As the mysterious figure approached, Yan Liangfei immediately tensed, his muscles coiled like ropes, utterly on edge! “Relax,” Zhang Yang murmured.

The mysterious man had made it perfectly clear through their secret sound transmission: fighting was not yet appropriate. A clash between them was destined for the future, a meeting Zhang Yang now looked forward to when the time was finally right for a satisfying battle!

Stunned into silence, Jiang Tianxia finally snapped back to reality. Seeing the figure about to depart, a belated, desperate shout tore from him: “Senior!

Senior, please don’t go! If you leave, what will become of my Jiang family!” With that, Jiang Tianxia charged forward recklessly, desperate to intercept the mysterious man.

This figure was their Jiang family’s one and only lifeline now! Yet, this last thread of salvation was scared off by a single challenge from Zhang Yang: "Dare you fight me?" Jiang Tianxia clung to a sliver of hope, racing forward, praying he could reach the mysterious man in time to change his mind and persuade him to help the Jiang family through their current crisis.

But Yan Liangfei was swift; he darted ahead, blocking Jiang Tianxia’s path, unleashing a ferocious punch that allowed no chance for pursuit! Jiang Tianxia had already cultivated to the third layer of Internal Energy, rendering Yan Liangfei’s punch insignificant to him normally.

However, driven by panic over the departing figure—fearing that one more moment’s delay would mean the mysterious man was truly gone—he evaded Yan Liangfei’s blow in extreme haste. At that precise juncture, the mysterious man and Zhang Yang brushed past each other.

In that fleeting instant, Zhang Yang transmitted a message via secret sound to the departing figure. “If what you took from the Jiang family was that half of the peerless Poison Scripture, then I will not let you leave.

A battle between us is still due!” “Relax, I have no interest in that Poison Scripture. It remains in Jiang Tianxia’s hands.

Today is simply not the day for you and I to clash.” The mysterious man laughed heartily and strode out the main gate. Zhang Yang ultimately chose not to stop him, trusting the man’s words, for one simple reason: a master of that caliber would never bother with such a lie.

Once outside the villa doors, the black cloak instantly merged with the surrounding mountain forest environment, and the man vanished entirely at the threshold, leaving no trace behind. Watching the mysterious figure dissolve into the night outside the villa, Jiang Tianxia, entangled and deprived of his last chance by Yan Liangfei, sank into a daze.

Yan Liangfei seized the moment, delivering another crushing blow—a solid fist slamming into Jiang Tianxia’s abdomen. Jiang Tianxia doubled over, spewing a mouthful of bitter phlegm, immediately followed by a full-force kick from Yan Liangfei that sent him sprawling!

“Jiang family, the time for your blood debt repayment has come!” Yan Liangfei, sensing vengeance within reach, couldn't help but let out a wild cry to the heavens. “You cannot touch my Jiang family!

If you wipe us out, the Huyuan family will never forgive you! My family has already allied with the Huyuan family—we are their allies!” In despair, Jiang Tianxia blurted this out, hoping to invoke the Huyuan family's name to make Yan Liangfei and Zhang Yang hesitate!

Jiang Tianxia was aware the Huyuan family had been destroyed; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so frequently contacting the Demonic Sect recently, nor would he have treated that mysterious man—who had once been so arrogant in his manor—with such deference. But what Jiang Tianxia did not know was that the one who destroyed the Huyuan family was the very young man standing before him.

Yan Liangfei knew of the Huyuan family’s fate, so he paid no mind to Jiang Tianxia’s words, stating resolutely, “Not one member of your Jiang family will escape!” Seeing Yan Liangfei completely unfazed by his mention of the Huyuan name, Jiang Tianxia realized the man must have already known of their demise, and his face instantly turned the color of ash. At that moment, the remaining Jiang family members gathered before the villa entrance saw the mysterious man gone and their patriarch, Jiang Tianxia, felled.

Since the mention of the Huyuan family elicited no reaction, they all understood that all hope for the Jiang family was lost. They scattered like loose sand, each scrambling desperately for escape routes, only to find Zhang Yang and the three great spirit beasts guarding the main exit.

Their only remaining path was back into the villa. Seeing the Jiang family members flee inside, Zhang Yang felt no further concern.

The villa had only one exit to the outside, the same path by which the Wang family—when they sought refuge here—were eventually surrounded and massacred by the Jiang family. Indeed, karma was cyclical; it seemed only a short while later that the same fate had befallen them.

In the blink of an eye, only Jiang Tianxia and Jiang Anguo, the two pillars of the contemporary Jiang generation, both at the third layer of Internal Energy, remained standing near the shattered doorway of the villa. And Jiang Tianxia, a respected master of the third layer, was beaten into complete helplessness by Yan Liangfei, a young man only at the early stage of the second layer of Internal Energy, who capitalized on the opportunity.

As for Jiang Anguo, he had been utterly terrified into abandoning any thought of resistance by Zhang Yang's previous attack using ethereal manifestation. He hadn't fled immediately, partly grieving the death of Jiang Sheng, and partly clinging to a faint, lingering impulse to fight that kept him rooted to the spot.

Without the formidable threat of the mysterious man, the remaining Jiang family held no one capable of posing a challenge. Now, Zhang Yang didn't even need to lift a finger.

With the immense threat of the mysterious man gone, the two youngsters, Flash and Shadow, were finally unrestrained and eager to strike after seeing Yan Liangfei take action. As Jiang Tianxia was struck down again, Shadow darted forward and blasted a stream of Internal Energy directly into Jiang Tianxia’s Dantian, instantly crippling him in a single blow.

Meanwhile, just as Jiang Anguo struggled to rise for a counterattack, Flash spat a cloud of toxic mist directly into his face. Jiang Anguo inhaled the mist instantly and entirely before he could react, his eyes rolled back, and he died on the spot from poisoning.

Crippled, Jiang Tianxia was no match for Yan Liangfei, who pinned him down and rained a flurry of over a dozen blows upon him until Jiang Tianxia was barely clinging to life. “Enough,” Zhang Yang intervened, stopping Yan Liangfei.

“I still have questions for him. Other Jiang family members fled into the villa.

I’ll send Flash and Shadow with you to capture them!” “Good!” Yan Liangfei cast a vicious glare at Jiang Tianxia before rising, staring at the hollow interior of the villa, and gritting out, “Jiang family, I will make you pay in blood!” With that, Flash and Shadow followed Yan Liangfei and rushed into the villa. Zhang Yang then turned to Chase Wind.

“Guard the entrance. Don't let anyone slip out.” Chase Wind lifted his head, retreated to the main door, and watched the surroundings vigilantly.

Not even a single fly would escape! Zhang Yang crouched down beside the dying Jiang Tianxia, a cold smirk playing on his lips.

Now it was time to settle the scores between the Jiang family and Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang needed to learn from Jiang Tianxia exactly who dared poison Mi Xue.

Jiang Tianxia was so close to death that he lacked the strength even to beg for mercy, making any answer impossible. But this didn't stump Zhang Yang.

He merely pressed several of Jiang Tianxia’s pressure points and infused a trace of Internal Energy into his body, stirring the man’s potential and jolting him back to consciousness as if by a final, brilliant flare. This technique inflicted tremendous harm on the body; even for a master at the fourth layer of Internal Energy, it was equivalent to draining one's lifespan, guaranteeing severe, permanent aftereffects—not only crippling their power but drastically shortening their life.

For Jiang Tianxia, a mere third-layer master, enduring the repercussions of such a technique was unthinkable. However, this was outside Zhang Yang's consideration.

He revived Jiang Tianxia only to extract the information he needed; whether Jiang Tianxia lived or died afterward would be left to Yan Liangfei for his revenge. The now-conscious Jiang Tianxia saw Zhang Yang and trembled with terror, attempting a desperate scramble away.

But Zhang Yang seized his collar and asked, devoid of emotion, “Tell me—did you use the Yin Flower Poison on a girl named Mi Xue?” “Mi Xue? Yin Flower Poison?” Jiang Tianxia paused, then nodded frantically, “I know, I know!

Please, if you spare me, I’ll tell you everything you want to know!” Was Jiang Tianxia trying to bargain? Zhang Yang frowned slightly.

Too bothersome; he opted instead to use the Soul Bewitching Technique to ensure Jiang Tianxia wouldn't try to trick him or hold back information. Under the spell of the technique, Jiang Tianxia immediately became compliant and confessed: “Yes, our Jiang family was entrusted by someone to inflict the Yin Flower Poison on a girl named Mi Xue.” Zhang Yang’s eyes sharpened.

His suspicion that the Jiang family was behind the poisoning of Mi Xue—done so stealthily that he hadn't noticed—was confirmed. The Jiang family had no known feud with Mi Xue; poisoning her must have been done at another's behest.

With this thought, Zhang Yang immediately demanded fiercely: “Say it! Who entrusted you!” “It was a young man surnamed Zhang.

That young man claimed to be a descendant of the Medical Saint Zhang family…” Jiang Tianxia’s reply far exceeded Zhang Yang’s expectations. He never imagined that the person who hired the Jiang family to poison Mi Xue would be a young man claiming descent from the Zhang family?

“Where is he now?” “He is in the prison cells of the underground water dungeon beneath the villa… After we tricked him out of that half of the peerless Poison Scripture he possessed, we locked that young man in the water dungeon.” “And where is that peerless Poison Scripture now?” “Inside the villa’s Treasure Pavilion…” “The Treasure Pavilion? Where is that located?” “It’s right…” Before Jiang Tianxia could finish, his eyes suddenly snapped wide, his body convulsed violently, and he fell unconscious.

Zhang Yang checked his breath: Jiang Tianxia’s potential had been entirely exhausted, unable to sustain his consciousness any longer. Jiang Tianxia slowly closed his eyes, devoid of any remaining vitality, utterly dead.