One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

The midday sun shines vertically into Tongtian Valley.

The last wisp of gloom that had shrouded the valley was completely swept away as Wugensheng's remnant soul dissipated.

Fine dust particles floated in the air, tumbling erratically within the beam of light.

Grandma Jin Feng remained kneeling there, her hands cradling a handful of ephemeral emptiness that she could no longer grasp. She resembled a stone sculpture weathered for a thousand years, as if she had even run out of tears.

Zhang Taichu slowly opened his eyes.

The deep blue light in those eyes had long since faded, returning to its usual calm and indifferent state.

"Glug."

Zhang Chulan swallowed hard.

He stared intently at Zhang Taichu's back, his hands trembling uncontrollably at his sides.

The fingernail dug deep into the flesh, oozing a hint of bright red.

He wanted to ask.

The question stuck in his throat, the nightmare that had plagued him for over a decade, the truth that kept his grandfather from closing his eyes until his death.

"Master...Master Uncle."

Zhang Chulan's voice was terribly hoarse, as if he had a handful of sand in his mouth:

"Did you...see that?"

Zhang Taichu did not turn around.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze passing over the broken stone wall, over the rolling Qinling Mountains, and towards the distant southwest.

The area is characterized by towering mountains and swirling clouds.

"I saw it."

Zhang Taichu's tone was excessively calm:

"It's crystal clear."

Zhang Chulan staggered forward two steps, almost tripping over the pebbles on the ground.

He reached out, wanting to grab Zhang Taichu's sleeve, but dared not touch it, his hand remaining suspended in mid-air, his fingers twitching spasmodically.

"Who...who is it?"

"Which prestigious sect is it? Which old monsters have joined forces?"

"Why did they drive my grandfather to his death? Why did they push our family to the brink of destruction?!"

Zhang Chulan's emotions were somewhat out of control.

His eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead were bulging, like a wild beast trapped in a cage, desperately wanting to find a target to tear apart.

Just give him a name.

Even if it's the King of Heaven himself, he'll still find a way to take a piece of his flesh.

"Forced to death?"

Zhang Taichu suddenly turned around.

He looked at Zhang Chulan's contorted face, a playful smile curving his lips, his eyes filled with undisguised mockery:

"Zhang Chulan, you've got one thing wrong."

"No one ever forced your grandfather to his death."

"Zhang Huaiyi was killed not by any reputable sect, nor by any so-called siege."

"It was himself."

boom!

These words struck Zhang Chulan like a bolt from the blue.

He froze on the spot, his mouth slightly open, his ferocious expression frozen on his face, looking both comical and pitiful.

"From...myself?"

Zhang Chulan blinked blankly, his mind completely empty:

"Grandmaster Uncle...you...you're joking, right?"

"Grandpa...he wanted to come back alive! If he wanted to die, why did he hide for so many years? Why did he take me with him, hiding here and there?"

Zhang Taichu scoffed.

He walked to a relatively flat rock, sat down, and took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

White smoke rose up, blurring his cold, handsome face.

"He hid because he was afraid of dying."

"But he died because he was too arrogant."

Zhang Taichu exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes piercing through the smoke as if he were looking back at that rainy night decades ago:

"The Thirty-Six Thieves formed a sworn brotherhood. Wugensheng comprehended the Divine Spirit and was said to be able to control all the Qi in the world, making him the nemesis of all magic."

"Your grandfather, Zhang Huaiyi, had lofty ambitions."

"He comprehended the source flow of Qi and considered himself to be at the pinnacle of the art, unwilling to be overshadowed by Wugensheng."

"So, he made a decision."

Zhang Taichu flicked his cigarette ash, his voice suddenly turning cold:

"He went to challenge a place."

"A place where no extraordinary person in the world dares to provoke easily."

"He wants to use the most terrifying methods of that sect to verify whether his Qi Source Flow can truly surpass the gods and spirits, and whether it can truly break all rules."

Upon hearing this...

Wang Ye, who had been standing silently to the side, suddenly seemed to realize something, and his face turned deathly pale.

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with terror:

"Southwest...Challenge...Verification..."

"Old Zhang! Could it be...?"

Zhuge Qing also realized what was happening at this moment.

The fox, who always had a squinty and smiling expression, now had wide, staring eyes. He even dropped the water glass in his hand, and it shattered on the ground with a "crash."

"impossible……"

Zhuge Qing's voice trembled:

"That era...that place..."

"If it really is that place, then Zhang Huaiyi... he's absolutely insane!!"

Seeing the two of them looking like they'd seen a ghost, Zhang Chulan felt his unease grow stronger.

He turned his head, stared intently at Zhang Taichu, and asked in a trembling voice:

"Master Uncle...where exactly... is he?"

Zhang Taichu looked at him and slowly uttered two words.

These two words were spoken very lightly.

But at this moment, it felt as if a thousand pounds of weight were pressing down, causing the wind in the entire valley to stop flowing.

"Tang Clan".

hiss--

A collective gasp of astonishment echoed through the valley.

Even Baron, who had never been very familiar with the world of supernatural beings in the Central Plains, had his eyebrows twitch violently when he heard those two words.

As a top-notch mercenary, he had heard of this ancient Eastern assassin family.

That was a place where the art of killing had been honed to its highest level.

"Tang... Sect?"

Zhang Chulan muttered to himself, swayed, and fell to the ground with a thud.

"That's right."

Zhang Taichu's eyes were indifferent:

"After the Jia Shen Rebellion, your grandfather ventured into the Tang Clan alone to prove himself."

"He didn't want to kill anyone; he just wanted to break through their defenses."

"What he figured out was the Tang Clan's legendary technique, which was known as 'If the King of Hell calls you to die at midnight, who dares to keep you alive until dawn.'"

At this point, Zhang Taichu paused for a moment.

His gaze swept over everyone present, finally settling on Wang Ye, whose face was deathly pale:

"Little Wang, since you've guessed it, why don't you tell this brother what that thing is?"

Wang Ye shook his head with a wry smile.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart, and looked at Zhang Chulan on the ground, his eyes filled with sympathy:

"Old Zhang... if it's true..."

"That old man's passing... was indeed unjust, but it was also not unjust."

That ultimate technique is called Dan Shi (丹噬).

"Dan Shi?!"

Upon hearing this name, Zhuge Qing trembled violently and instinctively took half a step back, as if simply hearing the name would bring him some kind of misfortune.

"That's unsolvable."

Wang Ye's voice was deep:

"There are many poisons, many poisons, and many curses in this circle."

"No matter how powerful it is, there is always a solution, there is always a way out."

"But Dan Shi is different."

"It's not poison."

"It is... the end of Qi."

Wang Ye stretched out his hand and made a gesture of collapse:

"Once you are afflicted by the Dan Shi, there is no antidote and no way to save you."

"Because it targets the Qi within your body."

"It will be like a maggot clinging to your bones, slowly devouring away all the Qi you've cultivated your whole life, all the cultivation you're so proud of, and finally taking your life with it."

Those who are hit will surely die.

"This is the ironclad rule of the world of superhumans."

Zhang Chulan listened blankly.

The image of his grandfather before his death flashed through his mind.

That always smiling old man, that grandfather who always protected him.

In those final moments, his body was festering and his meridians were severed, yet he still clung to his last breath and wiped out all the pursuers.

original……

So that was Dan Shi.

It turns out that Grandpa already knew he was beyond saving.

Why...?

Zhang Chulan held his head in his hands, tears streaming down his face as they fell to the ground.

"Why provoke the Tang Clan? Why throw your life away for that damn proof?!"

"Isn't it good to be alive? Isn't it good to live a peaceful life with me?"

He can't understand it.

For Zhang Chulan, who has the word "survival" etched into his very bones, this kind of behavior—risking his life to prove some "ultimate technique"—is simply incomprehensible stupidity.

"Because he is Zhang Huaiyi."

Zhang Taichu's voice rang out again.

There was no attempt to offer comfort; it remained as cold and ruthless as a scalpel, precisely dissecting the bloody reality.

"Because he possesses the source of Qi."

"Power breeds ambition and arrogance."

"He was confident that he could break through the Dan Shi, and confident that he could defy the ironclad rule of certain death."

"And the result?"

Zhang Taichu stood up and looked down at Zhang Chulan, who was weeping bitterly:

"He gave his life to add another victory to the Tang Clan's Dan Shi achievement."

"He is indeed strong."

"Even after being poisoned by the pill, he was still able to hold on to his last breath and kill those prestigious sects who came after him because of the scent."

"But that's all."

"Die from pride."

"This is the life story of your grandfather, Zhang Huaiyi."

After Zhang Taichu finished speaking, he didn't look at Zhang Chulan again.

He lifted his foot and crushed the cigarette butt on the ground.

"Alright, stop howling."

"Save the mourning for when you've truly avenged yourself."

revenge?

Upon hearing those two words, Zhang Chulan abruptly raised his head.

He hastily wiped the tears from his face, a glint of hope and ferocity flashing in his eyes:

"Grandmaster Uncle...you mean...?"

"Although Grandpa brought this upon himself, those Tang Clan members..."

"The Tang Clan..."

Zhang Taichu squinted and turned his gaze to the southwest again.

A cold, unfathomable glint flashed in his eyes:

Now that we know the truth, we should go and see for ourselves.

"The debt from back then, although it was incurred by your grandfather himself."

"But as a disciple of Longhu Mountain, as a member of my Zhang family."

"If someone dies out there, there has to be an explanation."

Zhang Taichu turned his head, looked at the crowd still standing there in a daze, and a wildly arrogant smile appeared on his lips:

"Get ready."

"Next stop, Sichuan."

"Those old assassins from the Tang Clan have been hiding for so many years, they probably forgot what it feels like to be struck by lightning."

"This humble Taoist priest is going to help them...recall something."

"As for the pill-devouring..."

Zhang Taichu reached out his hand and gently clenched it in the air.

Crackling sounds!

A tiny golden arc of electricity danced at his fingertips, producing a crisp popping sound.

"That kind of half-baked guy who can only bully Zhang Huaiyi."

"I'm also very interested and want to try it."

Gurgle.

Wang Ye looked at the dancing lightning on Zhang Taichu's fingertips, then at the relaxed expression on his face that seemed to say, "I want to go eat some local specialties," and couldn't help but swallow.

Want to taste... the flavor of Dan Shi?

This is a forbidden and deadly technique in the world of supernatural beings!

Everyone else is trying to avoid it, but this guy actually wants to try it?

"madman……"

Wang Ye muttered something under his breath, but then a helpless smile crept onto his lips:

"But... following a madman like that..."

"It seems much more exciting than being a fortune teller."

Zhuge Qing, standing to the side, adjusted his glasses, a glint of shrewdness flashing behind the lenses:

"The trip to the Tang Sect... it seems the world of supernatural beings is about to change again."

Zhang Chulan got up from the ground.

He patted the dirt off his backside. Although the confusion and pain in his eyes were still there, that ruthless edge that was unique to him returned to his face.

"go!"

"We have to go!"

Zhang Chulan gritted his teeth, forcing out the words through clenched teeth:

"I want to see with my own eyes what exactly that Dan Shi, the thing that killed my grandfather, really is!"

"I also want to ask those Tang Clan members..."

"How do they plan to settle the score from back then?"

The wind rises.

The dust in the valley was swept into the sky.

Zhang Taichu flicked his sleeve and strode out of the valley.