The family came to the main hall of the Jiang Mansion.
The dynasty's troops had retreated. The Jiangs already had a number of the casualties the Southwind Ridge had suffered.
"One hundred and three men died. Among the living, no one is wounded." Jiang Tianxiong sounded full of anger. That only meant one thing—the troops had killed whomever they'd seen.
Fortunately, they only advanced to the periphery of the Southwind Ridge. Otherwise, even more people would have died.
"The Xia Dynasty is treating us mountain people like dogs!" Jiang Wentian said angrily.
Jiang Qingyu said, "Father, Tianxiong, keep taking our men into the mountain city, in case anything goes wrong."
"Why? Haven't they retreated already?"
Both Jiang Wentian and Jiang Tianxiong were shocked. They thought things weren't over yet.
"No, not because of that, but because we're going to get revenge," said Jiang Qingyu.
Even Jiang Chen was shocked by his father's plan, not to mention these two.
To them, revenge was an impossible mission, because their rival was the whole dynasty.
"But the Southwind Ridge doesn't have to do anything. Jiang Chen's warship and Fan Tu and the others will be enough to deal with them," said Jiang Qingyu.
"Really?" Jiang Wentian was worried. They obviously hadn't recognized the power Jiang Qingyu and Jiang Chen had.
"Just wait for good news. We'll get help from the Natural Law School, too."
Then Jiang Qingyu left the mountains with the team.
Along with him, there was Jiang Chen and his warship, Gao Yue, and Fan Tu with his Dark Soldiers.
Gao Yue had fully recovered. As a Venerable, she would be of great help.
When they were out of the mountains, the Natural Law School was ready, too.
Su Xiuyi, the Three Clarities of Natural Law, and a group of elders were carrying powerful weapons.
The cooperation of the two groups would definitely humble the Xia Dynasty, but to make them trust each other completely, Jiang Chen had to take charge of the Natural Law School.
In this way, he assumed his roles as successor to the lord of the Jiang Mansion as well as the leader of the Natural Law School.
Jiang Chen heard Su Xiuyi's voice. "Jiang Chen, these elders have no idea that Ning Haotian has been saved. They're pinning their hopes on you. Don't spill the beans."
He nodded. The Natural Law School had always been conservative. What they wanted most was stability and peace, but Ning Haotian had been disabled. If they lost Jiang Chen again, the school's strength would decline sharply in the near future.
That was why the Natural Law School had chosen to stand on Jiang Chen's side, but Jiang Chen wasn't the main reason that the grand elders of the school had been persuaded. It was mainly due to Jiang Qingyu.
His unfathomable strength was influential throughout the Fire Field. Any group could be affected.
"Let's go. It's time to overturn this arrogant imperial power," said Jiang Qingyu.
Something occurred to Jiang Chen as he walked into the cabin and saw Li Hengjing and Crimson Moon. The former was extremely angry. The latter had been battered out of her senses.
Regardless of the gap in their strengths, Li Hengjing grasped Jiang Chen's clothes and said furiously, "Jiang Chen, you have Princess Crimson Moon here because she tried to save you, but you're keeping her hostage?!"
"What else can I do? I can't let her father kill all of my clansmen."
Jiang Chen removed his wrists with effort and said, "Besides, you have no idea at all why she tried to save me. If you do this again, I won't treat you as nicely as this time."
He pushed Li Hengjing away and went up to Crimson Moon. He said, "I don't want to see the current situation, either, but I have to resolve the problem."
"Yeah," Crimson Moon answered blankly. Jiang Chen wasn't sure whether she had heard him or not.
He had actually wanted to ask her for information on the imperial palace in the capital. But seeing her like this, he didn't have the heart to do so.
He glanced at Li Hengjing again and removed the ward from the cabin. He said, "You two can go now."
"Princess, let's go."
Li Hengjing had wanted to leave for a long while, but Crimson Moon shook her head without saying anything.
Jiang Chen left the cabin in a complicated mood. By then, the problem between them had become much more severe than a small quarrel.
At the same time, in the imperial palace of the capital, at the Hall of Golden Throne…
The emperor of the Xia Dynasty had been expecting news since his return from the Black Dragon City.
He didn't take it too seriously. He was only scheming how to use what had happened that day to take the greatest advantage of the Murongs and the Sus. He needed them to help him stabilize his imperial power and fight against the Natural Law School.
As the emperor, he had a great vision. The battle against Jiang Chen and the Southwind Ridge was to revenge the Third Prince, yet it was mostly to deal with the Natural Law School.
"If Crimson Moon was still alive, I wouldn't have to change the plan. When Ning Haotian comes back from the Dragon Field, I'll be able to make the Natural Law School completely give in.
"But by far, the only thing I can do is suppress Jiang Chen. In this case, throughout the Fire Field, only the Natural Law School can save him.
"Jiang Chen killed Ning Haotian's whole family. The Natural Law School still isn't clear on the current situation. Once they lend a hand to the Southwind Ridge, I'll be given an excuse to deal with them."
"If they don't, I won't suffer any losses. Ning Haotian and the Murongs owe me a favor. So why not?"
The emperor couldn't help but burst out in laughter at the thought. He was pretty satisfied with his plan.
Located in the territory of the Xia Dynasty, the Natural Law School was a thorn in his side and the biggest obstruction preventing him from dominating the whole Fire Field. He had to get rid of them or make them serve him.
However, although the emperor had taken everything into consideration, he was wrong about one thing—Jiang Qingyu's strength.
He thought Jiang Qingyu was at most a Venerable of the lowest level, since the latter had been captured by the Black Dragon City. How hard it had been didn't matter.
But since it wasn't an honorable thing to use poison, the Black Dragon City didn't share this information with the emperor. By that time, it was even less possible, since the whole city had been eliminated. That led to the emperor's most fatal mistake.
The news should come soon. The Southwind Ridge should have been eliminated, the emperor looked towards the door and thought.
In the capital, the news of the troops attacking the Southwind Ridge had spread quickly, since the Southwind Ridge was Jiang Chen's hometown, and he had killed the Third Prince in the capital half a year before.
Although the Xia Dynasty had announced they wouldn't hold him accountable, judging from the current situation, they wouldn't let it go.
But why?
When people were bearing this question in mind, the news of the elimination of the Black Dragon City also spread, as fast as the wind.
People didn't believe it at the beginning.
The Black Dragon City had been there for almost 1,000 years. Their ancestors had killed a dragon. That was how they had earned fame. Even though they weren't as powerful as before, they were still a first-class force in the dynasty.
It was impossible to have eliminated them so easily.
The battle should at least have lasted for a few days. Even if the Black Dragon City had been at a disadvantage, they would have tried their best to defend their city and ask for reinforcements.
But there hadn't been a single sign before their elimination. The only possibility was that it had been done in the short time by an extremely powerful man.
Nevertheless, when they had learned it was Jiang Chen alone who had eliminated the Black Dragon City, everyone thought it was a joke, a rumor.
"What's that?!"
Someone suddenly saw that over the imperial palace there were forty-odd giant columns falling from the sky.
It was horrifying that when these columns made contact with the great defensive tactical formation of the imperial palace, they weren't affected even a bit. They pierced through the formation. The damage they caused even disabled it.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
They also heard the Devastator rotating over the capital.