Chapter 253: Killing the Thieves

As the white-robed man swooped down toward the ground, he saw Xiao Nanfeng. His eyes narrowed. He figured out what was going on instantly.

"You didn't die in the draconic palace?" the white-robed man asked.

He shot a flying sword at Xiao Nanfeng, decisively giving up on saving his father, the Chief Steward, and turning to Xiao Nanfeng instead. He intended to take down Xiao Nanfeng quickly while the latter was unprepared.

"Like father, like son. Do you think you can do much to me when you've just reached Spiritsong? You're far too confident in yourself," Xiao Nanfeng called out, chuckling.

Xiao Nanfeng stood still as Ye Dafu shot forward and shattered the sword with a fist.

"What? You're not an Ascension-realm cultivator?!" the white-robed man cried out.

He slashed at Ye Dafu with his sword, but Ye Dafu leapt forward and punched it aside. The fist struck his chest, sending the white-robed man flying back as he sprayed out a mouthful of blood.

He wasn't able to counter Ye Dafu's attacks at all! He was so scared that he ran off immediately.

"You won't be able to escape!" Ye Dafu shouted, chasing him into the air.

The two cultivators tussled in the air. The white-robed man crumpled under Ye Dafu's vigorous assault. He fell to the ground in a heap, right by the Chief Steward's side.

"Impossible!" The white-robed man spat out a mouthful of blood as he attempted to flee again, but Ye Dafu dropped down from the skies and smashed a knee into his chest. The white-robed man's chest caved in, and the yard itself cracked from the tremendous impact. The white-robed man lost all his strength.

"Impossible. How could he be a Spiritsong-realm cultivator? Could Xiao Nanfeng have become a Spiritsong-realm cultivator as well?!" the Chief Steward shouted in fear.

"Father, your information is a year out of date. I just learned that he had reached Spiritsong while in the Eastern Sea draconic palace. I thought that he had died there, but to think he would still be alive...!" the white-robed man cried out weakly.

"Impossible. He didn't receive a single portion of the resources that Xiao Hongye left behind. How could he have reached Spiritsong so quickly?!" the Chief Steward exclaimed.

Xiao Nanfeng looked toward the white-robed man. "You haven't changed from before, have you? Cruel, traitorous bastards. If you had succeeded in sneaking up on me and killing me, you would have been able to supplant me with a fake heir. Unfortunately, you're far too weak to succeed!"

"Xiao Nanfeng, how dare you return! What are you here to do?!" the white-robed man cried out, shame flitting across his expression.

"To take back all that belongs to me, and to kill you bastards. When my parents went missing, weren't you the one who led a group of fighters into my manor and killed all my maids so I wouldn't be able to escape? I'll start with you, then. Perhaps your death will lay them to rest," Xiao Nanfeng said.

Ye Dafu brandished his longsword and prepared to behead the white-robed man.

"No! You can't kill me!" the white-robed man shouted.

"Hold it!" a voice came from afar.

A flying sword zipped forward in a beam of light straight at Ye Dafu.

Ye Dafu dodged to the side and retaliated with a slash, sending a huge wave of energy into the air and knocking the flying sword aside. A gray-robed man caught it in his hand.

"Save me, Senior Brother!" the white-robed man cried out.

Three gray-robed men had suddenly appeared in the air. Killing intent emanated from them.

"Let go of my junior brother!"

"Is that Xiao Nanfeng? Didn't he die in the draconic palace?"

The three cultivators glanced at the courtyard, gobsmacked.

"Aren't you three elders from the Taiqing Demonic Sect? Do you intend to meddle in my clan's affairs?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

"Xiao Nanfeng, let go of my junior brother. He's an elder of the Taiqing Demonic Sect, and the two Taiqing sects are bonded by alliance. You can't kill him. Let him go!" the gray-robed cultivator in the lead called out.

"On account of the fact that we're from sister sects, I'll pretend I didn't see that flying sword. I'm dealing with clan business. If you interfere, none of you will leave here today," Xiao Nanfeng replied.

"Insolence!" a gray-robed man replied.

"Ye Dafu, continue!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

"Understood!"

Ye Dafu slashed at the white-robed man.

"No!" the white-robed man howled.

"Hold it!" The three gray-robed cultivators shot into the courtyard, but three more figures showed up from outside the yard, holding the gray-robed cultivators back.

Ye Dafu beheaded the white-robed man in a fountain of blood.

"My son! Xiao Nanfeng, how could you? You've gone too far!" the Chief Steward yelled.

"Indeed? I can still hear my maids' cries in my head. They did nothing wrong but treat me well. Your son considered that enough of an offense to kill them all—and not just them, but their whole families as well. Are my actions any worse than his? I have merely sought revenge on behalf of the innocent," Xiao Nanfeng spat out.

"You—" The Chief Steward's face was a mask of fear.

In the air, the three gray-robed cultivators were likewise startled by Xiao Nanfeng's decisiveness.

"Xiao Nanfeng, you've killed an elder of the Taiqing Demonic Sect! Do you intend to break the alliance between the two sects?!" one of the gray-robed cultivators shouted.

"And you elders, do you intend to join Xiao Nanfeng in this madness? You're destroying the alliance by your actions!" another gray-robed cultivator accused.

One of the elders on Xiao Nanfeng's side laughed coldly. "I've never seen such shameless cultivators. The demonic sect must be in decay."

"Elders, if they continue to attack, don't hold back. I'll take responsibility for anything that happens here."

"Understood!" the elders replied.

The three gray-robed cultivators glanced at the courtyard. The situation didn't look good; they might not win in a direct attack.

"Very well, very well! Just you wait! Let's go!" one gray-robed elder shouted. The three of them turned to leave.

In the end, the elders working alongside Xiao Nanfeng honored the pact between the two sects and allowed them to leave freely.

"Tell your division leader that these are Xiao lands. Disrupting the lives of the citizenry without my permission will be treated in the same manner as banditry—the punishment is death!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted at the fleeing elders.

The three gray-robed elders whirled around and gave Xiao Nanfeng a malicious glare, clearly not taking his words to heart.

"Cultivators, please! You can't go! Save me!" the Chief Steward shouted.

The three gray-robed elders ignored the man. In an instant, they were nothing more than dots on the horizon.

Only then did Xiao Nanfeng turn back to the Chief Steward. "Well? Do you have any other helpers? If not, I'll be sending you on your way."

The Chief Steward felt all his hair stand on end. Death was about to embrace him.

"Please, Young Master, spare me. You can't blame me for this. It was the emperor's brother-in-law who reached out to me. Otherwise, no matter how bold I was, I would never dare to betray the Xiao clan. The emperor's brother-in-law is the division leader of the left division of the Taiqing Demonic Sect, and he revealed to me that Marquis Xiao was dead. If I were to listen to him, he would protect me from repercussions from the Taiqing Immortal Sect, and he would even take my son as disciple. He forced me to replace all the officials in the Xiao lands with his men. I was forced to do all this. Please spare me, Young Master!" the Chief Steward cried out.

"What he did, I'll hold him accountable—but even if you were forced into this, you were never ordered to kill the soldiers loyal to my father, nor their families. You split up Xiao lands and gifted it to other nobles in order to broker alliances, power, and wealth. Well done, Chief Steward. You've ruined these lands and its people. For those crimes alone, a thousand deaths wouldn't be able to restore justice to the world."

The Chief Steward's eyes clouded in despair. He could sense Xiao Nanfeng's killing intent. Was this it?

"Daughter, why haven't you appeared? Daughter!" the Chief Steward howled.

Xiao Nanfeng wasn't in a hurry to kill the Chief Steward. He was waiting for the Chief Steward to reveal all his trump cards. Killing the Chief Steward would be trivial, but rooting out all his hidden forces would have been far trickier otherwise.

Just then, a ball of burnished copper shot toward Xiao Nanfeng.

"Who dares?!" Ye Dafu shouted, rushing into its path and sending it flying back.

Simultaneously, four more Spiritsong-realm cultivators descended from the sky and toward the courtyard. "Kill!"

Three Taiqing elders met them in combat as Ye Dafu rushed toward the figure who had thrown the copper ball at Xiao Nanfeng.

The eight cultivators fought each other in a blaze of fire and fury. The entire city of Yongding was roused by the commotion. The fight lit up the sky.

By a rooftop not too far away appeared a hulking man holding on to a gorgeous woman.

"Xiao Nanfeng? You've killed my older and younger brothers? You're done for." The woman's eyes were like pearls infused with malice.

"Daughter, save me, save me!" the Chief Steward called out.

Xiao Nanfeng glanced at the woman with a sneer. "As for you, is this the newest cultivator besotted with you? How blind he is."

The hulking man smirked. "Is this the man who fled his impending marriage with you three years ago? What a pity. He must not have experienced how you are in bed, or he would never have been willing to run, haha!"

"Husband, he's killed my brothers and captured my father. won't you help me kill him and rescue my father?" the woman pouted.

"Of course, of course!" The hulking man laughed and turned to the Chief Steward. "Do you see that, old man? The Taiqing Demonic Sect doesn't care about your survival. We're the ones you can rely on."

"Save me, General Ma! I'll cooperate with all your demands. Just save me!" the Chief Steward cried out.

"You should have done so long ago. You've been trying to straddle both us and the Tianshu Empire, thinking to gain benefits from both sides, but that's a losing proposition. If not for how much fun your daughter has been, I'd have left you for dead long ago," the hulking man stated bluntly.

"Of course, of course, General Ma! If you save me, I'll help you establish an altar and excavate the draconic vein here!" the Chief Steward immediately promised.

Xiao Nanfeng laughed in anger. "This General Ma must be one of the leaders of the bandits in these lands. How devious you are, Chief Steward. Your son stands with the emperor's brother-in-law, while your daughter's in cahoots with one of the leaders of the rebels. No matter what, you'll be safe."

"Lad, do you really think that these lands belong to you? Nalan Qiankun's a bandit to begin with, and Xiao Hongye didn't obtain these lands through righteous means. We're only reclaiming what should have belonged to us. Are you going to give it up, or make me send you on your way?" the hulking man asked.

"Kill him, Husband! Don't let him live." The woman eyed Xiao Nanfeng maliciously.

"You really are a good match for him, aren't you? If nothing else, I suppose I could kill you both together," Xiao Nanfeng said.

Just then, a beam of golden light appeared by their heads. The hulking man looked up, his eyes widening. "Something's wrong!"

The beam of golden light manifested in the form of a heavenly blade that descended toward the couple. The hulking man, attempting to save himself, pushed the woman toward it.

"Ah!" the woman yelled.

She was split in two and killed on the spot. The house beneath them collapsed in a shower of rubble and dust. The hulking man barely avoided the blow.