In the afternoon,
In the sky were dark clouds, about to rain. The winds were strong and fast. The sky was completely covered with clouds. The streets were empty, and so were the houses. However, the day was extremely hot for some reason.
The reason the streets and houses were empty was because the Clan leader had called for almost every resident in the village to the village square, except for the guards and those defending the village.
Yang Zhai was sitting in his room, cultivating. He was also about to leave in a while. However, Li Na and Si Yu were prohibited from leaving the house.
Yang Zhai was about to stand up and leave when a tear fell from his right eye. Not just that, a sadness slowly began to emerge in his heart and he was completely washed over by a deep sadness.
He sat down Involuntarily. Tears started to fall from his eyes.
…..
Si Yu and Li Na were cultivating in two different rooms. They were forbidden from cultivating in the same room. Since they could not yet control their physiques, Yang Zhai had separated them out of fear that their powers might attract unwanted attention.
They were cultivating when they heard wailing sounds coming from below.
"Brother Fen?"
Both of them left their rooms and went downstairs to check.
When they opened Yang Zhai's room door, they were shocked.
"It was really brother Fen!!"
They couldn't believe their eyes.
Yang Zhai's crying sounds kept on increasing, they increased to the point that both Li Na and Si Yu felt that Yang Zhai might be in extreme pain, however, that wasn't the case.
"Brother Fen, what happened?!!!"
Both Li Na and Si Yu couldn't see Yang Zhai's condition anymore and went closer to ask him. They were afraid that something might happen to Yang Zhai.
"Stop! Both of you, go back into your rooms!" said Yang Zhai.
Even though his voice wasn't that high, it was also not low.
Si Yu and Li Na hesitated. They were really worried about Yang Zhai.
But didn't dare to go against what Yang Zhai said. They left with worried expressions. Even when they were leaving, they could hear Yang Zhai crying.
His wailing voice was so high that it was reaching the nearby houses. If there were any people in these houses, they would have surely heard Yang Zhai crying.
However, as everyone had gone to the village square, the houses were empty and nobody heard him except for Li Na and Si Yu.
After a little while, it started to rain. The rain was slow at first, but it increased with the passage of time. Even though the rain was increasing, nobody dared to leave the village square and waited for Tai Qi.
This was the power of a clan leader. Everybody knew that Tai Qi was the one who controlled the rank 4 elders and all. If he wanted, he could throw them out of the village easily.
"Where's Yang Zhai?" Muttered Si Kim. He looked around the whole village square and saw Yang Zhai nowhere.
Bam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While he was thinking, he heard a loud explosion sound from behind him.
He saw a red house-sized blood fall onto the barrier. The barrier shook.
"Clan leader, the rank 4 cultivators are combining their attacks now!"
Someone broke into a hall and shouted. He was drenched in water.
In the hall, many elders were seated in two rows on either side, while at the very front sat Tai Qi.
"That's it, deal with the situation as we discussed."
After saying this, he stood up and left.
He didn't mind the servant breaking into the hall and shouting. This was a war, and it will happen many more times in the future. If he punished the servant, people would be afraid of informing him in the future, resulting in many disasters.
Many of the elders got ready for the battle.
They first looked around the edges of the village and found a spot outside the village with only 3 cultivators outside.
A hole appeared in the barrier and around 15 elders jumped out of the barrier to attack them. They were adapting to a tactic like guerrilla warfare to reduce the enemies.
…..
Meanwhile, Tai Qi reached the village square and started to give his speech.
He also said,
"All the elders will move according to my commands. The cultivators who are below rank 4 will be under these elders' commands. As for the academy disciples, you guys will listen to your class leaders as the academy leaders are important for more important battles."
"I don't plan on sending rank 2 cultivators to the battles. We are going to use them inside the village to help the injured and other small matters. I cannot waste the elders' attention on these small matters."
He was dividing these forces equally
As for the rank 3 cultivators, he was going to divide them into different groups, each having one elder as a commander.
As for what he was going to do with these groups and all, he did not say this in his speech. He didn't want his tactics to go into the enemy's hands.
As for the residents who were not cultivators, they were bound to stay inside the village doing repairs, making food, and all. They were also going to be supervised by a few rank 1 cultivators and the elders.
"Except for the children, everyone has to contribute and is going to be paid with the points, which can be used to get many things from the clan's temporary set-up shops in the village square. These included Kas, ires, technique scrolls, different materials, and even essence stones. If the mortals want, they can even become cultivators, but have to earn significant points."
This gave the mortals even more motivation as Tai Qi expected.
It was already the next day. Tai Qi allowed everyone to return to their houses and move according to what he said. Anyone caught not doing what he told them would be considered a traitor and punished by death. This way, everyone had to contribute without making a mistake: otherwise, they would be considered traitors.
…..
On the other hand,
Yang Zhai's eyes were red and swollen. It could be seen that he cried for the whole previous day and the night.
He cried to the point that even his tears dried. His eyes had redness around them.
As he was a cultivator with a strong body, his body managed to handle this much crying, but he still drank water as his body was dehydrated from constant crying.
His body and mind both were tired.
"Brother, are you fine now?!" asked Li Na with a worried expression.
Both Li Na and Si Yu noticed that Yang Zhai had stopped crying around sunrise and came to see him. Both of their eyes also had dark circles around them. They could also neither sleep nor cultivate because of Yang Zhai crying. First of all, they were worried. Second, Yang Zhai's crying noises couldn't let them do anything.
"Yeah, I am fine. I am going to sleep. Don't come in." Yang Zhai slept after they left.
Both Si Yu and Li Na also went to their rooms and slept.
After nine hours, Yang Zhai woke up and exited the house. He came to the village square and inquired about the situation.
After that, he went to the village edges and noticed that there weren't any enemies outside the village.
"Brother, why aren't there any enemies outside the village?" He asked a guard.
"Don't you know that the elders took action and killed many enemy cultivators the previous day? They kept on doing it for the whole night as well. As a result, many cultivators fled, while others sought refuge in the forest. Furthermore, groups of elders ventured into the forest to eliminate any remaining hidden threats." said the guard.
Really? It took just one day for the Bai clan elders to deal with enemy cultivators outside the village. Impressive, as expected from a clan with better coordination and Tai Qi: contemplated Yang Zhai. He was impressed by the Bai clan.
A clan has better coordination than a group formed by cultivators from different backgrounds. And venturing into the forest to hide was the biggest mistake they could make. The Bai clan was more familiar with this mountain forest than anyone else.
If it was me, I would have run away, no doubt: thought Yang Zhai.
"Thanks, brother!" Yang Zhai left after saying this.
I need to look for a rank 3 cultivator so that I can reach rank 3 over the stage by the time the inheritance opens. It won't be long with the events progressing this quickly. But, where do I absorb the cultivation?: Yang Zhai was reflecting.
"Brother Yang!"
While Yang Zhai was walking and thinking, he heard a voice from behind. He turned and saw Qian Fa, his senior —not from his academy but from the Bai academy though.
"Senior brother Qian, nice to see you again. How are you doing?" Yang Zhai greeted Qian Fa¹ respectfully and contemplated: Isn't Qian Fa also a rank 3 peak stage cultivator?
"I am fine. I heard that you won your battle against Jun Haru with overwhelming victory. You didn't even give him the chance, and you also got a Kroy City emblem from the Ma clan. I am truly impressed by your performance!"
"No, brother, it was all just a fluke. The Ma clan just gave it to me because they were feeling desperate. And of course, if Jun Haru had been using any ire to defend, I might have lost, after all, I am just a rank 2 peak stage cultivator." he said humbly.
"Hmm," when Qian Fa heard Yang Zhai, his expression turned serious and he looked confused.
"Rank 2 peak stage? But I heard that you are a rank 2 mid-stage cultivator. How did you reach the peak stage so quickly? I also heard that you were just a mid-stage cultivator when you fought the final round."
"About that… When I was hiding from the enemy cultivators of the Ma clan during the competition, I accidentally entered a cave. I don't know what was wrong with that cave, but something about that cave weakened my essence water's aura by two ranks compared to others. So, despite being at the peak stage, I now appear to be at rank 2 mid-stage," Yang Zhai explained with an awkward smile.
…..
1 A senior who accompanied the group that traveled to the Ma clan (98)