Kun Sang had not imagined Liu Moyan would be deranged enough to trade the lives of his entire clan for a small rise in his cultivation. That was no minor matter.
The Wei, Feng, Sun, and Liu were the four great clans of Kunyu City. Since the Wei clan moved to Haoran City, the Feng clan had faintly risen to first, the Sun clan had crept upward as well, and only the Liu clan remained at the bottom.
But bottom among those three did not mean weak. Compared with Kunyu City's minor clans, the Liu still had real strength, with at least a Jīndān Zhēnrén in residence.
Now it seemed Liu Moyan had swallowed the evil cultivators' bait, using his entire clan to buy a little advancement. Perhaps his next step would have been to aim at the Feng clan, repeat the trick, and push himself into Nascent Soul. If that happened, Kun Sang's seat as city lord might truly be lost.
Kun Sang was no fool. When Yunxi had come to the City Lord's Manor to coordinate, he knew the Liu clan must have a problem. He had not expected Liu Moyan's audacity to go so far, plotting against Wei Yunxi and even him, the city lord.
Fortunately, Wei Yunxi had only sent an clone in with him, while her true body remained outside. She captured Liu Moyan at once and still made it back in time to save him. Truth be told, when he was trapped in that formation, he had regretted entering the Liu clan alongside her clone.
He had thought the Liu were sheltering evil cultivators. He had not expected the Liu estate to be another massive snare. Clearly the evil cultivators' layout in Kunyu City had been long in the making, while he, the city lord, knew nothing. Had Wei Yunxi not exposed it, he might not even have known when he lost his seat.
After calming the surge of spiritual power in his body, Kun Sang cupped his hands solemnly."Many thanks to Wei Zhēnjūn for exposing the evil cultivators' scheme and seizing the traitor within Kunyu City. Otherwise, the city would be in dire peril."
Yunxi smiled slightly and returned the salute. "City Lord Kun is too polite. The Wei clan is part of Kunyu City. This is what I ought to do. It was also thanks to your trust and full support. Without that, how could the evil cultivators and their pawns have shown their tails so quickly?"
Kun Sang felt a bit better at that. He straightened his face. "Wei Zhēnjūn, the city-protection grand array will remain closed for now. Let us interrogate Liu Moyan and see whether the evil cultivators left any other backhands."
"Agreed."
That was precisely what Yunxi intended to do next.
The two vanished from the sky above the Liu estate and returned to the City Lord's Manor.
Only after the two powerhouses disappeared did those hiding in the shadows dare to peek out.
"Did you see that just now?"
"Of course I saw it. Only a blind man would miss it. Wei Zhēnjūn's strike stirred heavenly thunder and shattered the Liu clan's grand array."
"Tsk. What did the Liu clan do to bring even the city lord out?"
"Nothing good, obviously. If it were, would the city lord have stood by while Wei Zhēnjūn smashed their array?"
"Are your eyes bad? I clearly saw the city lord flying out of the Liu estate. Wasn't it Wei Zhēnjūn breaking the array to save him?"
"I think I saw a streak of light too…"
"Eh? With such a commotion, why has no one from the Liu clan come out to check?"
Someone voiced doubt at once.
"Exactly. Did the city lord…"
The speaker made a throat-slitting gesture.
"You think the city lord is a butcher? If he meant to kill, one move would have leveled the Liu estate. Why leave the grounds here for us to gawk at?"
"Wang Daoyou speaks sense."
A loud voice called out, "Look, the City Lord's guards."
In the next instant, the cultivators itching to slip into the Liu grounds to scavenge scattered like birds and beasts, afraid of being hauled off by the guards.
At a gesture from their captain, the guards surrounded the entire Liu estate.
Then a guard tossed a scroll into the air. With spiritual power coursing through it, the scroll swelled and unfurled, its contents displayed for all to see.
The scroll listed the reason Kunyu City had been sealed, followed by the names of evil cultivators killed or captured, and even those entangled with them. At the end came the charge that Liu Moyan had defected to the evil cultivators and used an evil formation to raise his cultivation to late Golden Core with the lives of his entire clan.
It also stated that Liu Moyan had tried to use the formation to trap and kill Wei Zhēnjūn and the city lord, but the two discovered the flaw and broke the game together, leading to today's clash. Until the evil cultivators and their pawns were purged, the city-protection grand array would remain closed. All cultivators were asked to cooperate and give the enemy no chance.
Finally, it noted that any sighting of evil cultivators or their pawns could be reported secretly to the City Lord's Manor. Verified information would be generously rewarded.
After reading the notice, Kunyu City exploded. None had thought their out-of-the-way city hid so many evil cultivators. When those people died before their eyes earlier, they had assumed it was a handful of cases. Never had they imagined that a great clan like the Liu would be wiped out. Just thinking of it made their scalps crawl. They might be the next targets.
The guard captain did not care about the crowd's reaction. The city lord had said there was no need to conceal anything. His job was to explain the day's upheaval clearly. Next came searching the Liu grounds for any critical clues left behind.
Yunxi and Kun Sang, meanwhile, flashed into a side hall warded with formations. Only then did Yunxi wave her sleeve and toss out Liu Moyan, still frozen like an icicle.
Seeing the half-dead Liu Moyan, Kun Sang's eyes flared. That feeling of spiritual power and Shengji draining away inside the formation had been terrifying. Even as a Yuányīng Zhēnjūn, he would not try it a second time. At this moment he wanted to slice Liu Moyan to pieces.
Yunxi flicked her sleeve, dispelling the ice. She then gestured for Kun Sang to conduct the interrogation. She had seized the man, but he was of a local clan, so he belonged under Kun Sang's authority. She would not overstep.
The moment Liu Moyan's eyes opened, he saw Kun Sang's frosty face and Wei Yunxi's calm one. His lips trembled. He knew he would not leave alive.
Kun Sang's voice was cold. "Speak. What benefits did the evil cultivators promise that you could cast aside your entire clan?"
Liu Moyan slumped into defiance. "Advancement is the greatest benefit. A clan only drags you down. No matter how much I did, someone would complain. Better to let them lend me a hand. Once I was strong, the Liu clan would naturally endure."
"Hah. Once you were strong? You think that day would come?"
Kun Sang asked with open scorn.
Liu Moyan lifted his head and fixed a death stare on Yunxi at the head. "If not for her sudden return, our plan would have succeeded. Too bad you saw through our layout around the Wei manor.
No matter. Those Wei clansmen will die for you all the same. Hahahahaha."
His manic laughter rang through the side hall. Kun Sang slapped him through the air from a distance. Blood spattered, and silence returned.
At Liu Moyan's words, a bad feeling surged up in Yunxi. She summoned Dian Dian.
Dian Dian opened his mouth and spat out the portable medicine garden. In the next heartbeat, Yunxi crushed the jade cup in her hand.