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"Damn it, who the hell did this?!"
With a furious roar, Xiao Yan punched the wooden pillar beside him, instantly shattering it.
At this moment, he looked like a volcano on the verge of eruption, his face contorted with rage.
"Xiao Yan, calm down first. I've swept through the Xiao Clan with my soul power, but I didn't find your father's presence. Let's try to see if we can find any clues about the perpetrator."
Seeing Xiao Yan's state, Yao Chen quickly reminded him.
"Right, let's find the culprit first. I swear I'll tear them to pieces!"
Awakened by Yao Chen's words, Xiao Yan suppressed his emotions and continued walking deeper into the compound, searching for any traces of the enemy.
He quickly approached a corpse on the ground. When Xiao Yan saw who it was, he recognized the man—one of the very few Dou Shi in the Xiao Clan.
And now, he lay here dead, a look of overwhelming terror still frozen on his face.
Xiao Yan crouched down and examined the body briefly. To his surprise, there weren't any visible injuries on the surface.
And after his inspection, it didn't appear to be poisoning either.
What's more, Xiao Yan was now a peak Fourth-tier Alchemist. For a poison strong enough to fool him, it was unlikely the culprit would waste it on Dou Zhe or Dou Shi level members of the Xiao Clan.
However, the man's pockets had clearly been turned inside out, and all sorts of items were scattered across the ground.
From the disarray of the scattered objects, it was clear—the murderer had been searching for something.
"Master, this must be the work of either the Yun Lan Sect or the Mittel Clan! Please lend me your strength, I need to avenge the Xiao Clan!"
This was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre situation. After racking his brain with no results, he could only pin the blame on the two forces that held grudges against him.
Upon hearing this, Yao Chen shook his head with a solemn expression.
"The method of death doesn't look like something that kind of third-rate faction could pull off. I hope it's not... the Hall—"
"Wait, there's someone in the dried-up well beside you!"
Just as he was speaking, Yao Chen suddenly sensed a faint flicker of life beneath the dried-up well nearby and quickly warned Xiao Yan.
"What?"
Startled by Yao Chen's words, Xiao Yan rushed over to the side of the well and looked down.
Vaguely, he could make out a dark figure lying at the bottom of the well.
Grabbing the rope used to draw water, he leapt straight down.
"Second Elder!"
Landing on the ground, Xiao Yan recognized the person at the bottom with the help of a ray of sunlight filtering down from the well's opening.
He quickly helped the elder up and summoned a beast flame to illuminate the surroundings.
Only then did he see clearly—the Second Elder's lower half was almost completely gone.
And the wound was tainted with an unknown black substance.
"He's literally hanging on to his last breath. If he hadn't just started to stir slightly as he was about to wake, I wouldn't have sensed him at all. While he's still alive, ask him whatever you need—this may be the last chance."
Gazing at the blackened wound, Yao Chen's expression grew especially grave. After speaking, he withdrew back into the ring.
Xiao Yan's face turned extremely grim at those words.
He had finally found a living member of his clan—only to be told it was their final meeting.
Anyone who experienced this wouldn't be in a good mood.
"Cough… cough…"
Just as Xiao Yan was lost in his thoughts, the old man suddenly let out a cough.
The tightly shut eyes slowly opened.
"Xiao... Xiao Yan, is that you?"
The elder squinted instinctively when the light hit his eyes and weakly asked.
"Second Elder, what happened to the Xiao Clan? Why did it end up like this? Where's my father?"
Seeing the elder awaken, Xiao Yan immediately voiced the torrent of questions surging in his heart.
"It really is you... cough cough…"
The Second Elder let out a sigh, surprised that he could still see a surviving clansman at such a time.
After resting a moment, he finally began to speak slowly: "This morning, everything seemed normal at first. But suddenly, a man dressed in black, covered in black mist, appeared in the sky. Then, he started releasing black chains and slaughtering members of our Xiao Clan without restraint…"
Halfway through speaking, the elder seemed to exhaust his strength and paused to catch his breath again before continuing: "That man seemed to be looking for our ancestral jade slip. Before he left, he even said—'Where did the Xiao Clan hide the jade slip?' I remember... your father was captured by him. But before that, he handed this ancestral jade slip to me…"
After another short rest, he added weakly: "Although I don't know the exact situation of the patriach right now, if the core of the jade slip is still glowing, then we can be sure—at the very least, his life isn't in danger."
As he spoke, the Second Elder carefully pulled out a simple ancient wooden box from his robe and handed it to Xiao Yan.
Hearing that this object could reveal his father's condition, Xiao Yan hurriedly opened the box.
Inside, a green jade slip lay quietly.
At the center of the jade slip, a small glowing light was slowly drifting around, as if it possessed a life of its own.
"This jade slip was left behind by the ancestors of the Xiao Clan. Every generation's patriach leaves behind a trace of their soul force in it. If the patriach dies, the glowing light will disappear. Judging by the strength of the light left behind by the patriach, he should be alive."
Looking at the object that had led to the massacre of the entire Xiao Clan, the Second Elder's eyes filled with complicated emotions as he spoke feebly.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he burst out with a final surge of strength, gripping Xiao Yan's arm tightly and said with urgency: "Those younger members from Jia Nan Academy should still be alive. If you see them, tell them—not to seek revenge for us. Because... that man in black, when he flew, he didn't use Dou Qi Wings—he was a Dou Zong…"
Before he could finish, the Second Elder, who had been so agitated just a moment ago, suddenly lost all strength. His eyes slowly shut as his breath completely faded.
"Second Elder!"
Seeing him die, Xiao Yan's jaw clenched so hard his back teeth nearly shattered. The hatred in his heart toward that man in black skyrocketed to the limit.
"Damn it! Even if you're a Dou Zong, I'll make you pay the price!"
Gently laying down the Second Elder's body, Xiao Yan growled with venom.
But he couldn't understand—why would a Dou Zong powerhouse personally come to the Xiao Clan, a clan of mere Da Dou Shi, just for a single ancestral jade slip? And even capture his father?
As for the Yun Lan Sect and the Mittel Clan, or even anyone else in the entire Jia Ma Empire, he had completely ruled them out.
The Mittel Clan was out of the question—they didn't have a single Dou Zong. If they did, there's no way he and his Master could've blackmailed them so easily.
As for the Yun Lan Sect, that was unlikely too.
If the attacker had used wind-type Dou Qi, he might have still suspected the Yun Lan Sect.
But this was clearly darkness-type. The Yun Lan Sect probably didn't even possess a proper darkness-type technique, let alone the resources to cultivate a Dou Zong of that attribute.
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