Including the peripheral forces controlled by the three clans, all were conscripted.
The Iron Mountain Gang, where Hong San belonged, had the Sun Family as its backer.
Before setting out, the Iron Mountain Gang's leader, three deputy leaders, and the masters of all thirteen halls were summoned by the Sun Family and assigned their assault tasks.
The other two major forces were handled in the same way.
Hong San was utterly bewildered upon receiving the news, with a faint thread of fear lurking beneath it.
Was the Red Leaf Square, peaceful for a hundred years, finally about to face upheaval?
The Four Great Clans' struggle was aimed at exterminating one of the others.
Peripheral forces like theirs would inevitably be used as cannon fodder.
The Lin Family ranked second and possessed formidable strength.
He did not know how badly the Lin Family would fare, but the Iron Mountain Gang would certainly suffer devastating losses.
Such a massive gathering of men naturally could not be concealed from the Lin Family.
But it was already too late.
When the three clans had discussed the matter previously, only their clan heads and Foundation Establishment elders had attended, so no news had leaked.
When the Lin Family head received word from his spies, he could not believe it at all.
After all, since Red Leaf Square's founding, the Four Great Clans had stood shoulder to shoulder through thick and thin for five hundred years.
To suddenly hear that the three clans were going to wage war against his own—no one would have dared believe it.
Yet reports from the spies kept arriving, and the Lin Family head had no choice but to believe.
He made the decision on the spot and activated the clan grand formation within their grounds.
At the same time, he struck the great communication bell, its chimes ringing twelve times.
Countless Lin Family members heard the sound and first looked blank, before their expressions changed drastically.
They rushed toward the clan grounds at top speed.
The Lin Family's rules stated: three bell chimes meant the clan was gathering to deliberate!
Six chimes meant a great enemy was approaching!
Nine chimes meant a matter of life and death!
Twelve chimes meant the calamity of clan extermination!
Night fell!
Zhou Xun had only recently returned to his home in Green Willow Alley.
He had cooked three large bowls of Spirit Rice and a plate of Demon Beast Meat, and was eating with great relish.
After all, he had spent the past few days practicing with his flying artifact, sleeping rough and eating in the wind, working himself to the bone.
Suddenly, waves of commotion rose from the distant street.
Faint shouts accompanied them:
"The Lin Family has betrayed the alliance and committed sins beyond forgiveness! The Wu, Sun, and Li Families of Red Leaf Square have jointly decided to punish the Lin Family! Anyone who encounters a Lin Family member may strike!"
On the street outside, streaks of spiritual light in every color tore through the air.
The man at the forefront wore dark green-black spirit armor.
His expression was icy as he stared toward the Lin Family grounds, his face brimming with killing intent.
All these years, he had constantly been suppressed by the Lin Family head.
In recent years, under Lin Anshuo's leadership, the Lin Family had flourished day by day. Its strength now even pressed close upon the Wu Family's.
Yet he had failed to curb the Lin Family's growth, and the clan elders had long grumbled about it.
Had it not been for his elder brother outside the clan, a Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator, he would likely have been driven from the position of clan head long ago.
Compared side by side, Wu Zongheng had always felt deeply frustrated.
Fortunately, with his elder brother's help, he had already achieved Foundation Establishment, while Lin Anshuo remained at Qi Condensation Perfection. That let him recover a little balance.
There were as many as four Foundation Establishment cultivators assigned to attack the Lin Family grounds.
The Wu Family's First Elder, Second Elder, Wu Family head, and the Sun Family's Second Elder.
"Listen up, everyone. In tonight's assault on the Lin Family grounds, the greatest threat will be Lin Yuanru, at the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!" Along the way, Wu Zongheng explained the night's assault plan.
Lin Yuanru was the Lin Family's First Elder. The Lin Family's current prestige owed much to this First Elder. At one hundred and forty years old, he stood at the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
Even in the current Wu Family, aside from Wu Zongdao, that Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator, the publicly strongest cultivator—the Wu Family's First Elder—was likewise only at the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
"Leave him to me!" said an Elder with grizzled hair, already past sixty.
He was the current Wu Family First Elder, Wu Guangxiao.
"I'll trouble Fourth Uncle with restraining him. Once Eleventh Uncle, Elder Sun, and I have dealt with the others, we'll join forces and eliminate Lin Yuanru!"
The middle-aged man nodded slightly, finalizing the strategy.
When Zhou Xun heard those shouts, his expression tightened.
After giving it some thought, he roughly guessed the truth.
The Lin Family had recently been refining Fire Barrier Pills in great quantities, and the Fire Barrier Pill's sole purpose was to help cultivators withstand the encroachment of fire-element power.
Places possessing abundant fire-element power were either lava regions, some kind of fire-attributed spirit mine, or unusual areas saturated with fire-element power.
For instance, the Fire Prison—one of the ten great forbidden lands spoken of throughout the cultivation world—was such a place.
For the Lin Family to spend such a price refining Fire Barrier Pills, it naturally could not be some ordinary lava region.
Special regions were often difficult to conceal and would have long since been discovered by cultivators.
The most likely possibility was some kind of fire-attributed spirit mine.
The Lin Family's flourishing strength over the years likely had much to do with this spirit mine. They sold its resources in exchange for cultivation resources.
With ample resources, the Lin Family naturally produced talents in droves.
And this time, the three clans' campaign against the Lin Family was likely also for the sake of that spirit mine.
But there was one point Zhou Xun still could not understand.
If it were merely for the spirit mine, the three clans only needed to come knocking and force the issue. The Lin Family would naturally hand it over; there was no need to bring about a disaster of clan extermination.
There was likely some other reason tangled up in this matter.
No matter what, this was not something a minor Mid-Stage Qi Condensation cultivator like Zhou Xun could interfere with.
This conflict would sweep across the entire Red Leaf Square. No one could escape it.
Trapped within the game, he was like a lone skiff upon a raging sea, with fortune and calamity alike unknown.
Not to mention that, as a Pill Refinement Master of Danbao Pavilion, he was undeniably considered part of the Lin Family's forces.
Everyone among the neighboring households knew of this identity.
At that thought, a sense of urgency rose within Zhou Xun.
Pill Refinement Masters were universally acknowledged to be wealthy. Before long, people would surely come to fish in troubled waters.
"This happened too suddenly. The people in Green Willow Alley haven't reacted yet—I need to leave immediately!"
Thus, he changed his attire, put on the Thousand Faces Mask, transformed into a middle-aged martial artist, took two Storage Pouches, and hurried out the door without even having time to pack his belongings.
Within a secret chamber in the Lin Family grounds.
In a short time, Lin Anshuo had arranged all their response plans.
They would activate the defensive grand formation to ensure the clan grounds could not be breached in the short term.
Next, the clan's surviving embers would be divided into several groups. Late-Stage Qi Condensation cultivators would each lead several clan seeds and seek opportunities to break out.
"Anshuo, if anything happens to me, the clan will be entrusted to you from now on!" With a solemn expression, Lin Anshuo instructed a young man who resembled him by six or seven parts, handing him a Storage Pouch at the same time.
This man was Lin Anshuo's younger brother and Lin Xueying's paternal uncle. He possessed a Medium Spiritual Root and, though only in his thirties, had already reached Qi Condensation Perfection.
"Elder Brother, don't worry!" The young man nodded solemnly and accepted it.
"What about Xue Ying?" Thinking of his niece, the young man grew worried again.
"I've already made arrangements. Go!" Lin Anshuo straightened his youngest brother's collar, then patted his shoulder.
"Yes!" The young man nodded and turned to leave.
After taking only a few steps, he stopped. Turning back, his eyes brimmed with tears.
"Big Brother, survive!"
This parting might be their last meeting.
"Mm, go." Lin Anshuo smiled faintly, his face full of warmth as he watched his youngest brother's departing figure.
After arranging his contingencies, Lin Anshuo once more joined the Lin Family's First Elder and Second Elder.
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