While Scarlet rested peacefully within Blazing Sun Hall, the atmosphere elsewhere was anything but peaceful.
Morvain Family Estate, Azure Maple City
Inside the Matriarch Hall, the Morvain Family Matriarch sat upon the head seat, her expression cold and unreadable. The family elders occupied the seats on either side of the hall.
Kneeling before them were two women.
One was a family elder.
The other was her seventeen year old daughter.
[Author: Read Chapter 0 to understand the story better.]
The hall was deathly silent.
The Matriarch’s icy gaze fell upon the kneeling elder.
"Do you know your crime?"
The elder lowered her head until it nearly touched the floor.
"Yes, Matriarch."
"I mobilized the Dead Warriors without your permission."
Her voice trembled.
"I accept my punishment."
The Matriarch’s expression remained unchanged.
"Is that all?"
The elder froze.
The Matriarch’s aura suddenly swept through the hall, causing everyone to feel a suffocating pressure.
"You secretly deployed the family’s Dead Warriors."
"Not only did you act without my authorization, but every Dead Warriors you sent was killed."
"Their Life Tokens shattered inside our ancestral hall."
"I was forced to investigate the matter personally."
Her voice grew colder with every word.
"Tell me..."
"Why did you send them on a mission without informing me?"
"Or..."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Were you colluding with another family to weaken the Morvain Family?"
The elder’s face turned pale.
"I wouldn’t dare!"
"I would never betray the Morvain Family!"
She hurriedly kowtowed.
"I only sent the Dead Warriors to eliminate Scarlet Morvain."
"I believed she might one day become a threat to the family."
"But I truly don’t know how they died."
"I swear it upon my life."
The hall fell silent.
Even the other elders looked shocked.
The Matriarch stared at her for a long moment before speaking again.
"You sent assassins after Scarlet?"
Her voice carried neither anger nor surprise.
Only disappointment.
"Why?"
The elder clenched her fists.
"Scarlet is nothing but a waste."
"She cannot cultivate, yet she occupied the position of Young Miss for years."
"My daughter possesses far greater talent, yet she received fewer cultivation resources."
"I only wanted to remove the obstacle standing in her path."
Beside her, the young woman trembled under the Matriarch’s overwhelming aura, too frightened to raise her head.
The Matriarch’s eyes grew colder.
"So, for your daughter’s future..."
"You were willing to murder your own clanswoman."
The elder lowered her head in silence.
Just then, another elder rose from her seat.
"Matriarch."
"I believe this matter does not warrant severe punishment."
The Matriarch looked toward her.
The elder continued,
"Scarlet has already been expelled from the Morvain Family."
"Whether she lives or dies no longer concerns us."
"Punishing one of our own elders over an outsider would only weaken the family."
She gestured toward the kneeling young woman.
"Moreover, Elder Rhea’s daughter is one of our family’s most talented juniors."
"At only seventeen years old, she has already reached the Fourth Stage of Qi Refining."
"If she continues cultivating diligently, she has a good chance of reaching the Foundation Building Realm before the age of thirty."
Several elders nodded in agreement.
"That’s right."
"We shouldn’t sacrifice a promising junior for a discarded waste."
"Scarlet’s talent was ordinary from the very beginning."
The Matriarch listened in silence.
She knew Scarlet possessed little talent for cultivation.
The only reason Scarlet had been appointed Young Miss was because of her late father, who had rendered great service to the Morvain Family.
Now he was gone.
Scarlet had been expelled.
Whether she lived or died no longer affected the family’s future.
After a long silence, the Matriarch finally spoke.
"I will show mercy."
The kneeling elder’s eyes brightened.
"However..."
"Mobilizing the Dead Warriors without the Matriarch’s permission is a serious offense."
"You are stripped of six months’ salary and forbidden from issuing orders to the Dead Knights."
"If there is another offense..."
"My punishment will not be so lenient."
The elder immediately bowed until her forehead touched the floor.
"Thank you for your mercy, Matriarch."
The Matriarch waved her hand dismissively.
"Leave."
The elder and her daughter hurriedly withdrew from the hall.
As the doors closed behind them, the Matriarch looked toward the mountain range beyond the estate.
For some reason...
She had a faint feeling that the Morvain Family had just lost something far more valuable than they realized.
After the elder and her daughter left, silence once again settled over the Matriarch Hall.
The remaining elders exchanged uncertain glances.
At that moment, the First Elder slowly rose from her seat.
"Matriarch."
"I believe there is another matter we must discuss."
The Matriarch looked at her.
"Speak."
The First Elder bowed respectfully.
"The Dead Warriors."
"They were all experienced assassins. Their leader had already reached the Eighth Stage of Qi Refining."
"Yet every one of them died."
"Not even a single body was recovered."
The atmosphere inside the hall immediately grew heavy.
Another elder frowned.
"Could Scarlet have defeated them?"
"Impossible."
The First Elder shook her head.
"Scarlet is only at the First Stage of Qi Refining."
"Even if she fought with her life on the line, she couldn’t defeat a single Dead Warriors, much less an entire squad."
An elderly woman sitting near the end of the hall narrowed her eyes.
"Then someone else intervened."
Everyone fell silent.
The possibility sent a chill through the room.
The Matriarch lightly tapped the armrest of her chair.
"What did the investigation reveal?"
The First Elder stepped forward.
"We inspected the battlefield."
"There were no signs of a prolonged fight."
"The Dead Warriors were eliminated almost instantly."
She paused before continuing.
"The surrounding rocks were scorched black, yet no ordinary spiritual flame could have produced such destruction."
"The traces left behind suggest an extremely powerful fire cultivator."
A ripple of surprise spread through the hall.
"A fire cultivator?"
"Could it have been an elder from another sect?"
"No."
The First Elder shook her head.
"If an elder from one of the surrounding sects had intervened, there would have been no need to erase every trace."
Another elder frowned.
"Then who was it?"
No one had an answer.
The Matriarch slowly closed her eyes.
"Continue investigating."
"I want the identity of whoever killed the Dead Warriors."
"If such an expert has appeared near Azure Maple City, the Morvain Family cannot afford to ignore them."
"As you command."
The elders responded in unison.
***
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