Chapter 7: Even at the Cost of Everything, I Must Ensure My Benefactor’s Safety

The Ye family ancestral mountain!

Zhu Wu of the Zhao family stood upon the Ye family’s ancestral mound, shouting to the hundred subordinates behind him: "The Patriarch has ordered: dig up the Ye family’s ancestral graves, pry open the coffins of the Ye people. Discard their bones! Destroy their tombstones! Whoever finds the Yin-Yang Cauldron shall be heavily rewarded!"

With those words, Zhu Wu gave the command: "Do it!"

Just as the hundred men were about to act in unison, a voice, earth-shattering in its intensity, rang out: "Who dares?"

Zhu Wu and his men turned, faces filled with astonishment, to see Ye Fan, a master of the Martial God Realm, standing before them.

Upon recognizing the man, Zhu Wu’s expression turned to one of disdain. "I wondered what great figure had arrived; it’s just you, Ye Fan, that good-for-nothing of the Ye family?"

*Slap!*

Before Zhu Wu could react, Ye Fan lunged forward and struck him across the face, sending him reeling with a mouthful of blood.

"What? You death-seeking wretch, you dare strike me? Do you think you are still the young master of the Ye family, the one who held power over all of Yunzhou? You are nothing now!" Zhu Wu clutched his swollen face, his voice trembling with fury.

*Boom!*

Before Zhu Wu could recover, Ye Fan kicked him to the ground and declared, "Even if I am nothing, I can still kill you."

Lying on the ground, Zhu Wu roared in a rage at his men: "Are you all dead? Didn't you see him hit me? Attack him! Kill him!"

The hundred men surged forward toward Ye Fan. As Ye Fan looked at the shovels in their hands, visions of them desecrating the graves flashed before his eyes.

Ye Fan was enraged. It was a wrath that could destroy the heavens; a fury that could annihilate the world. The ancestors of the Ye family lay in the yellow earth, at peace with the world, yet these men sought to dig up their graves, break their coffins, and destroy their very remains.

Such arrogance, such tyranny. At that moment, the blood-red gaze emanating from Ye Fan’s eyes promised nothing but death and a river of blood.

*Boom!*

Ye Fan began his massacre. He charged into the crowd of a hundred, moving through them as if they were ghosts, killing with every step. In less than ten minutes, the entire group lay dead. The ground was stained with blood, and corpses were strewn everywhere.

Zhu Wu, who had been so insufferably arrogant moments ago, turned ashen and trembled uncontrollably. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the once frail Ye Fan could now take on a hundred men alone, leaving them without any chance to defend themselves, let alone fight back.

Trembling as Ye Fan approached, he stuttered, "Ye Fan, I am a man of the Yunzhou Zhao family. If you dare touch me, the Zhao Patriarch will not let you go."

*Boom!*

Before Zhu Wu could react, another slap sent him spraying blood. Ye Fan asked coldly, "Is the Zhao Patriarch you speak of this man?"

With a thud, Ye Fan tossed the severed head of Zhao Dao onto the ground before Zhu Wu. Already pale with terror, Zhu Wu collapsed in despair upon seeing the blood-soaked head.

He knelt before Ye Fan, begging desperately, "Spare me, Ye Fan! I only came to dig the Ye family graves under orders. I know I was wrong, please give me a chance! By the way, I know why Zhao Dao wanted to dig them up—it was Lin Huan, the patriarch of the Yunzhou Lin family. He claimed the Ye family’s ancestral Yin-Yang Cauldron was hidden there!"

"The Lin family? Lin Huan?" Ye Fan’s voice went cold as memories flooded back. When the Lin family had been in a car accident, he had risked his life to save them. He had even been left in a vegetative state because of the injuries sustained in that rescue. Before he became comatose, he had even revealed to the Lin family that he was the descendant of the Yunzhou Ye military clan!

Instead of repaying the debt of saving their entire family, they had returned kindness with cruelty. First, their daughter, Lin Xiaoqing, had betrayed him to his face, and now Lin Huan had secretly plotted to have the Zhao family desecrate his ancestors' graves!

"Lin family, I will never share the same sky as you!" Ye Fan’s eyes turned bloodshot, his voice vibrating with such power that it felt as if the very earth of Yunzhou was shaking.

Zhu Wu, still kneeling, begged for his life, but Ye Fan’s resolve was set. With a swift, forceful stomp, he crushed Zhu Wu’s neck. The man collapsed, dead on the spot.

Ye Fan took the heads of Zhu Wu and Zhao Dao to the gravesite, offering them as sacrifices before kneeling in the dirt. He kowtowed three times to his ancestors, then moved to the graves of his parents and siblings.

Looking at the ninety-nine fresh graves, his mind filled with memories of the laughter and harmony his home once knew. He had imagined many ways to reunite with his family, but never this. He had not realized that their last farewell had been for eternity.

A man of seven feet, one who had shed blood but never tears in the face of death, felt his eyes grow wet. His voice choked with grief, he whispered, "Father, Mother, brothers and sisters, kin of the Ye family—Ye Fan has returned. I am sorry. Rest assured, I will not let you die in vain, nor will I leave your deaths a mystery. I will uncover the truth, and whoever slaughtered you, no matter who they are, I will make them pay in blood!"

After kowtowing once more, Ye Fan rose and returned to Yunzhou City. He headed straight for the Su family estate. He knew that the Su family had forced Su Xue to marry the Zhao family's simple-minded son not only because she had built graves for the Ye family, but also to climb the social ladder through the Zhao family's power. Now that Su Xue had returned after fleeing the wedding, the Su family would surely not let her off easily.

At the Su family estate, Su Xue was surrounded by her father, Su Wei, and the rest of the clan.

"Su Xue, you have some nerve!" Su Wei roared, his face stern. "Today was your wedding day with the Zhao family's third son, and you dared to escape? Someone, tie this unfilial descendant up and send her back!"

Before anyone could move, a voice like thunder echoed from the gate: "Let's see who dares to touch her!"

It was Ye Fan, having arrived just in time. To him, Su Xue was a benefactor who had honored his family with graves. Anyone who dared touch her, even if it were the King of Heaven himself, would have to answer to him. He would protect her at all costs.