Talks among the six clans

"Fan Tian, hurry out and take a look!"

Barefoot, Yao Ling kicked open the door and hauled the still-sleeping Fan Tian up from his bed. "You bastard, wake up!"

Fan Tian's lips curved. Using the pull of Yao Ling's arm, he lunged forward and pinned her beneath him.

"Woman, I'm burning up right now. How about helping me cool down?" Fan Tian leered at the blue-clad girl beneath him, greedily inhaling her medicinal fragrance.

"Ow, you're hurting me!" Yao Ling protested softly after Fan Tian knocked her to the floor.

"What's in your pants? It's poking me!" Yao Ling frowned slightly and instinctively shifted her body.

Fan Tian first let out a startled cry, then briefly stiffened.

Yao Ling looked even more puzzled. Just as she was about to speak, Fan Tian sealed her mouth with his lips.

She trembled reflexively, instinctively clenching her teeth while her fingers pushed haphazardly against Fan Tian's chest. Fan Tian gave a low growl and crossed her hands, clasping both her pale wrists in one hand while gripping her jaw with the other, forcing her to tilt her head up.

Fan Tian blocked every avenue of escape with his body and sucked greedily at her lips.

When she opened the door early that morning, Yao Ling had found Sacred Pill City strangely different, as though it had grown much quieter. Suddenly remembering that a great pig's trotter of a man was still sleeping upstairs, she had kicked open Fan Tian's door. Who could have imagined that this bastard would pin her beneath him and take his fill? Aside from the slight discomfort at first, it actually felt rather good.

Three days later.

The Spirit Clan.

In the hall, where the atmosphere hung heavy, representatives of all the Ancient Six Clans had arrived. Naturally, the seat of honor belonged to Spirit Clan Leader Ling Ya, whose cultivation was at the Early Six-Star Dou Sheng level.

To Ling Ya's left sat two elderly men with white hair and beards.

One frowned with his eyes closed, his thoughts unreadable. A medicinal fragrance suffused his entire body. This elder was Yao Dan, chief of the Yao Clan, whose cultivation was at the middle stage of Seven-Star Dou Saint.

The other elder beside him had a burly frame and held a piece of jade covered in strange runes in his right hand, rubbing it repeatedly. His aura resembled an iron tower, giving him the solid weight of bedrock, while a faint jade sheen glowed across his skin. He was Shi Pan, chief of the Stone Clan, whose cultivation was at the Mid-Stage Six-Star Dou Sheng level.

To Ling Ya's right sat three figures, two men and a woman.

The elder at their head had an austere, timeworn face. As his eyes rested half-closed, faint spatial ripples undulated between his brows. He was Gu Dao, a supreme elder of the Gu Clan and one of the Three Immortals of the Gu Clan, whose cultivation was at the Late-Stage Seven-Star Dou Saint level.

The other two were Fairy Fire Spirit, supreme elder of the Yan Clan, and Thunder Mountain, supreme elder of the Lei Clan. Both were likewise at the Late-Stage Seven-Star Dou Saint level.

Behind them sat lower-star Dou Sheng from the various clans, all wearing somewhat complicated expressions.

"Clan Leader Ling Ya, please tell everyone the details!" The Stone Clan Chief was the first to speak. The Spirit Clan and Stone Clan were closer to each other than to the other clans.

Everyone perked up and turned to Ling Ya.

As they came to the matter at hand, Ling Ya's expression grew grave. After exchanging a glance with the Yao Clan Chief beside him and pondering for a moment, he suddenly said, "Clan Chief Yao Dan, I wonder whether you still remember the so-called Tunling Clan?"

Crack!

The instant Ling Ya finished speaking, the sound of shattering wine cups filled the hall. The elders abruptly raised their heads and stared fixedly at him, a trace of terror actually showing in their eyes.

Although everyone had already braced themselves, hearing the Spirit Clan's leader mention the Tunling Clan himself still made them draw sharp breaths. Even Gu Dao, who had maintained his air of an immortal sage throughout, quietly developed a fine layer of sweat on his forehead.

"The Tunling Clan..." Yao Dan's withered face visibly twitched. Then he drew a deep breath and fixed Ling Ya with a piercing gaze. "By asking that, are you saying you've already confirmed that the contents of that leaflet are true?"

"Although we haven't confronted the Hun Clan and can't call it absolutely certain, the Hun Clan possesses the nihility devouring flame. Elder Gu Dao should know that much." Ling Ya looked toward Gu Dao as he spoke.

"Yes. Back then, our clan chief fought the nihility devouring flame and grievously wounded it. In all the years since, there has been no further word of it," Gu Dao said with a nod.

Ling Ya raised his brows. The Ancient Clan Chief was a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint. Across the entire Dou Qi Continent, he alone could contend with the Hun Clan. Ling Ya then began recounting the entire sequence of events in detail, including the news that the Pill Tower had sealed itself off.

"What? The Pill Tower has sealed itself off?" As soon as Ling Ya finished, an elder cried out in disbelief.

Yao Dan sighed, as though the Pill Tower's actions had confirmed something, and took up the explanation. "The Tunling Clan was a peculiar race from ancient times. According to ancient texts, they once stirred up countless storms of blood across the Dou Qi Continent."

The Stone Clan Chief nodded silently and said, "All manner of wondrous things are born between heaven and earth, and the Tunling Clan was one of them. They possessed an ability to devour the bloodline power of other Ancient Races, strengthening their own bloodline and cultivation."

Bang!

Fairy Fire Spirit abruptly slammed her hand on the table. Draped in a red gown, she was alluring and enchanting, her mature, seductive charm often making others overlook her terrifying strength.

As the pinnacle of combat strength among the Dou Qi Continent's female figures, she could no longer sit still. "No wonder! For thousands of years, even though the Tunling Clan had already been destroyed, the Ancient Races kept disappearing one after another, while the Hun Clan remained as steady as Mount Tai. So the Hun Clan became a second Tunling Clan!"

As soon as she finished, many faces in the hall changed. Gu Dao said, "Before I came, the clan chief told me that the Last Tunling Clan Chief seemed to have been slain by the Hun Clan..."

Everything lined up. The members of the six clans each chimed in, and after sharing their information, they discovered that their conclusions were no different from the contents of the leaflet.

"I just remembered something. Back then, the Xiao Clan Bloodline dried up, forcing their chief, Xiao Xuan, to gather the entire clan's bloodline power into himself in an attempt to break through to Dou Di. Then came the Soul Xiao War. In the end, the Hun Clan won, and the entire Xiao Clan, including Xiao Xuan, was slaughtered. Looking at it now, could the Hun Clan have been behind the depletion of the Xiao Clan's bloodline too?" Thunder Mountain, supreme elder of the Lei Clan, suddenly spoke.

The hall abruptly fell deathly silent, and many drew sharp breaths. The Tunling Clan might have been too distant for them, but the war between the Hun and Xiao clans had occurred only a thousand years ago. They knew it all too well. Besides, Xiao Xuan, a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint, had a name that thundered in their ears.

"At the risk of making myself a laughingstock, my Spirit Clan's bloodline has been drying up more and more in recent years. We can barely hold on anymore. I believe the Stone Clan is in the same situation, isn't it?" Ling Ya suddenly spoke, looking toward Shi Pan, chief of the Stone Clan.

Under Ling Ya's gaze, Shi Pan's face flushed, and his breathing grew somewhat hurried. In the end, he sighed. "To tell you the truth, I'm afraid my Stone Clan is about to follow in the Xiao Clan's footsteps."