At Su Xiaobai's current strength, as long as he was willing, he was fully qualified to trample the Yuan Family beneath his feet and wreak wanton slaughter upon them!
Moreover, he could do so before anyone in the Yuan Family even had time to react, sending every last one of them to their deaths!
However, Su Xiaobai would not rush there so rashly.
No matter how pathetic the Yuan Family was, they were still residents of the Core Area. With that status, the government and major lineages of Base No. 18 would uphold the rules... Su Xiaobai was confident in his own strength, but not so confident that he believed he could contend with a Martial General, let alone a Martial Marshal!
So he was not in a hurry.
He would slowly increase his strength first. Once he was strong enough, wiping out the Yuan Family would be no harder than crushing an ant!
Meanwhile, in the Core Area, at Zhang Family Manor.
In the conference room, the family head, Zhang Henglong, was discussing matters with a group of high-ranking members.
The atmosphere was heavy, and everyone's brows were tightly furrowed.
"Family Head, we can't retreat anymore!"
"That's right! We've already had our territory in the Hot Rain Forest seized by the Yuan Family... If we give up the Green Tongue Wasteland this time as well, our profits will drop by at least �%!"
"The Yuan Family has gone too far... We've yielded again and again, and they've only grown more avaricious! Family Head, give the order! Even if I die, I'll at least drag one member of the Yuan Family down with me!"
"..."
The Zhang Family's high-ranking members were all blazing with fury.
Each major family in the Core Area had established a Warrior team belonging to their own family to hunt Fierce Beasts in the wild.
The first purpose was to obtain Fierce Beast Materials and gain sufficient profits from them, allowing the family to grow stronger without pause.
The second was to clear out Fierce Beasts, protect the base, and prevent them from breeding too quickly and squeezing humanity's living space.
The third was to expand their territory. If possible, they would expand the boundaries of the Human Base and give humanity more room to survive!
The families did not give much thought to the latter two.
The only thing that truly drove them to devote themselves wholeheartedly was the first point!
Profit!
Everything was for profit!
Moreover, in order to secure a stable source of profit, the various families had clearly divided their own hunting territories for Fierce Beasts... Once a Fierce Beast territory belonged to you, members of other families could not enter to hunt. If they wanted to come in, they had to obtain permission!
However, recently, as the conflict between the Zhang Family and the Yuan Family had intensified again and again, the Warrior teams of both families had already fought countless times... Clearly, the final result had always been the Zhang Family's dismal defeat.
The Zhang Family had even been forced to give up its own hunting regions in order to preserve its Warriors.
Just moments ago.
The Zhang Family's Warrior team had sent back another report.
The Yuan Family had once again invaded the Zhang Family's Stronghold in the Green Tongue Wasteland and attacked the Zhang Family's Warrior team. The Zhang Family had lost dozens more Warriors, as well as several Intermediate Warriors and one Advanced Warrior!
As soon as news of this spread back, it immediately ignited the fury of every member of the Zhang Family!
This was simply too much!
Over the years, the Yuan Family had launched offensive after offensive on its own initiative. At first, the Zhang Family had still been able to hold them off, but as its core forces suffered continual losses, the Zhang Family had gradually declined... until the Yuan Family began launching widespread attacks.
Now they had gone even further, directly beginning to seize territory by force!
To ensure the family's safety, the Zhang Family had reluctantly given up several hunting regions... They had even been forced to send people out to search for new hunting regions.
But the Yuan Family showed no intention of stopping. They continued to invade relentlessly.
"I know you're all burning to fight, but now is still not the time."
Zhang Henglong sighed and shook his head. "The Yuan Family's momentum is growing by the day. With our Zhang Family's current strength, it would be difficult to stand against them... extremely difficult!"
As the head of the family, Zhang Henglong naturally could not act as impulsively as the others.
He had to consider the bigger picture, the entire clan... If they forced a head-on clash, they would only suffer losses on both sides and gravely damage their foundations. Thus, for the sake of the clan, he could only choose to yield.
"Are you saying that our Zhang Family should just let the Yuan Family force us into a corner without resisting?"
"If only the Family Head could advance to Martial Generalhood... The Yuan Family would have to obediently kneel and beg us for mercy!"
The Zhang Family's high-ranking members secretly ground their teeth, indignant and resentful.
The only way to resolve this predicament was for Zhang Henglong to advance from Advanced Martial Master to Beginner Martial General... Once he advanced, the Zhang Family would completely reverse its decline. It would rapidly go from passively taking blows to launching attacks, and the Yuan Family would be doomed!
But how could Martial Generalhood be achieved so easily?
There were many people capable of becoming Advanced Martial Masters.
Yet in the end, only a handful could reach Martial General.
Just then—
Bang!
The main door was suddenly thrown open, and Zhang Hengde rushed in, panting heavily.
"Second Family Head!"
Everyone rose and saluted.
"Second Brother, what happened?"
Zhang Henglong's brows furrowed deeply.
A trace of worry involuntarily rose in his heart... Could it be that the Yuan Family had sent an expert to assassinate Guest Elder Su, and Zhang Hengde had been unable to defeat him and fled back alone?
But when he looked at Zhang Hengde again, he saw no trace of a struggle on him.
"Big... Big Brother... I have something to report to you!"
"It's urgent, extremely urgent!"
Zhang Hengde took several deep breaths before finally catching his breath.
"You all wait here for a moment."
"Second Brother, come to my study and tell me."
Zhang Henglong still felt it was not safe enough, so he took Zhang Hengde to the study.
The group of Zhang Family high-ranking members remained in the conference room, grumbling and complaining.
"I truly don't understand what the Family Head is so afraid of! If we fought the Yuan Family head-on, with our current strength, we might not lose! Even if we did, we could at least inflict severe damage on the Yuan Family and make them afraid to act recklessly again!"
"Say no more. Since the Family Head made this decision, he naturally has his own considerations!"
"When will this ever end? The Yuan Family keeps invading, and we keep retreating. If this continues, we'll sooner or later have to give up those several territories in the east as well! When that happens, everyone in our Zhang Family will be left drinking the northwest wind!"
"Sigh..."
The Zhang Family's high-ranking members sighed and shook their heads repeatedly.
Humiliated!
Utterly humiliated!
They were being firmly suppressed, subjected to all kinds of ridicule and mockery, unable to hold their heads high and too afraid to fight back... This feeling was simply enough to drive a person mad!
Suddenly.
"Hahahahaha..."
A hearty burst of laughter rang out from the study.
Everyone in the conference room froze for a moment and exchanged glances, completely unaware of what had happened to make the Family Head so delighted.
In a flash, the study door was pushed open, and Zhang Henglong walked out with excitement and exhilaration still lingering on his face, his eyes shining brilliantly.
"Go! Tell every Warrior of the Zhang Family that, from this moment onward, all of them are to enter a state of readiness for battle!"
"I'm going out now. Once I return, we'll launch a full-scale counterattack against the Yuan Family!"
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