Approximately an hour later.

Inside the main hall of the City Lord's manor, the atmosphere was noisy and somewhat chaotic.

A dozen or so men dressed in various outfits were seated around a large stone conference table. Each held a black stone cup, swirling the scale beast blood within, and chatting excitedly with one another.

Chenyang sat in the seat closest to the head, lightly stroking his stone cup with one hand and keeping the other in his sleeve. He never took a sip, and even when acquaintances came to clink cups with him, he only symbolically brought the cup to his lips before setting it down again.

Beside him on the stone table sat a black stone box of considerable size, sealed tightly shut.

"Captain Chenyang, what's going on? The City Lord suddenly summoned us all here, is there some important announcement? Give your old brother a heads-up, will you?" A tall man with protruding tusks and wearing white bone armor asked with a wide grin.

"Captain Mou Lin, it's not that I don't want to tell you, brother, but I really don't know. Don't worry, the others haven't arrived yet. Once everyone's here, the City Lord will naturally speak," Chenyang replied with a smile.

The man simply smiled upon hearing this and said nothing more.

Just then, the main hall door was slowly pushed open by a young man with a bull horn tattoo on his cheek, and three more people entered in succession.

The first to enter was a one-horned giant. If Han Li were here, he would certainly recognize him as the one who presided over the Xuan Fighting Arena in the ninth district.

Following closely behind were two Demonic cultivators in crimson robes, one with a round face and the other with a square face. Each carried a thick record book and a brush with a vermilion tip, precisely the two recording officials.

"Brother Chen, everyone's here except for those out hunting," the tattooed youth who opened the door said to Chenyang via voice transmission after the three had entered.

Chenyang nodded silently, and the youth went out and closed the stone door.

After the one-horned giant and the other two were seated, Chenyang still didn't rush to speak. Instead, he silently surveyed everyone in the hall.

After waiting for a long time, someone finally grew impatient.

A Demonic cultivator with a face like dark red dates and two horns on his head asked loudly, "Chenyang, what the hell are you up to? You summoned everyone here saying the City Lord has an important announcement, but the City Lord hasn't shown himself for half a day?"

As soon as he said this, the noise in the hall subsided, and everyone turned to look at Chenyang.

"Captain Xiong Pi, can't you even wait a moment for the City Lord? Why not drink a few more mouthfuls of Flowered Scale Beast blood to calm down? The City Lord is usually reluctant to let us drink this stuff," Chenyang said with a smile, unfazed.

The red-faced man with horns, named Xiong Pi, picked up his heavy stone cup and took another gulp of beast blood.

When the beast blood in their stone cups was nearly gone, Chenyang slowly stood up and walked to the head of the conference table, the seat that only Du Qingyang could usually occupy. He sat down squarely.

At first, no one paid attention, but soon they were all drawn to his extremely unreasonable behavior. They looked over with strange expressions, and the entire hall fell silent.

"Chenyang, how dare you sit in that seat? Are you trying to die?" Mou Lin, the man with the tusks, slammed the table and stood up, raging.

"You impudent thing, get down from there..." Immediately after, two other city guard captains stood up, glaring at him angrily.

Seeing this, Chenyang remained unmoved. He simply stretched languidly and slowly sat up straight.

"Everyone, don't be impatient, just hear me out. The important matter that the City Lord wants to announce today is only one thing..." Here, he paused and slowly swept his gaze across the crowd.

No one in the hall understood what madness Chenyang was exhibiting today. Amazingly, everyone waited quietly for him to finish.

"Du Qingyang feels that his virtue is unworthy of his position, and he wants to abdicate the position of City Lord to me!"

As soon as Chenyang said this, it was as if a drop of water had fallen into a hot oil pan, or a thunderclap had struck in a dry land. The entire hall immediately erupted.

"What are you saying? Abdicate to you?" Xiong Pi raised an eyebrow and asked loudly.

"What are you? How dare you covet the position of City Lord?" Another person shouted.

"Chenyang, are you planning a rebellion?" Mou Lin kicked aside the stone chair beside him and said sharply.

"He's crazy, he must be crazy..."

...

With a "bang," Chenyang slapped his palm on the stone table and stood up abruptly.

The conference stone table immediately "crackled," and spiderweb-like cracks spread out instantly.

Seeing this, everyone stood up in shock.

"Fellow colleagues, you might as well ask the City Lord to verify whether what I, Chen, am saying is a sign of insanity?" Chenyang said coldly, his eyes sweeping across the crowd.

"Where is the City Lord? I want to see him," Mou Lin shouted.

"Want to see the City Lord? That's easy," Chenyang said with a smile, raising his hand and pushing.

The black stone box in front of him was pushed out by his palm, rolling a few times on the table. The lid "snapped" open, and the "thing" inside fell out.

It was a head covered in污迹, broken into two halves.

Everyone was shocked at the sight.

Mou Lin's eyes widened, and he endured the horror in his heart, raising his hand to brush aside the messy hair on half of the head, revealing a dirty, incomplete face hidden underneath. It was none other than the Qingyang City Lord, Du Qingyang!

"City Lord..." Xiong Pi exclaimed.

Everyone's expression changed, and their reactions were all different for a moment.

Only Mou Lin, Xiong Pi, and a few others glared at him angrily, while most were frightened and at a loss.

The two recording officials looked at each other, and the hands holding the books and brushes even began to tremble uncontrollably.

On the other hand, the one-horned giant's eyes were calm and he seemed relatively composed.

"Assassinating the Lord and rebelling, Chenyang, you deserve to die!" Mou Lin said through gritted teeth, his eyes cold.

"Everyone, the City Lord is dead, and the criminal is Chenyang. Let's work together to kill him and avenge the City Lord!" Xiong Pi said, his eyes flashing slightly.

As soon as he said this, everyone looked at each other, but few dared to step forward.

Du Qingyang was able to become the Lord of this city more because of his martial power and deterrence. There were naturally those who were loyal to him, but it was impossible for everyone to be.

"Whoever can kill this thief, I, Mou Lin, am willing to make him the new City Lord," Mou Lin shouted, seeing this.

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the hall changed subtly, and many people began to step forward, eager to try and surround Chenyang.

"Want to kill me? Can you do it?" Chenyang asked loudly, his expression unchanged.

With that, the stone door of the hall was suddenly smashed open, and the tattooed youth led more than a dozen young men in bone armor, surrounding Mou Lin and the others.

"Chenyang, do you think you can accomplish anything with these miscellaneous soldiers?" Xiong Pi sneered.

As soon as he finished speaking, he clenched his fists, and a burst of Astral Qi was released from his body. "Bang, bang" sounds rang out from his body as one Xuan Aperture after another lit up.

However, after only a dozen or so sounds, the sound came to an abrupt halt.

Not only did no more Xuan Apertures light up on Xiong Pi's body, but his body softened and he fell directly to the ground.

Immediately afterward, the sound of people falling to the ground rang out continuously in the hall. One figure after another collapsed, lying scattered on the ground. Only Chenyang and the tattooed youth's men were left standing.

"There's... there's White Xuan Beast bone powder in the Flowered Scale Beast blood..." Xiong Pi said tremblingly, propping himself up with his upper body.

Chenyang picked up his cup of beast blood, walked to Xiong Pi's side, and poured it little by little on his face.

"It's too late to realize it now, don't you think?" Chenyang said with a sneer.

Xiong Pi sighed heavily and fell back down.

Chenyang ignored him and walked slowly past him, saying, "Everyone, what do you say now? Do you want to be a loyal minister and follow Du Qingyang, or do you want to share this great Qingyang City with me?"

The hall was silent, deathly silent.

...

In the side hall next door.

"It seems Bone Fellow Daoist, you guessed correctly. This Chenyang has planned today's events for a long time. Letting us stay in this side hall isn't really about wanting us to help, but rather showing us his skills," Han Li said with a smile, listening to the commotion in the main hall.

"The reason I chose to conspire with this person was because I saw that this person has great ambitions and is not someone who will remain under another for long. Conspiring with such a person can achieve twice the result with half the effort, but a slight carelessness can backfire," Bone Qianxun said indifferently.

...

At this time, in the main hall, after a brief silence, Chenyang's voice suddenly rang out:

"Everyone, don't worry. As long as you are willing to follow me, I will only give you more than Du Qingyang gave you in the future and will definitely not treat you unfairly. However, if you have any disloyal intentions, then you are just courting death..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure blurred slightly, and he instantly came to the side of a short, emaciated old man, and stomped down heavily, directly smashing his wrist into a bloody mess.

The old man groaned, and his clenched palm slowly opened, revealing a palm-sized piece of strange white bone inside.

"A Scale Explosion Beast's Star Bone, containing such a rich Star Force, is really rare... Friend Daoist Wu Heng, how come I didn't realize that you were so loyal to Du Qingyang? You even wanted to detonate this Star Bone and desperately inflict heavy damage on me?" Chenyang picked up the white bone and said slowly.

"City Lord Du has saved my life, and since I can't do my duty while alive, I will be loyal in death. Kill me or do whatever you want," the old man said weakly, his teeth clenched.

"Chenyang, do you think you can replace City Lord Du by killing him? How will the Main City acknowledge you as a rebellious traitor! When the Main City envoy arrives, how will your situation be any better?" Xiong Pi said coldly, his eyes closed.

"Haha... You two are really kind to think of me. But when has Xuan City ever cared about the turmoil in its subordinate cities? As long as the tribute is not delayed each time, will they care whether the Qingyang City Lord is named Du or Chen?" Chenyang laughed loudly.

"Forget it, just kill me..." Wu Heng said, understanding in his heart, with a miserable smile on his face.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chenyang struck down with a fist, hitting his lower abdomen.

A loud explosion rang out, Wu Heng's body suddenly exploded, and blood and minced meat splattered everywhere, his death was extremely miserable.