"You're trying to follow in the founding ancestor's footsteps. Have you forgotten? What brought us to where we are today is our honest business and the reputation of our Nangong family.
Why can't you understand that sometimes, a merchant truly has no place in a war?"
Upon hearing this.
The Nangong family head gritted his teeth, kowtowing repeatedly under the Venerable Ancestor's Divinity Transformation-level pressure.
"Venerable Ancestor, didn't Prince Jiang give you vast amounts of Heavenly Materials, Earthly Treasures, and spirit stones back then, asking you to join the fight against Tian Xing? Now, Prince Qian has made us an offer, and he's offering even more!
Aren't the Li's also from a background of rustic villagers? They can become the kings of this Eternal Sun Prefecture, so now that the world is in chaos, on what grounds can't we?"
"For the past several decades, the Li family has been constantly working to divide us. They have been seizing the resources and territory of Eternal Sun Prefecture bit by bit. In a few hundred or a few thousand years, how will we survive?
We are merchants, but we can also be Prefecture Lords.
This is an opportunity.
Azure Mist Mountain was destroyed. If we don't become the masters of this prefecture, then our Nangong family will be the next Azure Mist Mountain."
Seeing his self-righteous and indignant descendant, Nangong Xianliu's expression suddenly became blank.
"So, what have you done?"
The Nangong family head clenched his fists and declared in a booming voice,
"This child¹ and our allies throughout Eternal Sun Prefecture have not met face-to-face for over forty years, yet we have all been working towards a single goal as if of one mind.
We are preparing to stake everything on one desperate struggle.
Our Nangong family's formation makes us indestructible! Against a Rank 4 formation, even a Void Refining realm expert would be hard-pressed to break through."
"We are the true foundation of Eternal Sun Prefecture. If we have a hundred—no... we only need thirty powers at the Nascent Soul realm or higher, and as long as we set up a defensive formation of Rank 5 or higher, the Li family will be nothing to fear.
It would take time for their Divinity Transformation experts to come and deal with us, and the people of our Eternal Sun Prefecture would seize that opportunity to strike at the Li family's home base.
A hundred years, a thousand years—we can grind them down! We'll grind the Li family to dust and wear down the entire Azure Cloud Region!"
The more he spoke, the more invigorated the Nangong family head became.
"We also have Prince Qian, the three great immortal powers, and Venerable Elder Baimei, whose whereabouts are unknown. In this age of chaos, we are far from being their only enemy!"
Nangong Xianliu was almost convinced. Of course, that would only be if he were as foolish as his clansmen.
"You trust them? You're a merchant, and you trust them?"
Nangong Xianliu laughed in exasperation.
"Back when Tian Xing was draining the vital essence of Eternal Sun Prefecture, the great powers of Eternal Sun Prefecture didn't even dare to come within 50 miles of Qilin Mountain. Prince Qian and the Li family have been in conflict for over a decade, and their true struggle has only just begun.
He has the three great immortal powers behind him, yet he still doesn't dare to attack the Li family directly. And the Venerable Elder Baimei you mentioned has been missing for over forty years.
And this is what you're relying on?"
Nangong Xianliu's face was filled with scorn and sorrow, causing the hearts of the many Nangong clansmen to tighten.
No, it shouldn't be Nangong Xianliu who felt sorrow; it should be them. They were the ones who should feel sorrow. For the great Nangong family's sole Divinity Transformation expert to be such a coward, a rat content to bend the knee to others.
The Nangong family head's expression turned ruthless. "It's too late, Venerable Ancestor."
As the family head's words fell, sentence by sentence, Nangong Xianliu's face grew pale, his blood running cold in his veins. His youthful form sank powerlessly onto a seat beneath the long pavilion.
"Yazhi has already set out. The defensive formations of our great families can be activated at any time. Our war with the Li family has begun.
The Li family humiliated our allies at Qilin Mountain back then. Today, their rage will be unleashed.
Each of our families will send one person. This is proof of our alliance. We know the Li family has the ability to divine the future and that they have a powerful network of spies, and we have taken precautions against this.
The people we have chosen are all completely trustworthy.
Now, we are going to kill one of their people. Only when they are burning with rage will their ranks fall into disarray."
Nangong Xianliu felt his limbs go weak.
"Who... are you going to kill?"
Everything was already set in stone; he no longer had any chance to stop it. As his words fell, a spiritual formation materialized in the sky above the Nangong estate.
The Nangong family head's face was dark. "Someone they deliberately kept hidden, someone they thought they could conceal from the entire world."
...
At that moment.
High on a mountain in Azure Cloud Region, on the border between two territories, stood the great hall of Prince Jiang's Mansion, level with the clouds.
Li Yunbing, his features resolute, was seated upon the throne, resting with his eyes closed.
A few days ago, his Big Brother had come to see him again.
His brother had said that this little brat, who used to be so easily deceived and would just run around aimlessly behind him, now acts with the solemn, world-weary demeanor of an old man
Whenever his Big Brother spoke with him, he was always so careful, afraid of saying something that might upset him.
Li Yunbing mostly knew why. Ever since he had become 'Jiang Chenghuan,' his clansmen all knew he was hiding something in his heart.
But even he found it difficult to speak of those matters.
Still, it really did make him reminisce about the old days.
He remembered being tricked by his younger brother in Green Valley Village and bursting into tears. And being tricked by his grandfather into cultivating inside a coffin, yet still taking it so seriously.
He wanted to laugh at the memories, but as he did, his laughter turned bitter.
He felt sorrow for himself and for his clansmen.
It turned out that those had been the happiest times for the family.
Back then, he was not yet Jiang Chenghuan, and his clansmen had not yet scattered around the world.
They had no power or status, just raising spirit beasts and tending to spirit herbs, but in truth, they had no less than what they possessed now.
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