Meanwhile, back in the long-unseen Yun Clan Territory, within the lineage Yun Qing had already "forgotten"...
"That damned old bastard Ji Wen!" Second Elder Yun Yuan's beard and hair bristled, the fury in his eyes almost tangible. "He ran wild on our Yunqu Peak, disturbed His Majesty's seclusion, and nearly sent us all to our graves!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. He grabbed a cup of Millennium Iceheart Tea beside him and gulped it down, only to find it bland as cold water. Instead of quenching the fire in his heart, it made it burn hotter.
Yun Yuan slammed the priceless teacup onto the table with a clatter, then turned his fire on First Elder Yun Che, who sat at the head of the hall with his eyes closed, resting.
"Have you lost your touch, eldest brother? You went to Great Zhou to seize him yourself, yet you still let that old bastard slip away like a loach while those Ji Clan dogs were busy biting one another?! All you did was sever an arm? Pah! He got off cheap!"
"You should have activated the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands Soul-Searching Grand Array right then, dragged him out of whatever crack he was hiding in, and made him into a soul lamp! Hang him over the Southern Heavenly Gate and let him burn for a thousand years, ten thousand years! Then we'd see who still dared set their sights on our Yun Clan!"
The First Elder kept his eyes closed, his fingers tapping intermittently against the obsidian armrest with dull, measured knocks. His aura remained calm and unruffled, but anyone who knew him understood that this old man, who had held the reins of the Yun Clan for so many years, was far from at peace.
"There