The General gazed softly at Yin Meng, waiting to clink glasses with her.

With great difficulty, in a stance even more strenuous than the General's, Yin Meng painfully lifted the cup in front of her, completing a ceremonial clink.

The General was satisfied and drank a cup of wine.

From the audience below came a unified shout:

"To Emperor Fengdu!"

The wine glass in Yin Meng's hand vanished before it could reach her lips, unable to be maintained for a moment longer.

Li Zhiyuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking that if it weren't for Aunt Liu's legacy of poison techniques, the Yin family had indeed fallen to an unbecoming state.

In the past, no matter what, Yin family's ancestors could at least join a table for a meal, but now even getting a seat was so precarious.

The General was not angered; instead, he seemed to smile, his eyes showing a hint of reminiscence.

Beside him, the maid poured more wine, and the General once again raised his cup, toasting in another direction, towards the sculpture.

In the General's eyes, there was no trace of hatred, only appreciation and acknowledgment.

Yin Meng's position was purely due to the respect for Yin Changsheng. In truth, on that main stage, the only one who could sit as equals with the General was this Dragon King of the Qin family.

Because this was the man who had once defeated him.

From below came an even louder shout than before:

"To Dragon King of the Qin Family!"

Li Zhiyuan was quietly observing the scene, but as the General toasted the sculpture, he noticed the General's pea-green eyes suddenly sidestepped the sculpture to glance at him sitting directly underneath.

The General had seen him.

The General maintained his toasting posture, his slender arm trembling.

Li Zhiyuan raised his own glass from the table and toasted with the General.

Being noticed wasn't unsettling; at this moment, the young man felt no panic.

He sipped the wine as it reached his lips.

Knowing it was a fabrication and not a strange substitute brought by the maids or eunuchs, having a sip didn't matter.

The wine's flavor wasn't strong; it carried a fragrant aroma and quickly dissipated without a trace once swallowed.

Li Zhiyuan set down the glass.

The General also retracted his gaze, looking at the lively crowd below. A sense of fatigue could be felt from him, but he quickly forced himself to muster up energy, raising the glass once more and toasting around:

Below, two waves followed in response, the first one being the loudest:

"To the Niu Dao Jie Family, sacrificing oneself for the greater good, offering the family's bloodline to suppress evil and protect life, guard the Righteous Path!"

The second shout was much quieter, seemingly with only a quarter of the voices as the first.

"To the Four Families of Old Heavenly Gate, united in heart and mind, to eradicate demons, protect my homeland, and bring peace!"

Even though the "evil" and "demon" they called out were referring to the General himself, the General still joined them in raising his glass, drinking this cup of wine.

Therefore, the people seated there were the ancestors of the Four Families of Old Heavenly Gate, who had once fought alongside that Dragon King of the Qin Family to suppress the General.

Yet, what was this inexplicable harmonious atmosphere?

Have they turned swords into plowshares?

Or have former adversaries come to mutually acknowledge and even admire each other?

This didn't seem like an act, because the aura radiating from the General couldn't be concealed, and there was no need for him to independently stage such a performance.

But a question arose: if they truly all let go, even the grand adversary himself awaited the final annihilation with peace, then who was the real villain?

This fourth wave of mine was ventured into proactively.

But Xiong Shan and the others had been here long before, so what were they busying themselves with here?

Or perhaps, what was the true guidance from the river to Xiong Shan?

Suddenly, the doors of the Banquet Hall were pushed open.

The General looked towards the entrance, a complex emotion reflected in his eyes.

Li Zhiyuan couldn't turn back to see, as a vast group of unseen ones sat behind him; he could only wait for the person to step onto the main stage to see who it was.

Soon, Li Zhiyuan saw him.

It was a man, around the same age as the girl from the Wang family in the antique street, but now that Wang family girl should have been consumed by the ghost-eye inferno.

This man appeared to be around thirty years old. After stepping onto the stage, he walked straight to the General.

Their eyes met.

A dead tiger's might still lingers, let alone the General who had not yet dissipated, but he avoided the gaze of the man, as if conceding or in helplessness.

The man smiled, turning towards the audience below.

At that moment, Li Zhiyuan realized the man's eyes were blind.

Not naturally blind; judging by the wounds near his eye sockets, it seemed the man himself forcefully gouged out his own eyeballs.

Without eyes, he couldn't see, allowing him to boldly face many "unseeable" ones below.

The man shouted:

"Honored forebears, do you remember the vow made by the Four Families of Old Heavenly Gate when they suppressed the General here?"

The audience responded in unison: "The Four Families of Old Heavenly Gate, live and die together, suppress the evil!"

The man shouted again:

"Do you remember the vow you made when my great-grandfather sacrificed my Niu Dao Jie family's kin to enter the palace and seal the General?"

"My Wang family swore to coexist through generations with Niu Dao Jie, never to betray!"

"My Bo family swore to weather every storm with Niu Dao Jie, standing hand in hand!"

"I, Yan Family Xie, swore never to separate from Niu Dao Jie, to live and die together!"

The man raised his arms, shouting:

"For a hundred years, Wang family, Bo family, Yan Family Xie, these three families have oppressed my Niu Dao Jie family, killed our kin, stole our legacy, eager to engulf, to wipe us out.

Honored forebears,

What should be done?"

The man raised a command flag over his head.

From below,

A furious roar resounded:

"Exterminate them! Exterminate them! Exterminate them!"

A black vortex ascended above the Banquet Hall.

At this moment, Li Zhiyuan finally understood why every corpse-driving team included someone whose feet didn't touch the ground; he also realized why these ancestors of the Four Families of Old Heavenly Gate present couldn't be viewed directly.

Because they were spells!

Their power did not originate from the General; they had transformed themselves into part of the spell.

They were part of the spell, and through them, the entire curse could be glimpsed.

And, for reasons unknown, these spells had been accumulating; a vast circle above only trickled a thin stream, with most being stored, forcibly constrained here.

Such an enormous spell, who could gaze directly upon it?

To see it is to be consumed!

Therefore, in the current real world, the Wang family, Bo family, Yan Family Xie, have all suffered curses.

And those who cursed them,

were precisely their ancestors from three families who died here to suppress the General all those years ago.

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