Chapter 2992 — The Last Family Tie

"Fine. Peak late Earth Rank—in your eyes it's worth no more than a fart. Seems you've been a fart yourself for years now!" Zhao Qilei shook his head, ever more disappointed in Elder Zhao.

"What did you say?" Elder Zhao blinked, taken aback. "Peak late Earth Rank?"

Zhao Qilei did not answer. Instead he circulated his inner art and revealed his peak late Earth Rank cultivation in full, releasing it directly before Elder Zhao's eyes.

"You... you're actually at peak late Earth Rank? How is that possible?" Elder Zhao stared at Zhao Qilei in astonishment. "Impossible. You were only at peak mid Mystic Rank before. How could you advance so fast? What miracle pill did you take?"

"That's none of your concern." Zhao Qilei shook his head. "You've already decided I'm not to be a member of the Zhao family."

"Hmph, so what? You wouldn't dare kill me. My grandson Zhao Qibing is a disciple of the ancient sect, the Dark Night Palace. If you kill me, Zhao Qibing will avenge me!" Seeing that Wei Zhao had not killed him, Elder Zhao took it to mean Wei Zhao feared the Dark Night Palace.

"If Zhao Qibing wants revenge, I'm ready whenever he is. Kang Jingming said the same thing, yet he's watched his own brother's fiancee stay at my side day after day—you think he doesn't want me dead?" Wei Zhao looked at Elder Zhao with faint amusement. "I'm not sparing you because of any Zhao Qibing. That Zhao Qibing—I'll settle accounts with him when I have the time. I'm sparing you for one reason only: you are Zhao Qilei's and Chen Xi's grandfather. I don't want to break their hearts."

Zhao Qilei knew Wei Zhao was speaking the truth. During the trial, Wei Zhao had not hesitated to cut down even disciples of the Tomorrow After Tomorrow sect, let alone the family of a Dark Night Palace disciple. That Wei Zhao would say such a thing moved Zhao Qilei—after all, Wei Zhao was still sparing his feelings.

"Boss, strip him of his cultivation, leave him his life, and send him abroad. Let him live out his days as an ordinary wealthy man, with food and clothing assured. That is my request!" Zhao Qilei hesitated, then spoke the words anyway. He had cut all ties with the Zhao family, but he still could not bring himself to kill his own grandfather.

After all, Elder Zhao had once been unable to bring himself to kill Zhao Qilei with his own hands. This was, in its way, Zhao Qilei's last repayment.

"Very well." Wei Zhao nodded. That had been his plan all along. He turned to Elder Zhao and asked, "Elder Zhao, is there anything else you wish to say?"

"Anything I say—would you let me go?" Elder Zhao said bitterly.

"No." Wei Zhao shook his head.

"Then what's the point of talking?" Elder Zhao gave a cold snort. "Do it. Zhao Qibing will avenge me!"

Wei Zhao frowned slightly and reached out to press several points on Elder Zhao's body. Elder Zhao immediately screamed again and again—the agony Wei Zhao had endured days before, he now visited upon the old man in full.

Zhao Qilei turned his head away, unwilling to watch. Only after Wei Zhao made his move did Zhao Qilei draw a deep breath and look back at Elder Zhao. "Grandfather—I'll call you grandfather one last time. If you're wise, take a sum of the Zhao family's money and spend your remaining years abroad. Don't come back. The jianghu here no longer belongs to you!"

"My affairs are none of your business! Crocodile tears—how touching!" Elder Zhao snorted coldly, his face twisted in a grimace.

Zhao Qilei sighed softly and said nothing more.

"Wu Chengtian, you're of the secular Wu family and have wide connections. Arrange for Elder Zhao to leave the country!" Wei Zhao turned and said to Wu Chengtian.

"Yes, boss!" Wu Chengtian nodded. "I'll see him properly settled."

Elder Zhao, a first-rate Heaven Rank expert of his generation, and the hidden Zhao family, once so glorious, would both become things of the past at this moment—become memory.

"Zhao Qilei, are you willing to take over the hidden Zhao family?" Wei Zhao asked. After all, with Elder Zhao gone, the hidden Zhao family still held a seat among the hidden great houses. And with Wei Zhao, Elder Han, Elder Pi, Elder Zhuang, even Elder You, Sect Master Jin, and Sect Master Wo backing him, Zhao Qilei might be weak, but standing firm would be no problem.

"No, boss. Thank you for your kindness. Let this sorrowful family become history. From now on, I follow you." Zhao Qilei shook his head and declined Wei Zhao's offer.

Wei Zhao nodded and did not press the matter.

Just as they were speaking, Sect Master Wo returned, dragging along a trembling woman and a small child.

"Senior Lin, this woman is the wife of Zhao Guangyin, the young head of the hidden Zhao family, and this is his son. But the woman claims she is the aunt of your young brother and of an old acquaintance of yours, and begged me not to kill her..." Having heard the woman out, Sect Master Wo dared not act on his own authority, so he brought her before Wei Zhao to ask his intent.

"Yu Xiaojin?" Wei Zhao knew of the marriage alliance between the hidden Zhao family and the hidden Yu family, so the moment Sect Master Wo mentioned it, he immediately realized who this woman was—the own aunt of Yu Bing and Yu Ning!

"Yes... Senior Lin... I am Yu Ning's and Yu Bing's aunt. My life in the hidden Zhao family is pitiful now—Zhao Guangyin has cast me aside. I have nothing to do with them... Please don't kill me and my child..." Yu Xiaojin no longer had any of the haughty air of a young madam. She was now nothing but a wretched woman clinging to life.

Sect Master Wo had butchered two core loyal disciples of the Zhao family right in front of her, and Yu Xiaojin had completely broken down. Facing Wei Zhao, the mastermind of it all, she could barely get the words out.

"Send her back to the hidden Yu family." Wei Zhao waved a hand, unwilling to say more to Yu Xiaojin. He would do it as a favor to Yu Ning and Yu Bing, and as repayment to the hidden Yu family for Yu Yi's sudden appearance to help him earlier.

"Yes!" Having received the order, Sect Master Wo's attitude toward Yu Xiaojin improved considerably. "Come along, Miss Yu. I'll have someone escort you and your child to the hidden Yu family!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, Senior Lin..." Yu Xiaojin said in fearful gratitude. She could see the situation clearly enough: Wei Zhao was the one giving the orders among these people, so she thanked him hurriedly.

"Senior Lin, bad news—Zhao Guangyin has fled!" Not long after Yu Xiaojin left, Elder You came rushing in like a whirlwind and said urgently to Wei Zhao! (To be continued.)