A few months later, the Blue Clan castle received several reports: many destabilizing elements had appeared in the city, the most obvious being that the Blue-Armor Legions patrolling the streets were frequently ambushed.
This wasn't the first time—there had been many incidents, scaring the Blue-Armor Legions so much that they all talked about shedding their armor and leaving the clan.
"Have you figured out who those people are yet?" the Blue Clan Patriarch asked angrily.
"We've already sent people to investigate, but there seem to be a lot of them, and each one is pretty strong," the chief guard replied, frustrated.
"A lot? Just arrest them!" The Blue Clan Patriarch had now retreated to Baina, leaving the Spirit-Wandering experts to guard the city. But those Spirit-Wandering experts all had their own tempers—unless the enemy was also Spirit-Wandering, they wouldn't bother, feeling it beneath them. So the Patriarch could only send his own men to hunt them down.
"I'm afraid we don't have enough manpower," the chief guard said helplessly.
"Manpower? Just catch whoever you can. I want to know exactly who they are," the Blue Clan Patriarch said after a moment's pause.
"Yes, sir!" The chief guard withdrew.
Over the next few days, the chief guard captured quite a few people and brought them to the castle, where the Blue Clan Patriarch personally interrogated them.
Looking at these people, who didn't seem like Demon Sect members, he asked, "Are you from the Free Alliance?"
They kept their mouths shut and refused to answer.
"You're not afraid of death?" The Blue Clan Patriarch unleashed his oppressive aura and pressed them, but each one spat blood, gravely injured, yet stared at him without a trace of fear.
They would rather die than submit—the Blue Clan Patriarch finally saw it firsthand. But since these people were enemies of the Blue Clan, keeping them around would only cause trouble. He ordered the chief guard to lock them up and use any means necessary to force out their origins.
"If this keeps up, who will still work for the Blue Clan?" After seeing the unrest in the city, the Patriarch was deeply displeased. He sent for Terry Blue and Bennett Blue.
When he saw them, the Blue Clan Patriarch's expression darkened even more. "What happened to you two?"
"We were ambushed," Terry Blue said, frustrated.
At that moment, both Terry Blue and Bennett Blue were covered in wounds, and many of the Blue Clan experts escorting them were injured as well.
"Ambushed? By who?" Seeing it happen to his own grandchildren, the Blue Clan Patriarch couldn't help but roar.
"No idea. They were all working together. By the time we reacted, they'd already escaped," Terry Blue said, annoyed.
"They just got away? And you still have the nerve to say so? Hurry up and organize the Blue-Armor Legions to secure the city's safety. And double their pay! No matter what, the Blue Clan must get through this crisis. Otherwise, we'll end up with just a handful of us—no matter how strong we are, if nobody works for the clan, how could the Blue Clan ever regain its glory?" The Patriarch could abandon other cities and pull back his forces, but he absolutely refused to let anyone turn his own territory into a place where everyone felt unsafe, leaving him as nothing but a lone commander.
Terry Blue and Bennett Blue exchanged looks, then responded and left.
"Damn it, could this be the Free Alliance's doing?" After they left, the Blue Clan Patriarch paced back and forth in the room, muttering to himself.
Because of repeated attacks on the Blue-Armor Legions, Baina became tense and dangerous. Everyone felt unsafe—cultivators and mortals alike were depressed, and some even moved out of the city.
With so many people leaving, Baina's former glory instantly dropped to its lowest point.
When the Blue Clan Patriarch heard about this, he felt caught between anger and helplessness. He couldn't stop them, but he couldn't drive them out either.
As for those captives, after much questioning, the truth finally came out: they belonged to an assassin organization. Every member was rigorously trained, which made it especially hard to extract any information.
"An assassin organization? Who told you to target the Blue Clan? And what's your organization called? Who's in charge?" The Blue Clan Patriarch couldn't believe what he was hearing.
But the answer was that their group had no name. Orders came directly from above. Even if they were told to assassinate the Blue Clan Patriarch himself, as long as they had the strength, they'd dare to do it. This answer made the Patriarch stomp his feet in anger.
"Damn it, damn it, now even assassin organizations are coming after us!" The Blue Clan Patriarch paced back and forth in frustration.
Just then, the chief guard approached the Patriarch and said, "Patriarch, someone from the Huang Clan is requesting an audience."
"Who from the Huang Clan?" The Blue Clan and Huang Clan were outwardly harmonious, but had clashed over interests behind the scenes. Hearing this, the Patriarch assumed the visitor was here to stir up trouble.
"The Huang Clan Patriarch," the chief guard replied.
"Him? What's he here for?" The Blue Clan Patriarch asked, suspicious.
"No idea. He's already at the castle entrance," said the chief guard, shaking his head.
"Bring him to the audience hall to see me," the Blue Clan Patriarch said after thinking for a moment.
The chief guard nodded and left, while the Blue Clan Patriarch slowly made his way to the castle's audience hall.
He had barely sat down when the chief guard led a man inside.
"Blue fellow, long time no see!" The visitor greeted the Blue Clan Patriarch with a laugh.
Blue fellow? Hearing that voice, the Blue Clan Patriarch immediately knew who it was—Calvin Huang, the Huang Clan Patriarch.
"Isn't this the Huang Clan Patriarch? What brings you here today?" The Blue Clan Patriarch stood and smiled.
"Look at you. We haven't seen each other in years—so I came to catch up," Calvin Huang said with a smile.
Catch up? He never visits early or late, but shows up right when the Blue Clan is at its lowest—clearly here to mock them, the Patriarch cursed inwardly. Outwardly, he pretended not to care and said, "It really has been a long time. I think the last time we met was about five hundred years ago."
"Heh, you've got a good memory," Calvin Huang laughed.
"Alright, just say it. You wouldn't come here for no reason," the Blue Clan Patriarch couldn't stand the act any longer and cut him off.
Calvin Huang glanced around, clearly signaling he wanted a private place.
"Sound transmission is fine, right?" Seeing Calvin like this, the Patriarch relented.
"Sure, of course!" Calvin Huang laughed, switching to sound transmission.
(Irrelevant webnovel navigation line; skip translation.)
"Go ahead," said the Blue Clan Patriarch.
"I heard your Blue Clan got some good things in the Death Crystal Field, so I came to take a look," Calvin Huang said with a smile.