The Clan's Annihilation

"The signal arrow has been fired! Today, even if you sprout wings, you won't fly out of this city!"

Xiong Biao's voice carried anger, along with a barely perceptible tremor.

As he remembered him, Qie Yunzhou was definitely not a reckless man. Since he now dared to force his way in with just two people, he must have been confident.

Xiong Li's eyes were bloodshot as he glared fiercely at Qie Qiong beside Qie Yunzhou:

"And you, hiding your face and skulking in the shadows! You killed my clansmen. Die!"

A large portion of the dozen or so people who had just rushed out were his direct subordinates.

"Fly south with wings?" Qie Yunzhou smiled coldly. His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"After today, your Xiong Clan will be erased from the Azure Cloud Realm!"

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the brothers Xiong Biao and Xiong Li, icy killing intent in his eyes. "Today, I'll use the blood of your Xiong Clan to honor the heroic spirits of my Qie Clan's ancestors."

The moment the words left his mouth, his figure blurred. Azure Dou Qi instantly coiled around his body, and countless sword lights poured forth, heading straight for Xiong Biao.

"Hmph! Qie Yunzhou, do you think reaching the Myriad Existences Realm gives you the right to run wild in my Xiong Clan? Earth Vein Array, activate!"

Xiong Biao shouted fiercely, forming hand seals to activate the array core on his body.

In an instant, the entire Xiong residence seemed to be covered in layer upon layer of earthy yellow light.

The array laid down by generations of the Xiong Clan activated.

A vast surge of energy gathered in an instant, as though an entire earth vein had empowered Xiong Biao.

The earthy yellow Dou Qi around him surged, and his aura soared, becoming faintly comparable to Qie Yunzhou's.

A mountain-cleaving saber formed from the power of the earth vein and Dou Qi appeared in his hand, and he roared as he met Qie Yunzhou's countless sword lights.

Boom!

The river of azure sword light collided violently with the mountain-like, earthy yellow saber light, producing a tremendous crash.

Under the terrifying impact of energy, several Xiong Clan knights standing nearby were instantly torn to pieces by the shock wave. Only Qie Qiong and Xiong Li were spared.

With the Xiong Clan's thousand-year-old array empowering him, Xiong Biao could actually rival Qie Yunzhou, who had reached the Wind of the Myriad Existences Realm.

"An array is but a minor trick." Qie Yunzhou frowned slightly, his attacks growing fiercer as he unleashed the third level of Flowing Light Sword, Ten Thousand Shadows Return to Truth, with all his might.

In an instant, countless concentrated, almost tangible azure sword lights filled the sky above the Xiong residence.

The azure sword lights poured down on Xiong Biao.

Xiong Biao roared again and again, swinging his mountain-cleaving saber madly. Relying on the continuous replenishment of earth vein power provided by the array, he managed to hold out against Qie Yunzhou's onslaught.

While Xiong Biao and Qie Yunzhou were locked in battle, fighting had already erupted on another battlefield.

Xiong Li stared at Qie Qiong, a trace of mockery on his face. In his view, this young man, who had never revealed his aura, was merely an unusual Silver Moon Rank. He might have used some unorthodox trick to barely rival a Title Rank.

He grinned viciously. "You brat who doesn't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is, coming to my Xiong Clan with Qie Yunzhou today was the worst decision you'll ever make in your life."

Wielding a heavy halberd, he wrapped it in the mental will of the Heaven and Man Unity Realm and earthy yellow Dou Qi, then smashed it at Qie Qiong with the force of a mountain overturning and a sea upending.

Faced with this ferocious blow, the masked Qie Qiong remained calm, his eyes even showing a hint of amusement.

The black Dou Qi around him suddenly seethed.

"Your speed is too slow," Qie Qiong said with a chuckle. Just as the heavy halberd was about to strike, his body turned into a streak of black lightning, faster than Xiong Li could imagine.

His figure brushed almost against the edge of the heavy halberd as he passed it.

As a technique master at the pinnacle of technique, Qie Qiong was far stronger than a Title Rank like Xiong Li, who had only reached the Heaven and Man Unity Realm.

The sword in Qie Qiong's hand moved toward Xiong Li in an exquisite manner.

This strike concentrated Qie Qiong's Unity of Heaven and Man and the Black Thunder Dou Qi of Thunder's Five Transformation Technique, bringing his pinnacle skill as a technique master to its utmost limit.

This sword light was not as magnificent as Qie Yunzhou's Ten Thousand Shadows Return to Truth, nor as heavy as Xiong Li's.

Yet it left Xiong Li no time to react, precisely piercing the weakness in his move.

"What?!" Xiong Li only had time to glimpse the fatal sword strike reflected in his eyes.

The Dou Qi and moves he took such pride in were meaningless before this strike, as fragile as a sheet of white paper.

Pfft.

A soft sound rang out.

Xiong Li's charging body suddenly stiffened.

The second-tier alchemical heavy halberd flew from his hand.

He slowly lowered his head in disbelief. A small hole had appeared over the heart of his second-tier alchemical armor.

Fast! Precise! Ruthless!

Pure technique and speed had utterly overwhelmed him.

He had not even seen how Qie Qiong drew his sword before that strike pierced his second-tier alchemical armor and the earth-attribute Dou Qi renowned for its defense, running through his heart.

"Uh... you..." Xiong Li wanted to say something. His eyes widened, filled with horror.

He could not understand how someone at the Heaven and Man Unity Realm could possess such speed.

He was no insignificant nobody. He was a dignified Title Knight, yet he could not even withstand a single move from his opponent.

Black Dou Qi instantly invaded his body, utterly extinguishing his vitality.

Xiong Li's body crashed to the ground, his life snuffed out.

"Second brother!!!"

Xiong Biao, locked in fierce combat with Qie Yunzhou, noticed his brother's death at once.

The sudden turn of events and the shock shook him to the core, creating a slight opening in his movements.

"Now!" Qie Yunzhou's combat experience was extraordinarily rich.

The instant Xiong Biao lost his composure over his brother's death, Qie Yunzhou immediately seized upon the weakness he exposed.

"Wind is everywhere. Wind chains, bind!" Qie Yunzhou's eyes blazed as he used the wind of all things to condense and transform the azure sword lights suspended in midair into several chains of wind, which wound toward Xiong Biao.

As the wind chains bound him, Xiong Biao frantically drove the array's power, leaving Qie Yunzhou able only to stand in place and maintain the chains with all his strength.

"Catch the sword." As Qie Yunzhou spoke, he tossed the Thunder Star Sword toward Qie Qiong.

Without using the Myriad Existences Realm of Metal, the standard-issue longsword in Qie Qiong's hand could pierce Xiong Li, but it was unlikely to hurt Xiong Biao while he was empowered by the array.

Qie Qiong looked at the Thunder Star Sword in the air and casually tossed his standard-issue longsword aside.

His figure became a streak of black lightning as he leaped toward the Thunder Star Sword.

After catching the Thunder Star Sword in midair, he thrust it fiercely at the bound Xiong Biao.

Xiong Biao looked in despair at Qie Qiong as he stabbed toward him, and a despairing roar erupted from his mouth. "No!!!"

Qie Qiong's exquisite strike easily tore through the earthy yellow Dou Qi shield in front of Xiong Biao, penetrated the Dou Qi armor he had formed with the array's power, and pierced precisely into his heart.

"Pfft-" Blood sprayed wildly from Xiong Biao's mouth. The array's power also receded from his body like the tide.

His body shuddered violently, and the light in his eyes dimmed at once.

The Xiong Clan is finished. This became Xiong Biao's final thought. His body slammed heavily to the ground, and he ceased to breathe.

The Xiong Clan's patriarch had fallen!

With both Title Ranks dead, the remaining Xiong Clan knights and retainers had only one thought:

The Xiong Clan is finished!

Facing two powerhouses who killed Title Ranks as easily as chickens, everyone had long since been scared out of their wits and scattered in flight.

In fact, some retainers had already run off earlier, and Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou had paid them no mind.

The Xiong residence, which had just been filled with earthshaking noise, now held only the sounds of fleeing feet and the moans of the wounded.

"Let's go." Without lingering for a moment, the two hurriedly took the Xiong brothers' Space Rings.

The Wind of the Myriad Existences Realm instantly enveloped them, and like two streaks of sword light blending into the wind, they vanished into the streets of Cangshan County City.

Although neither of them feared the city guards, killing two Title Ranks was not the same as killing a group of city guards.

The first could still be called a clan feud, and the three nations permitted such things.

But killing a group of city guards would be a slap in the Cangyun Empire's face.

Two Title Ranks were unimportant; the Cangyun Empire's face mattered far more.

Better one less problem than one more.

Not long after the two disappeared, the city guards and the Xiong Clan's affiliated forces finally arrived.

It was hard to call them the Xiong Clan's affiliated forces now. Although members of the Xiong bloodline were still alive, the deaths of the brothers Xiong Biao and Xiong Li had greatly weakened the clan. No one even knew how many Silver Moon Ranks the Xiong Clan still had.

But even if it still had several Silver Moon Rank powerhouses, it would make no difference.

Of course, they had not deliberately been slow to arrive. Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou had simply finished things too quickly, leaving these forces too little time to react.

"Quick! The Xiong Clan is under attack! Highest alert!" The commander of the city guards stood before the Xiong Clan's gates with his men.

He looked at the mess covering the ground, especially the bodies of the brothers Xiong Biao and Xiong Li lying in the very center.

The commander already understood that the skies over Cangshan County City had changed.

"Seal off the area. No one is to come near!" the city guard commander ordered his equally stunned deputy behind him.

With the Xiong Clan's downfall, his city guards were the strongest force in Cangshan County City, and naturally had a responsibility to maintain order.

Not much time had passed since the signal arrow was fired, so the people who had come could not have taken much of the Xiong Clan's wealth.

With an estate as vast as the Xiong Clan's, naturally they could not let other forces get their hands on it.

It was all the city guards' money, the empire's money!

Of course, if you asked whether the remaining Xiong clansmen were not still alive, and how their wealth had become the empire's, he could only say, where were there any Xiong clansmen left?

A trace of a smile appeared on his face at the thought.

As he indulged in his vision, a soldier behind him stepped forward and asked, "Commander Li, should we seal the city gates first? Just sounding the alarm won't do much good, will it?"

Commander Li, who was still lost in his vision, glanced at the soldier as though he were an idiot. Without paying him any further attention, he headed into the Xiong residence.

He was not the city guards' only commander. It would be best to grab enough benefits before the others arrived. Perhaps he too could become a Title Rank powerhouse in this lifetime.

Seeing that the commander had not answered him, the soldier thought he had not heard and was about to step forward and repeat himself.

The soldier beside him hurriedly pulled him back.

"Are you crazy? Seal the city? Even if we caught them, what good would that do?"

"When the time comes, would you stop them, or who would?"

The soldier who had proposed sealing the city asked in confusion, "All of us together, of course. That would be a great achievement."

"A great achievement? Both Xiong Clan patriarchs were Title Rank powerhouses, and they were killed in their own home in just a few moves. How many times over do you think they could kill all of us city guards?"

Commander Li, who was already walking inside, could naturally hear their conversation as a Silver Moon Rank powerhouse. He said to the deputy commander following him, "Who recruited this 'talent'? Tell them both to get lost."

With someone like that in the ranks, sooner or later he would get them killed. After all, this was a border county city.

Meanwhile, the source of all the turmoil in Cangshan County City—the father and son Qie Yunzhou and Qie Qiong-

Had long since left the vicinity of the Xiong residence. Although they passed people heading in the opposite direction along the way, not one stopped to question them.

The two first returned to the restaurant they had visited that day and slept there for the night.

At night, no one was allowed to leave either Cangshan County City or Cloud Sea Prefecture City.

Although they could force their way out, it was the same old saying: better one less problem than one more.

There was no need to slap the Cangyun Empire in the face over a minor matter.

The previous night, the city had been in chaos.

Because the city guards had sealed off the area, both the Xiong Clan's affiliated forces and the forces that had come to watch the excitement realized that something major had happened to the Xiong Clan.

In particular, once they learned that both of the Xiong Clan's Title Ranks were dead, they soon stirred up trouble in order to claim a share.

The city guards were not the Xiong Clan, after all. The city lord behind them was only at the peak of Silver Moon Rank, although the city guards under his command were already the strongest force in Cangshan County City.

But he had no Title Rank powerhouse, after all. Although the city lord wanted to keep the Xiong Clan's wealth for himself, he also knew he lacked the strength to do so, and ultimately compromised.

In the end, everyone agreed to kill all the Xiong clansmen together. After all, as long as any Xiong clansmen remained alive, they could not rightfully claim the clan's wealth.

And so, the most absurd scene in Cangshan County City played out the previous night.

No one cared about the killers, but the victims were wanted throughout the city. In the end, only a few Silver Moon Ranks remained in the Xiong Clan, and with the whole city hunting them, they were soon all killed.

This was also why Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou had not killed the Xiong Clan's other members.

They had long known that someone would do it for them, and do an even cleaner job than they would.

Soon, morning came.

Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou soon headed for the city gates. Their business was finished, so they naturally had to return early. After all, someone was still at home worrying about them.

Soon, the outline of Cangshan County City's walls appeared before them.

"Father, there doesn't seem to be anything unusual at the gates. The checks even seem more relaxed," Qie Qiong said quietly.

He keenly observed that the guards on the walls were the same as usual, but below, the city guards watching the gates were much more relaxed than usual.

Even the few necessary checks they had conducted before were now entirely gone.

"Just as expected," Qie Yunzhou said with a smile.

He had foreseen this outcome long ago.

"For the city guards, sealing the gates against powerhouses who can kill two Title Ranks would be courting death. They're probably hoping we'll disappear as soon as possible, so they can claim their share in peace."

Of course, if something like this happened to the Qie Clan today, Cloud Sea Prefecture City would probably handle it the same way as Cangshan County City.

Fortunately, in the thousand-year feud between the Qie Clan and the Xiong Clan, they were the final winners.

Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou followed the flow of people and soon left Cangshan County City.

The entire process passed without the slightest mishap.