[The Zhang's Estate]
The Zhang estate stood amidst jagged cliffs and rolling hills, its towering red pagodas cloaked in an oppressive aura of fiery Qi. Inside the grand hall, the tension was suffocating.
Zhang Qin, Zhang Rui, and Zhang Mei knelt before a raised platform where the Patriarch of the Zhang family, Zhang Tianlong, loomed in his seat.
His presence was overwhelming, a Martial Supreme whose fiery Qi seemed to ignite the very air around him.
The Patriarch's face, stern and carved with deep lines of authority, betrayed no emotion as he regarded the three elders kneeling before him. His crimson robes billowed slightly, though there was no breeze.
"You mean to tell me," Zhang Tianlong said, his voice calm yet simmering with barely restrained fury, "that you led an attack on the Vossmers without my permission?"
Zhang Qin, his body trembling from both shame and lingering exhaustion, lowered his head further.
