The group entered the area belonging to the Larken Clan in Imperial City; almost all of them called that area Larken City although it wasn't an official name.

It didn't look too different from the outside with the exception that everyone in Larken City had the Sword Bloodline or was married to someone who had it.

The outer area of Larken City was for the outer members of the clan; those who had very faint bloodlines and would probably stop being considered members of the Larken Clan in a few generations if they didn't manage to solve that problem.

Everyone in that area bowed deeply to Herken's group; the status in the clan of those geniuses and the members of the outer clan couldn't be compared.

In fact, even Herken had a better status than them because he was from a branch, a weak one, but still not expelled to the outer clan because their bloodlines were still better than those who were sent to the outer clan area. Moreover, after having that improvement in bloodline thanks to Yale, his branch was fated to improve.

People like Herken lived in the middle area of Larken City, which was also the biggest one in population. All of them were branch members and lacked someone with an elder position, so they were under the orders of an unrelated elder. However, a branch member could still succeed and become an elder someday, but the chances of someone of the outer clan doing it were almost inexistent; their only chance would be having the luck to obtain some awesome legacy.

"Do you know what your mother did? How do you plan to pay up for our loss?"

A tall guy was shouting to a kid who was kneeling in front of him.

"As expected of someone of the outer clan, they had no honor to kill themselves after such a big failure. Moreover, that woman was just someone who married into our Larken Clan, and her husband has already died. I don't know why we should let this kind of people live in our Larken Clan. This kid shouldn't be allowed to live in an area for noble people like us. I doubt that he should be allowed to live in Imperial City. No, this kind of trash shouldn't exist in the whole empire."

Another guy commented beside the first one while looking to the kid like if he was looking a cockroach that had entered into his house.

"Sirs, it was only a hair in your soup, and it was too short for being from my mother. You are making a mistake here!"

Yale and the others heard that conversation and found it completely unreasonable to make that big of a fuss for just a hair in the soup that probably wasn't even from the kid's mother.

"Shut up! You are only someone who is pitied by the clan! Don't think that you are a true member of the Larken Clan like us!"

The man who was scolding the kid from the start kicked the kid on his faced sending him some meters backward.

"It is a lucky matter than you have turned ten the past week or we wouldn't have an easy way to punish you for dishonoring the clan. You are a criminal for defending your mother, who is an outsider who planned to poison us using her dirty hairs!"

No one would be poisoned for eating a hair even if it was dirty; if someone wanted to poison the soup there was no need to put a hair, they could just add the poison to the soup directly.

"Let's start with your right arm. I hope you don't think that just a kick would vent my anger. Don't worry after cutting your two arms I will spare your legs. You are just not worthy of wielding a sword due to your corrupted personality, but fleeing is still something that an inferior being like you is allowed to do."

That guy took out a sword and slashed it towards the kid on the ground, but the sword never reached that kid's body; it was intercepted in the way. That shocked him because no one in the outer area had dared to be that bold given his position in the clan.

"I doubt that the rules of the Larken Clan indicate that you can cut both arms to a kid because of a hair on the soup."

Yale was the one who rushed to stop the attack.

"Those two are also traitors."

Immediately, Yale sent a message with the Spiritual Sense to Herken, who wasn't surprised about that because those two belonged to one of the three factions they had already identified as traitors.

"Who are you? I have never seen you, so you must be a mere outsider. You interfered in the rightful punishment we were giving to this criminal, so you should kill yourself right now in compensation."

That guy didn't fear any outsider; he knew that killing any of them would be easy with his background; the True Larken Clan didn't want any outsiders, they were purists that didn't want to allow marriage between those who had the Sword Bloodline and those who didn't have it.

"If you plan to kill my fiancé, I just need to kill both of you, don't ever think to escape alive."

Lar stepped at the front while saying those words and the faces of those two changed. They had heard that Lar wouldn't be able to return alive, but she was there perfectly well at that moment.

Moreover, her status was extremely high, so even if she went on a rampage and killed both of them, the clan would probably just forgive her; especially when they two had threatened to kill her fiancé. It was well-known the worries of the elders to make Lar marry due to her personality, and that killing a fiancé that she had already accepted would be a great crime in the eyes of the elders who didn't support the True Empire.

"The plan should have failed, those juniors of us are useless."

Both of them were cursing on their minds.

"Considering Lar's reputation, I will let you off without any punishment, but you shall stop meddling in this matter. This kid shall pay for his crimes. Moreover, he hasn't any relationship with you."

Both guys feared that they would be really killed on the spot if they dare to anger Lar; they were already at the 6-star Practitioner, but they weren't considered members of the younger generation as they were already more than thirty years old.

Thus, Herken could kill them easily if they tried to do something against Lar who was considered a treasure inside the Larken Clan.

"Kid, what is your name?"

Yale ignored the words of those two traitors and spoke with the kid who had been kicked on his face and was bleeding from his mouth and nose.

"Senior, thanks for your help. My name is Mercer Larken."

Despite the pain he was feeling, the kid stood up and bowed towards Yale. He was very proud of being a member of the Larken Clan even if he was just an outside member.

"How did your father die?"

Yale had already guessed that just by looking at the lack of adult men in the outer Larken Clan, but he wanted to hear Mercer's version.

"A month ago he was sent on an urgent mission with almost all the other adult men of the outer clan. However, all of them died, and only the commander of that mission returned; he wasn't someone from the outer clan, nor a branch member, he was from the main clan. Oh, right! That commander is the father of the guy who kicked me, and the uncle of the other one."

He had almost forgotten about that and would have never thought about that connection without Yale's question.

Officially, they were raided on the mission, and everyone died protecting the commander to let him complete the mission. However, the truth was that the commander had set a trap to kill all of them.

"Herken, it seems that the traitors are already exterminating people inside your Larken Clan. Send a message to Lar's grandfather and explain to him the whole situation, don't lose time. If the elders behind those two traitors come, they will try to kill all of us without asking any question."

Herken nodded after receiving the Spiritual Sense message from Yale and left after leaving an incarnation there. That incarnation wasn't good, and anyone who put a bit of effort would discover that it was fake, but that was the best he could do as he didn't train too much that skill.

In fact, being able to create an incarnation of that level while being at the Veteran Rank could be considered very good, and he was capable of doing it thanks to a legacy he obtained.