The closet reeked of dust and old linen as Su Chen knelt beside the bound Ma Hu. The enforcer's eyes blazed with hatred, but his body trembled-fear overriding anger as he stared at the golden glow still lingering in Su Chen's irises. Since absorbing Ma Long's meridians, Su Chen's control over the Reverse God Meridian had deepened; he could now tap into the fragmented memories of those he devoured, but extracting coherent truth required more than just passive absorption.
He pressed his palm to Ma Hu's forehead, golden spiritual energy swirling between them. "Tell me about my father," he said, his voice low and sharp. "What did Su Kun do to him?"
Ma Hu gritted his teeth, spitting against the gag. But the Reverse God Meridian's power wasn't just destructive-it could pry open minds. Su Chen focused, sifting through the enforcer's memories like pages in a book: flashes of Su Kun's private study, a vial of black liquid, his father collapsing during a clan meeting, the elders' silent complicity. The truth hit Su Chen like a hammer.
It wasn't an accident. It was poison-Soulfreeze Venom, a rare toxin that shattered meridians and trapped the victim in a coma, their consciousness locked in darkness. Su Kun had slipped it into his father's tea three years ago, then seized power while the clan reeled. The elders had known-some feared Su Kun's strength, others were bribed with promises of power. And Liu Shan, the Twin Blades… they'd all been part of it.
Su Chen's golden energy flared, his hands tightening around Ma Hu's shoulders. The enforcer screamed against the gag as the truth poured out: Su Kun planned to keep his father comatose forever, to drain his remaining spiritual energy once he'd consolidated control. The jade pendant-his father's legacy-was the only thing keeping the venom from spreading further, its latent power suppressing the toxin.
"I'll kill him," Su Chen whispered, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. Ma Hu's eyes widened, and for a moment, he saw not a cultivator, but a monster-one driven by vengeance so fierce it burned like the Reverse God Meridian itself.
Su Chen knocked Ma Hu unconscious with a single blow. He couldn't kill him-not yet. Ma Hu knew more about Su Kun's defenses, about the antidote that might wake his father. He dragged the enforcer to a hidden cellar beneath his quarters, a forgotten space his father had shown him as a child. Binding him to a stone pillar, he left a trace of his spiritual energy to alert him if anyone approached.
By the time he climbed back up, the courtyard was buzzing with activity-Su Kun's men searching for the Twin Blades, their voices sharp with urgency. Su Chen slipped into the shadows, his inhuman speed carrying him past patrols. He needed to grow stronger-strong enough to face Su Kun, strong enough to cure his father. And there was only one place to do it quickly: the Abandoned Training Grounds, a forbidden section of the clan mountains where spiritual energy was dense, but monsters roamed freely.
As he vanished into the forest, Su Chen clutched the jade pendant. It warmed against his chest, as if echoing his resolve. The truth was a knife-but it was also fuel. Su Kun had taken everything from him. Now, he would take it all back.