East Field County, Cloud Sea City.

    Inside the Qin Family Mansion, many people were gathered, but the atmosphere in the grand hall was extremely solemn.

    "Bastard Qin Nian, as a bastard son, you secretly practiced cultivation and violated the family rules. Today, your cultivation will be stripped away, and you will be expelled from the Qin Family. Your mother, of the Xu Family, failed in raising you with virtue; she will be punished by being confined to the laundry room for the rest of her life, never to step out of the Qin Family Mansion again," declared Family Head Qin Yuanshan mercilessly.

    After finishing his declaration, he struck Qin Nian''s abdomen with a palm, and the violent Primordial Power instantly shattered Qin Nian''s Dantian. Qin Nian was sent flying by this tremendous force.

    "Spurt!"

    Qin Nian fell heavily to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

    A single palm had shattered his Dantian, and six years of arduous cultivation were destroyed in an instant.

    Inside the Qin Family Mansion, it was deathly silent, and many felt pity for Qin Nian.

    At the same time, they were perplexed. Although the Qin Family had a rule that bastards should not practice cultivation, this rule had not been mentioned for a hundred years and had effectively become obsolete. In addition, many bastards in the Qin Family had started to practice cultivation in recent years.

    They did not know why Qin Yuanshan had brought it up again today, even personally crippling his own biological son.

    Qin Hen stood among the crowd, watching the scene with a sneer.

    He was the only one who knew why, because he had orchestrated everything.

    He had always disliked Qin Nian. It was he who had encouraged Qin Nian to practice cultivation in secret and then informed their father.

    He knew that their father had always disliked his brother. Therefore, he deliberately spoke of this matter before their father, even adding fuel to the fire with some malicious words about Qin Nian, solidifying Qin Yuanshan''s decision to disable Qin Nian.

    Now that Qin Nian''s Dantian was destroyed, he was likely unable to practice cultivation for the rest of his life, which delighted Qin Hen immensely.

    "Ha ha, Qin Nian, if you blame anyone, blame yourself for being so detestable, even our father dislikes you!" Qin Hen said, looking at Qin Nian, who lay on the ground like a dead dog, feeling extremely pleased with himself.

    Qin Nian lay dazed on the ground, his eyes empty.

    "He really is that cruel!"

    He still could not believe that his own father would be so ruthless in crippling his cultivation and doing so with such finality.

    Does he not feel a shred of regret?

    Does he really care nothing for familial affection?

    I am his own flesh and blood!

    How could he bring himself to do it?

    Qin Nian''s heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife.

    For sixteen years he had called him father, but today he had become the executioner who crippled his cultivation, a fact he could not accept no matter what.

    "Ha ha, wrong, all wrong!"

    Qin Nian stumbled to his feet and laughed madly, his laughter echoing throughout the Qin Family Mansion.

    "Has he gone mad?"

    Everyone looked at Qin Nian, thinking that the severe shock had driven him to mental collapse.

    "Unfilial son, what are you laughing at?" Qin Yuanshan asked coldly.

    "What am I laughing at?" Qin Nian laughed sorrowfully, his laughter filled with desolation.

    "I laugh at my own foolishness. Since childhood, you have always been cold and harsh towards me. I always thought you were just being strict. Every time I saw you talking and laughing with Qin Tian and Qin Hen, I thought it was because I wasn''t good enough. I kept practicing hard, hoping for a word of praise from you. But all that was just my fantasy; you truly despise me from the bottom of your heart."

    After seriously injuring Qin Nian with one punch, Qin Hen appeared not yet ready to stop as he directly stomped on Qin Nian''s legs.

    With great momentum and force, Qin Hen used all his strength on this stomp.

    "Ah..."

    Qin Nian immediately let out a heart-wrenching scream; his two femurs were brutally crushed.

    "Ha ha, how dare you be so arrogant? You wanted revenge? Get up and fight me! A waste, just a waste!" Qin Hen mercilessly stomped on Qin Nian''s thigh, laughing wildly, his expression utterly ferocious.

    Qin Yuanshan just watched by the side, with no intention of intervening.

    The Qin Family also watched indifferently, only a few showing fleeting moments of sympathy, yet no one stepped forward to stop it.

    What a cold and pitiless family.

    Qin Nian''s heart was as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

    At this moment, the pain in his body was beyond measure, yet he still clenched his teeth and persisted.

    His only belief was to stay alive; his mother was still waiting for him to save her, and his vengeance must be avenged.

    He also vowed in his heart, as long as he didn''t die today, all of today''s events, he would doubly repay to the Qin Family someday.

    "Enough!"

    Just then, an old voice came from deep within the grounds of the Qin Family.

    "Ancestor!"

    Everyone in the Qin Family was startled, promptly turning to salute towards the direction of the voice.

    Qin Hen also hurriedly stopped torturing Qin Nian.

    The Ancestor had spoken, he dared not defy, for even his father could not save him.

    "He is still one of us in the Qin Family; since the punishment has been dealt, just drive him out of the house; there''s no need for overkill." That majestic old voice spoke again, commanding and irresistible.

    "Yes!" Qin Yuanshan immediately responded, then commanded the servants, "Someone, carry this beast out, let him fend for himself."

    By the side, the already dazed Qin Nian only felt himself being carried out of the Qin Family, then dumped inside a decrepit temple at the eastern end of Cloud Sea City.

    That place was a gathering spot for beggars, dirty and disheveled.

    However, Qin Nian knew that his life was saved, and with that, his obsessive thoughts relaxed.

    Once his obsession relaxed, he completely lost consciousness.

    ...

    As the night slowly descended, a few stars began to emerge in the sky.

    On the small path outside the broken temple, a middle-aged man was walking this way.

    Strangely, despite the absence of major Republic events since 1912 that led to※ Martial Law, the middle-aged man''s movements were very slow, yet his figure was incredibly elusive, almost ghost-like, covering dozens of meters in one step, quickly appearing inside the temple.

    He scanned the temple, and his gaze finally rested on the seriously injured Qin Nian.

    Seeing the severely wounded Qin Nian, a hint of excitement appeared on his face.

    "What a strong Divine Demon bloodline, I, Bai Tianhan, have searched the mortal realms for hundreds of years and have finally found a suitable disciple. From today onwards, you are Bai Tianhan''s apprentice, ha ha!" The middle-aged man laughed loudly.

    He picked up Qin Nian and swiftly disappeared into the night.