Approximately an hour later.

Inside the main hall of the City Lord's mansion, the noise was chaotic and somewhat disorderly.

A dozen or so men dressed in various attire were seated around a large stone conference table, each holding a black stone cup, swirling the scaled beast blood inside, and chatting with excitement.

Chenyang sat in the lower seat closest to the main position, gently stroking his stone cup with one hand and keeping the other in his sleeve. He never raised the cup to drink, and even when acquaintances came over to clink cups with him, he only symbolically brought the stone cup to his lips before putting it down again.

On the stone table beside him, there was also a black stone box of considerable size, sealed tightly.

"Captain Chenyang, what's the situation? The City Lord suddenly summoned us all here, is there something important to announce? Give your old brother a heads up?" A tall man with protruding fangs and wearing white bone armor grinned and asked.

"Captain Mou Lin, it's not that I don't want to tell you, brother, it's just that I don't know either. Don't worry, everyone hasn't arrived yet. When everyone is here, the City Lord will naturally speak." Chenyang replied with a smile.

The man just smiled upon hearing this and said nothing more.

At this moment, the main hall door was slowly pushed open by a young man with a bull-horn tattoo on his cheek, and then three more people walked in one after another.

The first to enter was a one-horned burly man. If Han Li were to see him, he would surely recognize him as the one who usually presided over the battles in the Ninth District's Xuan Fighting Arena.

Following closely behind were two magic race men dressed in crimson robes, one with a round face and one with a square face, each holding a thick book and carrying a vermilion-tipped brush. They were none other than the two recorders.

"Brother Chen, everyone has arrived except for those who went out hunting." After the three had all entered, the tattooed youth who had pushed open the door looked at Chenyang and transmitted his voice.

Chenyang silently nodded, and the youth went out and closed the stone door.

After the one-horned man and the others had all taken their seats, Chenyang still didn't rush to speak but silently sized up everyone in the hall.

After waiting for a long time, someone finally became impatient.

A magic race man with a face like dark jujube and horns on his head asked loudly, "Chenyang, what are you up to? You summoned everyone here, saying the City Lord had important matters to announce, but why hasn't the City Lord appeared after all this time?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the clamor in the hall subsided, and everyone looked towards Chenyang.

"Captain Xiong Pi, why can't you even wait a moment for the City Lord? Why not drink a few more mouthfuls of flower-scaled beast blood to calm down? The City Lord is usually reluctant to let us drink this stuff." Chenyang said with a smile, not angry.

The red-faced man with horns named Xiong Pi, upon hearing this, picked up the heavy stone cup and took another sip of beast blood.

When the beast blood in their stone cups was almost finished, Chenyang slowly stood up, walked to the main seat of the conference table, the position that only Du Qingyang could usually sit in, and sat down with a golden horse and a sword.

At first, the crowd didn't pay attention, but soon they were all drawn to his extremely unreasonable behavior, and they all looked over with strange expressions. The entire hall instantly fell silent.

"Chenyang, how dare you sit in that seat? Are you trying to die?" At this moment, the fanged man named Mou Lin slammed the table and stood up, enraged.

"Bastard, quickly get down..." Immediately afterward, two more city guard captains stood up, glaring at each other in anger.

Seeing this, Chenyang remained unmoved, just lazily stretched and slowly straightened his body.

"Everyone, don't be impatient, listen to me for a moment. There is only one important matter that the City Lord wants to announce today..." At this point, he paused and slowly scanned the crowd.

The others in the hall didn't understand what madness Chenyang was up to today, and they all quietly waited for him to finish speaking.

"Du Qingyang feels that his virtue is not worthy of his position, and he wants to abdicate the position of City Lord to me!"

As soon as Chenyang said this, it was as if a pot of oil had been splashed with water, or a thunderbolt had struck in a drought. The entire hall immediately erupted.

"What are you talking about? Let the position to you?" Xiong Pi raised an eyebrow and asked loudly.

"What are you? You dare to covet the position of City Lord?" Another person shouted loudly.

"Chenyang, are you plotting a rebellion?" Mou Lin kicked away the stone chair next to his feet and said sternly.

"He's crazy, he must be crazy..."

…

With a "bang!" sound!

Chenyang slammed his palm on the stone table and stood up abruptly.

The conference stone table immediately made a "crackling" sound, and spiderweb-like cracks spread instantly.

Seeing this, everyone stood up in shock.

"Everyone, you might as well ask the City Lord to verify whether what I, Chen, said is a sign of mental derangement?" Chenyang said coldly, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"Where is the City Lord? I want to see him." Mou Lin shouted loudly.

"Want to see the City Lord? That's easy." Chenyang smiled, raised his hand, and pushed.

The black stone box placed in front of him was pushed out by his palm, rolled a few times on the table, and the lid opened with a "slap". The "thing" inside also fell out.

It was a head covered in dirt, broken in two.

Everyone was shocked at the sight.

Mou Lin's eyes widened, and he endured the shock in his heart, raised his hand to brush away the messy hair on the half of the head, revealing a dirty, incomplete face hidden underneath. It was none other than the Qingyang City Lord, Du Qingyang!

"City Lord..." Xiong Pi exclaimed.

Everyone's expression changed, and their reactions in that instant were all different.

Among them, only Mou Lin, Xiong Pi and a few others glared at each other, while most people were terrified and at a loss.

The two recorders looked at each other, and the hands holding the books and brushes began to tremble uncontrollably.

On the contrary, the one-horned man's eyes were calm, and he seemed relatively composed.

"To assassinate the lord is to commit treason. Chenyang, you deserve to die!" Mou Lin said through gritted teeth, his eyes cold.

"Everyone, the City Lord is dead, and the culprit is Chenyang. Let us join forces to kill him and avenge the City Lord!" Xiong Pi said, his eyes flashing slightly.

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at each other, but few dared to step forward.

Du Qingyang was able to become the lord of this city, relying more on force to deter people. Of course, there were also those who were loyal to him, but after all, it was impossible for everyone to be.

"Whoever can kill this thief, I, Mou Lin, am willing to support him as the new City Lord." Seeing this, Mou Lin roared.

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the hall changed subtly, and many people began to step forward, trying to surround Chenyang in the center.

"Want to kill me? Can you do it?" Chenyang asked loudly, his expression unchanged.

After saying that, the stone door of the hall was violently pushed open, and the tattooed youth led a dozen or so strong men in bone armor into the hall, surrounding Mou Lin and the others in the center.

"Chenyang, do you think you can accomplish anything with these miscellaneous soldiers?" Xiong Pi sneered.

After saying a word, he clenched his fists, and a stream of astral energy emanated from his body. "Bang bang" sounds rang out on his body, and one profound acupoint after another lit up.

However, after only a dozen or so sounds, the sound stopped abruptly.

Not only did no more profound acupoints light up on Xiong Pi's body, but his body softened, and he fell directly to the ground.

Immediately afterward, the sound of falling to the ground rang out continuously in the hall. One figure after another collapsed, lying on the ground in a tangled mess. The only ones left standing were Chenyang and the men brought by the tattooed youth.

"There is... white Xuan beast bone powder in the flower-scaled beast blood..." Xiong Pi said in a trembling voice, propping up his upper body.

Chenyang picked up his cup of beast blood, walked to Xiong Pi, and poured it little by little on his face.

"It's too late to realize it now, don't you think?" Chenyang sneered and said slowly.

Xiong Pi sighed heavily and fell down.

Chenyang ignored him, walked slowly past him, and said, "Everyone, what do you say now? Do you want to be a loyal minister and follow Du Qingyang, or share this great Qingyang City with me?"

The hall was silent, deathly still.

…

In the adjacent side hall.

"It seems that Bone Fellow Daoist was right. This Chenyang has been planning today's events for a long time. Letting us stay in this side hall is not really asking us to help, but to show us his wrist." Han Li said with a smile, listening to the movement in the main hall.

"The reason why I chose to collude with this person that day was also because I saw that this person's ambition was not small, and he was not someone who would stay under someone for a long time. Colluding with this kind of person can double the results with half the effort, but if you are not careful, it will backfire on you." Gu Qianxun said faintly.

…

At this time, in the main hall, after a brief silence, Chenyang's voice suddenly sounded:

"Everyone, don't worry. As long as you are willing to follow me, I will only give you more than Du Qingyang gave you in the future and will never treat you badly. However, if you have any second thoughts, you are just looking for death..."

As soon as the voice fell, his figure blurred slightly, and he instantly came to the side of a short, thin old man and stomped down heavily, directly crushing his wrist into a bloody mess.

He let out a groan, and the tightly clenched palm slowly opened, revealing a palm-sized strange white bone.

"The star bone of the Exploding Scale Beast, containing such a rich star power, is really rare... Fellow Daoist Wu Heng, why didn't I notice that you were so loyal to Du Qingyang? You even wanted to detonate this star bone and desperately inflict heavy damage on me?" Chenyang picked up the white bone and said slowly.

"City Lord Du has a life-saving grace for me. Since I cannot fulfill my duties while alive, I will be loyal in death. Kill me or cut me, as you please." The old man said weakly, his teeth clenched tightly.

"Chenyang, do you think that if you kill City Lord Du, you can replace him? How can the main city recognize you, a traitorous rebel! When the envoys from the main city arrive, how will your ending be?" Xiong Pi said coldly, his eyes closed.

"Haha... It's really kind of you two to think of me. It's a pity that Xuan City has never cared about the turmoil in the subordinate cities? As long as the tributes are not delayed each time, do they care whether the Qingyang City Lord is named Du or Chen?" Chenyang laughed loudly.

"Forget it, kill me..." Wu Heng said, a look of misery on his face, realizing what was happening.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chenyang punched him quickly in the abdomen.

A bang rang out, Wu Heng's body suddenly burst, and blood and minced meat splattered everywhere, his death was extremely miserable.