Chapter 43: Purpose
Plop!
When he heard the Nangong Mansion servant's words, the head manager of the Heavenly Abode dropped onto the floor, stunned.
If the deaths of sixteen Body Integration Realm experts had plunged the Nangong Family into unprecedented disaster, then Nangong Wenyue's death had cut off the family's roots.
At thirty, Nangong Wenyue had reached the Nascent Soul Realm. He was the greatest prodigy in Moon-Gazing City, and among young men his age throughout the Xuhe Realm, he was a cut above the rest.
Now Nangong Wenyue had fallen. Without a doubt, this was a devastating blow to the Nangong Family.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. Our family still has three Tribulation Transcendence Realm ancestors..."
The head manager kept reassuring himself. Though he served as a family steward, he knew nothing of the family's most closely guarded secrets. He believed only that the Nangong Family was a powerful Aristocratic Clan in Moon-Gazing City that kept a low profile.
Still, the head manager knew that Moon-Gazing City was about to undergo a great upheaval.
In the Heavenly Abode's first-floor hall, the visiting cultivators had been watching the commotion upstairs, eager for a spectacle. But many had also been secretly keeping an eye on the Nangong Mansion servant and the Heavenly Abode's head manager.
Now, seeing the manager turn deathly pale and look utterly distraught, they could hardly fail to understand that something major had happened to the Nangong Family.
But what had happened to the Nangong Family? And why?
Everyone was curious, and cultivators were no exception.
Their main reason for coming to Moon-Gazing City was to find out why a Mahayana Realm cultivator had been willing to offend the Glazed Heaven Palace just to fight Nangong Xiangyan.
Moreover, it seemed that it had been that powerhouse who called himself Shi Chou, His Highness Corpse, who had driven Nangong Xiangyan out of hiding. Otherwise, no one would have noticed that the person staying here was an outer elder of the Nangong Family.
Moon-Gazing City had already drawn the attention of many factions after an Immortal Spirit Root awakened there. When Nangong Xiangyan revealed himself, he had easily set those factions on edge.
At first, Shi Chou had sought out Chen Fengyang, the lord of Moon-Gazing City. But after sensing Nangong Xiangyan's presence, he had turned around and gone straight after him, forcing him into the open before everyone.
All of this had given people plenty to speculate about.
And at such a sensitive moment, the Nangong Family, a family native to Moon-Gazing City, had suffered a mishap of its own. It seemed that many of its members had died. If people still failed to connect the two events, they might as well all go and kill themselves.
By this point, Chen Xiao had achieved his original objective: successfully shifting the factions' attention to the Nangong Family, allowing the City Lord's Mansion to step back and protect itself.
By now, quite a few visiting cultivators in the first-floor hall had gotten up and headed for the Nangong Aristocratic Clan to see what had happened. Even if it had nothing to do with their mission, they could still go enjoy the commotion.
Some of the more sharp-witted had already connected the Nangong Family of Moon-Gazing City to the Nangong Family of Glazed Heaven, the "Southern Overlord." Though the link seemed far-fetched, if the Nangong Family here really was a pawn of the Southern Overlord, then its schemes must be enormous.
Of course, it was only speculation for now; everything still needed to be confirmed. These people had been secretly investigating the city for days without getting anywhere. Now that someone had opened up the Nangong Family as a lead, they naturally wanted to take a look.
On the second floor, Nangong Wenyang led the way, with more than fifty Nangong Mansion guards close behind. They surged toward the thirty-odd attendants.
The attendants backed away again and again. With Nangong Wenyang at the front, they wouldn't dare lay a hand on him even if they had three lives to spare. It would have been one thing if their young master were there, but right now, only the mansion's servants were present.
Still, Nangong Wenyang had some nerve.
"Get out of the way, you bastards! That good-for-nothing Chen Xiao harmed a steward of my Nangong Family. I've come to arrest him. Are you his accomplices too?"
Seeing them block the stairway to the third floor, Nangong Wenyang flew into a rage and shouted.
"Nangong Wenyang, that's right. I was the one who personally killed your family's steward. What can you do about it?"
Chen Xiao's voice had turned vicious. He'd had enough of being called a good-for-nothing over and over. Even a clay doll had a temper.
"Good! You admit it! Men, seize Chen Xiao for me!"
Hearing Chen Xiao confess with his own mouth, Nangong Wenyang thought he had caught him red-handed and immediately ordered his men to move.
Watching Nangong Wenyang's actions, some cultivators who had stayed behind to watch the show couldn't help shaking their heads.
Nangong Wenyang was hopeless. Hadn't he heard what Chen Xiao had just said? He'd killed the steward himself. Anyone could tell that was just an angry retort. The Nangong Family's steward had to be at least in the Division Spirit Realm, right? A Qi Refining Realm ant had killed a Division Spirit Realm expert with his own hands?
That steward of the Nangong Family must have been utterly useless.
Still, watching a bunch of small-town rich brats brawl was quite an entertaining sight.
"Boys, beat them for me too! If anyone dies, I'll take responsibility! Damn it, I'm the City Lord's third son, after all. So what if I kill a lowly steward like you—or wipe out your whole Nangong Family?"
Hearing Nangong Wenyang's words, Chen Xiao roared back.
The attendants from the three families who had blocked the stairway had already been about to move aside. But after hearing Chen Xiao's brazen, rebellious outburst, they suddenly came to their senses.
Chen Xiao's status was no longer what it used to be. Or rather, the City Lord's position had changed completely. Once he got the Seal of Suppressing the Palace, all of Moon-Gazing City would become the Chen Family's private property, and the Nangong Family would be one of its subordinates.
With Chen Xiao backing them, and their own young masters behind them, what did they have to fear? If they made way now, their days would be miserable from here on out.
After hearing Chen Xiao's roar, the cultivators found their courage and swung their fists at their opponents.
The guests in the Heavenly Abode watched the two groups of rich brats brawl with glee. They had no intention of leaving. Some of their men had already gone to the Nangong Family to investigate, while the rest could simply enjoy the show.
The scene was certainly an eye-opener. When cultivators fought, they usually unleashed flying swords and magical treasures, and their protective true essence blazed in every color. But who had ever seen cultivators throw punches?
In truth, though the two groups seemed to be fighting fiercely, they both understood that this was nothing more than a farce—a clash of egos between two groups of rich brats.
If they really unleashed their flying swords and magical treasures, the Heavenly Abode would probably be flattened. No one could bear the blame for that, so they had no choice but to set aside their airs as cultivators and pummel one another with their fists.
"Young master, young master..."
Just then, the Heavenly Abode's head manager staggered upstairs and found Nangong Wenyang directing his men in the middle of the crowd.
"What is it?"
Seeing his mansion's guards enjoying an overwhelming advantage, Nangong Wenyang had been watching with delight. Now, seeing the head manager approach, his expression immediately darkened.
"Something terrible has happened to the family!" the head manager said, exasperated with him.
"Something terrible? What could be more important than me arresting the culprit here?"
Ever since he was a child, Nangong Wenyang had grown used to letting his father handle any major problems while he concerned himself with eating, drinking, and having fun. Now he was on the verge of reaching the third floor and beating Chen Xiao senseless. There was no way he would give that up.