The man who attacked Jia Lie Xiu was none other than the bald guard who had been protecting Jia Lie Ao.
Now his appearance changed as well, revealing a tall, thin man wearing a mask.
He was an assassin from the Shadow Tower. He had long since assassinated the Jia Lie Family's Peak Dou Master guard and disguised himself as the man, waiting for his chance.
With battle now hanging by a thread, he struck without hesitation and killed the unsuspecting Jia Lie Xiu.
With his strength as a Three-Star Da Dou Shi, he had launched a full-powered surprise attack against a One-Star Great Dou Master. Combined with the Shadow Tower's Assassination Secret Art, which prevented his target from gathering dou qi and forming Dou Qi Armor, it had been devastating.
One strike was all it took to kill him!
After succeeding, the Shadow Tower assassin immediately withdrew, putting distance between himself and Jia Lie Bi's group to avoid a counterattack.
Without a word, Jia Lie Bi released his spirit pet, a third-tier dark-attribute magical beast-a Purple Cloud Leopard.
Its strength rivaled that of a Two-Star Great Dou Master, and it excelled at stealth, using a secret art to conceal itself.
But his side had already lost a Da Dou Shi, and their situation had instantly become perilous.
"Father, I don't want to die! Save me!"
Just then, Jia Lie Ao's voice rang out. The dark-skinned maid he had been flirting with now had him by the throat.
The only reason he was still alive was to distract Jia Lie Bi and the others.
The moment their attention wavered, Xiao Ying, the Xiao Clan's second elder, struck decisively.
[Profound Tier Low Grade-Azure Eagle Claw]!
Xiao Ying's surprise attack targeted Jia Lie Hu. A Two-Star Great Dou Master had ambushed a One-Star Great Dou Master; even though Jia Lie Hu had activated his Dou Qi Armor, the blow sent his blood and qi churning and wounded him badly.
All three of the Xiao Clan's Da Dou Shi now stepped forward. Together with the Shadow Tower's two Da Dou Shi, they numbered five!
His own side had originally had four Da Dou Shi, but one was dead and another severely wounded. Only he and his spirit pet still had real fighting strength left. Although Aoba Rui was unhurt, how could a mere One-Star Great Dou Master withstand so many attackers?
"Everyone, the Xiao Clan has falsely accused our Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family of killing Xiao Yan! They intend to tear us out by the roots! If we die here today, everyone present will face a reckoning as well-they'll kill you to silence you! Guests, please join me against the Xiao Clan and carve a bloody path out!"
At this final juncture, Jia Lie Bi chose to stir up the crowd. Quite a few Dou Shi had come here, after all. If he could unite them, they might yet stand against the Xiao Clan's five Da Dou Shi.
But just then, the coffin in the mourning hall suddenly began to shake, and the boy sleeping inside awakened.
Xiao Yan pushed aside the lid and jumped out of the coffin.
"Guests? What guests? Take a good look, Patriarch Jia Lie. Everyone here belongs to a mercenary group hired by our Xiao Clan."
Xiao Yan stretched his limbs and revealed a cruel truth to Jia Lie Bi.
The guests dropped their disguises as well, drawing their blades and pointing them at the Jia Lie Family's people.
In truth, they did not need to fight in this battle. They only needed to show up.
Nor had the Xiao Clan kept the three hundred thousand they had saved. They had spent one hundred thousand gold coins to buy the Mittel Family's cooperation.
They had asked them to spread the news of Xiao Yan's death and provide a venue from which even a Da Dou Shi could not escape.
The Mittel Family did not need to get involved in anything else. As a merchant association, they could not openly favor any one family.
The remaining two hundred thousand had gone toward hiring seven mercenary groups, with more than fifteen Dou Shi between them.
Their main task was to play their parts, then finish off the Jia Lie Family's people once they were badly wounded.
The Xiao Clan had also promised an extra ten thousand gold coins to anyone who killed any of the enemy's Da Dou Shi. If the victim was Jia Lie Bi or Oba Pa, the reward would rise to fifty thousand!
A rich reward always drew brave men. Although Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa were both Three-Star Da Dou Shi, quite a few mercenary groups still wanted to earn that money.
Besides, this mission did not require them to take the initiative against a Da Dou Shi. The Xiao Clan had only hired them as insurance.
"Fine, fine, fine! I underestimated your Xiao Clan's resolve. To ambush and kill me, you were actually willing to hire two Da Dou Shi from the Shadow Tower and all these mercenary groups!"
Jia Lie Bi could accept this defeat. After all, the money spent on all this came to nearly a million gold coins.
Had they gone directly to the Shadow Tower, that much money would have been enough to commission a Dou Ling!
Yet, to ensure success and give themselves a proper justification, they had gone to all this trouble to lay their trap and arrange this banquet with murder waiting behind the cups!
Thinking back, he had been too fixated on confirming Xiao Yan's death. Oba Pa had probably realized this, which was why he had stayed away.
"Fine, fine, fine! Then even if I die today, I'll drag a few of you into the grave with me! Kill that brat!"
Jia Lie Bi was now a cornered beast. He knew there was no hope of escape today. He could only pin his hopes on his spirit pet killing Xiao Yan. That way, even if they all died, the Xiao Clan could still forget about rising to power!
The Purple Cloud Leopard swiftly concealed itself and charged toward Xiao Yan at tremendous speed. In Jia Lie Bi's eyes, Xiao Yan's strength was surely far below that of a third-tier magical beast. He could not possibly withstand the Purple Cloud Leopard.
With the Purple Cloud Leopard hidden from sight, only the faint movement of air betrayed its passage. When it appeared again, it was already right in front of Xiao Yan!
"Hahaha! Die! Even if my Jia Lie Family is destroyed, you, the so-called genius, will follow us into the grave!"
Jia Lie Bi laughed wildly. Having lost every piece on the board, he could only salvage a shred of dignity by killing Xiao Yan.
"You want to kill me? This little kitty isn't up to the task!"
Dou qi gathered throughout Xiao Yan's body as he thrust a palm into empty air, meeting the Purple Cloud Leopard's claw head-on.
The Purple Cloud Leopard was a third-tier magical beast whose combat strength fully matched a Da Dou Shi's. It was also a magical pet Jia Lie Bi had secretly raised for years.
Its swift, vicious strike could tear a Dou Shi to pieces!
Yet against Xiao Yan, its claw failed to break through his dou qi immediately. It merely sent him flying with a single blow!
"A dou qi veil... how is that possible?!"
Looking at the somewhat disheveled Xiao Yan, Jia Lie Bi confirmed that he had already become a Dou Shi.
But even a Dou Shi should have been gravely wounded by that strike. Instead, Xiao Yan had merely been knocked backward. His veil had scattered, but he had suffered no real injury.
A Two-Star Great Dou Master was certainly far stronger than Xiao Yan, but killing Xiao Yan, a Six-Star Dou Shi, in a single move was still far beyond its reach.
"I'm sorry. Your final plan fell through too."
Xiao Yan smiled faintly as he watched Jia Lie Bi, who was on the verge of madness.
Once the Purple Cloud Leopard retreated, the Xiao Clan would never again give
it a chance to ambush Xiao Yan. Xiao Zhan personally stepped in to fight the Purple Cloud Leopard.
The Xiao Clan's two elders struck decisively, launching a fierce assault on Jia Lie Bi.
The two Shadow Tower assassins responded in kind. After casually crushing the life out of Jia Lie Ao, they joined the Xiao Clan's two elders in surrounding Jia Lie Bi and his two companions.
Jia Lie Bi's group was already in poor condition, and now four Da Dou Shi were attacking them at once.
They were driven back again and again. The gravely wounded Jia Lie Hu and the weaker Aoba Rui were slain in succession, leaving only Jia Lie Bi struggling to hold on.
Soon, Xiao Zhan killed the Purple Cloud Leopard as well and dug out its third-tier Dark-Element Core.
It was now five against one. However desperately Jia Lie Bi struggled, only death awaited him.
"Xiao Clan, you're so ruthless! You laid an ambush to wipe out my Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family. Aren't you afraid your names will be cursed for a thousand years?"
On the verge of death, Jia Lie Bi still tried to struggle, hoping his words could win him a sliver of survival.
"Cursed? Xiao Yan, the gifted youth of our Xiao Clan, died at the hands of your Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family. Our Xiao Clan has every reason to strike. To the outside world, this is nothing more than a struggle between families."
Xiao Yan smiled coldly. History, after all, was always written by the victors.
"But you're not dead! This whole thing was your Xiao Clan's scheme from beginning to end!"
Jia Lie Bi glared venomously at Xiao Yan. He had never imagined he would end up like this.
"All that died was the presence of the name Xiao Yan in Wutan City. It didn't necessarily have to be me, Xiao Yan, in person. I'm leaving Wutan City soon anyway, so I might as well use that pretext to eliminate your two families. But if you hadn't given our Xiao Clan this justification, we really couldn't have done much to you."
At this point, a trace of coldness appeared on Xiao Yan's face. "In the end, this was simply the fate you chose for yourselves."
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