"Bilin Snake Venom."
Li Dixian took a sip of wine.
He handed the wine pot to Xue Qinghe, who was beside him.
"Drink a mouthful, it's an antidote."
Xue Qinghe's cheeks were slightly flushed. She took it as instructed and also took a sip.
Only then did the two step into the Strength Clan's mansion.
As soon as they entered,
it confirmed the desolate scene outside the gate.
The ground was cracked like a spiderweb, and all the vegetation was destroyed.
A deathly silence enveloped the entire mansion.
Even the chirping of insects had vanished.
Only the night wind whimpered and echoed.
Every few steps, they could see figures collapsed on the ground, all having died from poisoning.
"Senior Dugu..."
Li Dixian sighed softly, acknowledging the favor in his heart.
The two followed the cracks in the ground and arrived in front of a courtyard.
Through the open courtyard gate, they saw Tai Tan struggling to sit up inside.
His arrogance from the day was completely gone.
His face was covered in blood, and his arms and legs were mangled.
Only by his burly figure and a pair of crimson tiger eyes could he barely be recognized as Tai Tan, the Clan Head of the Strength Clan.
Upon hearing footsteps,
Tai Tan looked over with difficulty.
When he saw the white-robed young man approaching,
his body stiffened abruptly, then began to tremble slightly.
"You... Sword Wine..."
Tai Tan's throat bobbed, his voice hoarse.
Besides regret and murderous intent, there was also a sense of utter despair in his heart.
Li Dixian looked at him and spoke calmly.
"I know Clan Head Tai Tan's heart..."
"Besides regret, there is also unwillingness."
"This situation was indeed not brought about by my strength, but your unwillingness is useless."
"Just like during the day, when I suffered your humiliation, I also resented why I wasn't born two years earlier."
"Tonight, I will send Clan Head Tai Tan on his way."
Clang—
Azure Lotus Sword appeared in his hand.
A clear, cold light flashed and vanished in the night.
The sword's edge aimed directly for Tai Tan's neck.
Tai Tan did not simply offer his neck for execution.
Even if he died,
he would die heroically.
"Ho—!"
A roar like a dying beast squeezed from his throat.
Though he had no hands or feet,
Tai Tan raised his head and fiercely charged at the incoming sword light.
Bang—
Hiss—
Li Dixian felt a slight numbness in the palm of his sword-wielding hand.
Tai Tan's head had been split in two.
His shattered body crashed to the ground, lifeless.
The Clan Head of the Strength Clan, Tai Tan, had fallen.
"Let's go."
Li Dixian sheathed his sword and called out to Xue Qinghe.
The two had barely left the courtyard when,
in the distance... a burly figure stumbled towards them.
Boom crack—
A bolt of lightning tore through the night sky.
The night wind suddenly grew urgent.
Utilizing the fleeting lightning flash,
Li Dixian clearly saw the approaching person, a complex expression crossing his face.
"They're all dead... all dead..."
"The Strength Clan... is gone..."
The person was Tai Long.
He had fortunately avoided Dugu Bo's poison because he was meditating in the underground ancestral hall.
But the deathly silence in the mansion, with no one searching for him, made him suspicious.
He walked out of the ancestral hall.
What met his eyes was a scene of clan annihilation, a hell on earth.
Tai Long's gaze passed over the white-robed young man a few meters away and landed on the mangled corpse in the courtyard.
Tai Long's face, which was already turning grayish-green from the poison, was enveloped in the despair of utter desolation.
"Sword Wine..."
He roared hoarsely.
Step by step, he staggered closer to Li Dixian.
The spirit energy within him surged wildly, attempting to gather his last remaining strength.
However,
with every bit of spirit energy that circulated,
the potent poison further eroded his vitality.
By the time he reached Li Dixian, Tai Long was already stumbling.
Li Dixian's face was expressionless.
The Azure Lotus Sword was raised again.
In the night,
a tragically beautiful blood flower bloomed.
Tai Long fell heavily to the ground, also motionless.
"Let's go..."
Li Dixian turned and walked towards the outside of the mansion.
Xue Qinghe silently followed, her gaze sweeping over the young man's cold profile beside her. A layer of gloom seemed to weigh on his brows.
Her lips moved slightly.
But in the end, she said nothing.
Li Dixian's emotions were indeed complex and difficult to articulate.
Since he left the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School... or rather, since he arrived on the Douluo Continent, this was the first time he had committed such a massacre.
An entire clan had died because of him.
This gave him a deeper understanding of his journey.
The martial world not only held poetic charm and romantic encounters but also blood on the sword.
It was just like... Tai Long was not inherently bad.
But to eliminate future troubles,
he could only become another departed soul beneath the Azure Lotus Sword.
Li Dixian and Xue Qinghe's figures disappeared outside the gate of the Strength Clan's mansion.
The heavy mansion gate,
along with all the bloodshed and silence within,
was finally completely swallowed by the boundless night, with not a single ray of light escaping.
The two walked side by side on the quiet street.
The night wind blew gently.
Only when the scent of blood on their clothes gradually faded did Li Dixian escort Xue Qinghe to the majestic palace gates.
He suddenly remembered that Xue Qinghe always seemed to be able to enter and exit the palace freely late at night, and couldn't help but ask curiously:
"You, the Crown Prince, seem quite idle. Is there no curfew this late?"
Xue Qinghe lowered her eyelids slightly.
"The Emperor's health is declining day by day. Many state affairs are now handled by the Crown Prince's Residence."
Li Dixian understood her unspoken meaning.
This vast Heaven Dou Royal Family was now, in effect, under her control from behind the scenes.
As his thoughts swirled,
he suddenly recalled the original trajectory of the novel... Qian Renxue's identity was exposed, and she was ultimately defeated in Heaven Dou City.
Li Dixian seemed to see again that beautiful young woman who massaged his forehead and told him, "Just say if you want to see her."
"Qinghe..."
Xue Qinghe looked up.
"Hmm?"
"Actually, you don't have to work so hard."
Xue Qinghe was suddenly startled.
Her clear eyes, caught off guard, welled up with tears.
Everyone else hoped for her to inherit the throne or achieve the Angel God position.
But this was the first time
anyone had told her, "You don't have to work so hard."
She turned her head away,
not wanting Li Dixian to see her unusual reaction, and only responded softly,
"Okay."
The next morning,
the farmers of the manor, as usual,
pulled fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats to deliver to the Strength Clan's mansion.
However, the moment they stepped through the mansion gate, what met their eyes were corpses everywhere.
The news of the Strength Clan's tragic annihilation
swept through Heaven Dou City like a hurricane, quickly reverberating across the entire Douluo Continent.
Blue Lightning Clan.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!"
Before he even arrived,
Yu Tianheng's excited voice had already burst through the door.
Yu Yuanzhen, who was drinking tea, frowned as he watched his impetuous grandson rush in.
"What's the rush? What kind of manners are these!"
Then, his tone softened slightly.
"I already went to the Strength Clan yesterday, and you promised me you'd focus on cultivation."
"Yes! Yes!"
Yu Tianheng nodded repeatedly, his face a mix of excitement and regret.
"Grandpa, you're too fierce!"
"I just asked you to teach Tai Tan a lesson, and you wiped out the entire Strength Clan!"
Pfft—
A mouthful of tea was sprayed out.
Yu Yuanzhen stood up abruptly.
"The Strength Clan was wiped out?!"
Seeing his grandpa's expression, Yu Tianheng guessed what had happened.
"So, you weren't the one who massacred them, Grandpa?"
"It must have been the Royal Family, the Ye Family, or the Dugu Family's doing."
He clicked his tongue in admiration.
"Sword Wine's connections are really good!"