"Thank you, Elder Guang, for stepping in to help." Xiao Yan nodded gently. "I, Xiao Yan, will remember this favor."
"Heh heh, as per Your Highness the Emperor's orders, I merely follow through. How could I expect any favor in return?" The Punishment Sage Guang said, though his usually aloof old face smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum.
Someone like him, sitting high above the clouds, didn't really care about the lives of a few commoners. The longer people lived, the colder their hearts often grew.
But if he could earn a favor from Xiao Yan because of these few commoners, that would be a big gain indeed.
"Elder Guang, since the evidence is now conclusive, you should have the authority to enforce the law, right?" Xiao Yan asked.
"Of course, no problem. Your Highness, we can head to the Xiao Lu branch now to carry out the law." The Punishment Sage Guang smiled slightly and made a beckoning gesture to Xiao Yan.
"Then I'll trouble Elder Guang to act once more." A cold smirk appeared on Xiao Yan's face. His Dou Qi wings fluttered, and he flew straight towards the Xiao Lu branch's mountain peak.
The Xiao Lu branch was adjacent to the Xiao Lin branch, separated only by a White Jade Mountain, but their clan lands were relatively far apart.
Fortunately, everyone in the group was powerful. After about ten minutes, Xiao Yan arrived at the family mountain peak of the Xiao Lu branch.
"Xiao Jiande! Get out here now!!" Xiao Yan roared, spreading his Dou Qi energy that echoed across the entire mountain peak.
"What's going on?" Many members of the Xiao Lu branch looked up.
Although Xiao Jiande had a bad reputation within their branch, he was still the grandson of a family elder and held a relatively high status.
"That voice... it's that damn Xiao Yan!" Inside a room, hearing the voice, Xiao Jiande was stunned at first, then a hint of joy appeared on his face.
"I didn't expect that brat to be so impatient, coming straight to bang on the door." Thinking this, he flew out.
To be publicly ordered to get out in front of their branch was no simple personal grudge — this was a slap to the entire Xiao Lu branch.
That one shout alone offended everyone in the Xiao Lu branch.
"Xiao Yan! What are you doing here?" Looking up at Xiao Yan's extremely dark expression in the sky, Xiao Jiande felt even happier inside.
"The incident in Qiling Village — was it you who sent people to do it?" Xiao Yan looked calmly at Xiao Jiande, making him inexplicably uneasy, but he quickly regained his composure.
"Qiling Village? You mean that village of those two useless brothers?" Xiao Jiande pretended to be dumb, but a provocative smile appeared on his face.
"Heh heh." Seeing that provocative smile, Xiao Yan sneered and pulled out a Memory Stone, infusing it with Dou Qi.
The footage clearly displayed the persecution of Qiling Village right before Xiao Jiande's eyes.
"You should recognize these two people in the footage, right?" Xiao Yan pointed at the two Dou Huang warriors with dark attribute Dou Qi.
At this moment, many clan members had flown up to watch the spectacle.
Seeing everything happening in the footage, Xiao Jiande's face changed drastically, but then he showed a mocking smile again.
"Both of them have their faces covered, how would I know them? Young Master Xiao Yan, though we don't get along, you don't need to use such tactics to falsely accuse and threaten me."
"Frame you?" Xiao Yan glanced at Xiao Jiande. No, I think I'll just arrest you and send you to the Execution Hall for a proper interrogation to prove whether I'm framing you or not.
With that, his figure flashed like a ghost, appearing right in front of Xiao Jiande.
"Y-you dare to act in my clan's territory!" Xiao Jiande's face changed drastically. He flapped his Dou Qi wings, ready to flee.
At that moment, a ghostly hand appeared beside Xiao Jiande and collided with Xiao Yan's hand.
"Bang!" Two powerful forces clashed. Xiao Yan was knocked back more than ten steps, while the other figure staggered back more than twenty steps, looking at Xiao Yan with shock.
A Dou Huang, clashing with him, a Three-Star Dou Zong, and Xiao Yan even had a slight upper hand.
"Xiao Yan, although you are the unparalleled genius from the Xiao Lin branch, to come to our Xiao Lu branch and make a scene with our secret trump cards is way too arrogant, isn't it?"
The young man coldly snorted—probably one of Xiao Jiande's clan brothers.
"None of your business, get lost!" Xiao Yan said coldly.
"How arrogant!" The young man was about to explode at Xiao Yan's attitude when an old voice suddenly rang out beside everyone:
"Stop."
A man in a purple robe appeared at the front of the crowd, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Grandfather!" Xiao Jiande's eyes lit up, looking at Xiao Yan with even more provocation.
"Grandfather, this brat comes to our branch to cause trouble over some personal grudge. Does he want to fight me? To slap your face?"
"Useless fool, always stirring up trouble." The purple-robed old man glared at Xiao Jiande, then turned to look at Xiao Yan.
"Young one, no matter what my grandson has done to offend you, coming to our branch's clan land to cause trouble is a slap in the face.
Today, if you don't leave with some explanation, even if your grandfather is a Dou Saint, you will still get a lesson!"
"Explanation?" Xiao Yan sneered, throwing the Memory Stone again to project the footage.
"Old man, your good grandson sure is something. When he can't get revenge on me, he goes after a bunch of powerless commoners.
Today, I'm here to cause trouble — I want to cripple this bastard right in front of your entire Xiao Lu branch!"
"How dare you!" The many young members of the Xiao Lu branch were furious, and the purple-robed elder's expression darkened.
"Ill-mannered junior, no matter who you are or what your talent is, today I will teach you how to respect your elders."
As soon as he finished, his figure suddenly appeared in front of Xiao Yan. His thin, eagle-claw-like hand reached out to grab Xiao Yan.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan showed no panic; instead, there was a hint of mockery deep in his eyes.
The next moment, a glowing hand suddenly emerged from Xiao Yan's side.
The two palms gently touched. The purple-robed elder's face instantly flushed red, and he retreated at least a hundred yards before coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood.
"Since when did a mere Dou Zun dare to disrespect the Emperor's son of our clan?"
A cold voice rang out across the sky. The Punishment Sage Guang, dressed in black, stepped out from a spatial gap beside Xiao Yan, calmly staring at the mountain below:
"Xiao Lu, the Emperor's son has arrived. Are you not coming out to greet him?"
"Emperor's son? Xiao Yan?" Most young people of the Xiao Lu branch were stunned, even Xiao Jiande's expression changed.
Only his grandfather, the purple-robed elder, showed a drastic change in expression.
With the Punishment Sage Guang's voice spreading, an old man swiftly flew out from the mountain peak below.
"Xiao Lu, greetings to Your Highness the Emperor's Son." Looking at Xiao Yan's young and intimidating face, the old man's voice was complex but respectful.
"Your Highness the Emperor's Son." As these words were spoken by their branch leader, the Xiao Lu clan members all looked shocked.
In recent days, there had been rumors that the clan founder had appointed a new Emperor's son, but no one expected it to be a young Dou Huang.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jiande's face turned pale.
"Xiao Lu branch leader, I intend to deal with some scoundrels in the clan. Do you have any objections?" Xiao Yan smiled as he looked at Xiao Lu.
"Your Highness the Emperor's Son personally dealing with scoundrels in the clan? Naturally, I have no objections." Xiao Lu's face twitched slightly but dared not say more.
Since Xiao Yan was still a Dou Huang, but if it had been the other two Emperor's sons coming to make demands, he probably would have been forced to kneel by now.
After all, those two had long since reached Nine-Star Dou Saint, the pinnacle of the Xiao clan and the Dou Qi continent.
"If that's the case, Elder Guang, then please carry out the execution." Xiao Yan smiled slightly, but in Xiao Jiande's eyes, he looked like a demon.
(End of Chapter)