The scent of roasting spirit beast meat wafted through the open windows of the main hall, mixing with the crisp evening air. It was a scent of prosperity, of oil and fat and rare spiritual spices that would have been unthinkable on the Wang Family table merely a week ago.
Wang Xuhan sat at the head of the long table, his posture rigid, his eyes scanning the faces of his family. They were different now. The mundane dullness that had clouded their eyes for decades had been scoured away by the Spirit Awakening Fruits, replaced by sharp beautiful pupils full of vitality.
The transformation was not merely internal. The impurities expelled by the fruits had smoothed their skin, brightened their eyes, and straightened their spines. They looked younger, vibrant, humming with a newfound vitality that made the air around them feel electric. With the new breathing technique given by Tianmo, they have grasped the method of cultivation. Even the elders were excited to get the superior breathing technique of the Black grade. Everyone in the family practices the same breathing method.
However, to Wang Xuhan, they looked like strangers, completely different from before. It is as if they have been reborn.
"Ahem* Ahem*... It's been ages since our family has been together like this," Wang Xuhan began, his voice echoing slightly in the hall that now felt too small for the ambitions sitting at the table. He picked up his jade chopsticks, his movements deliberate, trying to project the image of a patriarch in absolute control.
"Since there are three spirit root upgrading fruits... I have decided to use one, the other two shall be kept for the future, where anyone can claim after collecting family contributions," Wang Xuhan announced, his voice steady, though his fingers tightened imperceptibly around the chopsticks.
He looked at the glowing, translucent fruit hovering above the table. It pulsed with a rhythm that seemed to synchronize with the beating of his heart. To upgrade a spirit root was to rewrite one's destiny, to shatter the ceiling that the heavens had placed over one's destiny.
"Also, Madam Zhu you have yet to test the aptitude of your spirit root. After the meal, you shall proceed to the testing hall."
Madam Zhu, seated to his right, lowered her gaze, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her flushed cheeks. The memory of the courtyard—the shame, the pain, the overwhelming heat of the Yin poisoning—still burned in her blood. But beneath the shame, a cold, calculating fire had been lit. She had seen the way the world worked today. Strength was the only currency that mattered.
"This concubine understands," she murmured, her voice soft but steady. She picked up her cup, the movement graceful, hiding the tremor in her fingers.
Other wives glanced at Madam Zhu. Especially Elder Wang Yun's wife—Biyue. She was burning with jealousy. Every other woman has awakened a powerful spirit root while, she was a fifth-grade water spirit root.
Previously she was the only cultivator having a higher status as a woman within the family. But now, she was not the only one.
"Tianmo... Around four thousand people want to be servants of the Wang family. I have held out on the selection. I don't know what to do..." Elder Bo said.
Wang Xuhan chewed slowly, the meat of the Spirit-Winged Chicken tender and bursting with energy, yet it tasted like ash in his mouth. Four thousand. The number hung in the air like a storm cloud, heavy and suffocating.
He swallowed, washing down the meat with a sip of spiritual wine, buying himself a moment of composure.
Tianmo however remained calm, his turning turning sharp. "Hmm... Four thousand, most of them are here by greed, some may be spies sent by another faction. Even powerful forces like Azure Cloud Sect, Blood Mist Sect would certainly try to plant their eyes within our family, the elder did the correct choice by holding the selection."
He took a sip of the spiritual wine, the liquid amber and glowing, savoring the taste before continuing. "Only accept the mortals. Also be wary of women... It's very likely for others to send beautiful women to seduce the Men of the Wang family."
His eyes swept past everyone—brothers, elders even his own father.
"Without my permission, one isn't allowed to engage with a woman. If one is found to be seduced by beauty... It shall be considered family rebellion, with punishment being death. Of course, I am not a bad guy... As long as women are pure by heart and aren't associated with other forces, you may accept them as wives and concubines."
The hall fell into a silence so profound it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. Wang Xuhan's hand froze halfway to his mouth, a piece of spirit-meat dangling from his chopsticks. Death? For... lust? He looked at his son, trying to find a trace of jest in those cold, dark eyes, but found only a glacier. The logic was brutal, efficient, and terrifyingly absolute.
"OUTRAGEOUS!!!" The shout didn't come from an elder, nor from a patriarch. It came from the Third Brother, Wang Lei. He was a burly man, twenty years of age, his face flushed a dark, mottled purple. He slammed his hands onto the table, the impact rattling the jade bowls and sending spiritual wine sloshing over the rims.
"Brother Tianmo! You speak of death as if it were a game!" Wang Lei roared, his chest heaving. "We are men of the Wang Family! We have blood burning in our veins, not ice! To forbid us from touching women... to threaten us with death for seeking a little warmth... Are you trying to turn us into eunuchs? Is this your way? To sever our manhood before we even draw a sword?"
He stood up, his chair scraping harshly against the stone floor. Around him, a few other brothers nodded in agreement, their eyes burning with a mixture of adolescent hormones and bruised pride. They had just tasted power; they were young, strong, and now possessed of spirit roots. They felt invincible. To be leashed so tightly was an insult they couldn't swallow.
Wang Xuhan's face darkened. He opened his mouth to reprimand his son for being too harsh, to mediate between the new authority and the old blood, but before he could speak, a sound cut through the air like a whip crack.
Clap.
It was a slow, deliberate clap. Tianmo didn't stand nor did he shout like a madman unable to contain his emotions. He merely sat there, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"Bravo, Third Brother," Tianmo said, his voice smooth, like silk sliding over a blade. "Your passion is... commendable. Truly. It reminds me of a dog I once saw, barking at the moon because it couldn't reach the bone in the sky."
The temperature in the hall plummeted.
"You speak of blood and manhood," Tianmo continued, taking a slow sip of his wine. "But what is manhood to a corpse? You think with your lower head, don't you feel like growing up?!" He looked at his Third brother.
"I never said you can't have women... I said you need to get my permission. If you are a real man, you should have enough control over your manhood."
"Hmph! In what capacity do you dare make that decision?! It's MY BODY, MY LIFE, MY DESIRE! Who are you to forbid me?!" Wang Lei's face was twisted in a mask of indignation, his neck muscles bulging as he spat the words out.
"FATHER! Teach some sense—" Before he could finish his sentence his figure turned, he fell to the ground with a thud, a sharp hole appearing in his throat.
Blood sprayed across the table, splattering onto the pristine white jade bowls and the spiritual fruits. It was a violent, crimson arc that painted the silence of the hall in the color of mortality.
Wang Lei's eyes bulged, his hands flying to his neck as if to plug the leak of his life force. He made a wet, gurgling sound, his mouth opening and closing like a fish on dry land. The rage that had sustained him seconds ago evaporated, replaced by a dull, animalistic confusion. He can feel his lifeforce diminishing.
Wang Xuhan was horrified... Tianmo... Tianmo killed Lei.
The silence that followed was not empty; it was heavy, suffocating, filled with the metallic scent of blood that sprayed across the table.
Wang Lei's body twitched once, twice, then lay still, his wide eyes staring at the ceiling, capturing the final image of the world he was leaving—a world where his pride had cost him his life.
"Am I clear?! If you wish to state your dissatisfaction raise your hand, stand up, and speak politely. You don't need to shout... Remember some things need to be done to maintain order. If you think life is unfair and this is suppression, you may leave the family... With First-grade Spirit root you will be accepted as an inner disciple, however, if you wish to stay within the family, follow family rules." His tone was cold devoid of emotion.
He didn't even look at the corpse. He just continued to the wine as if he had merely killed a buzzing mosquito.
Brother looked at each other gulping hard, their bodies trembling. No one dared to raise their voice. The metallic scent of blood hung heavy in the air: the brutal reminder of the fragility of life.
Wang Xuhan stared at his third son's cooling corpse, his heart hammering against his chest. He had seen death before, countless times in the brutal world of cultivation, but this was different. This was not an enemy cut down on a battlefield, nor a rival eliminated in a duel. This was his own blood, slaughtered over a dinner table for a moment of indiscipline.
"The same thing applies to women. Anyone found having illicit relationships without my permission shall be executed by beheading, regardless of age or gender. You are not even allowed to have a personal servant... You are given cultivation resources and a place to cultivate, you should focus on cultivation... Did I make myself clear!?"
No one dared to speak, let alone breathe. The silence stretched, taut and trembling, until it was broken by the wet, ragged gasps of the servants who had rushed in to clean the mess. They moved like ghosts, their faces pale as they mopped up the blood of the Third Young Master, scrubbing the floor until the jade gleamed again, erasing the physical evidence of Wang Lei's existence as if he had never been there.
Madam Feng had tears coming down her face, it was her son who died however, she was too weak to voice her thoughts. She didn't dare to look at Tianmo. She was afraid that if she made eye contact, she would be next.
She just lowered her head, her shoulders trembling silently. The grief was there, a cold stone in her gut, but the fear was a fire that burned hotter, consuming her ability to mourn. She was a mother who had just watched her son executed, yet she sat still, paralyzed by the terror of the executioner.
Wang Xuhan looked at his wife, his heart aching with a dull, heavy pain. He wanted to comfort her, to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything would be alright, but he couldn't. He was the Patriarch, and he had to maintain the facade of strength.
He looked at Tianmo, his son, the monster he had created.
"Son... Lei was impulsive, but death... was it truly necessary?" Wang Xuhan asked, his voice low, barely audible above the clatter of the servants cleaning the blood.
"Father, a crack in the dam eventually floods the village," Tianmo said, his voice calm, like the stillness of a lake before a storm. "Lei was the crack. If I had spared him, others would have seen leniency where there should have been law. They would have tested my boundaries, chipping away at the foundation of the family until the entire structure collapsed. I did not kill a brother; I erased a danger... It's a time for our family to grow, we can't afford to have an unruly dog."
He took a bite of the spirit-meat, chewing slowly, his expression unreadable. "Mother Feng," he said, his voice cutting through the heavy room. "Do not let your grief cloud your judgment. Lei brought this upon himself. If you cannot see the logic in his death, then you are no better than he was... You have one more son, think of him as well. For the next three months, I shall double his cultivation resources."
The hall remained submerged in a suffocating silence, the only sound being the rhythmic chewing of Tianmo. To the family, the crunch of roasted spirit meat sounded like the grinding of bones.
Madam Feng trembled violently, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of the table. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat, forcing the words past her lips. "This... this concubine understands. I thank Young Master for his... generosity."
Her voice was brittle, like thin ice cracking underfoot. She had just sold her grief for a promise of resources, and the transaction left her feeling hollowed out, a husk of a woman.
Just then,
"Brother... What about me?! I have awakened the Earth-grade Sword spirit root, the family breathing technique doesn't suit me."
The one who spoke was his elder sister, at the age of 31 with a curvy body and beautiful face. Wang Yufei. She was the only one who possessed a sword spirit root within the Wang family... She had taken spirit fruits just 2 hours ago.
"Indeed, the breathing manual doesn't suit you... With sword spirit root, you need to cultivate the way of the sword... Come visit me tomorrow at dawn, I shall give you a suitable technique," Tianmo said, his voice devoid of the warmth one might expect when addressing a sister. To him, she was not a sibling bound by blood and sibling-affection.
Wang Yufei's eyes lit up, a flicker of genuine excitement piercing the gloom of the dinner table. She nodded eagerly, her posture straightening. "Yes, Younger Brother. I shall be there."
Tianmo nodded. He doesn't think brothers or elders would try to rebel, but he can't be too sure. He has to make sure everyone knows their place. Even if they rebel... What exactly would they get?! Nothing.
"Tianmo... Help Madam Zhu measure the spirit root," Father Xuhan said, his voice calm and authoritative. He had composed himself, putting on the mask of the Patriarch once more. "The rest of the family, return to your quarters. There will be no further discussion of what happened here tonight."
The family nodded, their heads bowed, and silently left the hall, leaving behind the cooling corpse of Wang Lei and the chilling reality that the Wang Family was no longer the same.
***
Madam Zhu's hands were trembling, her face pale. She was both excited and fearful. What a domineering man. Maybe if she can seduce him, she can even increase the cultivation resources for herself and her children.