Vol. 1 - Ch. 336 - Sudden News

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When Shi Pohua stepped onto the third floor and looked at the sealed chambers, he immediately knew something was wrong.

The bodies sprawled across the floor were his fellow clan members!

They had all turned into lifeless corpses, with no trace of life remaining.

Even the precious resources that had once been displayed throughout the third-floor hall had vanished without a trace.

Seeing this, Shi Pohua's eyes went blank with shock and his body froze where he stood.

"Clan Leader! Clan Leader! Something terrible has happened!"

Snapping back to his senses, Shi Pohua rushed toward the fourth floor. He hadn't spotted the Clan Leader or any of the other elders on the third floor, so perhaps they were on the fourth floor discussing an important matter.

When Shi Pohua reached the fourth floor and hastily pushed the door open, he saw something that sent his heart plummeting even further.

Scattered haphazardly across the floor lay the bodies of several clan elders, dead beyond a doubt.

The very Clan Leader he had called out for lay motionless on the ground as well, his hands stretched out desperately as if he had tried to force open the door to the fourth floor with his last effort.

"It's over! The clan is finished!"

As he watched the scene unfold, Shi Pohua's eyes lost all focus. His lips muttered to himself over and over again in stunned disbelief.

He quickly forced himself to move, rushing frantically toward the fifth floor.

The Clan Leader was gone. The elders were gone, too. However, the clan still had its Divine Stone, and a few clansmen remained outside.

As long as the Divine Stone remained intact, surely the clan still had hope!

Shi Pohua soon reached the fifth floor of the pavilion. Besides housing the Divine Stone, this floor stored several combat techniques and cultivation methods practiced by the clan.

But when he reached the fifth floor and saw the empty wooden shelves, a sense of dread quickly welled up in his heart. When he made his way to the spot where the Divine Stone had been kept, he was overcome with despair.

The Divine Stone was entirely gone. All that remained were a few scattered fragments of stone dust.

Shi Pohua collapsed to the ground.

The clan was truly finished completely and utterly finished.

As he sat there, at a total loss for what to do next, a low, calm voice suddenly spoke up behind him.

"Another one."

Before he could react, he felt his body grow steadily colder as the Qi and Blood drained away rapidly. Looking down, he saw the unmistakable imprint of a fist clearly pressed into his chest.

With a heavy thud, the fifth floor fell silent once more.

…

"Elder Chen traveled such a long way to be here. Why leave in such haste? Why not stay a few more days? Let our Zhao Clan have the chance to be proper hosts."

The next morning at the Zhao residence, Zhao Kuangyi watched Chen Tianyu's group finish packing and tried to persuade them to stay.

A hint of confusion still lingered in his eyes at that moment. According to his calculations, Chen Tianyu would eventually seek him out to discuss teaming up against the Shi Clan within these past two days. He had prepared himself for that conversation.

Yet, he never imagined that Chen Tianyu would be ready to leave so soon. Judging by his expression, there wasn't the slightest indication that he intended to stay and discuss the matter further.

This left Zhao Kuangyi utterly perplexed. Where had things gone wrong?

Could the Chen Clan be planning to handle the matter entirely on their own?

However, he hadn't heard so much as a whisper about any Qi Manipulation Realm martial artist from the Chen Clan setting foot in Yunmeng City.

"My thanks for Clan Leader Zhao's generous hospitality. However, our clan still has pressing matters to attend to, and we simply cannot afford to stay any longer. I hope Clan Leader Zhao can understand."

With a smile, Chen Tianyu replied, cupping his hands in a respectful gesture.

"Of course, of course."

Zhao Kuangyi smiled back, though a noticeable heaviness had settled between his brows.

Ideally, he would secure the Chen Clan's assistance while extracting additional resources from them. But, given the current turn of events, would the Zhao Clan need to seek out the Chen Clan's help?

Though the two clans currently maintained a trading relationship, Zhao Kuangyi didn't believe the Chen Clan was on equal footing with his own Zhao Clan. After all, the Zhao Clan had more than one Qi Manipulation Realm martial artist.

Yet, initiating the conversation himself would mean losing face for the clan. Worse still, it might give the Chen Clan the mistaken impression that they held some kind of leverage over the Zhao Clan, which would only complicate matters further.

Perhaps the Zhao Clan simply hadn't demonstrated their true strength, which is why the Chen Clan hadn't brought the matter up?

Or, perhaps the Chen Clan simply didn't view the Shi Clan as a threat. Or perhaps they weren't fully aware of the current situation?

After all, if the Shi Clan were to form an alliance with several other major clans, even his own Zhao Clan would find such a combined force exceedingly difficult to deal with.

"Elder Chen, if you would please wait just a moment..."

Just as Chen Tianyu was preparing to leave, Zhao Kuangyi spoke up once more.

He figured he was probably overthinking things. Though the Chen Clan had sent people to gather intelligence before, they simply couldn't compare to a clan stationed in Yunmeng City. Perhaps they hadn't yet learned of the Shi Clan's plans to form an alliance with several other major clans. That would explain why they hadn't taken the matter seriously.

If so, it was only right that he give the Chen Clan a heads-up and let them know about the threat posed by the Shi Clan. Only then could the clan's plans proceed smoothly.

Just then, however, a clan elder came rushing in, flustered, and leaned in to whisper a few words into Zhao Kuangyi's ear.

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Kuangyi's expression changed drastically. A flicker of shock and disbelief flashed in his eyes as he turned to look at the elder who had delivered the report. It was as though he were seeking confirmation that what he had just heard was true.

After receiving a firm nod of affirmation from the elder, Zhao Kuangyi was struck by a wave of shock.

The elder had just told him that the Shi Clan had been wiped out the previous night. The Shi Clan Leader and several Innate Realm elders had perished in Stone Warm Pavilion. Word of it had only just begun spreading that morning!

This news left him thoroughly shaken.

"Is there something else, Clan Leader Zhao?"

At that moment, Chen Tianyu spoke up with a smile, his eyes carrying an air of perfect, unruffled calm.

Upon seeing the look on Chen Tianyu's face, Zhao Kuangyi immediately understood.

No wonder the Chen Clan had shown no trace of unease and had never intended to cooperate with the Zhao Clan as this was their plan all along.

The truly troubling part was that, as Clan Leader, he had no idea how many members the Chen Clan had sent this time or what level of strength those clansmen possessed.

The fact that they had wiped out the remnants of the Shi Clan entirely without anyone hearing a thing beforehand made it clear that the Chen Clan's martial artists were extraordinary, possibly including a Qi Manipulation Realm cultivator.

In this light, the Chen Clan's true strength clearly exceeded the Zhao Clan's previous estimates. In fact, it seemed entirely possible that the clan might count more than one Qi Manipulation Realm martial artist among their ranks, a realization that thoroughly reshaped Zhao Kuangyi's earlier assumptions.

Facing Chen Tianyu's question, Zhao Kuangyi forced a smile and replied,

"Nothing of great importance. I merely wished to ask Elder Chen to pass along a message to your esteemed Clan Leader.

"Just tell him that next time your clan comes to trade with ours, he could bring some of the clan's promising young talents so they can exchange insights on martial cultivation with our clansmen."

"Of course. I'll be sure to pass that along."

After Chen Tianyu left, Zhao Kuangyi sprang into action. He hastily gathered the clan elders and rushed toward Stone Warm Pavilion.

Though the owners of Stone Warm Pavilion had fallen, the building itself still held a considerable stockpile of resources. Zhao Kuangyi wondered why the Chen Clan hadn't simply taken everything themselves, but there was no way he could afford to leave it all for someone else to claim. He needed to move quickly to secure the resources, before another clan beat them to it.

Still, the Shi Clan's downfall would surely make several other clans hesitate—after all, the Shi Clan's efforts had played a significant role in uniting the various great clans in the first place.

Now that the Shi Clan was gone, he was curious to see how the other clans would respond to this shift.

As for his own clan, the current situation had turned out remarkably favorable for them, even without the Chen Clan's direct assistance.

When it came to capitalizing on the Shi Clan's downfall, surely his own clan could seize this opportunity as well.