Chapter 158: Worse Than a Beast

After Sun Liancheng finished speaking, the atmosphere seemed to freeze instantly. What he said made complete sense; as for that old man, even subjecting him to death by a thousand cuts would not be too harsh, in my opinion. The problem was that Sun Liancheng was that man's biological grandson. For a grandson to hold such deep resentment toward his own grandfather felt a bit bizarre. Of course, my eldest brother had also harbored such a lethal intent toward our grandfather before knowing the truth, but that was under circumstances where misunderstandings had not been cleared up. On the contrary, I had half expected Sun Liancheng to be hand in glove with his grandfather.

"Is he really your biological grandfather?" I asked with a bitter smile.

Sun Liancheng nodded. "He is."

"Didn't you say it was a case of one willing to beat and the other willing to take it? Since you should be the person he trusts most and he handed the Sun family's affairs over to you, logically speaking, he ought to have taught you his evil art of harvesting Yin to nourish Yang as well," Xiao Qi chimed in.

"If it were merely the art of harvesting Yin to nourish Yang, he wouldn't necessarily deserve death yet. The problem is that he has completely lost his humanity. Little Seven, did you think he was just joking with you earlier? That he wouldn't actually violate you? You are wrong. In his eyes, nothing matters. Any woman, as long as she is pretty, is nothing more than his cultivation cauldron. He really would have taken you. Do you know why Sun Zhongmou was never entered into the Sun family genealogy? And do you know why Sun Zhongmou refuses to come to Jinan?" Sun Liancheng asked with a wry smile.

I shifted my body with a surge of excitement. This was a point that had felt strange to me ever since I first arrived here. I had originally thought that if Sun Liancheng was cut from the same cloth as his grandfather, I might never find the answer. Yet Sun Liancheng's current demeanor undoubtedly brought a sudden glimmer of hope out of a hopeless impasse. He lit a cigarette, looked at us, and asked, "I know Ye Zi is completely in the dark about past events, as Elder Ye intentionally kept him out of it. Xiao Qi, have you never heard of the Sun family twins?"

Xiao Qi shook her head. "No, Grandmother never mentioned anything about the Sun family."

Sun Liancheng paused for a moment and gave a bitter smile. "So they actually all knew that the Sun family acted as traitors back then, and they were unwilling even to speak of the Sun family. My grandfather and my second great-uncle were twins. My grandfather is called Sun Congwen, and my second great-uncle was called Sun Congwu. One civil and one martial, they were known as the Sun family's twin pillars. As you probably already know, the Sun family used to be a family of water ghosts who made their living by retrieving corpses from the Yellow River, and naturally, they mastered many secret techniques of the water ghost sect. To outsiders, the affection between these two brothers was profound—brothers of one mind can cut through metal—and indeed it was so for a long time. Working together heart and soul, not only did they win the high regard of Guo Zhongyong of the Ghost Dao, but they also pushed the Sun family to its peak, making it one of the four major factions of the Ghost Dao. But later, an incident occurred. Second Great-Uncle Sun Congwu moved to live in the old Sun family residence by the Yellow River, while my grandfather Sun Congwen seized control of the Sun family. The Sun family grew even more powerful. In the past, I had roughly guessed what happened behind the scenes, but I didn't dare to be certain. Today, however, Fatty has essentially confirmed my suspicion: during the upheaval in the Ghost Dao back then, my grandfather played a rather unsavory role. To put it bluntly, he acted as a traitor to the Ghost Dao."

"It was also from that time onward that he became obsessed with the art of harvesting Yin to nourish Yang. It was only later that I found out: all the women in Second Great-Uncle's household, including my second great-aunt and Second Great-Uncle's two daughters, were used as cauldrons by him. Second Great-Uncle's only son committed suicide out of shame and resentment because of this. Second Great-Uncle moved to the old Sun family residence and never set foot in the Sun family again, precisely because the relationship between him and my grandfather was an irreconcilable blood feud. As you should know by now, Sun Zhongmou's surname comes from Second Great-Uncle. The Sun family has never acknowledged them, and neither of them has ever acknowledged the Sun family."

"It's pathetic that I didn't know what kind of man my grandfather was at first. Until five years ago, when I was still in college and dating a girlfriend. She was such a kind person, and we had already promised our lives to each other. I brought her home simply to let my family see her. At that time, I still didn't know his true face. As a result, he asked her to deliver some tea to him. I waited for a long time, but she never returned. When I went to look for her and pushed open that door, I could never forget the scene that met my eyes." Sun Liancheng opened another bottle of beer; his eyes were already bloodshot, and his face was written all over with hatred.

I suddenly felt that this Sun Liancheng was utterly pitiful. For a person to have such a grandfather was truly a tragic thing. Although he didn't spell it out explicitly, we could all imagine what he saw after pushing open that door.

No matter how cold and fierce Xiao Qi usually was, she was still just a young woman. She slammed her hand on the table and cursed, "He deserves to die!"

"Who's to say he doesn't? He even preyed upon his own future granddaughter-in-law. I was nothing more than a piece of trash. Even though I knew he had violated the woman I loved most, I didn't know what to do. My father advised me to endure it and promised that the Sun family's business would be handed over to me to manage in the future. It wasn't that I coveted the family property; I simply didn't know how to handle the situation. As a result, right after we left the Sun family estate, she jumped from the upper floor. To this day, I can still never forget her eyes, filled with eternal grievance in death. Over these past few years, I have lived in humiliation under his thumb, disguising myself as an utterly obedient person, but every single moment I think of killing him, eating his flesh, and drinking his blood." When Sun Liancheng said these words, the veins on his forehead bulged, and his face was contorted with hatred.

After hearing what he said, I quietly lit a cigarette. I found that my arms were trembling. I didn't know how to describe my feelings at that very moment; I only felt a chill run through my entire body, and I utterly failed to comprehend that such a person could even exist in this world—someone compared to whom even a beast would be an insult to beasts.

"You've had it really tough," I could only offer this meager consolation to Sun Liancheng in the end.

"Second Great-Uncle is a man who values deep emotional bonds. Even though his elder brother had completely lost his humanity, he still couldn't bring himself to strike at his own flesh and blood. Therefore, he cultivated Sun Zhongmou. In the eyes of those in the know within the Sun family, Sun Zhongmou was actually Second Great-Uncle's sword. Second Great-Uncle spent twenty years whetting this sword until it was incomparably sharp, specifically to use it to take Sun Congwen's head," Sun Liancheng said.

"And then?" I asked.

Knowing my eldest brother as I did, if he decided to kill someone, it would be a fight to the death. After returning to Fudigou ditch, my eldest brother did not change his surname and continued to be named Sun, which in itself indirectly demonstrated the fine relationship between my eldest brother and Sun Congwu, the Sun family's second great-uncle. If that was the case, my eldest brother would inevitably kill Sun Congwen for Sun Congwu's sake.

"Sun Congwen had long anticipated that this day would come. On the surface, it appeared that Second Great-Uncle had ultimately forgiven his eldest brother and left Sun Zhongmou with a dying injunction to let go of his hatred and never return to Jinan. In reality, the truth was that the female relatives in Second Great-Uncle's household had all been imprisoned by Sun Congwen in a secret place. Those who were dead were dead, and those who lived were living lives worse than death. He used this method to force Second Great-Uncle to commit suicide, and he used the same method to force Second Great-Uncle to write that final testament," Sun Liancheng said.

At this moment, Fatty opened his eyes, looked at Sun Liancheng, and asked, "Since you hold such deep hatred in your heart, why didn't you go kill him yourself? If I were you, I would have risked my life against him long ago."

Sun Liancheng gave a bitter smile. "Risk my life? What do I have to risk my life with? It's not that I'm cowardly, but if I die, who will kill him? Who will avenge her who jumped to her death?"

I glared at Fatty and said, "Fatty, not everyone has your abilities. Besides, couldn't you even beat that old fogey? Sometimes staying alive to exact vengeance is far better than marching off to throw your life away. Enduring humiliation and bearing a heavy burden is no mistake. Sun Liancheng, the seed of this hatred has been planted in your heart for so many years. You must already have a perfect plan in mind for how to kill this old bastard. Times have changed now; we can't just rush in and hack someone to death—that's breaking the law. Of course, I'm certainly not naive enough to think that calling the police could deal with the patriarch of your Sun family. Tell us your plan."

"The female relatives of Second Great-Uncle's household—meaning my second great-aunt and two paternal aunts—are all locked up by Sun Congwen in the forbidden grounds of the Sun family. As long as we rescue them, Sun Zhongmou, once he knows the truth, will definitely kill that old bastard. Although my hatred for him is extreme, I still want Sun Zhongmou to kill him with his own hands; that will fulfill the dying wish of my Second Great-Uncle," Sun Liancheng said.

"So you know where Sun Zhongmou is, right?" Fatty asked.

Sun Liancheng nodded. "Of course I know. So you can treat this as a trade: help me rescue those people, and I will naturally tell you where Sun Zhongmou is."