Chapter 100

I am extremely grateful to ynung942, Bei~Jimo, and j4723 for their pink votes. I bow deeply and am endlessly thankful.

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly held the secret letter given to him by his mother.

As cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

Li Wanpeng said coldly, "We must carry out the plan. We have been planning for so many years, and now is the time when the Xu family is at its weakest. We've heard that Xu Lin has already broken through to the second level of the Qi Refinement stage, reaching the third level. Don't forget that the Xu family also has a genius, Xu Tianlang, and Xu Qi is not weak either. If we wait until the young geniuses of the Xu family grow up, we will have even less of a chance. The pills we obtained from the ancient cave several years ago are almost used up. We can't afford to wait any longer."

Xiao Rugui also said solemnly, "More importantly, even if the person who appeared tonight is a disciple of the Tai Xuan Sect, they won't pose any threat to us. People in the secular world know that sects do not intervene in the conflicts of the secular world. As long as we eliminate the Xu family and still recognize the Tai Xuan Sect as our master, they will only care about the annual tributes from the secular world and won't care who eliminated whom."

"That's true," Wu Meng nodded in agreement.

"We have made all the necessary preparations. Even if the Xu family has some tricks up their sleeves, they are all illusions in the face of absolute power," Li Wanpeng said confidently, smirking.

Xiao Rugui frowned slightly and said, "However, the Xu family has recently spread the word that on the tenth day of next month, they will form an alliance with the Han family of Jueque City. I don't know if this is true or not."

Upon hearing this, Li Wanpeng and Wu Meng's faces changed, looking so gloomy that it seemed they could drip water. The atmosphere in the study room was so tense that it felt suffocating.

"If the Han family of Jueque City really forms an alliance with the Xu family, we..."

Li Wanpeng stopped speaking, but Xiao Rugui and Wu Meng understood his meaning. They all felt extremely disheartened. After years of planning, their dreams were about to turn into bubbles. Each of them had a thought: as a major family, the Xu family's resources and connections were indeed not comparable to their own. However, they also had an unstoppable desire to elevate their own families to major families in the north during their lifetimes.

Li Wanpeng slammed the table and said solemnly, "We'll see what happens on the tenth day of next month. If the Xu family really forms an alliance with the Han family of Jueque City, we will have to postpone our plan. In the future, we will need to add a new plan: to sabotage the alliance between the Xu family and the Han family, causing it to break. Then we will restart our plan to deal with the Xu family. In short, the Xu family in Zhongdu City must be destroyed. The future of Zhongdu City belongs to our three families."

"The future of Zhongdu City belongs to us," Xiao Rugui and Wu Meng also slammed the table and shouted.

"Can we try to sabotage their alliance now?" Wu Meng suddenly brightened.

Li Wanpeng shook his head and said, "No, they have just decided to form an alliance, and there must be detailed plans and conditions. They are in the honeymoon phase. If we act blindly without understanding the situation, they will not believe that anyone would sabotage their alliance. Instead, they will immediately investigate the matter, and their primary suspects will be us. At that time, not only will we fail to sabotage their alliance, but we will also put ourselves in danger."

"Then we'll see what happens on the tenth day of next month," Xiao Rugui nodded, his face dark.

Li Wanpeng and Wu Meng also nodded, their faces dark. In short, all three of them looked extremely unhappy.

In the Xu family's grand hall, Xu Ziyun slowly opened her eyes. Seeing that all the elders of the family were surrounding her to protect her, including Xu Haoliang, she felt a warm feeling in her heart. She slowly stood up from the steps and bowed to everyone, saying softly, "Thank you, all the elders, for protecting me."

All the Xu family elders turned around, looking excitedly at Xu Ziyun, as if they wanted to say something but were a bit embarrassed. Xu Haoran spoke first, "Yan'er, have you recovered?"

"Yes," Xu Ziyun nodded lightly.

"Then... can we see the power of the talisman array?"

Seeing Xu Haoran's eager gaze and the excited expressions of the elders, Xu Ziyun couldn't help but laugh. She pursed her lips and said with a light smile, "Let's go into the grand hall. I was just about to teach the elders how to control the talisman array."

"Good, good, good," Xu Haoran said three times, stepping into the grand hall first. Everyone else also entered the hall excitedly. Inside the hall, everyone stood on both sides, watching Xu Ziyun. She walked gracefully to the front of the clan leader's position, took out a talisman, and said to everyone, "This is the main talisman of the array."

After saying this, she floated the talisman in the air in front of her, about three feet away. Xu Ziyun's hands quickly formed a series of complex seals, moving faster and faster, leaving countless afterimages. She continuously imprinted them on the main talisman in front of her. Finally, Xu Ziyun's hands suddenly stopped, and the afterimages in the air instantly disappeared. Xu Ziyun's palms gathered power and flipped, and a shadow shot out from her palms, imprinting on the main talisman. Instantly, the main talisman emitted a bright light, illuminating the entire hall.

The talisman slowly descended to the ground and finally disappeared into it. The light faded, and the hall returned to its original state.

Everyone stared at Xu Ziyun, waiting to see what she would do next. Xu Ziyun retracted her hands and bowed to Xu Haoran, saying, "Uncle, this talisman is the key to controlling the outer array. You can activate the entire array from here, but only five people can control the main talisman. Please choose the controllers."

Xu Haoran's gaze swept over everyone, and each person's face showed eager hope. After a moment of thought, he said slowly, "Yan'er is the one who set up the array. If there are any changes, she will need to handle them, so she must have one of the main talisman slots."

Everyone nodded in agreement, finding it reasonable. Everyone knew that the array could not function without Xu Ziyun.

"Good," Xu Haoran nodded happily and continued, "There are four more slots. I think the following four people should be the main controllers: myself, the head of the Talisman Hall, my second brother Xu Haobo, the head of the Punishment Hall, my fifth brother Xu Haocang, and the head of the Transmission Hall, my ninth brother Xu Haoliang. What do you think?"

Those whose names were called stepped forward, while those whose names were not called, though disappointed, found the distribution reasonable and nodded in agreement. Xu Haoran, seeing no objections, turned to Xu Ziyun. Xu Ziyun nodded slightly and said softly, "Please come to me, the four elders."

Xu Haoran, Xu Haobo, Xu Haocang, and Xu Haoliang stepped out of the crowd and stood in front of Xu Ziyun. Their faces were both excited and nervous, like apprentices meeting their master for the first time. Xu Ziyun raised her hands again and quickly formed a series of dazzling seals, then slapped and grabbed the spot where the main talisman had disappeared into the ground. Five points of light flew out from the ground and floated in front of Xu Ziyun. She flicked her fingers, sending four points of light to Xu Haoran, Xu Haobo, Xu Haocang, and Xu Haoliang. The light flashed, and the four points of light entered their bodies, immediately giving them a mental connection to the main talisman. Finally, Xu Ziyun extended her hand, and the last point of light flew to her and disappeared into her body.

After establishing the connection with the main talisman, controlling the array became very simple. Xu Ziyun taught the four of them the simple hand seals for controlling the array and then stepped back, smiling, to watch the four standing in the middle of the hall.

At this moment, the four of them were like children with a new toy, looking at each other, each wanting to try it out first. Finally, Xu Haobo, Xu Haocang, and Xu Haoliang bowed to Xu Haoran and said, "Please, Brother, control the array."

Xu Haoran nodded with a dignified air, but his face was flushed with excitement. This was the first time in his life. He felt like the leader of a sect. He brought his hands in front of him, each extending a finger, and drew a circle in the air. Instantly, a water-like screen appeared in front of everyone, showing the scenery around the Xu family.

Everyone in the hall stared at the screen in the air with bright faces. Xu Haoran extended his fingers, moving them in the air, and the images on the screen changed, quickly showing all the scenery around the family.

"Clan leader, try the array," Xu Haobo said excitedly.

"Good," Xu Haoran agreed, but then paused, looking at everyone and smiling, "Who will test the array?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Xu Haoliang. There was no choice; he was the most powerful in the hall after the clan leader. Remembering how he was defeated by Xu Ziyun's array earlier, he shivered involuntarily and blurted out, "I won't go."