[Old Madam Xie slowly took her seat of honor, her aged fingers lightly stroking the sandalwood armrest, her brows carrying an authority that needed no anger.]
[The entire hall of clan members held their breath; even the rustle of fabric could be heard clearly.]
[No one in the hall dared make a sound.]
[Two martial artists in black had already surrounded Xie Guan from front and rear.]
[Li Nantian was already preparing to rise and leave. What came next would be Xie Guan's brutal punishment; there was no need to keep watching.]
[It was enough to let his younger sister witness the methods of such a great lineage, to let her understand that once the undercurrents beneath the Nine Great Surnames were laid bare, it would not merely mean a bloodied scalp, but utter annihilation, leaving not even bones behind.]
["Qinlan, let's go. Shuwan is still waiting at home."]
[Li Qinlan's face was clouded with gloom. She looked at the python whips glinting coldly in the hands of the punishment hall warriors, then at the slender figure standing straight in the hall.]
[What could she do? As a junior, she had no say in this.]
[How could Li Qinlan not understand? If the survival of the lineage were at stake, her elder brother would dare charge through a mountain of blades and a sea of flames. But to harm the family's interests for an irrelevant concubine-born son was absolutely impossible. Yet...]
[If Xie Guan died before her eyes like this, how could she not feel guilty? After all, she was the one who had broken off the engagement, and she had also helped push the youth into an abyss ten thousand fathoms deep.]
[Seeing this, Xie Yu felt an inexplicable pang of regret. Among this generation of the Xie Clan,