The clans still had not provided the money yet.
The silver and signed agreements were still in the process of being gathered, with frantic messengers running between warehouses and hidden vaults.
However, they had delivered the list exactly as demanded.
The detailed roster of loyalists from both the Zhao branch and House Peng was handed over in sealed scrolls.
Only the heads of each faction knew the full extent of the betrayal that had occurred.
The lower-ranking members and ordinary loyalists had no idea how the Wan Clan had uncovered their names so completely and swiftly.
Before the sun set, Tianqi’s forces struck.
The operation was executed with lethal efficiency.
Tianqi had mobilized his most trusted guards, blending them seamlessly with Mu Ronghua’s hidden Silent Lotus assassins.
He believed the shadowy operatives were simply elite clan forces loyal to the family as a whole.
He had no idea they answered exclusively to his mother.
In the sprawling Zhao branch compound on the eastern side of Jiangling City, the first strikes began as shadows lengthened across the courtyards.
Silent Lotus assassins moved like ghosts, slipping over walls and through servant passages with practiced ease.
One by one, key loyalists were eliminated.
A mid-level steward who had coordinated the debt demands was found slumped over his desk, a thin needle in his neck.
Two guards who had accompanied Feng to the Wan Clan hall were cut down silently in the armory.
The Zhao branch head himself survived only because Tianqi had ordered the most valuable targets left alive for now, but his closest advisors were not so fortunate.
Screams began to echo as the attacks became more overt.
Loyal guards under Tianqi’s direct command stormed the main gates, clashing with Zhao defenders in coordinated assaults.
Steel rang against steel.
Wan Clan warriors, empowered by recent cultivation resources, fought with disciplined fury.
Within minutes, the outer defenses crumbled.
Heads of prominent loyalists were severed cleanly and placed into ornate wooden boxes lined with silk, each box bearing the Wan Clan emblem.
Similar scenes unfolded across House Peng’s properties.
The Peng Patriarch’s main residence became a site of controlled chaos.
Silent Lotus members infiltrated the inner chambers, eliminating hidden supporters who had pushed for the alliance with Zhao.
Peng family guards fell one after another.
The Peng Patriarch, already broken from the earlier confrontation, watched in horror from a window as boxes began piling up at his gates.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, hundreds of ornate boxes had been delivered.
They were left in neat rows at the main entrances of both the Zhao branch headquarters and the Peng family estate.
Each box contained the head of a loyalist, carefully preserved and accompanied by a small note written in elegant script:
“The Wan Clan does not tolerate threats.
Pay what is owed or more will follow.
— Patriarch Tianqi”
The reactions across Jiangling City were immediate and explosive.
At the Zhao branch compound, chaos erupted as servants and surviving guards opened the boxes.
Wails of grief and shouts of rage filled the air.
The Zhao branch head stormed out, his face purple with fury as he stared at the rows of boxes.
“That devil!
He dares send us the heads of our own people?
The main family must be informed at once!
This cannot stand!”
One of his surviving advisors trembled as he examined the notes.
“How did they know?
Only we knew the full list.
The lower ranks had no idea their names were even recorded.
This is impossible.”
The branch head slammed his fist against a pillar.
“It does not matter how.
The Wan Clan has declared war.
We will crush them.”
Yet beneath the anger, fear was spreading rapidly.
Many lower members of the Zhao branch, upon hearing the news, began questioning their loyalty.
The swiftness and precision of the strikes showed a level of intelligence and ruthlessness that terrified them.
At the Peng family estate, the reaction was even more devastating.
The Peng Patriarch collapsed to his knees when the boxes arrived, recognizing the faces of his most trusted supporters.
Lady Peng and Peng Mei, still held by the Wan Clan, were not present to witness it, but the remaining family members were horrified.
Whispers spread like wildfire among the servants and minor branches.
One of Peng’s younger cousins muttered in shock, “They knew everything.
Every name. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
How?
We were so careful.
The Wan Clan must have spies everywhere.”
The Peng Patriarch, tears streaming down his face, could only whisper hoarsely, “We must pay.
We must pay everything they ask.
My family…
my daughter…
they are still in their hands.”
News of the mass executions spread through Jiangling City like a storm.
Merchants closed their shops early.
Rumors flew from teahouses to wine halls.
The Wan Clan, once seen as weakened by internal turmoil, had struck back with terrifying decisiveness.
Many neutral parties who had been watching the conflict began reconsidering their positions.
Some smaller houses quietly sent messages of renewed loyalty to the Wan Clan, while others distanced themselves from Zhao and Peng entirely.
In the Wan Clan main residence, Tianqi stood on a balcony overlooking the city as reports came in.
Mu Ronghua stood beside him, her hand on his arm, her elegant face serene.
She had personally overseen parts of the Silent Lotus operation, though Tianqi remained unaware of her exclusive control over them.
“The message has been delivered clearly,” Tianqi said, his voice calm.
“They will bring the money by morning, or we escalate further.”
Mu Ronghua smiled softly, her obsessive love shining through.
“You handled it perfectly, my son.
They underestimated you.
Now they understand the cost of challenging our pureblood vision.”
XXXX
After their passionate union and as Tianqi fell into a deep, satisfied sleep, Mu Ronghua slipped silently from their bed.
She wrapped a dark silk robe around her elegant naked body; her skin still flushed from their earlier intimacy.
With one last tender look at her sleeping son, she left the chambers and descended into the hidden prison beneath the manor.
The underground cells were cold and dimly lit by flickering torches.
The captured Peng women, Lady Peng and her daughter Peng Mei, were stripped completely naked and chained to iron rings on the stone walls.
Their bodies trembled in the chill air, marked by earlier rough handling but still largely intact.
Mu Ronghua entered the chamber alone, her graceful steps echoing softly.
She had dismissed all guards, wanting this moment to be entirely hers.
Her elegant face remained calm, almost serene, but her alluring eyes burned with cold hatred for anyone who dared threaten her son.
She approached the two naked women slowly, her dark silk robe whispering against the stone floor.
The pearl-flower hairpin still adorned her long dark hair, giving her an aura of refined cruelty.
“You dared to look at my son with ambition,” Mu Ronghua said softly, her voice like velvet wrapped around a blade.
“You thought you could seduce him, use him, take even a fraction of what belongs only to me.
For that, you will suffer.”
Lady Peng whimpered, her mature body shaking.
“Please…
Matriarch…
we meant no harm.
It was politics…
only politics…”
Mu Ronghua’s smile was gentle and terrifying.
“Politics?
You offered your daughter like a whore to my Tianqi.
You dreamed of power through him.
No one touches what is mine.”
She began methodically.
First, she used thin silver needles, inserting them with precise elegance into pressure points along Lady Peng’s arms and legs.
The woman screamed as sharp, burning pain radiated through her nerves without breaking skin.
Mu Ronghua worked in silence for several minutes, her movements graceful, almost dance-like, as she adjusted the needles to maximize discomfort.
“You are nothing but a tool now,” Mu Ronghua whispered lovingly, as if speaking to a child.
“Every scream you make is for my son’s safety.
I do this because I love him more than life itself.
He is my everything.
My blood, my heart, my eternal partner.
Peng Mei sobbed uncontrollably beside her mother.
“Please stop…
we will tell you everything…”
Mu Ronghua turned to the younger woman, her eyes softening with false kindness.
“Of course you will, my dear.
But first, you must understand the depth of your mistake.” She picked up a thin leather strap and began methodical strikes across Peng Mei’s breasts and stomach, each one precise and controlled.
The girl cried out with every impact, her naked body jerking against the chains.
“I watched you at the banquet,” Mu Ronghua continued, her voice remaining soft and obsessive.
“The way you looked at my son.
The hunger in your eyes.
You wanted to steal him from me.
No one steals from me.
Tianqi is mine.
His body, his seed, his future empire — all of it belongs to his mother.
I carried him.
I raised him.
I purified him with my own body.
You are nothing.”
She alternated between the two women for hours.
Needles, straps, carefully applied pressure points, and whispered psychological torment.
Mu Ronghua extracted every detail about House Peng’s secret alliances, hidden assets, and plans with the Zhao branch.
Each piece of information was met with soft praise followed by fresh pain.
Lady Peng broke first, sobbing out names, locations, and contingencies.
“Please…
no more…
my daughter…
she is innocent…”
Mu Ronghua stroked Lady Peng’s tear-stained cheek almost tenderly.
“Innocent?
She spread her legs with her eyes for my son.
She is as guilty as you.
But do not worry.
I will keep you both alive.
My son needs you for now.
That is the only reason you still breathe.”
Peng Mei’s turn came again.
Mu Ronghua used a special herbal tincture that heightened sensitivity, applying it to the younger woman’s most intimate areas before resuming the strap.
Peng Mei’s screams became hoarse as waves of burning pain and unwanted pleasure mixed torturously.
“I love him more than you could ever imagine,” Mu Ronghua whispered as she worked.
“Every night I take him inside me.
Every night our essences merge in sacred union.
He calls my name when he releases.
He belongs to me completely.
You will never have even a memory of him without pain.”
The torture continued deep into the night.
Mu Ronghua remained elegant and composed throughout, her naked body beneath the dark robe occasionally revealed as she moved.
Her obsessive dialogue never stopped, a constant stream of love for Tianqi intertwined with cold punishment for the Peng women.
“You will never threaten my son again.
You will serve as examples.
The Wan Clan’s pureblood empire will rise, and you will help fuel it with your suffering and your secrets.”
By the time she finished, both women were broken, trembling, and completely cooperative.
Mu Ronghua stepped back, her face still calm and beautiful, only a light sheen of sweat on her skin from the long session.
She smiled softly.
“Rest now.
Mother will take good care of you…
for my son’s sake.”
End of Chapter 18
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