I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 913 He's the Only One
Zhang Shenqi's words were filled with grief and anger, his voice brimming with barely suppressed rage.

What could he do? Such a huge mistake had occurred during his tenure as head of the Zhang family; he had to take responsibility!

"The Book of Life and Death of my Zhang family has been stolen!" Zhang Shenqi's voice was heavy, and as his words fell, the entire Zhang family ancestral hall erupted in an uproar.

Late night
Zhang Family Residence
Zhang Gaqi and Zhang Shenqi sat in the study, with two handsome middle-aged men beside them, each silently looking at the intelligence reports in their hands.

“Our Zhang family and the Gong family were originally evenly matched. Now we have lost our clan’s treasure, the Book of Life and Death, while the other side still has their clan’s treasure. With the balance of power shifting, we have no chance of winning no matter how you look at it. If we insist on starting a war, I’m afraid our Zhang family will be in danger.” One of the middle-aged men spoke up. This man was none other than the third son, Zhang Chuqi.

Zhang Zongqi, the fifth brother standing to the side, also spoke up: "That's right, without the clan's protective artifact, how can we fight against the Gong family?"

At this point, Zhang Zongqi looked at Zhang Shenqi with impatience: "You are the patriarch of our Zhang family, yet you can't even protect the Zhang family's clan-protecting artifact. You are truly useless! If you ask me, you should step down from the position of patriarch immediately. Let the capable person take over and make way for someone with the ability."

"Fifth Brother! We mustn't allow internal strife to continue with the enemy at hand!" Zhang Gaqi quickly interjected, "Besides, what's the use of blaming each other now that it's already happened? The right thing to do is to find a way to force the Gong family to back down and hand over the Book of Life and Death."

"Hand over the Book of Life and Death? The other side isn't stupid. Now that the Book of Life and Death is in their hands, how can we hand it over? They're willing to use the Black and White Elders and Gong Chun as pawns, so how can we force them?" Zhang Chuqi, the third brother, frowned.

The atmosphere in the room became heavy and awkward. Zhang Shenqi smiled bitterly: "The Book of Life and Death was lost during my tenure as head of the family, and I bear the responsibility. However, the most important thing right now is to find the Book of Life and Death. If we can find it, I would be willing to resign as head of the family. But I'm afraid it's not feasible to resign now, because no one understands the Zhang family's strength better than me, and no one is more suitable to coordinate everything within the Zhang family. If we change leaders at the last minute, not only will it be difficult to coordinate all the forces, but it will also require time to adapt, which I'm afraid will cause heavy losses to the Zhang family. Right now, no one is more suitable than me to take charge of the Zhang family's affairs."

Upon hearing Zhang Shenqi's words, the other three, though showing dissatisfaction, knew that changing generals on the eve of battle was a major taboo, and could only swallow their anger.

"As the head of the Zhang family, you need to come up with a plan and tell us how we can defeat the Gong family and reclaim the treasure," Zhang Zongqi asked.

“We are no longer a match for the Gong family on our own. We can invite the other families to step forward and uphold justice.” Zhang Shenqi said, “Our eight families are of one mind. Now that the Gong family has broken its promise, it is only right that the eight families should jointly punish them.”

“Even among the eight great families, there are varying degrees of closeness and distance. It would be difficult to rely on the eight great families to join forces to put pressure on the Gong family. After all, the Gong family has good private relations with the other families, and their private relationships are even better than ours.” Zhang Chuqi was not optimistic about this matter.

Upon hearing Zhang Chuqi's words, everyone looked at each other with a hint of helplessness in their eyes. Among the eight major families, there were probably only two that were truly staunch supporters of the Zhang family. The others either had ulterior motives or had their own private alliances.

"This won't work, that won't work. Didn't you pledge allegiance to the Great Victory Royal Family? Why don't we just pledge allegiance to the Great Victory Royal Family and ask them to uphold justice?" Zhang Chuqi complained.

"If we dare to pledge allegiance to the Great Victory Royal Family, I fear the Zhang family will be torn apart before we can even reclaim the treasure." Zhang Shenqi sighed softly. He was in a difficult position; only the head of the family knew how difficult it was.

"So, according to you, we can only watch helplessly? Is my Zhang family so pathetic that we can't even find our clan's treasure?" Zhang Zongqi said impatiently.

Zhang Shenqi remained silent, and for a moment the atmosphere among the brothers fell into a deathly silence. After a long while, Zhang Chuqi finally spoke: "If the Pingbian Prince's Mansion were still at its peak, how could my Zhang family have fallen to this state?"

The Pingbian Prince's Mansion is now half-ruined and can no longer help the Zhang family.

At this point, Zhang Chuqi looked at Zhang Shenqi and said, "Second brother, why don't you step down and hand over the position of family head to Zhang Chen? You don't have the ability to deal with the Gong family, so don't just occupy the position without doing anything. Give the position of family head to Zhang Chen. I think Zhang Chen is quite capable. Even the Pingbian Prince's Mansion was forced by him to go to the capital to file a complaint. If we hand the Zhang family over to this kid, I think things will be very promising. It won't be difficult to defeat the Gong family."

“That’s true. After all, the Pingbian Prince’s Mansion is located in the north and is the king of the north. When Zhang Shicheng transformed into a dragon, he was a twelfth-level being, but he still fell into Zhang Chen’s hands. If we can hand the Zhang family over to him, we might be able to take down the Gong family!” Zhang Zongqi chimed in.

Zhang Shenqi's face immediately darkened, his eyes filled with anger, but he dared not vent his anger because of the two men's provocations. If the brothers fell out, the situation for the Zhang family would be even worse.

Seeing the situation was turning sour, Zhang Gaqi quickly tried to smooth things over: "No one knows the Zhang family better than Second Brother. Changing commanders in the middle of a battle is a big taboo. It is true that Zhang Chen has some skills. If we want him to contribute, we can just invite him back and have him assist us. There is no need to ask Eldest Brother to step down."

"Invite him back? Don't think I don't know. Zhang Chen didn't come back at all when the clan summoned him. He has no regard for the Zhang family. But I don't blame him. After all, the enemy who betrayed his father is the current head of the family. If it were me, I would never have come back either," Zhang Chuqi said sarcastically.

"Don't say that. Zhang Chen is also a member of the Zhang family. If something happens to the Zhang family, how can he stand aside? There's no reason for him to stand aside!" Zhang Gaqi quickly tried to smooth things over.
“I’ll personally go and invite him back to see if he has any good ideas.” With Zhang Gaqi smoothing things over, the awkward gathering came to an end. Zhang Zongqi and Zhang Chuqi left, leaving Zhang Gaqi and Zhang Shenqi sitting there with grim expressions.

"We haven't even dealt with the external enemies yet, and our Zhang family is already riddled with internal conflicts. How can we possibly fight the Gong family?" Zhang Shenqi said with a grim expression.

"Stop talking! Stop talking! I'll visit Zhang Chen tomorrow to see if I can bring him back. But if I do bring Zhang Chen back, you'll need to change your attitude; you can't be like you were before." Zhang Gaqi looked at Zhang Shenqi.

“Although that kid is restless, he is still capable. No one knows the strength of the Pingbian Prince’s Mansion better than the Zhang family. That kid has forced the Pingbian Prince’s Mansion into this situation, which shows his great ability! If you can bring him back, I will naturally treat him well.” Zhang Shenqi said coldly.

Things have come to this point, the situation has reached this stage, and the Zhang family is indeed almost at their wits' end, so they will naturally use all the resources at their disposal.

"It's good that you know how important that kid is!" Zhang Gaqi sighed softly.

Zhong Family Mansion
After dismissing Zhong Wubai, Zhang Chen stood in the courtyard, gazing silently at the bright moon in the sky, a strange feeling filling his eyes: "Many people probably won't be able to sleep tonight."

He then turned his head to look at the distant imperial city, his eyes filled with a strange look. He saw a mysterious power flowing in the imperial city, and a fox had appeared in the dragon aura of the imperial city. The fox was hugging the true dragon and constantly devouring the true dragon's blood.

"Even heroes have difficulty resisting the charms of a beautiful woman. Our ancestors were right," Zhang Chen thought to himself. Knowing that Bai Cang had succeeded and that the Great Victory King was likely bewitched, he felt his chances of winning had increased.

Zhang Chen glanced at the invitation of the Zhang family to recruit their members, a strange look appearing in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but casually threw the invitation into the campfire, where it turned to ashes.

The next morning

A servant came to announce that a guest had come to visit.

Zhang Chen instructed his servants to lead the person in, then looked surprised, for it was Zhang Gaqi who entered the courtyard.

"Why is Fourth Uncle here?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Yesterday, the Zhang family summoned all the clansmen in Kyoto whose bloodlines had awakened. Why didn't you go back?" Zhang Gaqi asked.

"Is Fourth Uncle here to question me?" Zhang Chen asked back.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Gaqi smiled bitterly: "How could I have the right to question you? I'm here to ask you to go back. The Zhang family is now at a critical juncture of life and death, and only you can turn the tide and save the Zhang family."

"I turned the tide? Fourth Uncle, are you joking?" Zhang Chen tilted his head and looked at Zhang Gaqi in surprise.

“The Gong family’s strength is no less than that of my Zhang family. Now that my Zhang family has lost its clan-protecting artifact and its blessing, we are even less of a match for them. Only your intervention can reverse the tide and turn the tide for my Zhang family,” Zhang Gaqi said.
"Everyone has heard of your abilities. Back when you were just a child in the North, you were able to reverse the tide and ruin the Pingbian Prince's grand plan, leaving the Pingbian Prince's family helpless against you. Now that you have cultivated further, your abilities are even greater than before. If you don't have such abilities, who does?"

“You ruined the Pingbian Prince’s grand plan and put our Zhang family in a passive position. Although everyone is dissatisfied with you and thinks you don’t care about the big picture, they admire your skills.” Zhang Gaqi looked at Zhang Chen, his voice filled with bitterness.
“I know about the feud between you and Zhang Shenqi, but there are also many people in the Zhang family who support you. You can’t just let them get involved too.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen looked at Zhang Gaqi with clear, bright eyes, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"So?" Zhang Chen asked, his voice neither warm nor cold, but with a hint of mockery.

(End of this chapter)