Turns Out, I’m In A Villain Clan! Chapter 426 Leaving The Northen Defense Line

Once the tent cleared out completely, Bai Zihan stayed stretched out on the bed, his eyelids drooping low while his mind shifted inward.

A deep quietness wrapped around him.

With deliberate caution, he began inspecting his own form.

The discoveries he made stirred a hint of gravity even within him.

Chaos reigned in his meridians—they lay broken, burned, and stretched unnaturally wide past their normal bounds.

His dantian teetered on the edge of ruin, drained dry, with Qi flowing in a halting, erratic manner.

His very flesh carried the marks of extreme strain, each muscle thread pulled to extremes it was never designed to face.

In the clash against Mó Zun, he had driven himself way past all logic.

He'd unleashed Heaven's Mandate Reversal to drag his cultivation up to the Great Ascension Realm by force.

Next, aided by Feilian, he'd boosted it even higher to the Immortal Realm.

Such intense harm wouldn't have struck his body so hard if he'd simply fled, just as Feilian had urged.

Yet he hadn't—instead, he'd opted for the Fate Severing Slash.

That one devastating blow had nearly drained every scrap of Qi from his reserves.

For a typical cultivator, such wild abandon would mean instant death right there.

Still, Bai Zihan endured.

Not due to luck.

Rather, because his physique defied the ordinary in every way.

The Primordial Body Refinement Technique had shaped his body beyond mortal thresholds, hardening it through endless cycles until it approached unbreakable strength.

And don't forget his Supreme Dao Bone.

Armed with these gifts, Bai Zihan grasped the truth plainly.

His injuries ran deep. Yet recovery lay within reach.

He wasn't genuinely ruined.

And suppose those edges weren't there and he had ended up truly crippled—plenty of fixes awaited in the System Store anyway.

Pills surpassing Grade-8 existed, near-mythical in the Desolate Heaven Empire, and the System Points he'd gathered ought to cover them without trouble.

"Oh right, I haven't looked at the System Rewards yet for taking down those Great Ascension Realm Demonic Elders."

He'd taken a break once the war wrapped up, and then news hit about Luo Qing's abduction, leaving the prizes uncollected.

"System!"

[Unclaimed Rewards Available]

Killed Great Ascension Realm Cultivator: [ 100x Cultivation Speed Card (1 Day) ]Killed Great Ascension Realm Cultivator: [ 10,000 System Points]

The prizes matched what he'd figured, nothing out of the ordinary, yet they held key treasures—like the 100x Cultivation Speed Cards plus various 10x ones lasting longer, all hugely precious. Plus the System Points piled up.

In total, the gains from this Beast Tide far outstripped his original hopes.

"Three years..."

Armed with these assets, he believed reaching the Great Ascension Realm in three years stood well within grasp.

At that point, any rematch with Mó Zun would unfold worlds apart from the last.

With enough grit, he might even touch the Immortal Realm—though the path promised no simplicity.

Resolve burned fierce in Bai Zihan.

He'd extract vengeance from Mó Zün for seizing Luo Qing—and wrench out the reasons behind it, plus her location.

"Just you wait!"

Bai Zihan could've swiftly mended his state with a Grade-8 or superior healing pill, yet he held back.

Maintaining the facade demanded time, convincing all—foes included—that it was real.

He aimed to let his wounds mend on their own, and in that span, full cultivation might prove impossible.

That suited him fine.

His attention during those days wouldn't fix solely on cultivation, but on a

much grander scheme.

"Time to settle scores with every foe."

He already pinpointed the biggest dangers to him—and those who'd already struck to end him.

Right as his thoughts plunged deep—

"Zihan'er!"

Mu Yuelan stepped inside.

***

The days ahead turned chaotic for Bai Zihan.

As soon as Mu Yuelan stepped into Bai Zihan's chamber and checked his state herself, the control she'd clamped down on herself crumbled yet again.

Finding that Bai Zihan seemed utterly crippled for real unleashed a torrent of feelings in Mu Yuelan.

Rage.

Terror.

And a crushing wave of remorse.

Blazing with wrath, she lashed out at Bai Tianheng, the Grand Elders, and all who played a part

in letting Bai Zihan fall to this pass.

Bai Tianheng stayed mute.

He took the full brunt quietly, letting his wife unleash every bit of her fury on

him.

He understood full well that words would only fuel her fire more.

Without Bai Zihan soothing her, she'd have carried on that way all day long.

Even then, Bai Zihan now faced his overprotective mother, on the verge

of tears at every turn.

Guilt twisted in him, mixed with a touch of dread.

Should she uncover the reality, she'd never forgive such deception lightly.

Given Bai Zihan's plight, the Bai Clan couldn't linger at the Northern

Defense lines anymore.

The Beast Tide stood quelled already.

Demonic Beasts had pulled back, their head slain, with no hints of massive stirrings ahead.

The Demonic Cultivators had taken brutal hits too, and once the beasts fell, they melted away traceless.

To the Desolate Heaven Empire, the threat had truly passed.

Sure, watchposts lingered in the area for safety, but the nonstop carnage had finally ceased.

Normally, the Bai Clan would've kept top troops posted at the frontier a bit longer, to guard against surprises.

But with Bai Zihan so gravely wounded—crippled, outwardly at least—things changed fast.

The Bai Clan acted without delay.

A bulk of the Bai Clan's key figures started readying for the trip home to clan lands, guarding Bai Zihan up close.

The Grand Elders opted to travel with them too.

Bai Zihan's vulnerability invited enemy attacks.

They vowed to shield him all the way back to Bai Clan domains.

Of course, notifying the overseer was essential.

Bai Tianheng headed to update Minister Xiu Yucheng on their exit.

Minister Xiu Yucheng offered no resistance.

He could infer the cause without explanation.

Rumors of Bai Zihan's debilitating wounds had already spread his way.

Thus he recognized this as a dire issue for the Bai Clan, one that'd pull them away no matter what.

Besides, the Bai Clan wasn't pulling everyone out.

Some stayed, even if their mightiest—like the Grand Elders—departed.

The Bai Clan had given beyond measure.

Their role went unquestioned.

They'd shouldered the Beast Tide's savage assaults head-on.

They'd cut down most Demonic Elders. They'd held firm when lines elsewhere buckled.

And they'd felled the half-Qilin—the Desolate Heaven Empire's top peril.

Without the Bai Clan, devastation would've dwarfed what occurred.

Minister Xiu voiced his thanks directly.

He promised that after war's dust settled completely, the Empire would bestow lavish honors on the Bai Clan.

Particularly for the half-Qilin.

Such a top-tier Demonic Beast brimmed with riches on its own.

Just its demonic core made for elite forging stuff or cultivation boosters.

Its skin could craft armor tough as steel. Its skeleton and antlers suited premium arms and treasures.

And its blood—

That held unmatched worth.

Qilin blood brimmed with raw life force and cleansing power, chased by pill makers and body forgers everywhere.

Since Bai Ren led the kill on it, Minister Xiu stressed that most of the half-Qilin's body would go to him—and thus the Bai Clan.

With rites wrapped up, the Bai Clan's armada set off at last. Flying vessels sliced the heavens, arrays sharp and orderly, ferrying Bai

Zihan toward the Bai Clan's core lands.

Aboard one vessel, Bai Zihan rested still, eyes shut, his presence faint and wavering—to any onlooker from afar.

To outsiders, he stood as a genius brought low.

To rivals, a danger toppled.

To the Bai Clan, a treasure to defend no matter the price.

And for Bai Zihan personally—

This quiet masked the prelude to a massive upheaval. A tempest loomed over the Desolate Heaven Empire!