Heroes Return

"Holy crap! Does that guy even go after the flowers and plants when he goes berserk?" Lin Jie was surprised to hear Lu Xian'er's words.

“It’s not madness, it’s the path he chose,” Lu Xian’er said calmly. “That little cat will also disappear.”

As she spoke, she reached out her hand to a stray cat passing by. But the stray cat seemed to have seen something terrifying, and its whole body trembled. Before Lu Xian'er could do anything else, it had already run away in terror.

"..." Upon seeing this scene, Lu Xian'er remained silent for a moment, her expression seemingly undergoing a subtle change, but in the end, she still managed to distract herself with a poker face.

"Pfft!" Seeing this, Lin Jie couldn't help but ask, "Do you really like small animals?"

Hearing Lin Jie's words, Lu Xian'er shook her head lightly: "From the moment I was born, I was destined not to be liked by them. All living beings in the world will only run away out of fear, just like that cat. In the end, I am nothing more than a weapon."

"I'm really sorry about that." Hearing Lu Xian'er's words, Lin Jie suddenly said, "After all, if you follow me from now on, you may not have the chance to kill anyone. As for the murder weapon, if you decide to change its owner, I won't stop you."

“No need. I have acknowledged you as my master, so you are my master.” Lu Xian’er said calmly, “I will not change for the time being.”

"Oh, I see! Then I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you from now on! Actually, I think you could consider changing your profession. I've already let go, and you, as my weapon, should also let go." Lin Jie suddenly smiled and said to Lin Jie, "Weapons don't necessarily only instill fear. Sometimes, certain weapons can even bring warmth! How about this? If we have the chance in the future, how about we try raising some small animals?"

"Keep pets?" Upon hearing Lin Jie's words, Lu Xian'er suddenly stood up from the ground, staring intently at Lin Jie: "Are you really going to keep pets?"

"Uh... of course." Seeing Lu Xian'er's excited expression, Lin Jie couldn't help but laugh and said, "But the premise is that I can defeat Dao Qizhan! Speaking of which, if I can't win, then humanity will also disappear, right?"

In response to Lin Jie's question, Lu Xian'er nodded.

"Ah! If that's the case, it seems I have no choice but to fight Dao Qizhan with all my might. I wonder what method that guy plans to use to resolve the matter of the ancient clans..."

While Lin Jie and Lu Xian'er were chatting, several stone swords fell from the sky towards the remaining ancient clans. Each sword bore the same inscription: 'Those who leave will die.'

Chapter 18

Today is destined to be a day of shock for the four families, because the sword-shaped stone that fell from the sky has appeared almost at the location of the ancestral lands of the four ancient clans. Originally, there were still connections between the four families. In fact, although they are called the four great families, in the distant past, they were just the product of the division of a large clan.

Therefore, the four ancient clans' territories were actually close to each other, and the areas between them were all common areas for the four clans. However, this time, the four ancestral lands, including the common areas, were all enclosed in the center by several huge sword-shaped stones.

At first, the four families didn't take the sword stones seriously, thinking it was some kind of mockery. Some even tried to shatter them. But the moment the experts attacked, terrifying sword intent erupted from the stones, sending the four families flying backward instantly.

As for those experts who refused to believe in the evil and left, they all felt a terrifying sword intent! Immediately afterwards, a sword light burst out from the sword stone, and the originally powerful experts were beheaded on the spot by this sword light in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, none of the four families dared to go out anymore, and they all watched the stones cautiously.

This seemingly self-imposed confinement infuriated the four families, yet they were powerless to do anything about it. Eventually, the matter alarmed the elders and clan leaders of the four families.

However, the elders and clan leaders were equally incapable of destroying the stones. Similarly, no one dared to directly attack them. Therefore, both the elders and the clan leaders ultimately chose to attack the sword stones from a distance. But to their astonishment, each time the stones sensed an attack, they would unleash a powerful sword intent, easily neutralizing their attacks.

After several successful trials, the four families finally came together.

At this moment, in the Lin family patriarch's conference room, almost all the top leaders of the four major families had gathered.

"Everyone, what do you think of this matter?" The Lin family patriarch looked at the other family leaders present with a questioning gaze. He couldn't help but ask, "In your opinion, how strong is this person who was able to beat us like this?"

"Unfathomable." The Feng family patriarch simply uttered four words: "Stronger than all of us! That sword intent has already surpassed the realm of mortals."

"Not only are they powerful, but they also have ill intentions," the Shan family patriarch said. "It seems that what he's doing is not just to show off. He wants to trap us all to death in this ancient land."

"Hmph! They've only trapped us! This valley is where our ancestors lived in seclusion; it's more than enough for us to be self-sufficient," the Lei family patriarch said coldly.

Of course, his cold expression wasn't entirely unfounded; after all, he had just lost his younger brother. His brother was already there when the sword stone appeared, and, to make matters worse, he was the one who refused to believe in such superstitions. So, after a flash of sword light, he too became a headless ghost, dead outside. What made him even more grief-stricken was that because his brother had already gone outside, he died there. He didn't even have a chance to collect his body! He could only watch helplessly as the corpse died before his eyes!

Of course, it wasn't just someone from their family who died; other powerful individuals from different families also appeared here and died in the same way. No one could collect the bodies; they simply remained there.

"Alright, we've all lost members of each family! The real issue now is figuring out who did it!" Seeing the expression on the Lei family patriarch's face, no one wanted to say anything more. Finally, the Lin family patriarch spoke up, asking everyone present, "Do any of you have any enemies?"

"Speaking of enemies! Your Lin family must have its share, right?" the Feng family patriarch suddenly said. "We all know what's happened to our four families over the years, so we naturally have our share of enemies. Why don't we each bring out our enemies and analyze them together? Let's see if they could be the ones!"

If they had no grudge against my ancient clan, they wouldn't be doing this kind of thing here!

"There's no need to reveal everything!" The Shan family patriarch spoke up at this moment. "It's obvious that the force that's trapping us is extremely powerful! Those who can't become stronger can be eliminated! The other person has undoubtedly reached a level of mastery in swordsmanship! So we should prioritize identifying those with strong swordsmanship."

Upon hearing the words of the Shan family patriarch, everyone present fell silent for a moment.

It seems there really is one person who meets both of their conditions! And with that person's swordsmanship, they could definitely do such a thing! But this time they are unwilling to say it aloud. Especially the Lin family patriarch, whose expression has changed quite a bit.

Clearly, the Feng family patriarch had already thought of it, but he simply didn't point it out directly.

"Now that you mention it, it's certainly possible!" The Lei family patriarch slammed his fist on the table and roared, "You surnamed Lin, shouldn't you give us an explanation?"

"Clearly, only he could have done something like this, right? You really should give us an explanation," the Shan family patriarch said. "After all, he's your descendant, isn't he?"

"You're not referring to Lin Jie, are you?" Lin Jie, the patriarch, suddenly spoke up upon hearing their words. By this time, he had calmed down.

"Naturally, it was him." The Feng family patriarch said calmly, "No one else could have done it except him! And we already know that person's other name... Zero!"

When he mentioned the word "zero," the Feng family patriarch deliberately emphasized it.

"That's right! Only Zero could do something like this! Wasn't killing our people enough? Now you want to trap us here to die?" The Lei family patriarch said angrily to the Lin Jie patriarch, "My brother's life! You must give me an explanation today!"

"Heh! I can't give you the explanation you want!" The Feng family patriarch coldly said to everyone present, "You must have all received the news, right? The person you sent to provoke Lin Jie is dead. That's why you said it was him! After all, you all believed yesterday that he had lost his power, didn't you?"

I have to admit, as Zero, he has far surpassed all four of our families! And as family, I must say with shame that he doesn't seem to intend to acknowledge us as his family! Otherwise, he wouldn't have disregarded our feelings in the first place! You know, quite a few members of my Lin family have died at his hands! You all saw him return to the family a while ago! It seemed he even wanted to arrange a marriage with him! And just today, you heard that after he lost his power, he seems to have directly sent family members to provoke him, right?

The last time we met, he had already stopped pursuing our past! Otherwise, he wouldn't have returned to the Lin family, and if he wanted to kill us, he would have done it long ago! There's no need to wait until now, right? In the end, it's all because of your own insatiable greed! The moment you heard the news, to prevent others from getting the bodies first, you rushed to send people to harass him. Isn't that right? Those people you sent out should be finished by now, right? Even though we can't leave, we still have contact with the outside world! As long as we use the phone, we can still hear news! I've already been very lenient by not blaming you for taking action against our Lin family without permission! And you still have the nerve to bring this up!

Don't forget! Who was it that made us retreat in disgrace when we first came out of seclusion? Our involvement in external affairs during this time has only been with his tacit approval! Yet you, blinded by greed, wanted to cause him trouble! Now look what's happened! You've dug your own graves!

You bunch of lip gloss users have no idea how hard we've tried to repair our relationship with him!

These words stunned everyone present. However, what followed was a heated argument between the four patriarchs, their faces flushed. Several solutions were eventually proposed during this argument.

It would be better to combine the strength of the family members to attack the sword stone. However, in the end, they still failed. Even with the combined strength of all the powerful members of the four families, the sword stone remained unmoved.

Some people tried to escape directly by helicopter, but they failed! The helicopter was cut down by a sword flash high in the sky! The good news is that the people in the helicopter returned.

A human head returned, but the headless body disappeared outside along with the helicopter.

They also tried using modern weapons and explosives, but to no avail. They contacted many people outside and discovered something unexpected: outsiders could get in, but once inside, they couldn't get out! This conclusion was reached after losing several members of the outer sect.

This is equivalent to trapping the core experts of the four families here. Although they can still contact the outside world, their control over the outside world will inevitably decrease.

The more this happened, the more intense the argument became among the four families present.

However, while the four patriarchs were still arguing, they received a strange message.

On one of the sword stones, a young man dressed in flowing white robes was standing.

Upon hearing the reports from the younger generation, the four patriarchs led their clansmen to the location. However, when they arrived, they discovered that the person was not Lin Jie at all, but someone else entirely!

But since this person is able to stand on this sword stone, it is clear that this person is the one who trapped their family here.

"We seem to have never seen you before, nor do we have any grudge against you! Why are you making things difficult for us?" Seeing the person in question, they were somewhat surprised that it wasn't Lin Jie, but they had no time to dwell on Lin Jie now! The immediate matter was paramount. The Feng family patriarch, who had just been arguing with the Lin family patriarch, couldn't help but step forward: "May I ask, who exactly are you? If you intend to punish us, there must be a reason, right?"

Upon hearing his words, the man standing on the stone sword slowly spoke: "Sword Hall, Dao Seven Slashes."

Chapter 19

"Sword Hall, Dao Qizhan." These simple words caused astonishment on the faces of everyone from the ancient clans present. The reason was simple. It wasn't because of Dao Qizhan's name; in fact, Dao Qizhan's name wasn't well-known.

Although many people in the Sword Hall do know of its existence, the Sword Hall is extremely mysterious and almost never communicates with outsiders. Therefore, no one knows who actually belongs to the Sword Hall. Furthermore, Dao Qizhan rarely travels outside, so very few people know anything about him.

Although intelligence reports mentioned members of the Sword Hall descending the mountain, Dao Qizhan's name had never appeared. Even so, the mere mention of the Sword Hall was enough to send shockwaves through everyone present! After all, the Sword Hall was a god-like existence high above the clouds, a truly mythical place. Compared to the Sword Hall, everyone else here was insignificant. Therefore, almost everyone present showed expressions of horror upon hearing the names of the two from the Sword Hall.

"Why would the Immortal Master of the Sword Hall do such a thing! Have we offended him in some way?" Upon hearing the words "Sword Hall," everyone's expression changed! If there was any hostility before, now they were cowering and turned their heads away in fear!

Even their tone of voice unconsciously became flattering.

"You haven't provoked me." Dao Qizhan's tone was completely devoid of emotion, his calmness sending chills down everyone's spine: "I'm just helping others deal with you."

"It's truly astonishing that someone could persuade an immortal to do this!" the Lin family patriarch said helplessly. "However, since it's the immortal who wants to deal with us, we naturally have nothing to say. But I wonder if the immortal could at least let us give our names? Just who exactly wants to deal with us?"

"I do not intend to kill you." Hearing the words of everyone present, Dao Qizhan suddenly spoke up: "When one of you disciples is able to break through my sword energy, you will naturally be able to leave. But until then, there is no way out."

Dao Qizhan's words were calm, but everyone who heard them felt a chill.

Even the patriarchs of several families couldn't help but shudder.

"Since that person invited you to deal with us, yet doesn't intend to kill us! What is the reason behind it! What wrong have our four families done? Please enlighten us, Immortal!" The old master of the Feng family once again asked Dao Qizhan.

At that moment, Dao Qizhan showed no interest in them. He simply turned around, transformed into a streak of sword light, and vanished from the spot. He had only come here to tell the four families that once their sword energy was broken, they could leave.

However, with Dao Qizhan's current strength, his sword energy is not something that ordinary people can break. What's even more frustrating is that Dao Qizhan never actually revealed the reason why the person who invited them wanted to trap them here.

The four patriarchs could only look at each other and exchange bitter smiles.

"Wait, Lin Jie should be coming back, right? After all, we've already taken action against him." As if he had thought of something, the Feng family suddenly spoke up, "Why don't we lure him in?"

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

"His strength is undeniable; even immortals might not be stronger than him. Once he enters, he'll naturally break this sword stone in order to get out. Then, when the Sword Hall blames him, they'll only target him, right?" The Feng family patriarch said earnestly to everyone. "That's not enough. How to ensure he survives his wrath seems to be the key right now. After all, he might not be happy about what happened to us before! Why don't we send someone outside to kidnap his sister and use her to coerce him?"

“That’s not right!” Upon hearing his words, the Feng family patriarch spoke up: “According to his information as Zero, almost everyone who threatened him is dead! Moreover, the difference in our strength is too great. This will only backfire.”

"Then what do you suggest we do? Don't think I don't know, didn't your Lin family also send three elders? Judging from his past behavior, it seems he won't give you, his ancestor, any face!" The Feng family ancestor said coldly to Lin Jie's ancestor before turning to the crowd: "Since we don't want to be trapped here forever, it seems we have no choice but to use this method! The only problem to solve is how to lure him in, and how to avoid being killed by his rage once he's in. The former is easy enough, but the latter seems a bit too difficult, unless we have some leverage over him."

Although they were researching how to get out, this patriarch of the Feng family never once considered relying on the family's resources to cultivate and break through this barrier. Of course, he wasn't the only one; everyone else present felt the same way—none of them thought they could break through!

"Let his grandmother talk to him," the Lin family patriarch suddenly sighed and said, "We really went too far this time! But surely he wouldn't go after his own grandmother as well?"

"Hmph! Would someone who sent his own brother to prison really care about something like this?"

"Give it a try! At least it's better than your situation where you might easily make things worse! At least wait until he arrives, and let his grandmother talk to him first," said the Lin family patriarch. Hearing his words, everyone nodded in agreement.

Thinking about it carefully, Lin Jie's strength was simply too overwhelming. It's worth noting that when the gods descended, the four families had hastily summoned all their capable members back to their homes. After all, the descent of the gods at that time was something no human could possibly contend with. They had also prepared to protect themselves.

then……

The anticipated irreversible descent of the gods not only failed to occur, but was instead destroyed by Zero's own hand! Although Zero was almost killed as a result, there is no doubt that Zero alone is equivalent to all the gods and Buddhas in the world! No one among the experts could fathom just how powerful his methods were.

If he really arrests his sister, then if Zero gets angry, all four families will probably be finished.

Ultimately, the Feng family patriarch's suggestion was abandoned. Instead, they planned to apologize properly to Lin Jie upon his arrival and then explain the situation to him. After all, one doesn't hit a smiling face. Lin Jie seemed to have gotten along quite well with his grandmother the last time he visited, so this time, Lin Jie's grandmother was the only one who could act as the mediator.

However, what they didn't know was that it was Dao Qizhan who helped Lin Jie get out this time. Therefore, Lin Jie never returned to this place after that.

When Lin Jie returned to this place again, more than a decade had passed! And by then, a new era of heroes had officially begun.

……

On the other side, Lin Jie and Lu Xian'er were walking, but just as they reached the main street, almost every street in the city was displaying the same video on screens: Kuror's singing.

It's the kind of singing that makes people feel playful and unconsciously immerse themselves in it.

"Perhaps you could learn to sing; you shouldn't be any worse than her," Lin Jie said with a smile to Lu Xian'er beside him. Upon hearing this, Lu Xian'er reacted decisively, immediately drawing her sword and looking at Lin Jie.

"..." Seeing Lu Xian'er's gaze, Lin Jie sighed helplessly, "Alright, I know! It was just a joke. Don't get excited! Reality is definitely not like anime!! In anime, those gun girls and sword boys, when they're personified, they actually sing and dance. I know! I won't say anything more! Don't look at me with such a terrifying gaze! Are you a yandere?"

"I'm not sick!" Lu Xian'er said with dissatisfaction upon hearing Lin Jie's words.