“What's their relationship with the Wan family, then…?"

"Probably just saw some promising juniors and, on a whim, gave them some pointers out of appreciation for their talent. I doubt there's any deep connection.

Don't worry too much about them. We only need to consider the Wan family."

"Alright, let's discuss how many troops each of our families will send this time, and where we'll launch our main attack from."

"The closest to our three families are Wan's Northern, Western, and Southern Branches. I believe we should attack Wan's Southern Branch first.

Because Wan's Southern Branch is both the strongest and the weakest."

"What do you mean by that, Qi brother?"

"The strongest, because they have Wan Lei and Wan Hongxin. Before we know the strength of that old thief Wan Yangfan, these two are recognized as the strongest.

The weakest, because Wan's Southern Branch only has these two high-level combatants who can be considered presentable. Their lower-level forces have just experienced internal strife, suffering heavy losses and countless casualties.

They have fewer than five Core Formation experts left. We should concentrate our superior forces, first attacking and destroying Wan's Southern Branch. The three Nascent Soul experts can then kill Wan Lei and Wan Hongxin, father and son.

Wan's Southern Branch is very weak. We should be able to conquer it quickly. Then, we can directly march north, attack Wan's main branch, and destroy the entire Wan family in one fell swoop!"

"Brother Qi's words are excellent. Let's arrange it that way."

"Let's discuss the specific details further..."

…………

Half a month later, at Wan's Southern Branch.

"Ah… that feels good."

Wan Lei stretched lazily, his face glowing, as he walked out of his room. He basked in the sunlight, feeling relaxed and comfortable.

Behind him, Qi Manyao also emerged, her face equally radiant.

After half a month of cultivation, both of them had successfully cultivated their own Original Thunder Essence.

"Oh, you two have been busy? Judging by the looks of it, you've been having a good time lately."

Tian Suanzi stood at the door, grinning mischievously.

In his heart, he sighed, "Youth is good. They can hide in a room for half a month without getting tired."

"Of course, it's been good. It took us so long to successfully cultivate our divine ability."

"Oh? What divine ability did you cultivate? The Dual Cultivation of Joy?"

"Get lost. Instead of cultivating to improve your strength, what are you doing here? Aren't you worried about the Wan Pride Ranking Competition?"

"Worrying is useless. Your grandfather ordered all the Core Formation cultivators in the branch to gather. I just came to call you."

"Is something the matter?"

"Not sure, probably something big."

The two of them arrived at the main hall, where Wan Zhentian and Zhao Dongxing were sitting.

It was quite sparsely populated.

Previously, Wan's Southern Branch had quite a few Core Formation cultivators, as many as ten. But after the battle, some died, three were imprisoned, and Wan Liuchuan had left. Now, only a few remained.

As for Wan Hongxin, he had gone into seclusion half a month ago to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, so he wasn't present this time.

The reason he was in such a hurry was that he wanted to take advantage of Wan Lei being home to protect the Wan family. Once he broke through to Nascent Soul, he could sit in town. Even if Wan Lei left, it wouldn't matter.

"Grandpa, what's the matter?"

Wan Lei casually sat down on a chair, picked up a teacup, took a big gulp, and spat out a tea leaf.

"According to intelligence, the Qi and Ba families have simultaneously declared war on the Duanmu family."

"Those three families are fighting? What happened?"

"They say that the Duanmu family killed members of both their families. They demanded that the Duanmu family hand over the culprits, but the Duanmu family refused, so they started a war.

Now, the armies of the Qi and Ba families are fully prepared and will set out on war boats tomorrow to attack the Duanmu family.

The Duanmu family has also begun to consolidate its forces, gathering them at the northern border, preparing to defend against the two families' attacks."

"Their northern border... isn't that the border between our Wan Southern Branch and the Qi Southern Branch?

This… this isn't so simple, is it?"

Wan Lei frowned.

"Yes, in theory, since those two families want to fight the Duanmu family, the Qi family makes sense, but the Ba family doesn't even border the Duanmu family. They would have to pass through the territory of the Qi family or our Wan family.

There's no reason why they're fighting the Duanmu family without joining forces with our Wan family.

Even if they want to annex the Duanmu family and don't want to give our Wan family a share, how would the Ba family benefit? Are they going to manage a exclave?

The Ba family isn't that kind. They wouldn't give all the territory to the Qi family after destroying the Duanmu family."

"These movements are unusual, Grandpa. We need to be careful. We need to watch their trajectory. They might be coming for our Wan family.

After all, their reason for starting the war is too clumsy. The four families have been killing each other for who knows how many years. Even when we killed Duanmu Ao and Duanmu Feng, we didn't see the Duanmu family declare war on us.

How could the deaths of a few clan leaders trigger a major war?

If their actions are directed at the Wan family, it's barely understandable..."

"Yes, I think so too. If you have no objections, I'm going to order all the forces of Wan's Southern Branch to gather.

If they don't come, we'll wait until their great war is over before dispersing again.

If they do come, we'll be prepared."

"Not only that, Grandpa, I think we should also ask the Main and Eastern Branches for help.

The Western and Northern Branches aren't weak, and they have large armies stationed there all year round. Our Southern Branch is too weak. Once attacked, we won't be able to hold out for long.

The Main and Eastern Branches have less pressure. Let them send reinforcements now."

After speaking, Wan Lei stood up,

"We need to be quick. If we're too late, I'm afraid it'll be too late..."

Following the actions of the three families, the Wan family also quickly mobilized.

Batches of troops set out from the Wan family's Main and Eastern Branches, heading towards the Southern Branch.

The Main Branch sent ten Core Formation experts to lead the team, and the Eastern Branch also sent five.

The defensive formation of the Southern Branch, which was broken in the last war, has now been repaired and surrounds the city again.

The small families scattered in all directions also sent cultivators to Southern Branch City.

Those families that had rebelled before were the most active, wishing they could empty their already meager coffers to support Southern Branch City.

They most urgently needed to redeem themselves through meritorious service, regaining the Wan family's recognition.

It could be said that they hoped the three families would attack the Wan family more than anyone else.

They were even more eager for the war to begin.

Of course, it wasn't that they hadn't considered what to do if they lost.

If they lost... they lost. Wouldn't it be fine to join another family?

Really, whose rice can't be eaten? It's all the same.

During this time, the clouds of war hung over the heads of everyone in Wan's Southern Branch.

Every day, Wan Lei would circle the city walls, inspecting the preparations for defense.

On the first day, intelligence said that the Ba family's army had joined forces with the Qi family.

On the second day, the Ba and Qi families had killed their way towards the Duanmu family.

On the third day, they reached the Duanmu family's territory and met with the Duanmu family's army.

On the fourth day, they… came.