Su Chanyue froze at those words, turning her head with difficulty, as though even time had stretched on forever...
She turned to look, and a thunderbolt struck from a clear sky! So I'm the only outsider? No, I wasn't an outsider just a moment ago!
It hurts. It hurts so much!
Chen Fan was caught utterly off guard!
Holy shit. I knew the Chen Lineage had all gone undercover, but I never imagined the odds could be this terrifying!
And they kept up the act in front of me for so long!
"Please rise, everyone." He gladly accepted reality. He urgently needed help. Besides, he could verify everything by checking the family genealogy later, so this could not be false.
Then he looked at Chen Luoyu. "Aunt..."
He had never met her, but he had heard her name.
"Sister Luoyu..." Bai Fengyao was dumbfounded too, murmuring to herself.
Chen Fengnian and Gu Fengsheng had not expected to witness such a lively spectacle, though these relationships sounded rather complicated. Wait, aunt!!!
Chen Luoyu smiled. "Young master, I'm your aunt."
To think she had returned after all. Because Chen Fan needed them now, and so did the Chen Lineage.
But Chen Fan's strength was so unfamiliar to her. Everything felt like a dream.
Si Fu and Chen Tianya also smiled at each other, shaking hands in greeting. The Chen Lineage had a Great Emperor! What was there to hide anymore? Time to lay their cards on the table.
Chen Fan fell silent briefly. "Aunt, all that matters is that you're back!"
"Starting with a single residence, every improvement depends on undercover family members." At last, he was no longer guarding the family home alone.
His teammates had appeared.
"Sister Luoyu, you're actually my master's aunt!" Bai Fengyao's train of thought traced a parabola as she exclaimed.
"Then shouldn't Master call me... Auntie?" Her tone grew rather uncertain.
Chen Fengnian and Gu Fengsheng nearly spat blood at this display of "filial piety." Their divine maiden seemed rather slapdash, as though she were playing around.
Then they exchanged a look and remained silent. In that case, Chen Fan's age... They had imagined he was young, but not this young. Live long enough, and you really did see everything!
And a Great Emperor this young? Was this a joke?
It felt as though their tens of thousands of years of cultivation had gone to the dogs. Thinking back to earlier... Had they not become his juniors outright? Pfft.
Chen Fan tapped Bai Fengyao's smooth forehead. "Feng Yao, those are two separate matters."
Bai Fengyao pouted. Master has no martial virtue. He won't even call me Auntie.
"Feng'er, I'll explain later," was all Chen Luoyu could say.
With Chen Fan here, even the Ancient Phoenix Clan could do nothing to her if she laid her cards on the table now.
"All right, let's talk inside." Chen Fan could hardly wait.
Time to unfold his grand ambitions!
No one noticed Su Chanyue standing alone, disheveled in the wind, snowflakes drifting... Cold. What a cold joke. Heh.
Uncle Fu and Senior Brother Meng would not even give her an explanation.
Am I going to... head back alone? I can't hold it together.
"Quick, surround the Chen Lineage residence!" Just then, an angry roar rang out.
A crowd of figures soon appeared.
They swiftly encircled the entire Chen Lineage grounds.
Everyone immediately grew alert. Su Chanyue hurriedly looked around. She was alone, without guards, and had to watch out for her safety.
"Young master, these are people from the city lord's manor and the other families," Si Fu said.
He was somewhat angry. These petty families were hardly worth mentioning; they were merely tigers stranded on the plains, after all. Now that the young master was here, there was naturally no need to worry.
Chen Fan nodded. He had known these families would come...
Chen Fengnian paid the ants no mind. "S-Senior, as a meeting gift on behalf of the divine maiden, allow me to erase these people!" He felt rather awkward.
But there was nothing wrong with befriending a Great Emperor. Gu Fengsheng thought the same and was about to strike.
"No need to trouble yourselves," Chen Fan said, stopping them.
He would take Langya City himself!
Soon.
Those people drew near.
Several young men led the way. Chen Fan knew them: the young masters of the Zhang and Lin families.
They had also brought the city lord's guards, clearly acting in collusion.
Upon seeing Chen Fan, they did not even glance at their dead family disciples, merely sneering repeatedly. "Chen Fan, you dared kill our family disciples. Seems you don't even want this Chen Lineage residence any-"
Rumble.
Dark clouds filled the sky as winds rose and clouds surged. The terrifying pressure made everyone feel as though they were facing the Heavenly Dao.
The Zhang and Lin family disciples immediately fell into disarray. "What's happening?"
Before striking, however, Chen Fan asked Si Fu, "Uncle Fu, are there any Chen Lineage disciples among them?"
Having undercover agents was good, but it made friendly fire all too easy.
"Young master, none of the factions within Langya City have any Chen Lineage disciples," Si Fu said.
They were too close and would easily be discovered.
"The phenomenon! It's the phenomenon from earlier!" someone exclaimed.
Upon hearing that, Chen Tian uttered only a single word.
"Die!"
Countless thunderbolts instantly descended from the heavens, crashing down in a crackling barrage.
In mere moments, before they could even wail in pain, the entire group was reduced to flying ash.
A Great Emperor's wrath could not be stopped.
Su Chanyue knew Chen Fan had struck. Those people were not even qualified to speak to him...
And Chen Fan no longer belonged to the same world as her. It was rather ironic.
Thinking back to the earlier phenomenon, could Chen Fan have caused it... It was hard to imagine, but certainly possible. Bitterness filled her heart.
Much more yearning entered her gaze as she murmured, "So this is imperial might, awing White Emperor Province..."
Having casually exterminated a few ants, Chen Fan immediately began summoning.
The very next moment, a puppet legion more than ten thousand strong, clad in gleaming golden armor, appeared without warning.
Some stood on the ground, while others hovered in the air above, gripping all manner of weapons whose cold light flashed, their keen edges fully bared.
Densely packed, they occupied a vast stretch of space. Their combined presence and pressure alone made people give them a wide berth.
They were utterly silent, yet made hearts pound with dread. This was the legion's martial intent!
Had she not known Chen Fan was not making things difficult for her, Su Chanyue would even have felt surrounded, with nowhere to go.
Horror filled her eyes. What kind of ability was this! A full ten thousand and more! No, they did not seem alive...
Chen Fan stood with his hands behind his back and gave his orders. "Exterminate the city lord's guards. Breach the Lin and Zhang Lineage estates!"
Why would he need to act personally to take a mere Langya City?
This puppet legion was not particularly strong, but it was not weak either. The city lord was only in the Transcendent Realm.
They were enough to deal with him.
Besides, had the Chen Lineage not all gone undercover, taking the long view and looking at the bigger picture, unable to expose themselves lightly, how could they have remained beneath others!
They were simply not on the same level.
Any outer sect elder returning-no, even a steward returning-could easily take Langya City.
As the saying went, every gain came with a loss.
"Yes, Master," came the puppet legion's deep voices.
Then they advanced in formation with iron-heavy footsteps, sweeping through without restraint.
As though wherever they went, they could flatten everything like bulldozers.
All alone and forlorn, Su Chanyue watched helplessly. "The skies are about to change..."
The Falling Cloud Sect, a hundred li from Langya City.
Inside the great hall.
A stunning woman of mature charm and dignified bearing gazed out the window.
"A phenomenon has descended upon White Emperor Province..."
The disturbance was rather excessive.
Either a supreme treasure of heaven and earth had emerged, or a powerful cultivator had broken through!
If it was the former, then as one of White Emperor Province's top sects, they would naturally be more interested.
If it was the latter, they merely had to remember not to offend that person. As a sect master, how could she not know that beyond every person was someone greater, and beyond every heaven, another heaven?
The woman shook her head slightly, indicating that she did not understand the situation either.
"Chanyue has been away for some time. Presumably, she has already broken off her engagement with the Chen Lineage."
She smiled faintly.
A mere Chen Lineage scion was not qualified to be her disciple's fiancé.
Her disciple was the sect's holy maiden. At only twenty-three, she had already reached the Divine Court Realm, with peerless talent rarely seen in a century. Given time, her future achievements might surpass those of her master.
She was also raising her disciple as her successor.
No matter what, this engagement had to be broken off.
Of course, she did not want a rift to form between her disciple's family and the Chen Lineage either. But her disciple did not want this marriage, so as her master, she only needed to push the boat along with the current.
As for the Chen Lineage, she probably would never meet them in this lifetime, so there was no need to worry.
The next day.
The Ancient Phoenix Clan's two elders had already returned.
Having found a disciple and a few teammates, Chen Fan was in a good mood.
He began considering how to expand the Lineage.
"System, check in."
Whatever storms swept through the city outside had nothing to do with him. He could even enjoy some tea.
[Ding, check-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained a divine crystal vein...]