Chapter 311: Your Old Ancestor Is Too Smart, the Clan Must Be Annihilated

"The AI's big data is the real deal," Qi Suian remarked as he observed the activity within the Sun Family's grand estate.

From clan members to servants, from the direct lineage to the branch families, everyone was fully mobilized under some kind of order.

This was definitely a major move.

For the Sun Family to go to such lengths, it had to be for either a great threat or a great benefit.

In this case, it was definitely the latter.

"AI, how did you know the Sun Family's leader wouldn't be greedy?" Qi Suian asked.

If he were greedy, he would have tried to fatten the calf, waiting until Qi Suian's Taiping Celestial King faction had grown large enough to be worth slaughtering.

Instead, he was making a move just two days after I took control.

According to the AI's plan, the benefits the Sun Family was receiving had only just begun. Attacking now, aside from taking over the Taiping Celestial King's forces, was basically killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

[Through big data modeling and...]

The AI first gave a brief summary, then sent Qi Suian a full report.

Qi Suian just gave it a cursory glance without delving any deeper.

The deductions were based on information, which was nothing more than data acquired through satellite projections and reconnaissance networks.

'The information system needs another upgrade... Never mind, I'll deal with it later.' Qi Suian thought for a moment. He had no more module slots.

'What's going on with my men? Why haven't they made a move? Don't tell me the Sun Family already bought them off?' Qi Suian shifted his gaze back to the Sun Family.

According to the plan, the Taiping Celestial King's motley crew was supposed to strike first, and then he would go kill the Third-Grade Mage, the Sun Family Ancestor.

After the Taiping Celestial King occupied Pinghu City and its surrounding towns, he naturally recruited many Mages and Spirit Demons as subordinates.

Most of them were not good people, but fortunately, neither was Qi Suian.

Qi Suian provided the resources, and they did the work.

Disloyalty wasn't an issue. As long as they didn't try anything sneaky or openly challenge Qi Suian, he could tolerate them. After all, they were just tools and cannon fodder. If they were still alive when the time came, they would just be stuffed into the Melting Furnace.

It wasn't that no one had ever challenged Qi Suian's authority; they just ended up in the Melting Furnace. After that, few dared to question him.

However, these Mages and Spirit Demons were the type to forsake all loyalty for profit. If the Sun Family made them a better offer, they would betray him without a second thought.

But the Sun Family looked down on these people and would, at most, just make them empty promises.

If anyone actually fell for it, it would just be a matter of convenience for the Sun Family. They'd honor the deal for two or three months at most before getting rid of you.

After all, a Mage Family might be good to common folk, but not to the Jianghu Mages who competed with them for resources—even if Jianghu Mages had a hard time acquiring even the smallest amount of resources to begin with.

[Rest assured, the Sun Family cannot afford to pay the price we do to support them.]

[It is more cost-effective to kill them than to support them.]

"That's a good way to hurt their feelings, you know," Qi Suian quipped. The status of part-time tools and full-time cannon fodder was just that low.

Before long, large numbers of Jianghu Mages and Spirit Demons, leading soldiers, launched an attack on the Sun Family.

With the AI's coordination and control, they broke through the Sun Family's main gate with the speed of a thunderclap.

And so, the great battle began.

The Sun Family was caught by surprise, but on the whole, their strength far surpassed that of this rabble.

After weathering the initial chaos, they organized an orderly defense and counterattack.

'Barring any surprises, this motley crew is doomed to lose.' Qi Suian assessed the situation. Even if he didn't know much about warfare, he could read the writing on the wall.

They had made great strides at the beginning, but now they were pinned down at the second estate gate, and their casualties were mounting.

[You should go kill the Sun Family Ancestor. Otherwise, this rabble will flee sooner or later.]

The AI reminded Qi Suian.

The rabble's only purpose was to draw fire.

As long as the Sun Family's Ancestor died, the rest wouldn't be a problem.

In a world where individual might reigned supreme, the death of a powerful ruler would cause the entire command structure to collapse in an instant.

Qi Suian then took control of the Tai Sui God and, using the reconnaissance network, quickly locked onto the Sun Family Ancestor.

In terms of power, the man was indeed much stronger than Qi Suian, but he was far from meeting the criteria for a high-energy lifeform.

This meant that even if he couldn't win on his own merits, he could rely on his protagonist's halo to kill his opponent.

A missile silo materialized on his back, and with a WHOOSH, a missile shot out.

His intercontinental ballistic missile was still under construction after he'd used one to blow up Longjing City last time.

The missile never reached the ground. It was torn to shreds in mid-air by an invisible wind.

"The Taiping Celestial King? Your methods are impressive indeed."

"To think your schemes were one step ahead of this old man." The Sun Family Ancestor arrived, treading on Gang Wind in the dead of night.

The Gang Wind around him was far stronger than the Geng Metal Gang Wind from the Low-Grade Spirit Root·Mountain Monarch Order... no, it was more "complete."

At the same time, he wore three magic artifacts: a green-jade hairpin fastening his hair, a yellow robe, and a gold bracelet on his wrist.

[Energy signature is biased toward the wind attribute. High probability that his constructed Spiritual Root system is wind-based.]

That was something anyone with eyes could see; he didn't need the AI to point it out.

Qi Suian wasn't particularly concerned with the techniques of a Lower-Grade Spiritual Root or the magic artifacts of a Middle-Grade Spiritual Root.

The truly powerful item had to be the Taoist Scripture of his Top-Grade Spiritual Root.

Through the reconnaissance network, he could see that the Sun Family Ancestor's bodily energy wasn't just circulating internally; it was also forming a larger, external loop through the Top-Grade Spiritual Root on his body.

This meant he could use this loop to unleash even greater power.

In layman's terms, he could borrow power to unleash power.

Borrowing the power of heaven and earth to strike his foes.

This was precisely why even a decrepit Mage of the upper three grades was not someone a Fourth-Grade Mage from the middle three grades could hope to defeat.

"Unfortunately, your strength cannot support your schemes."

"Whether it's your..." the Sun Family Ancestor began, his voice droning on.

Qi Suian attacked him mid-sentence.

'The Dumbing Aura must be working.' Otherwise, he wouldn't be talking so much. From the looks of it, if Qi Suian waited without attacking, the old man might have narrated his entire life's journey.

But Qi Suian had no intention of listening. In coordination with Fei, he launched a barrage of missiles.

The Sun Family Ancestor could outright ignore firearms, which was why Qi Suian had resorted to missiles.

"Mere parlor tricks! You have no idea what the upper three grades..."

The Sun Family Ancestor countered with his Gang Wind, effortlessly disabling all the missiles.

He didn't actually know that missiles exploded, but he could tell that anything moving that fast was trouble, so destroying it beforehand was obviously the better choice.

However, while he had stopped the missiles, he had not stopped Qi Suian and Fei.

"This old man's Top-Grade Spirit Root is the Cyan Nether Gang Wind! In the *Compendium of Spirit Search*, it is ranked..."

After blocking Qi Suian and Fei's attack with his Gang Wind, the Sun Family Ancestor's face filled with contempt, and he began leaking his own intel.

Qi Suian could only attribute this to his protagonist's halo being enhanced to +9. Its Dumbing Aura was truly more than any normal person could handle.

But then he felt a sense of exasperation at the thought that he himself might one day have to endure the dumbing effect of this protagonist's halo.

The Dumbing Aura wouldn't necessarily only affect his enemies. If a situation arose where he needed to capture someone of great value alive, which went against his rational judgment, the dumbing effect would fall on him instead.

At that point, he'd probably be just like the Sun Family Ancestor before him, not knowing why he was talking so much and just wanting to chat.

Then he'd obnoxiously show off and brag, revealing all his secrets. However, that last part was unlikely to happen to Qi Suian.

Even with the dumbing effect, it wouldn't go so far as to make Qi Suian spin a cocoon to trap himself. After all, his protagonist's halo was there to catch him.

The Sun Family Ancestor's Gang Wind was indeed fierce, but because of the dumbing effect, he wasn't even using thirty percent of his usual strength, to say nothing of his peak power.

The Mad Cathedral directly enveloped Qi Suian, the Sun Family Ancestor, and Fei, trapping them all inside.

"A Fourth-Grade Mage? Each grade is a world of its own, to say nothing of the gap between the upper and middle three grades." The Sun Family Ancestor wasn't surprised.

He had mistaken the Tai Sui God on Qi Suian's person, as well as Fei, for Qi Suian's magic artifacts. Now, this bizarre-looking Mad Cathedral was naturally the same in his eyes.

Techniques were akin to skills, while magic artifacts were equipment, items, or summons.

But he quickly realized something was wrong. Inside the Mad Cathedral, Fei erupted with even greater power.

Moreover, the bizarre figures all around them began to sing. He immediately constructed a stronger defense with his Gang Wind.

But in the end, he was a step too slow.

A High-Frequency Energy Blade made of elemental energy pierced his Gang Wind, shattered the back of his neck, and then, with a twist, lopped his head clean off.

From the very beginning, Fei, the missiles, and even the Mad Cathedral were all just a cover chosen by Qi Suian.

The one who made the real move was, naturally, the man with the protagonist's halo.

Otherwise, how could these things possibly kill a Third-Grade Mage, a feat far beyond their level?

The Elemental High-Frequency Energy Blade was a melee energy weapon that Qi Suian had created by combining the High-Energy Virus Attachment Array module with his energy technology.

It possessed traits like high sharpness and high penetration.

If he had enough module slots in the future, it could become one of his permanent weapon modules.

For now, though, this makeshift version would have to do.

The Sun Family Ancestor's head flew into the air and was caught by Qi Suian. The body was also quickly preserved.

Although his head was separated from his body, the tenacious life force of a Third-Grade Mage kept him from dying. As long as Qi Suian preserved him properly, keeping him alive would be no problem at all.

If not for the fact that the source of the Spiritual Root system was a problematic parasite, this Extraordinary system would be quite perfect.

The Sun Family Ancestor's eyes were wide with disbelief. He couldn't believe he had just been beheaded.

He tried to say something more, but without lungs, he could only mouth the words, unable to make a sound.

Qi Suian had no intention of hearing him out. He sealed the head away and isolated it from the body, preventing the Ancestor from controlling his body via his divine soul.

The hallmark of the upper three grades was the evolution of one's Spirit and soul, forming a special spiritual structure known as a divine soul.

"Once I've dealt with the Sun Family, we can have a proper chat," Qi Suian said, then directly stored the sealed head in his Subspace Pocket.