared, Huangfu Ao could hardly ward off strikes and narrowly skirted death on several near misses.

Under this thrashing, Huangfu Ao grasped the vast chasm truly separating himself from Gui You Quan. Still, he deemed that chasm insignificant. Thus, he proceeded with his plan: retrieving a Divine Heavenly Weapon to vanquish Gui You Quan by its divine might.

But in the moment Huangfu Ao drew the divine blade, his vision blurred darkly. The weight vanished from his palm, and Gui You Quan’s scorn sliced through air: "My gratitude! This is the one I waited for!"

By the time Huangfu Ao blinked himself alert, Gui You Quan had melted before his sight. Worse—impossibly—the Divine Heavenly Weapon had vanished from his grasp.

Finally then: Huangfu Ao comprehended utterly that Gui You Quan far overshadowed him in power. Dragging out their conflict with leisurely persistence? All designed to bait Huangfu Ao into unsheathing this ancestral treasure—the Divine Heavenly Weapons.

Not a single wound marked Huangfu Ao. Yet here, before these Spirit Weapon Star Huangfu clansmen he’d always dismissed as beneath him? Not even with skin of steel could he recount truth: divine weapon snatched by Gui You Quan right in his hand.

Of course, the gathered Huangfu kin knew nothing that their sacred symbol was gone—forever stolen.

At last, following endless silence, Huangfu Ao slammed the chair’s armrest. Fury scorching through his glare, he hurled it toward Huangfu Xuanlan: "Huangfu Xuanlan! Do you plead guilty?"

Though Huangfu Xuanlan had guessed from Huangfu Ao’s expression that this haughty clansman had faltered before Gui You Quan, he maintained obedient posture—still. Waiting for words to spill.

But never—by life itself—would he predict that Huangfu Ao’s opening strike would aim solely at him. And those words? Utterly baffling. What was his crime?

Thoughts were thoughts. Bared before many, Huangfu Xuanlan knew he mustn’t provoke this family power. Thus both knees buckled swiftly to the ground: "I beg Brother Clansman to illuminate my sin!"

"Hmph!" Huangfu Ao scoffed coldly. "I hear you sent the invitation to Lou Yun of your own initiative. Thus it was you who invited the Lou Family into our Huangfu estate. Is that so?"

"It is."

"And you knew the Lou emissaries’ motive in entering our clan’s domain?"

"I did not."

By now, Huangfu Xuanlan grasped it fully. This was simply Huangfu Ao, salvaging his defeat through invented charges. He, unluckily, became the scapegoat. Therefore he spoke only what Huangfu Ao demanded.

"Then heed this." Huangfu Ao’s voice grated gravel. "The motive of the Lou Family’s infiltration was none other than to seize our Huangfu sacred relic—the Divine Heavenly Weapons!"

At this pronouncement, kin unaware of the backstory shot stunned glances. Lips sealed but inward thoughts churned: How dare the Lou Family covet our sacred relic? And merely two arriving so brazenly upon our isle?

A cold sneer twisted Huangfu Xuanlan’s heart. Yet he kept reverence in his voice: "Is that truth? But Brother stationed here as guard—their success is surely impossible."

An inconspicuous flush brushed Huangfu Ao’s face yet vanished under swift composure. "Of course. Were it not for preserving this sacred relic, how could I let that intruder simply flee injured? Hmph! I’ve now overlaid additional barriers around its chamber. Approach it none for now!"

"Huangfu Xuanlan! Though the relic remains unclaimed, as clan head you invited wolves into your house! Your sin is towering! Nevertheless, in light of your ignorance, I pardon it now. Neither speak nor remember this thenceforth! Done! I report this matter above; you all…disperse to rest."

On those parting words, Huangfu Ao swept his robes, striding from view.

Gaze fixed on that departing back, Huangfu Xuanlan sharpened his stare—a flicker of murderous coldness struck through him.

Rising to his feet, he addressed the gathered: "Since Brother Clansman resolves this affair, our path awaits but command. All withdraw. Rest now."

All members nursed questions within them, questions unspoken before Huangfu Ao. Indeed, waiting until he left to confer with their clan head… but now their leader bade them leave? Gritting teeth in dismay, they bowed to take leave. Yet each sensed: Today’s Huangfu Xuanlan seemed drastically changed.

Only when the hall echoed deserted again did Huangfu Hui step to her husband, gently closing her hand over his. "Xuanlan… what troubles you?"

Hearts entwined: Other kin had noted the shift, but as his wife, Huangfu Hui sensed with far more piercing clarity.

For a moment Huangfu Xuanlan gave no answer. Then, clasping his wife’s hand, he took her direct to their second-floor chamber. Only when the door was secured, only after he probed their surroundings with silent spiritual sense, did he let his focus lock against her eyes—grim. "I intend to cease hostility with the Lou Family. To forge alliance!"

At that, Huangfu Hui started violently, hand clamped instantly over his lips. Frantically her own spiritual sense swept every shadow and dust mote nearby. Then, she removed her hand—voice dropping to a strained murmur: "Xuanlan! Are you mad? Clan head of the Huangfu Family? Such thoughts are poison to your station! Have you forgotten our ancestral precepts?"

Huangfu Xuanlan’s dark laugh slipped through. "Mad? No. I see clearer than ever."

He recounted what had pierced his mind earlier: the sight of Huangfu Ao and Gui You Quan confronting each other. Then Huangfu Ao’s just now—crafting false crimes, all to save face at his expense.

"Hui," Huangfu Xuanlan shook faintly, "Today I understood. Though we share this surname, the Huangfu Family of Spirit Weapon Star? Valued not a mote. We are pawns in their grand game! Ask: Shared blood, shared cultivation methods—why then do their strengths soar while we stand stagnant? Such treatment…does it deserve our devoted loyalty?"

His wife listened…but no answer arose. Her heart lay barren of an answer.

"So what would you do? If they discover your thoughts—then … "

"Do?!" That razor glint cut through Huangfu Xuanlan’s eyes again. "We kill Huangfu Ao! Let our sincerity reach Lou Yun! Only allied to the Lou Family can we hold any chance of survival!"

Such brazen strategy froze Huangfu Hui stiff. "Huangfu Ao is the pride of their younger generation! Highly favoured. Slay him? Can we bear what follows? Then…what of the other eight families?"

"There’s naught unfathomable here. This is Spirit Weapon Star! Our world! Their passage here from that realm? No ease at all. Therefore before I move… I must meet Lou Yun alone. Only if he will dissolve enmity! Then we act without restraint!"

Pausing, Huangfu Xuanlan lifted his stare—sudden sharp energy blazing. "As for the other eight families? Hmph! Their plight mirrors our own. I do not believe all among them crave an eternity as pawns—controlled by others’ whims!"

In that singular moment, within Huangfu Xuanlan’s chest surged an overwhelming thirst. Yearning for—freedom. For release from an inherited destiny spanning countless generations—a curse called clan fate!