The atmosphere was so quiet in the spacious hall that not even the parrots or sparrows made a noise. All the members of the Xiao clan clenched their fists tightly as they heard the numerous blood-curdling screams coming from outside the door. There was great satisfaction on their faces. The recent turn of events of the Xiao clan had caused their hearts to be filled with grievances. Now that Xiao Yan had returned, he had finally pulled the entire clan, which was about to reach its end, up. The grievances which they had experienced during the last few days were currently disappearing with each horrible scream from beyond the door.
The horrible screams outside continued for less than a minute before they gradually fell silent. As the blood-curdling screams came to an end, the gazes within the large hall began to once again gather on the back of Xiao Yan, who was quietly seated on a chair with his back facing them. At this moment, there was some additional fanaticism and respect within those gazes.
“Junior Clan Leader.” The first elder took one excited step forward and broke the silence of the large hall.
“First elder, just call me Xiao Yan. I really don’t have the right to be called the ‘Junior Clan Leader’.” Xiao Yan slowly stood up from his seat, turned around, smiled and replied in a soft tone.
The first elder was slightly startled as he saw the smiling face which was completely different from the stern face that had been filled with killing intent earlier. Immediately, he nodded with a smile, “Currently, in this Xiao clan, your words are able to represent the orders of the clan leader.”
“Father will not agree to that.” Xiao Yan shook his head and joked. He flicked his finger gently and ten plus small jade bottle appeared on the table, “These are some healing medicines to treat internal injuries. Let those clan members who are injured consume them first.”
Hearing this, the first elder hurriedly nodded his head. He waved his hand and two clan members stepped forward. They took the jade bottles and began distributing them in the proper order.
Xiao Yan watched those who had consumed the healing medicine before he grabbed the Heavy Xuan Ruler with one hand and carelessly placed it on his back. After which, he walked out of the large hall.
“Creak.” Xiao Yan pulled the door open, and sunlight came pouring in. The warm sunlight expelled all of the gloominess that had shrouded the large hall.
Xiao Yan stepped passed the threshold of the door. His gaze glanced around his surroundings. The expected scene of corpses all over the place did not appear. Only Queen Medusa was lazily leaning on a willow tree under the shine of the sunlight. Her delicate hand was randomly playing with an emerald green leaf. Her beautiful, curvy figure was reflected on the ground, moving slightly and appeared extremely attractive.
Seeing Xiao Yan coming out, Queen Medusa lifted her head and glanced at him. She said faintly, “Neither the corpses nor the bones remain, not one of them is left. Remember, that ‘Tomb Monster Needle Fruit’ is mine.”
“This woman is indeed very vicious.” Xiao Yan sighed in his heart. He nodded his head before turning to look at the members of the Xiao clan who had followed behind him and come out. Currently, they had shocked expressions as they swept over the empty ground in front of them. Due to terror of the bewitching woman not far away, however, even the third elder, who had a bad temper, did not dare to take the initiative to open his mouth and ask.
“In the future, Wu Tan City will no longer have the Jia Li clan and the Aoba clan.” Xiao Yan’s voice caused the members of the Xiao clan to sigh in relief.
“That’s right.” Xiao Yan appeared to have recalled something. He frowned slightly and asked in a deep voice, “First elder, where are the other members of the Xiao clan? The Xiao clan does not appear to only have these few people, right?”
“Ke ke, you need not worry. If there are only these few people left in the Xiao clan, what face would I have when I go meet our ancestors?” The first elder shook his head with a smile and explained, “I have already expected that there will be people who will loot us in our miserable state. Therefore, I have arranged for the dependants of the clan to move to the mountain behind in advance. There are also quite a number of clan members who are quite strong protecting them there.”
Xiao Yan only sighed in relief upon hearing this. He turned his head around as he watched a small head which had squeezed out from the crowd. At this moment, this pretty little girl who had tied a ponytail was staring intently at Xiao Yan with a pair of large watery eyes which were filled with such worship that small stars nearly appeared.
“Little girl, go to the mountain behind and call the clan members out. Biao-ge is back. Nothing will happen to the Xiao clan.” Xiao Yan waved his hand to Xiao Qing and spoke with a smile.
TL: Biao-ge - older cousin brother
Upon hearing Xiao Yan’s order, Xiao Qing quickly squeezed out of the human crowd. She gave a crisp response before bouncing around and cheering as she ran toward the back of the Xiao clan’s home. Along the way, a little girl’s ‘hee hee’ laughter repeatedly rang out. The biao-ge in her heart which she thought could do anything did not disappoint her. Even a difficult problem which had caused the elders of the clan to be helpless was completely settled by him in less than an hour.
Xiao Yan let out a long sigh. He turned his head and watched the first elder. “Now, first elder, can you tell me all the things that have recently happened to the Xiao clan in detail?”
“Ah.” Upon hearing Xiao Yan’s words, the face of the first elder, which was originally carrying a smile, immediately became bitter. He sighed softly, turned his head and waved his hand. After dismissing the clan members to tidy up the Xiao clan which was a complete mess, he then turned around, faced Xiao Yan and said, “Come in and we’ll talk.”
As he spoke, he took the lead by turning around and walking into the hall. The second and third elder exchanged glances and followed closely with similarly gloomy faces.
Eyeing the other three’s manner, Xiao Yan’s finger shook slightly as he lifted his feet and followed.
The four of them once again walked into the hall. At the moment, the slightly messy place had already been swiftly cleaned up by the members of the Xiao clan. The four of them sat down successively and the clan members by the side hurriedly brought hot tea.
Xiao Yan’s hands held the teacup, feeling the warmth that gradually seeped into his body. He glanced at the solemn face of the first elder and softly said, “Tell me, what happened?”
The first elder nodded his head. He was just about to open his mouth when he shut it. His gaze stopped on the chair beside Xiao Yan. The latter followed the gaze and slowly turned his head only to realize that Queen Medusa had already sat there with a calm face since an unknown point in time.
“You don’t need to be bothered about her. Just speak.” Xiao Yan shook his head and said.
The first elder nodded his head with a bitter smile and sighed, “Ever since you have left Wu Tan City, our Xiao clan, with the help of the large number of healing medicine which you left behind, gradually strengthened our position within Wu Tan City. Although the Jia Li clan and the Aoba clan thought of uniting and suppressing the Xiao clan during this period of time, our Xiao clan held out one time after another with the support from Ya Fei xiao-jie. As the profits that the Xiao clan gained from the selling of healing medicine during these two years became overly large, it also resulted in our conflict with the Jia Li and Aoba clans to become increasingly intense. Three months before you returned, they finally could not resist and began using hard force. It was fortunate, however, that the strength of the Xiao clan had soared greatly during these two years. In terms of pure force, even with the union of their two clans, they were unable to obtain much benefit.”
TL: xiao-jie - refer to a daughter of a certain well off clan (unmarried)
“But...” After speaking to this point, the expression of the first elder suddenly became volatile. He tightened his fist. A ‘crunch’ sound caused Xiao Yan to be aware of just what kind of fury was currently being hidden in the heart of the first elder.
“Just three days ago, the Xiao clan received its most tragic blow.”
The corner of Xiao Yan’s eyes twitched as he slowly sipped a mouthful of tea.
“It was late in the night when the defence of the Xiao clan was at its weakest. Three mysterious black-robed men who exceeded everyone’s expectations suddenly came descending from the sky. Although they did not take the initiative to hurt people, they damaged the Xiao clan until it was in a complete mess. The damage they caused alerted the entire Xiao clan. The Clan Leader was extremely furious. He led the strong people of the Xiao clan, wanting to stop them. However, the strength of the other side was far too terrifying. The three of us did not even last one exchange against the black-robed person who was the leader before we were all seriously injured. All of us knew that the person had held back. Otherwise, the three of us would definitely not have lived from that one strike.” The first elder’s old body trembled slightly as he lowered his head and said.
“Crack.” A clear sound suddenly appeared. The first elder and the others hurriedly lifted their heads only to see that Xiao Yan’s expression had abruptly become very ugly. The teacup in his hand had already been kneaded until it shattered. Powder mixed with tea was moving along the gap between his fingers and dripping down.
“Where is father?” Xiao Yan’s gaze stared intently at the three elders. His breathing was rapid and his voice was somewhat hoarse.
Hearing this, the expression of the first elder and other two elder’s became gloomy as they shook their heads bitterly.
“Father is not in the mountain behind?” Xiao Yan’s expression was so ugly that it was a little frightening. He eyed the three elders whose faces were filled with bitterness. Suddenly, he stood up and a roar was emitted from his throat, “Tell me!”
“The three mysterious black-robed man had come after the Clan Leader. The Clan Leader also seemed to be aware of their intention. Therefore, in order to avoid any injuries or death of the clan members, he alone diverted the three mysterious people away and until now, he has yet to return.” The first elder gritted his teeth and said with a bitter smile.
“Bang!”
A ferocious Qi abruptly erupted from within the large hall. The table at Xiao Yan’s side was directly burst apart at this moment. The clan members in the large hall who had moved back and forth as they cleaned up the place stiffened their bodies as they eyed the ferocious faced Xiao Yan who sat in the middle of the hall.
“Do you have information on the three mysterious people?” Xiao Yan’s body was wrapped around a hot green colored flame. His voice was currently like those that had come from the afterworld. Within the iciness, there was a wild killing intent.
“No.” The first elder clenched his teeth, stared at the high temperature that was pouncing toward him and shook his head bitterly.
“Although we do not know the exact condition of the Clan Leader, we can still at the very least determine that his life is currently not in danger.” The first elder suddenly pulled out an ancient box carefully from his chest pocket. He opened it and an emerald-colored jade appeared within it. A spot of light was slowly swimming at the middle of the jade piece, as though it possessed a spirituality.
The first elder cautiously picked up the jade piece. He studied it in detail before sighing in relief. With a soft voice, he said, “This jade piece was left behind by the ancestors of our Xiao clan. Each Clan Leader will leave a little spiritual energy within it. If the clan leader dies, this swimming spot of light will disappear along with him. Seeing that the spiritual light spot is currently still very strong, I think that he should not be in any danger of dying.”
The words of the first elder caused Xiao Yan’s heart, which was like a volcano that had erupted, to calm down a little. He received the jade piece from the first elder and gently stroked it.
“Can it tell me the current position of father?” Xiao Yan’s voice was dark and cold as he asked.
“It cannot.” The first elder shook with a bitter smile.
Xiao Yan inhaled a deep breath of cool air. He slowly shut his eyes which were filled with killing intent. The wild killing intent in his heart was affecting his reasoning, which was about to reach its limit.
“There are traces of energy left behind by people of the Misty Cloud Sect within the three of them.” Queen Medusa, who was seated quietly by the side, suddenly glanced faintly at Xiao Yan and said, “It is a little like the First Elder of the Misty Cloud Sect.”
Xiao Yan’s closed eyes were suddenly opened. A dark and cold killing intent that even caused Queen Medusa to be startled slowly seeped out of Xiao Yan’s body. He lifted his head slightly. That delicate and handsome face was now completely filled with ferociousness and madness.
“This time, he must die! Whoever stops me will die!”