Life Wheel
Prince's Mansion
Ye Family
Patriarch
Ye Mengling
Ye Yan
Great Zhou Empire
Seventh Stage of Body Refining
Blood Sword
Origin Pill
Prince of Jizhou
Yuan Condensation
Chapter 1: I Return from the Heavenly Prison
In Jizhou City, within the Great Zhou Empire.
Deep inside the pitch-black, sunless Heavenly Prison.
A youth covered in blood.
Waved the longsword in his hand, flashing through the air like a streak of crimson lightning.
Bloody heads flew into the air, fresh blood staining the prison red, and the air filled with a pungent, reeking stench.
"One thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine!"
The youth muttered to himself, a chilling red light flashing in his eyes!
Beneath his feet lay piles of corpses!
This was his third month inside the Heavenly Prison!
Slaughter!
Nothing existed here except slaughter!
He had already killed until he was numb!
A total of two thousand prisoners had been thrown into the Heavenly Prison.
Aside from him, every single one of them was dead!
The youth was named Ye Qing.
The Young Patriarch of the Ye Family in Jizhou City!
However, he was no longer the Young Patriarch.
Now, he was merely a prisoner locked away in the Heavenly Prison!
The Jizhou City Heavenly Prison was a place of nine deaths and zero life.
All prisoners fought to the death within these walls.
In the end, only a single person would walk out alive!
And the one who survived would serve the Prince's Mansion of Jizhou!
"Clap, clap, clap!"
Outside the prison, two middle-aged men dressed in black robes walked over.
They were applauding.
Throughout this period, they had witnessed Ye Qing's performance firsthand. To stand out among two thousand people meant he was undeniably formidable.
Ye Qing's swordsmanship was exceptionally brilliant!
"Kid, your talent in the sword dao is not bad. What a pity that your bloodline was crippled!" said one of the middle-aged men.
"Even so, simply based on your skill with the sword, you are qualified to enter the Prince's Mansion of Jizhou and become a death-bound warrior of our mansion!"
The other man spoke slowly, stepping forward to unlock the heavy iron gate of the Heavenly Prison.
Ye Qing gripped a blood-stained longsword as he slowly walked out.
The sword was named the Qingfeng Sword.
It was caked entirely in blood.
The blood of fellow prisoners!
Among them were vicious, heinous criminals.
As well as some completely innocent souls who had been framed and cast into the Jizhou Heavenly Prison.
To survive, Ye Qing had carved a path through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
His heart had long since grown numb.
"Kid, come with us!"
"To become a death-bound warrior of the Prince's Mansion is your supreme honor!"
"I heard you used to be the Young Patriarch of the Ye Family, blessed with a five-star bloodline and quite a bit of talent!"
"What a shame your bloodline was ruined, rendering you nothing more than a piece of trash!"
"If your bloodline were still intact, you might have even had a chance to become an inner-court disciple of our mansion!"
"Right now, though, letting you serve as a death-bound warrior is already a massive elevation of your status!"
The two middle-aged men sneered, their eyes filled with utter contempt as they spoke.
To be a death-bound warrior for the Prince's Mansion meant being ready to fight and die for the mansion at a moment's notice.
To put it bluntly, it meant being kept like a dog by the mansion!
A dog that could be discarded at any time!
With a cold and indifferent expression, Ye Qing stepped out of the prison.
He walked right up to the two middle-aged men.
The next instant.
"Splash!"
The Qingfeng Sword in Ye Qing's hand flashed with a beam of sword light and slashed outward ruthlessly!
A bloody head spun into the air.
"You!"
The other middle-aged man's face twisted in terror as he scrambled to move.
In the blink of an eye.
A sword had pierced straight through his chest!
Ye Qing's sword was too fast.
So fast that they didn't even have time to react!
Never in their wildest dreams had they expected Ye Qing to dare raise a hand against them!
They were, after all, officials of the Prince's Mansion of Jizhou, specifically tasked with managing the Heavenly Prison!
If Ye Qing killed them, the Prince's Mansion would certainly not let the matter rest.
Yet if the mansion wanted Ye Qing to be a death-bound warrior, he would never agree.
Over the past three months in the Heavenly Prison, Ye Qing had slain many innocent people.
That was never his wish.
Yet, to survive, he had no choice but to kill!
To slaughter every single enemy in his path!
This was the debt owed by the Prince's Mansion of Jizhou!
As for the Prince's Mansion, Ye Qing felt nothing but hatred; he would never become a running dog for them!
And the hatred he held for the Ye Family was even deeper!
Three months ago.
As the Young Patriarch of the Ye Family, Ye Qing had fought desperately for his clan to seize control of a vital mineral vein.
During the fierce battle, however, he suffered severe injuries while waiting in vain for the reinforcements promised by the Ye Family!
Ultimately, Ye Qing failed to secure the mineral vein.
He returned to the Ye Family heavily wounded and on the verge of collapse.
To his utter astonishment, upon returning to his clan, the Patriarch of the Ye Family used his failure to capture the mineral vein as an excuse.
He pronounced Ye Qing guilty and had him imprisoned.
Shortly after, Ye Yan, the son of the Ye Family Patriarch, seized the opportunity to forcibly strip Ye Qing of his bloodline.
This left Ye Qing's strength shattered and drastically reduced!
In this fantasy world, all people practiced martial arts, harboring dreams of becoming martial artists!
The realms of martial arts were divided into Body Refining, Yuan Condensation, Origin Pill, Life Wheel, and so on.
Aside from cultivation realms, a martial artist's bloodline was of paramount importance!
Bloodlines were graded from one to nine stars.
One star was the weakest, while nine stars were the absolute strongest.
In the past, Ye Qing had possessed the five-star Crimson Flame Dragon Bloodline.
Within Jizhou, he was considered an peerless prodigy.
Most martial artists in Jizhou awakened nothing more than a two-star bloodline.
Even a three-star bloodline was exceptionally rare.
After Ye Qing's bloodline was crippled, the Patriarch of the Ye Family arranged for him to be cast into the Jizhou Heavenly Prison.
They called it training and tempering Ye Qing.
In reality, their sole intention was to let Ye Qing rot and die inside the Heavenly Prison!
With his bloodline stolen and his strength crippled, the probability of Ye Qing surviving the Jizhou Heavenly Prison was virtually zero!
Yet, Ye Qing survived that purgatory-like hell!
And he relied entirely on the sword in his hand!
Though his bloodline was destroyed.
Ye Qing's mastery over the sword remained.
His sword was terrifyingly fast!
He had already trained the Wind Swordsmanship to the realm of Great Accomplishment.
He had become a true sword cultivator!
Sword cultivators invariably possessed far greater combat power than others within the same realm!
Giving him the capital to fight opponents above his own level!
At this moment.
Ye Qing gripped his bloody longsword and charged out of the Heavenly Prison.
Right in front of him stood a row of guards.
Ten guards in total!
"Kid, why did you come out alone? Where are the two lords?"
One of the guards asked, a suspicious look crossing his face.
The prisoner had emerged, yet neither of the two officials from the Prince's Mansion was accompanying him.
It was truly bizarre.
"The two lords still have matters to discuss inside, so they let me come out first."
Ye Qing said calmly.
Then, he stepped forward.
Walking right past the guards.
"Kid, halt right there!"
The guard spoke again, a sliver of chilling intent flashing in his eyes.
"You can't leave until the two lords come out!"
The guard barked coldly.
"Very well!"
Ye Qing nodded.
The next instant.
A streak of crimson sword light flashed suddenly through the void.
The guard's head was cleanly sliced from his shoulders.
"Audacious!"
"Kid, you dare attack us! You're courting death!"
The remaining guards rushed at him instantly!
"Slash, slash, slash!"
Ye Qing's bloody sword moved in a rapid blur.
As the sword light flashed, head after head was sent flying into the air!
Ye Qing's sword was simply too fast.
The guards present were utterly powerless to block it.
In the blink of an eye, all ten guards lay sprawled upon the ground.
Fresh blood painted the earth crimson!
"Whoosh!"
Ye Qing's figure darted forward like a streak of lightning.
He headed straight for the Ye Family estate!
The Ye Family had treated him this way, and he was going to demand full justice!
Furthermore.
Back within the Ye Family estate, there was someone else—Ye Qing's younger sister, Ye Mengling!
While enduring the horrors of the Heavenly Prison, one of the most vital reasons Ye Qing had managed to hold on was the thought of his little sister lingering in his heart!
Since childhood, they had lost their parents, and the siblings had relied entirely on each other to survive.
In the past, when Ye Qing possessed supreme talent, formidable strength, and the position of Young Patriarch, he was able to protect his sister.
However, Ye Qing had been locked away in the pitch-black Heavenly Prison for three full months!
His sister's situation within the Ye Family must be perilous.
Ye Qing didn't even dare to imagine.
Without his protection, what kind of treatment would his sister endure at the hands of the Ye Family?
Within the clan, his sister was completely alone and helpless.
It was entirely possible that not a single soul would protect Ye Mengling!
Thinking of this.
Ye Qing accelerated even further, speeding forward like a bolt of lightning.
---
Chapter 2: The Sister Abused
In Jizhou City.
The Ye Family estate.
A frail, thin young girl with a pale complexion.
Clad in tattered, coarse cloth garments, she walked slowly forward.
Her steps were heavy.
Moving forward step by step, her entire body trembled continuously.
She was none other than the young miss of the Ye Family, Ye Mengling.
However, the treatment she received as a young miss was far inferior to that of a common servant girl!
At this moment, Ye Mengling felt chilled to her very bones, shivering like a block of ice, unable to bear the biting cold.
She was born with an extreme physical cold constitution.
She had failed to awaken a bloodline from birth.
She was nothing more than an ordinary mortal.
And yet she was constantly tormented by her congenital cold affliction.
In the past, when her older brother Ye Qing was around, he would go to the Ye Family's apothecary to exchange for the Yang-Invigorating Pill.
Which would temporarily alleviate her condition.
The Yang-Invigorating Pill was precious, requiring a vast number of Ye Family contribution points to acquire.
In the days gone by, Ye Qing fought desperately for the clan, his sole purpose being to earn contribution points so he could exchange them for the Yang-Invigorating Pill to treat Ye Mengling.
"Brother, where on earth are you? Are you doing well?"
"They said you were locked away in the Heavenly Prison and would never return! I don't believe it. You promised you'd come back safely to see me!"
Ye Mengling muttered softly to herself.
A trail of crystal-clear tears streamed down her beautiful eyes.
Before long.
Ye Mengling arrived at the apothecary.
Standing inside the apothecary was a dark-complexioned middle-aged man wearing black robes.
He was the Seventh Elder of the Ye Family, responsible for managing the apothecary.
"Elder, I would like to ask for a Yang-Invigorating Pill. Might I have one, please?"
Ye Mengling whispered, her body still shivering as she spoke, clearly freezing to her absolute limit.
"Do you have contribution points?"
"No..."
The Seventh Elder sneered, looking at her as if she were a complete fool.
"Money then?"
The Seventh Elder asked again.
Ye Mengling shook her head.
"Elder, I... I am so cold. I beg of you, give me a Yang-Invigorating Pill. My brother will give you contribution points later!"
Ye Mengling said with great difficulty.
Given her current physical state, simply speaking had become an arduous task.
Her teeth were constantly chattering.
"Ha-ha!"
"Ridiculous!"
"Your brother has been dead for ages, how could he possibly give me contribution points?"
The Seventh Elder's face twisted into a vicious sneer.
"No... that's impossible! My brother is not dead!"
Ye Mengling cried out loudly.
"Get lost, you wretched little slave! What qualifications do you have to claim resources from the Ye Family?" The Seventh Elder laughed cruelly, his eyes filled with mockery.
"But... without the Yang-Invigorating Pill, I won't last much longer. It's cold, so cold..."
Ye Mengling trembled violently, hugging her frail body tightly.
"A piece of trash like you is just wasting resources by staying alive! You might as well just die!"
"You want a Yang-Invigorating Pill? Keep dreaming!"
The Seventh Elder suddenly lashed out with a vicious slap.
"Crack!"
The strike landed squarely on Ye Mengling's face, and her delicate, frail body was instantly sent flying backward.
Already severely ill, she could not withstand such a heavy blow and immediately passed out, losing consciousness.
"Just a lowly slave girl, can't even take a single hit!"
The Seventh Elder sneered coldly, turning around to walk back into the apothecary.
Suddenly, from outside the apothecary, a blood-soaked youth strode forward!
His gaze was fierce, his posture as straight as a drawn sword, radiating an invisible, chilling aura of slaughter!
He, Ye Qing, had fought his way back out of the Heavenly Prison!
"Boom!"
Upon seeing the young girl lying motionless on the ground, two beams of crimson light burst from Ye Qing's eyes, and his murderous intent soared into the heavens!
The young girl was none other than his younger sister, Ye Mengling!
In the blink of an eye, Ye Qing rushed forward and cradled Ye Mengling in his arms.
His sister's injuries were extremely severe!
The bright red palm print on her face drove Ye Qing mad with fury!
His sister Ye Mengling was his only remaining kin!
The person closest to him in this world!
Yet she had suffered such cruel and toxic abuse!
Whoever did this deserved to die!
"Who! Who did this?!"
Ye Qing's voice was hoarse as his gaze swept toward the interior of the apothecary.
Hearing this, the Seventh Elder stepped back outside.
The moment he laid eyes on Ye Qing, the Seventh Elder sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, his heart gripped with shock and terror!
"It's you! Ye Qing! How did you manage to come back from the Heavenly Prison?!"
The Seventh Elder's face drained of color.
The Heavenly Prison was a purgatory-like realm; there was no way he should have been able to walk out of there alive!
However, upon second thought, the Seventh Elder reasoned that Ye Qing's bloodline had been completely crippled, so how much strength could he possibly have left?
He probably couldn't stir up any trouble worth mentioning!
With that realization.
The Seventh Elder's courage returned.
"I did it, so what? You're nothing more than a piece of trash with a crippled bloodline—do you actually dare raise a hand against this elder?"
The Seventh Elder sneered savagely, his eyes brimming with utter contempt.
His own cultivation realm was not weak, so naturally, he didn't view the current Ye Qing as any kind of threat!
Had it been the Ye Qing of three months ago, the Seventh Elder might have felt a lingering trace of caution.
But the present Ye Qing had a destroyed bloodline, making him no different from a cripple!
On the path of martial arts, he had zero hope left whatsoever!
"You're courting death!"
Ye Qing took a step forward, instantly charging into the apothecary. The longsword in his hand leaped from its scabbard, turning into a web of flashing sword shadows!
"Audacious! As a member of the Ye Family, you dare raise a sword against an elder? Are you looking to die?!"
The Seventh Elder sneered, extending his palm in an attempt to bare-handedly disarm Ye Qing.
"Splash!"
A bloody arc of sword light flashed past!
In a split second, a miserable shriek rang through the air as the Seventh Elder's right arm was lopped off entirely at the shoulder!
"You dared to hurt my sister, I will never forgive you!"
Ye Qing's body surged with murderous intent so dense it nearly solidified.
After enduring three months of brutal trials in the Heavenly Prison, he had slaughtered every single living soul inside!
Among them were many notorious, vicious criminals from Jizhou City!
Out of that living hell, he, Ye Qing, had walked out stepping over mountains of corpses!
How could his strength possibly be compared to a pampered piece of trash like the Seventh Elder?!
"You actually..."
The Seventh Elder shrieked in agony, his expression changing drastically.
"Slash!"
Sword shadows flashed, and the Seventh Elder's legs were severed from his body. Fresh blood gushed forth, staining the floor crimson!
Inside the apothecary, several other Ye Family disciples were in the middle of purchasing medicinal pills.
At this sight, every single one of them was scared out of their wits!
"Ye Qing, aren't you afraid the Patriarch will punish you with death?!"
Blood gushed from all over the Seventh Elder's body, turning him into a miserable, pathetic bloodied figure.
"Whoever touches my sister, I kill! Even if the Patriarch comes personally, I will kill him just the same!"
Ye Qing lashed out with a single sword stroke, a bloody sword projection slicing through the air to hack the Seventh Elder of the Ye Family into a mess of fragmented flesh!
The Seventh Elder's cultivation had reached the peak of the Ninth Stage of Body Refining.
He could be considered quite formidable.
Yet, Ye Qing's sword was simply too fast!
His swordsmanship was ruthlessly sharp!
In terms of raw cultivation, Ye Qing was merely at the Seventh Stage of Body Refining, inferior to the Seventh Elder.
However, Ye Qing's attainments in the sword dao were nothing short of terrifying!
"This..."
"Wasn't Ye Qing's bloodline stolen? How can he still possess such terrifying strength?!"
"Three months ago, Ye Qing was thrown into the Heavenly Prison. Who would have thought he could actually walk out alive!"
"The Heavenly Prison is known as a literal purgatory! With such heavy hostility, what on earth did he experience in there..."
The Ye Family disciples inside the apothecary stood dumbstruck, their eyes filled with boundless terror.
Ye Qing withdrew his sword and scooped his sister up into his arms.
He grabbed ten Yang-Invigorating Pills from the apothecary and fed them to his sister.
For years, his sister's congenital cold affliction had never been cured.
The Yang-Invigorating Pill was her lifeline.
After swallowing the pills, his sister's complexion regained a hint of healthy ruddiness.
However, her delicate body was still trembling.
Ye Qing stroked his sister's cheek, feeling as though he were touching a block of ice.
Ye Qing's heart ached fiercely!
With a pain akin to being pierced by needles!
His sister could not practice martial arts and suffered from frail health, yet that bastard of a Seventh Elder had actually been able to strike her without hesitation!
Looking at his sister in her tattered clothes, her body freezing cold, the hatred in Ye Qing's heart soared into the heavens, completely uncontrollable!
During the three months he was away, his sister must have suffered immensely within the Ye Family!
What Ye Qing had witnessed today was probably nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.
The Ye Family was beyond forgiveness!
---
Chapter 3: Ye Yan's Challenge
After Ye Mengling swallowed the Yang-Invigorating Pill, her breathing stabilized somewhat.
Her life was no longer in immediate danger.
However, Ye Qing knew that her illness would flare up again after a certain period of time.
Without a sufficient supply of Yang-Invigorating Pills, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Yang-Invigorating Pills were precious; even though the Ye Family was a major clan in Jizhou City, their stock was limited.
Furthermore, since Ye Mengling had not awakened a bloodline, the clan would never waste valuable resources on her!
Ye Qing had once been the peerless prodigy of the Ye Family, rendering monumental achievements for the clan over the years—seizing mineral mountains, opening trade routes, and slaying numerous formidable enemies!
It was precisely because of his contributions that Ye Qing had been able to exchange clan contribution points for Yang-Invigorating Pills to sustain his sister's life.
Yet, following the shocking upheaval three months ago, everything had changed.
At this moment.
Ye Mengling, cradled in Ye Qing's arms, slowly opened her eyes.
What greeted her vision was the face she had dreamed of day and night!
"Brother... you're back!"
Ye Mengling stroked Ye Qing's cheek, her eyes brimming with tears.
Crying tears of joy!
Seeing that Ye Qing had returned safely, Ye Mengling's heart was finally at ease.
Over the past three months, she had endured humiliation within the Ye Family, knowing her days were numbered, and her greatest wish before dying had been to catch one last glimpse of Ye Qing.
"Sister, I'm back. Don't be afraid. With your brother here, no matter how great the trouble is, I will shoulder it!" Ye Qing said gently.
"Brother, being able to see you one last time is already enough to make me happy. Please don't waste any more Yang-Invigorating Pills on me," Ye Mengling whispered.
"Silly sister, I still have plenty of Yang-Invigorating Pills. Don't worry, your brother will definitely cure your illness!"
Supporting Ye Mengling, Ye Qing began to walk slowly.
Suddenly, a robustly built youth strode forward aggressively, flanked by a crowd of Ye Family disciples.