The carriage rolled over the snow in the Icebound Mountains with a soft crunch.
Qian Daoliu leaned against the carriage window, twirling a strand of pale golden soul power between his fingertips. Watching the snowy peaks flash past outside, he suddenly spoke to Guang Ling beside him:
"Ling, head back for a while."
Guang Ling was polishing an ice-blue arrow. At those words, he looked up:
"Boss, you want me to keep an eye on them?"
"Yes."
The soul power at Qian Daoliu's fingertips swayed gently, illuminating the frost flowers on the window.
"Those elders of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan are probably forcing Yu Yuanzhen to deal with Yu Xiaogang right now."
He paused, his gaze passing over a deep ravine outside as he lowered his voice:
"Watch them quietly. Don't reveal yourself. If they really do expel Yu Xiaogang from the clan..."
"Then half their resources becomes a quarter?"
Guang Ling understood at once, a trace of amusement flashing through his ice-blue eyes.
"Giving them a way out, Boss?"
"Not quite."
Qian Daoliu said coolly,
"Yu Xiaogang may be the root of the trouble, but if the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan can steel themselves to clean house, it means they still have some respect for the rules. A quarter of their resources will give them room to catch their breath, and spare us from driving them into a corner where even a desperate dog will leap over a wall."
He tapped his knee lightly with his fingertips and added:
"But remember, they only get three days. Whatever the outcome, come back after three days."
"Understood."
Ice-blue soul power enveloped Guang Ling's body as he slipped soundlessly into the dense forests of the Icebound Mountains. Only the snow cascading from the branches betrayed that someone had been there.
With a flicker, his figure vanished from the carriage, leaving only a murmured promise drifting on the wind.
"I'll make sure they think they've gotten a bargain."
The carriage continued onward. Looking at Qian Daoliu's calm profile, Golden Crocodile could not help asking:
"Big Brother, are you planning to let the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan off?"
"Let them off?"
Qian Daoliu gazed toward Heaven Dou City, wreathed in clouds and mist in the distance, and a faint smile curved his lips.
"I'm giving them a choice-either follow the rules or disappear completely. Which path they take depends on Yu Yuanzhen's resolve."
Outside, the wind and snow gradually eased. Sunlight pierced the clouds, reflecting off the snow in a dazzling glare. Qian Daoliu knew Guang Ling must already be concealed near the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Mountain Gate, like a patient hunting falcon awaiting the final outcome.
And that quarter of their resources was both bait and the last blade hanging over Yu Yuanzhen's head.
Inside the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's great hall,
the atmosphere was so heavy it could have dripped water.
When Yu Yuanzhen slammed the compensation list onto the table, the elders' fury erupted instantly.
The first elder's beard trembled with rage.
"Yu Xiaogang, that unfilial wretch! Not only has he ruined our clan's reputation, he's inflicted such devastating losses on us!"
"He must be severely punished!"
"We should have expelled him two years ago! If the clan leader hadn't protected him..."
"Now the entire continent is laughing at us! Spirit Hall is riding roughshod over our heads!"
"Clan Leader! Are we just going to swallow this? That's three Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones and half our resources!"
"It's all because of that vile brat Yu Xiaogang! If he hadn't stirred up this disaster, how could our clan have suffered such monstrous humiliation?"
"He must be severely punished! Otherwise, our clan's dignity will be trampled into the dirt. How will we ever hold our ground on the continent again?"
The elders' denunciations surged like a tide toward Yu Xiaogang, who stood in the hall.
The disciples were even more incensed. The outstanding members of the younger generation shouted one after another:
"Expel Yu Xiaogang from the clan as a warning to everyone else!"
His face was deathly pale, but he still struggled desperately to defend himself:
"I didn't do it! I developed those theories myself! Spirit Hall is jealous of my talent. They're slandering me! And Chen Jianjun's challenge had nothing to do with me!"
"Talent?"
Yu Yuanzhen abruptly rose to his feet, pointing at his nose as he berated him:
"Your talent is making the clan pay three Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones and half its resources? Making the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan the laughingstock of the entire continent?"
"And Chen Jianjun's business had nothing to do with you?"
Yu Yuanzhen slammed the table again, showering Yu Xiaogang with splintered wood.
"Chen Jianjun learned about Enshrinement Qian from you that day! You said it yourself! Otherwise, would Chen Jianjun have gone to provoke Spirit Hall? And you still dare argue?"
He looked at this son, in whom he had placed such high hopes since childhood, only to see him cause trouble time and again. The last trace of warmth in his eyes turned to icy disappointment:
"Yu Xiaogang, do you have any idea how much you've cost the clan? One of the clan's Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones, and even the two soul bones from my own treasured collection, have all been handed over. I was saving those for the clan's future geniuses!
"And half the clan's resources! Do you know how many powerful cultivators those could have nurtured?"
"Enough to nurture more than a dozen Soul Douluos!"
"Father!"
Yu Xiaogang tried to argue again, but the second elder cut him off sharply:
"Even now, you refuse to repent! Do you know that to save you, the clan leader even surrendered his own treasured soul bones?"
The first elder spoke coldly:
"Enough! The clan has no room for a source of calamity like you! I say we expel him and forbid him from ever setting foot in the Icebound Mountains again!"
"Expel me?"
At the first elder's words, Yu Xiaogang staggered backward, disbelief written all over his face. Then he turned to Yu Yuanzhen and said:
"Father, I'm your son!"
Yu Yuanzhen turned his head away, his voice strained but resolute:
"From this day forth, Yu Xiaogang is expelled from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan for stealing another organization's secrets and bringing disaster upon our clan."
"You are no longer a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Leave."
Yu Xiaogang froze. The color drained from his face in an instant, and he collapsed to the floor. Looking at his father's resolute back and the contemptuous gazes filling the hall, he finally realized what he had lost.
But it was already too late. Two disciples dragged him outside. His howls and protests echoed along the deserted mountain path before the wind and snow swallowed them completely.
Outside the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's great hall,
Guang Ling hid behind the icicles outside the Conference Hall. His ice-blue soul power blended his presence completely into the wind and snow, while the furious rebukes and arguments inside reached his ears clearly.
When Yu Yuanzhen's words, "Expelled from the clan, never to set foot in the Icebound Mountains again," rang out,
a barely perceptible smile curved his lips, and he murmured, "Big Brother foresaw everything."
After Yu Xiaogang's howls were swallowed by the wind and snow, in the instant the hall fell deathly silent, Guang Ling drew a roll of parchment from his robes. Soul power gathered into a pen at his fingertips. He finished the brief message in a few strokes, then rolled it around a short, unfletched arrow.
He nocked the arrow and drew his bow. Ice-blue soul power flowed along the shaft. With a soft whoosh, the short arrow streaked through a gap in the window like a beam of light and struck precisely into a bluestone slab outside the council hall, its tail still trembling slightly.
Almost simultaneously, a cool, clear voice pierced the wind and snow, reaching everyone inside the hall:
"The resources demanded are reduced to one quarter. You have three days."
As his words faded, Guang Ling's figure vanished into the depths of the forest like melting snow. Only the short arrow embedded in the ground remained, gleaming a faint, ghostly blue beneath the flickering candlelight.
The sharp crack of the short arrow striking the bluestone slab abruptly tightened the deathly still atmosphere inside the council hall.
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