LAVW – Chapter 15 The Truth About Father’s Death

Li Qingqian realized her ring had fallen off and immediately shouted, “My ring!”

Her cry caught Long Chengyang’s attention, and in his peripheral vision, he noticed Shi Qian—a creature with a Foundation Establishment aura, yet surprisingly weak.

There was no need to guess—it had to be Long Ye’s spirit beast.

That first escape technique earlier? He knew there was no way Long Ye could have executed it himself.

While blocking Long Ye’s attacks, Long Chengyang took a quick glance at Shi Qian on the ground and launched an attack in that direction.

Shi Qian attempted to use Earth Escape, drawing on the earth energy of the Five Elements. However, Long Chengyang had already hardened the surrounding soil, disrupting the earth energy and making it unstable.

Simply put, escaping was difficult.

Long Ye also practiced the Long family’s techniques—he understood his own kin. The moment Long Chengyang moved, he knew his opponent was targeting Xiao Qian.

Even though Long Chengyang was injured, he was still on a different level than Long Ye. Protecting both himself and Shi Qian at the same time was too difficult.

The young man’s face was cold, his expression unreadable.

Without hesitation, he shifted his attack toward Li Qingqian, who was too focused on retrieving her ring to flee in time.

Long Chengyang had no choice but to protect this burdensome woman again, cursing Long Ye’s cunningness in his heart.

Shi Qian, who had inspired this underhanded tactic, suddenly had a bright idea. Seizing the moment when Long Chengyang was distracted, he swiftly dodged away from the immediate danger zone.

A brilliant move—using Li Qingqian as bait to save the Aotian!

Shi Qian escaped, but Long Ye was immediately locked in battle with the much stronger Long Chengyang, struggling with each exchange.

Shi Qian’s fur stood on end as he watched. Taking another look at Li Qingqian’s ring, he boldly teleported behind Long Chengyang and, moving quickly, pulled out one of Li Qingqian’s flashy dresses from the storage ring—throwing it over Long Chengyang’s head.

Earlier, the two had struggled over the ring without damaging it, proving the dress was of high quality.

Luckily, Shi Qian’s guess was right. Li Qingqian’s dresses had been specially crafted by an artifact refiner for protection—at a great expense.

With his task complete, Shi Qian didn’t stay to admire his handiwork and immediately fled once more.

Long Chengyang, furious, ripped the dress off his head and threw a punch at Long Ye.

His spiritual energy condensed into a fierce, crimson fist wind, radiating scorching heat like flames, hurtling toward Long Ye with overwhelming force.

With no chance to dodge, Long Ye had no choice but to counterattack.

His fist transformed into a smaller dragon claw, reaching forward in a grasping motion to intercept the incoming attack.

When their blows collided head-on, Long Ye was forced several steps back, coughing up blood.

The ground split open on both sides, creating a fissure half a person wide and deep. The side closer to Long Chengyang looked as if it had been scorched by fire, its surface charred. A massive willow tree by the riverbank collapsed with a loud crash into the water, sending towering waves into the air.

Even Long Chengyang, who had gone all out in his attack, was pushed back two steps.

Doubt flickered in his eyes.

Overnight, this brat Long Ye had advanced from Qi Refining Level Five to at least Level Eight. And that Dragon Subduing Claw technique—it was exceptional. Even more alarming, it carried a faint trace of true dragon might.

Had he not seen the Golden Core ancestor of their family fight before, Long Chengyang wouldn’t have been able to recognize it. Because within their clan, no one else had ever used the Dragon Subduing Claw at this level.

Long Chengyang’s wariness deepened. Without hesitation, he retrieved his magical weapon from his storage pouch.

Gripping the blade with both hands, his arms suddenly bulged with explosive power, tearing his sleeves apart. Veins snaked beneath his bronze-toned skin like coiling serpents, ready to entwine his weapon.

With a mighty swing, Long Chengyang brought his blade down toward Long Ye.

A piercing screech split the air as the massive shadow of the blade, infused with spiritual energy, slashed downward with overwhelming force.

In Shi Qian’s vision, the blade shadow seemed as if it would split Long Ye’s figure in two. The overlapping blade projections connected seamlessly, attack after attack, with no gaps in between.

As the battle raged back and forth, Shi Qian gradually deciphered the pattern of the “scent of courting death” he had detected.

Perhaps because Long Chengyang’s hostility was particularly directed at Long Ye, the scent Shi Qian perceived was slightly different from when he was captured by the demonic cultivator. Additionally, the intensity of the scent was much fainter.

Whenever Long Chengyang harbored killing intent toward him, the scent would mix into two distinct types, becoming even more pronounced.

Shi Qian could detect the scent related to Long Ye, likely because of the contract they had formed—some unseen force strongly linking their fates.

The moment Long Chengyang swung his blade, Shi Qian caught an even stronger whiff of the scent.

He teleported again, reappearing on the other side and hurling objects from Li Qingqian’s storage ring to launch a sneak attack on Long Chengyang.

Long Chengyang was utterly irritated by him, but after realizing that Long Ye had grown stronger, he made up his mind—his attacks became even more ruthless. He didn’t even notice how every time Shi Qian interfered, it was perfectly timed to aid Long Ye.

Yet the gap in sheer strength was impossible to bridge. Within just three strikes of the blade technique, Long Ye—whose spiritual energy could no longer keep up—was struck on both arms.

Blood dripped steadily down, staining the uneven ground beneath him.

Panting heavily, Shi Qian crouched on top of Long Ye.

“Squeak squeak!”

We can’t win—we need to think of a way to escape.

But they had to choose the right moment to flee. If they were interrupted mid-escape, it could disrupt the battle even more.

Long Ye was also gasping for air, clutching the wound on his arm. He looked at Long Chengyang in confusion and asked, “Why does Uncle want to take my life?”

Long Chengyang’s stance wasn’t that of someone trying to capture—he was trying to kill.

“You still claim you haven’t hidden any treasures?” Long Chengyang swung his blade again, his voice cold. “This spirit beast… your cultivation… what exactly is going on?”

“No matter. Even if you don’t explain, today I will rid the family of you!”

The moment he finished speaking, the ferocious blade projection slashed toward Long Ye once more. His dantian was nearly empty of spiritual energy—he had no strength left to resist.

Once again, Shi Qian dragged him away in a desperate attempt to evade, leaving behind a path of destruction as they tore through the willow trees along the riverbank.

Shi Qian eyed the river, preparing to dive in and escape. He was skilled at Water Escape as well.

Fighting wasn’t his talent, but when it came to running away—he was unmatched.

Besides, if they went deep enough underwater, Long Chengyang would struggle. Very few people at the Foundation Establishment stage had mastered underwater combat.

But just as Shi Qian was about to jump, Long Ye’s weak aura suddenly started surging. Right in the midst of crisis, he broke through—leveling up on the spot.

He advanced from the eighth stage to the ninth, as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth flooded into his body.

Long Ye felt like his body was burning—especially his bleeding arms. His meridians seemed to be set ablaze, sending waves of excruciating pain through him. Yet amidst the agony, the spiritual energy of his breakthrough poured back into him, making him stronger.

With renewed strength, Long Ye took over Shi Qian’s task—grabbing a massive, broken willow branch and sweeping it fiercely at Long Chengyang, who had also expended a great deal of energy.

The chaotic disturbance of the five elemental energies led to a failed escape attempt.

But as Shi Qian watched Long Ye break through in the middle of battle and caught a familiar whiff of an “arrogant protagonist script,” he reassured himself—there was no need to panic.

This ability to grow stronger on the spot was practically a signature move of the Long family.

While fighting, Long Ye’s mind was still split between analyzing the situation.

If it was merely about the treasure he had hidden, Long Ye didn’t believe Long Chengyang had any real need to kill him. Wouldn’t keeping him alive to take further advantage of him be a better option?

There had to be another reason.

And his uncle was afraid of him getting stronger.

Long Ye didn’t miss a single detail in the battle. In fact, he realized he was even calmer and more adaptive than usual—perhaps this was how he was meant to be all along.

Shi Qian took a deep breath, bit into a mid-grade spirit stone for energy, and continued his hit-and-run tactics.

Seizing the moment when Shi Qian once again interrupted Long Chengyang’s attack—causing him to cough up blood from the backlash—Long Ye unleashed the Dragon Subduing Claw once more.

This time, it struck Long Chengyang.

But a fiery red glow rippled out from Long Chengyang’s chest, vibrating with the patterns of a formation—it was his final line of defense, blocking the damage.

Sensing the familiar energy, Long Ye’s gaze locked onto Long Chengyang’s chest, his expression instantly turning mad, as if he wanted to tear his heart out.

“My father’s protective artifact—why is it on you?!”

When Long Ye’s father had gone missing, the clan had only found traces of him and some remains in a dangerous mountain. The most valuable weapons and protective artifacts he carried were never recovered.

Yet now, his father’s protective artifact was perfectly intact on Long Chengyang’s body.

This meant that his father had never even gotten the chance to activate the artifact, which would have automatically protected him if he had been injured. And out in the wilderness, no one would be foolish enough to just remove their own life-saving artifact.

That left two possibilities:

One—whoever attacked his father was overwhelmingly powerful, and Long Chengyang happened to pick up the artifact later. But knowing Long Chengyang, if he had merely picked it up, he would’ve claimed it openly without any guilt.

The other possibility—Long Chengyang was responsible for his father’s death.

Long Ye recalled that three years ago, his uncle, Long Chengyang, and Long Xing had gone into seclusion for a period and emerged having successfully broken through their previous bottlenecks.

Long Xing was already old and shouldn’t have been able to advance any further, yet his vitality had suddenly surged—leading many in the family to suspect he had obtained some miraculous treasure.

Even Long Ye’s cousin was rumored to have improved his natural talent.

Long Ye had poor aptitude, and his father had always been searching for rare heavenly treasures that could help him improve. But altering one’s talent was defying the heavens, and such resources were among the hardest to find.

As countless details flooded his mind, everything suddenly clicked—exploding like a thunderclap.

Meanwhile, Long Chengyang, hearing the sound of approaching footsteps from a group of people, sneered coldly.

“So what if you know? You won’t live past today.”

Pain from his wounds suddenly erupted, spreading through his body. The crimson-eyed youth lost his composure—lost consciousness even—but his bloodshot eyes remained locked onto Long Chengyang.

With his hand shaped like a claw, a powerful aura radiating from the Dragon Subduing Claw, he tore through the blade shadows, ripping open Long Chengyang’s chest.

The strike didn’t just tear through fabric—it ripped away a chunk of his flesh along with the red jade artifact embedded with formation materials.

A wretched scream erupted from Long Chengyang.

Then, just as quickly, he lost even the right to scream.

By the time the Long family members, led by Li Qingqian, arrived at the old dock, they saw Long Chengyang collapse, clutching his blood-soaked throat, and Long Ye, looking like a demonic cultivator, slowly falling as well.

Shi Qian was the first to react.

Long Chengyang was dead—faster than in the original timeline.

That meant Shi Qian had accelerated Long Ye’s power-up.

But there was a problem. Watching Long Ye fall, Shi Qian froze for a second.

Bro… I’m calling you bro—how could you do this?!

Fight’s over and you just collapse? Who’s cleaning up this mess?

Me.

Damn it.

With his quick reflexes and a head start on the Long family, Shi Qian leapt onto Long Ye, grabbed him, and dived into the river to escape.

So skilled that the Long family couldn’t even keep up.

Deep underwater, an old turtle—its tail wound still not fully healed—sensed the familiar, terrifying presence approaching.

It froze for a moment.

Then, without hesitation, it shoved its head straight into the riverbed mud.

You can’t see me, old turtle. You can’t see me!