The sound of Yang Qi’s shout shook the Chen Clan soldiers’ minds, making it impossible for them to resist his order.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

The remaining six or seven hundred soldiers dropped their weapons and began to strip off their armor. Prostrating on the ground, they cried, “Spare us! Oh, exalted members of the Yang Clan, spare us! We’re just hired soldiers, that's all.”

“Spare us, please! We’ll even join the Yang Clan!”

One of the fifth phase captains kowtowed over and over again, saying, “I have powerful kung fu! I’ve already broken into the Energy Eruption level. I’ll work for the Yang Clan! Just spare my life.”

Reaching the fifth phase of energy arts was no small accomplishment, and was something any clan would respect.

Yang Zhan snorted coldly and then spoke in a voice that filled the entire square. “Fine. You’ll get your chance. Yunchong! Hualong! Have our men arrest everyone who surrendered. The talented and loyal ones may join us. The obstinate resistors shall be either crippled or executed. The mediocre ones can leave behind their armor and weapons and return to civilian life.”

No one dared resist his orders. Such was the might of a Master of Energy.

Yang Yunchong and Yang Hualong immediately took charge of the Chen Clan forces, first identifying their leaders, and then starting to deal with the soldiers.

One particularly fierce soldier among the Chen Clan forces, who was apparently a member of one of their subsidiary branches, tried to resist. When Yang Qi saw that, he flicked his finger, sending a spiraling bullet of energy directly into the man’s heart, killing him instantly. After that, the rest of the soldiers were very cooperative.

Before long, the hired soldiers were all in custody and taken away into the Yang Clan mansion. The only people left behind were the actual members of the Chen Clan, who were now surrounded by Yang Zhan, Yang Qi, as well as countless soldiers and other experts from the Yang clan.

At this point, one of the Chen Clan elders spoke out in a loud voice, “Our Chen Clan has subsidiary branches on the outside, as well as a council of chief elders. They’re definitely not going to let this matter stand. You listen well, Yang Zhan. If you harm our clan lord, then you’ll have a full-scale war on your hands.”

“Bullcrap!” Yang Zhan shot back. “You’re not going to back down until you’re in a coffin, are you?!”

Suddenly, a dozen or so manifestations of Humanoid True Energy flashed into being, and then pounced on the Chen Clan elders.

The elders fought back with their energy arts, but couldn't stop the humanoids from entering their bodies and crushing both their meridians and seas of energy.

Within moments, their energy arts were crippled.

Faces ashen, they flopped to the ground.

Yang Qi was inwardly shaken.

He could see how powerful a Master of Energy cultivation base really was. Obviously, his father already surpassed him in terms of power, to the point where his own energy arts didn’t even compare.

‘So, this is a Master of Energy? After cultivating all the way to the ninth phase, one’s true energy capacity, techniques, and strength will all undergo incredible transformations. The peak of the eighth phase isn’t even close to being comparable to the Master of Energy level. I could kill someone in the peak of the eighth phase, but if I want to deal with a Master of Energy, I would need to make even more progress.’

After killing so many experts from the Chen Clan, it was a foregone conclusion that Yan Gufeng would be shocked, and would not be very happy with the Yang Clan. When the time came for conflict with the Yan Clan, Yang Qi knew that if they weren’t stronger, they would suffer the same fate as the Chen Clan, and be crushed out of existence.

After crippling the energy arts of all the Chen Clan elders, Yang Zhan said, “Qi’er, you take our army over to the Chen Clan and pillage their headquarters! I want the Chen Clan completely expunged from Yanhaven!”

“Yes, father,” Yang Qi said. Grabbing Chen Dalei by the arm, he continued, “Well, I guess you’ll be coming with me. You definitely know where all the treasure is hidden. Men, come with me. Let’s go!”

In response, the soldiers sprang into action, heading directly toward the Chen Clan. Even some of the clan servants came along. The Chen Clan elders were all crippled now, so it would be a big waste to leave their clan’s wealth untouched.

As Yang Qi led the army through the streets, he dragged Chen Dalei along with him and shouted, “Listen up, clans of Yanhaven. This is a personal matter between the Yang Clan and the Chen Clan. If anybody interferes, if any clan tries to take advantage of the situation, I’ll slaughter you without mercy!”

The peddlers on the streets, as well as the ordinary citizens, scrambled to get out of the way. However, there were some individuals within the restaurants along the way who stepped out curiously to see the Yang Clan’s army passing by.

“Conflicts between clans really are bloody affairs. I wonder how many heads will be lost today.” That was what most of them were thinking.

In one particular nine-story restaurant, the events were being discussed by a group of noteworthy individuals.

This restaurant was the Four Seas Bistro, a well-known location in Yanhaven.

It was operated by the Four Seas Consortium, which wasn’t based in Yanhaven itself. Actually, they had branches in thousands and thousands of cities throughout the lands. They specialized in selling food and alcohol that replenished one's energy and blood, and could aid in energy arts recovery. They also sold uniquely flavored spirit medicines and demonling meat. Unfortunately, they charged exorbitant prices to cover the costs of their extravagant services, and thus were only patronized by very rich individuals.

At one particular table, three young men and two young women were seated. The young men were handsome and nonchalant, and the young women, as beautiful as flowers. Clearly, this particularly eye-catching group of people were by no means ordinary.

In fact, certain unsavory characters seemed to be keeping an eye on the young women, as if they harbored illicit designs on them. However, anyone with a bit of insight would realize that they were not to be trifled with; they obviously belonged to some large sect or organization.

Spread out on their table were the finest foods and wines. There were fillets of dragonpool greenspring demonling fish, deepsea four-clawed floodwyrm limbs, all sorts of alcohols fermented from magical mushrooms, as well as king of ginseng soup…. It was a meal that definitely cost no less than five or six thousand energy convergence pills, which was equivalent to a year’s income for an ordinary clan. [1]

One of the young men downed a glass of magical mushroom wine, savored the flavor for a moment, and then said, “I almost can’t believe this is happening, Junior Sister. Yanhaven’s Yang Clan has wiped out the Chen Clan, and is going to pillage their headquarters. It’s too bad we missed the fight. If we had known it was coming, we could have gone to watch.”

“Did you see the heavenly phenomenon, Elder Brother?” one of the young women said. “That was fuse one’s energy with the clouds, which means that some expert reached the Master of Energy level. And look at that little punk Yang Qi, the one leading the Yang Clan troops to pillage the Chen Clan. He seems pretty powerful.”

A look of scorn could be seen on another of the young men’s face. “Hmph! What a frog in a well. Doesn’t know the height of the heavens and the breadth of the earth. I could kill a whole group of people like him without even trying. This fight between the Yang and Chen Clans is nothing more than a fight between a bunch of country bumpkins. It's not even worth looking at. This inspection tour we’ve been sent on to the eighty-one southern cities has been a real bore. Turns out they’re all dying to found their own nations. It seems the Sage Ancestor Dynasty is getting weaker and weaker. War is coming, that’s for sure.”

The other young woman nodded. “That means our House of Spring and Autumn has a good opportunity coming our way. Whenever royal dynasties enter periods of unrest, the vassals rise up and heroes abound. It's the perfect chance for a sect revolution as well! We aren’t one of the four great institutes, but if war comes, we might have a chance to overthrow one and take their place.”

One of the young men said, “We should get a piece of the action here in Yanhaven. We might be out in the middle of nowhere, but the Chen Clan is still rich. Even old boats can still be scavenged. They definitely have some treasures hidden away. Let’s hurry over before that punk from the Yang Clan gets there. That’ll cut him down a notch or two. What do you say?”

“Sure, why not. The Chen Clan will probably have something worth taking. What’s the harm in lining our own pockets a bit? With some more wealth, we can grease the wheels a bit easier when we get back to our sect.”

“Alright, let’s do it. Boss, bring the check!”

With that, they paid their bill with banknotes and then left the restaurant.

“What do we do if Yang Qi gets there before us?”

“Simple. If he dares to resist the House of Spring and Autumn, we kill him! If this crappy Yang Clan tries to take us out, they’ll find that it's about as effective as throwing an egg at a rock.”

**

Yang Qi was already at the entrance of the Chen Clan.

Their mansion headquarters was vast and sprawling, well-fortified, with iron-bound gates in front. By now, the remaining experts of the Chen Clan had already learned of the big defeat, and had closed the main gate. Archers lined the battlements with arrows nocked, and messenger pigeons were flying this way and that, carrying news of the situation to numerous other locations.

Just like the Yang Clan, the Chen Clan had many subsidiary branches, as well as chief elders practicing cultivation in a secret location. Now that the main branch was on the brink of being wiped out, it was only natural that they would send out calls for help.

Of course, there was no way Yang Qi would give them that chance. Lifting up Chen Dalei, he announced, “Listen up, Chen Clan. I have your clan lord right here. If you don't surrender immediately, I’ll kill him, break down the gate, and slaughter everyone you have inside, even the chickens and dogs.”

“Ha!” came an angry voice from inside. “There’s no way you can wipe out the Chen Clan. We’ve already notified the chief elders. They’ll be here in a matter of days, and will cleanse your Yang Clan with fresh blood!”

“Pig-headed fools!” Yang Qi growled. He reached out with his hand and made a grasping gesture, which resulted in an enormous stone guardian lion, as tall as four people, to suddenly rise into the air.

RUMMMBLE!

That stone lion weighed no less than five thousand pounds, and yet, it soared through the air like a comet before smashing a hole into the wall of the clan mansion. No defenses could stand up to something like that.

“Attack!” Yang Qi shouted. Keeping his grip on Chen Dalei, he charged forward, leading all of the experts and soldiers forward in attack. As for the ten or so sixth phase experts in the Chen Clan, they were all cut down with impunity.

As for the several hundred soldiers present, and the servants, they didn’t put up any fight whatsoever, nor did the screaming women and children.

The entire affair lasted for less time than it takes an incense stick to burn.

“Lock this place down tight,” Yang Qi said to his experts. “Don’t let anyone in or out. Tie everyone up and start pillaging this place!”

1. What I am calling ‘floodwyrm’ in this story is what is often translated as ‘flood dragon’ in other stories. There is a reason for this that I will explain later on when floodwyrms become important