Chapter 107: The Contest for Young Clan Leader

In Jiang Qin's memory, Dijing, as the heart of Huaguo, should have been much like the capital he remembered from his previous life.

Ancient-era architecture and new-era skyscrapers coexisted within a single city.

But once he actually stepped onto the streets of Dijing, he realized he had been wrong.

And wildly wrong at that.

Behind those towering city walls, there were no so-called skyscrapers.

To put it in the simplest terms: from the moment he crossed through the city gate, it was like traveling from the modern era back to ancient times—everywhere was classical architecture, and the ground was paved entirely with grey bricks.

But Jiang Qin noticed something off about the bricks beneath his feet.

Seeing this, Jiang Hanhan, who was walking beside him, smiled and explained:

"Are you wondering why ordinary bricks are suffused with Spirit Energy?"

"It's simple!"

"Because the entirety of Dijing is an immovable, super-large Spirit Artifact. Its material and defenses are harder and more stable than the Heise Changcheng at the Frontier, and it can accommodate tens of millions of people. It rivals the greatest of Lanxing; if the nation were to fall, this Dijing Shi would be the final hope-city of the Huaguo people."

Since it was known that Fierce Beasts would eventually launch a full-scale invasion, and that a war of the gods was about to erupt—

How could Huaguo possibly make no preparations?

Jiang Hanhan acted as guide, introducing the scenery and history along the way to Jiang Qin while observing the changes in his expression. She had expected Jiang Qin to be surprised or shocked—after all, compared to the vastness of Dijing—

Even Modu had to take a back seat.

Yet aside from a slight surprise upon first learning that the entirety of Dijing was a Spirit Artifact, Jiang Qin's face showed not the slightest change in expression thereafter.

She didn't know why.

Jiang Hanhan's intuition told her that her brother was somehow different from before.

But she couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed.

…

Dijing truly lived up to its reputation as the capital of Huaguo; ordinary people were extremely few here.

Martial Artists of the Spirit-Gathering Realm were everywhere on the streets.

Occasionally, one could even spot a few Divine Image Realm Realm cultivators.

As Huaguo's final hope-city, Dijing differed from other cities in that it still retained a portion of its mid-to-high-end combat strength. Add to that the Divine Image Realm Realm and Earth Martial Realm Martial Artists retained by the various great families—their numbers certainly wouldn't be large, but they wouldn't be too few either.

By the same token, the Jiang Family had also retained a portion of its forces to hold the home front.

The Jiang Family occupied a grand estate within the city; the residence alone covered an area of one full kilometer.

The estates of Martial Artist families were never small—they had to be able to house every member of the clan.

The advantage of this was that the Clan Leader could exercise absolute control over the family.

The drawback, however, was that with everyone gathered in one place, underhanded scheming was never in short supply. Apart from the Clan Leader and the highly respected elders, the rest of the family split into various factions, each refusing to submit to the others.

This situation grew even more severe after the Clan Leader and the family elders departed for the Frontier.

"Brother, this is it!"

Before the Jiang Family estate, Jiang Hanhan stopped in her tracks.

Before he had even crossed the threshold, Jiang Qin sensed several intense waves of hostility emanating from within the estate. After becoming a Martial Artist, one became extremely sensitive to hostility and killing intent—especially when the other party made no attempt to conceal it.

Sure enough—

Soon, a dozen or so figures appeared in the sight of the three. These people were young-faced; the weakest among them was already at Linghai Late Stage, and the oldest, around thirty, was at the Divine Image Realm Realm. Such talent would not be considered mediocre even in the Four Great Academies.

The hostility was emanating from them.

Jiang Hanhan's brows furrowed the instant she saw them.

"Jiang Tao… isn't today your group's turn to go on patrol? What are you trying to do?"

Jiang Tao was that Martial Artist of the Divine Image Realm Realm in his early thirties.

He was also the leader of this group.

The arrogant-faced man's gaze swept past Jiang Hanhan and Steward Jiang, finally settling on Jiang Qin. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he said with a faint smile:

"Patrol can happen anytime. I heard the Young Clan Leader has returned, so I came specially to pay my respects."

"I just want to see what kind of outstanding figure could make the Clan Leader directly override the Tribal Elder Council's opinion and pre-decide the position of Young Clan Leader. But now that I look… he doesn't seem anything special. I broke through to the Divine Image Realm Realm in my twenties too. With the Young Clan Leader's talent, if he wants to lead our Jiang Family, I'm afraid it'll be hard to win people over."

Generally speaking, the Clan Leader's son would naturally become the Young Clan Leader.

But that was for ordinary people.

For Martial Dao families, the prosperity of the clan was what mattered most. The position of Young Clan Leader was not decided by status but by ability—anyone with ability could fight for it.

And Jiang Tao's meaning was already very clear: he was deeply unconvinced.

Jiang Qin glanced at him and said calmly, "I have no interest in the position of Young Clan Leader. If you want it… then I'll let you have it."

"Let's go."

Saying this, he walked past Jiang Tao and headed into the interior of the estate.

Jiang Tao and his group, meanwhile, were left rooted to the spot, having never anticipated such an outcome. This guy didn't put up even the slightest resistance—wouldn't he be angry?

How could they have known that Jiang Qin had never cared about the position of Jiang Family Young Clan Leader, or any Clan Leader position for that matter.

So whether it was the Young Clan Leader or the Clan Leader, he couldn't care less who held it.

Jiang Hanhan gave a cold snort and hurried after him.

Jiang Tao and his group remained where they were.

"Tao-ge, based on what that guy just said, does that make you the Young Clan Leader now?"

"Like hell it does!" Jiang Tao smacked the lackey irritably and snapped angrily, "The Young Clan Leader's seat can only be held firm through strength. That guy didn't even fight me—who in the family would submit to me? Only by defeating him fair and square can I win everyone's respect!"

"But he seems completely unwilling to fight you. What do we do now?"

"Hmph, if he won't fight, then I'll force him to fight me!"

As he said this, a flash of killing intent flickered subtly through Jiang Tao's eyes, unnoticed by those around him. He turned to look at Jiang Qin's retreating back, and Spirit Power silently gathered in his right palm.

The Imperial Capital permits Martial Artists to spar with one another, but prohibits the use of large-scale techniques.

Jiang Qin continued walking forward with an expressionless face.

A gust of palm wind suddenly struck from behind.

"Young Clan Leader, I wish to spar with you — I hope you'll do me the honor!"

He said it was a request, but in truth left no room for refusal at all.

Jiang Tao struck with a full-force palm from behind, confident that as long as this palm landed on Jiang Qin, his years of accumulation in the Divine Image Realm Realm would be enough to cripple the fellow in a single strike.

"Brother, be careful!"

Jiang Hanhan was greatly alarmed and immediately moved to act.

At the critical moment, Steward Jiang held her back, then shook his head and stepped aside several paces.

Success!

Seeing that Jiang Qin still hadn't turned around to look, Jiang Tao's face already showed a look of delight.

His full-force palm had not even touched Jiang Qin before a hand seized his wrist.

That palm strike was instantly dismantled.

Jiang Qin turned around, looked calmly at the utterly shocked Jiang Tao, his tone cold.

"Just now, for a brief instant, you were thinking of killing me, weren't you?"

"If possible, I truly don't want to kill anyone today…"