Chapter 1230: The Arrogant Tao Family
In the center of the clan, a grand hall over twenty meters tall stood silently. The entire hall was an earthen color. It had been created by a Saint Ruler using his abilities to control the earth, creating it from soil in a very short amount of time. Quite a powerful energy was hidden inside.
At this moment, several Saint Ruler elders of the Turtle clan gathered in an extremely spacious room of the hall in worry. Every single one of them had things weighing on their hearts, filling the room with a heavy atmosphere.
“What do you think the clan should do now? Do we give up all the crystal mines that used to belong to us, or do we continue to develop here and face against the constant threat of the Tao family moving against us,” the fourth elder sternly inquired.
“No, we definitely can’t relinquish the crystal mines that used to belong to us. All these mines are a huge resource for the clan. It’s the only thing that can support our vigorous growth. If we give them up now, it’ll be even more difficult to get them back in the future. Since a hall elder of the Sea Goddess Hall stepped forward to stop our battle with the Tao family, I believe the Tao family won’t attack us so easily in the future,” the sixth elder disagreed right after the fourth elder finished speaking.
“Hmph. Are you relying on the hall elders to always stand by our side, sixth elder? The ancestor of the Tao family, Tao Zhengtian, will reach the peak of the 16th Star soon. He will become a hall elder sooner or later. Once he takes that position, he can move against our clan without the slightest worry. That day will become the true end of our clan,” the fifth elder coldly snorted. He disagreed with the sixth elder very much.
The fourth elder gently sighed because of what the fifth elder had said. He added, “It’s a pity that the ruler’s not present. If he was, then all would be fine. Only he can determine the rise or decline of our clan.”
“The ancestor of the Tao family is just far too powerful, and he’s even joined with the Moxi clan through marriage, which makes him even more influential in the sea realm. Coupled with the fact that he’s formed an alliance with over ten large clans, the number of 15th and 16th Star experts they’ve gathered is not something our clan can deal with. We probably still won’t have the power to contend with the Tao family even if the ruler returns…” The seventh elder added in a heavy voice.
The fourth elder’s expression changed, and he sternly looked at the seventh elder. He berated, “Seventh elder, how can you talk about the ruler like that. As an elder of the Turtle clan, you can lose confidence in yourself, but you should never lose confidence in the ruler because he is the greatness of the Turtle clan, the person who holds all the hope of the Turtle clan. We are only truly powerful when we have him watching over us. We need to stand firm. Once the ruler returns, we’ll be able to recover from this situation.”
The seventh elder immediately fell silent. He lowered his head. The ruler of the Turtle clan never stayed in the clan for very long, but he had established a great impression among the elders.
“R- report…” At this moment, a guard called out from afar as he rushed over in a hurry.
Seeing how impatient the guard was, the elders immediately stopped their discussion. One of them stared at the guard and heavily asked, “What’s happened? Has the experts of the Tao family come?”
“N- no… elders, the r- ruler has returned. The ruler has returned…” The guard huffed. He was extremely excited.
“What! The ruler’s returned?” The elders present beamed with delight. One of them chuckled aloud and said with a clear voice, “Everyone, let’s go welcome the ruler.”
“No need, I’m already here,” Jian Chen’s deep voice rang through the hall right after the elder spoke. Before Jian Chen had finished speaking, he had already appeared before everyone with Nubis and Tie Ta along with a great group of clansmen. The clansmen stopped outside the hall while joy and excitement from the bottom of their hearts was plastered across their faces.
“We greet the ruler!” The elders of the Turtle clan immediately bowed to Jian Chen. They were all emotional where even their voices trembled slightly.
Jian Chen walked up to the throne and sat down while the elders stood in a row below in a courteous manner.
Nubis and Tie Ta were much more relaxed in comparison. They knew that Jian Chen had important matters to deal with, so they did not disturb him. Instead, they began to stroll around the place by themselves.
“Tell me exactly what has happened. Why has the Tao family attacked the Turtle clan without any reason?” Jian Chen coldly asked with a sunken expression.
The fourth elder immediately stepped forward. He politely explained the situation to Jian Chen, “Ruler, I believe you know that the Turtle clan has been working on taking back the crystals mines that had been taken from us after our strength had increased. Originally, we had taken back most of them with only a few better, larger mines still in the possession of a few large clans. They persisted in not returning them, so in order to resist the Turtle clan, they’ve even formed an alliance with the Tao family.”
“The remaining mines are just far too important to us, and they belonged to us originally, so we never gave up on them. Hence, many conflicts occurred between the experts of the Turtle clan and the alliance, causing both sides to suffer casualties. However, since we had five 16th Star experts guarding us, we were in no way weaker than the alliance, so we were locked in a stalemate.”
“But this balance in power was disrupted a month ago. The Tao family has joined with another peak-level organization of the Sea Goddess Hall, the Moxi clan, through marriage. They have two great experts, one at the 16th Star and another at the 15th Star. The 16th Star ancestor of the Moxi clan is almost as powerful as Tao Zhengtian. The alliance completely exceeds us in strength with the participation of the Moxi clan.”
“Soon afterward, the Tao family sent an envoy to our clan and brazenly declared that we had seized many crystal mines without any fear and had broken the peace within the territory of the Sea Goddess Hall because we had the support of a few 16th Star experts. He also demanded us to hand over all our crystal mines as well as pay for the losses they had recently suffered, or the Tao family would unite all the clans and organizations we had abused to come teach us a lesson.”
Reaching there, the fourth elder’s voice had already become filled with an anger that he struggled to suppress. His eyes were about to burst into flames. Even the other elders in the hall were extremely furious as well, and their faces had paled.
Jian Chen’s face sank even more as he sat on the throne. Heavy killing intent had already appeared in his eyes. He had been angered by the actions of the Tao family.
Ignoring the fact that the crystal mines all used to belong to the Turtle clan, just the demand from the Tao family that stated that the clan had to hand over all their crystal mines had already crossed the line for Jian Chen, not to mention that they had even demanded the Turtle clan to make up for the losses that they had suffered in recent years. The Tao family could no longer be described as arrogant and rampant. They had gone overboard, far overboard.
The fourth elder recovered and continued, “How could we agree to such an overboard demand right off the bat? As a result, the alliance began to launch a large-scale attack on our clan three days ago, but we could do nothing since the alliance’s strength completely exceeded our own. Even with Qin Dou, Qing Yixuan, Lan Jing, Xin Pian, and Mochas, all experts of the 16th Star, we were still unable to stop the attack from the Tao family. The battle lasted for just half a day, and all the five of our 16th Star experts became heavily injured by the people of the alliance. In the end, the battle only reached a conclusion because a hall elder had made it in time.
“Indeed. The Tao family wanted to use the power of the alliance to wipe us out three days ago. If the hall elder had not forcefully interfered and protected us, we probably would have been wiped out by the Tao family already. Ruler, we need to take revenge for this,” said the fifth elder righteously.
“Ruler, our clan sustained extremely heavy injuries in the battle. Half of the clansmen have passed away, over thirty thousand, and we’ve lost four elders. We can’t just do nothing over this debt of blood.”
“Ruler, please lead us…”
“Ruler, you must let us pay back the debt of blood.”
Every single elder within the hall resentfully spoke through clenched teeth. All of their eyes burned with the roaring flames of revenge.
“How many 15th and 16th Star experts are there among the alliance?” Jian Chen coldly asked. He would obviously take revenge for the Turtle clan, but he needed to have a proper understanding of the Tao family’s strength first.
Jian Chen could already completely ignore Saint Rulers. He cared more about how many Saint Kings the Tao family had.
The elders all hesitated slightly. Then the fourth elder replied, “Ruler, the Tao family currently has four 15th Star experts and at least two 16th Star experts. They would be the two ancestors of the Tao family and the Moxi clan.”
“No, there was another expert who matched up against Tai Dou in a stalemate other than the Tao family ancestor and the Moxi clan ancestor. There should be at least one other 16th Star expert.”
“I don’t think all of you saw it, but when the battle erupted, there was another person in the alliance who watched on. I could not discern their strength. He did not take part in the battle. I am guessing that he’s a 16th Star expert as well,” added another elder.
Jian Chen frowned. He discovered that it was indeed rather difficult for the Saint Ruler elders to discuss the level of Saint Kings.
“Stop rambling. Bring me Qing Yixuan, Tai Dou, Lan Jing, Xin Pian, and Mochas. I know they’re healing, so summon them immediately,” ordered Jian Chen.
“Yes, ruler…” An elder followed his orders and immediately rushed out of the hall as quickly as possible.