In his Dragon and Phoenix Auspicious form, Wang Lan's strength instantly soared to the early stage of the Star Sea realm. When he unleashed Sentient Beings, its tendrils spread with overwhelming speed and power.

In almost the span of a breath, countless vines entangled the massive Exotic Beast like a spiderweb, quickly forming a forest made entirely of vines.

At this moment, the people of the Duanmu Family were already like frightened birds. Fear made them frantic, filled with violence and aggression, but the underlying cause was still fear.

The activation of Wang Lan's Sentient Beings was like toppling a domino. Fear spread in an instant.

"The Qing Emperor has come?"

"The Qing Emperor! We're done for... done for... That's the Qing Emperor..."

"The Qing Emperor has arrived, we're finished..."

"We're dead. I heard the Qing Emperor has always been in Modu City..."

"He's not the Qing Emperor, you fools! This is Sentient Beings, not the Descent of the Tree Realm!"

Noisy voices kept rising; even many Star Sea realm experts exposed flaws in their panic and were killed by the Yu Family's masters with a single move.

Against monstrous beasts of terrifying size and endless Star Power, only Star Martial Skills of a similar scale could contend with them. Wood Attribute Star Martial Skills naturally countered giant Exotic Beasts, so when Sentient Beings was successfully deployed and entwined the beast, the effect was immediate and striking.

The Exotic Beast howled towards the heavens, struggling to break free from the entanglement of Sentient Beings. But the more it struggled, the more the vines multiplied, growing wildly with the absorption of Star Power. Each vine moved as flexibly as Wang Lan's fingers, and in his senses, he felt as if he had become the forest of vines itself.

BOOM—

Enraged, the Exotic Beast spouted a breath of flame that instantly shattered the vines entangling it, ferociously advancing into the distance. However, visibly to the naked eye, the massive fireball shrank drastically during its flight, disappearing after traveling less than two hundred meters.

Yet the vines continued to grow crazily, in the blink of an eye, subduing the Exotic Beast once again. No matter how it struggled, for every vine it broke, countless more took its place.

Star Power was continuously drained, and the beast, which had never experienced exhaustion, gradually began to feel fatigued. At this moment, the battling Duanmu Family side descended into chaos.

The battle was already not in their favor, and they were waiting—waiting for the Duanmu Family's public relations to step in, waiting for that glimmer of hope.

As the head of a top Star Martial Aristocratic family, Lord Duanmu naturally had a set of emergency measures in place. All he had to do was muddy the waters, create a national stir, manipulate public opinion to put pressure on the state, and get the Tianjian Bureau and the Yu Family to stop their actions.

All it would take was one day of respite for the Duanmu Family, and they would find a way to shift from a defensive to an offensive position.

The Tianjian Bureau and the Yu Family needed to reach a quick, decisive conclusion before an order from above was issued. The Duanmu Family, on the other hand, needed to delay as much as possible and then position themselves as the weaker party to gain sympathy from the whole country and perhaps the world.

In today's era, exterminating a family, sweeping a Star Martial Aristocratic family in one fell swoop, was not as simple as one might imagine.

In the era of empires, an imperial decree was all it took to lead to the extermination of a family! But in today's society, battles are fought on different dimensions, and strategies are far more complex and elusive.

The Duanmu Family's weapon for delaying the battle was this Exotic Beast with unlimited firepower. With it present, even if the combined strength of the Tianjian Bureau and the Yu Family slightly surpassed the Duanmu Family's, they were not daunted.

But with the Exotic Beast restrained, the precarious balance they were barely maintaining would be instantly shattered. The total assault by the Tianjian Bureau and the Yu Family began.

"Damn it, die—"

A Titled Strongman from the Duanmu Family suddenly pushed Cheng Jianlong back with a move. His figure flashed, and he dived instantly into Wang Lan's Sentient Beings.

"Not good! Wang Lan, be careful—"

There was no need for Cheng Jianlong to remind him. Wang Lan was aware the moment the opponent appeared within Sentient Beings.

He controlled the vines to block quickly, but the opponent was a Titled Strongman. The vines were too slow to catch up. Even with a blockading tactic, the opponent could break through in an instant.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the opponent charged in front of Wang Lan.

"Die—"

A punch with earth-shaking might. Before the fist arrived, terrifying magma surged from the ground around Wang Lan. A Titled Strongman, with every move, could provoke Star Power collisions and create area-of-effect damage. Without time to think, Wang Lan summoned all his Star Power and threw a punch toward the Titled Strongman.

"Dragon Emperor Form?" The opponent saw the Dragon Horn on Wang Lan's forehead and paused for a moment.

But it was only a brief pause, and the attack did not slow down as it hammered down.

As long as Wang Lan was not the Qing Emperor, anything else was manageable.

"Canglan—"

Wang Lan fused the power of Inch Strength with Star Power, and combined with the terrifying strength of the Dragon Emperor Form, he unleashed the most powerful punch in his history.

BOOM—

The fists collided, and a terrifying shockwave spread out. The surrounding vines seemed to be shredded by spatial distortions, rapidly disappearing. Around the two fighters, a hundred-meter vacuum was blasted open in an instant.

BOOM—

Wang Lan's body was thrown backward, a fierce jet of blood spurting from his mouth.

Even with the combat power of a Star Sea realm expert, against a Titled Strongman, the gap was significant.

As he was flung backward, Song of Life activated automatically, swiftly healing his injuries. Wang Lan had just landed when the Titled Strongman leaped forward, a punch carrying the might of thunder hurtling towards him.

Suddenly, Wang Lan felt a figure appear behind him. Before he had time to look back, a familiar voice rang in his ear.

"Kid, not bad at all..."

This old rascal had finally arrived.

BOOM—

The Titled Strongman's punch descended, yet it froze less than a foot from Yu Qing's face. Within the distortion of the punch's force, a barrier resembling an electromagnetic shield blocked the earth-shattering blow.

Even the figure of the Qing Emperor showed not the slightest tremor.

"This is..." Wang Lan's pupils contracted sharply. The barrier seemed somewhat familiar.

"You are..." The face of the Titled Strongman opposite changed dramatically. "Qing Emperor?"

BOOM—

A violent explosion sounded, and before the Titled Strongman could even react to what had happened, his figure was blown away in an instant.

The Qing Emperor took a slow step forward, yet his figure had already traversed a hundred meters.

Watching the departing figure of the Qing Emperor, Wang Lan had an incredibly surreal feeling. It was as if two different movies had merged into one.

The fierce battle between the Tianjian Bureau's and Duanmu Family's experts was at a deadlock, but the Qing Emperor seemed like a mere passerby leisurely walking into the fray. As he intervened, the battling Duanmu Family experts were all sent flying with screams.

The afterimages of the Qing Emperor passed through the battlefield like the wind.

The Duanmu Family experts, whether they were Galaxy, Star Sea, or Titled Strongmen, were instantly blown away and then lay motionless on the ground.

From beginning to end, the Qing Emperor seemed so slow. From beginning to end, it was as if the Qing Emperor had never made a move.

Beneath the Five Emperors, all are ants.

So this is what it means?

"Take them down!" Cheng Jianlong commanded. Immediately, Ming Baiye and others swarmed forward, subduing all the Duanmu Family's Titled Strongmen.

What had been a deadlocked struggle moments ago was settled in the blink of an eye.

BANG—

A loud noise sounded as Duanmu Qingsuang's door was kicked open.

Sitting behind his desk, Duanmu Qingsuang suddenly looked up.

"Duanmu Qingsuang, you are under arrest."

"Cheng Jianlong... heh... Who would have thought that one day, a petty chief of the Tianjian Bureau would actually barge into my study? Under arrest... The head of the Duanmu Family will not be arrested."

"You still want to resist..."

Suddenly, flames surged around Duanmu Qingsuang. Purple flames instantly engulfed him.

"Water Breakthrough—"

"Water Tornado—"

Wang Lan and Ming Baiye both launched Water Attribute Star Martial Skills towards Duanmu Qingsuang. The fire was extinguished, but Duanmu Qingsuang was already dead on the spot.

"Sigh! A formidable figure of his generation, to end like this," Cheng Jianlong said, a hint of complex emotion in his voice as he gazed at Duanmu Qingsuang, who had taken his own life.

"Chief, the problem now is... with Duanmu Qingsuang dead, how do we investigate the mastermind connected to the academy?"

At Ming Baiye's words, Cheng Jianlong's expression suddenly changed. Staring at the charred corpse before him, he stepped over to Duanmu Qingsuang's side. "Damn it, wake up! You can't die yet! Wang Lan, quick, save him!"

"Chief, are you serious? He's completely cooked!" Wang Lan sighed in exasperation. I never imagined Chief Cheng had such a ridiculous side.

Although the battle had come to an end, the dust had not yet settled.

The rumors spread by the Duanmu Family and the ensuing public criticism would keep the Tianjian Bureau busy for a long time, not to mention the task of identifying the innocent among the Duanmu Family members.

But these no longer had anything to do with Wang Lan. His mission was already complete—or rather, it was complete the moment Wei Zheng was captured.

Returning to the dormitory, Wang Lan asked for a few more days off from school. The school, perhaps aware of Wang Lan's actions this week, didn't ask any questions and promptly approved his leave.

Apart from the successful resolution of the Wei Zheng case, which awarded him 20,000 experience points and 3,000 skill points, the Duanmu Family case surprisingly yielded no experience or skill points.

Furthermore, the Duanmu Family was annihilated, yet Ma Chuchu's task was still not completed.

At this moment, Wang Lan almost wanted to emulate Cheng Jianlong, grab Ma Chuchu's urn, and yell, "What the hell more do you want? I've wiped out the entire Duanmu Family! What else could you possibly be unsatisfied with? Huh?" Alas, such scenes could only play out in his imagination.

「Three days went by.」

The judgment on the Duanmu Family had been concluded.

Due to Duanmu Qingsuang's death, subsequent investigations had to be abruptly halted. Other members of the Duanmu Family could not be convicted due to a lack of evidence. However, resisting law enforcement was an indisputable charge.

The verdict was announced: the stripping of the Duanmu Family's title as a Star Martial Aristocratic family and the confiscation of all their assets. Key leaders of the Duanmu Family were sentenced to three to ten years of imprisonment for resisting law enforcement, while the younger generations of the Duanmu Family were to be educated and released.

As for those Star Martial Warriors associated with the Duanmu Family, their contracts were annulled unconditionally, and they were to be redistributed by the state to the five major Pioneer Spaces to develop new territories.

Compared to the dynastic era, when families were exterminated at the drop of a hat, this era was much better. But for the other Star Martial Aristocratic families in Modu City, there was a sense of chill, as if the loss of the lips would soon doom the teeth.

The vast Duanmu Family had vanished overnight.

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