Chapter 101

“So it was you who killed Xu Zhiji, Xu Zhicheng, and my grandson Xu Shixiong!” Xu Zhiyuan said.

“Those who kill shall be killed in return. On Cangmang Mountain, Xu Zhiji treated us as cannon fodder—I killed him. Xu Zhicheng died because your Xu family, ungrateful and cruel, sought to exterminate the Ji family completely—I killed him.

As for your precious grandson, he came to me seeking to kill me—what choice did I have?” Xia Daoming sneered.

Xu Zhiyuan remained silent.

“Old man, go ahead and take your revenge,” Xia Daoming said coolly.

“Good!” Ji Yuanzhen’s eyes instantly reddened at these words.

He stepped forward again, raised his blade high, and brought it down hard upon Xu Zhiyuan’s neck.

The head rolled across the ground.

Blood gushed from the severed neck, splattering Ji Yuanzhen’s face—he seemed not to notice, only slowly kneeling, tears streaming down his aged cheeks.

After a long while, Ji Yuanzhen rose again, sword in hand, and walked toward Ding Bangcheng and the others.

Two more heads rolled on the ground.

The heads of the Ding and Lin clans were slain.

Ji Yuanzhen continued toward Ding Banghong with his blade.

Ding Banghong did not look at Ji Yuanzhen; his gaze fixed on Liang Jingtang and Xia Daoming.

“I prided myself on being shrewd and calculating, leaving no plan unthought through—yet I never imagined one day I’d be toyed with like a monkey by you two master and disciple!” Ding Banghong said with bitter self-mockery.

“Regardless, at least you die with understanding. Unlike your grandson Ding Chuyong, who never knew what happened before he died!” Liang Jingtang said calmly.

Xia Daoming glanced at his master and sneered.

Master, you’ve gone too far—you’re killing him and destroying his soul too!

Upon hearing this, Ding Banghong’s facial muscles twisted violently.

But then a slash of blade-light fell—he too was severed from his body.

The street fell silent.

In the distance, the sounds of battle still echoed from the Xu family compound.

Xia Daoming bent over, expertly searching the corpses, his face full of anticipation.

Liang Jingtang and Ji Yuanzhen stared at him in shock.

A man who could kill a Martial Dao Master with a single spear—doing such a lowly, menial task?

“Damn it, all of them are broke—nothing at all!” Soon, Xia Daoming stood up straight, scowling in disgust.

Liang Jingtang and Ji Yuanzhen stared again, stunned.

The blood-red sunset had long since sunk behind Mount Riluoxi.

Under the dim twilight, the two armies before the Xu mansion continued their brutal slaughter.

The square was stained red with blood.

Corpses lay scattered across the ground, ignored by all.

The combined strength of the Three Clans Alliance certainly surpassed the Xu family’s.

But the Three Clans Alliance had no Martial Dao Masters, and as a coalition of three families, they were riddled with private agendas, unable to unite as the Xu family had.

This time, Xu Zhiyuan, restored to his peak, had personally held back and slain too many elite warriors and top-tier experts of the Three Clans Alliance.

As a result, the battle before the square had become a true stalemate.

Both sides kept falling, their numbers dwindling steadily.

The Three Clans Alliance had only one Eighth-Rank Great Martial Master left.

The Xu family had only their patriarch, Xu Shangdong, remaining among their Eighth-Rank warriors.

Both were battered, their strength nearly exhausted.

Yet they still clung on, standing at the rear of their troops, roaring and bellowing orders.

“Kill! Kill!”

As they roared, both men kept glancing toward the city gate, filled with hope and anxiety.

Suddenly, both changed expression at the same moment.

They had not received the people they awaited.

Instead, they were met by a group they could never have dreamed of.

Leading the charge were two men: one an elderly scholar with a dignified, ethereal bearing, the other a towering, imposing man in his sixties.

Vast torrents of blood qi surged from their bodies—amidst the wounded, exhausted warriors around them, their presence was overwhelmingly imposing.

Behind them stood three Seventh-Rank Great Martial Masters and dozens of Fifth- and Sixth-Rank Great Martial Masters.

All of them unleashed terrifying blood qi, merging into a single, roaring tide that surged forward like a raging river across the square.

“Ji Yuanzhen!”

“Liang Jingtang!”

“Ji Shouli!”

Instinctively, both sides halted their fighting, staring in disbelief at the elite Ji family warriors and the five master-disciples of Qianjiao Martial Hall marching forward with unstoppable momentum.

“The Three Clans Alliance and the Xu family are cruel and heartless—they treat our lives as grass, seize our families as hostages, and force us to fight for them!

Nearly half of my Ji clan have died. Had Heaven not taken pity and sent us a miraculous savior, we would have been wiped out long ago. All we asked for was to leave!

Today, we have seized the chance to kill the old villain Xu Zhiyuan and Ding Bangcheng and others. When will you act? Are you still prepared to die for the Xu family and the Three Clans Alliance?” Ji Yuanzhen raised his great blade, his white beard and hair bristling as he roared.

“The old villain Xu Zhiyuan is dead! Ding Bangcheng and the others are dead too!”

The square fell utterly silent.

Everyone was stunned by this earth-shattering news.

“They’re dead! What are we waiting for? Kill them!” Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted.

That cry ignited the fuse.

In an instant, the crowd exploded.

Warriors who had been fighting desperately for the Three Clans Alliance suddenly turned their blades and slashed wildly at their own comrades.

The same happened among the Xu family’s ranks.

The soldiers of the Three Clans Alliance and the Xu family were utterly bewildered.

Then came a bitterly ironic scene.

Warriors who had just been fighting to the death now instinctively gathered together.

The last remaining Eighth-Rank Great Martial Master of the Three Clans Alliance stood shoulder to shoulder with Xu Shangdong, no longer fearing that their former enemies might strike them from behind.

“Kill!” Ji Yuanzhen roared, raising his blade, his old body still fierce, charging ahead to strike the two last Eighth-Rank Great Martial Masters.

“Kill!” Liang Jingtang swung his spear and followed Ji Yuanzhen into the fray.

“Kill!” The Ji clan warriors and Yuchi Xiao and others shouted, surging forward like a flood.

The remnants of the Three Clans Alliance and the Xu family were few, all exhausted like bows with broken strings; meanwhile, the Ji clan and Qianjiao Martial Hall warriors were fresh, rested, and every single one was at least a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master, with three Seventh-Rank Great Martial Masters among them.

What could possibly stand against this charge?

Instantly, the soldiers of the Three Clans Alliance and the Xu family fell into pools of blood.

Liang Jingtang fought with great valor.

That night, deeply shaken, he had taken the Phoenix Cry Pill—but failed to break through, while Yuchi Xiao succeeded and reached Seventh-Rank Great Martial Master, just as he had.

Yet though he had not broken through that night, his qi had grown immensely dense and refined—he was now just a hair’s breadth from breaking the Eighth-Rank barrier.

With his Green Dragon Spear, he faced off against the Eight-Rank clan elder of the Three Clans Alliance.

In mere moments, he drove the elder into retreat; the elder tried to flee, but Liang Jingtang’s spear rained down like a storm, one thrust following another, granting no chance to breathe, let alone turn and escape.