"You dare to hit me?"

Long Yihong clutched his face, staring at Ye Xiu in disbelief as he burst into a rage. "Ye Liangchen, you’ve got some nerve! How dare you strike a member of the Long Family? Do you want to make an enemy of us?"

SMACK!

Ye Xiu raised his hand and slapped him again. "Shut the hell up before I crush you."

"You..." Long Yihong took a deep, shuddering breath of anger.

"Nangong Yue, what are you all waiting for?" Ye Xiu urged. "Right, have someone come down and distribute the food and drinks to the people from the Thirteen External Clans. I imagine they’re starving."

"No!" Long Yihong blocked them again. "The Long Family must eat and drink their fill before this food can be given to the people from the Thirteen External Clans."

SMACK!

Ye Xiu slapped him once more. "I bought this food and drink for the Thirteen External Clans. What does it have to do with your Long Family?"

"You, you, you..."

Struck repeatedly by Ye Xiu, Long Yihong’s face flushed crimson with rage, his fury practically spewing from his eyes. But he knew he couldn’t defeat Ye Xiu and could only retort verbally, "The Long Family is the master of the Thirteen External Clans, so when there is food and drink, the Long Family must eat first."

Ye Xiu turned to Nangong Yue and the other six. "The Long Family treats the Thirteen External Clans like this, and you can endure it?"

"Even if we can’t, what can we do?" Nangong Yue and the others replied, their faces etched with bitterness.

"If you can’t endure it, then kill," Ye Xiu said, grabbing Long Yihong by the neck.

CRACK!

He snapped it, killing him.

HISS!

At the sight of this, everyone present from the Long Family and the Thirteen External Clans gasped. Even Dongfang Dazhuang, Dongfang Erlang, and Dongfang Meili were utterly shocked.

No one had expected Ye Xiu to kill a man so suddenly, without the slightest warning.

Then, the eyes of Nangong Yue and the other six welled with tears of gratitude. Brother Ye had actually risked his life to kill Long Yihong and stand up for the Thirteen External Clans.

"Brother Ye, you’re in trouble now," Nangong Yue said, her eyes shimmering with tears of gratitude. "By killing a member of the Long Family, you’ve made an enemy of them. The Clan Leader won’t let you get away with this."

"Brother Ye, you have to run! Once the Long Family finds out you killed Long Yihong, you’re finished," Gu Meng urged.

Bai Xi and the others also pressed Ye Xiu to flee. The fact that he had killed Long Yihong couldn’t be hidden; too many people had seen it. Unless Ye Xiu killed every single member of the Long Family in the unfinished residential complex.

"Is offending the Long Family that terrifying?" Ye Xiu asked. "The Long Family doesn’t even treat the people of the Thirteen External Clans as human. Why do you still follow them?"

Nangong Yue gave a bitter smile. "The Thirteen External Clans have been attached to the Long Family for over a thousand years. We’ve never considered betraying them. Besides, where would we go after betraying them?"

"I remember Huang Quan saying that members of the Long Family are forbidden from returning to Hundred Flowers Valley, but he never forbade the Thirteen External Clans. You don’t share the Long surname. As long as you return to Hundred Flowers Valley, the Long Family won’t dare to retaliate," Ye Xiu instigated.

Nangong Yue, the other six, and all the members of the Thirteen External Clans present suddenly felt a stir in their hearts.

The reasons they had never dared to betray the Long Family were threefold: First, a deeply ingrained servile mentality. Second, they had nowhere to go after betraying the Long Family. Third, they feared being hunted down by the Long Family after a betrayal, as the Long Family’s strength far surpassed that of the Thirteen External Clans combined.

But Ye Xiu’s suggestion offered them a glimmer of light—a path to freedom. As long as they returned to Hundred Flowers Valley, they could escape the Long Family’s grasp completely.

"Can we really do that?" Nangong Yue asked timidly.

"Of course, you can!" Ye Xiu declared with absolute certainty. "As long as you agree, I’ll have the Fire Seed Company’s test subjects escort the people of the Thirteen External Clans from the unfinished residential complex back to Hundred Flowers Valley overnight."

Nangong Yue and the other six hesitated for a moment. Nangong Yue turned to Gu Meng and the other five. "Should we go ask our clansmen for their opinions?"

"Yes!" Gu Meng and the others immediately agreed.

As the seven of them ran off, Ye Xiu turned to Dongfang Dazhuang, Dongfang Erlang, Dongfang Meili, and the test subjects. "Go and cripple the Martial Prowess of all the Long Family members. That will prevent them from stopping the Thirteen External Clans from returning to Hundred Flowers Valley."

"Understood!" Dongfang Dazhuang and the others acknowledged the order and departed.

More than an hour later, Nangong Yue and the other six returned.

"Our clansmen have all agreed, but they’re worried that we, along with our people at the Long Family Manor, will be in danger after they leave," Nangong Yue reported.

"Don’t worry," Ye Xiu said. "I’ll take the seven of you to the Long Family Manor to rescue them shortly."

"Alright then!" Nangong Yue nodded.

And so, Ye Xiu had a truck driver take Dongfang Dazhuang, Dongfang Erlang, and Dongfang Meili back to the hotel. He then had Mo Luo’s subordinates lead the test subjects to escort the people of the Thirteen External Clans to Hundred Flowers Valley.

Ye Xiu himself drove with Nangong Yue and the other six toward the Long Family Manor.

The battle at the Long Family Manor was over.

Jiang Yuan had arrived with thirty-two people, but in the end, only he, Jiang Hai, and Jiang He had escaped. All the others were killed, including Jiang Linglong. The losses were so devastating because the Long Family had three Second Realm War Gods. After consuming Blood Pills, their strength surged, allowing them to tie down Jiang Yuan, Jiang Hai, and Jiang He—the three experts who had awakened their Totems.

However, the Long Family’s casualties were also severe for two reasons:

First, because their dinner had been stolen, the First and Second Realm War Gods from the Thirteen External Clans had simply been idling about, letting the Long Family’s forces and Jiang Yuan’s people fight a bloody battle.

Second, the three Long Family members took their Blood Pills too late. After Jiang Yuan, Jiang Hai, and Jiang He escaped, the three of them also died from blood depletion.

"What is wrong with you all? I called you here to deal with the experts from Medicine King Valley! What do you mean by just hopping around and refusing to join the fight?" the Long Family’s Clan Leader roared at the members of the Thirteen External Clans.

The people from the Thirteen External Clans remained silent, letting the Clan Leader rage. After yelling for some time, he realized it was useless but was still bursting with unvented anger. He bellowed, "It’s already two-thirty in the morning! Why isn’t Ye Liangchen back yet? What in the world are Nangong Yue and those six doing?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a van drove into the Long Family Manor.

Ye Xiu and the group of seven got out.

"What... What happened here?"

Nangong Yue and the others were shocked by the tragic scene inside the manor; they hadn’t realized that while the unfinished residential complex was being attacked, the Long Family Manor had suffered a night raid as well.

"Nangong Yue, what is the meaning of this? I ordered you seven to bring Ye Liangchen back before dawn! Are you treating my command as a mere suggestion, or do you think I don’t dare to harm your families?" the Clan Leader berated them.

By now, Nangong Yue and the others were no longer afraid of the Clan Leader.

Nangong Yue shrugged. "It’s too late for you to harm our families now."

The Clan Leader was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone from the Thirteen External Clans at the unfinished residential complex has already returned to Hundred Flowers Valley," Nangong Yue said with a smile.

What?

This declaration stunned not only the Clan Leader but also the members of both the Long and Thirteen External Clans in the manor, leaving them all utterly confused.

"Why?" the Clan Leader demanded.

"Guess," Nangong Yue replied with a teasing smile.

The Clan Leader narrowed his eyes, staring at the unfazed Nangong Yue. Suddenly, his gaze snapped toward Ye Xiu, and he asked in a cold voice, "Did you instigate this?"

"That’s right," Ye Xiu admitted frankly. Now that he had completely turned the Thirteen External Clans, his mission was accomplished. There was no need to continue playing the part of an undercover agent by the Clan Leader’s side.

It was time to lay his cards on the table.