Central Continent, amid the mountains.
Endless palaces and pavilions were roofed in crimson-gold glazed tiles, flaunting the Lineage's nobility like a nouveau riche.
The inactive grand formation protecting the Lineage resembled a gigantic bowl turned upside down over the entire Nangong Family. The roars of fire dragons echoed from within, intimidating all directions.
This was the renowned Nangong Family of the Central Continent, a first-rate aristocratic family with a legacy stretching ten thousand years and profound foundations.
The Nangong Family was famed throughout the land for its fire arts. Its clansmen were innately close to flames, and the techniques they cultivated were incomparably tyrannical, capable of burning heaven and extinguishing earth. They held considerable status in the Central Continent.
At this moment, however, the atmosphere inside a magnificent palace named Sky Burning Hall, located in the Nangong Family's core territory, was exceptionally oppressive.
Sky Burning Hall was the Nangong Family's place for deliberating affairs, opened only when the Lineage faced major decisions.
At the very center of the hall stood a massive Sky Burning Furnace, majestic and imposing. Ancient flame runes covered its surface, radiating a scorching aura that made hearts tremble.
What burned within the furnace was not ordinary fire, but the Sky Burning True Fire passed down through generations of the Nangong Family. It was said that this fire had formed from a meteorite fallen from beyond the heavens, tainted by the karmic threads of the Great Dao, and possessed the terrifying power to incinerate the myriad heavens.
At present, the Sky Burning True Fire burned slowly. Crimson flames flickered, casting their light across the faces of everyone in the hall and making the atmosphere all the more solemn.
Dozens of crimson-gold chairs stood in rows along both sides of the hall, each forged from precious Fire Marrow Crystal Stone and giving off a faint warmth.
Seated upon them were the Nangong Family's core elders, along with several highly esteemed clan elders. Every one of them possessed a deep and unfathomable aura, with flames faintly coiling around their bodies.
More than half were Saint Realm experts!
Yet at this moment, these Nangong Family elders, usually incomparably imposing, all remained silent with dark expressions.
At the head of the hall stood an even broader crimson-gold throne carved with five fire dragons. It was empty, yet everyone's gaze was fixed upon a patch of darkness behind it, where it seemed an unparalleled ferocious beast was concealed, on the verge of awakening.
Silence—deathly silence—spread through Sky Burning Hall, weighing so heavily on everyone that they could barely breathe.
At last, this suffocating silence was broken by a burst of hurried footsteps.
A Nangong Family guard clad in fiery-red armor rushed into the hall in panic. Dropping to one knee, his voice trembling slightly, he reported, "Reporting to the elders, an urgent message has arrived from the Eastern Wasteland Domain!"
"Speak." An elder with white hair and beard, a flame mark between his brows, frowned and spoke in a deep voice.
The guard drew a deep breath and tried to suppress his fear before speaking rapidly. "It has been confirmed that Young Master Yan's and the Ninth Elder's Soul Lamps have been extinguished! Not only that, all our disciples who went to the Eastern Wasteland... have perished as well. Not a single one survived!"
"What?!"
The moment the guard finished speaking, a stormy uproar erupted within Sky Burning Hall. Every Nangong Family elder changed expression. The previously stifling atmosphere was instantly replaced by shock and fury.
"What did you say?" The elder who had spoken earlier abruptly rose to his feet. His hair and beard bristled, his eyes widened, and even his voice changed pitch as he asked in disbelief.
Soul Lamps were refined by cultivators using their own Essence Blood and souls, closely bound to their lives. Once a Soul Lamp was extinguished, it meant that its owner had fallen!
Nangong Lie, the Ninth Elder of the Nangong Family, was a Saint Realm expert and a figure of great renown even in the Central Continent. Yet he had now fallen in the Eastern Wasteland, something every Nangong Family member present found impossible to believe.
Not to mention that Nangong Yan, the Nangong Family young master's own younger brother, had fallen as well!
Had the Eastern Wasteland Domain grown tired of living?
"Impossible! This is impossible!" An elder cried out, his face pale. "Didn't Young Master Yan and the Ninth Elder go to the Eastern Wasteland Domain to handle the Mu Family marriage contract? How could anyone in that barbaric backwater threaten the Ninth Elder?"
"Indeed. The Ninth Elder was a Saint Realm expert. Looking across the entire Eastern Wasteland Domain, how many could possibly match him? Could he have encountered some accident?" Another elder knitted his brows and spoke gravely.
Feeling the elders' suppressed rage within the hall, the guard's body trembled even more violently. He hurriedly continued, "Reporting to the elders, the news came from Eastern Xuan Academy. It is said... it is said that Young Master Yan and the Ninth Elder were both... slapped to death by a young man from Eastern Xuan Academy!"
"A young man? Slapped to death in one strike?!"
The guard's words were like oil poured onto flames, instantly igniting the fury of every Nangong Family elder in Sky Burning Hall.
Their initial shock at such a miserable death was thoroughly replaced by rage!
"Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!"
"Eastern Xuan Academy, what audacity! You dared kill members of my Nangong Family? You truly do not know the immensity of heaven and earth!"
"A mere academy from the Eastern Wasteland Domain dares act so arrogantly? Do you truly think my Nangong Family has no one left?"
Roars and furious shouts echoed through Sky Burning Hall, making the entire palace hum as though a volcano were about to erupt.
Just then, an incomparably icy voice descended like frost, instantly suppressing the clamor in the hall. A chill shot from everyone's feet to the tops of their heads.
"Enough!"
The voice was not loud, yet it carried a terrifying pressure, as though it had come from the Nine Nether Cold Pool. The elders, who had been roaring in fury moments before, instantly fell silent as cicadas in winter.
Everyone turned their eyes in unison toward the dark area behind the Sky Burning Throne.
There, darkness receded like a tide, and a tall, upright figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
He was a young man in a Purple Gold War Robe, just over twenty years old. His features were handsome and sharply defined, as though carved by blade and axe. An innate nobility rested between his brows, while his eyes were deep and devoid of the slightest emotion.
Faint purple flames danced around him, beautiful yet dangerous, radiating a suffocating pressure.
The Nangong Family's young master, Nangong Huo!
Nangong Huo was the eldest son of the Nangong Family's current patriarch. His talent was peerless, his cultivation unfathomable. Hailed as a once-in-a-millennium supreme prodigy of the Nangong Family, he was the future heir to the patriarch's position.
He usually kept a low profile and devoted himself to cultivation, rarely appearing before others. Yet in the Central Continent, his name was as thunderous as a clap of lightning.
[Heavenly Pride Ranking—Earth Ranking] Young prodigy ranked 250th!
Nangong Huo stepped out of the shadows and swept his icy gaze across the hall. The previously clamorous Sky Burning Hall instantly became so silent that a needle falling could be heard.
Every Nangong Family elder respectfully lowered his head, not daring to meet the sharp edge of this young master's gaze.
"Report the full course of events in detail." Nangong Huo's voice remained icy and emotionless, carrying an authority none could resist.
The guard kneeling on the ground felt the terrifying pressure emanating from the young master and began trembling even more fiercely. He hurriedly recounted every detail of the information sent from Eastern Xuan Academy to Nangong Huo.
As the guard spoke, Nangong Huo's expression grew increasingly grim. The purple flames in his eyes leaped violently, as though they would burn heaven and earth to ashes.
His own younger brother had also fallen in that barbaric land!
After the guard finished his report, Sky Burning Hall fell into deathly silence once more, even more oppressive than before.
Nangong Huo stood there quietly without saying a word, his aura repressed to the extreme.
After a long while, Nangong Huo slowly opened his mouth, his voice as cold as if it came from the Nine Nether Cold Pool. "Eastern Xuan Academy... Mu Qingxue, and that beastly young man..."
Every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a killing intent that made hearts quake.
"Good! Very good!" Nangong Huo laughed in extreme fury. "Mere ants from the Eastern Wasteland Domain dared kill members of my Nangong Family. They truly are... audacious beyond all measure!"
"Young Master, please quell your anger!" An elder hurried forward and bowed as he advised, "There must be something suspicious about this. Eastern Xuan Academy has only barely reached the first-rate. How could it possibly produce such a heaven-defying disciple? Should we not deliberate this matter at length?"
"Deliberate at length?" Nangong Huo sneered, his eyes filled with mockery and rage. "Was it your younger brother who died, Seventh Elder?"
The Seventh Elder was left speechless by Nangong Huo's retort. His face flushed red, and he did not dare say another word.
"No more words are needed!" Nangong Huo waved a hand, his tone icy. "No matter what the reason may be, everyone involved in murdering Yan'er must die without exception!"
"Eastern Xuan Academy, and the Mu Family... I will personally go to the Eastern Wasteland Domain and bring those who killed my brother back to the Nangong Family, to offer them as sacrifice to Yan'er's spirit in heaven!" Nangong Huo's voice was resolute and beyond question.
"The Young Master is wise!" Hearing that Nangong Huo intended to personally travel to the Eastern Wasteland Domain, the Nangong Family elders within Sky Burning Hall were instantly invigorated.
There was no need to mention Nangong Huo's talent and strength. Even among the top powers of the Central Continent, he would be nurtured as a Core Disciple. Not to mention the immense prestige he held within the Lineage!
With the young master acting personally, what could a mere Eastern Xuan Academy amount to?
"Pass down the order. Begin preparations immediately. In three days, I will personally lead the Lineage's elites to the Eastern Wasteland Domain!" Nangong Huo said coldly, his voice grim.
"I will let those barbarians of the Eastern Wasteland Domain know the consequences of provoking my Nangong Family!"
"As you command!"
The Nangong Family elders in Sky Burning Hall answered in unison, their momentum soaring like a rainbow, as though they had already witnessed Eastern Xuan Academy's collapse!
Very quickly, the Nangong Family began to move. Clansmen bustled about, mobilizing troops and assigning generals, preparing all manner of supplies. The entire Nangong Family was shrouded in a chilling, murderous atmosphere.
A towering storm aimed at Eastern Xuan Academy was about to sweep forth!
Meanwhile, at Eastern Xuan Academy, the damaged Life Tablet in Xuanyuan Che's hand suddenly flickered several times.
"Are they finally starting to make a move? They were rather quick."
Before you continue