283: Chapter 283 Severing Ties

Hun Feng put away the black dragon patterned spear, the crimson flames on its shaft slowly fading away.

The dust on the plaza had yet to settle, and the spirit arrays of the seventy-two Floating Islands were still humming with vibration. The Ancestral Tower's golden light had dimmed significantly, and the crack split into the tower by a single spear strike was starkly visible in the night.

He turned and walked toward Qing Yanjing, his pace unhurried, as if he had just returned from a stroll in his own backyard.

Budu Xuan stood beneath the Ancestral Tower, his silver hair disheveled, his robes scorched with several charred holes by the Heaven-Slaying Flame.

His breathing was rapid and ragged, his chest heaving violently. The pride accumulated over tens of thousands of years had been trampled to pieces in less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick.

He watched Hun Feng walking toward Qing Yanjing's back, watching that woman standing quietly, draped in Chief Elder Qing Yanshan's outer robe. Her phoenix eyes reflected that dark figure, and the slight upward curve of her lips stung his eyes.

"Stop!" Budu Xuan's voice was hoarse and shrill, devoid of its former dignity and composure. "Qing Yanjing is a Supreme Elder of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan. Article Thirteen of the clan rules states—Supreme Elders may never leave the clan for their entire lives! This is an ancestral teaching, and no one can change it!"

He turned to Qing Yanjing, his tone shifting from a sharp shout to a sinister mutter. "You were born a person of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan, and you shall die a ghost of the clan. If you leave today, you are a traitor to the clan!"

Qing Yanjing turned around. Her shoulders were still draped in Chief Elder Qing Yanshan's oversized outer robe, the bloodstains on her moon-white dress not yet dry, her complexion still pale.

But as she faced Budu Xuan, there was not a hint of flinching in those phoenix eyes, only a sense of resolution that had been suppressed for too long and had finally found an outlet.

Her voice was not loud, but every word clearly pierced through the lingering wind on the plaza: "Budu Xuan, you speak to me of ancestral teachings? When you imprisoned me over a decade ago in the name of ancestral teachings, did you ever consider that ancestral teachings should also be reasonable? Today, when my son came to save me and you sought to suppress him along with me in the name of ancestral teachings, did you ever consider that ancestral teachings are not your personal tool?"

She shook her head slowly. "With the ancestors of the Ancestral Tower looking down from above, today I, Qing Yanjing, swear here—from this moment on, I cut all ties with the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan."

"I am no longer a Supreme Elder of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan, no longer the Goddess of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan, and no longer a member of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan. I have only one identity—"

She reached out and held Mu Chen's hand. "I am Chen'er's mother. This identity is heavier than all the titles of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan combined."

The entire scene fell into a deathly silence. Hundreds of thousands of members of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan on the seventy-two Floating Islands were utterly mute. Some were shocked, some were angry, and some lowered their heads, not daring to look at Budu Xuan's livid face.

Chief Elder Qing Yanshan stepped forward, leaning on his black jade cane, his aged voice echoing across the plaza: "Qing Branch, heed my command—from this day forth, the Qing Branch will no longer take orders from Great Elder Budu Xuan. Wherever the Goddess goes, the Qing Branch follows. This is my decision as the First Elder of the Qing Branch, and it is also the will of the spirits of the Qing Branch's ancestors."

Qing Yanjing turned to look at him: "Clan Brother—"

"Don't try to dissuade me." Chief Elder Qing Yanshan raised his hand to stop her, a trace of a smile appearing on his wrinkled face. "I've been suppressed for over a decade; it's time to vent. Besides, I've lived to this age, what is there left to fear?"

Dozens of Qing Branch disciples behind him knelt in unison. A few of the younger disciples had reddened eyes, but they stubbornly held their heads high.

Budu Xuan's face was livid, and he raised his hand as if to order them to be stopped. But his hand froze in mid-air halfway up—he saw Hun Feng carelessly stroking the handle of the black dragon patterned spear with his thumb. Those heterochromatic eyes were looking at him with a half-smile, and a cluster of Heaven-Slaying Flame danced silently on the spear, as if saying: Try making a move. Budu Xuan's hand slowly dropped.

"Let's go." Qing Yanjing took Mu Chen's hand. Mu Chen was severely injured, the wound on his back from the chain still oozing blood, but he stood straight, the heavenly emperor sword already retrieved from the pile of rubble and held firmly in his hand.

He glanced at his mother and saw her unfasten Chief Elder Qing Yanshan's outer robe and drape it back over the old man's shoulders, then straighten her back and take the first step forward—although her moon-white dress was tattered, it could not hide her innate elegance.

Chief Elder Qing Yanshan led dozens of clansmen from the Qing Branch and followed silently. Luo Li supported Mu Chen, followed by Old Ancestor Xuantian and the Undying Bird guards sent by Jiu You to receive them. Dozens of streams of light flew in from not far away, landing on both sides of the group, escorting them step by step out of the plaza.

The members of the Ancient Floating Pagoda Clan on both sides of the White Jade Avenue silently cleared a path. No one dared to block them, because Hun Feng was following at the very back of the group. He carried the black dragon patterned spear casually on his shoulder, walking in a loose and leisurely manner, occasionally tilting his head to look at the young clansmen with complex expressions on the roadside, as if he were just window shopping.

When they reached the exit of the plaza, Hun Feng suddenly stopped and looked back at Budu Xuan. Budu Xuan was still standing beneath the Ancestral Tower, alone, with only a few core elders who dared not step forward left by his side. Hun Feng gestured with his chin at him: "Budu Xuan, thank you for your hard work today. I'll come back another day to have tea with you—remember to fix that broken tower."

Budu Xuan did not answer, only staring fixedly at his back, his withered hands clenched into fists inside his sleeves, trembling slightly.

At the end of the White Jade Avenue, the gates of the Futu Realm slowly opened. Qing Yanjing held Mu Chen's hand and stepped over the threshold she had sworn never to cross again when she was dragged in all those years ago.

The night wind blew in from outside the gate, lifting her loose long hair. She took a deep breath; it was the wind of freedom, absent for over a decade, lacking the scent of sandalwood and the humming of spirit arrays.

Hun Feng walked to her side. Qing Yanjing turned her head to look at him, paused, and said softly: "It is Chen'er's good fortune to have met a master like you."

"Chen'er's mother, that is too polite. There will be plenty of time to get along in the future."

Qing Yanjing turned her head slightly, not answering, but the curve of her lips deepened a little more than before. She let go of Mu Chen's hand to let him go attend to his injuries first, while she fell half a step back, walking side by side with Hun Feng at the very end of the group. Moonlight spilled onto the two of them, the dark robes and the moon-white dress reflecting each other in the night.