SLAP!
A crisp, wet crack echoed through the marble lobby of Taichu Immortal Hospital.
Supreme Ancestor Sima Kun hauled himself up by sheer, unadulterated rage. His blackened, claw-like hand swung with surprising fury, striking Young Master Sima Ao directly across the cheek!
A dark, soot-stained handprint bloomed on Sima Ao’s pale skin.
“You insolent brat!” Sima Kun wheezed through cracked teeth, his voice spraying gray sparks into the air. “You dare hesitate over family gold when my soul is dissolving?! If my Nascent Soul shatters, our clan loses its imperial standing tomorrow morning! The other noble houses will carve up our estates like roasted duck!”
Sima Ao clutched his burning cheek, tears of humiliation streaming down his face. “Grandfather! Five hundred million liquid Jade! That is nearly all the liquid currency our house has saved since the previous dynasty!”
“Then spend it!” Sima Kun screamed, coughing violently as another puff of black smoke shot from his nostrils. “Take my ancestral blood token! Open the emergency burial vault beneath the north crypt! Bring the cash before I turn to dust!”
Beside Sima Kun, the other nine charred ancestors groaned in desperate unison from their wooden carts.
