She had to perform well in front of Chen Fan! She had indeed intended to kill them, but now she hesitated...
Because she was not alone. There were also all the disciples of her sect, and not all of them had Saint Realm cultivation. She did not know what place the subordinate Falling Cloud Sect held in Chen Fan's heart. If they were cannon fodder to be sent to their deaths...
Then, as their sect master, she had to take responsibility for the countless disciples throughout the sect! Not cling to life alone.
"You..." Zhang Yuanba was stunned by her shout.
The Zhang Lineage elder's expression was grave as well. One of them was in the Dao Palace Realm and the other in the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. They were no match for a Saint Realm expert.
"Lineage Head, let's go." He hurriedly reminded him. Continuing like this would put them at a disadvantage.
Zhang Yuanba clearly understood this too. With a cold snort, he turned to leave, their meeting ending on a sour note.
But then they heard-
"Kill them. There's no need to release tigers back into the mountains," Chen Fan reminded Yun Lan calmly.
The Zhang Lineage was, after all, a considerable force. Yun Lan feared that disciples who went out to gain experience would face retaliation and assassination. Her hesitation at this moment was understandable.
Kill them? No need to release tigers back into the mountains? Hearing that indifferent voice, Zhang Yuanba and the Zhang Lineage elder could hardly believe it. A junior they had paid no attention to actually dared to command a sect master! What arrogance!
"Who are you..."
But then they heard-
"Yes, Great Emperor." Yun Lan instantly understood. Chen Fan would back her up! Having him supporting her from behind was enough.
Her expression turned cold, and she attacked directly, with no intention of wasting words on explanations.
"Great Emperor..." How was that possible! That youth was an Emperor Realm expert! Zhang Yuanba was utterly terrified. This was real! But they could not possibly withstand Yun Lan!
"This is bad! Lineage Head, run!" The Zhang Lineage elder beside him had no intention of confronting her head-on. That would be no different from courting death. As for this Great Emperor business, he had no time to think about it.
Seeing that escape was impossible, at this critical moment, Zhang Yuanba immediately pulled out the single-use storage treasure his ancestor had left him for protection.
With a wave of his hand, he unleashed a Sage's palm imprint.
"Yun Lan, you dare!" At the same time, he roared, "Our Zhang Lineage isn't a soft persimmon for you to squeeze!"
But he had no confidence, because no matter how wealthy they were, they could not afford to hire a Great Emperor to act.
This was probably also why Yun Lan had decided to kill them without any scruples.
Boom.
Yun Lan shattered it with a single palm strike, then charged at Zhang Yuanba and his companion again without another word.
"The Zhang Lineage is blocking my Chen Lineage's expansion..." Seeing this, Chen Fan knew these two would not survive.
But conflict would come sooner or later, so it was better to strike first. Especially when they had delivered themselves to his door. Moreover, generation after generation, the Zhang Lineage had plundered and encroached upon the former Chen Lineage's businesses. It was just that no one would likely remember the losers' fate. That was all smoke and clouds of history...
"The Chen Lineage... you're..." At that moment, Zhang Yuanba seemed to understand something. His pupils dilated in disbelief.
He had already sent his son to deal with the Chen Lineage that had just appeared. Now, the Falling Cloud Sect had probably been taken over by the Chen Lineage too. Otherwise, this would not have happened.
A Great Emperor... Unfortunately, it was too late even if he could not make sense of it at all.
As his words fell, Yun Lan slapped both men into a mist of blood.
Chen Fan glanced at Yun Lan.
"Rest assured, Sect Master. Since you have submitted to my Chen Lineage, the Falling Cloud Sect will naturally be under my protection..."
"In the future, I don't want to see this happen a second time."
He gave Yun Lan a dose of reassurance.
As one of the pavilion masters of the Primordial Gods and Devils Pavilion, having feelings, flesh, and blood was what made someone human. But they could not lose their trust in each other.
There was no need to think of him as the sort who pulled up his trousers and refused to acknowledge anyone afterward.
Yun Lan was finally reassured.
"Yes, Great Emperor. I certainly won't let it happen again!" Without realizing it, she had clearly begun treating herself as a junior.
She was certainly not pretending to be young.
She was quite young to begin with.
Afterward, once Chen Fan finished dealing with matters here, he rose and left.
Boom.
At that moment, in the mountains behind the Zhang Lineage estate, an old man flew into a rage.
"Who dared to kill the head of my Zhang Lineage! I will make him pay this blood debt in blood!"
A terrifying presence erupted, leaving everyone trembling.
As the foremost Lineage in the Heavenly Abyss Domain, having their head die outside made them a laughingstock! How could they tolerate it!
As the Zhang Lineage's ancestor, how could he stand by and watch!
Facing the Saint Realm ancestor, the Zhang Lineage's third elder did not even dare breathe loudly.
"Ancestor, the Lineage Head and second elder went to the Falling Cloud Sect and perished... I fear something unexpected happened." He was furious too, but he had absolutely no idea why the Falling Cloud Sect would attack their Zhang Lineage.
He dared to be angry, but not to speak.
With the ancestor stepping forward, they would surely obtain justice!
"The Falling Cloud Sect!" The Zhang Lineage ancestor fell briefly silent, instantly calming down and telling himself not to ruin things by acting impulsively.
He could not beat them. He was only at the fourth level of the Saint Realm. The Falling Cloud Sect had seven or eight Saint Realm experts!
In a deep voice, he said, "Very well. This matter ends here. Promote another Lineage head to manage the Lineage."
His tone permitted no argument.
He alone was clearly not enough to deal with the foremost sect in the Heavenly Abyss Domain.
And spending their wealth to hire experts against the Falling Cloud Sect would be no different from losing a thousand men to kill eight hundred enemies. It would also shake the foundations the Zhang Lineage had accumulated over countless years, letting others reap the fisherman's profit while the snipe and clam fought. The losses would outweigh the gains.
Unless their survival was at stake, there was no need to go that far. Otherwise, it would be little different from mutual destruction.
"Huh?" The Zhang Lineage's third elder could not even react.
"What do you mean, 'huh'? Our Zhang Lineage need only remember this debt the Falling Cloud Sect owes us," the Zhang Lineage ancestor snapped. "Hurry up and see to it! The Zhang Lineage cannot go a single day without a head!"
"Yes, Ancestor." The elder hurried away with his tail between his legs.
The Zhang Lineage ancestor's gaze flickered. "Falling Cloud Sect, just why..."
They had always kept to their own wells without troubling the other's river. Why had the Falling Cloud Sect suddenly struck to kill?
Below Chen Lineage City.
Zhang Kun arrived with a few Lineage experts. There was no need for many people at all.
To intimidate this paltry little Lineage on this visit, he had made extensive preparations, dressing with incomparable grandeur and riding a fine demonic beast, a Golden Scale Horse.
A treasured sword hung at his waist, all kinds of spiritual artifacts were casually placed and hung about him, and various medicinal herbs served as flowers to admire. In a good mood, he used porcelain pill bottles as fragrance sachets. He had even brought a full nine cartloads of supreme-grade spirit stones!
Whether he used them did not matter.
The main point was to display his Lineage's wealth.
He raised his head to look at those two large characters.
"Hmph, they really dared to occupy an entire city outright! Let's see just how much strength this Chen Lineage has."
"Young Master, shall we enter the city?" Steward Zhang asked beside him.
Looking at the place before him, he felt somewhat wistful. He had no idea what was going on with the Chen Lineage. In any case, he could not figure it out.
But as a former elder of the Chen Lineage, he, Chen Daye, had insisted on coming back this time to see the situation for himself.
If possible, it would be best to keep all the spiritual artifacts, spirit stones, and other things the Zhang Lineage's young master had brought.
"Zhang" Daye pondered how to stab his teammate in the back without exposing himself.
"Enter the city?" Zhang Kun was displeased at that. "Wouldn't entering the city amount to indirectly acknowledging the existence of this Chen Lineage city?"
"It would be good to enter the city and catch them off guard, but our Zhang Lineage disdains such underhanded tricks. Go, call them out directly! Call every last one of them out here for this young master!"
Zhang Kun wore an unrestrained, arrogant expression.
The Zhang Lineage's fifth elder, a Dao Palace Realm mighty expert, reminded him at that moment, "Young Master, the Spiritual Qi here seems exceptionally dense..."