To the east of the Duravia Trade Prefecture, the Ding family.
Family Head Ding Yuanxiao's gaze burned intensely as he looked at the letter from the Immortal Domain in his hand. "Hahaha! The Zhao Clan has finally made a move! Finally!"
As he spoke, Ding Yuanxiao couldn't stop his overjoyed laughter.
At that banquet held by the Zhao Clan, he had thoroughly offended Sun Haotian.
Sun Haotian, his old friend of many years, had simply thrown his lot in with the Li family. But he was different; he stood on the opposite side of Sun Haotian.
"Decades have passed. Sun Haotian, oh Sun Haotian, I fear you were bluffed by the Li family's backers at that banquet and chose the wrong side."
Ding Yuanxiao shook his head and sighed.
"All these years, you have opposed me at every turn, thinking you stood on the right side. But you have vastly underestimated the Zhao Clan.
They do not care in the slightest about the Li family's backers. Before the Zhao Clan, the Li clan is nothing special.
They were merely waiting—waiting for the Li family to make a move!"
Following his pitying sigh, the Ding clan elders all arrived.
Ten thousand combat-ready clansmen and guest retainers stood by throughout the Ding estate, positioned atop the pavilions and towers.
Looking at his clansmen, however, Ding Yuanxiao was dissatisfied.
In the Immortal Domain, he had seen with his own eyes the might of the Zhao Clan.
The Zhao Clan had over a million members, and their strength lay in the fact that every single one of them was a cultivator; they were simply an unrivaled clan.
The most terrifying part was that he had personally seen three Void Refining mighty figures of the Zhao Clan—and this was merely half of their experts.
Taking a deep breath, Ding Yuanxiao looked at his clansmen.
"The Li clan has already dispatched people to the Duravia Trade Prefecture.
The new Zhao Family Head, Zhao Jingmiao, has sent me a message: the Li clan, humiliated and enraged over a mere junior, will soon come slaughtering their way into our Duravia Trade Prefecture."
"That Li clan bullies us too far!
Years ago, Liu Rusi, the fiancée of our clan's genius Ding Zerui, missed her wedding because of the Li clan.
The Li clan occupies an entire prefecture and once killed our Duravia Trade Prefecture's Prince Qian, a man unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness.
Every man of spirit in our Duravia Trade Prefecture has been suppressing this anger in their hearts."
"But today... the time has come!"
"The Azure Cloud Li Clan has the ambition of wolves.
They are not satisfied with the land of Azure Cloud Prefecture alone; they want to take everything from our Duravia Trade Prefecture, just as they tried a hundred years ago.
From this day forth, the Li clan can no longer oppress my Ding family.
Our descendants will set foot upon the soil of Azure Cloud Prefecture, and we will let them know that the Ding family is not to be bullied!!!"
Following Ding Yuanxiao's furious roar, the members of the Ding family felt their blood surge like a tide!
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Even Ding Yuanxiao's eyes were completely bloodshot as he roared at the heavens, the sound echoing throughout the Ding family estate!
His opportunity had arrived. He would stand before Sun Haotian as a victor and tell him that he was the one who had made the correct choice.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Amidst this long cry.
Swish—
A cold light appeared in the sky, and ice crystals fell from the air like specks of starlight.
This sharp, air-piercing shriek was like the cry of a Blue Phoenix, so piercing it made one's soul tremble and mind go blank.
It also caused the impassioned roars within the Ding family to grow fainter and fainter.
The Ding family members all turned their heads.
Their eyes, still widened from their angry shouts just moments before, remained bloodshot, yet the anger in them lessened, replaced by confusion, until it finally turned to terror.
An arrow pierced into the Ding family's grand formation, trailing a massive pillar of ice like a tail flame!
It was a Clan-Protecting Grand Formation, after all; though the ice arrow surged with killing intent, it still failed to puncture the array.
Yet silence gradually fell over the Ding family until one could hear a pin drop, leaving only the sound of the Ding clansmen's rapid breathing.
In that moment, Ding Yuanxiao's body went stiff.
The Sun family excelled in earth techniques, using the soil to summon stone statues.
At this moment, the entire area surrounding the Ding family estate shook with mountains collapsing and the earth trembling, resembling an apocalypse.
The Ding clansmen finally shifted from the bewilderment caused by that ice arrow to sheer panic.
"That ice arrow... where did it come from?"
"Is it a technique of the Sun family, Patriarch?"
"Quick, enemies!!!"
Terrified shouts rang out, and the Ding family members were running around like headless flies.
Ding Yuanxiao stared blankly beyond the family grounds.
The earth was still trembling, and his clansmen were already using formations to support the estate.
Yet outside the Clan-Protecting Grand Formation, in all directions, giant stone statues summoned by the Sun family rose up—hundreds, even thousands of meters high, blotting out the sky and the sun!
It seemed as if rain had begun to fall from the sky, accompanied by a crashing sound, yet it was not rain, but...
Countless cultivators, who had unleashed their techniques the very moment they arrived!
Ding Yuanxiao even clearly saw the face of his old friend, Sun Haotian.
Sun Haotian was looking at him with pity through the formation, sending a secret voice transmission: "Old Ding, I'm sorry."
On the ice pillar formed by the arrow that had pierced the formation...
Li Changyao, holding a longbow larger than her own body, sped along the pillar until she landed atop the dome of the array.
Her pair of emotionless phoenix eyes was fixed in a deathly stare upon Ding Yuanxiao.
"After that battle at Prince Qian's Mansion, my Li clan gave you a chance. Now, you have no more chances."
She nocked an arrow and drew her bow!
Swish!
As she stepped onto the dome, the sky full of cultivators arrived as expected.
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