Mo Tianxun hurriedly jumped from one building to another, sprinting across the sky, trying to quickly reach where his son was being held and hoping for his safety.
His jaws were clenched tightly as if he were holding onto a slight thread of hope that was helping him contain his anger. However, at the same time, his body couldn't help but shiver in fear.
It wasn't your average fear that one would feel while facing someone powerful... No, it was the fear that he might lose his only purpose in life, his son.
Since the day his son—Mo Wusheng—was born, bad enmity seemed to have taken a liking to him for not even for a moment was he ever allowed to live normally.
While giving birth to him, his mother sacrificed her own life to protect that of their son, while Mo Taixuan couldn't do anything for them except hold her tightly in his arms and wail out loud.
At the end, Taixuan began to cherish Wusheng more than anything in the world, protecting him from any and all risks that could bring harm to his little soul.
However, even then, he was unable to break the chains of fate that reduced Wusheng to the state of a good-for-nothing.
Born with a special condition that prevented his mind from ageing, Wusheng was cursed to forever remain a child who needed assistance in most daily chores.
This curse of his slowly ate away at his potential and talent since with time, due to his child-like personality, his Qi vessels shrank and meridians hardened, making it impossible for him to embark on the journey of becoming an immortal.
And yet, Taixuan did his utmost best to keep his son safe even if that meant suppressing his own clan that continuously tried to bring him down by using his son in one way or another.
For years, he was simply tolerating their insolence, thinking that they too were a part of his family.
However, as of now, he couldn't come to believe that his son was so easily kidnapped in a place ruled solely by their family.
"P-Please be safe... Wusheng..." His voice trembled as a feeling of doubt and horror still lingered in his mind.
Some time later, as Taixuan relentlessly flew all the way outside the land ruled by his clan, he saw a natural boundary of trees at a distance that led to the depths of a dense and tall forest.
"A-AARGH!!"
Suddenly his heart skipped a beat as he widened his eyes in shock. Cold sweat formed over his forehead in an instant while his body immediately went cold.
"That voice..." His eyes trembled as he knew that voice... Or, scream better than his own.
Without wasting any time, with all the power he had in his body, Taixuan rushed towards the forest while a single word kept repeating itself in his mind—'No'.
As he approached the forest, it didn't take long for him to notice giant poles of wood, sturdily standing higher than the trees themselves.
The screams, however, did not stop even for a second.
The forest, the trees, the wind—all things were filled with guttural screams of someone, Taixuan held most dearly in his heart.
Experiencing such a thing, his heart raced with anxiety, and his eyes became numb.
"Ah, you're finally here!" A voice echoed from around the tall wooden poles, piquing his interest instantly as his eyes darted towards the same wooden poles.
On top of one of those, a middle-aged masked man dressed in Red striped black robes stood valiantly while holding onto a young man—bruised and coated in crimson blood—with his right hand through his hair, the young man's body hung suspended in the air.
It only took a single glance. A single glance for Taixuan to recognize the young man even in such a battered state of his body.
Without thinking, he rushed towards him only to be stopped abruptly by a longsword that the masked man held onto with his left hand, its blade tracing over the young man's throat as if he was threatening to behead him if Taixuan were to close any distance.
He clenched his fists tightly—blood dripping from the crevices as his fingers dug into his palms—and roared at the top of his lungs.
"UNHAND MY SON!!!"
Influenced by anger, his qi unknowingly lost control and flowed out of his body like a ravaging wave that crushed everything around him within a distance of 30 meters.
The masked man though, didn't budge at all. On the contrary, he burst out into laughter.
"Taixuan, it just so happens that you don't look as much frightening as before, to me." He said in a low but crystal clear voice.
"Because you see, I've made some new friends who harbour the same feelings for you, like me."
As soon as he said that, muffled noises of laughs and cackles appeared around the vicinity.
All around the area, giant cracks began to appear in the air, forming a dome-like circle around them.
Through these cracks, countless men slowly hovered outside, covering every and all escape routes.
Taixuan ran his eyes through their individual attire and couldn't believe his eyes.
"SO THIS WAS YOUR TRUE MOTIVE!? HAVE THE SO CALLED 6 GREAT FAMILIES STOOPED SO LOW TO EVEN RESORT TO SUCH PLANS?!!"
Taixuan had recognised all of them.
Thousands of people from the other 6 clans had gathered together to end his life.
"Oh, we won't be needing this anymore." The masked man's voice softly echoed.
His words made Taixuan dart his eyes towards him. However, it had been too late.
*Squelch!*
By the time he realized and could've done anything, the masked man had already sliced the young man's head completely off his body, letting it fall from that height while his head remained entangled in his hand through his hair.