As he went, he killed twenty-one people in a row. s.h.i.+ao Chen scanned the crowd with his divine sense and when he knew for sure that he didn't miss out any disciples with spiritual roots, he sat on the main seat of the Goldwater Sect's main hall.

After a while, he slowly raised his head and saw ten disciples led by Elder Sun and Elder Ma swarming in.

“You ended him?'

Elder Sun nodded his head slightly and his gaze upon s.h.i.+ao Chen was filled with awe. On his way here, he saw that twenty-one Goldwater Sect disciples who had practiced Qi Refining were killed and he couldn't help shudder at the thought of how ruthless s.h.i.+ao Chen could be.

s.h.i.+ao Chen nodded without showing any emotions. The Goldwater Sect was extinguished and he should've felt happy, but when he saw the empty hall, he only felt sad and lost.

“I'm not a murderous man, but I had to end the Goldwater Sect. What I did today is meant to be a warning. If anyone intends to harm the s.h.i.+ao Family, they should know that I won't let them get away with it.”

“It was against my will, but I had to do it.”

Calmness came back to s.h.i.+ao Chen as he slightly shook his head and strode outside, “Elder Sun, Elder Ma, you can apportion the possessions of the Goldwater Sect as you wish. Please accept them as a gesture of good will.”

In the hall, Elder Sun and Elder Ma exchanged a glance and their eyes were filled with joy. Though the Goldwater Sect had been a small sect, the possessions it had acc.u.mulated all these years must have been considerable. For spars and spiritual stones alone, it wouldn't be a small number. They both thanked s.h.i.+ao Chen and headed different ways with their five excited disciples respectively.

Two hours later, a dozen of light s.h.i.+elds soared above the Goldwater Sect and after getting their bearings, they flashed by.

That night, at the main hall of the s.h.i.+ao Family…

Right now the residence of the s.h.i.+ao Family was decorated with lanterns and streamers. Red lanterns hung high as if a festival were being celebrated. When they heard from s.h.i.+ao Lin about s.h.i.+ao Chen's current position in Luoyun Valley and Luoyun Valley's promise to protect the s.h.i.+ao Family for one thousand years, the whole family was thrilled, even including s.h.i.+ao Wenting whose face turned red due to excitement. After talking with his father in private for one hour, the moment s.h.i.+ao Wenting walked out of the door, he appeared to be even nicer to s.h.i.+ao Wenshan and he kept calling the latter “Brother” as if they were always this close.

Right now a banquet was being held with ten tables in the main hall and numerous tables lining up to the winding corridor outside the main hall. Seated by the table at the center of the main hall was s.h.i.+ao Chen, s.h.i.+ao Chen's father, people of importance in the s.h.i.+ao Family as well as Elder Sun and Elder Ma of Luoyun Valley. Sitting by the table next were the ten disciples of Luoyun Valley. And the rest people of the s.h.i.+ao Family sat by the tables on the periphery. Excitement was written all over their faces and they were all staring with awe in their eyes at the young man in black by the central table.

“You see him clearly? That's your Uncle s.h.i.+ao Chen. He is an omnipotent immortal. You should show respect to him whenever you see him. Should you do something that arouses his attention, you'll be the most blessed.”

“Mmm, rest a.s.sured, father. I'll keep what you said in mind.”

The older generation in the s.h.i.+ao Family was all telling their children the right thing to do when s.h.i.+ao Chen was around.

“That young man over there is our brother s.h.i.+ao Chen, right? He became an Elder of Luoyun Valley at such a young age. I heard that he was very powerful. And this morning he killed with just two fingers that old man who swaggered around and meant to take advantage of our elder sister Cai'Er.”

“I also heard that he extinguished the Goldwater Sect.”

“Alas, I wonder if he has anyone special in his life. If he doesn't, we all have a chance.”

“Yeah, right, if any one of us can be with our brother s.h.i.+ao Chen, the life ahead will be the most enviable for sure.”

The girls in the s.h.i.+ao Family were seated by a table in the corner. They giggled with their mouths covered and glanced dreamily at the young man in black every now and then.

“It's our great honor to have you two immortals stay here. We truly appreciate the time and effort that you put into our family.” s.h.i.+ao Wenshan glowed with joy. Within one day, he looked like a dozen of years younger. His Crow's feet had disappeared a lot and his grey hair had all turned black.

Elder Sun and Elder Ma didn't dare to look condescending. They stood up at once and said smilingly, “We're ordered to garrison your family's residence. It's our duty, so there's no need to thank us.”

As they spoke, their gaze was fixated on s.h.i.+ao Wenshan. When they smelled the aroma left by the herbs on his body, their mouths couldn't help twitching. They thought how generous Elder s.h.i.+ao was: Skin Nouris.h.i.+ng Pills, Flower Pills, Tianlu Elixirs…But without doubt, they didn't know that s.h.i.+ao Chen also gave s.h.i.+ao Wenshan and his wife a Life-prolonging Pill respectively; otherwise they wouldn't just be twitching their mouths. Instead they would pa.s.s out.

Seeing how they were reacting, s.h.i.+ao Wenshan had this strong feeling emerging from his heart. He knew full well that they were showing him so much respect all because of s.h.i.+ao Chen. He turned his gaze towards his son and his heart swelled with pride.

Both the host and the guests enjoyed the banquet. And of course, such a big event in the s.h.i.+ao Family wouldn't go unnoticed by the other parties in the city. All kinds of rumors spread far and wide but everyone knew that from now on the s.h.i.+ao Family would be the one to call the shots in s.h.i.+ao City.

“Father, Mother, I had a great time in Luoyun Valley and the cultivation wasn't too hard. So please don't worry.” In his parents' room in the backyard, s.h.i.+ao Chen sat next to his father and told them what had happened in the past year. Of course, he omitted the parts that would make them worried.

Joy was written all over s.h.i.+ao Wenshan's face. He exchanged a glance with his wife and knew that just like him, her heart also swelled with pride.

After getting out of his parents' room, s.h.i.+ao Chen stood in the yard and looked silently at the moon in the sky.

This yard was built especially for him only one year ago. It was not too extravagant. There was a pool which housed some lotuses and gra.s.s carps. Right now in the moonlight, its surface rippled and the color of the water reflected off the wall.

“I, s.h.i.+ao Chen, have embarked on my journey of cultivation. And however hard it might be, I'll try my best to keep my family safe.”

“The Goldwater Sect wasn't strong. That's why I could extinguish it. Had there been a Gold Core Cultivator, what could I do other than watch my parents and family being killed?”

“I don't want that. I want my family and their posterity to prosper and stay safe forever! And in order to achieve that, I need to be strong, so strong that no one dares to get under their skin.”

“My hands are stained with blood, but I don't regret what I did. Born in this kind of world, if I weren't even capable of protecting my parents, how would I manage to master the ultimate Dao.”

In the dark, s.h.i.+ao Chen's pitch-black eyes became even more focused and deeper with a faint light glimmering in them. And strong faith emerged from the bottom of his heart.

The next day, when the first light slanted down, s.h.i.+ao Chen squinted. Though he didn't sleep last night, he felt quite energized. Just by slightly activating his inner spiritual power, he had the dew on his clothes dried completely.

“Today I'll deploy the Earth and Heaven Formation. Sheltered by this formation, the s.h.i.+ao Family residence will be harder to break into.”

After some careful thinking, s.h.i.+ao Chen strode towards the main hall.

“Elder s.h.i.+ao, before we set out, Chief Master Immortal had given us the jade slip on the deployment of the Earth and Heaven Formation. Please take out the flag so we can finish deploying the formation.” After one night's rest, Elder Sun's face regained its usual color. Right now he was standing in front of the main hall, and he said those words solemnly while bowing with his hands folded in his front.

Under the leaders.h.i.+p of s.h.i.+ao Wenshan, all members of the s.h.i.+ao Family stood at the door of the hall with thrill and excitement hardly concealed from their faces.

The last year had witnessed so many changes. That weak teenager had grown so strong and had become the protector of the whole s.h.i.+ao Family.

s.h.i.+ao Chen felt intense emotions in his chest. Having heard what Elder Sun said, he slowly nodded and in an instant, he handed the flag of the Earth and Heaven Formation to Elder Sun and Elder Ma.

Elder Sun took the flag, turned around and suddenly shouted in a low voice, “Form the array.”

After that, he cast out the flag which turned into ten flags. The flags fell into the hands of the disciples of Luoyun Valley respectively. The moment the ten disciples grasped the flags, they dare not delay. As light s.h.i.+elds emitted from them, they soared into the sky and landed on the periphery of the s.h.i.+ao Family's residence.

“Bury the flags!”

Holding the main flag, Elder Sun stood in front of the main hall. He poured a pure surge of spiritual power into the main flag which instantly gave out layers of earthy yellow light. Seeing that, Elder Sun instantly threw the flag away which was directly incorporated into the ground.

Meanwhile, the ten disciples of Luoyun Valley shouted together, and the second the flags gave off slightly weaker yellow light, they pushed the flags under the ground.

“Input the spiritual power!” Elder Sun shouted in a low voice again. He took out 99 middle-grade spiritual stones from his pocket and deployed them on the flag in certain directions. The moment the spiritual stones fell on the ground, a formation appeared. Within it, the spiritual power flowed endlessly from one end of the flag to the other end, thus forming a circulation. The ten disciples did the same, only that they used 99 low-grade spiritual stones.

“Form the formation!”

The one who just spoke turned out to be Elder Ma. Right now he was standing in front of the main hall and the spiritual power inside his body surged through his hands into an extraordinary stone.

Hum!

With the input of the spiritual power, the stone instantly gave out a layer of fluorescence. The main flag and its ten branch flags suddenly and simultaneously burst forth earthy yellow spiritual light cylinders. The eleven light cylinders echoed with each other. And in the blink of an eye, an earthy yellow s.h.i.+eld was conjured and it covered the whole residence of the s.h.i.+ao Family.

Led by Elder Sun, the twelve cultivators from Luoyun Valley brought their spiritual power into play and shouted in chorus. As powerful as a huge wave, their shouting hit the horizon and swept far and wide. One could hear it even when they were tens of thousands of meters away.

“s.h.i.+ao Chen of the s.h.i.+ao Family from s.h.i.+ao City, also Elder of Luoyun Valley, is blessed to possess unprecedented gift. For that, Luoyun Valley grants his family one thousand years of protection. Within 1000 years, as long as Luoyun Valley exists, it will guarantee the prosperity of the s.h.i.+ao Family.”

…

“s.h.i.+ao Chen of the s.h.i.+ao Family from s.h.i.+ao City, also Elder of Luoyun Valley, is blessed to possess unprecedented gift. For that, Luoyun Valley grants his family one thousand years of protection. Within 1000 years, as long as Luoyun Valley exists, it will guarantee the prosperity of the s.h.i.+ao Family.”

…

“s.h.i.+ao Chen of the s.h.i.+ao Family from s.h.i.+ao City, also Elder of Luoyun Valley, is blessed to possess unprecedented gift. For that, Luoyun Valley grants his family one thousand years of protection. Within 1000 years, as long as Luoyun Valley exists, it will guarantee the prosperity of the s.h.i.+ao Family.”

…

Their sound reverberated through the s.h.i.+ao Family's residence for a long period of time.

End of Volume One