Chapter 99: Departure

Before the main castle tower.

Lord Dongbo Lie and his wife were both staring at a group approaching from afar.

“Brother, do you think Father and Mother will let the Mo Yang Clan off so easily?” Qing Shi, standing nearby, quietly asked.

“Since we’ve already agreed to let them handle it, we needn’t interfere,” Dongbo Xueying replied, watching closely. Suddenly, his brows furrowed. Mo Yang Qi, the silver-robed woman, was walking at the front, and among the elders following her was a gray-cloaked man—Uncle Mo Yang Chen, whom he had met in childhood.

“Mo Yang Qi, leading the elders, has come to apologize to Lord Dongbo and Lady Dongbo!” Mo Yang Qi knelt down without hesitation.

Hua!

Behind her, all the clan elders knelt in unison.

This sight made Dongbo Xueying’s eyelid twitch.

“No!” Mo Yang Yu’s expression changed, and she rushed forward to help her brother Mo Yang Chen up. “Stand up, everyone, stand up.”

Seeing this, Lord Dongbo Lie also stepped forward to help them up.

“Our Mo Yang Clan has indeed wronged you both,” Mo Yang Qi refused to rise, and all the elders behind her remained kneeling, no matter how much Mo Yang Yu and Dongbo Lie tried to pull them up.

“Hmph!”

A cold snort rang out.

A surge of extraordinary combat energy spread out like a fan, appearing out of nowhere, sweeping past Mo Yang Qi and the elders—but skillfully avoiding Lord and Lady Dongbo.

Peng! Mo Yang Qi and the group were all blown backward, crashing into the distance. Some fell to the ground, others hit the walls, and a few with weaker constitutions spat blood immediately. Mo Yang Qi and the others turned pale with shock and fear, looking at Dongbo Xueying, who stood there with an icy expression.

“Apologize? By kneeling?” Dongbo Xueying sneered lightly. “What’s the point of such empty gestures?”

“This is the dossier!”

Mo Yang Qi reacted quickly, flipping his hand to retrieve a scroll and hurriedly stepping forward to respectfully present it to Mo Yang Yu. “My Lady, please take a look.”

“The dossier?” Mo Yang Yu, with a complex expression, glanced at Mo Yang Qi. This was the clan leader, once so high and mighty. In truth, Dongbo Lie, Dongbo Xueying, and others present all disliked the Mo Yang Clan, but Mo Yang Yu was the most conflicted.

She opened the dossier and began reading carefully.

“Hmph, what a great thousand-year-old clan,” Mo Yang Yu muttered as her expression darkened. “The various branches are fighting fiercely. No wonder my father died so early, with so many hidden causes.”

“Five thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine executed. Over twenty thousand sentenced to severe crimes.” Mo Yang Yu flipped to the end, visibly stunned.

“What!” Dongbo Lie couldn’t believe it.

“Over five thousand executed, and twenty thousand sentenced?” Qing Shi was shocked as well.

Even Dongbo Xueying was somewhat surprised. That was ruthless! Considering the entire Mo Yang Clan, including guards and servants, numbered around one hundred thousand. Those sentenced were likely close servants and guards. The large-scale guard units usually didn’t get involved. Excluding those, the clan numbered around fifty or sixty thousand.

To eliminate thirty thousand?

That was brutal.

…

In truth, internal power struggles were common in large clans. Once investigated, the repercussions were widespread. This time, the Mo Yang Clan had two purposes: to appease Dongbo Xueying’s fury and to use the opportunity to clean house, eliminating many toxic elements. In the past, even the clan leader couldn’t act so recklessly. But this time, the leader raised the banner of “quelling the wrath of an extraordinary life,” thus acting swiftly and decisively.

Of the over five thousand eight hundred executed, more than three thousand had little connection to Mo Yang Yu or only distant ties.

The over twenty thousand sentenced were mostly henchmen and guards—subordinates of factions being purged, directly sentenced to hard labor.

“This is ten million gold notes.” Mo Yang Qi followed up by presenting a thick stack of gold notes, each worth a massive one hundred thousand gold coins, totaling a hundred notes!

“Such a large sum,” Dongbo Xueying was surprised. Xiang Pangyun had left behind over eight million gold coins, and the Si Clan might have slightly more, but not by much. The Mo Yang Clan, after all, had been founded by a truly extraordinary being, so their foundation was stronger. However, after a thousand years, much of their wealth had become fixed assets—alchemy workshops, territories, large castles, shops, and so on.

To produce ten million gold notes was extremely difficult.

In fact, the Mo Yang Clan had also eliminated many corrupt elements, seized their assets, mortgaged many properties to the Imperial Bank, and supplemented the sum from the clan treasury to come up with the round figure of ten million gold coins! This was nearly a third of the Mo Yang Clan’s total wealth!

“Furthermore, the clan elders have unanimously decided that Mo Yang Chen will be the new clan leader,” Mo Yang Qi added.

“My brother?” Mo Yang Yu was stunned.

Dongbo Xueying’s lips curled slightly.

Truly ruthless.

Making his own uncle the clan leader, eliminating or sentencing thirty thousand clan members, and offering ten million gold coins. His mother and uncle were blood siblings, deeply bonded.

…

Before they knew it, the day of Dongbo Xueying’s departure arrived.

At dawn.

Inside the training ground, Dongbo Xueying was practicing his fists. The spear was an extension of the fists! Dongbo Xueying loved practicing spear techniques, but he also enjoyed training his fists. His body was perfectly harmonized, power circulating within, each move expanding or contracting with precision.

“Hu.” Dongbo Xueying stopped and exhaled deeply.

The surrounding air vibrated slightly before settling down.

“Xueying, come, have some tea and snacks,” Mo Yang Yu called out as Dongbo Xueying paused.

“Okay.”

Dongbo Xueying smiled and walked over, drank the water in one go, and grabbed the snacks, eating them one after another. “Only Mother’s snacks taste this good. I haven’t tasted anything so delicious since I was eight.”

“None of the castle’s chefs can match my cooking?” Mo Yang Yu smiled.

“I’m not lying. None of them can,” Dongbo Xueying quickly devoured the entire plate of snacks.

This month had been too comfortable.

Since he was eight, he had constantly trained in spear techniques, later falling into the Black Wind Abyss and enduring six years of solitude. This month felt like a dream.

“You’re leaving this afternoon?” Mo Yang Yu suddenly asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Dongbo Xueying replied with a smile. “If I stay any longer, I might become a spoiled noble idler.”

“Be spoiled then,” Mo Yang Yu said, reluctant to part with her son.

“But I still want to walk further on the path of the extraordinary,” Dongbo Xueying smiled, recalling the past. “When I was little, I loved reading biographies of extraordinary beings. I dreamed of flying through the skies, drinking with gods, and playing with demons. Now that I’ve set foot on this path, I must strive to go further. This path is still fascinating.”

If the past twenty years were driven by the desire to save his parents, never daring to slack off,

Now, it was driven by his innermost aspirations.

And there was another reason he hadn’t voiced—seeing the Si Clan and others bowing, witnessing the Mo Yang Clan kneeling, Dongbo Xueying had vowed that he would never let his family suffer the same fate!

“Brother Changfeng and others have high hopes for me. After all, I’m the youngest to have entered the extraordinary path in a thousand years. If I were to decline now, I’d become the laughingstock of the entire Longshan Empire’s extraordinary community,” Dongbo Xueying chuckled.

…

That afternoon.

After lunch, Qing Shi, Lord Dongbo Lie and his wife, Zong Ling, Tong San, and others gathered at the entrance of the main castle tower to see Dongbo Xueying off.

“No need to see me off.”

“Feel free to contact me through the communication bracelet if anything comes up,” Dongbo Xueying smiled. “Well then, I’m off.”

“Brother, I will definitely enter the extraordinary path too!” Qing Shi suddenly shouted.

Dongbo Xueying was taken aback.

Beside him, Zong Ling, Tong San, Lord Dongbo Lie, and his wife all laughed.

“Good, that’s the spirit!” Dongbo Xueying smiled as well. “Qing Shi, I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Okay,” Qing Shi nodded.

Hu!

Then, Dongbo Xueying was bathed in flames of light. He looked at his family, grinned, and soared into the sky, flying northward, quickly vanishing into the horizon.