In an instant, under the overwhelming aura of the Foundation‑Building Stage, Shane Shen was drenched in sweat, his legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.
"Much obliged, Young Master Shen—kneeling for my parents on behalf of the Shen Family!" Ryan Ling shot him a cold, mocking grin, then yanked Ling Jianghai over without missing a beat.
"Young Master!"
"Young Master!"
The two Void Realm bodyguards nearby glanced at each other in fear. Seeing Ryan Ling walk away, they hurried to help Shane Shen up, but Ryan's aura was so oppressive that Shane couldn't budge—he couldn't even stand on his own power.
"Nephew, you'd better leave. You really are in the wrong here—this is an ancestral ceremony, and you just barged in to cause trouble. The Shen Family is powerful, but they can't just ignore everyone else. Now that Ryan Ling is a major general in the Jinling Military Region, I'll personally explain this to your father when I get the chance. I hope you know how to behave!" At this moment, seeing Ryan's overwhelming strength, General Kenneth Li seized the opportunity to speak up.
With his stance made clear, the rest of the crowd immediately sided with Ryan Ling!
"Let's go!" Shane Shen gritted his teeth. There was no need to say it—today, the Shen Family had lost all face, and he couldn't possibly swallow this humiliation.
"Not seeing you off." Ryan Ling snorted, instantly locking Ling Jianghai away. Even though his parents' car crash was years ago, doubts still gnawed at his heart.
He'd been just a kid back then, but the whole car crash was weird—no blood, no bodies, and the cops just said his folks fell off a cliff. Ryan Ling hadn't thought much of it all these years, but with the Ghost Elder's reminder, it suddenly hit him: this was way more complicated than he'd ever imagined.
With Shane Shen stirring up trouble, the whole ancestor-worship ceremony turned sour. After a quick ritual, Ryan Ling placed his parents’ spirit tablets up high in the Goldridge Confucius Temple for incense. Ling Jianghai and the others got tossed into lock-up, waiting for Ryan to grill them and finally dig out the truth behind his parents’ so-called car crash.
But according to the System and the Ghost Elder’s deductions, Peter Ling wasn’t the real culprit—he just might know some details!
Ryan Ling didn’t want to wait any longer. As soon as the ceremony ended, he saw off all the guests, leaving only his own brothers and women like Angie Chen. He didn’t go back to campus either—after today’s uproar, returning to Jinling University would cause a huge stir. Besides, right now he just wanted somewhere quiet to investigate his parents’ past.
That night, Ryan Ling dragged Peter Ling out of the wooden‑element cell he’d built himself.
"Spare me! I’ll never dare again, I swear—I really won’t!" At this moment, Peter Ling looked at Ryan Ling as if he’d seen a ghost. All he could do was kowtow—he didn’t dare do anything else.
"Peter Ling, I’m going to ask you something extremely important. If you answer honestly, I’ll spare your life!" Ryan Ling yanked him up.
"I’ll talk, I’ll talk—I’m already telling the truth!" Peter Ling was so scared his tears and snot were all mixed together.
"C-car crash!" Ling Jianghai blurted out, thrown off guard.
"C-car crash!" Peter Ling stammered, caught off guard.
"You’d better think carefully. If you lie even a little, you know what I’m capable of." As soon as Ryan Ling finished, he summoned the Hell Furnace—its raging flames roared to life.
"It really was a car crash!" Ling Jianghai looked like death warmed over, but he just kept insisting.
"Burn!" Ryan Ling didn’t hesitate for a second. The Ghost Elder had already made it clear—his parents’ deaths were nowhere near that simple.
"Aaaah!" Peter Ling screamed in agony—Ryan Ling showed no mercy, and in an instant, half his leg was roasted to a crisp.
"Burn!" Ryan Ling didn’t even blink. The Ghost Elder had already told him—his parents’ deaths were way more messed up than some car crash.
Ryan Ling froze for a moment—he wanted the truth so badly his heart was pounding.
"Ryan, I’ve kept this buried in my heart for years. I really did want to tell you, but that scene, those people—they’re not something we can even imagine. Even with all your power now, I’d advise you to stay out of it. You can’t afford to mess with them..." Peter Ling rambled, making no sense.
"Talk! I just want the truth!" Ryan Ling was sweating from anxiety, his voice like a thunderclap.
"Alright, I'll talk—your folks definitely didn’t die in a car crash, it was a bunch of people…" As Ling Jianghai got this far, his face contorted in terror. Suddenly, he let out a blood-curdling scream, and his whole body blew apart with a sickening bang, turning into a pile of meat paste.
"W-what just happened?" Ryan Ling was startled—he’d been about to learn the truth, and Peter Ling just blew himself up. It was way too sudden.
"If I'm guessing right, that's a speech bomb—set by some top-tier big shot. The moment Ling Jianghai said the wrong words, he went boom!" The System and Ghost Elder frowned. "Looks like this is way messier than we thought!"
"I'm heading to the crash site to get to the bottom of this!" Tonight's events had flipped Ryan Ling's whole world upside down.
His parents were just honest farmers—how could they possibly be connected to top‑tier figures? Why would anyone target them, and why cover it up? All these questions spun through Ryan’s mind. There was no way he’d sleep tonight without answers.
He drove himself out of Jinling and straight back to Harbor City in East River State. Right now, the whole thing was top secret—until he figured it out, he wouldn’t tell a soul.
He drove all night. At dawn, he finally arrived at the mountain valley where it happened—a place Ryan Ling knew well, since he’d come here to pay respects almost every year.
Back at this painful spot, Ryan Ling's feelings were totally different this time.
Staring into the deep valley, Ryan Ling didn’t hesitate—he dove straight down.
Were his parents really killed in a car crash? He’d know as soon as he checked.
A few minutes later, Ryan Ling reached the bottom of the valley.
A wave of damp, foul stench hit him in the face. He quickly swept the area and shouted, "Scatter!"
In an instant, all the stench and dead leaves were cleared away.
No sign of any car crash—just faint traces of immortal energy drifting in the air.
"What the—?" Ryan Ling was now Foundation-Built, an immortal cultivator—he could sense it. The immortal energy here was even stronger than his own, and by a huge margin.
"Ryan, what we know for sure now is your parents absolutely didn’t die in a car accident—they were killed by someone incredibly powerful. And..." The System paused.
"And what? If you have something to say, just say it—I can handle it!" Ryan Ling urged.
"Not only were they murdered, but they suffered unimaginable torture before they died. Even their souls weren’t spared. I just checked thoroughly—I thought, after all these years, your parents would have reincarnated by now. But I realized their souls never even made it to the Underworld. That means, for the past ten years, their souls have been held by the enemy." The System finished, and Ryan Ling’s face turned deathly pale, his fists clenched so hard they cracked, trees toppled in droves, and boulders shattered everywhere. The System’s conclusion had left Ryan utterly enraged.
"AHHH!" Ryan Ling roared, slamming his fist into the valley wall. With a thunderous boom, he nearly punched through the whole valley.
"Ryan, calm down!" The Ghost Elder couldn’t stand to watch and quickly tried to stop him.
"I can’t calm down! I can’t!" Ryan Ling shouted, his voice echoing madly through the valley.
"I know you’re hurting, but right now you need to investigate the truth and find your parents. The enemy is incredibly strong—not someone you can handle yet." The Ghost Elder said, and Ryan’s bloodshot eyes snapped toward him.
"Tell me what to do! It’s been ten years—my parents are still in their hands. Do you know what that means? They’ve been tortured for a decade, while I’ve been kept in the dark. I’m a disgrace as a son!" Ryan Ling finished, then slapped himself hard across the face.
Seeing Ryan Ling so wracked with guilt and pain, the Ghost Elder’s nose stung with emotion. Granny Soul quickly emerged, hoping to comfort the collapsing Ryan.
But just then, something in the forest suddenly trembled...