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Sky Pride Vol. 4 Chapter 35- What Would You Pay?
🕑 Added 2025-10-31 14:00:16 +0000 UTCIt turned out that necessity did require an apology, even with entirely valid excuses. At least if the necessity in question involved getting your sister naked and washing her down with a handcloth.
Tian tried to point at the gory hell-pit that was the residue filled stone trough they had healed in. The ruins of the clothes were still somewhat visible as discolored stalagmites congealed into rising peaks by the accumulated blood, flesh, fat and foulness that had been sloughed off or lost during the process. If that wasn’t a good enough reason for a scrub, what was?
“I’m not saying I didn’t need a wash, I’m saying you shouldn’t have been the one to wash me!”
Tian felt a vein in his neck start to throb, and anger seeped up from his broken hips. It had hurt dragging her out of the pit and cleaning her off.
“I completely agree and understand. I should have asked one of the other available orderlies to do it.”
“If you had just waited, I could have done it myself.”
Oh yes, the woman who had nearly as many broken bones as he did, after losing a significant percentage of her skin and just having had most of her back, calves and rear rebuilt through profound daoist magic and the costly intervention of Grandpa Jun, would definitely do a fantastic job of cleaning herself. Grandpa Jun used up all his energy for her! He would be silent for who knows how long, years maybe. And now she’s bitching about getting wiped down?!
Tian took a deep breath and forced himself to use his calm orderly voice.
“If I had just waited, you would be fifty percent disease and fifty percent reeking, yellowy puss. As it is, I’m still going to need to draw disease out of you in the next day or so. My body and cultivation art managed to clear out all the thorns and the toxins that came with them, but there is just no way it also cleared out all the disease. It was completely necessary, and urgent.”
Hong grunted, clearly not willing to let the subject go, but her attention had caught on something. “I know you cultivate Advent of Spring for your vital energy cultivation, but… what exactly is your body cultivation art?”
“Nosy.” Tian snapped. He couldn’t keep the orderly voice up.
“Yes. Yes I am. I am completely violating a social taboo. Much like a young man getting a teenage girl naked while she’s unconscious and rubbing his hands all over her.”
There was a heavy silence.
Tian felt his anger deflate, making his mood crater. She was right. She was absolutely right. Under other circumstances, their parents might even insist they get married now. It wasn’t going to be like that, but still. Brother Fu would be furious with him. Aunty Wu would be even more furious. Doctor Pei would glare at him and demand to know if he had forgotten about respecting the patient’s dignity. Tian tried to explain.
“I… genuinely didn’t think of it like that. I knew about the nudity thing, but that part didn’t occur to me. I’m sorry. Really. I am very sorry. But I also really believe you would have gotten extremely sick and possibly died if I hadn’t.”
There was silence again.
“Best I’m going to get, huh?”
“If it makes you feel better, I’m now both angry over you being angry, and ashamed at myself for not understanding why you might get angry.” Tian offered. “At this point it’s mostly shame.”
It was, in fact, all shame. The flame of anger had guttered out in the cold wind of self loathing.
“Yeah, best I’m going to get. What exactly is your body cultivation art?”
“Supreme Virtue Hell Suppressing Body Refining Sutra. Which is less of an art and more like a piece of magical machinery I have planted inside of me. It runs like a waterwheel, Yang and yin turning into nourishment for my body and my meridians. It doesn’t stop me from getting hurt, but it does turn things like curses, poisons, gu and diseases into tonics and supplements. And… I can’t prove this or anything, but I have a feeling I hit demons a lot harder than I probably should be able to. It also makes my body more yin aligned, so I am literally heavier than I should be. Which is probably why I can’t float.”
Tian paused, thought through some things and continued. “I also think it might be doing something with those gold and purple flashes we have been seeing when we rescue the kids. But I don’t know what.”
Hong grunted. Silence settled back in. Then, “I cultivate the Ten Suns Godslaying Body. Remember when you stopped that Gu from trying to kill me while I was cultivating back at Depot Four? That was when I lit the first sun. I still only have the one sun lit. It’s an extreme yang body cultivation art. Hard, rigid. Linear. Explosive. The requirements for cultivating it are very strict, but each sun I light makes me exponentially stronger.”
This time it was Tian’s turn to grunt. “Sounds like we should be prioritizing finding you cultivation aids then. More sungold oranges and things.”
“Screw that, do you know how hard it is to find pure yang food and medicine? But we can hardly move for all the cursed crap around. Let’s push you to the Heavenly Realm. We’ll drop you in a cauldron with four thousand four hundred and forty four cursed nails, Blackwater demon-dragon spit, set yin fires burning below it, cook another batch of Tian Soup and BOOM! Heavenly Person Realm. Just that easy.”
“It’s yin refinement, so it would be silent or a sort of drawn out sigh, not a boom. But I see the vision. I’m glad I have finally persuaded you on the power of soup. It’s wonderfully effective.”
“You have not. You absolutely have not. I don’t know what you actually did, but I will be…”
She stopped abruptly.
“You were going to say ‘dead and in the ground before I believe you,’ weren’t you?” Tian grinned up at the dark cavern ceiling. He felt another giggle bubbling up, but kept ahold of it. He was not a giggler. He did not giggle. It was unbecoming of an older brother. Even if he really wanted to.
“No!”
“Uh huh.”
There was silence again.
“It would be a lead cauldron, obviously.” Hong continued.
“Mmm. The metal of extreme yin. I wonder if there is a spiritual version of lead. Abyssal Lead, Four Darknesses Lead, something like that.” Tian nodded. Small nods, he had a headache coming on, and it was shaping up to be a doozy.
“There must be.” Hong sounded quite certain on that front. “There’s at least a dozen forms of cinnabar that I know of, so there has to be at least that many forms of lead.”
“Logical.”
Silence collapsed around them again. Clouds were drifting across the sun. Tian could tell by the way the cavern suddenly dimmed, then brightened again.
“Why haven’t we been rescued yet?” Liren asked.
“Another good question. No idea. Best guess? They prioritized bringing back Little Treasure. If we died, that was that, and if we lived, we could make our own way back. In either case, with a Heavenly level Heretic in hiding nearby, they wouldn’t want to take any chances.” Tian murmured. He knew Liren could hear him just fine, and his head was throbbing now.
A more contemplative silence settled in again. “There is another option. We aren’t as political as the Five Elements Courtyard, but we have factions too. Your dad blew up out of nowhere, and his doctrines are upsetting a lot of people. Same thing with Elder Rui. It’s good that our patron got more powerful, but that power came as a loss to someone else.”
“Point. Think they are leaving us to die?” Tian asked.
“Ready made excuse in Little Treasure, and either way they lose nothing. Why not?” Hong’s voice was cold enough to make Tian shiver.
This time it was Tian who turned quiet. “I think that might be the thing that makes me leave the monastery, if it turns out to be true.” He murmured.
“What?”
“I love my brothers and sisters more than light and air. I love Brother Fu. I truly cannot imagine journeying through this world without you. But I can’t, can not, trust my back to a monastery that would turn its back on me that way. And yes, I blame the Monastery for the behavior of its True Disciples. They are the True Disciples, after all, the Inner Court. Look how they embody the teachings of the Ancestors.”
“Elder Rui hasn’t had time to make his reforms yet. Nor has your father. I think they are aware, but it’s a hell of a time to start making wholesale changes to sect discipline.” Hong sounded… he didn’t know what she sounded like.
“Yeah. And, Sister? You have been very careful to never mention it. But I know you know which family in the Inner Court waged war on yours. Elder Rui and Brother Fu gave their assent when your family wiped out the bastards who lived in your village before you came. Some Elder, and maybe a Direct Disciple, gave their assent when your family was killed.”
There was a deeper silence. “I…”
“If they are targeting you, Sister, they are targeting me. They know I will not share the same sky as them. Like you said, a perfect opportunity to walk away from future troubles. Just say the word. We might not be strong enough to avenge your family now, but we have lots and lots of people who support us, and who are strong enough.”
There was another long silence. Tian thought he heard a muffled sob. An hour later, Hong started speaking in a low voice.
“We had this gate guard named Chen. He was badly burned. Really badly burned. All over his face and body. He just sat by the front gate all day, slowly drinking his poppy sap tea. He was one of the surviving caravan guards who followed us to the village. He was one of the people who raided the… the clan that lived there before.”
“What was the name of the clan?”
“Xia. An honorable name, once. Long, long ago. For generations, it was a curse. Anyway. Uncle Chen would tell me anything I wanted to know. Didn’t care that I was ‘too young’ or whatever. He said he hurt too much to think of lies. So I asked him how he got burnt. He took a big drink of his poppy sap tea, and told me.”
Hong took a long breath herself. “The Brothers slaughtered the fighters and menfolk of the Xia. Anyone carrying arms. The servants and the women were left to us. And the children. The Xia had trouble conceiving, and the few kids they did have died young. They had managed to produce an heir, technically, but he was…”
Her voice trailed off. Tian waited. Hong picked up again.
“Uncle Chen told me that my dad told him that the boy should have died in the womb. That he was twisted in body. His brain didn’t work right. He got sick all the time. Every moment of every day that boy was trapped in his bed, in a dim room, in pain. So really, killing him, letting him reincarnate into a better family, was a mercy. A cold mercy. But a mercy, and necessary for our family to be safe.”
Tian nodded. He doubted Hong saw him do it, but she carried on anyhow.
“Uncle Chen found the boy. His mother was leaning over him. She had died when they knocked down the bedroom door. She had killed his nurse and put a poison pill in the boy’s mouth. Bloody foam and vomit poured out of his mouth, covering him. He was the size of a baboon, Uncle Chen said. He looked like he had already been mummified, he was so thin. Huge eyes rolled up in hollow sockets. Uncle Chen reached out with his knife to finish the boy quickly, so he didn’t linger. And then the fire started, before he could give the kid peace. It was something in Madame Xia’s robes. It caught fire, and spread to the jars of oil in the rafters.”
Hong took a sharp breath. “I think about it all the time. He had done nothing. That boy living like a sinner in Hell. Reincarnation is supposed to wash away your sins, so why? Why give him a short life purely to suffer? His parents were doing everything, everything they could to keep him alive, hoping he would get better, and the very last things he experienced in this horrible life were his mother murdering his nurse, poisoning him, then burning him alive. That was it. That was his end. His bones were tossed in the dump, along with the bones of the rest of the Xia.”
She took a deep breath.
“Like my dads. We forted up in our manor, and they did everything they could to pressure us, break our will. They tore apart my dads’ tombs and threw their bodies to dogs in front of our gate. Mountain Gate City doesn’t have feral dogs. The bastards brought a pack of hounds into the city, starved them, then fed them my dads’ bodies!”
He could hear the sobs in her voice, hidden under the fury. He didn’t have to see her to know tears ran down her face.
“That is the Monastery to me. That is the Inner Court. I love my sisters and my brothers. They have been the best things to happen to me since I was six. And yes, I know who killed my family, and yes, I dream of slaughtering the bastards. And their backers. And beating to death every person responsible for letting things get this bad. Working all the way up to the Celestial Emperor and the Jade Court.”
“So why stick around? You could have run off ages ago, if you wanted. Five Element Courtyard would take you in a heartbeat. Hell, why not turn heretic?”
“Because we are the Xia! Don’t you get it? They had been a Mountain Gate City family. I checked the Disciplinary Squad records. They had a Direct Disciple in their background, thousands and thousands of years ago. He died. The clan decayed. And they became that. There will be more Xia. More Hongs. Over and over and over. More kids burning to death under their mothers. Helpless to save themselves. Unless the Mountain changes. Not a little bit either. A drastic, top to bottom change. And it’s not the kind of change heretics can manage, because right now, things are running the way a heretic would manage them!”
“A revolution. You want to lead a revolution.”
“Literally, yes, though I’m not planning a military campaign.” She nodded. “I won’t run off, Brother Tian. I won’t spare them. I’m going to climb to the top of this shitheap. I’ll make myself the Head Bitch in Charge. I’ll drag in Brother Wang and Sister Su and Mei and Senior Brother Fu and Senior Sister Bai, Elder Rui, all the reformers. And I’m going to tell them “‘I have the biggest fist in the sect. You make a world with no more Xia Clans and Hong Clans. I’ll make sure no one stops you.’ And once they do, once they make as close to a perfect system as they can, then I’m going to leave. I’m leaving the Kingdom forever. All I’ll leave behind is a fear of me coming back, and a memorial tablet to that kid carved two hundred feet tall into the side of the fucking mountain!”
“What was his name? The boy who died in the fire.” Tian asked.
“Not even the ghosts know. The Xia never told anyone. They were worried their enemies would curse him and send demons after the only child they managed to keep alive past his first year in this generation. Which we, and others, absolutely would have done. He was just… Our Son. Or The Young Master. Titles, but no name. The last person who knew died setting fire to her baby.”
“It would have been nice to know. But I suppose it doesn’t really matter,” said Tian. “He died with his family and was buried with his family, and by now he has been reborn into a better life.”
Tian knew he was a lousy liar, so he told the truth. Praying that his sister didn’t hear him falling apart.
Comments
Harimeow
So here I am, all caught up, on this of all chapters. I have so many feels about this story I don't know where to start talking about it. I'm in awe of it. I'm so very grateful for the love and sweat that has so obviously gone into it. Bravo, Warby.
Colton Carey
I simply must read the next chapter. I’m reading like 20 a day man….. it’s too damn good… just one more, just one more chapter and I’ll be good, I’ll be goooood man PLEASE
Colton Carey
Oh my gawd
Sean Shivers
Lmao, talk about a mad God
Doggo
How do you write a chapter a day of this sort of quality its so good and also at a regular scheduele you must love you work and i love it too
Roxanne Moore
I have come to this series only this week, and burned through the chapters in mere days, and this. THIS! Of all two hundred and some chapters is where I run out of backlog.
Safa
Somehow, I'm too scared to read this chapter again and also scared of the next chapter T.T
Sean Shivers
seems unlikely. Having his humors reblanced as it were doesnt change his body cultivation, any of the arts he knows, or his elemental understandings. But it might give his swooping sparrows a bit of a boost
Sean Shivers
she doesnt know... but she does have all the clues. And if he has a huge reaction it'll signal that the story is particularly poignant to him for SOME reason. Especially if he dips out on the monastary for a timeskip.
Sean Shivers
i was gonna make a joke but they're underaged. They should timeskip a couple of years. :/
MurkyTruths
Warby choose trick this Halloween
Matt DiMeo
puss should be pus.
Felix Giron
Ooof. That was brutal. And necessary. Poor kids. Amazing kids. Pull it all down you two. Down with pride and the heavens. Xia Zihao. Xia Tian.
Gerald Ransom Jr
Dao Companions. Her family Murdered his. And Tian had a Direct disciple in his family a long time ago. Interesting thank you for the chapter
Zenopath (AEV)
I dont think Hong knows Tian is that boy. If nothing else, she wouldn't have described "he died in the fire" so callously if she knew. It would be manipulative and cruel to say she wanted to put a massive monument to him if she knew Tian were that person. Most of all, she doesn't believe in Tian soup... not really, Tian isn't sickly and weak, and he showed up without any burn scars, how could he be the same boy?
Marcia McGinley
Also I'm glad for his mother that he now knows the truth. It's been a minor irritant...
Marcia McGinley
This was such a looming sword of Damocles thing - I was dreading it would fall when the Tian/Hong relationship was vulnerable - that it would be used to break them up - So much better for it come out this way and also for Hong to be the one to tell Tian so he can hear how much she regrets what happened.
William Johnson
Oh no he know what we know uh oh!
Red Scarf
A
Sebastien Ruchet
This week, Warby decided to choose violence.
Matt DiMeo
earth pride instead of sky pride.
Daniel Viana Rodrigues
I've just reread the first chapter after reading this and it hit even harder. Wonderful work.
Gavriel
Oh, it's about time
fujaks
I think after Tian notices he's more yang alligned - he's going to switch to a different weapon, something incorporating the dao of ropedart, while being more yang.
Meredith
Warby’s Friday Cliffs give the “Friday” song a whole ‘nother level of cringe.
Fayhem
God this goes so hard...
David Blomeyer
Tian ... he puts a lot into other peoples needs. That is good and all... the Dao of Being Concerned About Other Peoples Needs, yeah? It's not a path to Wellsville, or the Peak either for that matter. It's reactive, unending, and the arch ends in burnout, at best. I'd prescribe a "Ancient Medicinal 12 Step Flying Cultivation Art" something like this; Crawl 1. Realize your own desires/needs are important. (optimally priority 1, but getting it to top 3 is a start) (remedial level is realizing you have them at all) 2. Sort out what your needs are. (enough clarity to solve for actions, then stop overthinking) 3. Redraw your boundaries (internally, then externally) 4. Act on your desires (Proactive = Taking actions from and towards your desires, rather then to "solve problems") 5. Have things happen, fuck it up, go back to 1 after you wall out, repeat. Walk 6. Realize that only doing 1 after 5 is partial credit at best. 7. Make 2, 3, and 4 a part of your "cultivation" rather then a "reaction", done in good times and bad. 8. Avoid being preachy. Run 9. Steal all the underpants 10. ??? 11. Profit! (humor, laughter, and humility deserve a few steps) Fly 12. ... (leave it empty, as you always leave room to grow ... plus its not like you can imagine what you will learn or desire while flying, yet)
Wheels42
I love your work Warby but you're an absolute bastard for this chapter. My heart man. You can't do this to me. Much love.
Sean Shivers
i think she has picked up on it. She's not an idiot. "My friend who i have seen with his hair down (and want to see with his hair down again), who was abandoned in a dump and lived for 15 years without hunan contact in said dump, who was poisoned and had all his fingers eaten, who talked about being horribly burned before the soupening, suddenly started bawling his eyes out when i talked about the horribly burned baby who died. He must see himself in the story.” “hey maybe i should see him in that story too.” Though, i give it 50/50 she wont press the matter for a variety of reasons, her current health, the obligation to report it to a higher family if she KNEW rather than just suspected, out of respect to let HIM bring it up, etc.
Logrus
....I really hope Liren picks up on this. She knows him way too well (and he's too poor a liar) to not put it together once she realizes how much this is fucking with his head.
Tom C
he would be Xia Zihao since the first name is the family name. Or if you wanna mess with the name a bit it could be Xia Tian if you want? - which translates to “summer” (I don’t know what the character for Xia used here is, so went with what I’d think if I heard someone say Xia tian)
EvilLittleThing
I was interested in the same thing, but I think that Picus was going for tianxia, which means "everything under heaven". Remember that Tian Zihao is the name grandpa Jun gave him, so Zihao (pride) wouldn't have been his Xia name. But on their own, Tian means "sky/overhead", and Xia means "beneath/under". (According to Google translate and Wikipedia)
Jeryd Greer
Tftc! Been waiting for this
Logan
Poor Tian.
GreenB
This is a different kind of cliffhanger. Probably more painful in some ways.
Nùmenor
"I truly cannot imagine journeying through this world without you." - Tian, you really don't seem to realize how that will be interpreted.
sigma
Tian Xia, oh god the whole story is nothing but setup for a bad pun. I love it.
Kain
At the rate he’s going I’m expecting him to get his last finger and ascend ie get perfect recall per Hong granny ie remember his birth name at the same time. And I’m also expecting he gets shot by at least 9 bolts of lightning at the same time, maybe even 81 bolts.
atmosphericturtle
What does the surname Xia mean? Does it have any meaning when put together with Zihao “pride”?
atmosphericturtle
And Grandpa’s got no energy either! 😞
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Good One.
Sean Shivers
"Thanks i hate it. "
Sean Shivers
Tian xia
Sean Shivers
"I know there are six different variations of this yin metal, so there are probably multiple variations of that yin metal too."
Trasen56
I think it was more thing that acted as the outlet for her emotions. Like when you have a terrible day, take it all in stride, but it's spilling your drink that makes you explode with anger.
Ano Ano
It's also threatening his view of his birth parents. They loved him and desperately tried to keep him alive. They also killed him at the end, but that was with murderers descending on them. Still complicates things.
BaguaBrady
Oh man it's gonna be hard to see him keep this truth from Hong. I don't like secrets like that between them. Great writing as always.
Zenopath (AEV)
This probably won't hurt Tian's view of Liren, she was 6 when this happened, so can't be blamed. But his Brothers in the outer monastery probably killed his real bio dad and uncles as they futility tried to defend their home. That's rough.
Robert Mullins
Pretty certain his name was Nxia Good ol' Xia Nxia
Endgame
I don't understand why Hong was mad at him for cleaning her up. She knows he is almost like a doctor, so why be mad at this? It's not like there was another person there to help out. Also, Tian had no clue how long she was going to be unconscious and being covered in filth for days would have really ended up killing her. Seem a little ungrateful of her to make him feel bad about it.
Kain
You know what would be very funny. Little treasure gets to the mountain and 80% of the upper echelons and powerful families are bathing in Sin Fire.
Zenopath (AEV)
I'm not sure she does. Remember she doesn't believe in Tian soup. How do you go from born weak sickly and then burned and poisoned to Tians current body without soup?
Hugsenuef
Pedant sidenote: Cinnabar is a mercury ore. Not sure why its types would relate to lead except for cinnabar being ritually important in Daoism.
Pedro Henrique
The burning and the throwing the bodies in a dump part seemed pretty obvious.
awakeatdawn
Goddamn that's perfect. Well done.
Aethric
I know this is small but it explains why back in the first chapter he was addicted to opium and had lead poisoning and all the various ailments that weren’t birth related. His family was trying to keep him alive and the doctors don’t know enough not to prescribe things that can kill, like mercury/lead. Puts his grandpas attitude re: smacking alchemists in some perspective.
Steve Wright
I think she’s saying that the Hongs were only a few turns of the dial away from being eliminated exactly like the Xia.
Andrew Goebel
In so many ways Tian and Liren are dead and buried. I hope they remain that way and start making decisions free of the monastery's influence. Maybe Liren goes back, but Tian should use this opportunity to break free. If only to parse the back to back realizations. The monastery abandoned the to die for political reasons(again), his family didn't really dispose of him, the Hongs killed his family with his brothers help. Tian should find her majesty and a land with a new perspective.
Zenopath (AEV)
Because we are the Xia! - Should probably be "Hong" in that sentence
KurichAlera
Wowee wow wow! Tian knows. I really would love to know how he figured it out. What an amazing chapter.
Andrew Simpson
Oh god tian. Jesus. I wonder what the clue was that let him piece it together.
Andrew Goebel
Yep, in to the family that killed him. And props up the society that continues that cycle. Wait did you say "much better?"
Kain
Honestly I didn’t really think I would empathize much with the Xia no matter what their story was but I gotta say, while their spiteful retaliation on the serfs is still reprehensible, I do kinda get why they would hate the world/region and do anything in their limited power to strike back. I mean from what was said this chapter the family endured generations of still/sickly births, was whittled down and killed off by their supposed allies on top of that, including having their infants that did manage to survive cursed to death, were picked apart for any resources they had left until they were down to just one town and then killed and dumped into a trash heap when it was politically expedient for another declining family to take their place. …. Yeah I would also kinda just want to watch the world burn if I was borne at the tail end of that cycle. Obviously they could have done things during that time to “earn” the “retribution” … but we know the infants fucking didn’t and the people doing the “retribution” are infant murderers so like… how much better are they exactly?
Loulaim .
She should know it’s him, right? That’s why she tried to sacrifice herself to save him. Overall, the dialogue feels more like she’s explaining to Tian why he shouldn’t leave the mountain just yet. Basically, she doesn’t tell him everything explicitly — she just says, “there was a boy,” and Tian replies, “would be nice to know his name, but he’s dead anyway.” It’s almost the same situation as with Wang and Mei — liars telling the truth to each other.
James Faulkner
The insane bloodline shenanigans that are gonna happen when Tian restores his last finger and breaks his curse better be absolutely insane lol
Jeff Gault
I kind of saw a hint of it in gramps musings about how our boy originally was destined to get revenge on the Hongs and use our girl as a stepping stone. But I dismissed it because I thought our boy had concluded that the timing didn't line up.
Veridescent
Hm well as a upside more development for Tian to contemplate on methods of deathig with and coping with the pains of existence. More space for realization and growth from such a thing. Bit of a bad time given Juns silent but could be worse
James Faulkner
Fuck man, I knew this was where that was going but what an insane gut punch
Robert Mullins
Grandpa knew most of, if not all of, this already. He specifically stated in his pov chapter that if things had gone how he originally expected them to then Tian would have already gotten revenge on the Hong family.
AkisP
No I am not crying, you are shut up!
Markus Müller
The last two chapters have been gutpunch after gutpunch. First he loses Grandpa and now this.
Len
heh 2 weeks, for me it would have to be 6 months to a YEAR. i read A LOT. I Won't START a story on RR unless it has AT LEAST 1000 pages. and i'll finish in 2-3 days, i start a webnovel on like novelfull, i choose things with 1000+ chapters. on Patreon, i have 3 subs going right now, this, Ryn's Path to Transcendence, CasualFarmers Beware of Chicken and i nab a month here and there with others that have excellent stories on RR and i NEEEEEED to know, i also read 2-3 books on kindle unlimited a week..
Steve Wright
Grandpa, sitting on the other side of the veil, yelling “Holy Buddha on a pogo stick, it all makes sense now!”
Veridescent
Recall this cultures dynamics of etiquette to continue hiearchy. Your life matters less than obedience that maintains social hiearchy. This very much is a ingrained pattern behind the more confucian dynamics for women and men. The dissonance is fair. It isnt a thing meant for individual outcomes or even really best outcomes for restoration from harm.
Vainirion
Good thing he can still fool his nerves. Our boi Tian will need a boatload of hugs.
True_Jolly_Roger
Indeed, for him its positive in some way. He wasn't thrown to the garbage by his family as he thought.
Aaron
Oh man. I didn't see that one coming. On a Friday no less, what a day to drop THAT bombshell. What a way for him to find out, and she has no idea. I can't imagine the next few chapters are going to be easy.
matthew strong
Fu probably did already
Khanalas
Hongs didn't kill just any family, Xias were hit by something like a security council resolution. And if they had a living ancestor, the same ancestor wouldn't have allowed them to descend into such lawlessness because it would've poorly reflected on them, and maybe had metaphysical consequences.
Noroh
That's going to take some processing. Shame therapists don't exist here cause these kids need a team of them.
LordAlton
Honestly, I don't see the biggest fallout here being with Liren. Tian has been able to discard thoughts of his original family pretty easily. Now he knows that not only was he not thrown out, but his family desperately wanted him, they protected him, his mother chose to die with him in her arms. That, more than finding out the Hongs did it, feels like what would fuck him up.
Adunn
He’s learning early that he’s gotta apologize for things that aren’t his fault. The wife is always right.
Khanalas
Why would it have to be this targeted? It might have also been generational bad karma and negative merit.
Tom C
I am disappointed in Hong for making Tian so ashamed that he experiences self-loathing. He saved her life, sure it was after she tried to save his - though I’m not sure if him getting hit by all the cursed wood would’ve killed him anyway, so while her gesture was great it was pretty pointless imo. He has now lost contact with his gramps over her, gramps expended all his power to save her. I’m struggling not to feel like Hong is a fucking asshat. Sure social mores of their culture might dictate that it’s bad for a boy to see and touch her body. But also, it was Tian and he was saving her life and there was no sexual aspect to it. And they are immortals! Beyond that crap really. Idk. This has lowered my opinion of her. Sure be a bit upset but don’t make Tian feel like shit. And then she accidentally also wrecks his mental state. Sheesh she’s just crapping all over him - though the Hong / xia stuff is unintentional 😅 TFTC!
Ano Ano
Tian is too smart not to put it together. And just after losing Grandpa's counsel! Brutal.
Pinpenny the great lithian
Warby, I don't know how, but you have somehow managed to make me dread weekends. I work a full time job, weekends are my only time off, and yet, you've somehow made me start looking forward to Mondays just for your story. Thank you for making this very good, very cruel story. I hate that I can't hate you for this.
Ben Nikel
I think my favorite part of this is. That child is in fact gone from the world, and also, the person who replaced him has in fact ended up in a much better family.
Kain
What I wanna know now is who’s gonna pay for missing the roots. The Hongs got in the last shot but it sounds like the Xia had a LOT of enemies dating back a LONG time. Generational infertility doesn’t just “happen” to cultivator families. Now obvious answer is Mad God cursed his entire family line just to try and cut off Tian but I feel like there has to be a closer at hand enemy that will show up maybe a “mortal” instrument of the mad god.
Feindin for readin
Grandpa confirmed it when he said tian was supposed to get get super strong and destroy her family a few chapters ago.
Aidan Scullion
This would be a fantastic time for a surprise extra chapter @Warby 😉😉
Robert Mullins
I was kind of expecting Liren to make the connection but I suppose you don't generally consider the possibility that someone is alive when they were confirmed dead years ago.
N . A Salim
Man, Ancient Crane Monastery is kind of lawless. A family with a direct disciple can kick out/kill a family with a true disciple (Hongs) and the the family with a true disciple can just come out and kill a family with no living inner court backers left (Xias). So if Hong Liren’s family didn’t have her they might eventually have gotten wiped out by another family that lost the political battle in Mountain Gate city after Grandma Hong dies.
Mistythread
Well shit. I knew it was a possibility but I don’t expect the revelation to come from Hong herself
s476
Normally I am happy about Friday
Kain
That makes it 10000x worse actually. At least as far as the inner turmoil is concerned.
David Giles
Well at least Tian now knows his parents loved him
Pickle
Hunh. All this time I thought it was a West Town Outer Court brother, maybe even Fu himself, who was in the room back in chapter 1. I guess it's good that the Brothers refused to slaughter noncombatants, but they stood aside and let the Hongs do it, so it's not that much of a difference.
Gardor
Wow im glad for that last line, i wouldnt know how to feel if Tian didnt connect the dots. I think this is Tian's first exposure to his past. If he had heard Lieran's story but remained ignorant of how it related to him, i would have been furious. Like, him saying "oh im so empathetic of that traumatic story and how it impacted you", without knowing it was HIS story, would have been very upsetting. My weekly reminder that it is Friday, and only the cold dark Sky Pride-less weekend awaits.
fujaks
I am guessing they told each other their body cultivation, because soon they'll notice the changes that took place in the soup - their body cultivations got jumbled together
True_Jolly_Roger
He was ashamed he didn’t understand that. Having his hands on her is still very theoretical for him. I have suspicion she did very subtle flirting her expecting him to blush.
Mike lee
The physical damage is over, time for emotional damage.
Edward Sandberg
Am I reading between the lines correctly? Tian knows everything we know now right?
João Vene
Xia Zihao doesn't sound as cool as Tian Zonhao anyway
Andrew Pribble
Thanks for the chapter, but it’s absolute bullshit that Tian is at all ashamed that he ‘had his hands’ on his sister. He saved her life at great price, in an act of heroism. He has nothing to be ashamed of and the fact her petulance about something as trivial as nudity in the face of a horrible death by invasive demonic roots is rewarded by his shame is a disservice to them both.
Kain
Oh yea he knows
True_Jolly_Roger
He should and will, very Tian thing to do
JAMAJ
Grandpa better be maxing the fuck out of those hugs right now lol
David Bailey
Utterly heartbreaking...
Mp2
he KNOWS
Jazzinald Von Hiemdallvinar
Uhhh. No nonono. Monday is so far away.
D2FU
so that’s all but confirmed hong’s family purged his own. Oh, he did put it together
ioajfidsnmfomds77
I should just wait two weeks to pick the series up again. Honestly Warby this is brutal
Matt DiMeo
For a second there I thought his name was Tianxia, before I came to my senses.
KipBR
Wow, Tian really could use gramps right about now.
Afrisan
This was insane. Thanks for the reveal
Afrisan
Holy shit
LordMars
Tian knows. Oh Tian knows. Oh this is exquisite.
Frank
Oh that is perfectly horrible timing for Grandpa to not be able to say anything.
WolfWithAGun
Ouch. That uh... goes in the list of things to absolutely never tell anyone else
Cally JJ
Damn, that is dark to think about. Hong's family murdered the entirety of Tians and even lead to his own almost death. I wonder if he will ever tell her.
Aadi Narayan
Amazing chapter! I love that this is happening while they are trapped together in the hole. Why did this have to be the chapter on a friday!!!!
Matt DiMeo
oof
Ekko
Damn. Tian has found out the truth...
JTP
Oh my God. What an amazing chapter! I'm struggling to process this. So good!
Morog T Tiny
great ;-)
