Jiang Chen felt no qualms whatsoever about putting the Yan family in their place.
He believed that even Yan Wanjun and Huang'er would support him in doing so.
After all, the Yan family of today was no longer the Yan family of old. They truly needed to be taken down a peg — otherwise they would never learn repentance, never realize how foolish and ignorant they had been.
After raising two matters, Jiang Chen had no intention of lingering. He decided to leave immediately.
The Yan family patriarch hurriedly tried to persuade him to stay, hoping to keep Jiang Chen on for a banquet hosted by the Yan family.
Why would Jiang Chen possibly accept a banquet from the Yan family at this point? He knew what they were after — nothing more than an opportunity to mend their relationship with Jiang Chen and express goodwill.
But Jiang Chen had no intention of accepting the Yan family's apology so quickly.
If he was going to put them in their place, he needed to do it thoroughly, to make sure the lesson truly stuck.
The reason the Yan family had been so blindly loyal to the Xiahou family was precisely because the Xiahou family had shown no mercy when disciplining them, inflicting such a painful price that the Yan family had been too afraid to disobey.
Otherwise, how could the Yan family have served the Xiahou family so faithfully? They'd had a chance to join the Sacred Ground, yet they had ended up as accomplices in the Xiahou family's rebellion instead.
Jiang Chen declared his intention to leave, and the Yan family patriarch did not dare force him to stay. He could only offer endless apologies.
"Patriarch Yan, if you truly wish to express remorse, back it up with real action. Your Yan family has always been all talk and no deeds. The Sacred Ground has placed the matter of your family entirely in my hands. Figure it out yourselves."
With that, Jiang Chen turned and walked away without looking back.
Elder Shun suddenly spoke up: "Young Master Jiang Chen, this old man has been living a rather tasteless existence back at the family. I wonder where you've settled Huang'er? I'd like to go and keep her company. My heart will only be at ease if I can watch over Miss Huang'er."
Jiang Chen smiled. "Then please, Elder Shun, come with me."
Elder Shun nodded, not standing on ceremony, and fell into step with Jiang Chen's retinue in just a few strides. As for the Yan family members, Elder Shun couldn't even be bothered to glance their way.
His heart had been thoroughly broken. At a time like this, he bore no grudges toward anyone, nor could he truly accept anyone's goodwill. All he wanted was to say a final farewell to these people from his past.
Watching Jiang Chen leave with Elder Shun without so much as a backward glance, every face among the Yan family was etched with helplessness, laced with dread, and overshadowed by a deep unease.
This young man was now someone their family could only look up to — perhaps someone they would never be able to reach again.
There had been a time when this young man had been so close to their family. There had been a time when their family had been just one step away from greatness.
And yet the Yan family, bewitched by their own foolishness, had let this genius slip through their fingers. Not only had they missed the opportunity — they had gone and offended him beyond repair. That was the most devastating part of all.
"Patriarch, what do we do? Judging by that kid's attitude, his hostility toward our family is still very strong!"
"Shut your mouth!" The patriarch's fury erupted in an instant. "Who do you think you are? You think you have the right to call him 'that kid'? Why don't you take a piss in a puddle and look at your own reflection?"
The patriarch was seething with rage. At a time like this, there were still people in the family with so little sense, who dared run their mouths and speak disrespectfully of Jiang Chen. Were they trying to hasten the Yan family's destruction?
The others clammed up like cicadas in winter, not daring to utter a single word.
The patriarch's gaze turned cold as he fixed it on Yan Wanxi: "Elder Xi, your position as Supreme Elder was pushed through by the Xiahou family's influence. Now that the Xiahou family has been utterly destroyed, you sitting in that seat becomes rather conspicuous. Surely you understand what I mean?"
Yan Wanxi's face turned ashen. "I don't understand."
The patriarch said icily: "You don't understand? Are you truly clueless, or just pretending?"
Yan Wanxi raised his voice: "My appointment as Supreme Elder was approved by the Family Council of Elders. According to family rules, to remove me from this position requires another deliberation by the Council. I have committed no offense, done nothing to betray the family — on what grounds would you have me step down? I refuse to accept this!"
Yan Wanxi was a man utterly consumed by the lust for power. Having tasted the intoxication of the Supreme Elder's position, he was not about to give it up. Psychologically, there was no way he could accept it — that sense of superiority, vanishing just like that. How could he possibly take it in stride? His temperament was nowhere near as gracious as Elder Shun's; there was no chance he would magnanimously relinquish the position of his own accord.
The patriarch's face was grim. "Elder Xi, some things are better left unsaid, because once spoken aloud they become ugly. The Xiahou family has now been completely destroyed. For you — an elder who was so close to the Xiahou family — to claim you've done nothing to betray the family... don't you blush saying such things? Besides, can't you consider the bigger picture for the family's sake? Must you keep sitting here, making the Sacred Ground look at us with disapproval, until they annihilate our entire family before you're satisfied?"
If Yan Wanxi remained in the position of Supreme Elder, what would the Sacred Ground think? What would Jiang Chen think?
No matter how you looked at it, this Elder Xi was no longer fit to serve as Supreme Elder. His seniority had never been sufficient in the first place, and now that events had progressed to this point, for the sake of the family's future, this Supreme Elder had to be stripped of his position entirely. Otherwise, how could they answer to the Sacred Ground? How could they answer to Jiang Chen?
If Jiang Chen harbored a grudge against Elder Xi — remembering how arrogant he had been back at the Peacock Sacred Mountain — then this matter had to be resolved with a proper accounting.