The two guards exchanged glances and stepped forward at the same time, blocking the young man behind them. They were indeed loyal to the family, so much so that they would fight to the death despite knowing they weren’t a match for the enemy.

Their strength far exceeded other guards, but just like the old man, they simply had no power to retaliate against Qianye. With the rumble of the ocean tides, an indefensible pressure bore down once more. The two men only had enough time to scream before their bones were crushed, and they fell dead.

The young n.o.ble finally collapsed.

Qianye crouched down in front of him and pressed a vampiric blade to his face. “Why would a Tian family scion appear in such a place?”

The young man didn’t dare to hide things. “I got wind that Dark Flame has been defeated, all that’s left is an empty husk… that robbing the caravan would be profitable and easy. I-I wanted to play it big, letting the uncles in the family know that I’m the best choice for the future clan lord. Those who wanted to raise my eldest brother to the position, I wanted to prove them futile.”

“Then… who gave you this information.”

“The news was delivered by a person called Old Cat. He operates in the taverns along the way, and his information has always been accurate. This d.a.m.ned Old Cat took five hundred gold coins from me, I won’t let him go once I return.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” Qianye said calmly.

On the verge of death, the young man erupted with unimaginable power. He grabbed Qianye’s wrist and cried, “Don’t kill me! I can work for you, I’ll listen to everything you say. Help me become clan lord and my entire Tian clan will be ours, no, no, all yours!”

“The Tian Family is too small for me.” Qianye shattered all resistance with a slight exertion and thrust the vampiric blade into the young man’s chest.

Qianye withdrew his blade swiftly. Probably due to the tension before his death and because the battle had ended so quickly, the young man didn’t fall down. His kneeling figure thus became part of the scenery of the wilderness.

Qianye stood up and ran back onto the leading car. “Let’s move.”

The manager asked cautiously, “Sire, was it a difficult opponent?”

Qianye replied indifferently, “A bit, apparently a young master of the Tian family. I’ve killed him.”

“Tian family young master? The one called Tian Pengju?”

“I think so, I don’t remember well.”

The manager looked like he was about to cry. “Did you burn the corpses?”

“I can’t be bothered.”

The manager stammered. “T-This… what should we do? The Tian family is fairly strong in Seagaze. We’ll be in trouble.”

Qianye finally shot him a glance. “What, you afraid?”

The manager s.h.i.+vered, saying, “Of course not! What’s there to fear with you around?”

Qianye replied, “It’s fine then, you don’t need to follow the caravan next time if you’re afraid.”

The manager was bowing and sc.r.a.ping at this point. “No, no, I’m not afraid!”

Qianye closed his eyes and gestured for the caravan to move forward. The manager returned to his seat, muttering to himself as he calmed down, “Who are you to decide whether I, Qiao Liang, follows the caravan or not? Who do you think you are to control our company’s matters?”

What he didn’t know was that Qianye’s ears moved ever so slightly despite his closed eyes. He had heard everything.

The mercenaries and hunters on the battlefield seemed to have smelled the danger after the Tian family’s hunting party was wiped out. All of them disappeared, allowing the caravan to arrive smoothly at Seagaze.

The merchant caravan hadn’t even entered the city when Xue Wu was seen waiting at the gates. He bowed upon seeing Qianye, saying, “The Xue family has been waiting for your arrival.” Then he jumped up onto the car. “It’s my fortune to meet you again.”

Qianye nodded. “Let’s speak after going in.”

With Xue Wu’s appearance, the caravan naturally encountered no problems along the way. “Sire, all the family elders are waiting. Do you want to rest before heading over?”

“No need to rest, let’s go now.”

Xue Wu ordered the leading car to turn toward the city center, while the remaining vehicles headed toward their designated inns. Moments later, the leading car parked in front of a uniquely decorated old tea house, and Xue Wu led Qianye up to an elegant room on the top floor.

In the room, there were half a dozen old men wearing very different expressions. Some were excited, some were doubtful, and the others were vaguely hostile.

Qianye scanned the surroundings. “Are all the families in the city here? Some seem to be missing.”

Xue Wu whispered, “Some families are occupied with emergency business, I hope you’ll forgive them.”

Qianye said indifferently, “What business can be more important than the survival of their clan? Well, it’s fine if they want to seal their own fate.”

An old red-faced man was furious. He banged the table, roaring, “Sire Qianye, your words are highly inappropriate!”

“Oh? How so?”

“These families have lived in Seagaze for hundreds of years, and we’ve seen all kinds of winds and waves. I wish to know how our survival is at stake?”

Without offering a response, Qianye sat down under the old man’s fiery gaze. He spoke only after taking his seat, “These families have all survived until now?”

“Of course!”

“Did one family not disappear after our last fight in the city?”

The old man was livid, so much so that his countenance eventually turned purple. The entire hall was deathly silent, drowned in inexplicable awkwardness.

Qianye had crippled numerous small va.s.sal families back then. They only had empty names left at the moment and would eventually disappear over time. Their family names were only retained because it took time to incorporate their remaining businesses and divide the profits. Hence, it would be wrong to say that Qianye hadn’t destroyed a single-family. The destroyed clans might be small, but their history wasn’t short. They definitely couldn’t be left out from the history of Seagaze City.

Apart from the red-faced old man, all the other people looked quite awkward. Some looked up at the sky, pretending as though the conversation was unrelated to them, while others gazed intently at the teacup in front of them. Even Xue Wu didn’t know how to smooth things out.

In the end, it was the Xue family elder who came out to play the peacemaker. “That battle was a misunderstanding, and we’ve also paid the price for it. Past matters should serve as a lesson for the future. Since Sire Qianye has come to negotiate a cooperation, we naturally should do our best to see what we can do. In these troubled times, the united will win and the divided will lose.”

Feeling relaxed, everyone chimed in with the old man’s words. Even the red-faced elder no longer wore a fierce expression.

Apart from that time when the newly ascended Wolf King suppressed Seagaze in one battle, the damage Qianye had dealt to the families was the greatest throughout the years. In terms of losses, the Xue family’s losses were the greatest. Before this matter, they were the strongest, and everything they said would count. Today, however, they had to discuss things with everyone. Although their position as leader hadn’t changed, they were a far cry from before the battle.

Xue Wu sighed in relief as the other families followed the Xue family’s lead. As he saw it, this cooperation was basically sealed.

However, Qianye said, “It’s true that cooperation will make us stronger, but division isn’t a loss for everyone. Elder Xue thinks too highly of the families of Seagaze.”

The elder was startled and then became furious. Yet, he had no way to vent because he knew that Dark Flame wasn’t an ent.i.ty the Xue family alone could contend against. That red-faced elder lost control again and started spouting words of mockery, “Sire Qianye, perhaps you’re overestimating Dark Flame too much.”

Qianye replied indifferently, “I alone can stop the trade caravans of Tidehark from leaving the city. It’s true that their city lord, Luo Bingfeng, can’t leave the city, but there seems to be no such character in Seagaze, is there?”

The red-faced man broke into a laugh. “Are you trying to say you can stop us from leaving the city?”

“What’s so hard about that?”

The red-faced elder was stoppered up. He shot to his feet but didn’t know how to dispute this claim. With Qianye’s concealment and sniping abilities, anyone being targeted by him was fated to die. Who would dare to leave the city under such circ.u.mstances? The major characters of these big families loved their lives after all.

On the other hand, Seagaze was open on all sides, while Qianye would only be able to seal two directions at most. The other two sides would remain wide open, so it was a bit exaggerated to claim that he could seal the city. But how was one to bring that up? Should they say that they would take the north gate if Qianye had sealed the south gate? These people weren’t actually that shameless.

Just as the situation was in a deadlock, the chamber doors were kicked flying and in came a tall, old man. “Where’s Qianye? Return my grandson’s life!”

Qianye glanced back at the old man with a cold gaze. Xue Wu stood up hurriedly and stopped the incoming elder. “Uncle Tian, why are you here? Qianye is not just our Xue family’s guest but also an esteemed guest of Seagaze City. If there’s some kind of misunderstanding, you should explain things calmly after everything’s over.”

Xue Wu’s message was very clear, but the elderly man was too angry to listen. “Misunderstanding? Someone saw him kill my grandson, how can this be a misunderstanding?”

Xue Wu broke into a frown, not expecting the situation to be so troublesome. For a while, he had no idea how to dissuade the man. Qianye stood up at this moment. “Do you mean a person called Tian Pengju?”

The old man glared furiously at him. “That’s my grandson. It’s good that you admit!”

Qianye sneered, “Why wouldn’t I? He led a group to ambush Dark Flame’s caravan, a crime unredeemable by death. It’s great that you have come knocking on the door since I have to settle this account with the Tian family.”

Elder Tian roared, “Pengju simply went hunting in the wilderness. How did he end up intercepting your caravan? Besides, even if he did stop you by mistake, it’s not a crime worthy of death. This is the rule of the Eastern Sea. Even if he did intercept you by mistake, our Tian family will just compensate you for it, you can’t harm my grandson’s life!”

Qianye replied slowly, “The rules of the Eastern Sea are not my rules. My rules are that anyone who dares to attack Dark Flame will be uprooted completely and thoroughly. If anyone doesn’t want to play by my rules, we shall meet on the battlefield.”