Unifying Wutan City

Oba Pa was distracted for a split second, but Xiao Li's eyes sharpened. He swept his Thunder Scale Spear horizontally, and azure lightning surged forth, transforming into a tidal wave of electricity that swept across the hall.

"Lightning Flash Strike!"

Compared to the purple lightning from before, the quality and quantity of this blue electricity were on a completely different level. It was no wonder the world pursued high-tier cultivation techniques.

Oba Pa dared not be careless. He cast a murderous glance at the young Xiao Li; such a young Great Dou Shi would surely become a grave threat in time. He had to be eliminated today!

Although they were both one-star Great Dou Shi, Oba Pa was confident he could take down Xiao Li with his wealth of experience. What kind of real combat experience could a boy have? He was nothing but a flower grown in a greenhouse.

However, the moment they clashed, Oba Pa felt an irresistible, massive force strike him, and he was forced back four or five meters before he could barely come to a halt.

"H-how is this possible? Your strength!"

Xiao Li's gaze remained cold. He gave Oba Pa no time to catch his breath and pressed the attack.

It was only after absorbing the Blood Pill in the Magical Beast Mountain Range that Xiao Li understood why Xiao Yan's foundation remained so solid and why he could fight above his rank despite absorbing so many medicinal pills.

If a single pill could grant a breakthrough of three to five levels, others would choose five, or even six or seven. But Xiao Yan was different; he would absolutely choose three, and then exhaust himself to compress his Dou Qi. This was one of the reasons Xiao Yan was invincible among his peers.

As for Xiao Li, the third-tier Magical Beast Blood Pill, which could have raised his level by at least five, was forcibly compressed by him to only two levels. Fearing that impurities remained, he had spent several days tempering his Dou Qi.

"You old thing, eating and waiting for death—today is the day you die!"

Xiao Li danced his Thunder Scale Spear repeatedly, the Lightning Flash Strike coalescing into a massive electric net. Since becoming a Great Dou Shi, using the Yellow-tier Lightning Flash Strike consumed almost nothing.

It was fortunate that the highest-tier Dou Technique Xiao Li practiced was only Yellow-tier; Oba Pa could barely hold his own using a low-tier Xuan-tier technique. Otherwise, Oba Pa likely wouldn't have lasted twenty moves.

Jia Lie Bi was doing his utmost to fend off Xiao Zhan's offensive, but his opponent held the advantage in both age and cultivation. Jia Lie Bi could only barely manage not to lose.

"Oba Pa, finish him off quickly! Stop holding back, or we'll both die today!"

Jia Lie Bi's roar received no response, save for a round, severed head rolling to his feet.

Jia Lie Bi's soul nearly left his body; the head was none other than Oba Pa's. "How is this possible!"

Jia Lie Bi turned his head to look at Xiao Li in disbelief. Although Oba Pa was the most useless of the three clan heads—having only reached Great Dou Shi by gorging on pills—it was impossible for him to be defeated so quickly by a junior of the same rank!

"You dare to be distracted while fighting me? Lion Mountain Split!" Xiao Zhan's expression turned vicious as he poured his entire strength into the strike.

As Jia Lie Bi vomited blood and flew backward, Xiao Li swiftly finished off Jia Lie Nu and Jia Lie Ao. They were merely a Dou Shi and a Dou Zhe; it was a matter of a few moves, not even worthy of being depicted.

Xiao Li then dealt with the remaining members of the Oba clan, while Xiao Zhan led his men directly to the two estates to slaughter the survivors.

With only a few Dou Shi left to guard the houses, there was nothing to fear.

The Jia clan and the Oba clan were thus erased from Wutan City. The cause of it all was the sudden emergence of Xiao Li, who broke the balance of the three great clans. Combined with divide-and-conquer tactics, it ultimately led to the downfall of the two families.

Monopolizing the resources of Wutan City would surely allow the Xiao Clan to produce more experts above the Dou Shi level.

At the Wutan City auction house, the young Ya Fei hid behind Gu Ni, looking at the Xiao Clan members on the street with some fear.

The aggressive aura of the Xiao Clan made Gu Ni panic as well. He was an alchemist, yes, but that didn't mean he was good at fighting. If he ran into a hot-headed fool, even an alchemist could die.

Fortunately, the Xiao Clan paid no mind to the auction house and headed straight for the Jia and Oba estates.

As Gu Ni breathed a sigh of relief, a new worry took root in his heart. It seemed the sky over Wutan City was about to change. Regardless of who dominated, it wasn't good news for their auction house. If one family became too powerful, they would buy items at the lowest prices whenever they participated in auctions, as no one would dare compete with them.

I hope there won't be too much upheaval, Gu Ni sighed inwardly.

But when Gu Ni saw Xiao Zhan leading dozens of Xiao clansmen, carrying hundreds of severed heads to the marketplace, he knew the landscape of Wutan City had changed.

"Send someone to deliver a generous gift to the Xiao Clan. From now on, the Emperor is far away, and with our branch being so undervalued, I fear it will be difficult to contend with the Xiao Clan, the local tyrant."

Ya Fei nodded solemnly. She still hoped to return to the Mittel Clan; she couldn't afford any accidents.

At the Xiao Clan, Xiao Zhan wiped the blood from his hands without a care.

"They are all dead."

Xiao Li nodded. "And the women and children?"

"The children were all killed, and not a single woman was spared."

Xiao Li's expression remained unchanged; he seemed satisfied with the result. It was fortunate that this task was handled by the seasoned Xiao Zhan. If it had been Xiao Yan, who had undergone nine years of compulsory education, he would have surely left behind some future trouble.

Seeing Xiao Li's calm demeanor, Xiao Zhan nodded with satisfaction. Among his three sons, the eldest was the most steady but lacked decisiveness, and the third was the most free-spirited but lacked maturity.

Only Xiao Li was ruthless yet possessed his own bottom line. Having been out to train, he was more mature in his conduct.

On the training grounds, the Little Fairy Doctor was helping to bandage the wounded. Her strength was not high, so this was all she could do to help.

The Little Fairy Doctor's soft voice and cheerful personality won the unanimous favor of the Xiao Clan. Of course, the fact that she was brought back by Xiao Li was also a significant factor in her being treated so kindly by everyone.

Xiao Yan stood in the marketplace, staring at the corpses of the Jia and Oba clans with a grim expression. "Old man, tell me, can I still catch up to my second brother?"

A hoary voice emerged from within Xiao Yan's body. "Rest assured, with me here, you certainly can."

Hearing this, Xiao Yan gritted his teeth in anger. "You have the nerve to say that? It's all your fault that I dropped to the eighth stage of Dou Qi! You old thing, you even made me come look at these corpses, talking about 'strengthening my mental fortitude'—bah!"

Yao Lao coughed awkwardly. "Cough, I was just testing you. If I hadn't seen that you still had some character, I would have planned to drain your Dou Qi for three years."

"Three years?!"

Xiao Yan exclaimed, nearly cursing the master he had only taken the night before.

...Three days later, at the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Zhan sat in the main hall, his face beaming. His Xiao Clan had been quite glorious lately; families large and small in Wutan City were scrambling to send gifts. The storefronts of the other two clans had also been absorbed by the Xiao Clan, and their influence had more than doubled.

"Li'er, the Canaan Academy admissions are in three days. You should prepare early."

"Yes, Father. This child will certainly succeed."