~ Two months agoA middle-aged man paced back and forth on a luxurious courtyard decorated. It was so s.p.a.cious that it would make one puke. Artificial mountains, ponds, pavilions, statues, there was everything here!
The man himself looked around in his forties but don"t let it deceive his age. This middle-aged man was over a hundred years old. He had a pair of sharp eyes, black hair, middle length beard. All this made him look rather intimidating. Especially with his muscular frame that stood like a tower. This old man was the Patriarch of Zheng Clan, Zheng Jin!
Currently, the Zheng Clan was going through a huge ordeal. The position of city lord of the Zheng Country was at stake.
Three months ago, out of rage, he sent thirty Xiantian cultivators to destroy a city. Although it might cause animosity with the a.s.sociated Country, everything was possible to solve with a few gifts.
But things didn"t turn out the way he planned. Something went awry, the thirty something Xiantian that he sent to destroy a nameless city never returned.
People tend to lose their judgment in fury, Zheng Jin similarly didn"t even consider about a wandering cultivator, who can completely annihilate his army of Xiantian cultivators, to be present on the said city.
For a nameless city, he didn"t consider to send any Martial King.
What kind of existence was a Marital King? They were the core powers of the Zheng Clan. Every single of them were valuable a.s.set to their strength.
Either the sent cultivators switched their side to a greater power or was completely wiped off. But the possibility for all of them switching side was close to nil. Some of them lived with the clan while many were from the branch of the Zheng Clan.
Either way, rather than a possible stronger expert, his rivals worried him much more. If given chance, they won"t hesitate to bear fangs at him.
The Zheng Country has 3 big Clans. The City Lord and the Strongest Clan, Zheng Clan.
The Wuying Clan. They had long enmity with the Zheng Clan and constantly at each other"s throat. If Zheng Clan took a major hit, they would be the first one to strike.
The Beast Tamer clan, Yimu Clan. The Yimu Clan, however, can"t really be called a proper Beast Tamer Clan as their taming technique had major faulty. Which is also why they were the weakest Clan out of the three.
"Patriarch, a gift has arrived for you!" suddenly a young man said loudly, breaking his thought process.
"I don"t have any time for that. Just open it and be done with it." Zheng Jin said, with a little deep voice.
The man quivered a little as muttered out in a low voice, "But Patriarch, there was a letter saying it must be opened in front of you..."
"Hmm? Then, why are you empty handed here? Just bring it." Zheng Jin said, in a dismissive voice.
"Patriarch, its really big-" The young man had to stop halfway, as the glare from Zheng Jin could kill him.
Hurriedly bowing, he left to bring the gift.
The gift actually needed two people to bring it inside. Not because of its heaviness but because of its sheer size!
"Who sent this?" Zheng Jin looked at the young man a weird glance.
"Ah, Patriarch. I have no idea. The porter left it saying they were already paid for everything."
"Ok, now open it."
The gift was rather large and packed in blood red silk. Whoever sent this must have some weird sense of preferences to send it like this.
A guard went ahead as he removed the silk clothing. The box was extremely ordinary, similar to a medium sized treasure chest. But for some reason, the guard started feeling uneasy.
Gulping, he opened the box.
"Ahh!" the guard jumped back, beads of sweat forming on his face.
"What happened? Don"t scare me." the other guard asked with a quivering voice.
"Patriarch, please forgive him. He is new here and doesn"t know many things." The guard bowed toward Zheng Jin as he pleaded for his companions mistake.
"Just finish it quick." Zheng Jin said in an irritated voice.
The guard instructed his friend to stand behind as he went to check the box. Inside the box, there was another silver metallic box. Was that what intimated his friend? He only sighed at his foolishness, at the same time antic.i.p.ating to see something valuable!
"Clank!"
He opened the box as he rushed to take a glimpse on the treasure. The treasure brought a look of horror on his face.
An intense putrid smell wafted out causing both Zheng Jin and the young man to frown. They both were equally familiar with this pungent smell.
"Move away," the young man pushed away the frozen guard which caused him to fall on the ground.
The impact caused the guard to wake up from his trance but he didn"t mind it at all. He prayed to Buddha, if he could leave this place alive, he would join the Buddha Temple as soon as possible.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
As the guard thought, the Patriarch was thoroughly enraged and he could already see himself dying.
The reason was pretty simple. Inside the box, there was head of multiple bodies. Yes, there was only heads and in the middle of the heads, there was a face, he knew very clearly.
Although they were hardly recognizable, he could still make out the figure of his son, Zheng Feng. As for the other heads for decoration, they were the heads of the Xiantian cultivators he sent to annihilate the city.
After the scream, he calmed down completely. He already learned his lesson last time. This time, he won"t be rash.
"Patriarch, there"s something written on the backside of the box."
~ Wash and clean your neck for I"ll be here for you ~
This was written in blood.
"Zheng Gong, find that porter." Zheng Jin calmly ordered.
"Yes, Patriarch. I shall immediately bring him to your knees." The young man, namely Zheng Gong half-kneeled as he replied solemnly.
"No, don"t touch him. Send Guyu and follow him to see any suspicious activity. As for these two trashes, execute them." Zheng Jin"s voice deepened "Remember, everything that happened here must remain secret. If any words gets out, even you might not be safe."
Zheng Gong nodded as he could understand the situation. If the other two families knew about their situation, they won"t spare any moment to attack them. Although the loss of thirty Xiantian might not look too devastating, it leaves a serious hole in their defense.
Zheng Gong grabbed the sword hilt on his waist as the cry of despair from the two nameless guards were completely ignored.
Blood splattered on the ground as only two heads remained, separated from their body.