Light Fortress
Chapter 421 - 87: The Silent Sacrificial (Long - , Please Vote for Monthly Tickets)_2

Chapter 421: Chapter 87: The Silent Sacrificial (Long Chapter, Please Vote for Monthly Tickets)_2

Today, the north of Snow Forbidden City is not bustling.

Heavy snow blankets the city walls.

Since it’s the Bai Family’s annual "Ancestral Worship" festival, many elders have gone to the ancestral hall, and only a handful of people knew about Bai Xiu’s return to Changye. So initially, the crowd waiting was sparse and quiet.

The Second Elder of Bai’s Ancestral Hall, clad in the ceremonial robe worn during ancestor worship and a tall crown, hands tucked in sleeves, stood atop the snowy city walls in this out-of-place ancient robe, silently waiting.

If time were to turn back many years...

What howls past under the city gates would be horse-drawn carriages, not cars, and such attire might seem appropriate.

"Little Xiuzi is in such a hurry this time," said Bai Chen, arriving by the city wall and standing shoulder to shoulder with the Second Elder. He laughed, "He didn’t even give us a heads-up... Many people in Changye have been looking forward to catching a glimpse of him, even if from afar."

The Second Elder’s expression was solemn.

Bai Chen raised an eyebrow, sensing that something was amiss.

Perhaps it was because of the relentless snowfall.

Persistent clouds swept over the far stretch of the Snow Forbidden City, strands of black air swiftly winding and gathering, and as dark clouds covered the sky, the rumble of thunder began to grow.

The Second Elder was the one within the ancestral hall who had groomed Bai Xiu, and he was also the closest to him...

About Bai Xiu’s return, it was from the Second Elder that he had learned of it.

Before long,

after the lightning gathered, many people learned of Bai Xiu’s return, and many members of the Bai Family busy with ritual worship hurried out. People slowly moved toward the city wall, wishing to see the elegance.

At that moment,

"Little Xiuzi indeed encountered some issues... He has already entered the city ahead of us."

The Second Elder spoke softly to Bai Chen, "Stay with me a little longer... He wants to be alone for a while."

Bai Chen had a foreboding feeling.

"What happened...?"

After a long silence,

The Second Elder quietly said, "On his way back... Bai Xiu was the target of an assassination."

...

...

"Study? Go out? To study..."

Bai Lu plucked out leaves one by one from her palm, deciding between her choices.

She always felt restless today. The number of people in the ancestral hall was dwindling; it looked as if they all went to greet Little Xiuzi, yet why couldn’t she concentrate on her reading?

A bad premonition was forming in the back of her mind.

She closed the book, stood up, and raised her head.

Clouds swirled above Snow Forbidden City.

Thunder and lightning clashed.

The inside of the ancestral hall was momentarily illumined as if it were daytime.

The next moment, Bai Lu suddenly saw a familiar figure.

A youth in white.

"...Little Xiuzi?"

She doubted her own eyes.

Outside Bai’s Ancestral Hall was deserted; the streets in silence, only the ginkgo trees rustled in the wind.

Everyone had left to welcome Bai Xiu... but Bai Xiu had come here silently.

The great mountain, unreachable by countless talents in Snow Forbidden City,

actually had a rather immature baby face.

There was no emotion on Bai Xiu’s face... but congealed blood stained his sleeves...

Blood?

Bai Lu was stunned.

Bai Xiu saw her and simply nodded without saying anything.

He headed straight to the ancestral hall for worshiping ancestors in the backyard. Without disturbing a gust of wind or a leaf, he quietly arrived at the hall and looked up at the plaques offered there.

He just watched silently.

There was no anger or sadness in his eyes, no color at all... only calmness.

...

...

"Assassination?!"

Bai Chen could hardly believe his ears.

"The information I have is also limited,"

the Second Elder whispered, "All I know is... the rival’s plan was very thorough, and they acted with meticulous precision. They struck in the Frozen Prairie wilderness. When the first strike failed, they retreated thousands of miles away."

"But the exact location of Little Xiuzi... only the Bai Family would know." Bai Chen’s expression grew complicated.

"Indeed, that is the crux of the matter,"

said the Second Elder. "To be precise, the information about Little Xiuzi, only a few people in Bai’s Ancestral Hall would have known."

Some things are better left unsaid once you’ve made your point.

"No... it’s impossible..."

Bai Chen, unable to believe, frowned and said, "How could there be such a person inside our ancestral hall?"

The Bai Family was at its zenith!

First there was himself, and then came Bai Xiu.

The next two decades were set to dazzle the sky with twin stars!

And Bai Xiu... was even more outstanding, more talented than he was. If he continued to progress at this rate, he might even become...

The next Family Head of the Divine Throne.

"Regardless of our reluctance to believe, the reality lies before us... we must accept that someone leaked the information and organized this assassination, right inside the Bai Family," the Second Elder said with a deadpan expression. "This assassination attempt was very close to success. ’Qu Long’ stepped forward at the pivotal moment, taking the hit meant for Bai Xiu, and died on the Frozen Prairie, wounding the assassin before his last breath."

When Bai Xiu left Changye,

the ancestral hall dispatched a "Protector"... This was a role established by the five great families hundreds of years ago, following the Family Head through generations, akin to "Death Soldier," "Sacrificial Person." They dedicate their lives to the clan, willing to become the shadow beneath the light.

The Bai Family’s Protector and the Protector of the Li’s Divine Temple Mountain differ in their duties,

but what they sacrifice is almost the same.

They both give everything.

One could say... the meaning of Qu Long’s life was to die for Bai Xiu.

Bai Chen’s forehead began to show veins as he asked, "Where’s Little Xiuzi now?"

"In the ancestral hall,"

the Second Elder whispered. "The Protector of the Bai Family, born without sound and dead without noise, will not have a tombstone in the ancestral hall, nor will their names be recorded... Bai Xiu said he wanted to go and see."