Chapter 724: Liu Haotian’s Origins
To be more precise, Aunt Liu was already beyond help even before Lu Xuan came. Even then, she was already surviving on borrowed time. She only managed to last as long as she did due to the workings of some secret arts and her frightening willpower.
“Sir… I do not understand why you would help the Liu Clan… but please, save the child… The sacred ancestor went against the odds all those years ago just to save the Holy Sun Continent… The sacred ones defended the place until the bloodline was almost extinct… He is now the last of the bloodline…” Aunt Liu continued coughing blood and her coughs got increasingly severe.
Lu Xuan lowered his voice and assured her, “Rest assured that I would protect him. No one would ever be able to hurt him again. I’d also make sure that those people pay.”
Aunt Liu said slowly, “Thank you.”
As she stopped coughing, her body gradually became cold.
“Aunt Liu!”
Liu Haotian cried his eyes out as he cradled Aunt Liu.
Lu Xuan looked at Liu Haotian and said, “Come with me. I shall protect you from here on out.”
A flame burned within Lu Xuan. He was not only doing what he did because of his connection with the Liu Clan. It was because the boy was most likely his junior.
He was also doing so because he had learned about what their sacred ancestor had done. He deemed that a great one like that shouldn’t have had his bloodline become extinct.
Such a bloodline never deserved to meet such a fate.
Good people withered while the bad people go unpunished. That should never have been the way the world worked.
Liu Haotian looked at Lu Xuan with fearful eyes. He was able to tell that Lu Xuan meant him no harm. Children were pure and simpleminded, after all.
That was also why they were able to sense the hearts of the people around them; they could tell whether they were good or bad people.
Half a day later, inside a valley, Liu Haotian kowtowed solemnly to a newly erected grave before standing up with a deadpan look on his face.
Aunt Liu, who had been by his side the whole time, died such a pitiful and unexpected death. That was quite damaging for a child like him.
Liu Haotian turned around and said to Lu Xuan, “Big brother, I want to learn cultivation. Could you teach me?”
Lu Xuan crossed his arms before his chest and asked, “Why would you want to learn cultivation?”
Liu Haotian had a determined look in his eyes as he said, “I want to avenge Uncle Zhang, Aunt Liu, and my parents. I want to live, and I can’t do any of that if I’m weak.”
It was apparent just how uncannily matured Liu Haotian was when compared to other children of his age.
Lu Xuan’s sisters, Lu Shanshan and Lu Guoguo, had only been carefree grade school students when they were his age. They had almost been like the bosses of the house. They’ve never experienced what Liu Haotian had been through.
“Alright, I’ll teach you.”
Lu Xuan nodded and looked at Liu Haotian as if he was looking at himself back in his past life. That had been how it was for him; he was almost crazed enough to have thought about nothing but cultivation.
He grabbed onto any possible opportunity to become strong.
That was because he wanted revenge.
His desire for vengeance allowed him to overcome all the obstacles during his early days in cultivation.
Lu Xuan asked out of curiosity, “Didn’t Aunt Liu or your parents thought you anything about cultivation back then?”
He could’ve seen that Aunt Liu was at least at the Divine Transformation Realm. He wondered why she never taught Liu Haotian anything about cultivation.
None of it made any sense.
Liu Haotian then said, “My parents were common folk and never trained in cultivation, so I never trained before either. Aunt Liu said that it was best for our bloodline to be nothing more than ordinary. Once we started training, we’d be more likely to catch someone’s attention. If that ever happened, we might be doomed. Even so, it was due to me having awakened my sacred bloodline, catching the attention of people around, that my parents died trying to protect me. Uncle Zhang and Aunt Liu both died to protect me, as well,” As Liu Haotian spoke, he wore a guilt-ridden expression with tears rolling down his cheeks.
Despite being very young, his mental state was apparently far above those of his age.
Lu Xuan understood. He knew that Aunt Liu probably knew that the people of the Liu Clan were being hunted down everywhere. Having a bloodline like that had been very difficult.
Given that they had no way of awakening the sacred bloodline anyway, the best thing they could do was just not train. While it was very unfair to this branch of the Liu Clan, it was the only way to ensure their survival.
They had no other choice, after all.
The plan was probably going well until Liu Haotian had unfortunately awakened the sacred bloodline by accident, alerting many people with malicious intent. Liu Haotian’s parents died protecting him, as did Uncle Zhang and Aunt Liu.
It was not necessarily a good thing for one to possess such things when one was still weak. Such gifts could have been a curse instead.
One would’ve been guilty simply for bearing such precious gifts.
It was something that Lu Xuan knew all too well.
All that he had been through in his past life taught him that if one lacked the strength to protect what was theirs, then acquiring certain things could have only brought about one’s demise.
Currently, Liu Haotian was like a three-year-old child walking around with a gold bar in his hands.
Liu Haotian wept as he asked, “Big brother, could you tell me if I’m a bringer of disaster?”
Lu Xuan patted his head and said, “Of course not. If anyone were to be bringers of disasters, it should have been those people, not you. It’s those greedy people doing such atrocities that are to blame. It’s not your fault. Now, stop crying. A man shouldn’t cry his eyes out like that for nothing.”
Liu Haotian nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll stop crying. I’ll train hard. I’ll seek revenge for my parents, for Uncle Zhang, and for Aunt Liu.”
Lu Xuan looked at Liu Haotian and elaborated, “You’re doing this for more than just revenge. You’re the key to the restoration of the Liu Clan. You’ll be the one to lead the bloodline of the sacred ones.”
While Lu Xuan had the blood of the sacred ones in his veins and had even awakened born Taoism aptitude, his surname was still Lu and not Liu.
As such, everything would then have rested on Liu Haotian’s little shoulders.
Liu Haotian looked at Lu Xuan. His big eyes blinked, making it obvious that such a topic was still too deep for him to comprehend.
Lu Xuan patted his head and then asked about the names of his parents and grandparents.
Lu Xuan then discovered to his delight that Liu Haotian’s grandfather was no ordinary clansman. He was actually the brother of Lu Xuan’s mother, Liu Wanrong.
Liu Haotian’s father was an illegitimate child of Lu Xuan’s maternal uncle, which was why said father managed to survive after the clan had been wiped out.
Due to being an illegitimate child, the boy’s name was never found in the clan’s genealogy. That was why that branch had been spared from being hunted down.
That was exactly why the branch was able to survive out there right up until the present day.
As time passed, things eventually settled down later. The man got married, and Liu Haotian was born.
The family should have been able to live stable, uneventful lives, but nobody expected Liu Haotian to have suddenly awakened the sacred bloodline.
That was what brought about the family’s doom.