Chapter 252: Tearing All Facades
Liu Zexian and her family remained utterly calm, their expressions unchanged despite the suffocating tension in the hall. Slowly, she lifted her head, her eyes sharp as blades, and asked in a steady voice,
"So now, are you trying to bully us with your so-called high cultivation realm?"
Her words cut like a knife through the heavy silence, yet she did not stop there.
She sneered coldly. "You think you’re strong, don’t you? In truth, your pathetic self, hides under the borrowed glory of a thousand-year-old clan. Without that legacy, what are you? Nothing more than an old coward pretending to be great."
Gasps rippled across the hall, but she pressed on mercilessly.
"If you think this pathetic display of force will intimidate me, then you’re gravely mistaken. Old dog, you’re wrong."
With unmasked disdain, she clicked her tongue, then casually lifted her cup and took a slow sip of spirit tea, as though her father’s oppressive aura was little more than a passing breeze. When she lowered the cup, her gaze landed squarely on the man sitting at the throne.
"Why did you invite us here?" she asked with biting indifference. "If you want to see how I’ve been doing, then look closely. As you can see, I am perfectly fine—no, better than fine. I am thriving."
She let the words settle like stones in water before adding with a smirk, "Ah, and before I forget; control your leech. His aura is making my son uncomfortable. And if he feels uncomfortable, something bad might happen to your clan. Believe me... you do not want that to happen."
Whispers surged through the assembly. To hear the once-exiled daughter speak so boldly, so arrogantly, was like watching a stranger in her skin.
The Liu clan master raised his brow, a flicker of disdain flashing in his cold eyes.
Not to make her son uncomfortable? he thought with contempt. Who does she think that boy is?
He snorted, and suddenly, a crushing wave of pressure descended over the grand hall. The weight of a Half-Step Nascent Soul Expert pressed down, suffocating the air itself.
"I’ve tolerated your nonsense," his booming voice thundered, echoing from wall to wall, "not because I am incapable of dealing with you, but because of the memory of what you once were. Yet you repeatedly test the limits of my Liu clan. Do you truly think that just because you were once my daughter, I cannot deal with you?"
He leaned forward, his eyes glinting with ruthless intent. "I summoned you here hoping to see you’ve repented, to see if you had realized your mistakes. But once again, you have disappointed me."
His face remained stiff, straight, as though disowning his own flesh and blood was the most natural, correct thing to do.
Under the oppressive might of his cultivation, silence swallowed the entire hall. Every elder, every disciple, every servant bowed their head in submission to the suffocating aura.
Everyone except Mo Jian and his family.
"Hubby, did you hear that?" Liu Zexian turned to her husband with a stiff chuckle that quickly spilled into a mocking laugh. "Can you believe this? Hahaha!"
Her laughter burst out hysterically, ringing sharp against the suffocating silence. She held her stomach, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
Mo Jian and his father exchanged glances, both staring at the clan master with expressions that carried nothing but ridicule.
This man had exiled his daughter for so many years, secretly hoping she would wither away, never able to touch the Golden Core Realm without the clan’s resources.
Yet now, not only had she reached that realm, but she also stood taller than ever before, her spirit unbroken.
And he still dared to sit arrogantly on his throne, spouting nonsense.
The clansmen shifted uncomfortably. Ugly expressions twisted across their faces.
Is she laughing at her own father?
Has she gone mad? Does she not realize how powerful the Liu clan is?
Confusion, disbelief, and outrage swirled among them, but none dared to interrupt.
Finally, wiping the tears from her eyes, Liu Zexian straightened and fixed her father with a glare dripping with contempt.
"I don’t know why my mother ever fell for someone like you..." she said bitterly, her voice cracking with both anger and sorrow. She shook her head and spat her next words.
"You never deserved her."
Gasps rippled again.
"Now I realize how lucky I was to escape your madness. To think, for years, I thought I was the one at fault. But no—it was you. Always you."
She faced her father directly, fearless, her aura sharp despite his overwhelming cultivation.
"How dare—" the Liu clan master began, his booming voice shaking the rafters.
But she cut him off with icy disdain.
"Dare what? Are you going to kill me?"
She rose to her feet, her voice growing louder, rising like a crescendo, her finger stabbing toward him like a spear.
"I dare you! Go on, kill me!"
Her words thundered across the hall, silencing even the whispers.
For a moment, the atmosphere froze. None of the onlookers could comprehend the depth of her rage, nor the torment she had endured.
They did not know how she had cultivated day and night, shedding blood and sweat under deadly trials, all to meet her father’s impossible standards.
They did not know the crushing weight of his expectations, nor the pain of being discarded like useless trash after giving everything.
The Liu clan master’s face twisted with fury, veins bulging on his forehead, his eyes bloodshot with rage.
"Good... good!" he hissed through clenched teeth, his voice cold and sharp as a dagger. "If that is your choice, then today, I will correct my mistake once and for all."
His killing intent surged like a storm.
"You think you’ve grown wings just because you broke into the Golden Core Realm? I will shatter your core, break your arms and legs, and cast you aside once again. This time, you will truly be nothing but discarded trash."
His merciless words sent another shiver through the hall. Gasps rang out as the oppressive weight of his aura deepened.
Everyone trembled. Everyone—except Mo Jian and his family.
They had long prepared for this.
Slowly, Mo Jian rose to his feet. His figure was steady, calm, utterly unshaken by the weight of a Half-Step Nascent Soul’s pressure.
"Mother," he said evenly, his tone casual yet firm, "I told you before—such a person can never change."
The words hung in the air, cutting through the suffocating tension like a breeze.
Liu Zexian’s eyes softened briefly. She nodded once, her expression steady.
"I know," she admitted quietly. "But I had to see it for myself."
Her gaze turned back toward her father, cold and sharp as a blade.
"As of this moment, you have no daughter. And I..." she raised her chin, her voice steady and unshakable, "...I have no father. I am no longer part of the Liu clan."
She turned sharply, her robes sweeping behind her. "Let’s go."
Together, she and her husband moved toward the doors, their steps firm, unhurried, unbending.
The clan master’s expression darkened to pitch black.
"Where do you think you’re going?" he sneered, fury dripping from every word. With a flick of his sleeve, his palm rose, qi surging as he prepared to seize them in an instant.
But then...
Something happened.