The Shi Family is No More - I

The four members of the temple got divided into three groups. The Sixth Elder approached the Shadow Guards from the left, and another elder engaged from the right while the last one stayed closer to young mistress Lee providing protection.

The Shi family's side couldn't do anything other than defending. Even though the members of the temple aimed to harm them, they couldn't fight back with the same intention. If somehow they managed to achieve that their family will be in more trouble than they were already in.

Just as the two elders of the temple got closer all the nineteen Shadow Guards gripped their swords with both hands tightly and held them vertically in front of them. Their leader Shi Wei held his dual blue-coloured swords in a cross in the middle with patriarch Shi Gang.

"Buzz…" Suddenly all the nineteen swords shivered a thin dark energy dome covered the encirclement. The Shadow Guards used one of their trump cards, the Impenetrable Shadow.

As the name inferred it was a defensive dome manifested out of the dark elements. It was a high-grade mortal class sword technique. Quite a valuable technique to be owned by a planetary-level power. Rumors said a high-ranking member of the White Overload Temple gifted it to the founders of the Shi family, centuries ago. Funny how they now using it to defend against the same people who gifted it to their family.

But as a high-grade technique, it was immensely powerful. It was this technique that helped the Shadow Guards to earn the title of the unstoppable and feared force they were right now. Whoever gifted this technique favored the Shi family a lot.

The technique could not only for defense but also for offense. Its flexibility to switch between defensive and offensive styles was what made it so powerful.

While in defensive mode all the members utilizing the dome could equally distribute the burden among themselves. When switched to the offensive style only one member was allowed to move freely and others could defend the moving member. The only limit was the capability of the attacker. No matter how good the technique was it could not increase the attacking capabilities of the users.

Two elders immediately stopped their aggression and warily eyeballed the dome. They looked at each other and nodded in a nonverbal agreement. Suddenly the sixth elder released dark red energy at the dome.

"Wozz…" The energy attack was engulfed by the dome while creating ripples all over the surface. All nineteen swords buzzed again.

"You people have some tricks up your sleeve. But it's nothing much!" Said the young mistress of the Lee family. As she was about to give the command to the elders, the domineering patriarch of the Shi family started pleading.

"Young miss this is a misunderstanding. Please give me a chance to explain myself."

"Why should I give you a chance." Young mistress Lee scoffed.

"We've been loyal to the temple for so long please."

That made all three elders turn their heads at their mistress. As members of the temple, they knew how well the Shi family served the temple for the past three centuries. She seemed to contemplate on it a while, as Shi Gang gave her a desperate look.

To others, it might appear as if she was considering letting them off, but the three elders knew better. She was enjoying, enjoying the misery and desperation of her victims.

"Hmm… I'll give you one chance, explain how you people found the tomb."

"We found a parchment containing a map to the place?" Shi Gang followed immediately like an obedient dog.

"A map you say?" She narrowed her eyes. To her knowledge, there weren't any maps regarding the tomb. If so they might have heard about it after all of their investigations. Then it might be a recently made one. She extended her palm.

"Where is the map? Hand it over"

Shi Gang complied immediately, he took out a brown-coloured parchment and threw it at her. It arced through the air while passing through the dome. Shi Gang's subservient behavior didn't go unnoticed by the Shadow Guards. It was humiliating to see their leader licking other people's boots. But they had no choice, they kept their mouth shut and did what they were supposed to do.

The Elder near the mistress Lee caught the parchment and examined it for anything unusual.

"Fourth elder, how is it?" She asked after some time.

"Young mistress this seemed to be a map of the biggest forest reserve of the Green Giant… A recently drawn one. Do you know this handwriting?" He passed it over to her.

Her eyes lightened up. Just one look was enough for her to recognize them. "This is Dante's handwriting I remember his writing from the days I taught him rune language. I think it was him who drew this."

"Hmm… I also thought so. Hey Shi Gang where did you get this? Don't lie to us or the consequences would be dire." Old fourth elder warned.

"Night patrol found it on a dead body." Patriarch Shi bowed.

"Dead body…? Have you identified the body?"

"Yes, it was some local named Eric. He suddenly became rich after a trip out of the star system. So we investigated the map which led us to the tomb." His voice was agitated but his tone and body language indicated he was indeed telling the truth. His unclear ramblings further confused them.

"Who killed him? Where did he travel before this? Explain everything, if I'm satisfied I may leave your pathetic family alone." Said the young woman with an arrogant voice. Impatience was brewing inside of her.

Thereafter, they listened to Shi Gang's explanation. Even the tension in the air substituted, throughout the explanation, the two sides constantly kept on alert and observed the enemy's movements.

He detailed everything they found about Eric. First, his rise to wealth after a sudden trip to the Rock State star system. Then how he was assassinated by a suspicious person and how they were unable to find any detail regarding the assassin.

"An assassin? The body dissolved under poison. Why does your story become unbelievable by the second? You expect us to believe this fantasy?" Mistress Lee said in disdain.

Shi Gang felt so helpless. It was not his fault. Even he felt his words similar to a well-elaborated lie. But he cannot possibly give up. His whole family's survival depended on him.

So he cautiously added. "Young mistress Lee, I could swear on my honor. This is a misunderstanding. We didn't know this tomb was belonging to your ancestors. We only sold a few pills in the past few days. We can give all of them to you even money. Can I please request a truce?" In the end, his domineering tone became near cracking.

"Truce? What right a peasant has to request from us? Pathetic… hump… Where are the pills?" Inquired The Fourth Elder.

"They…they're stored in the treasury."

"Hmm… looks like some unfortunate incident happened to Dante and this Eric person got to hold on to the map he prepared. But something feels a bit odd… Hmm… Anyway, we might not able to find out what happened to him. But it's fine he was just a tool to achieve our goal. It's better, one less loose end to tie." Said Fourth Elder to Young Mistress Lee.

"Yes, seems like we achieved everything we expected in this place. If we hurry, we could explore this tomb and find the object within today." Three old men nodded at her suggestion.

Shi Gang and the rest of Shadow Guards somewhat relaxed. 'Looks like this devil decided to leave us alone.' Shi gang thought. But it was only wishful thinking.

A cruel vicious grin appeared across the young woman's face. "Since everything is finished why don't we finish here elders."

"Wh…what?" Shi Gang and the rest instantly felt something was wrong. Sure enough, both the elders who initiated the attack were looking at them with wolfish grins. Shi Gang felt his legs going weak.

"Mistress Lee, please forgive us for the offense. We..we.. didn't do anything intentionally."

"Hehe… of course, you peasants don't have any courage to do anything against us intentionally. Anyway, I'm not satisfied with your answer. Moreover, what makes you think we would let witnesses go." Maliciousness was oozing from her voice. She looked at the two elders "Fifth Elder, Sixth Elder kill them. Kill them all. Leave none alive!"

"Yes, Mistress" The Sixth Elder looked to his right and addressed the fellow elder. "Fifth Elder… We use Second-Form?"

"Haha… Sixth elder is wise. Let's use Second-Form!"

With that, they went to action. Their hands moved in sync following a few hand movements. Instantaneously both of their auras skyrocketed. Members of the Shi family stared at them flabbergasted.

"Crack…crack"

The Qi pressure was too great for the mansion to bear as cracks started to form on the walls. Dust floated everywhere making the visibility imperfect.

"Damn it, increase your Qi powers…" Shi Wei commanded his team.

Shi panicked and started shouting in anger. "We agreed to show corporation why are you attacking?"

"Fool you think we come here because we want to acquire the tomb. We come to make sure it was hidden from the public. Haha… What a naïve fool." Scoffed the Fifth Elder in disdain.

Shi Gang felt he was struck by lightning. Everything started to make sense. Why did he feel these pills were somewhat special in the first place? They gave him a fleeting feeling of danger which he elected to ignore due to their dire situation. How could the temple send envoys this fast as they were ready to deploy? Why they showed this much aggression from the beginning?

The answer was the tomb. It was special. It represented something the Lee family trying to suppress. He immediately recalled one of the stories his late father had told him. The story of how the Lee family came to power in the White Overloads Temple by trampling over the generational rulers of the temple the Wang family. According to his father, the patriarch of the Wang family fled to the Green Planet and died there. For years Shis tried to find the location in hopes of finding the treasures of the Wang family patriarch but failed.

"That means this is his tomb. Wang Tian!" He muttered under his breath.

Meanwhile, the Qi pressure kept increasing.

Not only the mansion, but even the Impenetrable Shadow dome started to shiver under the onslaught of the two violent auras. All the nineteen Shadow Guards felt they were getting slowly squeezed by a tight clamp. Breathing became harder as there was a massive rock on their chests. They exerted as much energy into their swords in hopes of fortifying the formation.

It was then their leader Shi Wei realized something. It made him look lost. The two elders who were preparing for the attack were more powerful than he thought. They were bound to fight a losing battle. "Fifth level and sixth level Origin Realm… It's over…" He felt goosebumps rising. "Bother, this is not going to end well…" He whispered to Shi Gang. "We will die here for sure. These people didn't have any intention of letting us go from the start. They were just playing with us." His voice was full of regret.

"Son of Bitch, how… how… could this happen…?" Shi Gang looked lost and helpless for a moment. He stayed such for a few moments, recollecting his muddled thoughts. The pressure on the dome increased by the second. The nineteen guards were approaching their limit faster than they could think.

A reddish glow started to gather around each of the two elders. Each glow resembled an illusory roaring lion. In the next moment, the two huge lion figures started to merge and created a twin-headed roaring lion.

Shi Wei knew for a fact in the face of an attack of this scale, would push the defensive dome over its limit and break it like thin paper. Not only that the backlash will injure all the nineteen members beyond any hope of recovery. It would reduce their chances of escape. If he could not, he should make sure at least his brother and nephew could escape and live to see another day.

Not only him, but the same thoughts were swirling inside Shi Gang's mind. The escalation of the events made him realize that the future of the Shi family ceased to exist the moment they decided to explore that god-forsaken tomb. He cussed the day he came across that parchment.

Shi Gang sighed. "Sigh…" His body slowly relaxed. His fists curled up. Suddenly his eyes started to shine from desperate yet determined resolution. "This is my fault. My incompetence led to this. I will bear the responsibility."

He grabbed hold of Shi Wei's hand, and in response, he glanced at Shi Gang with a puzzled expression.

"Brother you have to escape. I'll create you a chance. Try your best to run away." Shi Gang's voice was calm as a breeze.

"No way, you are the patriarch. I'm the guard. I'm supposed to die. So I refuse." Shi Wei's tone was cold and absolute. One could understand there was no hesitation in him. He absolutely meant what he said.

But Shi Gang was not ready to back down.

"This is an order god damn it!" He barked at his brother.

He looked furious and imposing as ever. All the signs of weakness were gone. There was no longer a person who regretted his actions was there. What left was the majestic and domineering patriarch of the Shi family. At the moment of peril, he managed to find his courage and stepped up.

Shi Wei and the rest of the members felt their hearts pumping harder than ever, fueled by an unexplainable feeling of pride.

'This is our patriarch. To live or die with glory!'

Shi Wei felt his cold heart warming up. His eyes became watery.

This was his brother. The person who took care of him since the departure of their parents. After all these years he was still the same. But they were not given time to share the moment.

"Roar…" A thundering animalistic roar reverbed through the air forcefully attracting everyone's attention. The two elders had released the attack!

An extremely vivid twin-headed lion made of reddish energy pounced at the defensive dome. Shi Gang took out his sword which was already crackling with intense blue energy and stepped in front of Shi Wei.

"Get ready. Just as the dome began collapsing run away. Take Chao and run away."

"Boom…!!!" Before Shi Gang could finish his sentences the reddish energy collided with the dome. Which created massive waves over its surface. If earlier the nineteen Shadow Guards felt as if they were in a slowly tightening clamp, now they felt they were being squeezed as lemons.

"Blah…"

"Cough…"

"Hff…"

…

Almost all of them coughed blood. The combined attack of two late levels of Origin Realm cultivators was not something a bunch of Nascent level cultivators could face off, not even with an excellent defensive formation. The Qi power purity and the worldly intent driving the Qi power when reaching the Origin Realm were vastly different compared to the Nascent Realm.

"Crack…" The mansion walls couldn't withhold the energy pressure any longer they collapsed on them. Cracked stone pieces started to rain down on them.

"Ting…!" At the same time, a ringing sound echoed in the air. The dome was cracked!

Inside the already crumbling dome, two brothers looked at each other. Shi Gang's fierce eyes fixed on Shi Wei. The message was clear. He was telling Shi Wei to run away. But Shi Wei was uncertain. He felt his cold calculative brain refuse to make a decision.

So his brother made one for him!

"Bastard, run… run away…" He roared furiously. "Bang" Without a warning he kicked Shi Wei in the stomach which sent his brother flying through the air. He sent through the already cracked dome and within seconds he disappeared into the dusty surroundings.

"Brother…" Shi Wei's wailing was the last word Shi Gang heard from his brother. After forcing his brother away, he immediately looked in the enemy's direction.

The dust started to settle down. The vicinity slowly became clear. A huge part of the mansion collapsed, and the sun rays peeked through the dusty clouds creating a mesmerizing scene.

A dozen feet away the two attackers were standing tall as an unmovable mountain. Surrounding them had a force field manifested pressuring away all the dust and debris away from them.

But the same couldn't be said about the Shi family's members. The dome was already long gone. As the dust settled heavily injured Shadow Guards were revealed, laying on the debris of the mansion, moaning and groaning in pain.

"Bunch of weaklings trying to resist the inevitable." Fifth Elder's voice cut through the dusty air. "You people should just kneel and beg for a quick end."

It was then Shi Gang's eyes focused on the attackers, but something was different, there were only two people. The young woman and the other elder who accompanied her were gone! He looked around in vigilance, fully expecting a surprise attack. But none such attempt was made.

These behaviors didn't leave unnoticed by the Fifth Elder and Sixth Elder, they busted out laughing.

"Haha… haha… why the vigilance? Do you think we sneak attack the likes of you? Pathetic!"

But that didn't stop Shi Gang from wondering where the other two were gone.

"Idiot stop looking around like a fool. The young mistress went out to greet your brother. Haha…" Shi Gang froze still. A stinging feeling started to spread all over his body starting from the middle of his chest. Their manic laughter caused him goosebumps.

"No… no…" He whispered in disbelief. "I must protect him!" He instantly turned to run away and find his brother. But the two elders had no intention of letting him leave.

"Where are you going ant? Just stay here and obediently die!" Two of them attacked in sync as if their coordination was pre-planned. The Fifth Elder came from his right and blocked his way out while the Sixth Elder came from the back and threw a high-speed flying kick at his back. Elder's foot resembled a glowing lion paw made of reddish energy.

"Bang"

But luckily Shi Gang's instincts warned him. He snapped back and blocked the attack with two hands crossed. A hazy blue energy shield appeared reflecting all the hostile energy away. Yet the power of the attack was too much for a third-level Origin Realm cultivator like him to withstand. So he stumbled a few steps back. That was his mistake.

The Fifth elder was already waiting for him with a loaded punch to unleash upon him. He stumbling a few feet was the chance the elder was waiting for. A massive reddish-coloured lion paw-shaped energy gale discharged on him.

"Boom"

Even though Shi Gang felt the oncoming attack he wasn't fully prepared to receive it. All he could do was throw one of his arms shielding it. As the blow connected with his arm he instantly knew that attack going to hurt him badly and he was right. The violent reddish energy played havoc through his arm and began ripping his arm from inside out. All his blood vessels busted open. Within seconds his arm was barely usable. Not only that the force of the impact flattened him to the ground.

"Ahh… Argh…" Severe pain left him groaning on the floor. He knew he cannot escape that situation. He was hoping at least to put up a fight so his brother could escape. But it looked like the temple members already expected that move from them. Were they that predictable? His only wish was for his brother to successfully escape.

---At the outside ---

On the top of the half-ruined mansion, the Young Mistress Lee and the Fourth Elder were looking into the distance at the individual who was running away from them. It was Shi Gang's brother Shi Wei.

After his brother kicked him away, he sent braking through two walls and was dragged across the floor. But he immediately got up and followed his brother's final command and ran away towards the ancestral ground. His brother might have sacrificed himself to give him a chance so he was going to use it to the fullest.

First of all, he needed to collect his nephew. Therefore, he picked the direction of the ancestral ground. But he didn't know three sets of vicious eyes were looking at his distancing figure.

Mistress Lee waved her hand and took out a unique-looking bow from her storage artifact which was a ring. She didn't load any arrow to the bow, yet she aimed it at distant Shi Wei and pulled the string.

"Buzz" Just as the string was pulled to the fullest a reddish energy arrow appeared on the bow.

"Whoosh…" The released arrow went piercing through the air. But the surprising aspect was there was no sound or ripple generated by the arrow. It silently approached the distancing figure at lightning speed. Without even a warning it dug into Shi Wei's flesh and entered into his body.

They saw he stumbled a few feet forward but managed to find his footing and disappeared into the horizon.

"Do we need to follow him?" Asked the Fourth Elder.

"No, it's poisoned. He won't live past the day." She replied with a cruel smirk. She put away the bow. "Let's go and join the others. We have a tomb to explore. I cannot wait to find that thing." Her voice changed into pure innocent in mere seconds. Such drastic changes within seconds could cause people to question her mental stability. But luckily no one was around to see it.

So they hoped.

Some distance away on an old tree Kayson was observing all the drama that was unfolding around him. Obviously, Young Mistress Lee's unusual mood swings didn't go unnoticed by him.

'That's a psychopath! My kind of people.' He thought fondly. 'Anyway, these people of the Lee family are not bad. Ruthless and precise! Hmm... Now I almost feel bad about the surprise I left for them at the cave or is it the absence of a surprise? Haha…'

After the two members of the temple went to join the others, He discreetly got down from the tree and left towards the Shi family's ancestral ground as a ghost.