บท 272: A final warning.
Liang Chen spat out a long and heavy sigh and decided on the same course of action that he oftentimes chose with Yan Ling, silence was king. But it wasn't like they would have gotten the time to say much more anyway, Yumao's speed allowed them to reach Moonset city in less than a minute so it was already time for them to descend again.
Liang Chen hopped off of Yumao's head and Yumao shrank himself to his usual size, curling up on top of Liang Chen's head. The two entered the city, which had luckily quieted down somewhat thanks to the fact that night had arrived while Liang Chen and Shen Fei were making their way to the location of their duel.
The streets were mostly deserted, but a faintly festive aura still lingered within the city, they clearly hadn't yet finished celebrating the death of the Stone-Soul King. Liang Chen didn't plan on making any detours and headed directly for the estate of the Tien family, but his steps halted not too long after he entered the city. He turned his head to the side, his gaze seemingly piercing through the buildings in front of him as he sighed.
"Ha~ah, I really hoped it wouldn't be the case."
Liang Chen stepped to the side when he finished talking, his body blurring as he shot through the alleys and around the houses. He quickly reached his target, a dimly-lit alley where two men were currently doing their best to stealthily carry three unconscious people that Liang Chen recognized as belonging to the Enlai family.
A bit further inside the alley were four corpses whose robes identified them as belonging to the Enlai family. The faint energy that still radiated from them showed that they were a fair bit weaker than the three unconscious people, who had only reached the middle-stage of the Soaring Immortal realm.
As for the three people, they had some wounds that showed that they had struggled before being caught, but none of them were too deep so it was clear that the goal had been to catch them alive. Liang Chen stopped in front of the two men without a sound, pointing at the three unconscious people and the four corpses as he spoke in a quiet voice.
"It hasn't even been that long yet you're already starting like this? Is the notion of peace really that foreign to you? Is it really that hard for your two families to just share this city?"
He couldn't actually tell whether or not these two men belonged to the Tien family, they were acting in the dark so they obviously wouldn't wear the family robes. But other than the Tien family, there really weren't too many others who would be willing to sneakily attack the Enlai family like this.
The Stone-Soul King was already dead, meaning that the main reason the two families had maintained their peace was gone. Liang Chen had expected that this might lead to some fighting between the two families, but he hadn't expected them to already start this early. The Enlai family could easily blame the Tien family for the four corpses and the three missing people, it was a good excuse to start a battle with them, which might be exactly what they desired right now.
The two men froze dead in their tracks when Liang Chen arrived in front of them, a tremor running through their bodies. They knew what he had accomplished, so they knew that trying to run away was out of the question, he'd just catch up with them and make them spill everything. They both breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't wearing anything belonging to the family right now, sharing a quick look as they made up their minds.
They dropped the people they were carrying and drew out a short dagger each, plunging it towards the neck of the other as quickly as they could. He might have stayed with them shortly, but Liang Chen wasn't on the side of their family, there was no telling what he might do if he learned that they were from the Tien family. If they died here before he could interrogate them then he at least wouldn't have any proper evidence that could link them with the Tien family, at that point his personality shouldn't allow him to make a move against the family.
But their actions only caused Liang Chen's gaze to darken, he really had seen more than enough when it came to suicide. It was a tactic employed frequently by the people belonging to the Tranquil Lake, and it always ended up dragging in innocent onlookers. Liang Chen didn't even have to move, he just unleashed a concentrated gust of wind that knocked the daggers out of the two men's hands, breaking a few of their fingers in the process.
He chucked the four corpses and three unconscious people into his interspatial ring and grabbed hold of the two men's necks. He flooded them with a paralyzing poison so that they couldn't move and then left the area, swiftly dashing to the closest property owned by the Enlai family. He dropped off the four corpses and three unconscious people, he didn't know if the three people had done anything wrong so he had no intention of just killing them.
With the Enlai people taken care of, he moved towards the Tien family estate at his fastest speed. He quickly reached the 50-metre tall earthen wall, hopping over it in a quick leap and landing amidst the tall trees that stood beyond it. His gaze immediately landed on the circular mansion that served as the centre of the estate, quickly locating the family's leader, Tien Bao.
He crossed the distance between the wall and the mansion in the blink of an eye, opening the grand doors with a forceful gust of wind. He didn't care about the guards that quickly reacted with shock, moving through the hallways and smaller rooms until he reached the ornate metal doors that locked off the room that Tien Bao was in.
Liang Chen kicked open the doors and revealed the circular meeting room beyond them, a large table covered with a map of the city taking up almost the entire room. Tien Bao was currently standing at the side of this table along with several other people from the family, including Tien Huang and his sister, Tien Shih. Liang Chen walked forward and dropped the two people onto the table, looking directly at Tien Bao.
"Is peace really that hard of a concept for you to grasp?"
They had lived in relative peace for many years already, their competitions were a good enough way to fight over their territory. So why did they have to start doing things like this the moment the pressure keeping them together was removed? In truth, Liang Chen already knew why, it was just that he didn't want to accept the reason.
Tien Bao looked at the two people, waving his hand so that the others around the table didn't try to act on instinct. His gaze was calm as he turned his eyes onto Liang Chen, he knew that the youth was stronger than him, definitely a terrifying existence. But he was the leader of this family, and for those who had fallen for it, he had to give his answer steadfastly.
"It's all for the family. Generation after generation has done everything in their power to expand the family, the dream has always been to rule all of Moonset city and expand further. For my son, his wife, and the countless others that have given their life in that pursuit, it is my duty to do everything I can towards that end, even if others deem me evil for it. Even if it kills me."
This was exactly what Liang Chen had expected. Family was a great treasure, but the fatal flaw of all treasures was that you would quickly end up being willing to do everything for them. Even Liang Chen wasn't an exception to this, he had no idea what sort of limit he had when it came to things he would do for Yan Ling or Yumao, and he hoped that there would never be a day where he had to find out. After all, just the death of his parents and sister had put him onto a path as bloody as this, so what sort of domain would lay beyond even that?
But even if he expected it and understood it, he couldn't condone it. A war between these two families would involve far too many people and there was no way it could be contained to just the two families. Sooner or later, the innocent people in the city would get involved, whether they wanted to or not. Tien Bao looked deep into Liang Chen's golden pupils, his gaze momentarily flickering towards Tien Huang, a short breath eventually escaping his lips.
"I cannot promise that we won't fight the Enlai family, I cannot betray countless generations of my family like that. But I can swear an oath here and now that we will stave off the battle for as long as possible. As long as the Enlai family doesn't attack us either, we can continue this peace for at least another 10 000 years, take it as a sign of gratitude for saving my grandchild and protecting this city in our time of need."
The others in the room were a bit shocked that Tien Bao would swear an oath like that, but they quickly realized that it was only to be expected. Liang Chen could probably kill all of them if he wanted to, pushing his boundaries was not a wise decision. Liang Chen narrowed his eyes somewhat but ended up accepting the compromise. How strong had he gotten in a mere five years? Another 10 000? He couldn't even begin to guess at what level he would have reached at that point, starting a careless war at that point would probably not be that simple any longer.
He nodded his head to show his acceptance, turning his gaze onto Tien Huang and giving him another nod, a silent farewell. He then turned and walked out of the room, stopping just as he reached the doors and looking over his shoulder, delivering one final warning.
"I'll accept that compromise for now, but I'll still give you a warning. If I learn that you have embroiled this city in war, or if I learn that you've harmed the Zun twins, then I'll return. And at that time it won't be the Stone-Soul King who'll feel it, it'll be you personally that gets to feel the wrath of a scourge."
His voice was a bit soft and completely calm, but everyone in the room could feel a tingling sensation run down their spines, every single warning bell in their heads going off at once. They didn't doubt it, if he returned and became angry, there wouldn't be a damn thing that could stop him from reaping their lives, he could turn the city into a lifeless wasteland if he wanted to.
Liang Chen didn't exchange any more words with them and left the mansion, heading to the small house where the Zun twins lived. They were already asleep, but he woke them up and bade them farewell, not going into specifics about where he was going or if he would ever be back. In truth, there was a part of him that wanted to bring them along so that they would be safe in case Tien Bao broke his oath.
But the place he was going was extremely dangerous, he couldn't guarantee that they would be safe even if he kept them inside the orb in his interspatial ring at all times. So he could only leave them here for now, leaving a few protective items that he had accumulated over time with them. Most of these items weren't useful to him, otherwise his enemies would have used them against him before he killed them and got a hold of their interspatial rings. But they were quite useful to these kids, but he made sure to warn them sternly that they couldn't use them freely against anyone.
After he bade the Zun twins farewell, he made a final trip to the Enlai mansion, barging in on the meeting room where Enlai Yuan-Hah was discussing something with the elders of her family. Liang Chen didn't beat around the bush with her either, he made sure that she swore the same oath as Tien Bao and then left her with the same warning.
The chance of a war happening shortly wasn't entirely eliminated, but with both family leaders swearing an oath it had at least greatly reduced the chances. And with that taken care of, Liang Chen didn't have anything left to do in this city, it wasn't like he could stay here constantly just to make sure that the family leaders stayed true to their words.
So as the morning sun started to rise above the wall surrounding the city, Liang Chen stepped onto one of the spatial arrays located in the city. The array sprung to life with a bright light, space around Liang Chen twisting and churning as he vanished from Moonset city, heading for the city closest to the entrance of Purgatory's Cradle.
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