'Startled Insects' Operation

To welcome the arrival of the Eastern Lunar New Year, the Yin Clan's Midnight Blood Feast was exceptionally grand and luxurious.

Fresh ingredients from various rare Demonic Beasts and Demonic Fowl were meticulously prepared by top chefs. Countless precious medicinal herbs, each a rare treasure that greatly replenishes blood and strengthens the origin, were mixed into the food.

At the Blood Feast, besides eating and drinking, many elders of the Yin Clan would present various rare treasures and weapons to the younger generation of their respective branches. The more contributions a junior made to the family in the past year, the more rewards they would receive. The treasures these elders brought out also represented their prestige, so a continuous stream of rare and exotic items dazzled the eyes of the Yin Clan's juniors.

As the Blood Feast concluded, Yin Tianjue, representing all the Yin Clan Elders, distributed New Year's money to all the Young Disciples present. This was a New Year's gift for the Young Disciples, following an ancient Eastern custom, and all disciples received the same amount of wealth.

Yin Xuege received one hundred newly minted gold coins, each weighing one liang, totaling ten jin for the hundred coins. These gold coins were universally accepted, whether in human city-states or among the major families of Blood Demons.

After the lively and boisterous Blood Feast ended, Yin Xuege, surrounded by numerous guards, arrived at the Yin Clan's core stronghold. In front of the Heaven and Earth Tower, he instructed all accompanying guards to wait outside. Yin Xuege entered the Heaven and Earth Tower alone and quickly ascended to the highest floor.

The eastern sky had already brightened, and the Blood Mist Barrier below had been activated. The Heaven and Earth Tower, protruding hundreds of meters above the Blood Mist Barrier, was bathed in golden sunlight. Yin Xuege felt the abundant warmth of the sun filling him with strength.

Nine Yin Clan Elders were already waiting there. Except for Yin Tianjue and Yin Tianmie, who stood before their coffins, the other seven elders were lounging ungracefully, either leaning against their coffins or sitting directly on their lids. They were still holding exquisite celadon wine jars, sipping aged Eastern wine in small gulps.

"Nostalgia!" Yin Tianjue gazed thoughtfully in the direction of the rising sun. "It's been many years since I returned to our ancestral land to pay respects at the graves of our ancestors. One day, our Yin Clan will return to our ancestral land openly and hold a grand ancestral worship ceremony!"

"I wonder if our Yin Clan's manor still exists today?" Yin Tianmie sighed softly. "We haven't been able to go back and see since that day. I still remember planting a Blood Core Begonia on my father's grave before leaving home. I wonder how big it has grown now?"

Yin Xuege remained silent. He was too young to understand the elders' lingering melancholy. Moreover, he had grown up within the Yin Clan City-State and had no impression of that ancient and mystical Eastern ancestral land. Even though the Yin Clan was filled with traditions and rules from the East, Yin Xuege had no recollection of the East at all.

Yin Tianjue raised a wine jar, drained its contents in one gulp, and then tossed the jar directly from the highest point of the Heaven and Earth Tower. The fist-sized jar plummeted downwards, eventually impacting the vast expanse of the Blood Mist Barrier. A ripple of blood-red light spread out, and the wine jar instantly turned into a wisp of black ash, blown away by the high-altitude winds without a trace.

"The East, we will return there sooner or later!" Yin Tianjue took a deep breath, then clasped his hands behind his back, looking at Yin Xuege with authority.

"We summoned you because of the news you brought us last time!" Yin Tianjue narrowed his eyes and gestured to the other elders beside him. "Originally, for the annual ancestral worship ceremony, any elder could crawl out of their coffin to preside. But this year, all nine core elders of the clan, along with other elders of the Heaven Generation, have appeared because of the news you brought!"

"The Jiang Clan!" Yin Xuege immediately understood.

"That's right, the Jiang Clan!" Yin Tianjue said, walking slowly around his coffin with his hands behind his back. As he walked, he spoke in a measured tone, "The Jiang Clan, we don't know their current situation, but when our Yin Clan left the East back then, the Jiang Clan was one of the top five Immortal Clans in the Eastern Cultivation World."

Yin Tianmie added from the side, "You Young Disciples might not be clear about the ancient history of the East. But in the Eastern Cultivation World, the Jiang family is truly a behemoth of ancient inheritance. Their ancestor, Jiang Taigong, hehe, he was once a figure who controlled the 'Immortal Tribulation'!"

Yin Xuege stared blankly at Yin Tianmie, like a quail in a thunderstorm. He didn't know much about Eastern myths and legends, as the Children's Hall didn't teach them such things. Eastern Cultivation World, Jiang Taigong – he had never heard of any of these!

Yin Tianjue emerged from behind his coffin, producing another celadon wine jar from somewhere. He broke the seal and guzzled the wine. After three gulps, he smiled at Yin Xuege and exhaled a heavy breath of wine. "The Jiang Clan has arrived, which is why all the elders and matriarchs of the clan have been awakened. This isn't just because of you, a Sunwalker!"

"We want to use the Jiang Clan as a starting point to exchange for an opportunity for our Yin Clan to return to our ancestral land!" Yin Tianmie squinted, his eyes flashing. "Since the Era of Dharma Decline began and we transformed into our Blood Demon Physique, we haven't had a chance to return to our ancestral land. We haven't received any news from the Eastern Cultivation World, and we even thought they had all perished due to the dissipation of spiritual energy!"

Yin Tianjue finished another jar of wine and, with little regard for etiquette, tossed it down the Heaven and Earth Tower again.

"No matter what the Jiang Clan is doing in the West! Since they are still alive and have approached those Grand Arbiters of the Great Berlin City-State, as the lords of the surrounding hundred thousand li, and as the most powerful Yin Clan of the Blood Demon lineage, we must do something." Yin Tianjue's eyes suddenly turned a strange scarlet, and his pupils became golden yellow like the sun, emitting brilliant golden-red light.

"We must do something, this is an opportunity!" Yin Tianjue smiled strangely. "Let's first see what the Jiang Clan is up to. If there are benefits, and if those benefits are worth our effort, then we will act without hesitation! If the benefits are only mediocre, then we will befriend the visitors from the Jiang Clan and forge a connection with them!"

Taking a deep breath, Yin Tianjue's scarlet eyes returned to normal, and a hint of tender affection appeared in his gaze. He looked at the red sun in the east and sighed softly, "So many years, I wonder, are you well?"

Yin Tianmie impatiently scolded from the side, "Big Brother, don't think about that woman anymore! The fact that she didn't want to leave with us back then proves she never cared about you! With her cultivation back then, she must be dead by now! What are you still pining for?"

Yin Tianjue snorted dismissively and pointed his finger fiercely at Yin Tianmie's nose. "You don't understand!"

An elder who was already quite drunk suddenly chuckled, shaking his head and saying, "Big Brother, what do we need to understand? As for being a romantic, you're enough for us! As for us, with countless young girls and beautiful married women crying and begging for our favor, we only need to understand how to increase the direct bloodline of the Yin Clan, and that's enough."

The Yin Clan elders laughed raucously and unceremoniously. Their laughter was sharp and unpleasant, like demonic sounds that made Yin Xuege dizzy and almost nauseous.

Yin Tianjue, feeling a bit embarrassed, let out a few angry shouts, finally managing to suppress his brothers who were mocking him. His old face flushed slightly as he turned around and took out three fist-sized blood beads from his sleeve, handing them over.

"Yin Xuege, we have formulated a plan, 'Startled Insects'!" Yin Xuege took the three blood beads, feeling the terrifying power contained within them, and his eyes twitched violently. He heard Yin Tianjue continue, "The so-called Startled Insects is to stir up all the ghosts and monsters hiding in the dark underground, so we can see them clearly."

"These three Mysterious Yin Blood Thunders were refined by us old fellows over three hundred years, using the bloodthirsty energy from our impure blood mixed with the power of heavenly thunder. They possess immense power, and we entrust them to you for protection!" Yin Tianjue said coldly. "Your mission is to lead a Yin Clan hunting party three days from now to gradually encroach upon the territories of the Great Berlin City-State, sweep through their outer strongholds, and capture as many Blood Servants and Blood Slaves as possible!"

With the collective decision of the Yin Clan Elders, the powerful Yin Clan, like a warhorse whipped fiercely, began to operate rapidly.

After a brief three-day preparation period, led by Yin Xuege, a magnificent Yin Clan hunting party marched out of the main gate of the Yin Clan City-State. The scale of this hunting party was unprecedented, the most powerful ever dispatched by the Yin Clan throughout history!

Yin Xuege, clad in a blood-red battle robe crafted by the Yin Clan's Internal Affairs Hall, with a black half-plate armor on his upper body, stood inside his carriage. Through the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, he gazed at the astonishingly large hunting party.

One hundred Flying Magic Chariots hovered three feet off the ground, slowly moving forward, pulled by over a thousand Night Netherblood Leopards. Each Flying Magic Chariot was eighteen meters long and about six meters wide, carrying one hundred fully armed Yin Clan Warriors inside.

These Yin Clan Warriors were all elites of the Yin Clan. The weakest among them possessed the strength of a Night Warrior. Their ten-person squad leaders were all Barons in strength. Centurions were Viscounts; and Chiliarchs were Counts! Even without counting the Yin Clan Experts disguised as ordinary warriors around Yin Xuege, this was an extremely terrifying force.

This was merely the direct military might of the Yin Clan. Outside the one hundred Flying Magic Chariots were a full thirty thousand Blood Servant Warriors riding Unicorn Blood Beasts. These Blood Servant Warriors were all humans, similar to the degenerates in the Great Berlin City-State. They admired the Blood Demon race and wished to receive the bestowed essence blood from the Blood Demons, thereby transforming into immortal Blood Demons!

These Blood Servant Warriors, who willingly defected to the Yin Clan, were elites selected through brutal trials. They were uniformly clad in battle armor forged by the Yin Clan. Besides a standard Yin Clan crystal weapon, they were equipped with various powerful gunpowder weapons manufactured by humans during the Era of Dharma Decline.

After all, for the Yin Clan, crystals were extremely precious cultivation resources, and they could not afford to waste too much on these Blood Servant Warriors. The crystal weapons issued to them were primarily for emergency use against powerful enemies. When capturing Blood Servants and Blood Slaves, they relied more on the various weapons manufactured by humans.

In addition to these ground forces, there were one hundred Hell Three-Headed Dragon Eagles gliding slowly in the sky. On the back of each Three-Headed Dragon Eagle was a Blood Puppet led by a Yin Clan Baron, accompanied by ten elite Blood Puppets!

These Blood Puppets were terrifying monsters created by the Yin Clan using Western puppetry techniques and Eastern corpse refinement arts. They were fearless of sunlight, impervious to blades and spears, possessed immense strength, and had astonishingly rapid regeneration capabilities. Combined with the fortress-like heavy armor specially forged for them by the Yin Clan, these Blood Puppets were the Yin Clan's most feared assault force.

The Yin Clan's ability to establish a foothold in the West and to make other orthodox Blood Demon noble families wary yet helpless owes at least half its credit to these terrifying and evil Blood Puppets.

Such a massive hunting party advanced majestically. Yin Xuege, looking at this force entirely under his command, felt a surge of excitement and nodded repeatedly. This kind of authority, this kind of power – wasn't that what the stewards of the Children's Hall had been instilling in Yin Xuege? Only by possessing such authority and power could one be considered a true member of the Yin Clan!

Wumu, also clad in a thick set of armor, removed his helmet and squatted beside Yin Xuege, gnawing on a huge beast leg. This fellow still retained a strong primal bestial nature. The beast leg had not been cooked in any way, and blood continuously dripped from the meat as Wumu devoured it, filling the carriage with the smell of blood.

Inside Yin Xuege's magic chariot were experts from the Yin Clan's 'Nameless Generation' and even the 'Earth Generation'. They exchanged glances at the blood-splattered Wumu, shaking their heads slightly with disdain in their eyes!

Whether Blood Demons or Werewolves, they were all members of the Western dark forces, enemies of humanity.

However, the Blood Demon clan prided themselves on being elegant nobles. They looked down upon these crude, barbaric Werewolves whose habits were no different from wild beasts. Furthermore, Wumu, in addition to his savage nature, was a typical chatterbox. In recent days, his foul mouth had offended countless people within the Yin Clan. If it weren't for Yin Xuege's sake, someone would have already thrown him out of the magic chariot.

The large contingent left the Yin Clan's territory, passed through the towering mountains, and arrived at the plains outside.

The Yin Clan had already formulated a thorough battle plan. The Yin Clan Warriors in the one hundred magic chariots did not move. The thirty thousand Blood Servant Warriors riding Unicorn Blood Beasts let out sharp whistles, scattering into hundreds of teams of various sizes, charging towards a human reclamation point on the eastern side of the Great Berlin City-State.

Along the way, these Yin Clan Blood Servant troops deliberately made a lot of noise. They lit large bonfires on the plains and then covered them with thick, wet grass, causing hundreds of dark plumes of smoke to rise straight into the sky.

They even indiscriminately tossed all sorts of noisy bombs made by humans everywhere, their 'boom boom' roars echoing far and wide, scaring the mercenary teams hunting outside Great Berlin City-State into a panicked flight!

These mercenaries, who went out to hunt various Demonic Beasts and demonic birds for sale, had their largest teams numbering no more than a hundred people. How would they dare to engage the Yin Clan's Blood Servant army? In terms of individual strength or equipment, they were worlds apart from the Yin Clan's Blood Servant army!

Yet, some unlucky human mercenary teams still couldn't escape in time and were surrounded by the Blood Servant army commanded by Yin Xuege. After a brief exchange of fire, these mercenaries despaired and laid down their weapons! If it were just the Blood Servant army, they might still fight back and try to break through and escape. But when they saw the Hell Three-Headed Dragon Eagles slowly soaring overhead, they lost all courage to resist!

Yin Xuege's large contingent swept past the edge of Great Berlin City-State. At their closest, a small squad of Blood Servants was less than twenty miles from the city walls.

They captured thousands of unlucky mercenaries and farmers along the way, tying them with ropes behind their Flying Magic Chariots and dragging them along slowly. It took them three days, giving Great Berlin City-State ample time to prepare, before Yin Xuege's army finally arrived at Fanlu'er City, over 700 kilometers away from Great Berlin City-State.

This was a reclamation point of Great Berlin City-State. Fanlu'er City had a population of over a million and was a city whose main industries were fish and mining.

Beside Fanlu'er City was a large lake stretching for nearly a thousand kilometers, teeming with various delicious lake fish and lake shrimp. Nearby was a mountain range containing a natural gold sand deposit, as well as several important metal ore veins. These mineral resources were of immense value to Great Berlin City-State—just like the metal city wall of Great Berlin City-State, which stretched for thousands of kilometers and was a hundred meters high; most of the metal used was sourced from Fanlu'er City.

Along the way, Yin Xuege and his large contingent advanced noisily, not concealing their movements but instead creating a huge commotion.

So, when they leisurely arrived outside Fanlu'er City, the city had already been transformed into a formidable fortress. On the metal city walls, dozens of meters high, all the city gates were covered with heavy armored plates. The city walls were densely packed with countless defensive weapons, and over a hundred thousand soldiers and militiamen gathered on the walls, looking at the vast Yin Clan army outside with a hint of panic and despair.

A low drumbeat sounded as the Yin Clan's thirty thousand Blood Servants arrayed themselves for an assault outside Fanlu'er City. Dozens of heavy Mortar Cannons with astonishing caliber were dragged out from behind the Flying Magic Chariots and lined up less than ten kilometers from the city walls.

A farmer, whose clothes were tattered and who was trembling after being captured by the Blood Servants halfway, walked towards the walls of Fanlu'er City, carrying a white flag. Standing below the city walls, he shouted loudly, "The esteemed lords from the Yin Clan have asked you to lay down your weapons and surrender! The lords promise that if you put down your weapons and do not resist, you will not be killed!"

"Anyone who dares to attack the lords will be killed, and their relatives will have their blood drained dry!"

The farmer's response was a fist-sized fireball whistling down from the city walls.

Amidst screams of agony, the fireball landed on the farmer, engulfing his body in flames. He rolled on the ground, burning, and after a while, his heart-wrenching screams finally ceased as he died.

******

Still outside, continuing to ask for recommendation votes!

Pig Head is so tired! (To be continued)