The middle-aged man in yellow was silent for a long time, and the entire courtyard fell into an eerie silence.
In the darkness of the night, three people sat and stood, staring at each other.
After a long time, a dry voice broke the silence in the courtyard.
"Wuding, you've grown up, and you look a lot like your mother."
The middle-aged man in yellow finally spoke the first sentence.
"Maybe. What's your intention in coming here? Don't you want me to participate? I remember when I was a kid, no matter what kind of competition there was in the family, even if I got the quota privately, you would directly deprive me of it."
Hu Chen Wuding said coldly.
The middle-aged man in yellow sighed and smiled bitterly.
“Wuding, I know you hate your father for not giving you any training resources when you were young and not allowing you to participate in family competitions, but wasn’t the news you received this time sent out by me
I once told your mother that you should go to the base outside the family from time to time to wait for news. In this case, how can I stop you from coming to the family to seize the position of the son of inheritance
On the contrary, I want you to get this position, and this time, you must get it! ”
The person who came was the head of Hu Chen family, Hu Chen was late to move.
Hu Chen Wuding listened to Hu Chen Wandong's words, his face still as cold as before. He just stared at the other person, as if recalling this person who once made him hate and fear him a little.
This time, Hu Chen Wandong shifted his gaze and looked at Zhuo Lingfeng. He suddenly bowed deeply to Zhuo Lingfeng.
"I guess you must be Zhuo Lingfeng, Brother Zhuo. I would like to thank you for taking care of Wuding and his mother over the years!"
Although his salute was unexpected, Hu Chen Wuding and Zhuo Lingfeng only glanced at each other, and Zhuo Lingfeng's old voice came out slowly.
"I am just a minor foundation-building cultivator. How can I dare to trouble a powerful Jindan realm master for such a great gift? I am even less worthy of being called Brother Zhuo.
I am only doing my best for the sake of my fellow disciples. If it really doesn't work, then what if I have to give up my life?"
Although his words were full of indifference, there was also a hint of anger in them. He did not care at all that the other party was a Jindan cultivator who was much stronger than him.
In front of a Jindan cultivator, all his cultivation was just a joke. The other party could easily take his life with just one encounter. But knowing this, Zhuo Lingfeng was still not afraid.
After hearing Zhuo Lingfeng's words, Hu Chenwandong's face did not show any anger, but instead showed deep apology.
"Brother Zhuo is too modest. Wu Ding, I wonder how your mother is doing now?"
While Hu Chen Wandong was speaking, he bowed to Zhuo Lingfeng again, then looked at Hu Chen Wuding with an anxious look in his eyes.
In his heart, he naturally thought that Hu Chen Wuding's visit to the family this time, in order to be more secretive, only two of them traveled lightly and concealed their tracks.
"Mother? I won't bother you asking. Why don't you tell me why you're here?"
When Hu Chen Wuding heard Hu Chen Wandong's words, he felt a sharp pain deep in his heart and spoke with an increasingly cold expression.
A hint of disappointment immediately appeared in Hu Chen Wandong's eyes, which were originally full of expectation.
He knew that the current situation was caused by himself, which was also the main reason why he came here tonight.
He took a deep breath, looked at Zhuo Lingfeng who was standing behind Hu Chen Wuding, then waved his sleeves. A huge ban appeared on the courtyard wall, covering the entire courtyard.
When Zhuo Lingfeng waved his sleeves, he had already released his spiritual power to protect Hu Chen Wuding. Although he knew that with his cultivation level at the Foundation Establishment Stage, if the other party wanted to deal with the two of them, they would be powerless to resist, he still did it.
He came here this time with the intention of dying.
Everything was done to fulfill the instructions of his junior sister, and the wish of the child who had been dependent on him for more than ten years. After he sensed that the ban imposed by the other party was just a soundproofing effect, he felt relieved.
After issuing a ban, Hu Chen Wandong looked at Hu Chen Wuding.
"I came late, not because I was afraid of your aunt and the others!"
When he finished speaking, he clearly saw Hu Chen Wuding's mouth curled in disdain. He pretended not to see it and continued speaking.
"If Wu Ding doesn't believe what I'm going to say, Brother Zhuo can still provide some evidence."
Hu Chen Wandong said this without any clue, and without waiting for the two to look at him in surprise, he continued talking to himself.
"Your mother came from a very small, second-rate clan..."
As Hu Chen Wandong continued his narration, a huge wave of shock had already been set off in Hu Chen Wuding's heart.
Many things that had puzzled him for many years finally became clear.
Especially as to why his mother married into the Hu Chen family, this was something he never understood. In his childhood memories, his mother seemed to have very indifferent feelings towards the father in front of him.
Yue Xiangyun, a girl born in an inconspicuous second-rate sect, is beautiful and is the sweetheart of many young disciples in the sect.
When he first established his foundation more than 20 years ago, he was also a prodigy of the sect.
However, in order to find a powerful backer for the sect, the sect leader betrothed her to a first-rate family at its peak - the head of the Hu Chen family, Hu Chen Wandong.
At that time, Hu Chen Wandong was already a famous master in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm.
In terms of age, the two were extremely mismatched. Hu Chen Wandong was over three hundred years old and already had two wives.
But the leader of Yue Xiangyun's sect explained the situation to him with reason and emotion, and even begged him with several elders.
Poor Yue Xiangyun grew up in a sect since childhood and had never seen such a scene. In the end, she had to agree with tears in her eyes.
Against her will, she married into the Hu Chen family, but she didn't know that once she entered the Marquisate, there would be no turning back. All marriages in the Hu Chen family were arranged through marriage alliances, which was the most common practice among immortal cultivation families.
The Xie family where the eldest mistress Xie Xiaoxiao belongs, the Chi family where the second mistress Chi Dongli belongs, and the Ye family where the fourth wife Ye Luoyan, who married into the family after Yue Xiangyun.
They are either first-rate families or top second-rate families, and are not comparable to the sect behind Yue Xiangyun.
Therefore, she was often bullied by the first and fourth wives, but fortunately, the second wife, Chi Dongli, would occasionally speak up for her, which helped to curb the first and fourth wives' recklessness.
At that time, Hu Chen Wandong's favorite wife was actually the third wife who had no backing and was very docile.
However, facing the dominance of the head mistress Xie Xiaoxiao, he dared not speak out. The reason was that the ancestor of the family had been in seclusion for life and death and had not appeared in public for decades.
There were even rumors within the clan that he had died, and the place where ancestor Hu Chen was in seclusion could not be opened from the outside except by himself, even with Hu Chen's cultivation level of the middle stage of the Golden Core, it could not be opened from the outside.
As a result, the Hu Chen family faced the danger of being surrounded by powerful enemies from outside.
The biggest external enemy of the Hu Chen family is actually the Xie family where the eldest mistress Xie Xiaoxiao belongs.
The ancestor of the Xie family also entered the early stage of the Nascent Soul several decades ago. His purpose in marrying into the Hu Chen family was to use the power and resources of the Hu Chen family to develop his own family.
How could they let it go after problems arose within the Hu Chen family? However, the Yuanying ancestor of the Xie family was very afraid of the ancestor of Hu Chen.
He has only been in the Nascent Soul stage for a few decades, while Patriarch Hu Chen has been stuck in the early Nascent Soul stage for hundreds of years. They are not on the same level at all.
Therefore, when he asked the eldest mistress Xie Xiaoxiao to pay attention to the movements of the Hu Chen family, he began to seize power from within the Hu Chen family.
The elders of the Hu Chen family are all veteran figures and are extremely loyal to the Hu Chen family. It is almost impossible to bribe them, so the Xie family turned their attention to the next generation.
As long as you get the family inheritance position, everything will be solved. After a few dozen or a hundred years, the power center will naturally be transferred to you.
All of this, of course, fell on the eldest son born to the mistress Xie Xiaoxiao. She continued to brainwash her son, instilling in him the benefits of her mother's family, the selfishness of the Hu Chen family, and so on.
At the same time, the ancestor of the Xie family continued to put pressure on the Hu Chen family, which made Hu Chen Wandong and several Jindan elders dare not speak out.
However, with the birth of Hu Chen Wuding, the talent he showed after he was six years old made the head mistress Xie Xiaoxiao feel a huge threat, and she began to suppress Yue Xiangyun.
In addition, the fourth wife, Ye Luoyan, deliberately tried to get close to her. As long as the first wife didn't like anything, she would step on her. It is easy to imagine how miserable Yue Xiangyun's life was.
When Hu Chen Wuding was eight years old, his talent became more and more outstanding, and his brilliance surpassed that of his eldest son Hu Chen Wanli and his youngest son Hu Chen Jianghai.
However, it seemed that Patriarch Hu Chen might come out of seclusion at any time, which made the first and fourth wives decide to kill the mother and son.
Fortunately, although Hu Chen Wandong endured humiliation and lived in misery, he always kept an eye on their movements. After learning about this situation, he sent Yue Xiangyun and her son out immediately.
His action made the head mistress Xie Xiaoxiao furious, and she almost ordered the Xie family to launch an attack.
But at this moment, the only Nascent Soul ancestor of the second branch of the Chi family unexpectedly came to the Hu Chen family, saying that he was visiting his daughter, and then stayed there.
Moreover, he stayed there for three years, and anyone could see that there was something unusual about it.
The Chi family cannot allow the Xie family to dominate the family at all costs, and the Chi family's ancestor stays in the Hu Chen family, perhaps with the purpose of finding out the news about the ancestor Hu Chen.
Even after the Chi family's Nascent Soul ancestor left, the Xie family no longer had any plans to attack the Hu Chen family.
He just began to increase the training of Hu Chen Wanli, and at the same time kept putting pressure on Hu Chen Wandong to make him fight for the position of the son of inheritance earlier.
But after sending Hu Chen Wuding away, Hu Chen Wandong, as the head of the family, actually gradually became tough. No matter how the first and fourth houses put pressure on him from both inside and outside, he just refused to announce the start of the battle for the son of inheritance.
Instead, they keep delaying it by saying that as long as the ancestor doesn't come out of seclusion, the son of inheritance will be invalid.
He had delayed for seventeen years, until the time when Hu Chen Patriarch came out of retreat. As a result, part of the Xie family's plan had already failed, and they had no hope of seeing Hu Chen Patriarch fall.
However, he was secretly glad that if he had really rashly attacked the Hu Chen family, the old immortal would have had to fight to the death. In addition, with the old ghost of the Chi family watching covetously, the final result might be that the Chi family would benefit.
"I have also reported your talent to the old ancestor, and he was very happy after hearing it."
After Hu Chen Wandong finished saying everything, he looked at Hu Chen Wuding with gentle eyes.
There was a complicated look in Hu Chen Wuding's eyes. He naturally didn't know about these situations, and his mother had never told him. In his memory, there were only various childhood humiliations and deep hatred.
He looked back at Uncle Sang, but Zhuo Lingfeng never spoke.
While his father and son were talking, no one noticed that when Hu Chenwandong said the three words "Yue Xiangyun", Zhuo Lingfeng's body shook slightly inadvertently, and then returned to normal.
But when he talked later about the sect leader and several elders begging Yue Xiangyun to marry into the Hu Chen family, a trace of grief and anger appeared in the depths of his eyes.
No one knew that when he first learned about this, he had met Yue Xiangyun privately.
The latter was speechless, with empty eyes, as if he was a walking corpse. No matter how he spoke, his senior sister remained silent.
This finally made him understand that the so-called pedantry and so-called dedication to the sect in this world were nothing more than this.
With despair in his heart, he left the sect directly. When he returned to the sect again, it was several years later. The man came to him with his child.
Noticing that Hu Chen Wuding turned around and looked at him, Zhuo Lingfeng was silent for a while and then spoke in a hoarse and deep voice.
"What he said about your mother marrying into the Hu Chen family was not false. It was the sect's decision. I have also heard your mother talk about the following events. It is probably the same."
Having said this, Zhuo Lingfeng's body seemed to hunch over a little more.
It was hard to tell from his expression whether he was hating the Hu Chen family, or whether he should put all this hatred on the Xie and Ye families, or even on his own sect.