Martial Peak

Chapter 1869, Broken Ancestral Tablets

While Yang Kai was cleaning out Purple Star’s Vault, a good show was also happening in the ancestral hall of Purple Star Palace.

Since Zi Wu Ji had decided to have a showdown with Gong Sun Liang today, he no longer restrained himself and instead took a forward and aggressive stance.

Gong Sun Liang noticed this, but he didn’t take it to heart, simply choosing to observe everything indifferently.

Many of Purple Star’s leaders also faintly felt that today’s atmosphere was slightly different and became somewhat anxious. Fortunately, everything proceeded as smoothly as usual, and the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the Heavens went off without a hitch.

Half a day later, everyone poured into the ancestral hall to prepare for the last worship ceremony.

The offerings had been prepared long ago, and inside the hall, Purple Star’s members were split into four ranks while Gong Sun Liang stood at the head of the hall and gave a speech praising the great achievements of Purple Star’s ancestors. The atmosphere in the ancestral hall was extremely solemn as everyone felt a sense of pride in their identity.

After a long time, Gong Sun Liang looked down and shouted, “Before our great ancestors, disciple Gong Sun Liang, on behalf of all of Purple Star, offers these tributes to the ancestors’ spirits. May the ancestors bless our Purple Star with eternal prosperity! Light the incense!”

When these words were spoken, three incense burners were lit.

Gong Sun Liang was about to receive these burners when suddenly a voice called out, “Great Elder, please wait!”

Gong Sun Liang frowned, turned his head to look in the direction the voice came from, half-squinted his eyes, and said, “Whatever it is Second Young Master wishes to discuss, it can wait until after this old master finishes placing these three incense sticks. No one may interfere with the Ancestral Worship Ceremony.”

Zi Wu Ji just smiled lightly though and said, “What Great Elder said is absolutely right, but Wu Ji thinks it is wrong to hand these three incense sticks to Great Elder.”

“This old master is Purple Star’s Great Elder, what is inappropriate about him placing these three sticks of incense?” Gong Sun Liang said lightly, his half-squinted eyes revealing a substantive coercion as he stared at Zi Wu Ji.

The latter showed not the slightest fear, however, and continued to speak, “In the past, this ceremony was presided over by my Lord Father and Eldest Brother, now that Lord Father and Eldest Brother are not on Purple Star, Wu Ji should be the one to take their place.”

“Second Young Master wants these three sticks of incense?”

“Of course!”

“Haha, Second Young Master surely jests, Master and Young Master are not on Purple Star, so this old as Purple Star’s Great Elder is responsible for fulfilling their duties in their absence. There is no need for Second Young Master to concern himself with this.”

“Great Elder, the Zi Family’s blood flows through this Wu Ji’s veins, and the Zi Family is the foundation of Purple Star. This matter most definitely concerns this Wu Ji.”

“Do you insist on this?” Gong Sun Liang stared at Zi Wu Ji indifferently.

“I hope Great Elder will cooperate,” Zi Wu Ji stared back at him in a neither humble nor submissive manner.

Gong Sun Liang grinned as he began pushing his Saint Qi slightly, trying to give Zi Wu Ji a little pressure. Placing the incense was only one step in the Ancestral Worship Ceremony, but it had extraordinary meaning. If he were to compromise today, it would mean acknowledging Zi Wu Ji’s status as equal to Zi Long or Zi Dong’s, something Gong Sun Liang would naturally not allow.

However, what Gong Sun Liang could not have imagined was that as soon as his Saint Qi left his body, a series of cracks would suddenly sound.

In the next moment, countless gasps could be heard.

Gong Sun Liang’s face sank as his eyes landed on Zi Wu Ji’s triumphant smile, a bad premonition suddenly filling his heart.

“The Ancestral Tablets have broken!”

“What?”

“Heavens, the Ancestral Tablets really broke!”

From all around, shouts rang out from all Purple Star’s leaders, causing Gong Sun Liang to swiftly turn his head around, only to have his old face go incomparably pale.

At this moment, most of the memorial tablets in the hall had broken. Even if a few of them had not shattered completely, they had countless cracks on their surface and were clearly on the brink of collapse.

These tablets represented the ancestors who had made great contributions to Purple Star in the past. Each of these ancestors had been a powerful master who was famous in his or her time and that even today was admired and respected by the trillions of cultivators who lived under Purple Star’s rule.

After their deaths, their descendants would place a tablet here to be forever remembered by future generations.

These tablets represented a kind of spirit, a kind of faith.

No one dared to be disrespectful to them! Even Zi Long, the current Sect Master of Purple Star, had to act respectfully when he entered this place.

But now, these symbols of belief had all crumbled into dust.

Gong Sun Liang’s heart trembled as he turned and glared at Zi Wu Ji.

After all, his grandfather’s ancestral tablet was among these.

Before he could speak though, Zi Wu Ji coughed out a mouthful of blood and with a face filled with sadness and despair, he pointed at Gong Sun Liang and haltingly shouted, “Great Elder… You are too vicious! Even if you are dissatisfied with this Wu Ji’s conduct, a small punishment or scolding would have sufficed, but in your rage, you’ve even gone so far as to shatter my Purple Star’s ancestral tablets? Do you even put my Purple Star in your eyes?!”

Gong Sun Liang was startled and immediately shouted angrily, “Zi Wu Ji, don’t talk nonsense…”

“Talk nonsense?” Zi Wu Ji wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sneered, “With so many in the ancestral hall seeing what happened just now, how could this Wu Ji be speaking nonsense? Yes, Wu Ji did offend you, but this… how could this be necessary?”

“Great Elder, you’ve gone too far! Every ancestral tablet here contains a wisp of its owner’s Soul, destroying the tablet is tantamount to killing all of our ancestor’s Souls, allowing them to really disappear into nothingness! How can you even stand before them now so shamelessly!” Someone shouted right after Zi Wu Ji spoke.

“Such viciousness and cruelty! Great Elder, what is the meaning of this?”

“Great Elder, explain your actions immediately!”

Behind Zi Wu Ji, a group of cultivators stood up one after another to accuse Gong Sun Liang. Zi Wu Ji looked sad and indignant as he covered his chest with his hands, but a sense of pride flashed across the depths of his eyes.

Gong Sun Liang wore a deep and profound expression, as by now, he had figured out he had been led into a trap. He did urge his Saint Qi just now, but he just wanted to teach Zi Wu Ji a small lesson for his presumptuousness. How could he have known his Saint Qi’s fluctuations would actually break these tablets?

Saint Qi fluctuations of that degree could never have had such a drastic effect.

The only explanation was that these tablets have long ago been rigged to react to his Saint Qi.

“Zi Wu Ji! This old master looked down on your courage!” Gong Sun Liang did not even try to explain anything, instead just turning a look of admiration towards Zi Wu Ji. Daring to use these ancestral tablets was something even he had never conceived, so Gong Sun Liang could not help admiring Zi Wu Ji’s determination and cruelty.

“What does Great Elder mean? Wu Ji does not understand. Right now, Great Elder should be giving a reasonable explanation for what has happened to the ancestral tablets, not trying to distract us with nonsense!” Zi Wu Ji forced the issue back to the broken ancestral tablets, vowing to confront Gong Sun Liang to the death today!

“An explanation?” Gong Sun Liang sneered as his eyes swept over the masters behind Zi Wu Ji, causing all of them to tremble and look away in horror.

Although these people had decided to follow Zi Wu Ji and were impressed by his plans and methods, the Great Elder was still the Great Elder. He was a man who was both majestic and commanded great respect. All of them could not help feeling fear when so blatantly opposing Gong Sun Liang.

Zi Wu Ji was aware of this and cursed all of them in his heart as wastes. Blocking Gong Sun Liang’s line of sight, he shouted in a low voice, “Great Elder, do you really not put my Purple Star’s ancestors in your eyes? No? With such arrogance, what qualifications do you have to occupy the position of Great Elder?”

“Is that all you want to say?” Gong Sun Liang smirked, “Boy, you’re quite good. If not for Dong’er, Purple Star may really have fallen to you in the future, but unfortunately… you are destined to be just another pitiful weakling. Boy, if you want an explanation, this old master will give you one!”

As soon as these words fell, Gong Sun Liang stepped forward and reached out to grab Zi Wu Ji.

He knew that everything today was an elaborate trap set against him, and no matter whether those tablets had been rigged or not before, it was still a fact that he was the one who shattered them. There was simply no way to explain that away.

Since there was no way to justify himself, he simply decided not to try.

Determining who was right was not something that could only be done with words, it could also be done with fists!

Seeing Gong Sun Liang rushing at him, Zi Wu Ji was not shocked and instead rejoiced. Wearing a confused expression on his face, he retreated and shouted, “Gong Sun Liang, are you really trying to start a fight in the ancestral hall? This is an intolerable show of disrespect to the ancestors and nothing less than a betrayal of Purple Star! Although you committed a great crime today, you are still the Great Elder. If you simply remain in the ancestral hall for a decade to repent, you may still be forgiven, why make things even worse for yourself!?”

No matter what, Zi Wu Ji had to first push all the blame onto Gong Sun Liang today so that any action he took next would be justified.

“Impudence! How this old master acts, you have no right to comment on!” Gong Sun Liang shouted coldly, not paying any attention to Zi Wu Ji at all.

Just when he was about to grab Zi Wu Ji though, a figure swiftly rushed in from outside and barred his path.

Gong Sun Liang’s complexion changed as his claw turned into a palm that he pushed forward.

This newcomer also sent out a palm.

The two palms touched silently, causing the two figures to simultaneously retreat.

At that moment, a sudden burst of energy in the space between the two figures appeared, shattering space itself before radiating outwards and causing the entire ancestral hall to collapse while shaking the whole Purple Star Palace.

*Xiu xiu xiu…*

All Purple Star’s masters flew out from the ruins one by one, their expressions gloomy to the extreme as they stared at the destruction below.

This ancestral hall had stood on Purple Star for over ten thousand years and was regarded as the most sacred place by all Purple Star cultivators, yet today it had been destroyed!

Everyone felt incredibly uncomfortable and saddened by this.

Up above, Zi Wu Ji had a pale face as fear lingered in his heart.

Although everything was still going according to plan, the moment Gong Sun Liang attacked him, he felt the aura of death pressing down on him. In front of a Second-Order Origin King, he simply had no power to resist.

[Strength! Only personal strength can be counted as real strength!] Zi Wu Ji secretly clenched his fists as he muttered to himself.

On the other side, Gong Sun Liang narrowed his eyes as he stared at the figure standing in front of Zi Wu Ji.

This man seemed to only be about thirty years old and had a fresh, mild-mannered look to him; however, his eyes reflected a type of vastitude that one could only acquire with age and experience, making him appear more mature and stable.