Chapter 165 : Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Cheng Zhenjiang, What Exactly Happened?!

“Brother Zhenjiang, you finally came back. Feng’er must have been waiting anxiously for you…”

Zhao Xichun hurried forward to welcome her husband, her eyes filled with expectation.

This trip to Jiannan Circuit.

Cheng Zhenjiang had gone both to find an inheritance treasure for Cheng Feng that could break his Inner Demon, and to mediate his relationship with Cheng Yu.

This concerned both of their sons, and it also involved the physical condition of their youngest daughter, Cheng Si.

Now that he had returned, he must have gained something worthwhile.

But just as Zhao Xichun supported her husband, she suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Why did Cheng Zhenjiang have so many injuries on him? Why was his aura somewhat weak as well?

He was a dignified top-tier martial artist on the Heaven Ranking, with Late Ninth-Rank strength.

How had he ended up like this?

“Brother Zhenjiang, what happened to you?”

Cheng Feng, whose eyes had been full of expectation, also saw that something was wrong.

He asked in confusion, “Father, what happened to you? The… inheritance treasure you mentioned, did you bring it back?”

Cheng Zhenjiang looked at the mother and son, and embarrassment appeared on his face. He only felt utterly humiliated.

Not only had he failed to accomplish anything.

He had also made a complete mess of things with that unfilial son, losing all face!

Cheng Fang was dead, he himself was injured, and Cheng Cangshan had lost an Internal Energy Avatar. They had suffered a massive loss!

He was too embarrassed to say these things aloud.

He could only force himself to maintain the attitude of the head of the family. “Let us not mention this for now. I need to recuperate in the Secret Realm for a period of time.”

“You are injured this badly?!”

Zhao Xichun was startled. It seemed that Cheng Zhenjiang was not lightly wounded.

Who in Jiannan Circuit could possibly injure him?

Her heart was filled with doubt, but she could not continue questioning him, so she helped Cheng Zhenjiang sit beside a spiritual spring nearby.

The mystical aura slowly repaired Cheng Zhenjiang’s injuries.

When Cheng Feng saw that his father did not answer his question.

The excitement in his heart was immediately extinguished as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

The inheritance treasure he had been waiting for was surely gone!

During this period of near-mad cultivation, Cheng Feng had indeed made some progress, but he knew very well in his heart that compared to that fellow Cheng Yu, he was still very, very far behind.

The shame, anger, and pain in his heart erupted once again.

Why?

Was he still unable to catch up to that hateful fellow?

What right did a vicious man with no righteousness have to stand above him like this?

Before Cheng Feng’s eyes, Cheng Yu’s utterly disdainful gaze surfaced once again.

If not for the protective treasure back then.

The other party would have needed only one slash to kill him!

The Cheng Family and the River-Severing Sect had supplied him with resources without reservation, while Cheng Zhenjiang and the two Sect Masters had carefully nurtured him.

All of this added together.

And yet it still could not compare to someone who had been wandering outside and had become an Imperial Hound?

They were both Father and Mother’s sons.

Why was the gap so great?

Cheng Feng, who had been proud for more than ten years, trembled all over. The pain and despair made his head ache.

The pain was so intense that it felt as though the entire Secret Realm were shaking.

On the other side.

Zhao Xichun was looking at Cheng Zhenjiang, who was healing his injuries, with deep worry.

What exactly had happened?

During this period, she had been staying in the Secret Realm, guarding her younger son.

She had no idea what had happened in the outside world, or what could have reduced someone as powerful and composed as Cheng Zhenjiang to such a state.

In the next moment.

Cheng Yue walked over from not far away. Recently, she had been busy outside leading the disciples in cultivation.

Zhao Xichun had not seen her for some time while staying deep within the Secret Realm.

Joy immediately appeared on her face. “Yue’er, you came!”

Cheng Yue nodded lightly, but the expression on her face was indescribably strange.

When she looked at Cheng Zhenjiang, who was healing his injuries to the side, her gaze became somewhat evasive.

She had heard those rumors.

Her father had gone to Jiannan Circuit and become entangled with Prince Qing’s Remnants, resulting in a Grandmaster battle.

As for these matters.

Outsiders did not believe that Great Hero Cheng could do such things.

But she had personally seen Cheng Zhenjiang avoid and shield the matter of laborers being harmed at Sword-Forging Manor.

In his daughter’s eyes, the image of her father, who had once seemed incomparably lofty, had changed from that moment onward.

The righteous path of chivalry he constantly spoke of had also become impure.

Before her little sister Cheng Si left home and returned to her master’s sect.

She had once told her older sister that she had to learn to step outside other people’s claims and judge matters for herself.

Cheng Yue had done so.

She had found out that whether in Dragon Abyss Path or Jiannan Circuit, the common people were living very well and were deeply grateful to the Jinyiwei.

When they mentioned people of the Jianghu, however, they gnashed their teeth with hatred.

All of this had dealt a tremendous blow to her worldview, to the point that she temporarily did not want to see Cheng Zhenjiang.

Cheng Yue did not know whether the Jianghu’s chivalry or Cheng Yu’s ruthlessness was right or wrong…

Zhao Xichun looked at her daughter curiously. “Yue’er, why did you come? Did Si’er send a letter?”

After Cheng Si left home, she would often send letters back to the family.

Cheng Yue shook her head and handed Zhao Xichun a sheet of paper.

“Mother, take a look. Father, younger brother Feng, I will leave first…”

After saying this.

Cheng Yue did not stay any longer. Looking at her pained younger brother and her injured father, she sighed and left.

Zhao Xichun frowned as she held the paper.

“What is wrong with this child? She came here but left without saying more than a few words.”

She had long felt that Yue’er had not been quite right recently, but no matter what, she could not find the reason.

Perhaps she was worried about her younger brother and sister.

As Zhao Xichun thought this, she opened the paper Cheng Yue had brought.

It was clearly a copied record of the Tianji Tower’s latest rankings for the Heaven, Earth, and Human Rankings.

“Why show me this now?”

Zhao Xichun subconsciously looked around the twentieth place. Cheng Feng’s name was still listed, but it had become nineteenth place.

She immediately frowned.

Feng’er had been cultivating quietly in the Secret Realm during this period and had no combat record at all. Why had his ranking risen?

In a situation where someone did not fight others for a long time.

It was possible for the ranking to fall, but rising was strange.

The top twenty of the Human Ranking were all famous heaven’s favored geniuses, treasured darlings of their sects. Surely someone had not died?

The moment she thought of this.

Zhao Xichun’s heart inexplicably panicked, and she followed the rankings upward.

Seventh on the Human Ranking… Yichen of Taiyi Sect…

Her eyes instantly widened, and her hands trembled.

Where was Yu’er?

Her entire body began to tremble, and a chill rose along her back.

She clutched the paper tightly and examined it again and again.

On the Human Ranking.

Cheng Yu’s name had completely disappeared.

Zhao Xichun’s lips turned pale, and her pupils instantly dilated. She turned her head and stared blankly at Cheng Zhenjiang.

The strange state he had been in just now—could it be that something really had happened?

“Cheng Zhenjiang! What exactly happened?! What happened to Yu’er?”

Cheng Zhenjiang, who was healing his injuries, trembled all over and frowned.

Why mention that unfilial son!

“Do not mention him to me! I have nothing to do with such a vile beast. Whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with me!”

Zhao Xichun’s heart went completely cold.

Her poor Yu’er had truly met with trouble!

Under grief that was far beyond anything she had expected, her eyes reddened. She drew her sword and erupted with a terrifying aura.

With killing intent surging around her, she walked up to Cheng Zhenjiang.

“Cheng Zhenjiang! If you are still a human being, tell me exactly what happened!”