"Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison."
Li Zhexian took a sip of his wine. He handed the gourd to Xue Qinghe. "Drink this. It's an antidote."
Xue Qinghe's face flushed slightly. She took the gourd as told and took a drink. Only then did the two of them step into the Strength Clan's mansion.
Upon entering, the scene inside confirmed the devastation they had seen outside. The ground was split like a spiderweb, and the plants were all broken.
A deathly silence shrouded the entire estate. Even the sound of insects was gone. Only the night wind whined and echoed.
Every few steps, they saw a fallen body, all dead from poisoning.
"Senior Dugu..." Li Zhexian sighed softly, taking the favor into his heart.
Following the cracks in the ground, the two arrived in front of a courtyard.
Through the open gate, they saw Tai Tan struggling to sit upright.
The arrogance he had shown during the day was completely gone.
His face was covered in blood, and his arms and legs were crushed.
Only his massive frame and the pair of red beast-like eyes still allowed one to recognize him as Tai Tan, clan leader of the Strength Clan.
Hearing the footsteps, Tai Tan looked over with difficulty.
When he saw the white-robed young man walking toward him, his body stiffened and then began to tremble slightly.
"You… Sword Wine…"
Tai Tan's throat bobbed, his voice hoarse.
Alongside his regret and hatred, a boundless despair welled within him.
Li Zhexian looked upon him, his voice calm.
"I know what lingers in Tai Tan Clan Leader's heart…
Other than regret, it is unwillingness."
"This outcome was not wrought by my hand, but your unwillingness changes nothing."
"Just as earlier today, when you humiliated me—I too hated myself for not being born two years earlier."
"Tonight, I will send you on your way, Clan leader Tai Tan."
Zheng—
The Qinglian Sword slid into his hand.
A clear, icy gleam flashed through the night.
The sword edge drew straight for Tai Tan's neck.
But Tai Tan did not bow his head to execution.
Even in death—
He would die with dignity.
"Hah—!" A desperate roar, like that of a dying beast, was squeezed from his throat. Although he had no arms or legs, Tai Tan raised his head and fiercely charged at the incoming sword light.
Bang!
Zzt!
A numb tremor coursed through Li Zhexian's palm as he gripped the sword.
Tai Tan's skull split clean in two.
His ruined body collapsed with a crash, never to rise again.
Clan Leader of the Strength Clan—Tai Tan—had fallen.
"Let's go." Li Zhexian sheathed his sword, beckoning to Xue Qinghe.
The two had only left the courtyard a few steps when, in the distance, a burly figure stumbled over.
Boom—
A streak of lightning tore through the night. The night wind suddenly became more urgent.
Using the fleeting light of the lightning, Li Zhexian saw the person and a complicated look passed over his face.
"They're all dead… all dead… The Strength Clan… is gone…"
The person was Tai Long.
He had luckily avoided Dugu Bo's poison by contemplating his mistakes in the underground ancestral hall.
But the deathly silence in the manor, and the fact that no one came to look for him, made him feel suspicious. He walked out of the hall, and the scene that greeted him was a purgatory of an annihilated clan.
Tai Long's gaze passed over the white-robed young man a few meters away and landed on the broken corpse in the courtyard.
Utter despair covered Tai Long's face, which had turned a faint gray from the poison.
"Sword Wine…"
His hoarse cry rasped out,
And he staggered step by step toward Li Zhexian.
The Spirit Power within him surged violently, struggling to muster one final strike.
Yet—
Each time his Spirit Power circulated, the poison sank deeper into his life force.
By the time he stood before Li Zhexian, his gait was already faltering.
Li Zhexian's face remained impassive.
The Qinglian Sword rose once more.
In the night—
A crimson blossom bloomed.
Tai Long crashed heavily to the ground, never moving again.
"Let's go…" Li Zhexian turned, striding out of the mansion.
Xue Qinghe followed in silence, her gaze brushing over the cold profile of the youth beside her. A faint shadow weighed across his brows.
Her lips parted—
But in the end, no words came.
Li Zhexian's heart was indeed clouded.
Since leaving the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—
Or rather, since arriving on the Douluo Continent—this was the first time he had incurred such a great slaughter.
An entire clan had died… because of him.
It gave his wandering a deeper truth:
The Jianghu holds not only poetry, wine, and romance—
But also blood upon the sword.
Just like Tai Long—he was not a man of evil nature.
But to leave no roots behind—
He could only become another soul beneath the Qinglian Sword.
Li Zhexian and Xue Qinghe's figures vanished beyond the gates of the Strength Clan.
The heavy gate, along with all the blood and silence within, was completely swallowed by the boundless night, with no light leaking out.
The two walked side by side along the silent streets.
The night wind stirred gently,
Until the stench of blood on their clothes gradually faded.
Only then did Li Zhexian escort Xue Qinghe to the towering gates of the imperial palace.
Suddenly, he recalled how she always slipped in and out freely at such hours, and he asked curiously:
"You're quite the leisurely Crown Prince. No curfew even this late at night?"
Xue Qinghe's lashes lowered slightly.
"Father's health declines daily. Much of the state affairs are already handled by the Crown Prince's residence."
Li Zhexian understood her implied meaning. This vast Heaven Dou Imperial family was now under her control behind the scenes.
As his thoughts shifted, he suddenly remembered the original timeline... when Qian Renxue's identity was exposed, and she was ultimately defeated in Heaven Dou City.
Li Zhexian almost seemed to see that peerless maiden once more—the one who had rubbed his forehead and said: 'If you want to see her, just say so.'
"Qinghe…"
Xue Qinghe lifted her gaze.
"Mm?"
"You don't have to work so hard."
Xue Qinghe was stunned. A wave of tears unexpectedly welled up in her clear eyes.
Everyone else wished for her to inherit the throne or to achieve the position of a Angel God. But this was the first time anyone had told her, "You don't have to work so hard."
She turned her head, not wanting Li Zhexian to see her emotion. She just answered in a low voice.
"Okay."
...
The next morning.
As usual, farmers from the countryside brought fresh vegetables and meat to the gates of the Strength Clan.
But upon stepping through the entrance—
What met their eyes was a field of corpses.
The news that the Strength Clan was exterminated swept through all of Heaven Dou City like a hurricane and quickly shook the entire Douluo Continent.
...
Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
"Grandfather! Grandfather!"
Before the man himself, Yu Tianheng's voice crashed into the room.
Yu Yuanzhen, sipping tea, frowned at his grandson's reckless charge.
"Why are you in such a hurry? What is this behavior?"
Then, his tone softened slightly.
"I already went to the Strength Clan yesterday. You promised to devote yourself to cultivation."
"Yes! Yes!"
Yu Tianheng nodded rapidly, his face a mix of excitement and regret.
"Grandfather, you're too fierce!"
"I just wanted you to teach Tai Tan a lesson, but you went and wiped out the whole Strength Clan!"
Pfft—
A spray of tea splattered.
Yu Yuanzhen shot to his feet.
"The Strength Clan… was destroyed?!"
At the sight of his grandfather's expression, Yu Tianheng instantly guessed the truth.
"So it wasn't you after all?"
"Must've been the work of the imperial family, the Ye family, or the Dugu family."
He smacked his lips in awe.
"Sword Wine really has some powerful friends!"