In the tunnel, Ye Xuan and Gongsun Yanran advanced rapidly. Twenty minutes later, they caught up with the main group.
"Aunt Yanran, you’re here. But... did my father not come down?" Gongsun Po’s voice called out. He had been standing guard at the very back of the crowd.
Gongsun Yanran glanced at him, gritting her teeth. "He will catch up."
Gongsun Po fell silent, and the group pressed on at a brisk pace.
Half an hour later, they finally reached the exit, climbing out of an abandoned well within the city. Nobody lingered; they immediately made their way out of the city.
Inside the city, every street was utterly deserted, barely a shadow in sight. Eventually, the group arrived at the South City Gate. There were no guards. All the Golden Armor Guards had been recalled to the Gongsun Family estate. By now, they had probably all perished in battle.
Gongsun Po manually turned the mechanism, pushing the city gates open.
Once outside, everyone cast a final glance at the Golden-Winged Roc Race Banner hanging high above the gate. In that instant, tears welled up in their eyes. They knew that after tomorrow, there would be no more Dapeng Banner in Dapeng City.
"Let’s go." Led by Gongsun Po and Gongsun Yanran, the two hundred and eighty members of the Gongsun Family’s Direct Lineage fled in a sorry state. They had no mounts and no Beast Vehicles; their journey relied entirely on their own two feet.
A day later, they arrived at a small village where Gongsun Yanran bought up all the horse-drawn carriages available. Thus, a massive convoy slowly began to move forward.
"Aunt Yanran, where are we going?" Gongsun Po asked.
"To the Ye Family first."
"The Ye Family? Ye Xuan’s family?"
"Yes. We’ll settle down there temporarily, and wait to see if any other Gongsun Family members made it out alive. If your father is still alive, he will come there, too."
"Father..." Gongsun Po clenched his fists. He knew his father was likely already dead. Why else would he not have caught up with them?
He looked back toward the direction of Dapeng City. The seven-day limit had already been reached. Dapeng City was probably no longer under the surname Gongsun. He couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else from the Gongsun Family had managed to escape during yesterday’s final battle.
At this moment, in Dapeng City, the Clan Banner at the city gate had already been replaced with one depicting a black bear. This meant the city had welcomed a new master. No, it wasn’t called Dapeng City anymore. The Sun Family had already begun the process of changing the city’s name. It was now known as Hero City—with the word for "hero" sharing the same pronunciation as "bear."
In the main courtyard of the City Lord’s Mansion, all the corpses from the siege had been piled up, creating a mountain of bodies hundreds of meters high. These included both the Gongsun Family and the Five Great Clans. All the dead were to be cremated together.
Sun Zhenwu personally held the torch and set the corpses ablaze. The roaring flames painted the sky a fiery red. Anyone in the city who looked up could see the mountain of fire.
"Who did you say was missing from the corpses?" Sun Zhenwu asked after lighting the pyre.
"Patriarch, we didn’t find the bodies of Gongsun Xin, Gongsun Qi, or Gongsun Han," a subordinate reported.
"Just those three?"
"Of those with any status, yes, just those three. Gongsun Xin is the successor to the Gongsun Family. Will it be a problem if we haven’t found his body? As for Gongsun Qi and Gongsun Han, the two Elders of the Gongsun Family, I heard from Master Yuanmie that even if they escaped, it won’t matter. They were heavily wounded and their Dantians were shattered. Even if they have Spirit Medicine to heal their physical injuries, it can’t repair a Dantian. They are already crippled."
"It doesn’t matter," Sun Zhenwu said dismissively. "Our Sun Family has already taken over Hero City. Even if Gongsun Xin and those two Elders are still alive, they can’t change anything. The number of Gongsun Family members who escaped during this final battle shouldn’t exceed five hundred, right?"
"Absolutely not."
"Exactly. This battle was a complete victory for the Sun Family. From today onwards, I am the New City Lord of Hero City. The Gongsun Family is now a thing of the past!"
Out in the wilderness, the two hundred and eighty members of the Gongsun Family marched slowly. The speed of ordinary horse-drawn carriages was simply too slow. It wasn’t long before a band of highwaymen blocked their path. Seeing so many carriages, the bandits thought they had stumbled upon easy marks.
Little did they know, they had picked the absolute wrong target.
Whether it was Gongsun Yanran or the younger generation like Gongsun Po and Gongsun Hao, they all began to slaughter the bandits like maniacs. Even after the bandits were dead, they couldn’t resist mutilating the corpses. They had been suppressing a tremendous amount of pent-up frustration and rage, and these bandits were the perfect outlet for their release.
They even chased down the fleeing stragglers, slaughtering their way right into the bandits’ stronghold. The unfortunate gang was wiped out to the last man. In truth, these mountain bandits were not weak at all in their cultivation—their strongest member had already reached the Demon Spirit Realm.
The Gongsun Family commandeered the Beast Vehicles from the stronghold, and their travel speed finally picked up. Almost all of the new vehicles were pulled by Rank Four Beasts.
Seven days later, the entire Gongsun Family arrived at Ye Family Town.
"Xuan’Er, are you sure you want to bring all the Gongsun Family members to the Ye Family?" Gongsun Yanran asked at the entrance to the town.
Ye Xuan replied calmly, "Mother, why do you ask? Didn’t we already agree on this?"
"I’m just reminding you," she sighed. "Although all grievances are supposed to be wiped clean once the battle for the city ends, it’s inevitable that some from the Sun Family might want to kick us while we’re down. If the Sun Family finds out that the Gongsun Family has taken root here, I’m afraid..."
Before she could finish, Ye Xuan interrupted, "Mother, my town is out in the middle of nowhere. The environment is poor, and the Spiritual Qi is extremely thin. People from a major city don’t have the free time to come all the way out here."
"You aren’t worried at all?"
"Mother, it’s not a matter of being worried. I’m simply not afraid of you bringing me trouble."
Ye Xuan stated his position point-blank. Even with the potential danger, he would not turn the Gongsun Family away. Although he didn’t have much emotional attachment to them, this battle for the city had left a profound impact on him. Even Gongsun Qingyue, whom he had always looked down upon, was willing to sacrifice his life to protect the younger generation of the Direct Lineage. His Eldest Uncle had also gone as far as to bury himself in the tunnel just to ensure they could escape.
Ye Xuan knew how to be grateful.
The members of the Gongsun Family were his relatives, after all. Moreover, he had previously promised his grandfather that as long as he had the ability, he would shelter the Gongsun Family. A promise made was a promise kept.
He hadn’t been able to protect them during the city siege, but he could certainly manage to let them settle down in Ye Family Town.
"Let’s go, Mother," he said.
Ye Xuan’s Beast Vehicle took the lead, quickly arriving at the town’s gates. The guards were initially shocked to see so many Beast Vehicles, but when they spotted Ye Xuan standing on the lead vehicle, their expressions relaxed.
"It’s the Town Mayor! The Town Mayor has returned!"
"Hurry, please come in!"
The long convoy of Beast Vehicles entered the Ye Family Main Town and headed straight for the Ye Mansion. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the main gates of the Ye Family estate.
"Patriarch, you’re back!"
"Brother, how did it go? Did you make it into the top three of the grand tournament? Wait, why are there so many Beast Vehicles?" Ye Ling’Er and the others asked in surprise. Why had Ye Xuan returned with such a massive convoy?
"Huh! Aren’t they from the Gongsun Family?"
"Yanran, why did your family come? Wait, why do you look so pale? Did something happen?" Ye Yizhou noticed that Gongsun Yanran’s expression was off. By all rights, she should have been happy to reunite with him.
"Father, Grandfather," Ye Xuan said. "Our Ye Family still has many unoccupied courtyards. Have someone clean them up. From today onwards, these members of the Gongsun Family will be living with the Ye Family."