But the news that compounded their misery arrived in quick succession! From other directions, reports continued to pour in, all of them terrible; it seemed the entire continent was being engulfed by a storm of chaos.
Since their suppression in the previous incident, the foundational livelihoods of both the Sikong and Duanmu families faced imminent collapse. A portion of their vital businesses was monopolized by the wayward descendants who had betrayed the clans, while the rest fell into the hands of long-standing rivals or forces whose origins remained unknown. In short, these two great families were stripped bare, not owning a single shop or profitable enterprise, plunging them into utter destitution, teetering on the brink of ruin!
Perhaps it was precisely because they were at rock bottom that the subsequent turnaround would be so much more shocking. In the span of just a few days, the entire situation inverted instantaneously!
Every business originally belonging to the two families, now forcefully seized, suffered devastating strikes from a mysterious power! Anyone who dared to usurp the heritage of the Sikong and Duanmu houses met with swift, bloody retribution; not a single offender was spared, showing absolutely no leniency!
On the day these events unfolded, the patriarchs of the Sikong and Duanmu clans had irrefutable alibis and evidence proving their complete non-involvement in this earth-shattering upheaval. The remaining members, even if they harbored the desire, certainly lacked the capability. Although these two families were initially the primary suspects, the matter remained an unsolved mystery. Even the discerning could see that with the meager strength remaining to them, they possessed neither the will nor the means. This pointed to a truly intriguing power pulling the strings.
Among those whose holdings were destroyed, the most tragic figures were the traitorous scions from the two clans. All their corpses were hung up to dry in public view. Though no explicit reason was given, such a gruesome spectacle was a silent declaration to the world about something.
Furthermore, those former business partners who had been the first to heed the call and cease dealings with the two great families were entirely wiped out! In less than two weeks, similar, baffling homicides occurred ceaselessly across every corner of the continent! Every location and every incident was steeped in bloodshed and carnage, each tale dripping with unbearable tragedy!
The ruthlessness and finality of the methods employed this time were unprecedented!
Those who carried out the attacks merely killed; they never stated a reason, nor did they ever reveal their objective! Vast fortunes and mountains of gold and silver were cast aside like debris, seemingly serving only to proclaim a single ideology: I kill because I wish to kill! I do what I want to do! There is no reason, and you must not ask for one. As for the cause and purpose, stretch your imagination to its absolute limit and figure it out for yourselves—however you see fit.
Yet, the dead shared one common trait: every single one of them had acted against the Sikong and Duanmu families—either by framing them or participating in conspiracies targeting them! Although the perpetrators remained silent, the corpses themselves told the entire story!
Thus, while the Sikong and Duanmu families were still reeling in confusion, they inexplicably discovered that the world order seemed to have shifted once again.
Just a few months prior, they had plummeted overnight from esteemed, powerful clans to destitute pariahs struggling to survive, all without any discernible cause or reason. Their clients and partners had resolutely severed all ties and then proceeded to crush them further.
Now, only months later, the tide had turned again! This time, the reversal was equally inexplicable and without rhyme or reason, perhaps even more bewildering than the last: all their former partners, and even complete strangers, suddenly flocked back!
They first presented extravagant gifts as apologies, then proposed renewed cooperative ventures, each one adopting an attitude of humility and reverence far surpassing the ease of their previous collaborations. The terms they offered for partnership were not business deals at all—they were practically handing over wealth in massive piles!
Everyone shared a distinct realization: even the Three Great Sacred Lands, while formidable, would not readily resort to murder and annihilation. But these current actors—they killed on the slightest disagreement! Which was the greater threat?
People now spoke and acted solely based on the moods of the Sikong and Duanmu families. Merchants, previously powerful and rich, now behaved like groveling curs, bowing and scraping, even addressing the gatekeepers of the two families as "Master."
They lived in fear that even a hint of disrespect would immediately invite catastrophe and total ruin.
This bizarre situation brought immense satisfaction to the two families who had suffered such humiliation, feeling they finally had someplace to unload the subservience they had been forced to feign—the feeling was pure ecstasy!
If a person has never truly lost something, they can never appreciate it. If one has never tasted poverty, they will never know the difficulty of earning wealth. If one has never been scorned, they will never understand how precious true respect is!
To experience possession, then loss, and then to regain it all—that sensation was more profound than living an entirely new life! It caused a fundamental, seismic shift in one’s perspective!
This was the state of the two families now!
If these two families had previously been considered mere second-tier clans, this ordeal transformed them like a phoenix rising from the ashes, radiating a brilliant new guise as they surged toward the rank of Super Clans!
Moreover, because of the previous incident, all the second-generation wastrels and base parasites within the clans had been purged, purifying their ranks and strengthening their cohesion immeasurably! It seemed that within those few months of adversity, they had amassed an inexhaustible foundation!
And this foundation, put plainly, was: wealth achieved only after experiencing poverty.
Indeed, life's greatest treasures are precisely the understanding of nobility and poverty! Only these two elements provide the strongest impetus for personal growth—or perhaps, poverty itself is the greatest treasure!
For an individual or a family, anticipated poverty is not terrifying! Even generational poverty is manageable, for one becomes accustomed to hardship and destitution. But to be granted wealth and power, only to be hurled back into poverty and ruin from the pinnacle of glory—that is the most fatal and miserable fate!
The two families had endured exactly such an ordeal, yet they stood firm, reclaiming their riches and authority. Consequently, they cherished everything more deeply than anyone else. From that point forward, the Sikong and Duanmu families became the two clans renowned for the strictest discipline and the most rapid development across the continent, establishing themselves as Super Clans at the apex of the Xuanxuan Continent!
Years later, the Duanmu and Sikong families, alongside the Dongfang family, would achieve total ascendancy, dividing the realm into three dominant powers!
North Duanmu, South Sikong, and Dongfang sharing the unblemished name!
It could be said that this entire series of events spanned less than a year, but the repeated, violent reversals forged these three colossal empires! Of course, that is a tale for later.
Within this period of upheaval, for every group that was elevated, there were those who met disaster—specifically, those who immediately seized control of the Jun family's businesses after the Jun clan retreated. The Jun family had withdrawn to avoid the immediate conflict, but they had no intention of abandoning their foundation. The Jun family’s enterprises would forever remain theirs. Those who took control of the businesses after the Jun withdrawal remained staunch loyalists to the Jun clan.
However, a certain faction, convinced the Jun family would never stage a comeback, attacked and devoured the Jun family’s assets almost overnight! In this wave of chaos, these usurpers suffered a relentless purge—the most absolute of all!
Take, for instance, the Huang family of Tianxiang. They were a third-rate power, once enemies of the Jun and Gudu families, aligned with the Yellow Sun faction of the Dreamlike Blood Sea. When the Jun family first went into seclusion, they aggressively encroached upon Jun family holdings, earning great acclaim during that time. Yet, amidst these subsequent changes, they were purged with the most devastating thoroughness. Their entire clan was annihilated, and even their ancestral grounds were scorched into barren white earth.
Those who had taken over the Cheng Bao Hall in Fengxue Silver City also met their end!
In the span of a mere month! Just one month!
The entire Xuanxuan Continent was submerged in an unprecedented storm of blood and terror; everyone walked in fear for their lives!
The Yutang Empire, seeing an opportunity after the Jun family’s withdrawal and the change in Tianxiang’s imperial power, launched an invasion. While the two nations were locked in fierce combat, upon hearing of the recent bloody incidents, the Yutang Empire immediately withdrew its forces! They abandoned all previously captured cities and retreated with lightning speed, like an airborne legion, back into Yutang territory.
They didn't even bother reclaiming their own military camps.
A preliminary, rough estimate suggested that within this single month, excluding killings by the Dongfang family's assassins, excluding other acts of revenge, and excluding the inter-state war—purely from these inexplicable events—no fewer than twenty thousand lives were lost!
Twenty thousand! This number might not seem vast at first glance, but these casualties were all formidable martial heroes renowned for their mastery of Xuan Craft!
Among them, the lowest cultivation base reached the peak of Silver Profound Realm!
The entire world, from south to north, from east to west, underwent a massive, bloody baptism!
And the perpetrators of these acts were none of them ordinary individuals. They operated in coordinated groups, like a plague of locusts descending, ensuring that anyone connected to the preceding matters was killed without discussion!
Another shared characteristic: they moved like the wind, struck with ruthless efficiency, landed the killing blow instantly, and vanished. When investigators looked east, several more incidents would simultaneously erupt in the west, south, and north.
Faced with such brutal developments, the Three Great Sacred Lands acted immediately in concert to respond. Innumerable affiliated clans were mobilized, but using any affiliated clan was tantamount to exposing that clan's ties to the Sacred Lands. Thus, tracing the lineage became straightforward; not a single innocent person was mistakenly implicated...
This was equivalent to delivering a resounding slap across the faces of the Three Great Sacred Lands!
And not just one slap, but a relentless barrage, one after another! The annihilation of several affiliated clans counted as several strikes!
What was truly maddening was that despite the massive death toll and the multitude of mysterious assassins, not a single perpetrator could be identified or apprehended through any investigation!
This fact filled the members of the Three Great Sacred Lands with incandescent rage!
And at that precise moment, a distress signal from Cheng City arrived, with perfect, chilling coincidence.