The Xia Clan
"Bai'er, do you have anything else in your memories? It'd be better to say them now than later. We were lucky with Huo Chen, as his assailants weren't too strong. However, if someone else we know is being attacked, I want to be reactive rather than proactive." Li Rou asked as they flew back toward the estate.
Li Rou was fine with Xue Bai not telling her everything, as it was the boy's secret, not her own. But with Huo Chen barely surviving his assassination attempt, she was starting to get a bit concerned.
If they were even just an hour late, Huo Chen most likely would've fallen.
So while she was fine with being in the dark, she wanted Xue Bai to be a bit more responsible with his powers. If not, then what was the point of having the memories? As a decoration?
Thankfully, Xue Bai shook his head in response.
"The reason why I forgot about Huo Chen's attack was that it happened at a random date away from anything else. The next thing of importance doesn't happen for another year and a half." Xue Bai answered honestly.
Of all the events that occurred before the plot began, only Huo Chen's assassination was truly worth stopping. The rest were minuscule events that didn't have many long-lasting effects.
Xue Bai had no reason to stop those, as those were good motivations for Huo Long and the other Child of the Plane.
Li Rou was slightly unconvinced for a moment, but after staring Xue Bai down for a few seconds and seeing his unfaltering look at her, she stopped.
"Fine. Keep your secrets."
After Li Rou's childish remark, the rest of the flight was spent quietly as the mother-son duo enjoyed the scenery flying back home.
—
As Xue Bai flew away with his mother, Li Huo and Xue Feng looked at the four chained-up men coldly.
These four pieces of garbage nearly made them lose a valuable subordinate and comrade. Even if they killed them now, it would be hard for Li Huo and Xue Feng to extinguish the hatred in their hearts.
But since Li Rou, the true head of the Duke of Snow household, had spoken her edict, the two could only comply obediently.
Wanting to transport the men easily, Xue Feng waved his hand, and to his gesture, the 16 fire chains that bound the men to the ground slowly started to freeze up from the bottom.
Li Rou had already retracted her domain, and the only thing that left the chains existing was the small bit of will Li Rou had left in them. However, that tiny bit of will was far from enough to stop Xue Feng, someone of equal strength, from messing with her creations.
Eventually, all the fire chains fully froze, turning into icicles themselves.
But before anyone could admire their beauty, Xue Feng waved his hand once more while also forming a few hand seals. In a half-second and almost ten hand seals later, the 16 chains shattered, turning into countless small chunks of ice that flew off in every direction indiscriminately.
Yet before the small chunks of ice flew away too far, like metals attracted to a magnet, they all rejoined together, forming four large collars and chains that latched onto the necks of the assassins.
The ends of the four chains also fell directly into the hands of Xue Feng.
What he had done was a magical art he had learned a few decades ago. Basically, it could turn anything he wished into chains of binding that, when latched onto someone, could not only seal their cultivation but also make them unable to disobey his orders.
Giving the chains a tug, Xue Feng spoke to the four Xia Clan members.
"We're moving. Don't dawdle and waste my time." Xue Feng angrily snorted. He had angered his wife twice in one day. He was going to have to sleep on the couch for at least four days now, and without a proper outlet to unleash his anger, he was going to take it out on these idiots.
Unable to resist, the four Xia Clan assassins all stood up obediently and stood in a uniform line, waiting for Xue Feng's next move.
Content with the spell's effects, Xue Feng gestured at the nearby Li Huo and flew off in a different direction of the estate, toward the dukedom's prison, dragging the Xia Clan members in the air.
Their cultivation bases were sealed, so all they could do was get pulled around like ragdolls a few hundred meters in the air.
Built in a different direction than their estate, the prison of their territory was built on the side of an extremely large and steep mountain south of Snowy Wind City.
Thankfully, it wasn't as far from the city as the estate was, and after a few minutes of flying, the 2 Domain Lords and 4 Xia Clan members arrived.
Landing on the prison walls, Xue Feng called over a random guard.
"Yes, Lord Duke!" The guard asked respectfully.
Handing over the chains, Xue Feng quickly gave out a few orders.
"Take these men to the Negotiations Chamber. I'll be back soon. Just make sure no one enters their room before I come back."
Obviously, the "Negotiations Chamber" was just another name for a torture chamber. Just calling it a torture chamber out in the open felt a tad bit distasteful, so Xue Feng gave it a glamorous name that wasn't that far from the truth.
This is a prison. Why the hell would there be any negotiations? This is a cultivation world, not Earth. Even if we did catch the wrong guy, we could just flip the script, and it would be the right one.
Following a salute, the guard took the four Xia Clan members from Xue Feng and left to complete the order.
Xue Feng didn't immediately go in and instead turned to Li Huo, a slight smile appearing on his face.
"Do you want to come with me to the Xia Clan?" Xue Feng asked his sworn brother.
Li Huo and Xue Feng both joined the Great Xuan Empire's military with little to their names. Because of that, the two were forced to be good "businessmen" in order to make sure they had enough money to supply their cultivation.
And because of that, over the years, the two of them developed their negotiation tactics to an almost perfect level. With four Xia Clan members locked up in their prison, Old Man Xia was practically a fish on the chopping block.
They could rob him blind, and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. While the Xia Clan was subordinate to the Wang Clan, they wouldn't dare say anything about this situation to anyone. After all, if this news got leaked, let alone to Xue Feng and Li Huo, perhaps Old Man Xia would have to respond to the Emperor.
Knowing this, Li Huo also grew the same smile.
"How could I not?" Li Huo laughed.
"I haven't seen Old Man Xia for almost 20 years. It's about time I showed my face again and said hello!" Li Huo spoke as if he truly cared about the old man.
Giving each other another look, the duo let out a hearty laugh and flew off. This time away from the dukedom and Snowy Wind City.
Their destination? The Wang Clan's main city, Yuan City. The purpose? To extort a Marquis!
—
Yuan City was like Snowy Wind City, except instead of being the center of Xue Feng's dukedom, it was the center of the Wang Clan's.
However, again, unlike Xue Feng's Snowy Wind City, Yuan City was nearly a wasteland. Since being corrupted by the Blood Saber Sect, the Wang Clan has adopted a very demonic and dangerous lifestyle.
Anyone beneath them was viewed as an ant waiting to be trampled on. Whether it was beggars, commoners, or even lower-ranked nobles, they viewed everyone beneath them as ants. In fact, even people above them were just viewed as slightly bigger ants.
Having a backer from the Central Continent inflated their egos far beyond reasonability. And even people like Duan Zhen and Xue Feng were just seen as stepping stones to further glory.
Wang Mo demonstrated that mentality clearly right before his death.
Because of their twisted mentality, the subordinates under them who hadn't undergone the same change suffered. This meant their dukedoms, Yuan City included, became hellish places where laws and morality didn't exist.
As long as you were strong enough and didn't offend the Wang Clan, you could do anything you wished.
Rape, murder, thievery, and all sorts of sins were committed regularly, and Yuan City quickly fell from a city ranked in the top three to a place where crimes were guaranteed.
Xue Feng and Li Huo knew this all, as well as the fact that the Wang Clan were demons in human clothing, so they didn't care much.
Nonchalantly flying over the city walls, the two swatted away any guard who attempted to stop them and quickly made their way to the Xia Clan's estate.
Like how Li Huo managed Snowy Wind City and therefore lived inside of it as the city lord, the Xia Clan had the same role. This meant that their home was very easy to locate, as it was simply in the middle of Yuan City.
But it also meant that Xue Feng and Li Huo would attract a large amount of attention from everything below.
"Isn't that the Duke of Snow and the Gale Sword Marquis? Why have they come to Yuan City?"
"Who knows? Maybe they have business with the City Lord? It's above me to worry."
"The Duke of Snow and the Gale Sword Marquis are peak powers in our Empire that rarely leave their territories but have come to this hellhole. Aren't you a bit curious, or have you been lobotomized?"
Snappy words were exchanged between two random citizens, and eventually a brawl ensued, but Li Huo and Xue Feng neither knew nor cared about such minor squabbles. The wretched look in their eyes showed their purpose very well.
They were here to do something deplorable, and the fight between two random citizens wasn't enough to stop them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every little thing helps - https://ko-fi.com/slarbi123.
There is now a discord for this novel. However, be warned. It is rather bare bones. I suck at Discord. The link is in the synopsis.
Also, if you like this novel, you can check out my others!