Yu Yuanzhen was deeply troubled.
In the end, he could not withstand his grandson's "cry, argue, threaten" tactics.
"Enough, enough."
"If not for that Sword Wine, how would Tianheng be training this diligently now?"
Under the dark, inky night sky, a streak of lightning tore through the horizon. A figure rode the thunder, streaking across the sky.
...
The Strength Clan's mansion lay in the southern outskirts of Heaven Dou City.
Before the solemn front gates stood a towering twenty-meter stone statue of the Tai Tan Giant Ape.
The style of the clan's several hundred-acre mansion was bold and unrestrained, with towering stone buildings and columns as thick as a forest.
At this moment—
Inside the council hall.
Several elders were clamoring, their words sharp as knives.
"Clan leader! I told you from the start not to approach that Sword Wine! And now look—an enemy created out of nothing!"
"We understand your good intentions, Clan leader, wanting to bring that Sword Wine into our clan! But what right does our Strength Clan have to do what the Royal family, the Ye family, and the Dugu family couldn't?!"
"Sigh, that young man's talent is so monstrously rare that it makes it impossible to eat or sleep in peace!"
Bang!
Sitting in the main seat, Tai Tan slammed a massive palm upon the armrest.
The ironwood, harder than fine steel, exploded into fragments, splinters flying.
His tiger-like eyes were wide with anger as he swept his gaze across the council hall, which had fallen silent in an instant.
His low voice was full of suppressed rage. "So what if I struck that Sword Wine?!"
"I didn't cripple him, and I didn't seriously injure the juniors from those three families!"
"Are you saying that with just this small conflict, those three families are going to mobilize a large force to destroy the Strength Clan?!"
"The foundation of our Strength Clan is here! Tell them to come and try if they dare!"
The suffocating silence dragged on—
At last, someone broke it.
"Clan leader is right. Our Strength Clan isn't a soft persimmon. As long as the conflict doesn't escalate into a disaster, those three families won't turn against us!"
"Exactly. As for that Sword Wine... he still needs time to grow!"
The council meeting ended hastily.
Tai Tan filled with frustration, strode out of the council hall. As he turned a corner in the corridor, a burly figure emerged from the shadows of the wall.
Tai Tan's brows furrowed. "Tailong, what are you standing here for?"
Tai Long stepped out of the shadows. "Your grandson wants to talk about what happened today, Grandfather ."
Tai Tan became even more annoyed, thinking about the daytime events. He immediately flung his sleeve. "What is there to talk about?!"
"Everything!" Tai Long suddenly looked up, staring directly into the eyes of the grandfather he had always held in awe. His eyes were bloodshot, his teeth clenched, and his fists were trembling.
"Grandfather—today you went to Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, claiming it was to recruit Sword Wine into our clan. Why then did you do so under the pretext of seeking justice for me?!"
"Did you ever consider how I'll stand in the Academy after this?!"
Tai Tan replied impatiently: "There are countless academies in this world. If they won't have you, there will be a place that will!"
"Today's visit was indeed for recruitment, but also truly to demand justice for you! My grandson of Tai Tan's line cannot be bullied by anyone—"
Tai Long raised a thick arm and wiped his face.
"I was defeated by Sword Wine because my skill fell short!"
"And it was I who offended the girl at his side first! I, Tai Long, admit my mistake! I concede wholeheartedly!"
"But Grandfather! Your actions today… they disgust me!"
Smack!
Tai Tan erupted in fury.
His palm struck Tai :ong, sending him tumbling like a gourd across the floor.
The boy, barely sixteen this year, struggled repeatedly on the ground before finally managing to push himself up.
Tai Tan instinctively stepped forward, hand half-raised to help.
Yet—
At the halfway point, his arm froze.
He forced it back into his sleeve.
Suppressing the roiling emotions in his chest, he said coldly:
"To gain a monster of talent is to secure the clan's prosperity for centuries."
"If you cannot even comprehend this simple truth, nor my painstaking efforts—then you are unworthy to be heir of the Strength Clan."
"Go. To the ancestral hall. Face the wall and reflect."
Tai Long stubbornly looked up. He staggered toward the ancestral hall.
...
Titan returned to his own courtyard.
He pushed open the door.
The instant he stepped into the darkness—
His face changed dramatically.
Without hesitation, he turned to bolt outside.
But in the very next instant—
The room erupted without warning in arcs of blue-white lightning.
A terrifying force imbued with the might of thunder engulfed Tai Tan.
His body lost all control, dragged inexorably forward.
With a heavy thud!
He was forced to his knees in front of a chair inside the room.
Seated upon it—
An elder garbed in a blue martial outfit, hair and beard bristling, sipping tea with perfect calm.
The Strength Clan's Tai Tan—hands braced on the floor, veins bulging at his temples—could not even lift his head to look upon the man.
All the domineering aura was gone, leaving only bone-deep terror.
"Th–Thunder Douluo… Your Majesty…"
"Why… why have you come…"
Yu Yuanzhen put down his teacup and said faintly, "You don't know?"
"I... I don't know..."
"Did you go to the Imperial Academy today?"
Tai Tan trembled violently and hastily explained.
"Thunder Douluo, you must see clearly! I… I did not lay a hand on your grandson, Yu Tianheng!"
"Sword Wine, then." Those three words left Tai Tan instantly speechless.
A bone-chilling panic finally surged from the depths of his heart
Sword Wine?!
The three families had yet to even arrive—
And the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Clan Head had already come!
So Sword Wine had close ties with the Blue Lightning Clan as well?!
This Sword Wine…was he truly someone they could not afford to offend?!
"My Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan owes Sword Wine a favor."
"Since you injured him today, then... let's exchange an injury for an injury."
Yu Yuanzhen pressed his hand down casually through the air.
Boom-crack—!
A flash of lightning streaked across the sky.
Tai Tan spewed a mouthful of blood. The front of his robes turned to ash, revealing a scorched, blackened chest.
His eyes rolled back—
He couldn't even let out a single scream. He fell straight to the ground and lost consciousness.
"Hmph."
A flash of lightning appeared at Yu Yuanzhen's feet, and his figure disappeared.
ll that was left in the air was a faint smell of something burning and the occasional flicker of electric arcs.
About half an hour later.
"Ugh…" Titan struggled to wake up from the intense pain.
"This... this is bad..."
"Tonight... I'm afraid someone else will come..."
Even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan—whom he had never heard had any tie to Sword Wine—their Clan head, Thunder Douluo, had acted personally.
How could the other three families be content to be left out?
Endless regret twisted in his heart, but at this moment, Tai Tan had no time to think.
He struggled to get up from the ground and stumbled out of his courtyard, screaming hoarsely, "Someone... someone..."
"Give the order... the whole clan... on highest alert!"
But as the last word left his lips—
His face had gone pale as paper.
No.
Why was the clan so silent?
Deathly silent!
At the mansion gates—
Upon the head of the twenty-meter Tai Tan Giant Ape statue—
A slender figure stood with hands clasped behind his back, silvered hair fluttering in the night wind.
In that hair, flowing with the breeze—
Something invisible, scentless, a deadly poison, was spreading.
It became countless faint serpents, undetectable to the naked eye, drifting with the night wind through the Strength Clan mansion.
In the midst of the deathly silence, Tai Tan's hysterical scream suddenly rang out.
A cold sneer appeared on Dugu Bo's old face.
Pop.
A soft sound. His figure vanished.
Leaving only a wisp of green mist, slowly dissipating.
...
At the same time.
In Li Zhexian's quiet little courtyard—
Bang, bang, bang!
Bang, bang, bang!
An urgent knocking suddenly sounded, shaking the door so much it almost fell apart.
"Li Zhexian!"
"Li Zhexian!"
Immediately after, a figure jumped over the courtyard wall and into the courtyard.
"Li..." The person was Xue Qinghe. Just as her words rushed out, a plum was stuffed into his slightly open mouth.
She searched frantically in the darkness, and her gaze finally fixed on the familiar, unharmed white-robed young man. His tense mood suddenly relaxed.
Li Zhexian looked at Xue Qinghe, whose hair was disheveled and who was only wearing a thin sleeping robe. He smiled and said, "It's the middle of the night. Why are you looking for me?"