The End of the Burning Heaven Clan - Part 2

'And there comes the Fen Chu card, a.k.a. Xuanyuan Wentian. Took them long enough to use it.' Thought Mesa.

Looking away from Fen Duanhun for a moment, Mesa looked like he was simply gazing into the distance. In actuality, Mesa looked in the direction of Xuanyuan Wentian and read his mind.

'Don't you worry Wentian, I'll make sure Fen Juechen lives. I want to fight you at your best and see what you can do with Frostmourne.' Thought Mesa when he read Xuanyuan Wentian's mind.

Looking at Fen Juechen, Mesa used telepathy to look into his memories and saw that he was basically the only one who did not trust Fen Chu/Xuanyuan Wentian when he came to them in their hour of need and promised them everything they'd ever wanted. Fen Juechen was also the only one who was not on board with the whole overthrowing the Emperor and making Price Cang Shuo the new Emperor that was theirs to control. With that knowledge in mind, Mesa made a silent promise to him that he would make it up to him after all was said and done.

Even with the bars of the Birdcage closing in on them faster than before, Fen Duanhun remained defiant.

"You may have beaten us all, but you still haven't fought our Burning Heaven Clan's strongest warrior, Fen Chu! And will not just kill you, he will destroy you completely and utterly without any effort!" Said Fen Duanhun.

When Fen Duanhun said this, the bars of the Birdcage stopped moving, renewing the hope in the Burning Heaven Clan that they could still win after all. Most of all Fen Duanhun, who was standing defiant before was now getting cocky, convinced that he had already won. That was until…

"Interesting." Was Mesa's answer to Fen Duanhun's threat whose face went from proud and cocky to disbelief.

"This Fen Chu fellow sure sounds interesting. I'd love to fight him and really test out my skills." Said Mesa.

"Interesting?!" Said Fen Duanhun incredulously. "Fen Chu power is at level 3 Tyrant Profound Realm! He is stronger than anyone has ever been in the Blue Wind Empire! You are NOTHING compared to him! No! You are less than nothing compared to him!"

Once Fen Duanhun said this, the bars of the Birdcage came to a stop. Convinced that they cowed Mesa into submission, Fen Duanhun and the rest of the Burning Heaven Clan were ecstatic and hopeful that this day would still end up well for them. That was until Mesa suddenly busted into uproarious laughter and everyone looked at him with confusion and trepidation. And Mesa's laughter was not one of nervous fear, but one of joyous anticipation.

"Threatening me with a good time! I'll indulge you and hold off on executing you all until I fight this Fen Chu you're going on about." Said Mesa with a smile on his face.

"You won't be so damn arrogant once Fen Chu comes here and destroys you once and for all!" Exclaimed Fen Duanhun.

"Alright than, bring him here. Let me fight this Fen Chu." Said Mesa.

And when Fen Duanhun opened his mouth to call for Fen Chu, he stopped as his words were caught in his throat and his eyes went wide with sudden realization. Frankly, he looked like a fish on land trying to desperately gulp up water. The reason for this was that he only just now realized that he had no idea where Fen Chu was. All he knew was that Fen Chu had left that morning to 'go for a walk' and that was the end of it. And considering that Fen Chu was much, much more powerful than anyone of them, he had no way of stopping him from going.

Looking at Fen Duanhun's face, Mesa didn't need to use any telepathy to know what he was thinking. Looking at the rest of the of the Burning Heaven Clan members, he could see the same looks on all their faces.

"What's the matter, don't you people know where Fen Chu is?" Asked Mesa in a really condescending and twisting-knife-in-wound kind of way.

"You insolent brat! Of course we know where he is! He is on his way right now!" Said Fen Duanhun, clearly trying to bluff his way out.

Mesa, being totally not convinced by his bluff, decided to put an end to this whole thing in another way and with a jerk of his fingers, the Birdcage unfurled from the top. Seeing this, the entire Burning Heaven Clan started to rejoice, convinced that Fen Duanhun's bluff had worked and that Mesa backed down. But this joy was shattered pretty much immediately when Mesa revealed his plan.

"Oh don't think for a moment that I don't know you're bluffing! I simply have something else in mind to deal with you lot!" Said Mesa which immediately led to them threatening him with Fen Chu and that he was coming and that they definitely knew where he was.

Mesa, for his part, let all these threats and guarantees of imminent doom just slide right of him and he didn't even deign to respond to them. He simply continued with what he was going to say.

"You see, killing all of you would be easy for me. But death is so final, so ending. So instead, I am going to do this." Said Mesa as he jerked his fingers and moved the strings of the unfurled Birdcage to pierce every last one of the Burning Heaven Clan leadership cadre right in the chest, avoided damaging any of their vital organs or important blood vessels and went straight for their Profound Veins. In particular, he went for their most important Profound Vein and severed it, causing all of their Profound Energy to leak out of their bodies at a rapid rate.

(A.N.: Imagine this like severing the aorta, the largest artery and most important blood vessel within the body, from the heart. If that would happen, depending on the severity of the tear of course, you'd have but few minutes at most before death as you'd internally bleed out at a rapid rate.)

Seeing this happen to themselves, everyone immediately tried to grab the string that was piercing their chest and yank it out to save their cultivation, obviously, regardless of knowing how sharp these strings were. Having foreseen this, Mesa deployed a second set of strings that he used to control everyone's movements and ensure that the entire leadership cadre of the Burning Heaven Clan were robbed of all their strength. As the screams those whose many years of cultivation and hard work were being drained echoed throughout the Burning Heaven Valley, all anyone could do was helplessly watch. Though the damage to their Profound Veins was mendable in the short or long run, the Profound Energy they lost was gone for good and they'd have to start all over again. Once it was done, the hold that Mesa had on their bodies was released and they collapsed to the ground. For those whose entire cultivation was taken from them, they looked like shells of their former self, broken and forlorn.

"Now that that is over, listen well for I have a message to you all." Said Mesa calmly in way that brooked no argument, not that they could do so to begin with. "For your crimes against the Imperial family and the Blue Wind Empire, you are all hereby sentenced to exile. I will leave for now and return tomorrow and if any of you still remains in the Blue Wind Empire, you will face public execution."

After he said that, Mesa strode forwards towards the inner sanctums of the Burning Heaven Clan. Everyone that was in his way coward before him and scurried of while he ignored them all. He was set on his goal, the Burning Heaven Clan's treasury.

Fen Duanhun, in his catatonic state after being drained of all his Profound Energy, simply gazed at nothing as Mesa walked past him and he passively followed him but did not react to anything, even to Fen Juechen's prodding and shaking of his body. But as he saw Mesa walking in a certain direction and lazily following him with his gaze, he suddenly realized where he was going. Using the last bits of his strength to get up shakily, Fen Duanhun called out to Mesa: "Wait. Where do you think you're going?"

Hearing him, Mesa came to a stop, but did not turn around to face, he simply inclined his head for bit in his direction but did not speak. After a moment of silence, he faced forward again and resumed his walk and matter-of-factly said: "Your Treasury."

"You bastard!" Screamed Fen Juechen, beating his father Fen Duanhun to the punch. "Haven't you done enough already! You have beaten us and humiliated us and you took the cultivation of our Burning Heaven Clan's leaders and protectors! And now you want to exile us and leave us with nothing! How are we supposed to rebuild ourselves after everything you have done to us?! Have you no shame!"

Fen Juechen had from the beginning never trusted Fen Chu and always knew that this gambit would blow in their faces somehow. But he always thought that it would be the Mighty Heavenly Sword Villa that would the ones to do it and not Mesa. But this destruction of his sect, this humiliation of his family and sect, this was far beyond any of his expectations and he voiced them out to the one who brought it upon them.

Coming to standstill, Mesa turned around to face Fen Juechen and said with rage lacing his voice: "No, I do not have any shame or compassion regarding you and your sect, for I do not care one bit about it after you hurt my loved ones! I purposefully chose this punishment to maximize your humiliation and suffering for I knew that once I had killed all of you it would have been the end of it and would not accept letting you all of the hook that easily! I want you all to wallow in this humiliation and indignation for years to come and remember everything that I have done to you and! I want you all to fester in it and let it consume you and desperately desire vengeance against me even when you know that it is completely pointless and you will never ever have it!"

Seeing Fen Jeuchen and the rest of the Burning Heaven Clan recoil away from him in fear, Mesa took a deep breath and calmed himself down and resumed speaking with a calm voice this time: "I will go now and completely empty out your treasury regardless of what you want and I will get inside that vault one way or the other."

Tapping Mjolnir he had strapped at his belt, he made it clear to them that if he could not open that vault the normal way, he would get in the hard way.

"After I am done here, I will make sure that everyone in the Blue Wind Empire knows of what you have done and I will ensure that you will never have a place here in the Blue Wind Empire to call home ever again."

After he said that, he resumed walking towards the treasury unimpeded. And right before he entered the treasury, he came to standstill and addressed the Burning Heaven Clan once again: "And once last thing. If you see Fen Chu again, make sure to tell him everything that has happened here today and what I have done to you all and make sure to tell him where he can find me if he wants to come and fight me."

Walking into the entrance of the treasury, Mesa could see a stairway that led underground, which means that the vault was situated underground. Walking down the stairs, he quickly came across a massive stone gate barring his way. Using some quick telepathy to read the Fen Duanhun's mind on how to enter the vault, he saw that this stone gate was but 1 of 5 stone gates that came before one had even arrived at the vault itself. And every stone gate required both the Clan Master and a different Elder to open it together, thus requiring six people together only to get to the vault door. And the vault door itself required the Clan Master and those six Elders who each opened one of the protective stone gates to open it together. And as a safety precaution, every stone gate and the vault door were secured with a special Profound Energy ward that would absorb and return any attack back at the intruder that was trying to force its way into the vault at twice the strength. And considering the current situation of the entire leadership cadre of the Burning Heaven Clan, there was no way for Mesa to get into the vault the easy way.

"Huh, guess I advertently shot myself in the foot when I took away all of their Profound Energy. Now I can't force them to open the vault for me." Said Mesa in self chastisement.

"Oh well, time to go over to plan B." He said as the Infinity Gauntlet appeared in his right hand and he activated the Power Stone.

Those same Profound Energy wards that secured the vault against any intruders, were only able to handle a certain amount of Profound Energy before they'd be fried. And since the amount of Profound Energy it required to fry every Profound Energy ward of every stone gate and the vault door was so great that it would take hundreds of people using every ounce of power they had in one go at every single gate, this security system was great for them and nearly everyone else to use. Mesa on the other hand, had no such problems and placing his hand against the gate and using the Power Stone's infinite well of Profound Energy, he put so much power into those wards, that they would be fried in a near instance. Once that was out of the way, he would take Mjolnir and destroy every stone gate in his way until he was inside the vault.

Once inside, he just went to town and emptied it out completely. Everything that the Burning Heaven Clan had inside their vault, all of their elixirs, medicinal herbs of kinds of rarities, rare treasures, profound cores, along with different kinds of purple crystals, uncommon metals, precious jades, weapons, armors, and even the Burning Heaven Clan's secret arts that had gathered throughout the years he took it. Anything that he could find use for, no matter how small, he kept and the rest he sold off using the Store function of JARVIS.

Coming back to the surface and meeting the hateful gazes of the Burning Heaven Clan, he gave them a big smile and said: "Well, now that I've defeated your sect and emptied out your entire vault, it's time for me to leave. And remember what I told you all."

Bringing out the Divine Dividing's wings of light, Mesa took off and left them all behind.

(A.N.: And with this, the Burning Heaven Clan is gone and history. The next chapter will focus on Mesa going on his second Infinity Quest and I hope you will all enjoy what I have in store for you.)