The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

The square is paved with huge white marble blocks, as smooth as a mirror, reflecting a warm and solemn luster under the light of countless torches and lanterns.

At the edge of the square stood two rows of tall stone lampposts, their shafts carved with the Zuo family crest—a majestic mountain peak with a bright moon hanging atop it. At this moment, the ever-burning shark oil lamps atop the lampposts were burning brightly, emitting a steady and bright light that dispelled the chill of the late autumn night.

The square was packed with people.

At a glance, there were no fewer than several thousand people. Men, women, and children were all present, all dressed in the Zuo family's style of clothing, mainly in blue, white, and black, with a solemn design. Everyone stood solemnly, completely silent, with only the crackling of torches and the howling of the night wind echoing in the empty square.

At the very front of the procession were three large rosewood rattan chairs.

Thick ferret fur rugs were laid on the chairs, and three elderly men sat on them.

These three old men all had white hair, withered faces, and deep wrinkles, as if they had endured countless years of hardship.

They closed their eyes to rest, their breath deep and focused. Although they did not deliberately exude pressure, the aura that came from long-standing high positions and the vicissitudes of life still made the people behind them hold their breath and dare not relax in the slightest.

The three remaining late-stage Purple Mansion cultivators of the Zuo family, the most senior clan elders—Zuo Xiuxian, Zuo Zhaocheng, and Zuo Yuxuan.

Behind the three, a little further away, stood five figures.

Four men and one woman, some middle-aged and some young, all possessed extraordinary bearing and exuded spiritual energy fluctuations, clearly indicating they were all at the Purple Mansion Realm cultivation level. These five were the younger generation of Purple Mansion cultivators in the Zuo family (relative to the three elders), and were the current backbone of the Zuo family.

Standing in the middle, near the front, was a young man who looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He was handsome, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, but a faint melancholy shrouded his brows, and he gazed at the deep night sky with a complicated expression, seemingly somewhat absent-minded.

The young man's surname was Zuo, and his given name was Chunqiu.

He is one of the three top-tier Void Aperture geniuses of the Zuo family, alongside Zuo Qingqiu and Zuo Qianqiu, and is currently the only cultivator among the younger generation of the Zuo family to have cultivated to the mid-stage of the Purple Mansion realm. He is highly regarded as a future patriarch candidate.

At this moment, however, this chosen one felt no pride, only endless complexity and an indescribable bitterness.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the deep night, reaching into the distant past.

Over two hundred years ago, the Zuo family's "Qiu" generation seemed to have exhausted the family's fortune of hundreds of years, simultaneously giving birth to three unparalleled geniuses with the highest-grade Void Aperture! The news shook the entire Cuiwei Mountain and even attracted the attention of the Taihua Sect. A highest-grade Void Aperture meant that, barring premature death, they would definitely reach the Purple Mansion realm! There was even a sliver of possibility of glimpsing the Golden Core stage!

Three geniuses, two men and one woman.

Zuo Qianqiu, Zuo Chunqiu, Zuo Qingqiu.

People at the time called it "Zuo's Three Autumns".

At that time, the family was in an uproar, regarding the three as the hope for the revival of the family, and honoring them as the supreme "Young Ancestors", and devoted all resources to their upbringing.

As male heirs, he and Zuo Qianqiu were highly anticipated and considered the most promising leaders to take the Zuo family to the next level.

Although Zuo Qingqiu was also a first-class cultivator with a Void Aperture, being a woman meant she naturally received less attention and resources in the Zuo family, where clan values ​​were deeply ingrained. While the family's higher-ups did value her, subconsciously they probably didn't have any particularly high expectations. They hoped she would smoothly cultivate to the Purple Mansion stage, become a permanent member of the family's fighting force, and then find a son-in-law to help the Zuo family prosper.

Who would have thought that two hundred years would bring such dramatic changes?

Zuo Qianqiu was arrogant and eager for quick success. During a secret realm adventure, he was ambushed and killed while vying for an opportunity. He failed to even reach the Purple Mansion realm, leaving behind only regret.

Zuo Chunqiu had a smooth and successful journey, successfully breaking through to the Purple Mansion realm, and was hailed as the number one young person of the Zuo family.

However, ever since he entered the mid-stage of the Purple Mansion realm sixty years ago, it seems that he has encountered an invisible barrier. No matter how hard he cultivates or how much opportunity he seeks, his cultivation has always stagnated and he is still hovering at the peak of the mid-stage.

Late stage of the Purple Mansion realm? That's a long way off; who knows when that will be.

The Golden Elixir of Enlightenment? That's an unattainable dream.

But the woman who was not truly valued by the family, the quiet and reserved cousin Zuo Qingqiu, suddenly emerged like a dark horse, leaving everyone else in the dust.

Entering the Taihua Gate and becoming a disciple of Master Yuanlei, he achieved Foundation Establishment at twenty-five, reached the Purple Mansion at one hundred, and reached the Perfection of the Purple Mansion at over one hundred and sixty... Each and every one of these events brought a shock that grew stronger with each passing year when the news reached the Zuo family.

The family's attitude towards Zuo Qingqiu's lineage changed from initially ignoring it to paying close attention, and finally to trying their best to befriend it, even to the point of fawning over it.

Even so, no one dared to imagine that she could break through to the legendary Golden Core realm at the age of over two hundred.

Until about half a day ago.

The overwhelming tide of spiritual energy that covered heaven and earth, the resounding voice of the Great Dao that echoed through the soul, the unimaginably enormous female phantom, and the declaration, "I am the True Lord of the Nine Heavens Taihua Purple Void Responding Thunder Ancestor"...

Like a thunderclap from the heavens, it resounded in the hearts of every member of the Zuo family.

True Lord!

Zuo Qingqiu has attained the Golden Core stage!

Zuo Chunqiu still remembers that when he was in seclusion trying to break through the bottleneck of the late stage of the Purple Mansion realm, he was awakened by the majestic heavenly might. When he rushed out of his cave and saw the strange phenomenon in the sky, he felt a shock and... bewilderment that seemed to freeze his soul.

Cousin? True Lord?

These two words collided fiercely in his mind, yet he could never reconcile them.

That cousin, who always wore plain clothes and was so quiet that she was almost invisible in my memory, and who only showed amazing talent when she was focused on cultivation... has now become someone that the entire Zuo family, no, the entire Central Plains, needs to look up to?

It's absurd, yet it's a cold, hard truth.

Now, he even regrets it a little. If he had done what his cousin did, withstood the pressure from the family's higher-ups, and even gave up all the wealth and glory in the family to participate in the Taihua Sect's assessment, would he have a better future and greater achievements now?

But then he thought, even if time could turn back, he might not be able to be as carefree as his cousin, to give up everything in the past and pursue a new life.

Firstly, at that time, the Taihua Sect was unknown, while the position of the Zuo family's young patriarch was certain. To abandon that certain position and gamble on an uncertain future? How could he, at only fourteen years old, possibly have such courage?

No one can predict the future, and no one can say for sure what will happen. At the time, he made the most conservative choice, which may seem wrong now, but for that fourteen-year-old boy, it was the safest and wisest choice.

Secondly, although her cousin is a woman and is also honored as a junior ancestor and receives preferential treatment in resources, her status is always lower than that of the two male junior ancestors.

The family didn't have any particularly high expectations for her; they just wanted her to successfully cultivate to the Purple Mansion realm. Therefore, even if her cousin insisted on leaving, the clan elders wouldn't do anything to stop her.

"If she wants to go, let her go. If she runs into trouble outside, she'll naturally come back." Even after more than two hundred years, he still remembered what the clan elder had said.

But he was a man, and the eldest of the three Zuo clan members. The family elders had high hopes for him and intended to groom him as the next patriarch of the family. They hoped that once he grew up, he would have enough ability to steer the Zuo family ship and lead it to continue to stand firm in the turbulent world of cultivation.

If he wanted to leave, the elders would do anything to keep him here.

At the time, he was only fourteen years old. Even if he racked his brains, he probably wouldn't be able to step out of his house.

The saying "people of the same kind have different fates" couldn't be more true.