An awkward silence reigned after Lu Qingxun’s venomous declaration.

“Eh?” Confidence crumbling, the old man stared dumbly at Lu Yun. “Why—why are you alright?”

“Should I not be?” Lu Yun asked.

“You took my Aurum Openia Pill.” Lu Qingxun’s chest heaved violently, his eyes boring into Lu Yun. “Why haven’t you turned into my puppet?”

“Do you mean this?” A pill appeared in Lu Yun’s hand with a flip of the wrist. “The control art you attached to the pill is so obvious that even a blind man could spot it.” He shrugged. “I’m no fool. Why would I take it?”

Yuying nodded in deep agreement. She’d spotted the trap when she first laid her eyes on the pill.

“What a waste of an antique pill to tamper with it like this! You’re wasting the world’s resources!” mocked Lu Yun.

“How, how…” murmured Lu Qingxun. “If you didn’t take the pill, how did you transform your constitution and cultivate, even reaching the golden core realm?”

Lu Yun scoffed, “Have you gone senile? Do you think the Lu Clan is the only one who has this pill?”

“Someone else gave you one?” Lu Qingxun gnashed his teeth. “How dare you betray your clan?!”

“Betray my clan?” Lu Yun had had enough. These people had tried to turn him into a puppet with a tampered pill, and now this old man had the audacity to accuse him of betrayal? His lips twisted into an angry smile. “If that’s what you think, then I should live up to your expectations. Senior from the Lu Clan, do you want to see how I’m going to betray the clan?”

He put away the pill with a twist of his wrist, replacing it with the seal of Dusk Province. He used it to draw upon the power of heaven and earth in the entire province.

“I, Lu Yun, Governor of Dusk Province hereby declare that the Lu Clan of Nephrite Major is forbidden from entering the province, on pain of death!” His voice rumbled throughout the city, reaching all corners in an instant. The seal’s power swelled, further spreading his words to every nook and cranny of the province.

The entire province boiled over in reaction. All Nephrite Lu cultivators were forbidden from entering, on pain of death!

The Lu Clan—not a house, nor a sect, but a top clan—wasn’t what it had been due to the disaster that’d caused their decline, but they were still among the most powerful factions in Nephrite Major. The Dusk governor had made that clan his enemy!

“Insane! Completely insane! Not even Chen Xiao and Qing Buyi would have the balls to do this, and there’s not much those two bastards wouldn’t do! Does Lu Yun think he’ll always land on the right side of death?”

Feng Li had been secretly organizing his agents somewhere in the Dusk Province, and his jaw dropped in shock when he heard Lu Yun’s order. There were no words to describe the young governor other than “insane”.

Meanwhile, Li Youcai, having just sworn fealty to Lu Yun, dove into his blankets and moaned, “I have nothing to do with that madman! Nothing! I’m not his subordinate. I’m not his man. I don’t know any Lu Yun!”

By contrast, Mo Yi smiled when she heard Lu Yun’s declaration. “That’s the Lu Yun I know. Tsk tsk, that’s a right and proper blow to the Lu Clan’s ego.”

A public face slapping of a peak clan!

Though the deaths of Lu Yuanhou and the clan’s august immortals were humiliating to the clan, they were a minor quibble for many. The young often bickered and fought, and the results didn’t matter much.

However, Lu Yun had now forbidden the clan from entering in his capacity as Dusk governor. That was no different from slapping the clan in the face with the entire world as witness, or peeing on the clan’s most sacred site.

The clan would never recover from this humiliation. even if they killed Lu Yun and tore him to pieces. Face and dignity were what top clans valued the most!

……

“You—” Lu Qingxun was so furious that his voice sounded distorted. He barely looked alive as his chest heaved violently and his face paled. “Kill him! Kill him!!” he shrieked. “Kill this brat!!”

“Activate the formation!!”

The Lu immortals had been itching to do something. With a roar, they activated the grand formation encircling the governor’s manor.

Tremendous waves of might converged from all directions and created a giant vortex. Soon afterward, the powers of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth surged and clashed against each other, creating bolts of black lightning outlined by destructive power.

Five Element Demolition!

This was a grand formation utilizing the opposing relationships of the five elements to create a terrifying destructive power that would render even arcane immortals to ashes!

Within the formation, a sense of despair sank down on Yuying, Gelong, and the Dusk Phalanx soldiers. It was a fear of destruction that all living things innately possessed.

“Die, die, DIE!” Lu Qingxun puffed out. Even his eyes were pale; Lu Yun had almost made him kick the bucket through sheer anger.

“And if I don’t?” Lu Yun effortlessly dodged a bolt of black lightning. He was standing at the blind spot of the formation. No matter how rampant the destructive power raged, it wouldn’t hurt him.

“Kill him!” Lu Qingxun screamed again, his pale eyes almost spewing actual fire.

Hum.

Black light radiated from the grand formation as the five elements circulated again. The blindspot shifted, and destructive power blanketed Lu Yun.

Bam!

An enormous, glowing orb rose from Lu Yun, dispersing the destructive power with a large vacuum that abruptly appeared in the center of the formation.

Yuying and the others finally had some repose from their struggle. A few other formations descended to protect them as a graceful figure in black soared into the sky.

Emerging from the Gates of the Abyss with the Formation Orb, Feinie instantly disintegrated the Five Elements Demolition with the treasure’s light. That was what made the treasure powerful— it could not only establish formations, but also unravel them.

Crack crack crack.

The formation disks buried under the manor cracked, and the powerful formation fractured like an egg shell.

“How dare you ruin my formation, witch?!” Pushing away the two immortals supporting him, Lu Qingxun jumped into the air and attacked Feinie with his palm. As a peak august immortal, the woman was just a mere bug that he could swat to death with a casual slap.

Feinie harrumphed and retaliated in kind.

Bam!

A great shockwave formed as two enormous hand shadows clashed. Terrible pulses of immortal energy swept through the manor and demolished everything!

Pfft!

Head snapping up, Lu Qingxun threw up a mouthful of blood. His bones groaned under the pressure and he toppled to the ground.

“Clan Elder!” The Lu immortals struggled out of the ruined manor, panicking when they saw their elder collapse.

“Kill them all!” growled Lu Yun.

Feinie had established layers of defensive formations when she’d emerged to protect her side from the shockwaves. With the grand formation broken and Lu Qingxun on the ground, Lu Yun quickly gave his order.

No mercy, and no quarter! All those from the Lu Clan were to be exterminated!

“Leave me!” Lu Qingxun sucked in a breath when he heard the order and shrieked, “Kill that brat first!”

The Lu immortals immediately changed course and charged at Lu Yun. Though the formation was broken, the governor was just a core realm cultivator.

It couldn’t be easier to kill him.