Under the dim sky and in the midst of a violent storm, the bright shrine seemed like the only color in the world.

The wind blowing through the pine forest sounded like the howling of ghosts, and the whole world was drowned in the rustling sound of falling rain. At this moment, the vast heaven and earth seemed to have this shrine located right in the center, and the ancient bell of the Buddhist temple in the mountains was roaring.

There are eight small tables in the main hall in the center of the shrine, on which are placed different long swords with eight different family crests painted in gold on the handles.

They are the sixteen-petal chrysanthemum of the Tachibana family, the gentian of the Minamoto family, the bamboo and sparrow of the Uesugi family, the red demon of the Inuyama family, the spider of the Fuma family, the horse head of the Ryoma family, the phoenix of the Sakurai family and the Yasha of the Miyamoto family.

The heads of the eight families will all attend this family gathering. At this moment, only the small table of the Yuan family is still empty. The heads of the families also remain silent. After all, this is the family shrine, and the souls of the ancestors wander in the shrine. Any shouting is disrespectful to the ancestors.

Hundreds of senior family members knelt silently outside the hall. Everyone even breathed carefully. The whole hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and the only sounds were the wind, rain and thunder outside the window.

The only problem was probably that a lot of the seats outside the house were empty. Most of the people present had already received the news that all those absent people, either injured or dead, had been executed. So many people were missing in just one night, and a depressing atmosphere swept over everyone.

No one knew the purpose of this family gathering. The family had not held such a grand gathering for decades. Many people present were usually scattered throughout the country, guarding different cities for the family.

Even the annual New Year celebrations only have half the number of people attending this gathering.

If news of a gathering of this scale were to get out, it would cause unrest in the entire underworld, which could mean that the Snake Eight Families would have to re-plan the structure of the Japanese underworld, or completely wipe out a certain gang.

Everyone was secretly guessing in their hearts, but no one dared to make a sound. Everyone looked straight ahead, just like the daimyo in the Warring States Period who summoned the samurai to discuss going to war. The samurai had already made up their minds and were just waiting for the order to come so they could draw their swords and mount their horses.

At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the hall, and an old man and a thin boy walked in together.

The young man was soaked, but the raindrops from his black windbreaker were not transparent but blood-colored. As he walked closer, the strong smell of blood hit him in the face and quickly filled the entire space.

The young man walked towards the location of the Yuan family with a murderous aura. He calmly placed his two swords on the table with a crisp sound. At that moment, everyone's expression changed slightly.

The palace suddenly became extremely quiet, and the sound of rain became clearer and clearer. Everyone looked at Uesugi Yue, who straightened his kimono and did not walk to his seat as the head of the family, but stood behind the boy.

This action surprised everyone. For a moment, everyone looked at each other, not understanding what this meant.

The Eight Sheqi Families adhere to a very ancient family system, and the patriarch is so respected that some people of lower status don't even have the opportunity to pay him a visit.

But now he was standing behind that thin figure. Was he going to pass on the throne to the head of the family? But Yuan Zhisheng was clearly no longer the young master.

However, just when everyone was confused, the boy spoke, and everyone opened their eyes wide in surprise.

"Long time no see, everyone."

Yuan Zhinv did not suppress her voice as she had done in the past. She restored her original tone, which was soft, low and hoarse, but it was clearly a female voice.

Instantly everyone realized something, and the head of the Fengmo family spoke first: "Meet the young master."

"Greetings, Young Master." Everyone said in unison.

Yuan Zhinv ignored the different expressions of the crowd. She just lowered her eyes, staring at the knife in front of her, and her voice was calm without any ups and downs.

"Just now, I executed forty-two people, including several ministers. Thirty of them were killed, eight had their fingers cut off, and four had their arms cut off. Do you know why?"

No one spoke, no one dared to speak. The atmosphere was so silent and depressing that it was almost suffocating. The entire hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Yuan Zhinv didn't care whether these people spoke or not. She just continued calmly: "Not long ago, mixed-race organizations from other countries sent people to sneak into Japan. They shouldn't have had such a smooth journey, but someone among us is helping them."

"Just now, several of the lowest-level mafia members of the family were brutally murdered. But does anyone know? Not to mention these low-level mafia members, even people in our own family die every day. How many of them died directly or indirectly at the hands of our own people?"

"Since ancient times, the Eight Clans of Sheqi have been composed of eight large families. We support each other but also hinder each other, and have never truly become a whole."

"I'm very disappointed about that."

Some of the family heads frowned, as if they realized something. The Fengmo family head spoke again: "Young Master, what do you want to say?"

Yuan Zhinv finally raised her eyes and swept her cold gaze over everyone present. Everyone who came into contact with her gaze lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at her.

"I want to say that from now on, the eight Sheqi families will have only one master, and that is the head of the family." Yuan Zhinv spoke word by word: "I don't care how many grievances you have had, or how much hatred you have had, you must put the interests of the family first at this moment."

"If I find out that someone is collaborating with the enemy again, no matter how insignificant the information they betray is, I will kill them without mercy."

"If we allow the enemy to take advantage of our internal strife and cause the death of one of our own, no matter how ordinary or weak the dead person is, even if he is just a small thug on the street that no one cares about, I will kill your entire family."

"If a family head refuses to obey the orders of the head of the family or pretends to obey but actually disobeys, then there is no need for this family to exist."

The girl's voice was cold as ice. She seemed so calm, but the words she said made everyone shudder. An indescribable chill rushed into their hearts, as if they heard the whispers of a demon.

Someone widened his eyes in disbelief and blurted out subconsciously: "What do you mean?"

When Yuan Zhinu looked up, she saw a strange middle-aged man. He was sitting in the position of the head of the Tachibana family and was looking at Yuan Zhinu in shock.

With the death of the fake Japanese Tachibana Masamune, the Tachibana family among the upper three families no longer has its own bloodline. Now all the people in the Tachibana family are recalled from outer branches, including the head of the Tachibana family.

At this moment, he was obviously not as steady as the other family heads, and looked out of place like a clown.

"Literally." Yuan Zhinv's tone remained unchanged, as if she was stating the facts: "Do you have any objections?"

"Yes!" the middle-aged man shouted, "What's the difference between this and a monarchy? Does the head of a family have to interfere in the affairs of the various families?"

Yuan Zhinv did not answer his question, but looked at the other family heads: "Does anyone else have any opinions?"

Everyone remained silent, no one spoke, as if they were all thinking about something.

Genjitsu nodded, suddenly picked up the knife on the table and threw it. Before anyone could react, the head of the Tachibana family's patriarch had already fallen to the ground, rolling on the ground with a gurgling sound.

His eyes were wide open and full of anger, and he seemed to be waiting for an explanation.

It took a few tenths of a second for the blood vessels to react, and a large amount of blood gushed out, splashing all over the head of the Miyamoto family who was sitting next to the head of the Tachibana family.

This scene was too sudden and too horrifying. Someone outside the hall screamed subconsciously, but quickly covered his mouth with his hands. Everyone looked at the thin figure in horror, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

The dim light shone on Yuan Zhinu's face, and the girl's pale face flickered. She didn't even look at the body that fell to the ground helplessly, but just repeated: "Does anyone else have any opinions?"

Silence, deathly silence. Everyone kept their heads down and remained silent. The strong smell of blood surrounded them, and thick blood flowed to their feet.

In the past, when the patriarch of the Eight Clans of Sheqi wanted to announce an important decision, he always had to gain the approval of the majority of the clan heads before it could be implemented. If more than half of them opposed, even the patriarch's order could be refuted.

But if it changes like this, everything will be different. It will undoubtedly harm the interests of many people. But when facing the girl who is like the god of death, no one dares to say "no".

Maybe some people are not afraid of death, but facing the threat of implicated family members or even the destruction of the entire clan, that ridiculous persistence becomes insignificant.

They didn't even dare to resist, because everyone present here has seen this seemingly frail girl slaughtering Deadpool. In the face of such absolutely overwhelming power, their resistance would probably be as ridiculous as trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm, right?

Yuan Zhinv was very satisfied with these people's understanding, and smiled and said: "Then, from now on, the Eight Snake Families will only have one family, and only one head of the family, and that is the head of the family. Do you understand?"

After a quiet silence, the head of the Fengmo family spoke first: "It's all up to you."

Every time the head of the Fuma family, who had the most seniority among all the family heads, spoke, it was like turning on a switch, and everyone responded and expressed their absolute obedience to Genjitsu.

But at this time, the real patriarch Uesugi Yue was standing behind Minamoto no Chitose. He did not have the slightest resentment or anger about being interfered with. He just listened silently, and his attitude was the greatest support.

"Now, I need to know how many members of the family have infiltrated the Japanese officialdom and politics," said Minamoto Chidome, "and how many officials have been or can be bribed by the family."

After a moment's silence, a family head spoke up. He called out a string of names, each of whom was someone capable of changing the situation in Japan. Among them was even the Prime Minister of Japan, but the thin girl just shook her head.

"Not enough." Minamoto Chitose said, "These people are far from enough. We must hurry up and continue to infiltrate and replace all the powerful officials with our people. I want to completely control the entire Japan."

"But... wouldn't this be too high-profile? I'm afraid it will cause dissatisfaction among the emperor and the cabinet." The head of the Sakurai family was a beautiful woman, and she showed a hesitant look at this time.

Glancing at the heads of these families with different expressions, Yuan Zhinu spoke word by word: "Whoever is dissatisfied will be killed, and whoever is disobedient will be replaced with an obedient person."

"If the Emperor objects..."

At this point, the girl suddenly smiled, her pale face was full of smiles, but there was no smile in her eyes, and a brilliant golden light flashed across her eyes: "Then Japan does not need this emperor anymore."

Chapter 160: Pioneer for the King

An international airport in China.

Two young men who looked like students were standing in a remote corner outside the airport, answering the phone. At their feet was a large suitcase with a half-rotten World Tree school emblem engraved on the black suitcase.

"Okay, professor, I understand. We will be taking a plane in 50 minutes and are expected to arrive at the academy tomorrow afternoon. The salvage plan is going smoothly and the target object is now with us."

"Don't worry, professor. The salvage team hasn't disbanded yet and they are here to cover us. No one will know that we have secretly left with the target item. We will ensure that the mission is completed."

The person on the other end of the line seemed to be saying something, and the student who answered the phone responded seriously. After a while, the phone was hung up. He turned to his companion and said, "I can't believe that Professor Schneider would be so long-winded."

His companion shrugged and gently kicked the box next to him. "This thing must be very important. It seems that the college attaches great importance to it. I heard that the principal is paying attention to it."

"What is this thing?" The boy put away his phone with a curious look on his face. "I've wanted to ask this for a long time. It's really heavy. It must be very difficult to fish something like this out of the Yangtze River with so much effort, right?"

"Who knows? Let's quickly bring it back to the academy and our mission will be over." The companion urged, "Let's go quickly. I heard that this item is special and needs to go through a special channel. Professor Schneider has already arranged it."

The boy scratched his head and was about to bend down to pick up the box when he suddenly heard someone laugh behind him. The sudden sound startled both of them. They turned around subconsciously and saw the black muzzle of a gun.

The two vibrations of the silencer in the corner did not attract anyone's attention. The man in a suit and tie walked out of the corner carrying a box, pushed up his sunglasses, and lowered his head to avoid a surveillance camera not far away.

The man walked into the airport and quickly boarded the plane that had been prepared long ago. Amid the roar of the plane's engine, the man casually opened the box and looked at the knife box inside with surprise.

There were seven completely different knives in the box, all snow-white and sharp, looking like Swiss Army knives. Each knife was so new and bright that there was no sign of age at all, as if it had just been produced not long ago.

The college went to such great lengths just to find this thing?

The man was so surprised that he almost doubted whether he had been cheated. At this moment, his cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, the man calmed himself down and clicked the answer button.

"Hey, teacher."

"Did you get the thing?" an old voice sounded from the other end of the phone.

"I got it." At this point, the man paused and said, "But it's not quite what I imagined. This thing looks... nothing special?"

"What is it?"

"A set of weapons, seven completely different knives, but they look new, not like they are from an old era."

As Perry was talking, he wanted to pick up a knife to play with it, but a surprising scene happened. The knives seemed to be firmly sucked into the box and he couldn't pull them out at all.

Perry was stunned for a moment, and tried another knife in disbelief, but he was soon surprised to find that no matter which knife he used or how much strength he used, he could not move them at all.

He couldn't even pull out the smallest knife.

"No, there's something wrong with this knife." Perry said, "It seems to have some mystery."

"Now is not the time to talk about this. Bring them back first." The old voice said, "All those who went to Japan with you are dead."

Perry was not surprised: "I know. They will be killed in the end anyway. So let's make use of them. They can also be used as a trap."

"How is that guy called Yuan Zhisheng? What's his strength? And what forces do the other guys belong to? Have you found out?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time. Just when Perry was surprised, the old man spoke again.

"They're all dead."

Perry was stunned and asked in disbelief: "Who died?"

"Everyone."

"How is this possible?!" Perry blurted out almost subconsciously.

He doesn't care whether those people are dead or alive. He set up such a trap just to watch a dog-eat-dog fight. No matter who wins or loses or how many people die, it has nothing to do with him, the person watching the movie behind the scenes.

Because this was the script he planned.

But now, the ending was beyond his expectations.

Although he didn't know the bloodlines of those hybrids who sneaked in, Perry roughly knew how many of them there were. With so many guys together, was there no way they could deal with a single Yuan Zhisheng?

Isn't it said that although this former young master was considered a good hand in the Execution Bureau, he was indecisive and not even half as good as the S-level one?

Perry got this evaluation from various channels and it was absolutely true, so he believed it without a doubt and was confident that those hybrids could definitely deal with Yuan Zhisheng.

Even if those hybrids failed in the end, it was probably because the assistance of the Eight Snake Qi Clans arrived, and some of those hybrids would definitely escape, just bringing out the information he wanted, such as the actual strength of the Eight Snake Qi Clans.

But now, something he had never expected happened. Everyone died. How was this possible?

Perry knew that his teacher had no reason to lie to him about such things, so even though he refused to believe it in his heart, he had to start thinking about this fact.

"Could it be that... that Yuan Zhisheng has actually been hiding his strength?" Perry said, "That's possible. Aren't he and that S-level brother and sister? They look so similar, so their strength shouldn't be that different."

But something unexpected happened again, because his teacher said, "No."

"Who else could it be? Are there other S-levels among the Eight Snake Families?"

"No." The old voice whispered, "We are all wrong."

"how?"

"Just a few hours ago, all messages from Japan were cut off. Our infiltration efforts during this period suddenly became ineffective. I tried to contact the undercover agents, but found that they had already died without my knowing."

"The last piece of news that the undercover agent brought out in Japan was a photo."

"What picture?"

“The real man behind the scenes.”

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