"I’m fine. The aura you just released put immense pressure on me, but I’m much better now." After taking a few more deep breaths, Mu Bingling closed her eyes. Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi rapidly surged into her body, and moments later, the color returned to her face.

Letting out a deep breath, Mu Bingling shot Mu Chen a reproachful look and said irritably, "Don’t be so sudden next time."

Mu Chen nodded apologetically. In truth, he didn’t know how to control this Barbaric Aura himself. It seemed to release itself whenever the will to fight ignited within him.

"Sister, after the freshman trials are over, let’s go back to Luofeng City together. It’s been three years. Mom and Dad, and everyone else, must be so worried about me." As he spoke, a deep sense of longing flashed in Mu Chen’s closed eyes—a longing for home, for family.

Mu Bingling shot Mu Chen a glare. "So you *do* remember you have a home?" she scolded. "Do you have any idea what Mom and Dad have been through these past three years? You..."

Seeing that Mu Bingling was about to lecture him, Mu Chen quickly cut her off. "I know, I know! I’ll explain everything clearly when I get back. Since when did you become as naggy as Mom?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"You dare make fun of me? Let’s see you handle a lesson from me, just like Mom would give!" With that, Mu Bingling stomped her foot playfully. Primordial Power surged from her as she shot toward Mu Chen like an arrow. Startled, Mu Chen stamped his foot, and a flash of Thunder Light appeared. His body flickered away like a phantom as he dodged, shouting, "Come and get me! Come on! Come teach me a lesson!"

Though time had passed and they had been apart for three years, the distance between them had never truly grown. Their bond remained as strong as ever...

The two chased each other down the deserted, tree-lined path. In that moment, they weren’t fifteen-year-old youths. Time rewound to their childhood, playing tag, always by each other’s side. The moonlight of the Xuanling Empire had always been so beautiful, stretching their shadows long. Though they were far apart, at the end of the road, their shadows overlapped...

The night was deep. In high spirits, Mu Chen returned to Dorm 306. But before he even went inside, he saw a dark figure sitting on the roof. With his eyesight several times better than a normal person’s, Mu Chen instantly recognized who it was.

"Qing Lei..." Mu Chen called out softly and leaped up onto the roof. Enveloped in Primordial Power, his feet made no sound as they landed, and the giant black case on his back seemed to become weightless.

Qing Lei was startled when he saw a figure leap up. A cold glint flashed from his hand as he prepared to lunge at the intruder. But in the moonlight, he quickly made out the person’s face. "Mu Chen?"

Awkwardly, Qing Lei put his dagger away and sat back down. Staring at the faintly glowing full moon, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you up here when I was coming back." Mu Chen smiled faintly, setting the giant black case aside and lying down next to Qing Lei. "Don’t you want to talk to someone about it?"

A corner of Qing Lei’s mouth lifted. "You’re willing to listen?"

"Why not?"

With a soft sigh, Qing Lei took a deep look at Mu Chen, who was lying casually beside him. "Since you’re willing to listen, I’ll tell you a story..."

Under the cold moonlight, Qing Lei’s expression gradually grew solemn. "My hometown is a city filled with evil. There are no laws, no order, and no morality. You’ve probably never heard of it. Its name is Gostan City. And I was born there."

"My family is the foremost assassination family in Gostan City. There, my family held immense power and a name that struck fear into the hearts of all who heard it. In our family, almost everyone is a born Assassin. Due to our bloodline, ninety percent of us are Dark Attribute Martial Artists."

Hearing this, Mu Chen’s expression suddenly changed. "A family like that exists?"

Qing Lei gave a wry laugh. "There are many such families on the continent. They are all formed by people with attribute bloodlines pairing together and passing it down through the generations. My family is one of them. The only difference is, our family’s is a Dark Attribute bloodline, which everyone despises. I’m sure you understand what a Dark Attribute Martial Artist represents in most people’s minds."

Of course, Mu Chen understood. A Dark Attribute Martial Artist represented a reaper of lives. No one was willing to get too close to them, so they were always alone. Years of solitude gradually made them cold-blooded, twisted their personalities, and corrupted their humanity. This, in turn, led to a vicious cycle. Dark Attribute Martial Artists were ostracized. Being ostracized led them to hate others. This hatred drove them to use their power to take revenge on society, and their revenge only increased the public’s fear and exclusion of them. It was for this reason that Dark Attribute Martial Artists had become the Demons of this world.

"That’s right. We are the assassination family people call a nightmare. But... it’s gone now. Just two months ago, a great disaster befell Gostan City—or rather, it befell my family. It was the night of my fifteenth birthday, and all the families of Gostan City had come to attend the banquet." Qing Lei’s expression grew distant, as if he had already been pulled back into the memories he was recounting.

"But before I could even leave my room, the sounds of fighting suddenly erupted from outside the main hall, followed by countless screams. I immediately had a bad feeling. Just as I was about to rush out, the butler burst into my room. He was covered in blood. Before I could say a word, he shoved me forcefully into a cabinet that had a Restriction placed on it. It was only big enough for one person..."

At this point, Qing Lei swallowed hard, and his whole body began to tremble violently. "The butler only had time to say three words from outside the cabinet. He only said those three words before he was cleaved in two! I was inside the cabinet, but because of the Restriction, I could see everything outside clearly. Through the doorway, I saw a scene that I will never forget for the rest of my life. It was an absolute nightmare!"

"My father... is dead!" Qing Lei suddenly whipped his head around, his face contorted into a savage mask as he stared at Mu Chen. "My mother was defiled and then brutally murdered... Those animals! They didn’t even spare my thirteen-year-old sister! She was just a child! Animals! ANIMALS! I’LL KILL ALL OF THOSE BASTARDS! KILL!"

In that instant, Qing Lei’s eyes filled with a bloody light. A bloodthirsty glint erupted from his crimson pupils. His furious roar woke up every student in the freshmen dorms. Mu Chen was alarmed. He knew that Qing Lei had completely lost his mind and entered a "demonic" state.

To avoid causing a panic, a faint light burst from Mu Chen’s Extreme Ice Dantian. He spread his fingers, locked onto the charging Qing Lei, and clenched his fist hard.

VMMMM...

As the Water Attribute Primordial Qi in the surrounding space fluctuated wildly, a crystalline TING echoed out, and Qing Lei’s body was instantly encased in a massive block of ice. Grabbing the black case beside him, Mu Chen lifted the frozen Qing Lei and vanished into the night after a few flickers.

The freshmen who heard the noise all came out of their dorms and looked around. But besides the faint moonlight, there wasn’t a soul in sight, let alone any sound. Frustrated, all the new students assumed someone was playing a prank, cursed for a bit, and went back to their rooms.

At the lakeside where Mu Chen and Mu Bingling had first met, a figure quietly appeared. It was Mu Chen. Beside him rested a huge block of ice. Staring deeply at Qing Lei’s extremely contorted expression within the ice, Mu Chen was horrified. ’Compared to him,’ he thought, ’I, the former cripple, was actually lucky. At least my parents are still alive, and I have a sister who dotes on me.’

PAT!

Mu Chen pressed his open palm against the surface of the ice. The White Dragon Cauldron inside him began to operate. From the four remaining drops of milky-white liquid, a tiny droplet separated and transformed into a stream of milky-white energy. It flowed slowly out of the White Dragon Cauldron, traveled down Mu Chen’s arm, and swiftly entered Qing Lei’s body inside the ice. Soon, the bloodthirsty look in Qing Lei’s eyes began to fade. Seeing that Qing Lei’s aura had stabilized, Mu Chen let out a breath. With a wave of his arm, the entire block of ice instantly turned into a cloud of icy mist and gradually dissipated into the air.

The moment the ice dissipated, Qing Lei’s mind cleared. Looking around at his surroundings, he asked in confusion, "What happened to me? Where is this?"

Mu Chen sat by the lakeside, gazing at the calm water. "You lost your mind just now," he said. "I had no choice but to freeze you and bring you here."

Qing Lei froze. He lowered his head and was silent for a long time before sitting down next to Mu Chen by the lake. Staring at the calm surface of the water, he said, "That’s the trauma that’s been bottled up inside me. Those scenes still appear in my dreams, so I rarely sleep. I spend almost every night in Cultivation."

"Do you know who the enemies who destroyed your family are?" Mu Chen asked, his voice calm, his gaze still on the lake.

Qing Lei nodded. "After the butler came in, he said three words to me: ’Qingshan, City Lord.’ Those three words told me who the mastermind was."

"Qingshan? The City Lord?"

"Yes. Qingshan is my Second Uncle—my father’s second-eldest brother. My Eldest Uncle died on a mission years ago. According to the rules of succession, my Second Uncle should have become the Patriarch. But because he and my grandfather never got along, my grandfather passed the position directly to my father. My father tried to refuse, but my Second Uncle was very supportive at the time, which is the only reason my father was willing to accept the role of Patriarch."

At this thought, a hint of pain reappeared on Qing Lei’s face. "And because of Second Uncle’s concession, my father trusted him completely. Aside from a few major family matters, my father left basically everything for Second Uncle to manage. You could say my father was only the Patriarch in name; my Second Uncle was the real head of the family. I never thought that even so, he would still hold a grudge against my father. He secretly conspired with the City Lord to wipe out my father, my mother, and all of my father’s loyal followers in one fell swoop."

"He must have thought that by doing this, he could become the Patriarch and take true control of the entire family. But Second Uncle was wrong. He was terribly wrong. He didn’t know that the City Lord had long since grown wary of my family. Our ever-growing prestige, combined with our terrifying Dark Attribute... As the lord of a city, how could he not worry that one day he too would fall to our blades and his position would be usurped? So he seized the opportunity to completely annihilate my entire family. I still remember the look of regret in my Second Uncle’s eyes as he fell... But it was too late. It was all too late!"