The face of the Ah Clan

"What are you waiting for?!" he bellowed, waking the guard from his trance. The guard rushed away and he made his way to the clan head's courtyard. He entered a room and placed the clan head down. Ah Fude did the same and placed the unconscious elder in one of the rooms. He returned to see the elder staring at the clan head's dead form solemnly.

On the other side of the clan, in the reception hall, celebrations were taking place. Inside sat an elderly man on the host seat and elders of the clan flanking his sides. The geniuses of the clan were present, and so were guests from other clans who came to congratulate the clan ancestor for coming out of seclusion. He had successfully broken through to the peak of the spirit-awareness stage. This made him the second-peak spirit-awareness master in the entire city. This was an honour. Those who were at a level below his before came to show god will and the other clan who had the other peak spirit-awareness master sent representatives to congratulate them.

The party was in full swing when a guard barged in. Ancestor Ah frowned as he looked at the guard.

"Insolence! How dare you barge in?" he bellowed. If he was outside the demon realm, he would be able to release his new aura on this guard for the entire crowd to see. But he could not. The only thing that was beneficial about growing in cultivation in the demon lands, was the increase in physical strength.

The guard fell to the floor and knelt.

"Ancestor!" he cried, causing everyone to frown. The ancestor wondered if this guard had felt his now great presence to fall with just one look from him. He smiled, very pleased with the guard's performance.

"Clan head... clan head has died!" the guard cried and the hall stilled.

The face of the Ah clan.

"What nonsense are you sprouting? My son? I thought you said he went to bring back Didia?" the ancestor frowned and the elders paused. They did not have the heart to tell the ancestor when he came out from seclusion that his grandson was dead. Especially when the ancestor's first action was to inform the entire city about his advancement before the clan even knew. By the time they had arrived, he was surrounded by well-wishers and outsiders. They gave a diplomatic answer especially when others were watching.

"Third elder!" the ancestor bellowed, making the third elder sigh. This old man had forgotten that people were watching. He was shocked about the news, but could not do much as they had guests.

"Ancestor, please let's send off the guests first," the third elder pleaded. The fourth elder got up and bowed to the guests.

"As you can see, we have a bit of an emergency, let's gather again later," the fourth elder said and the guests nodded. They were returning to their clans to pass on the news anyway. They left in a hurry till only clansmen remained.

"Elders, please follow," the younger generation was forced to leave no matter how curious they were.

The ancestor had long stormed off with the guard. By the time the elders caught up, the ancestor had gotten to the clan head's room and was staring at his son's dead body in shock.

"What happened?" he asked the first elder who was shocked to see the ancestor. He paled as he thought about his promise to not pursue the matter. This old man was even more irrational than his son.

"I and the second elder went with the clan head to kill a spirit-picking sapling who had killed Didia.," the first elder started to explain.

"Didia is dead!? Who is this little shit?" the ancestor exploded.

"The sapling killed the clan head and wounded the second elder," he said and everyone paused.

"You are trying to tell me that my son, an early spirit-awareness master was killed by a spirit-picking brat?" the ancestor said so softly, one would have thought he had lost his voice.

"Where is this little thing now?!" one of the elders asked.

"I suggest we don't pursue this," the first elder said and they all paused. Had the first elder gone mad? Was he wounded in the head during the fight?

"Listen to my reason, please. Listen to it first then make your decision," the first elder pleaded.

"What reason? That little thing killed my son!" The ancestor was not interested in anything else than to tear the little sapling apart.

"This has something to do with the future of our clan! Ancestor, you have never been the best at making reasonable decisions! If you go off like this, we will all be killed!" the first elder got angry. He was already tired enough for the day, and then this old man without common tact had to show up.

"What?! You call me unreasonable? You don't want to live!" the ancestor was ready to kill this little elder. All he heard was being called unreasonable, he did not hear the future of the clan part. They had always known making this man the clan head, and later the ancestor was a bad decision. But he was the most powerful person their bloodline had ever produced.

"Ancestor please wait. If he says something useless, then it could be okay to kill him. But he is the only one who knows who the boy is, his powers and where he is. Besides, he may have something important to say," one of the elders defended.

"I'll let you live one more second. Speak!" the ancestor agreed with the suggestion.

"This boy no older than twenty-five was able to wound the second elder, in one move and kill the clan head in another," the listening elders gasped. Was this possible? So doesn't this mean that they would have been easily killed?

"Now, from what I saw, this boy had a technique that could easily kill a spirit-awareness master. He just does not have any fighting experience. His sect probably sent him to the demon lands to gain some. This is very common. From what we saw, this boy is probably a treasured child of a large sect outside. He did not seem scared of meeting spirit-awareness or spirit-merging masters. Almost as if he had seen higher. He killed Didia so, we went to kill him. Imagine what would happen if we killed him. It is too dangerous to take the risk," the first elder explained. All the elders saw his point. The ancestor on the other hand couldn't care less.

"You want us to avoid a spirit-picking brat? Let him bully us because of the power behind him? Have you lost your mind?!" the ancestor scolded.

"Ancestor, you say you have travelled outside the demon lands to the outside world. You say you have seen different powers, well, so have I. I have yet to see any spirit-picking junior that can kill a spirit-awareness master. Such a technique would need power to control. The boy did not break a sweat. Such a technique can only be passed down from great powers outside; probably even one of the gates. Such a technique would not be passed to anyone lower than a core disciple. That means there is someone out there watching his progress, with an entire clan where spirit-awareness masters are just cleaners. If one person from there comes for us, how do you intend to defend us? If you can convince us, we will back this idea of yours," the first elder said.

All the elders looked at the ancestor as though waiting for him to defend his ability.

"So you are saying I should let the person that killed my son and grandson go? What great power? If they come, I will kill them all! How dare he kill my son and grandson? I will handle this sapling myself!" the ancestor said and they paled. In this world, power was everything. If someone was more powerful than them, they had to bow their heads. This old man, has he gone mad?