261: Chapter 261 The Three Great Landlords

Elder Cangwu did not answer immediately, but instead looked at Lin Boyuan with a half-smile.

That gaze was calm and detached, resembling someone watching an opponent who temporarily changed the rules in a chess game; there was neither anger nor mockery, only a realization that had anticipated all of this long ago.

He stood with his hands behind his back in the Void Realm, his green robe gently fluttering in the spiritual wind. Although the cyan sword light filling the sky had dissipated, that sharp Sword Intent still lingered within three chi of his body, like a dormant dragon ready to unsheathe once again at any moment.

Lin Boyuan felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze, shaking his folding fan, and was about to speak again when Elder Cangwu spoke a step earlier.

"Fellow Daoist Lin said that Valley Master Qin Cangyan's cultivation being completely crippled can be considered paying the price."

Elder Cangwu's voice was not loud, yet it clearly spread across the entire Void Realm, and even those spectators hiding deep within the clouds heard it crystal clear.

"Those words are spoken quite lightly. Why did Valley Master Qin Cangyan make a move against Kunlun Disciples? Who is pulling the strings behind him? Fellow Daoist Lin cannot possibly not know."

Lin Boyuan's hand shaking the fan paused slightly, and the smile on his face stiffened for an instant.

Elder Cangwu's gaze crossed over Lin Boyuan and fell upon Mu Jiu, his tone remaining calm:

"Mu Jiu, your Mu Family members committed murder in broad daylight in Huaiyang City, attempting to kill my Kunlun Disciples."

"When this seat stepped in to punish them, you actually think you have reason? Just now, when the four of you besieged the three of us, why didn't I see the Fellow Daoists from the Xiao Family and the Lin Family come out to call a stop?"

Mu Jiu's complexion was livid, the joints of his fingers gripping the xuanyou spear clicking loudly.

Having lived for tens of thousands of years, when had he ever been questioned to his face like this? Yet he could not refute it.

Valley Master Qin Cangyan was a person of his Mu Family, and making a move against Kunlun Disciples was an ironclad fact. Even if he pushed all of this onto Valley Master Qin Cangyan acting on his own accord, not a single person present would believe it.

"Fellow Daoist Cangwu." Xiao Wanren spoke, his voice deeper than Lin Boyuan's, carrying a hint of the unique majesty belonging to someone who had occupied a high position for a long time.

"It is true that Valley Master Qin Cangyan is the valley master of an affiliated force of the Mu Family, but what he did today was not instigated by the Mu Family. Fellow Daoist Mu Jiu making a move was to uphold the face of the Mu Family, rather than to shield Valley Master Qin Cangyan. These two matters, Fellow Daoist should be able to distinguish clearly."

"Face?" Elder Cangwu chuckled softly, "Your Mu Family's face is face, but my Kunlun's face is not face? When Valley Master Qin Cangyan laid down a fatal blow against my Kunlun Disciples, did he ever think of Kunlun's face? When you, Mu Jiu, brought three Tribulation Transcenders to besiege three Kunlun Elders, did you ever think of Kunlun's face?"

Xiao Wanren furrowed his brows tightly, and was about to say something more when Elder Cangwu raised his hand to stop him, his tone abruptly turning cold:

"Fellow Daoist Xiao, Fellow Daoist Lin, today's matter originally has nothing to do with the Xiao Family and the Lin Family."

"The Mu Family failed to strictly govern their subordinates, condoning affiliated forces to make a move against my Kunlun Disciples, and further gathered four Tribulation Transcenders to besiege my Kunlun Elders. Naturally, Kunlun must settle this account clearly with the Mu Family. If the two of you insist on standing up for the Mu Family, then you will be making an enemy of Kunlun. Kunlun does not look for trouble, but neither are we afraid of it. Have the two of you thought it through clearly?"

Elder Cangwu's words echoed in the Void Realm, every single word like a sword, showing no mercy.

The expressions of Xiao Wanren and Lin Boyuan darkened in an instant.

The two of them were both Grand Elders occupying high positions within their respective families, having lived for tens of thousands of years; wherever they went, weren't they treated with respect?

Yet now, they were questioned by Elder Cangwu in front of a crowd of Cultivators as if he were reprimanding a Junior, asking if they had "thought it through clearly." This humiliation was even worse than Mu Jiu being publicly slapped in the face just moments ago.

The broadsword behind Xiao Wanren vibrated slightly, which was a sign of the Sword Intent and anger within his body resonating.

He took half a step forward, and the spiritual power around his body began to slowly climb at a concentrated and heavy rhythm, the pressure of the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence accumulating within his body like a volcano about to erupt.

He stared at Elder Cangwu, his voice hoarse and low, every word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth: "Elder Cangwu, this old man respects that you are a Kunlun Elder, which is why I have repeatedly exercised forbearance. But do not think that the Xiao Family is afraid of your Kunlun—"

Before he could finish speaking, a cold voice suddenly came from the horizon, like cold ice dropping into boiling water, abruptly cutting off the latter half of Xiao Wanren's sentence.

"This is Central Province, not the Southern Wilderness, and it is not Kunlun's turn to run wild here."

This voice was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable majesty and sternness, piercing through layers of spiritual light and Sword Intent, clearly entering the ears of everyone present.

Before the voice had even faded, the Void Realm above Huaiyang City suddenly split open with six cracks, and six beams of light descended from the sky, landing in front of Xiao Wanren, Mu Jiu, and the others.

The beams of light dispersed, and six figures slowly emerged.

The three leading figures stood side by side. The one right in the middle wore a dark brocade robe, with a tall stature and a stern expression as if carved by a knife and axe, carrying between his brows a unique majesty belonging to someone who had occupied a high position for a long time.

His double pupils were dark gold, with runes faintly flowing in the depths of his pupils, and the aura around his body was as deep as an abyss, shockingly being the cultivation of the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence.

However, the profound degree of that aura was far from comparable to ordinary Cultivators at the Peak of Tribulation Transcendence. This person was precisely the Mu Family head, Mu Tianye.

To his left was a middle-aged man dressed in a moon-white robe, with a refined appearance and an elegant demeanor, looking to be only in his early forties, but the vicissitudes of years settled in those eyes could not deceive anyone.

Hanging at his waist was a slender long sword, the scabbard carved all over with stellar patterns, faintly with starlight flowing.

The Xiao Family head Xiao Bieli, the most low-profile Family head among the Three Great Families, rarely made a move in front of others, but his sword was said to be something even the Holy Masters of the Five Great Sacred Lands dared not easily receive.

To Mu Tianye's right was an old man dressed in a cyan-gray Daoist robe, with white hair and beard and a thin face, holding a jade-bone folding fan with a landscape ink painting drawn on the fan surface.

He looked just like an ordinary wealthy old man, with no aura leaking from his body whatsoever. However, if one probed carefully with Divine Sense, they would find that the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi within three chi of his body was self-circulating at an extremely slow and exquisite rhythm, as if even the Heaven and Earth Laws were bowing down to him.

The Lin Family head Lin Muhan, the eldest Family head among the Three Great Families, had governed the Lin Family for over ten thousand years. In the hearts of the older generation of Cultivators in Central Province, his status was in no way inferior to the Holy Masters of the Five Great Sacred Lands.

Behind the three Family heads stood a Tribulation Transcender whose aura was equally deep; all of them were core figures of their respective families.

Six Tribulation Transcenders descended simultaneously, plus Xiao Wanren, Lin Boyuan, Lin Qingyin, and the four people from the Mu Family who had already arrived beforehand, the total number of Tribulation Transcenders from the Three Great Families at this place actually exceeded ten.

More than a dozen Tribulation auras intertwined together, causing the entire heaven and earth to change color. The clouds were completely shaken apart, and sunlight directly shone down upon the sky above Huaiyang City, yet it could not illuminate the gloom in anyone's heart.

The one who spoke was precisely Mu Tianye. He stood with his hands behind his back in the Void Realm, those dark golden eyes coldly gazing at Elder Cangwu, with no redundant emotions in his gaze, only an indifference frozen to the extreme, as if Elder Cangwu in his eyes was already a sword whose sharpness had been snapped.