Ye Lingyuan finished speaking and gracefully picked up the tea bowl from the low table for a sip.
Zi Guochang was so shocked he couldn't speak. These matters, or rather secrets, he had never heard of, and perhaps his father, Zi Jit Tian, had not heard of them either.
Zi Linling's eyes flashed with brilliance. "That token the old man gave the two Zi brothers, wouldn't that be our Tianqi Zi family's Patriarch Token?"
Ye Lingyuan said dotingly, "What do you think!"
Zi Linling rolled her eyes. Wasn't it obvious, like a louse on a monk's head?
She casually picked up another cup of tea from the table and said, "Tell me, how did the brothers fall out?"
Before Ye Lingyuan could answer, Zi Guochang preempted him, "Fall out? You knew they would fall out?"
Zi Linling rolled her eyes again. "Does this need to be asked? If they didn't fall out, how would Tianqi Zi family and Imperial Zi family have split?"
Zi Guochang was stunned and looked at Ye Lingyuan, incredulously asking, "Is that really how it happened?"
Ye Lingyuan nodded, put down his teacup, and continued his story.
With their own forces, Zi Yishan and Zi Tianhai were no longer the simple, naive youths they once were.
Under countless schemes and intrigues, they learned to scheme and deceive.
The difference was that Zi Tianhai used these tactics on outsiders, while Zi Yishan used them all on his own brother.
Zi Yishan, in order to monopolize the token, planned several incidents against Zi Tianhai.
Zi Tianhai, remembering Zi Yishan's protection when they were young, continuously yielded. However, this did not make Zi Yishan have a change of heart.
Until Zi Xunyang and his wife passed away, Zi Yishan, in order to monopolize the Zi family and the Sumeru space with ancestral god inheritance, laid a trap, using Zi Tianhai's favorite son as bait to lure Zi Tianhai into the pit.
In the end, Zi Tianhai's favorite son died tragically.
Zi Tianhai was enraged and battled Zi Yishan outside Zhantian Peak for ten days and ten nights, finally winning by a narrow margin.
The sword was at Zi Yishan's neck, but Zi Tianhai's heart softened.
He remembered how Zi Yishan had stood in front of him when they were surrounded by wolves in Zhantian Peak, and he could no longer bring himself to strike.
Outside Zhantian Peak, the scene was a mess.
The surrounding peaks had long since been leveled by their fierce battle.
Only Zhantian Peak remained, enveloped by a strange magnetic field, unaffected by anything.
Of course, perhaps they had both deliberately avoided Zhantian Peak, as the Sumeru space was located within it.
"Do you still remember that pack of howling moon celestial wolves?"
Zi Tianhai's eyes were filled with pain. He couldn't understand how two loving brothers could come to the point of drawing swords against each other!
A hint of tenderness flashed in Zi Yishan's eyes, but it was quickly hidden.
"We've come this far, what difference does it make if we remember or not?"
Zi Tianhai closed his eyes in pain and said, "I've never understood why you targeted me like this, even going so far as to harm your nephew's life?"
"Why? Hahaha..."
Zi Yishan laughed wildly before continuing, "Tianhai, you're still as naive as you were before! You and I are no longer the children we once were, and the Zi family is not the Zi family it used to be.
The Zi family is immensely powerful now, but there can only be one ruler. Moreover, the fewer people who know the secret of that token, the better! And only the dead can keep secrets better."
Zi Tianhai's heart was like a knife.
He had never thought of competing with Zi Yishan for the position of patriarch, nor had he ever dared to leak information about the token and the Sumeru space, not even to his own wife and children.
Yet, he had still met such an end. Why?
Was power truly that important? Important enough to disregard the deepest blood ties?
Were the token and the Sumeru space truly that important? Important enough to turn kin against each other, and brothers against each other?
What was most important in this world? Power? Strength? Or profit?
A sense of confusion arose in Zi Tianhai's heart. Zi Yishan's words were like thorns, piercing his heart through and through.
Was he wrong?
No!
He was not wrong!
He opened his eyes, his gaze clear.
"Brother! I should be calling you that for the last time! For the sake of your past protection, I will not kill you today, but from this moment on, our relationship is severed, and we have nothing more to do with each other!"
After speaking, Zi Tianhai lowered the sword from Zi Yishan's neck.
To raise a butcher's knife against one's closest kin was an act worse than that of a beast.
Zi Yishan, in his madness, could do it, but he could not.
Zi Tianhai turned and left, leaving behind a heart-wrenching figure.
A brief daze appeared in Zi Yishan's eyes. But it was quickly replaced by ferocity and coldness.
Spiritual energy surged in his hand, and the sword on the ground was drawn into his palm.
Then, with a forceful throw, the spiritual-energy-infused sword flew towards Zi Tianhai.
At this moment, Zi Tianhai's heart was consumed by pain, and he never expected that the brother he had just spared would attack him in the next instant.
But a Saint King realm expert was still a Saint King realm expert. Even without any defenses, his body reacted instinctively.
Zi Tianhai sensed danger and instinctively dodged to the right. However, having lost the initiative, he couldn't completely avoid it.
The spiritual-energy-infused sword pierced directly through his shoulder blade, passing clean through his shoulder.
Zi Tianhai stumbled, letting out a muffled groan.
He looked back incredulously, only to see the ferocity on Zi Yishan's face and the cold smile on his lips.
In that instant, disappointment surged from his feet to his mind.
He yanked out the sword that had pierced his shoulder and said with murderous intent, "Zi Yishan, this sword of yours has completely eroded the last bit of goodwill between us!
Since that is the case, the hatred for my son's death and the grievance of this sword, I, Zi Tianhai, will remember! For the rest of my life, we will fight until one of us dies!"
His murderous voice, like a reborn demon from hell, sent a chill down one's spine.
After speaking, Zi Tianhai forcefully threw the sword in his hand towards Zi Yishan, then circulated his spiritual energy and swiftly departed.
His cultivation was originally on par with Zi Yishan's, and their cultivation techniques were from the same lineage. Therefore, in his current injured state, he was definitely no match for Zi Yishan.
Thus, he could only retreat for now and seek an opportunity for revenge later.
Zi Yishan watched the sword flying towards him, his face filled with alarm.
Because the speed at which the sword flew was three parts faster than when he had thrown it.
In other words, Zi Tianhai's application of spiritual energy was even stronger than his.
Zi Yishan had no time to dodge.