"It's you, my treacherous disciple!" Xu Changqing said, striking out at Xu Zimo.
Xu Zimo dodged nimbly, evading the sect leader's attack while speaking, "I am Xu Changqing's illegitimate son, born from a mortal woman during his trials in the mortal world. Back then, I was gravely ill and beyond cure. My mother traveled over mountains and rivers to bring me to Bright Moon Sect, begging him to heal me and save my life. But he despised my mother for ruining his reputation and forced her to swallow poison, threatening that he wouldn't treat me otherwise. To keep me alive, my mother made him swear an oath to the heavens before taking the poison, dissolving into a pool of blood. This old wretch brought me back to the sect and dumped me in Senior Brother Wuji's care, ignoring me ever since. Two hundred years ago, he suddenly attacked me. Senior Brother Wuji died under his hand to save me, his body destroyed and his spirit extinguished."
His voice was loud, stirring the entire Bright Moon Sect.
"Wasn't Senior Brother Wuji said to have fallen due to qi deviation?" someone asked.
"Yeah, that's what I heard too."
"So the sect leader killed him."
"The sect leader is that kind of person? Even a tiger doesn't eat its own cubs."
"Senior Brother Wuji was such an upright and noble man, killed by his own master."
Xu Changqing's face flushed red, his hands trembling with rage.
"Give me your life!" Xu Zimo roared, hurling a large number of pills at Xu Changqing.
Xu Changqing was horrified and quickly dodged, as a violent explosion sounded behind him.
"Xu Zimo, calm down! Killing your father will bring divine retribution!" Elder Qingyin shouted.
Xu Zimo burst into loud laughter.
"Even if I'm struck by lightning, I must avenge my mother and Senior Brother Wuji. I won't consider myself human until this revenge is exacted," he said, as if possessed by madness.
From the moment he recognized Xu Zimo, Xu Changqing had intended to kill him, and now he struck without mercy.
"Today, I will cleanse the sect of this traitor! You betray your master, collude with demons, and dare to slander me?" His attacks bore down on Xu Zimo like an avalanche.
Xu Zimo was like a lone boat adrift in a vast ocean, utterly powerless to resist. Xu Changqing had cultivated for seven or eight hundred years—how could Xu Zimo, with barely three hundred years of cultivation, shake him? Yet, determined to die together, Xu Zimo scattered handfuls of pills at Xu Changqing.
Xu Changqing dodged frantically, but Xu Zimo threw so many that a few inevitably touched him. If a mortal had thrown something at Xu Changqing, they couldn't have touched him even if they exhausted themselves. But Xu Zimo was also a cultivator, so while there was distance between them, it wasn't an insurmountable gap. Thus, the pills that struck him exploded instantly.
Immediately, a dense surge of spiritual energy mixed with bloodlust enveloped everyone.
"Damn it, that's beast-attracting pills!" someone shouted.
Beast-attracting pills, as the name suggests, lured demonic beasts. The crowd's expressions shifted.
Xu Zimo laughed maniacally.
Soon, the ground trembled violently.
"Beasts are coming! Beasts are coming!" someone cried out.
Everyone's legs quaked. Winged elephants, four-eared flying tigers, horned leopards, and jet-black wild boars charged toward them.
Xu Changqing's face darkened. The beast-attracting pills had summoned spirit beasts at the Nascent Soul level—such high-tier beasts were already formidable, and now there were so many? Before he could devise a plan, the beasts launched an attack on him. Xu Changqing immediately fought back, and as others saw the sect leader besieged, they moved to assist, but Elder Qingyin stopped them.
"This is his karmic retribution. Do not interfere."