The Fallen Xiao Clan

Jia Ma Empire, Xiao Clan.

The night was as black as ink. The clan council hall was brightly lit, yet the light could not dispel the heaviness and oppression permeating every corner.

The hall that had once symbolized the clan's glory and power now felt like an airtight iron coffin, imprisoning everyone's breath.

From the elders to the core stewards, every high-ranking member of the Xiao Clan was present. No one spoke. Even exchanged glances carried an unspoken dread and avoidance.

A deathly silence hung in the air, broken only by the occasional crackle of lamp wicks bursting, each sound striking against everyone's taut nerves.

A few days earlier, news like a bolt from the blue had utterly broken the Xiao Clan's backbone—Xiao Lin, the old clan head and a Dou Wang expert who had supported the Xiao Clan for decades, had died unexpectedly while exploring a Snake-People Tribe ruin in the Tagor Desert.

When the news arrived, the Xiao Clan's sky had fallen.

Having lost its pillar, the Xiao Clan's standing in the empire plummeted. The forces that had once eagerly attached themselves to it immediately looked on coldly, while quite a few even kicked it while it was down in secret.

Open attacks and hidden schemes came one after another. Their businesses shrank, and the clan's influence rapidly diminished.

If not for Nalan Jie, the old patriarch of the Nalan Clan and the old clan head's close friend, who had remembered their past friendship and stepped in forcefully at the last moment to protect them, the Xiao Clan would likely have long been torn apart and divided among the hostile forces eyeing it like tigers.

And today, a message secretly sent by Nalan Jie pushed the Xiao Clan's remaining confidence completely into an icy abyss.

The contents of the letter sent chills through everyone who knew of it: Old Master Xiao Lin had most likely not died at the hands of the Snake-People Tribe, but had instead... been betrayed and murdered by someone close to him!

Nalan Jie's words in the letter were sincere and grief-stricken. He knew his old friend too well. Xiao Lin was seasoned and powerful. Though advanced in years, he had never been a rash man.

Among the Snake-People Tribe experts they encountered during that expedition, there had been no Dou Emperor. With Xiao Lin's strength as a Dou Wang, even if he could not win, there was no way he would have been unable to escape if he truly wished to flee.

What was more, when Nalan Jie had first examined Xiao Lin's body, he had not found any clear fatal wound! Suspicion arose in his heart, and he had intended to investigate further, only to encounter all manner of obstruction for "unknown reasons," leaving him unable to approach the body again.

By the time he finally found an opportunity to inspect it once more, a fatal wound had somehow appeared on Xiao Lin's corpse at the "perfect" moment, while the subtle traces of abnormalities Nalan Jie had vaguely noticed before had already been wiped away without a trace!

This was clearly the guilty party trying to cover his tracks!

What sort of man was Nalan Jie? He immediately realized there had to be something suspicious about his old friend's death. It was highly likely that a traitor within the clan had orchestrated this vicious murder.

He used every connection he had to investigate in secret, vowing to expose the true culprit. Yet just as the investigation began to yield clues, one of his high-ranking close friends secretly sent a warning, telling him to stop immediately. Otherwise, the Nalan Clan would also be dragged into the whirlpool and face the danger of destruction.

For the survival of his clan, Nalan Jie, this old man of fierce temperament, could ultimately only compromise with hatred in his heart.

At the end of his letter, he warned the Xiao Clan with every word written in blood and tears: the mastermind behind this possessed astonishing power and harbored deep malice toward the Xiao Clan.

The Xiao Clan's strange recent decline in influence was likely not merely the work of its usual enemies. There was also an invisible black hand fanning the flames behind the scenes.

He advised the Xiao Clan to make plans early. Perhaps... leaving Jia Ma Holy City was their only path to survival.

This letter was like a poisoned dagger, piercing through the Xiao Clan's last shred of hope.

"Young Clan Head, what... what should we do now?" Great Elder Xiao Shan, his beard and hair both white, broke the suffocating silence in a dry, hoarse voice. His clouded gaze turned toward the young man seated at the head of the hall.

That was Xiao Lin's son, Xiao Zhan. His father's sudden death had placed this crushing burden upon his shoulders without warning.

Since his cultivation had yet to reach the standard needed to support a great clan, he was still only the "Young Clan Head" and had not formally succeeded to the position of clan head.

Fortunately, among the Xiao Clan's younger generation, no one could match him for the time being. His succession had originally only been a matter of time. Yet now, the title of "Young Clan Head" seemed so heavy and awkward.

Xiao Zhan slowly raised his head. His face was filled with undisguised exhaustion and grief, his eye sockets sunken and his lips cracked.

He swept his gaze across every elder and clan veteran present. Their faces bore anger, fear, confusion, and a faint, barely noticeable... appraisal of his capability.

He took a deep breath, as though he had exhausted all his strength before forcing out the words from his throat. "Sigh... what else can we do? We can only leave."

Before his words had even faded, the hall erupted in commotion.

"Leave? Young Clan Head, are we to abandon our ancestral legacy and flee the Imperial Capital like homeless dogs?" A hot-tempered steward could not help growling.

Xiao Zhan did not answer directly. He merely continued in a low voice carrying unquestionable resolve, "Leave this place. Go somewhere far from the empire's center of power, far from every faction's watchful eyes—a remote town. Wutan City... may be an option."

"Damn it! Are we not going to avenge the old clan head's blood-deep hatred?!" With a bang, Second Elder Xiao Li, the fiercest-tempered among them, slammed his palm onto the heavy sandalwood table. Spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread across its solid surface. "We do not even know who murdered the old clan head! And we are just going to flee with our tails between our legs? I cannot swallow this!"

"That's right! The old clan head's kindness toward us was as heavy as a mountain. This hatred cannot be borne under the same sky!"

"We cannot leave! Even if we have to fight to mutual destruction, we must drag out the true mastermind!"

"Avenge the old clan head!"

Grief, indignation, and humiliation ignited everyone's suppressed emotions. The council hall filled with furious cries, calls for vengeance rising one after another as though they would tear off the roof.

Just as the atmosphere was about to spiral out of control—

"Enough!"

A thunderous roar erupted alongside an even louder explosive crash!

Xiao Zhan abruptly rose to his feet, and the sturdy table before him was smashed into pieces by his furious palm!

Wood chips flew through the air. His eyes were bloodshot, and Dou Qi surged uncontrollably around his body. The aura of an eight-star Dou Shi instantly blanketed the hall, forcibly suppressing all the uproar.

Everyone stared in astonishment at this Young Clan Head, who had always been calm and steady. His chest heaved violently, veins bulged on his forehead, and he roared hoarsely, "Do you think I do not want to avenge my father?!"

"Do you think I am willing to leave the land built by our ancestors like a homeless dog?!"

His voice was filled with tearing pain. His gaze suddenly turned to the side, where a gentle woman with a swollen belly sat—it was his wife. Xiao Zhan pointed at her, his voice trembling. "And... and can't you see it? My wife, she... she is about to give birth to the Xiao Clan's third child!"

"More than anyone else, I do not want her to suffer through displacement and hardship at a time like this!"

"I do not want this! Not a thousand times, not ten thousand times!"

His roar echoed through the hall, making everyone's eardrums buzz.

As though all his strength had been drained away, Xiao Zhan staggered back a step and collapsed heavily into his chair. His face was as pale as paper, and his voice became hoarse and despairing.

"But... do we have a choice now?"

"The enemy is in the dark, while we are in the light! They were able to murder Father without a sound, erase every trace with ease, and force even Uncle Nalan to compromise. The terror of their power far exceeds anything we can imagine!"

"Now that Father is gone, the Xiao Clan no longer has a powerful expert to guard it! If we remain here, we will be fish on the chopping block, left only to be slaughtered! They are merely suppressing us in secret because they still fear Uncle Nalan's remaining influence and the empire's rules on the surface."

"Once they lose patience, or something changes on Uncle Nalan's side, what awaits the Xiao Clan will be total destruction—the extermination of our entire clan!"

"Leave! While Uncle Nalan's influence still remains, we can still leave! This is the only path that can preserve the Xiao Clan's bloodline and leave a sliver of hope for the future!"

"If we hesitate any longer and they completely seal off every path of retreat, we will not even have the right to choose to 'leave'!"

"Today's retreat is not cowardice, nor is it surrender! It is for survival, for preserving the seeds of vengeance! Only by living, only by gathering strength, will we one day... one day have the chance to uncover the truth, kill our enemies with our own hands, and console Father's spirit in heaven!"

After speaking, Xiao Zhan seemed to have aged ten years. He closed his eyes wearily and said nothing more.

The council hall fell into deathly silence.

All their anger, unwillingness, and humiliation had been thoroughly extinguished by this cold and cruel reality.

Everyone could clearly see the two paths before them:

To stay seemed heroic, but was in truth a meaningless sacrifice—a dead end that would end in the clan's destruction.

To leave was a humiliating retreat, yet it held hope for survival. It was the only choice to continue the clan and lie low while waiting for an opportunity.

Cold and cruel, but there was no other choice.

After a long while, Great Elder Xiao Shan slowly rose to his feet. His aged voice carried the weight of resignation as it broke the silence. "Young Clan Head... you are right. For the continuation of the Xiao Clan... we will relocate to Wutan City."

This time, no one objected. Only a near-tragic silence spread through the night. On this night, the Xiao Clan's fate was forcibly turned in another direction.