Chapter 1583 457: Brother-in-law, Brother-in-law—(6k)_3

Large drops of tears splattered onto the ground. "Are you stupid or what..."

Zhou Qing's eyes also turned red.

He squatted down, his broad palm gently resting on Shen Yunzhou's trembling shoulder.

The two of them stayed silent like that, only Shen Yunzhou's suppressed sobs echoing in the cave.

After a long time, Shen Yunzhou's crying finally began to subside.

Seeing his emotions had stabilized a lot, Zhou Qing finally asked the question that had been haunting his heart.

"Since Bai Fengyin used the bloodline tracing technique that day and could track all the way over, how could she possibly let you go? What exactly happened that day?"

Shen Yunzhou wiped his swollen, reddened eyes with his sleeve. His hands tightened unconsciously, joints cracking with sharp "kaka" sounds.

He calmed himself for a moment before slowly speaking: "That day the Liu Family people used some kind of Array to seal the space around the Shen Family, didn't they? Even someone in the Spirit Severing Realm couldn't tear space and escape."

"You and Sis told me to take the direct-line clansmen and hide in the Ancestral Land forbidden zone first..."

Zhou Qing nodded. He remembered very clearly that the ones Shen Yunzhou had hurriedly taken away back then were the twin sons of the Shen Family's Third Branch main wife, Liu Rushuang—Shen Heng and Shen Li.

The two weren't just outstanding among the younger generation of the Shen Family; they were also Shen Yunzhou's cousins.

And their mother had already been suppressed and killed by his father-in-law Shen Juefeng; even the Shen Family's Five-Color Restriction had been completely destroyed by that bitch's final backhand.

That allowed the Liu Family's old ancestor Liu Xuancang to step in with ease.

"A lot of us hid in the forbidden zone." Shen Yunzhou's voice sank, tinged with self-blame.

"But the sounds of slaughter outside kept getting closer, and the aftershocks of Spiritual Power clashes were making even the forbidden zone shake."

"I was still one of the younger generation of the Shen Family, the second person to advance to the Spirit Severing Realm besides my sister. If I just hid there, it really didn't sit right with me."

He bit down hard, a flash of resolve crossing his eyes. "So I snuck out. And what I saw was..."

Shen Yunzhou's voice suddenly choked. "I saw Dad tear open a space rift and shove you and Sis out..."

Hearing this, Zhou Qing felt as though his chest had been smashed by a heavy hammer.

The scene from that day surfaced in his mind despite himself.

He had only interacted with that father-in-law once, hadn't even clearly seen his face.

Yet that day, at the brink of life and death, the man had unhesitatingly left the hope of survival to him and Han Yi.

He owed his father-in-law a life!

"I..." Shen Yunzhou's voice cut off Zhou Qing's thoughts. "I originally wanted to rush up and help."

"But the ones killing their way over were all Late Stage, even Great Perfection experts of the Spirit Severing Realm, and there were also several in the Supreme Realm anchoring the formation. If I recklessly made a move, I'd only become Dad's burden..."

Shen Yunzhou's knuckles turned white from gripping so hard. "So I decided to find a way to sabotage the outer grand Array first, to create a chance to escape for the clansmen."

"Unexpectedly, a Yan Family Spirit Severing Realm expert discovered me and immediately came at me to kill. At the critical moment, fortunately one of our Shen Family Elders broke away from the battle and came to my aid."

Zhou Qing nodded slightly.

He remembered it was first the Liu Family's old ancestor Liu Xuancang who killed his way in, followed by the Yan Family's Fifth Ancestor, Seven Ancestors, and Ninth Ancestor, leading twelve Spirit Severing Realm experts down upon them.

At that time, aside from Shen Yunzhou and Han Yi, the Shen Family only had seven Spirit Severing Realm experts remaining in the clan—those were precisely the seven Dao friends who had helped him perfect his Realm back then.

The Third Branch head Shen Lieyang led those seven to resist and fight, and even under such overwhelming odds, they still managed to spare one person to rescue Shen Yunzhou. That kind of loyalty was truly moving.

Shen Yunzhou's eyes suddenly turned blood-red. "After that... I watched Third Uncle get besieged by the Yan Family's Spirit Severing Realm experts, Big Uncle be jointly slain by the Yan Family's Seven Ancestors and Ninth Ancestor, Grandfather severely wounded and forced to flee, and in the end it was Father..."

By this point his voice had completely choked; he could hardly speak.

Cold light burst from Zhou Qing's eyes.

Back then, when he and Han Yi had hurriedly tried to patch up the Five-Color Array, the Celestial Phoenix Palace's Vice Palace Master Bai Fengyin suddenly launched a sneak attack. It was the Shen Family's old ancestor Shen Canghai who repelled her and saved their lives.

Shen Yunzhou wiped away the blood-tinged tears at the corner of his eyes. "At that time the entire Shen Family was shrouded in the resentment of Spirit Severing Realm experts falling; I was also grievously injured by the Yan Family's Spirit Severing Realm experts."

"Watching my closest kin fall one after another, I completely snapped. I only wanted to rush up and self-detonate, to drag a few down with me."

Zhou Qing could fully understand that kind of despair—especially after discovering that the father he had misunderstood for so many years had in fact always been secretly protecting him and his sister.

Before he even had time to apologize, his dearest kin fell to Bai Fengyin's hand. That kind of pain was tearing his heart to shreds.

"Right at that moment..." Shen Yunzhou's voice turned hoarse, "Da Smart suddenly charged over and took advantage of the chaos to swallow me into its belly. When I woke up again... the Shen Family had already been annihilated for more than half a month."

After listening to Shen Yunzhou's account, Zhou Qing finally pieced together the entire sequence of events.

He had seen that stone monster called Da Smart; it must have been its unique special ability that cut off Bai Fengyin's bloodline tracing technique and allowed Shen Yunzhou to narrowly escape.

"I've heard that over these years, the Liu Family's mines in various places have been frequently attacked. Was that your doing?" Zhou Qing suddenly remembered something and asked with his gaze slightly narrowing.

Shen Yunzhou nodded at first, then shook his head. "Part of it was indeed my work, but many of them weren't done by me."

"I imagine they're other surviving Shen Family clansmen carrying out revenge in secret."

Indeed, as a top Noble Family of the Fifth Tail, the Shen Family's influence was spread throughout the Inner Domain, Central Domain, and Outer Domain, with branches everywhere.

Even though their core strength had been wiped out, there were still quite a few loyal and righteous people who swore to exact blood vengeance for their clan.

"So how many people does the Shen Family still have left now?" Zhou Qing asked in a low voice, his eyes heavy.

Shen Yunzhou let out a long sigh, his expression bleak. "I don't know the exact number either."

"But these revenge attacks are ultimately just a drop in the ocean. After all, almost all of the clan's Spirit Severing Realm experts died in that battle."