Chapter 35: Secret Meeting

"You dare kill members of our Wang family? You have a death wish!"Just then, an angry voice suddenly came from the sky.As soon as the words were spoken, a dark shadow appeared in the sky. With a long cry, the shadow materialized above the dense forest.The shadow was none other than a massive grey giant eagle with a golden beak. Wang Yaozong and Wang Yaozu stood on its back."Oh no, a Foundation Establishment cultivator! Quick, retreat!"Someone shouted, and the black-clad cultivators scattered and fled.The black giant scorpion's body glowed with a yellow light, then it burrowed into the ground and disappeared.Wang Yaozong snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and three streaks of yellow light shot out, disappearing into the ground in a flash. A scream then emanated from beneath the earth.The fifteen black-clad cultivators fled in all directions, some using Wind Manipulation techniques, others Earth Evasion, or deploying talismans.A cold glint flashed in Wang Yaozong's eyes. He summoned a gleaming yellow sickle and struck at the black-clad cultivators below.The powerful spiritual energy radiating from the yellow sickle indicated it was a magic tool.Qi Condensation cultivators simply could not withstand the attack of a magic tool; no matter how fast they were, they couldn't outrun it.Several screams rang out. Four black-clad cultivators fell one after another, their bodies severed. Another black-clad cultivator had his right leg severed, and a green rope shot out, coiling around his body.Wang Yaozong killed eleven black-clad cultivators in one go, captured one, and three managed to escape. The grey giant eagle slowly descended.The young man in white took out his spirit tool, intending to pursue the black-clad cultivators, but Wang Yaozong stopped him."Minghao, do not pursue a cornered foe.""Second Uncle, they killed Ninth Uncle, Eighteenth Brother, and Nineteenth Brother. I must avenge them."Wang Minghao's face was filled with grief and indignation, his right hand gripping a white long saber tightly."These people are definitely not rogue cultivators; rogue cultivators wouldn't cooperate so well. They wore uniform black shirts, clearly intending to conceal their identities. If I'm not mistaken, they should be from a cultivation family in Pingyang Prefecture. Do not pursue a cornered foe; killing eleven of them is enough."Wang Yaozu performed a hand seal, and his body glowed with a yellow light before he burrowed into the ground and vanished.After a moment, he emerged from the ground, dragging the corpse of the yellow giant scorpion.The yellow giant scorpion's head had been pierced by three long yellow nails, and its massive pincer still clutched Wang Mingwei's corpse.Wang Yaozu quickly stepped forward, chopped off the yellow giant scorpion's pincer, retrieved Wang Mingwei's body, and found three yellow storage bags on the corpse.After confirming that the profound gold ore was in the storage bags, he let out a sigh of relief and said, "Second Brother, everything is here."Wang Yaoliang always used three spirit tool-grade storage bags when escorting profound gold ore.Wang Yaozong nodded, looked at the black-clad cultivator bound by the green rope, and instructed, "Fourth Brother, you and Minghao escort him back and interrogate him thoroughly. I'll go to Qing Shi Town to take a look."Having said this, he leaped onto the grey giant eagle's back. The eagle flapped its wings and soared towards the sky.Wang Minghao stored the corpses in a storage bag and returned to Green Lotus Mountain with Wang Yaozu, escorting the captured black-clad cultivator.

More than an hour later, at Green Lotus Mountain, Green Lotus Pavilion.The elders of the Wang family gathered, each with an exceptionally solemn expression. Wang Yaozong sat in the main seat."Mingyuan, have you gotten any results from the interrogation? What is the origin of this group?"Wang Yaozong asked in a deep voice."According to his confession, three families from Pingyang Prefecture conspired against us. The Song family discovered an anomaly at the quarry and deduced it was some kind of mineral vein. The Song family then allied with the Liu and Sun families to attack us. Fortunately, the profound gold ore was not stolen. They are currently only guessing and don't know what kind of mineral vein the quarry is."At this point, Wang Mingyuan hesitated slightly and said, somewhat self-reproachfully, "It's my fault for being too negligent. Ninth Uncle had asked me to dispatch more personnel, and I should have sent a group earlier."Wang Yaozong shook his head and said, "This is not your fault. Everyone in the clan has their own duties, and we couldn't dispatch so many people on short notice. Furthermore, the root of the problem lies in the covetousness of the Song, Liu, and Sun families. Even if you had dispatched more personnel, they could have sent even more people to attack Ninth Brother and the others. I went to the quarry and saw that nothing had happened there, but this is not a long-term solution. We need to find a way to resolve this; we can't keep sending dozens of clan members to escort profound gold ore every time!""How about we seek help from the Huang and Chen families? With their assistance, the Song, Liu, and Sun families should not dare to act recklessly. However, the Huang and Chen families always act only when there's profit involved, and their strength far surpasses ours. To get their help, we might have to give up more than half of our profits."Wang Yaocong pondered briefly and offered a suggestion."No, this profound gold vein is the future guarantee of our Wang family; we cannot share it with outsiders. Besides, the Chen family and the Song family are in-laws. Who knows if they would unite to seize the profound gold vein? If that happens, it would be extremely difficult for us to reclaim it."Wang Yaochen did not agree."I suggest we strengthen our defenses and seek help from our in-laws. Our Wang family has been established for hundreds of years, and we have many marriage alliances."Wang Yaozong nodded, looked at Wang Mingyuan, and said, "Mingyuan, you are the clan head; tell us your opinion."Wang Mingyuan thought for a moment and said, "Your nephew believes we should pursue a two-pronged approach. The Song, Liu, and Sun families' people wore black clothes, clearly indicating they didn't want to blow things up. Since that's the case, we should treat this group of bandits as rogue cultivators. Additionally, we should seek help from our in-laws. I recall Second Sister-in-law's sister married the head of the Sun family; in fact, Second Brother and the Sun family head are brothers-in-law! The Liu family is in-laws with the Zhao family from Guangyuan Prefecture, and the Zhao family's matriarch is my aunt, so we can seek help from the Zhao family. As for the quarry, we can publicly claim there's a first-tier mid-grade spirit vein there, and our Wang family intends to cultivate spirit grain. If we insist on cultivating spirit grain, without any proof, they won't dare to act rashly.""Mingyuan's idea is good, I agree.""I also agree."Wang Yaozong considered carefully and said, "Relying solely on in-laws might not be enough to deter the Song, Sun, and Liu families. Here's what we'll do: Mingyuan, you and Mingcai, take your families and some gifts, and visit the Zhao and Ye families separately. Ask them to convey a message to the Liu and Sun families: that people shouldn't be too excessive, a cornered rabbit will bite. I will make a trip to Qingzhu Valley, applying both persuasion and pressure, hoping to make the Song, Liu, and Sun families back off. If all else fails, we can cooperate with the Huang family; the Huang family also has many marriage alliances. As for the Chen family, let's leave them out. The Chen family has developed rapidly in recent years, and cooperating with them would only make them stronger, which would be detrimental to our future development."Wang Yaozu thought for a moment and added, "During this period, we still need to strengthen the defenses of the quarry. Mingyuan, immediately dispatch thirty clan members to the quarry.""Our clan is short-staffed; we don't need to deploy so many people. We also need to leave people to guard Green Lotus Mountain. Deploying so many would be difficult to hide from the Chen and Huang families. Ten people should be enough. I left the clan-protecting spirit beast, the Golden Beak Eagle, at the quarry. Although the Golden Beak Eagle is a second-tier mid-grade spirit beast, our ancestor left behind a beast-taming ring, and Fifth Brother can use it to control the Golden Beak Eagle.""Yes, Second Uncle, I will give the orders immediately."After the meeting concluded, Wang Mingyuan and the others promptly took action.