Heavenly Rebellion: The Human Race's Rise to Prominence
Chapter 149: Tears

Chapter 149: Tears

Lin Feng’s breath caught in his throat, but after a moment of reflection, he realized he shouldn’t have been too surprised.

When he pieced everything together, it became clear that tonight had been riddled with oddities—disturbing inconsistencies that suggested something far larger was at play.

The first and most glaring anomaly was the fight between Grandma Qing and Wei Yuntai. The battle had ended far too quickly.

Logically speaking, the two of them should have been of similar strength.

It was hard to believe that one could simply step in and bring an abrupt halt to their clash so effortlessly.

If anything, such an act suggested an overwhelming power at play—one neither side had been able to resist.

The second issue was the Wei Clan’s reinforcements—or rather, the puzzling delay in their arrival.

For a clan as powerful as the Wei Clan, their territory should have been heavily patrolled, watched over by cultivators attuned to the slightest disturbances.

The moment Lin Feng, Chen Si, and Huang Bei had stepped into their domain, they should have been swarmed immediately.

Yet that hadn’t happened.

In fact, only a handful of Wei Clan members had been present, so few that Lin Feng had not only been able to kill some of them, but he had also fought their young master for an extended period without immediately facing overwhelming retaliation.

That in itself was suspicious. Even if Wei Jun had forbidden his subordinates from interfering in his battle, the moment Lin Feng spilled Wei Clan blood, such an order should have become meaningless.

Honor and vengeance alone should have dictated their response.

And yet... nothing. Not even Wei Jun himself had acknowledged the possibility of anyone else lurking nearby, watching, waiting.

There were only two explanations that made sense.

Either Wei Jun was so blindly confident in his strength that he believed he needed no Foundation Establishment protectors to back him up, or—more likely—the Wei Clan had been critically understaffed at the time.

And if that was the case... then where had they all gone?

A single answer surfaced in Lin Feng’s mind.

They were busy elsewhere—spread throughout the city, engaged in something more important than guarding their own young master.

His eyes darkened at the implications.

Without proof, these thoughts were mere speculation. Yet, the deeper he dug into the situation, the more it all pointed toward a relationship between the Wei Clan and the Church of Heaven.

It wasn’t simply an alliance of convenience—it felt more like a superior-subordinate dynamic, one where the Wei Clan answered to a higher authority.

A cold snort broke his thoughts.

"Hmph, those damn lizards! I can’t believe they’d go so far as to pull something like this."

Grandma Qing’s face twisted in irritation as she spat the words out, her expression stormy.

Chen Mei, who had been silently absorbing everything, finally spoke, her voice like ice, laced with a sharp edge of fury.

"Grandma Qing, is there anything we can do? Or are we just supposed to sit here and take it?"

At her granddaughter’s question, Grandma Qing’s sharp gaze softened ever so slightly.

She let out a heavy sigh, the weight of decades pressing down on her shoulders as she turned to look at Chen Mei.

For a moment, she seemed even older than before, as if all the years of hardship had caught up with her in an instant.

"Aigh, child..." she murmured, voice tinged with sorrow.

"You know as well as I do that if we antagonize the Church of Heaven too much, they won’t hesitate to destroy us. Not just me, you, and Chen Zi—but every last member of the Chen Clan."

Her words were measured, rational—yet the frustration beneath them was unmistakable.

But Chen Mei was not one to swallow her rage.

Her hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms as her temper exploded.

"So we just let them do it to us all over again?!" she shouted, her voice trembling with barely contained fury.

"Let those fanatics walk all over us? Do whatever they please to our people? And we’re just supposed to sit here and take it?!"

Grandma Qing’s expression hardened.

She had tried to keep her composure, but even she was not immune to the frustration boiling over. Her voice cracked like a whip.

"Child! You think I don’t know that?! You think I don’t want to tear them apart myself?! But there are sacrifices I must make to protect as many of our people as I can. The Chen Clan is not just you or me. I cannot afford to act on emotion alone!"

Her words were firm, absolute—but there was a deep sorrow in them as well.

Chen Mei froze. The anger in her eyes dimmed, replaced by something raw and aching.

Tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks as she spoke again, this time her voice breaking.

"Is it because we’re weak?" she choked out. "Is that it? Is that why Auntie Chen Xiao had to die like that?"

Grandma Qing’s entire body tensed.

Silence fell.

For a brief second, she looked truly shaken.

Then, in an instant, all the fight drained from her. Without hesitation, she reached forward and pulled Chen Mei into a firm, steady embrace.

"I’m sorry, child," she murmured, stroking her granddaughter’s hair.

"One of these days, I’ll find a way to give her justice."

Chen Mei trembled against her, unable to stop the silent tears that continued to spill.

Lin Feng, who had been quietly watching, frowned slightly.

Chen Xiao? Who is that?

The name was unfamiliar.

Yet as he watched Chen Mei sob in her grandmother’s arms, a strange sensation gripped his chest.

It wasn’t the pain from his battle with Wei Jun—it was something heavier, deeper, more suffocating.

A sharp pang of something unrecognizable gnawed at him, making his chest feel tight.

What is this feeling?

Chen Zi who had been quietly listening all this time suddenly spoke a few words that shook through all of them

"I’ll do it, Grandma Qing, I’ll take revenge for her"