With a flash of light, the Ninth Elder's scalp, hair and all, was completely ripped off, revealing his bloody skull. He screamed and rolled on the ground until Aya Ikegami crushed his Adam's apple with her foot.

Silence returned, heavier than before. Misaki Ikegami bit her lip hard, the taste of blood spreading in her mouth. She saw the elder's hand trembling slightly, oblivious to the tea spilling onto his kimono.

Aya Ikegami glanced around, then suddenly chuckled softly, "That's right." She flicked her sword, and the bloodstains slid away automatically, restoring the blade to its mirror-like state. "From tonight onwards, I'll be in charge of the Ikegami family. Anyone with objections..." She kicked the Ninth Elder's corpse, "can have a chat with them."

Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings came from outside. A crow landed on the window frame, its scarlet eyes fixed on the blood inside. Aya Ikegami took a small bottle from her sleeve, poured out a few blue crystals, and fed them to the crow. After swallowing them, the bird's eyes turned even redder, and it flew away with a hoarse cry.

The stench of blood filled the tea room, and the Ninth Elder's twisted corpse lay piled in the corner like a sack of rotten flesh. Misaki Ikegami's knee slammed heavily onto the floor, the dull thud startling the other elders who were frozen in shock.

"Xiao Ling..." she uttered this affectionate nickname subconsciously.

Aya Ikegami's knife tip instantly pressed against her chin: "What did you call me?"

The cold, metallic touch sent shivers down Misaki's spine, and she immediately corrected herself: "Master...Master of the family!"

This address seemed to flip a switch. The other elders, as if waking from a dream, prostrated themselves on the ground, the sound of their foreheads hitting the tatami mat echoing: "Patriarch! Welcome, Patriarch!"

Aya Ikegami slowly sheathed her sword, a satisfied smile playing on her lips. She strode to the head of the table and sat down, her blood-stained skirt leaving dark red trails on the floor: "Raise your heads, all of you."

Everyone straightened up cautiously, finally able to see Aya Ikegami's eyes clearly—her left eye was a deep, dark blue, while her right eye was a vibrant, congealed crimson. Both pupils held an eerie, swirling light, as if they could see right through one's soul.

"Now that I've taken over the Ikegami family..." Ikegami Aya placed her hands on her knees, her voice as soft as if discussing tea and refreshments, "I'll give you a small gift."

The light in her eyes suddenly accelerated, and two beams of heterochromatic light shot out from her pupils, intertwining in the air to form strange runes. The runes split into many, precisely imprinted on the foreheads of each elder.

"Ah!" Misaki Ikegami clutched her forehead, feeling as if scalding metal was being branded into her skull. The pain lasted only a moment, followed by a surge of power—the barrier to her cultivation, which had stagnated for many years, had actually loosened!

The Grand Elder trembled as he touched the mark between his brows. It had smoothed out, but upon internal inspection, a crescent-shaped mark could be seen floating in his sea of ​​consciousness. Even more shocking was that he had indeed advanced two minor realms; such a breakthrough should have required at least ten years of arduous cultivation...

"This...this..." The elder's beard trembled like withered grass in the wind, and he could barely speak.

"This is the Mark of the Moon Demon." Aya Ikegami reveled in the astonished expressions on everyone's faces. "It is both a blessing and a shackle. From this day forward, if any of you harbor even the slightest thought of disobeying me..." She made a flower-blooming gesture, *thud*.

The Third Elder suddenly coughed violently, his face turning bright red. He had indeed had the thought of resistance flash through his mind, and as a result, the mark immediately became hot, as if a branding iron was churning inside his skull.

A glint of light flashed in the Grand Elder's eyes. He noticed that Chi Shangling mentioned "I" instead of "Lord Mu," and that the blue crystal fed to the crow... had a subtle difference from the Nether Crystal Clan energy that Mu Xiaoxiao usually used.

(They are not a united front...)

This discovery prompted the Grand Elder to make a swift decision. He kowtowed deeply, his voice booming: "From this day forward, the Ikegami family will follow the head of the family's lead! We swear our loyalty to the death!"

The other elders, though unaware of the reason, also shouted their oaths of loyalty. Aya Ikegami nodded in satisfaction, the light in her heterochromatic pupils gradually fading.

"Remember, the Moon Demon's Mark is not a shackle, but a key." She rose and walked towards the door, her wooden clogs crunching over the bloodstains. "It can open doors to power you've never imagined."

The maids in the corridor were already kneeling on the ground, not daring to look directly at the new head of the family. As Aya Ikegami walked by, she suddenly stopped: "By the way, all sea areas controlled by the family are to be closed immediately."

"Is...is it time to prepare for a sacrificial ceremony?" a bold maid asked in a low voice.

Aya Ikegami's red right eye turned to her, and the maid immediately collapsed to the ground, her crotch soaked: "Do I need to explain myself to you?"

"No, I wouldn't dare!"

"Do whatever the Patriarch orders you to do!" The First Elder's stern shout echoed in the hall. His cloudy old eyes swept over the still somewhat dazed elders. "Hurry up and arrange the sea blockade!"

The elders, as if waking from a dream, bowed and withdrew. In the blink of an eye, the vast council hall was left with only a mess and a few gradually cooling corpses—those were the elders who had just voiced the loudest opposition.

Aya Ikegami's lips curled slightly, quite satisfied with the effect. She gently touched her right eye; the eerie red light had faded, but her pupil still retained its strange, heterochromatic color. Moonlight shone through the washi paper door onto her, casting a long shadow that almost covered the entire main seating area.

"Elder," she called lazily, "After sealing off the seas, send all the special information the family has collected over the years about the seas to my room."

"I will obey the patriarch's orders." The elder's forehead was pressed to the ground, his posture so submissive that he didn't look like an old man in his seventies, but rather like an old dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy.

Aya Ikegami lightly flicked her sleeves and turned to walk towards the door. Her wooden clogs creaked stickily over the pool of blood. As she passed the disoriented maid, she paused slightly: "Clean this up."

Those four simple words were enough to make the maid feel as if she had been granted a pardon, and she kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, Master, for sparing my life!"

At the corner of the corridor, Misaki Ikegami stood with her head bowed. This instructor, who had once taught Aya Ikegami her eye techniques, now had her hands clasped together in front of her abdomen, her knuckles white from the force.

"Elder Misaki," Aya Ikegami's voice was unreadable, "Come with me."

Misaki Ikegami trembled almost imperceptibly, then lowered her head and followed. The two walked one after the other through the winding corridors, the moonlight stretching their shadows longer and shorter, like some kind of eerie shadow play.

"Sit." Aya Ikegami walked to the head seat and sat down, casually pouring herself a cup of tea.

Misaki Ikegami knelt opposite her, never daring to look up. She noticed that the head of the family's fingernails had turned an eerie dark purple, as if they had been soaked in some kind of medicine.

"You're very smart," Aya Ikegami suddenly said. "You didn't rush to pledge your loyalty like the others did."