"Fifth Elder, Seventh Elder..."
"Sorry to trouble you to make the trip."
"You are both Organ Refining Realm cultivators. Your presence in Zichuan City will be enough to deter the Lin Household!!"
As the Song Household patriarch spoke, he looked toward two middle-aged men with graying hair.
The two men were none other than the Song Household's Fifth Elder and Seventh Elder!
After all, the Song Household was a lineage that had produced a Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivator, and it had no shortage of Organ Refining Realm cultivators.
The faction behind the Song Household patriarch alone had four Organ Refining Realm cultivators!
The Song Household as a whole had more than ten!!
If not for the Song Household's incessant internal strife over the years, the territory under its control would certainly have extended beyond two thousand li...
In fact, its sphere of influence had continued to shrink over the years, as other powers encroached upon it.
Several years ago, when the Song Household still had a Spirit Nourishing Realm ancestor holding the fort... its territory had spanned four thousand li!
Ever since that ancestor had fallen, the Song Household's situation had grown increasingly dire!!
If it could not unite the lineage's strength and curb the divisions among its factions soon... at best, the Song Household would be torn apart; at worst, it would face outright destruction.
The Song Household patriarch understood the family's predicament, and so did the various factions.
But no one was willing to bow their head, and no one would surrender the power and interests in their hands! Such was the human heart!!
"Yes, Patriarch!"
Upon hearing the Song Household patriarch's orders, the Fifth and Seventh Elders dared not delay. They immediately mounted the fierce beasts bred by the Song Clan for travel and set off through the night for Zichuan City...
Meanwhile, a vast procession had arrived outside Zichuan City!
The Lin Household's banners fluttered among its ranks!
At the head of the procession, Lin Changge held a longsword. As he gazed at Zichuan City, a flicker of excitement appeared in the depths of his eyes.
Behind him, the many Lin Household clansmen and armored guards were all beaming with excitement.
Once they fought their way into Zichuan City, the Lin Household would be able to replace the Zhao Household and become the new hegemon from this day forth!
Once the Lin Household had established itself in Zichuan City, they too would reap the lion's share of the benefits...
"Kill!!"
Lin Changge swung his longsword and rode his horned beast straight toward the gates of Zichuan City...
Rumble!
Seeing their patriarch lead the charge, the many Lin Household clansmen and three thousand armored guards sprang into action as well.
Battering rams and scaling ladders were brought into position, and catapults of all kinds... were loaded with boulders.
Boom!
Boulders sailed across the sky, and arrows of every kind pierced the clouds... Though only a few thousand men were involved in the siege, the spectacle was still staggering!!
Not far from Zichuan City, Lin Xiye held the Three Talents Formation Flags, but did not make a move.
After all, Lin Changge had said that he would use this battle to forge the Lin Household's foundations and its very soul... and let the younger generation of the clan truly grow through life and death.
As soon as the siege began, urgent bells rang out within Zichuan City.
In the days before the Lin Household's arrival, the Zhao Household had stabilized the situation in the city and recruited several thousand armored guards anew!
Under normal circumstances, the attacking side needed to mobilize at least several times, or even dozens of times, as many armored guards to take a city.
Unfortunately... the Zhao Household's defenders had all been forcibly conscripted at short notice. Most had received no training whatsoever, and deep in their hearts, they were filled with fear of the Lin Household...
When they saw comrades fall beside them, the defenders on Zichuan City's walls immediately fell into chaos!
Some wept and shouted, while others scrambled for cover...
"No! I want to go home... I don't want to die."
"Help me! Someone save me!"
"Ah!!"
"..."
Amid the chaos, the hundreds of armored guards the Zhao Household had left from before were all turned into a force to keep the defenders in line.
Wielding steel whips and even long sabers, they began slaughtering the newly conscripted guards who tried to flee.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and the smoke of battle filled the air.
Zichuan City's gates were already shaking on the verge of collapse, liable to be smashed open by the battering rams at any moment!
"Hold them! Every one of you, hold them back!"
"Anyone who dares retreat... kill them without mercy!!"
"If the gates are breached and the Lin Household fights its way into Zichuan City, none of you will survive..."
"Not only will you lose your own lives."
"Your wives and daughters will be violated, and your fathers, brothers, and children will be slaughtered..."
"Only by holding back the Lin Household and waiting for reinforcements from the Song Household will you have a sliver of hope."
A Zhao Household armored guard commander bellowed at the top of his lungs again and again.
The flesh on his broad face quivered as he wildly threatened the hastily conscripted guards.
Anyone who so much as took a step back would have their head cut off by his sword...
Outside Zichuan City, the Lin Household had also suffered heavy losses.
The Lin Household's three thousand armored guards had received almost no training either.
But compared with Zichuan City's defenders, the Lin Household guards' morale was sky-high! They grew braver and fiercer the longer they fought!!
They knew that even if they died here, their wives, children, and parents... would be treated well by the Lin Household!
As for getting wounded? They feared that even less.
The more grievous their wounds, the richer their rewards from the Lin Household would be once it had established itself in Zichuan City.
"Two martial artists, come with me and charge up the walls!!"
An armored Lin Household elder with stubble covering his face grew anxious as he watched Zichuan City's gates remain unbroken.
If the stalemate continued, the Lin Household would surely pay a tremendous price even if it fought its way into Zichuan City!!
"I'll go!"
"I'll go too!!"
"Catapults, cover us!!"
"Keep the scaling ladders ready!"
Two Lin Household armored guards who had trained in martial arts stepped forward. They exchanged glances, a glint of ruthlessness and resolve appearing in both their eyes!
Charging straight up the walls was almost no different from marching to their deaths!
But it was also a chance to earn merit!
On this journey, death was almost certain and survival a slim hope, but if they returned, they would surely win fame and success!
"Charge!!"
The two followed the Lin Household elder straight onto a scaling ladder...
"The survival and growth of a power will always require it to fight against others!"
"Bloodshed, wounds, sacrifice... all of it is for the lineage to endure!!"
"Only when the lineage flourishes can it shelter its people, so that more of them need not bleed, suffer wounds, or sacrifice their lives!"
A Lin Household elder, three arrows lodged in his body, did not forget to teach the younger members of the clan even as he lay dying.
With his life, he embodied the world's cruelty. With his death, he showed the Lin Household's younger generation... what it meant to contend for power and fight for survival.
In the distance, watching clansman after clansman fall and so many Lin Household guards lose their lives... even Lin Xiye, hard-hearted as stone, wanted several times to join the battle!
But every time he approached the battlefield, Lin Changge shook his head and refused...
For the entire lineage to truly rise, it could not rely on its ancestor Lin Xiye for everything!
The Lin Household had been at peace for too long. It needed sacrifice and bloodshed, and every clansman needed to understand... how hard survival was.
On the road to ascendancy, without blood and fire, the clansmen would gradually lose themselves.
The younger generation in particular could easily produce wastrel heirs.
Such an ascent was destined not to last...