Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword

"Father, what exactly happened to your injury?" Zhou Heng suppressed the anger in his heart and asked in a calm tone, but the slight trembling of his voice still betrayed his emotions, which were infuriated to the extreme.

Zhou Dinghai pondered for a moment and thought to himself that his son was naturally intelligent and would guess part of it even if he didn't say it, so he might as well tell him directly, and said, "Some days ago, I heard that a divine medicine had appeared. I went to try my luck and fought with someone for a few moves. I was just outskilled, that's all!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Heng understood that his father had once again risked his life to find "curative" spiritual medicine for him, only to be severely injured by someone in the process!

Of course, this world recognized the strongest, and if one's fists couldn't win against others, one could only blame their lack of skill! Zhou Heng could accept this, but he could not tolerate his father being seriously injured for his sake!

His father was his only relative, yet he was injured because of him, and Zhou Heng was full of rage. It was because of his own "incompetence" in the past that his father had to run around and take risks for him!

Zhou Heng was blaming himself; if not for his uselessness, how would his father have been injured?

An evil fire seemed to burn in his heart, almost wanting to engulf the world!

No matter who that person was, no matter how terrifying their background was, they were doomed!

Zhou Heng swore in his heart, but forced a small smile on his face and said, "Dad, I have good news for you, I can cultivate now!"

"What, really?" Zhou Dinghai's somewhat lifeless eyes suddenly flashed with sharp light. He looked carefully at Zhou Heng and immediately felt the powerful aura emanating from his body. Although it was not as strong as his heyday, it had definitely entered the Bone Refinement Realm!

His son had gone from being unable to cultivate to reaching the Bone Refinement Realm in just over four months?

"Haha, hahahaha!" Zhou Dinghai burst into laughter, filled with joy, but the laughter aggravated his wound. He immediately started coughing, and his face, which had gained some rosiness from the excitement, turned pale again in an instant.

But still, a smile lingered on his face as he reached out and patted Zhou Heng's shoulder, saying, "Good boy, good boy, Dad knew you could do it! Definitely could!"

Zhou Heng nodded vigorously, holding his father's hand, momentarily choked up with emotions.

"Dad, who was it that injured you?" Zhou Heng finally couldn't hold back and asked.

Zhou Dinghai remained silent, and after a while said, "Heng'er, the world out there is a hundred times, a thousand times bigger than you can imagine. What you need to do now is focus on cultivating and not get distracted by other things!"

"Dad, you suffered serious injuries for my sake, and I don't even know the name of the culprit, how can I possibly focus on cultivating?" Zhou Heng said agitatedly.

Zhou Dinghai shook his head and replied, "It's not exactly an enemy. Heavenly and earthly treasures have no master, anyone can fight for them. Dad has already said, it was simply a matter of being outskilled, outskilled is all!"

"Dad!" Zhou Heng looked resolutely at Zhou Dinghai, his gaze filled with stubbornness.

This child, like him, even more like his mother!

Zhou Dinghai sighed and said, "Alright, but right now, you're too weak. Unless you can walk the path to Heaven, Dad won't let you go to your death!"

Zhou Heng's body trembled. The one who injured his father was an expert at the Spirit Gathering Realm level?

So what!

Zhou Heng clenched his fists. Not avenging his father's injury, he would be failing as a son!

Indeed, he was no match for a Spirit Gathering Realm expert right now, but there would come a day when he would reach the Spirit Gathering Realm, and with the vast expanse of his Dantian space, he would be at least twice as strong as an average Spirit Gathering Realm expert!

Combined with the Sky-soaring Nine Forms, he was confident he could slay any Spirit Gathering Realm expert!

"Heng'er, how did your illness suddenly get better?" Zhou Dinghai, not wanting his son to dwell on his injuries, quickly changed the subject.

Zhou Heng was taken aback and hesitated a bit before saying, "I found a wild fruit in Pingtian Mountain. After eating it, I felt hot all over. I passed out for two days and then suddenly was able to cultivate, and at a rapid pace!"

The matter of the black Broken Sword was too fantastical, and of great significance. It was not that Zhou Heng didn't trust his father, but the secret itself was a tremendous burden that he alone could bear!

Zhou Dinghai was not skeptical about this at all. The very reason he had been running around was to find a spiritual medicine that would cure Zhou Heng's "stubborn illness." As a father, all he felt now was immense joy and pride!

—Who would dare call his son a good-for-nothing? Who had seen a good-for-nothing who went from the initial period of Refining Body First Layer to the Body Refinement Seventh Layer in just four months?

A Bone Refinement Realm practitioner under eighteen years old, how many could the Zhou Family bring out now?

Although it still couldn't compare to his monstrous talent of reaching the Bone Refinement Realm at twelve, judging by the time Zhou Heng had spent on cultivation, he was far behind!

Having such a son, what more could he ask for?

"Dad, I happened into a Jue Valley by chance and obtained a cultivation technique, which is more than twice as fast as the Fierce Sun Jue!" Zhou Heng excitedly took out the Moonshadow Heart Jue. In front of his father, he could show his emotions without any reservations.

"What!" Zhou Dinghai's face changed as he took the slip of paper with a trembling hand and was so excited that he couldn't even hold it properly, dropping it onto the quilt.

Zhou Heng's face changed too, realizing that his father's injuries were far worse than he had estimated.

He hurriedly opened the pages, allowing Zhou Dinghai to just glance over them, and once Zhou Dinghai slightly nodded, he turned the page. The four-thousand-character Cultivation Technique was obscure and difficult to understand, but Zhou Dinghai was a genius of his generation. With only brief pauses, he could grasp the essence and quickly skimmed through the entire technique.

"Heng'er, this Cultivation Technique is extraordinary!" After pondering for a moment with closed eyes, Zhou Dinghai revealed an extremely solemn expression, "Moreover, the implications are too great. Just a slight leak of information could lead to a disaster that threatens our lives! Burn it immediately after I've memorized it. You cultivate it yourself and tell no one, nor teach it to anyone!"

Indeed, experience comes with age. Zhou Dinghai made the most accurate judgment in an instant.

Zhou Heng nodded. He had indeed thought of burning the "Moonshadow Heart Jue", but that would have to wait until after Zhou Dinghai had learned it.

"Father, have you memorized it all?" Zhou Heng asked.

"More or less, as long as you remember it, that's enough. I can ask you if I need to!" Zhou Dinghai revealed a slight smile, obviously delighted to have obtained such a powerful technique.

Zhou Heng nodded, not daring to waste time. He immediately went to the kitchen to start a fire and burned the "Moonshadow Heart Jue". Although the paper was not supposed to decay for a hundred years, it couldn't withstand high heat and quickly turned into a pile of ashes.

With a creak, the door to the other courtyard was pushed open at this moment. A servant came in with a tray, shouting as he walked, "Hey, hey, hey, are you dead? If not, give a shout, it's mealtime!"

Hearing this, Zhou Heng abruptly jumped up!

"Eh?" The servant walked in and showed surprise upon seeing Zhou Heng, clearly not expecting his sudden return, but he didn't take it to heart. He just heavily placed the tray on the table, saying, "Your timing is perfect. No need for me to feed that waste anymore. Heh, originally there was only a useless son; now the old man himself has become a waste too. Like father, like son!"

This servant was a man in his thirties, whom Zhou Heng recognized as a man from Zhou Jianming's side, named Zhao Si. He had started as Zhou Jianming's servant and now had become the steward of the main family, holding a significant position among the servants.

But no matter his position, he was still a servant, yet he dared to brazenly disrespect his betters. Was it out of sheer audacity or something else...?

Zhou Heng lifted the lid off the tray on the table, and his face darkened even more when his gaze swept over the contents.

The so-called meal was actually rotten rice and moldy vegetables. Was this supposed to be human food?

What gave Zhao Si the right to treat his own father this way? In his anger, Zhou Heng was even more worried—just how severe were his father's injuries for a mere servant to dare to be so disrespectful?

"Ha ha, didn't your old man tell you?" Since Zhao Si was a man from Zhou Jianming's side, he naturally saw Zhou Dinghai and his son as thorns in his eye, "Your old man's Cultivation Level has been destroyed; he's no longer an Expert of the Blood Refinement Realm, just a damn waste!"

"You are the waste, your old man is the invalid. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Zhao Si burst into wild laughter, without an ounce of concern—Zhou Jianming had hated Zhou Dinghai for so many years, and now that he had the chance, he would surely torment the father and son duo to death. He had no need to fear anything.

Killing intent surged uncontrollably across Zhou Heng's face. Not only had his father lost his Cultivation Level, but he had also sustained serious injuries. Previously, in his emotional state, Zhou Heng hadn't noticed, but now he realized that there was no scent of medicine in the room!

And what Zhao Si had brought was rotten food fit for pigs, with no medicinal soups, what did this mean?

The Zhou Family had given up on Zhou Dinghai, leaving him to his fate!

By losing his Cultivation Level, had he become worthless?

No, the family was pragmatic but not to this cruel extent! This must be Zhou Xianming, the Great Elder, pulling the strings from behind; only with his staunch support could the family make such a ruthless decision!

In these past few days, just how much humiliation had his father endured! If he had returned a few days later, with his father's lost Cultivation Level, no medicinal treatment, and eating such food, how much longer could he have held on?

To insult my father and even wish to kill him!

Zhou Heng's heart filled with rage, his murderous intent soaring to the skies!

He reached out his hand towards Zhao Si's neck.

"Dare to—ugh!" Zhao Si didn't take Zhou Heng seriously at all and was about to knock him down with a casual punch, but before he could throw his punch, Zhou Heng had already grabbed his neck firmly, draining his strength; the thrown punch fell weakly.

Crack, crack, crack—Zhou Heng's grip tightened, and the sounds of bones compressing emanated from Zhao Si's throat. His face turned purplish-red and began to blacken. Struggling feebly, his eyes flickered with fear and deep bewilderment.

—How could Zhou Heng possess such formidable strength that he, at the peak of the Third Layer of Body Refinement, didn't have the slightest chance to fight back!

This kid, wasn't he an incapable cultivator?

"Those who insult my father, die!" Zhou Heng declared coldly, snapped his right hand, and with a crisp sound, Zhao Si kicked out, his head drooped, dead.