Chapter 366 Just Like That, It Scattered—Simply Scattered

"You have to pick a mage." The Blue-robed Mage's eyes snapped open as she said to the young female spellcaster. "No matter how highborn the others are, you can't marry them. Because you're a spellcaster now, and you have to contribute to the family's strength." With that, the Blue-robed Mage turned her gaze to the young nobleman. She liked this noble well enough, but she wouldn't okay their marriage. As for the other foreign guests, the Female Mage acted like she didn't even see them.

"Honorable Mage, I think we should talk this over properly," the nobleman said, bowing to everyone again, and finally turning to the Blue-robed Mage. "This is just love. I believe love is more important than anything else. The family won't miss one young spellcaster." Then the young noble went on and on, but Shaoke, standing nearby, didn't remember any of it. He was quietly checking out the other outsiders. One of these outsiders, a female mage, felt familiar to him.

There were three outsiders in total. One was the female mage that Shaoke had noticed. She wore a black military robe with the insignia of a Sixth Tier Mage. The other two were a young female warrior and a young guy dressed like a summoner. But the summoner wore the Orpheus Family crest, which reminded Shaoke of past events and that young, elegant noble mage he'd met years ago.

Just as Shaoke was sizing them up, the lead female spellcaster suddenly stood up, left her seat, and said to the Blue-robed Mage, "I think you should let them be together. Young people always think different from their elders. I believe—" But before she could finish, the Blue-robed Mage waved her hand, cutting her off.

"Guest, when it comes to family matters, you only get to watch, not join the discussion." With that, the Blue-robed Mage locked eyes with the female mage and said, "You used to be in the Death Mage Corps, didn't you? I think you came here to talk business with our family." Then the Blue-robed Mage waved her hand, signaling some warriors to haul the female spellcaster away. No one was going to change her mind on this.

As for the young noble, they showed him the door. She ignored his reluctant expression and his words. If this noble kept being stupid, she wouldn't hesitate to wipe him and his whole family out.

After that, the summoner from the Orpheus Family stood up, gave an ancient mage salute, and said, "Honorable Mage, our family wants to work with you." He then looked calmly at the Blue-robed Mage. But the Blue-robed Mage waved her hand, saying she had no time. She still had to take Shaoke to check out her research. Besides, she wasn't the clan leader anymore.

"You should talk to the clan leader about this. I don't handle stuff like that." With that, the Blue-robed Mage stood up to leave, but the Seventh Tier Mage—the clan leader—stopped her.

"Respected Ruler, he already talked to me about the cooperation. But we don't dare accept their terms, so I hope you can decide." He turned his head a little, not daring to let the Blue-robed Mage's gaze stay on him too long—it put too much pressure on him.

The Blue-robed Female Mage bit back her annoyance and then asked the Orpheus Family summoner about their terms. The summoner adjusted his robe, pulled out a scroll, and started reading it out loud.

Shaoke got the gist: the Orpheus Family wanted the Blue-robed Mage's family mages to serve as guards at their place on a regular basis, and hand over all their research results for free. That was the rough idea Shaoke got. There was more, but the summoner stopped because the Blue-robed Mage cut him off.

"Take your buddy and get out of here now," the Blue-robed Female Mage said calmly. "Tell your current clan leader to come here himself and propose this cooperation. Let's see if he dares to say that to my face." She waved her hand again, telling them to leave. "This place will never welcome your family. I think you get my meaning."

After the Blue-robed Female Mage finished, the Orpheus Family summoner just smiled, carefully put away the scroll, and added, "I'm just a messenger." He paused and continued, "Some people in my family told me before I left that if there were any refusals, they would consider the might of the Orpheus Family. Then no family would dare refuse this wonderful cooperation agreement." He shrugged again to indicate he was just a messenger, then stood there quietly, waiting for the Blue-robed Female Mage to perhaps give him a message to convey.

But the Blue-robed Mage did not give any message for the summoner to pass on. She simply had some warriors escort them out of the family. Then she took Shaoke to see her research again.

"That female mage from the Death Mage Corps felt very familiar to me," the Blue-robed Mage said, looking at Shaoke with confusion. She couldn't understand why a mage she had just met gave her such a familiar feeling. Shaoke merely nodded, indicating he felt the same, and said nothing more.

Although they were watching the Blue-robed Female Mage's research, both of them seemed somewhat distracted. Especially the Blue-robed Female Mage; sometimes she would stare at her and her family's research results for a long time without speaking. Shaoke just stood quietly beside her, lost in thought.

"If you need anything, you can come to me at any time," Shaoke said after a while, deciding to leave and stop observing the Blue-robed Mage's experiments. The female mage merely nodded silently, agreeing.

Just as Shaoke was about to leave and return to the Bloody Fortress, the Blue-robed Mage suddenly took out her small scepter, quickly chanted a few spells, and a figure emerged from the crystal at the top of the scepter. "Do you have time now? I need your help with something." The figure was Mage Meigan, whom Shaoke had once fought alongside. His expression was not good. After performing a simple salute, he spoke directly. "I need your help," he repeated.

"Now?" The Blue-robed Mage looked at him doubtfully, then glanced at Shaoke. "What is it? Your hometown?" She explained Shaoke's presence. Upon hearing this, Meigan's expression brightened considerably. He quickly gave a location, which was his family's home. He hoped the Blue-robed Mage and Shaoke could get there as soon as possible.

After closing the communication, the Blue-robed Mage asked Shaoke for his opinion, unsure whether she should persuade the male mage to accompany her to help Meigan. Shaoke thought for a moment and said, "I can go anytime. Do you need to prepare?" He took out his crystal ball and sent a message to Mage Roman, saying he would be delayed in returning. Then he quickly asked the Blue-robed Mage. He needed to try to communicate with other Eighth-order Practitioners to prepare for future events. After all, at this stage, one person's strength was still very limited, so he would need help from others.

The Blue-robed Mage shook her head, saying she had nothing to prepare. Family matters didn't require her attention, and the experiments were now on track; only ordinary researchers were needed to continue them. So the two left without further delay, flying toward Meigan's family. To speed up the journey, Shaoke tore through space and led the female mage along. In this way, a journey that would have taken over a day of flying was completed in just a few magic hours.

Meigan's family was older than the Blue-robed Mage's family, having existed for over ten thousand years. It was located in a deep mountain range, in a depression formed by three or four mountains, which became the family's gathering place. A large population lived there; an uninformed observer might mistake it for a large town. A thirty-story mage tower stood in the center of the town. Upon receiving the news, Meigan floated outside the tower, quietly waiting for their arrival.

"Your speed of arrival surprises me," Meigan said jokingly after the formalities. "Some friends have already arrived. I really need your help this time." He then invited them into the tower, where they gathered on the top floor.

In the large hall, three mages were already seated. One of them was a female spellcaster, just like the Blue-robed Mage. Meigan introduced them to each other. Over the next period, several more mages and some warriors arrived, the most important being an Eighth Tier summoner and an Eighth Tier archer. By then, Meigan had gathered over a dozen Eighth-order Practitioners, all of whom had participated in that crazy battle years ago.

"People from my family have demanded that I give them an answer within three days, to fully cooperate with them, or my family will be annihilated," Meigan said without any pleasantries, quickly explaining the reason for inviting them. "I hope that if you have no difficulties, you can help me resist this arrogant behavior of the Orpheus Family." He then sat quietly, waiting for their responses. He knew the Orpheus Family was very powerful, and alone he had no way to resist. As for whether these practitioners would help him, he had no guarantee.

Shaoke, like the others, remained silent. He noticed that the Blue-robed Mage's body relaxed slightly upon hearing Meigan's words. "I just encountered a messenger from the Orpheus Family today. They wanted my family to fully cooperate with them as well, but I refused," another female mage said, taking over the conversation with a bitter sigh.

"I think you didn't hear the rest of the messenger's conditions," said the eighth-tier female mage, who had arrived earlier than the others. "They demanded that I marry a young warrior of the Orpheus Family." She glanced secretly at young Meigan, then blushed with a woman's unique shyness and turned away, avoiding Meigan's gaze. Meigan and the other Eighth-order Practitioners grew angry upon hearing this. After all, they were not ordinary Seventh-order Practitioners but proud Eighth-order Practitioners. How dare the Orpheus Family treat them like this?

"When are they coming here?" A warrior with a bare upper body suddenly stood up. "You're really unlucky. If they come to my family with such words, I'll bury that messenger a thousand zhang underground and leave him to live out his life there." As soon as he finished, the summoner glared at him contemptuously. Under his gaze, the bare-chested warrior opened his mouth, then sat down without another word, silently wiping his spear.

"Is there no room for negotiation?" The summoner looked calmly at Meigan. He had known Meigan for many years, ever since they were young spellcasters, then entered the military together and left together. They had maintained close contact ever since.

Meigan took out a scroll stamped with the Orpheus Family's emblem, and the summoner looked at it. "We can't wait here for them to come and cause us trouble. I think we have no choice," the summoner said, quickly reading the scroll and handing it to the others to look at. "If possible, I think we should set out now to destroy all the Orpheus Family's holdings in the empire and hunt down their members." He laughed softly, and Shaoke found the laugh sinister.

This idea was good, Shaoke thought. Since conflict and death were unavoidable, proactive resistance was the same as reactive resistance. Why not go out to meet it?

After a final discussion, more than ten Eighth-order Practitioners, burdened by their own families and not threatened by the Orpheus Family, withdrew from the plan to go to war with the Orpheus Family. In the end, fewer than ten Eighth-order Practitioners, including Shaoke, decided to stand with Meigan against the Orpheus Family's bullying. Among them were the bare-chested warrior and the three mages who had arrived earlier.

After the others left, Meigan calmly asked Shaoke, "Why did you stay to help me?" He let his gaze wander over the Blue-robed Mage. "May I know?" He wanted to break the silence, for facing a powerful family was a heavy burden.

"The Orpheus Family is too big. If they swallow up small families like yours, their power will grow even more," Shaoke said, spinning his staff in his hand. "Besides, I've had no gains for a long time. I need some magic materials to make my staff." He fell silent. The Blue-robed Mage gave him a strange look; she didn't believe Shaoke would help just for those reasons. But everyone has their secrets, so they didn't ask further, instead turning to discuss the summoner's suggestion.

One night passed, and they swiftly prepared for battle. Nine Eighth-order Practitioners floated in the air, quietly looking at the still-decent mage tower. Meigan sighed and said, "Perhaps when this is over, my family will disappear from this continent completely." He took out his spellbook, chanted a few syllables, and activated all the wards of the mage tower. Black light slithered over the tower, and the Eighth-tier defensive magic arrays were fully activated. Anyone approaching would suffer a merciless attack, including those clansmen who had not entered the tower.

The group did not choose to attack the Orpheus Family's holdings within the empire. Instead, they targeted holdings in other empires. Their first stop was the Desasi Empire, which was not too far from their current location. The Blue-robed Mage had obtained detailed intelligence from somewhere, and with it, within just three days, they dealt a devastating blow to all the Orpheus Family's enterprises in the Desasi Empire.

Although the Orpheus Family had sent an Eighth Tier Mage to guard the area, under the powerful assault of nine High-order Practitioners, that mage was blasted to pieces shortly after activating his defensive spells. Shaoke carefully cut off his head and stored it after special treatment.

When the last Orpheus Family stronghold was completely destroyed, Meigan's expression suddenly darkened. The female spellcaster beside him asked, "What's wrong? Is something wrong with your family?" She looked at him nervously, afraid her guess had come true.

"I no longer have a family," Meigan said softly, sighing. He released a wide-area spell, blasting the ruined Orpheus Family site into a huge pit.

"Alright, mage. We allowed you to fight here, but the battle is over. There is no need to cast more spells; it will cause a bad impression on our civilians," said the Desasi Empire representatives. They had not stopped the group's actions, but to avoid a bad impression on other merchants and civilians, they sent a large number of Eighth-order Practitioners to chase them, albeit symbolically. Other empires' nobles and great merchants in the area understood it was only a show, so they did not criticize the Desasi Empire. Most importantly, it reassured small merchants and commoners.

The false chase continued until the group left the Desasi Empire's territory. Then Meigan suddenly suggested returning to his former family home to check, but the Eighth-tier summoner refused.

"They are waiting for you to return to the empire, so they can kill you without hesitation. Do you want to die that way?" The summoner was very dissatisfied with Meigan's idea. Large-scale battles among Eighth-tier mages in other empires would incur furious pursuit, as Eighth-order Practitioners caused great destruction in battle. Their small-scale retaliatory actions, however, could be registered in other empires' ministries. Of course, they had to avoid civilian casualties.

Things had reached a point of no return. Meigan gritted his teeth, then waved his scepter and shouted, "Go to other empires. Destroy all the Orpheus Family's strongholds there. We'll deal with the rest later." Based on the intelligence provided by the Blue-robed Female Mage, he quickly flew toward another empire to prevent the enemy from transferring their assets.

Thus, they spent a year wiping out the Orpheus Family's influence in over a dozen empires. Of course, some empires' assets had been transferred, so they gained nothing there.

This continued until they reached the border of the Yisage Empire, where things changed.

The Blue-robed Mage rubbed the crown on her head and said, "Some people in the Yisage Empire have close ties with the Orpheus Family. If we proceed as before, some in the Yisage Empire will surely obstruct us. We won't achieve our goal." The Blue-robed Mage squinted, worried about her own family. But it was too late to turn back now. She did not regret her decision, as it was meaningless.

After discussion, they decided to go to the military ministry, not mentioning their killings, and go through normal procedures to register, then stay in the Yisage Empire, waiting for opportunities to kill. This suggestion was fully accepted by Shaoke and the others, as it was their only option. They could not sneak into the Yisage Empire, as being discovered would result in being killed by the empire's forces.

---Late in the morning, forgive me, brothers.