Yuan City

The Wang Clan's dukedom was extremely different from Xue Feng's. In fact, the two were almost polar opposites.

Xue Feng's dukedom was constructed in layers, where status was laid down, meaning that the nobles had their own area, and commoners had their own.

This way, the many nobles living in the city and commoners wouldn't interact much.

And while this method would gain some anger from the commoners who were segregated from the nobles, it was for their own good as well.

Nobles in The Great Xuan Empire were extremely arrogant and always viewed the commoners below them as ants waiting to be stepped on.

So if they were forced to live in the same area as 'pathetic ants, ' the nobles would constantly use the commoners as objects to vent their anger and would kill them whenever they were annoyed. After all, there was no severe punishment for a noble that killed a commoner, unlike the reverse.

But, Xue Feng's segregation method would ensure that there wouldn't be much chaos from nobles killing commoners randomly and brutally.

Most other cities throughout The Great Xuan Empire followed the same structure, as it was a great way to ensure peace and lower the murder rate.

However, not a single city in the Wang Clan's dukedom had this, not even their core city that rivaled Snowy Wind City.

Nobles and commoners could live wherever they wanted as long as they had enough money to buy the land.

Such a method was a first, and toward the beginning, the commoners of the Wang Clan's dukedom were grateful.

Because of the Wang Clan's magnanimity, they could finally be on equal footing as the damn arrogant nobles that always suppressed them.

Yet very soon, they realized that they had been naive.

The staple method of separating the two groups was something to protect them, not suppress them.

Imagine if one had two pets, one an arrogant and noble adult male lion, the other a lion cub.

In order to make sure the lion cub lives long enough to reach their potential, you would separate the two giving them both their own environments to grow in.

If you let them live in the same environment, all it would take is one bad day where the adult lion is annoyed to have the cub's life end.

Sure, the cub could grow up and contest the adult lion, but until then, the cub was weak and needed a safer environment to grow in.

Still, if it were just this, the Wang Clan's dukedom wouldn't have such a bad reputation.

Nobles were arrogant and haughty, but that didn't mean they would leave home just to go out and kill commoners.

What made it worse was every noble living in the Wang Clan's dukedom either was completely corrupted or was corrupted to an extent.

They all shared the same views as the Wang Clan and the Blood Saber Sect; the weaker were meant to be trampled on by the strong and only deserved to be their food.

Meaning that the cities in the Wang Clan's dukedom weren't much different than lawless wastelands.

If a commoner were forced to leave home for any myriad of reasons, they would walk throughout the street with their heads down, fearing for their lives. Afraid that if they even looked at the shoes of a noble, their life would be forfeit.

The streets were always desolate and constantly filled with a morbid sense of dread. Every few meters would be a different blood stain, once belonging to a poor soul who angered a noble.

Remnant and unresigned wills were scattered across the roads. Like unreconciled ghosts, the spirits of the oppressed and tortured commoners haunted the streets even past deaths.

Which something in itself was beyond terrifying.

Most commoners were either mortals or still in the 5 physical realms, which meant that they not only could stay alive without their physical bodies, but they also couldn't even leave behind remnant wills.

So the fact that there were spirits around the cities meant that each spirit lying around wasn't one unreconciled ghost, but instead, the cluster of hundreds if not thousands of poor souls that all died of anger and unwillingness.

Yue Zifeng and the Core Elders all were experts with great senses, who the second they flew over the first city belonging to the Wang Clan dukedom, they noticed this.

"At first, I had some misgivings about exterminating an entire Duke Clan and their subordinates, but now they're all gone." Elder Song shook her head as she spoke, "These merciless bastards have been torturing these poor souls for, if not decades, then centuries. The world would be a better place without them."

"Indeed," Elder Long nodded as he agreed. However, instead of the pity and regret on Elder Song's face, his face carried a hinge of excitement as he couldn't keep his palm away from the hilt of his sword.

"Sect Leader, you said that Wang Yichen is at the peak of the Domain Lord, correct?" Elder Long asked.

Yue Zifeng nodded.

"How about you let me have him?" Elder Long asked, bloodthirsty as ever, "Me and my old baby haven't had a good fight since the last war 200 years ago. Why don't that Great Elder of theirs? He's the only person in their clan with a Xiantian Great Realm cultivation base like yours."

Looking at him oddly, Yue Zifeng only sighed and agreed.

He couldn't tell the man that the Great Elder only had a Spirit Awakening realm cultivation base, could he?

So instead of saying anything, Yue ZIfeng only shook his head and looked away, not bothering to continue the conversation.

"You old fogey, don't be like last time, though," Elder Song yelled out, "Wang Yichen is still in his prime, unlike you. If you are struggling, call for help."

"Hmph!" Elder Long snorted angrily as if an old wound of his had been touched, "The only reason I lost last time was that he had an Exalted One's Blood Essence to protect him! If not for that, he would've been the one to run away."

'An Exalted One?' Xue Bai, who was eavesdropping, was confused for a moment after hearing the unfamiliar term, but he soon recognized it, only to be shocked.

"Elder Long, an Exalted One, is a powerhouse in the Spirit Fusion realm! Who did you fight that was so high-profile to have an Exalted One's blood essence to protect him?" Xue Bai asked in shock.

Since the further one cultivated, the more powerful and noble one was, the cultivators in the later realms each had a title.

And Exalted One was the title of someone in the Spirit Fusion realm.

But the problem was that the entire southern region of the Central Continent only had a dozen of such beings at most.

So who the hell did this old man fight was noble enough to get such a being's blood essence to protect them? Not only that, but to force them to use the blood essence!

Was this ruthless old man secretly a powerhouse that Xue Bai didn't know of?

Maybe he was like those old men who always liked to stay in libraries and give overpowered martial techniques to the protagonists.

"Cough~~" Elder Long coughed heavily, he was bragging out of his ass when he said those words, so when he was Xue Bai's worshiping gaze, he felt so embarrassed he couldn't stare at him, "One shouldn't brag about their past achievements. Not only that, but no matter how close it was, I still lost, so bragging about it would only make me seem vain."

"Or maybe because you're lying." Elder Song snorted in the back.

Elder Long was fuming and damn near drew his sword at the old woman, but before he could, Yue Zifeng spoke.

"You two have been married longer than I have been alive. So why do you keep arguing?" Yue Zifeng sighed, "Especially you, Elder Long. She is obviously trying to get a reaction out of you. Why do you still keep reacting so vividly?"

Elder Long didn't respond but only snorted before looking away in anger.

"Master, they're married?" Xue Bai asked on the side, surprised.

'These two are like cats and dogs, but yet they're married?'

"Ignorer how they act now, Bai'er. They are indeed married. It's just that every few decades, they, for some reason, suddenly turn into mortal enemies and act like this." Yue Zifeng explained, only confusing Xue Bai more.

historical

However, before he could get another word in, Yue Zifeng suddenly waved his hand back, stopping everyone from advancing.

"Duan Zhen is here." Yue Zifeng spoke, clarifying.

And a few seconds later, true to his words, the emperor did appear.

Still wearing his imperial dragon robe and his hands clasped behind his back, Duan Zhen looked at the 13 powerhouses in front of him calmly.

Only taking a second to sweep his gaze across all of the Core Elders, Duan Zhen eventually landed his gaze on Yue ZIfeng.

"Sect Leader Yue," Duan Zhen spoke with cupped fists, "I was told you have evidence of the Wang Clan's betrayal."

Going into his spatial ring, Yue Zifeng pulled out a recording talisman that showed the purging of his sect and tossed it over to Duan Zhen.

However, even after Duan Zhen watched the video, he remained unchanged.

"All this confirms is that your sect was lax in its security. How does that confirm that the Wang Clan has betrayed my empire?" Duan Zhen retorted, unconvinced of the evidence.

"Look closely. There are at least a few hundred Wang Clansmen in the video." Yue Zifeng said, "A couple is nothing. A dozen can be a coincidence, but over 600? And the fact that every single Wang Clansmen in my sect was a traitor? That is no longer a coincidence."

Duan Zhen became silent, tacitly agreeing with Yue Zifeng's words. However, he still wanted concrete proof.

"I'll follow you," Duan Zhen eventually said, "No blood can be shed until I see concrete proof, though."

Yue Zifeng agreed with the man's proposition, and after exchanging a few words of pleasantries, the group set off for the core city of the Wang Clan's dukedom, Yuan City.