?

Yang Linghu stepped forward and tore off the man's face covering, demanding coldly, "Who are you? Who sent you here?"

Wang Lie opened his eyes to see two teenagers, and a sudden wave of fury washed over him.

A man in his thirties, having cultivated for so many years, had actually been brought down by two little brats!

This Yang Family was truly detestable, secretly hiding a first level Qi Gathering cultivator within their home.

However, he did not panic much at this moment. In his eyes, Linghu and Lingrui were merely inexperienced children, easily deceived.

Just as he opened his mouth to formulate an excuse, Yang Lingqing walked out of the house and struck first.

"You are Wang Lie, the second-in-command of the Wang Family from Baishi Town."

"Uh..."

Wang Lie was stunned by this sudden revelation, freezing on the spot.

Originally, Yang Lingqing was merely trying to bluff him. She had only seen Wang Lie's portrait and never the real person.

Alongside Wang Lie, Elder Yu had provided portraits of cultivators from all the major factions in the surrounding area, and she had committed them all to memory.

Now, judging by Wang Lie's reaction, it was definitely him.

Wang Lie's mind went entirely blank.

Three of them?

Was this real?

Three young cultivators in the Qi Gathering realm, each younger than Wang Weiyang!

What kind of heaven-defying fortune had the Yang Family stumbled upon!

The sheer volume of this revelation was too much for him to accept all at once.

Before he could even recover his wits, Yang Lingqing grabbed a handful of dirt and shoved it into his mouth.

"Hu-zi, go to the mine immediately and call the Ancestor back."

"Alright!"

Yang Linghu leaped down the mountain cliff, rushing swiftly toward the location of the Yang Family's mine.

Wang Lie was thoroughly dumbfounded. Were these three really children?

Why was there not a single trace of panic on their faces?

Yang Lingqing and Yang Lingrui simply stood guard over him until Yang Guanfeng and Yang Linghu rushed back from the mine.

At this moment, Yang Guanfeng's expression was terrifyingly dark. He cast a single glare at Wang Lie, causing the man to tremble all over.

"Lingqing, release him."

"Yes, Ancestor."

Yang Lingqing withdrew her technique, and Wang Lie rose shakily to his feet.

"Heh... hehe, greetings to Patriarch Yang!"

"Did Wang Xiong send you?" Yang Guanfeng asked.

"No, no, no! This was my own idea. The Patriarch knows nothing about it."

Hearing this, a faint smile curled at the corners of Yang Guanfeng's mouth.

"Oh? He knows nothing? Then this matter is easy to handle."

"It is easy indeed! I offer my apologies to you right here. I am willing to return to Baishi Town with you to confess my crimes and accept my punishment!"

When Wang Lie spoke these words, he still had not realized the severity of the situation. He naively assumed that as long as he admitted his mistake and the Wang Family offered compensation, all would be well.

Little did he know, the very moment he laid eyes upon Yang Linghu and Yang Lingqing, the possibility of him leaving the Yang Family alive vanished.

Only when he realized the four people present were looking at him with odd expressions did he belatedly sense the danger.

"Patriarch Yang, you... Ah!!!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Yang Guanfeng violently shattered all four of Wang Lie's limbs.

He howled and collapsed to the ground, curling his body into a ball in agonizing pain.

Yang Guanfeng looked toward Yang Lingrui, giving him a meaningful glance.

Yang Lingrui understood and nodded. He stepped forward with a cold expression, slowly raising his right arm.

Immediately after, a sharp blast of Gang Wind condensed within his palm.

"What!? You dare kill me?"

"Have you all gone mad?! Do you not know that my Wang Family has a Sect background? You are courting death!"

"If anything happens to me, it will only take a single letter to raze your Yang Family to the ground!"

Wang Lie screamed wildly, yet the expressions of the four people around him remained entirely unchanged. Instead, they looked at him as though he were a fool.

If he was going to spout such words, that was all the more reason not to let him return alive.

Seeing their reactions, Wang Lie was truly terrified. He quickly looked back at Yang Lingrui, forcing a ferocious and savage expression onto his face.

"Little brat, you dare kill me? You will dream of me every night from now on. Even if I become a ghost, I will not let you off!"

He tried to use words to intimidate Yang Lingrui, but in return, he only received a gaze that grew increasingly resolute.

"The path of the Yang Family's rise is about to begin. I, Yang Lingrui, shall be the sharpest blade of this family! If anyone dares to stand in our way, then I will kill them! If ghosts come to disturb us, then I will slay those ghosts!"

With those words, Yang Lingrui swung his hand down. The Gang Wind spun outward, directly severing Wang Lie's head.

To his dying breath, Wang Lie could never understand how someone so young could possess such a ruthless disposition and take a life so effortlessly.

What he did not know was that, in order to temper the three youths, Yang Guanfeng had long ago taken them to wipe out all the mountain bandits in the Little Pine Mountain area.

The three of them together had already taken over thirty lives. What was one more?

"Ancestor, how should we dispose of this person's corpse?" Yang Lingqing asked.

Originally, Yang Guanfeng intended to bring Wang Lie's corpse to Baishi Town to demand an accounting. But on second thought, if the other party simply denied everything, he would have no way to prove the accusation.

If, as Wang Lie had claimed, the Wang Family truly possessed a Sect background, it would only invite further trouble for himself and the Yang Family.

He pondered for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

A perfectly good corpse of a Qi Gathering cultivator could not go to waste. Was it not an excellent fertilizer for the Spirit Field?

He might as well simply destroy the body and eliminate all traces, acting as if nothing had happened at all. Would the Wang Family dare come looking for trouble at their door?

Having made up his mind, he spoke, "Leave the corpse to me. You have all worked hard this time. Rest early."

"Yes, Ancestor!"

Yang Guanfeng took Wang Lie's corpse to the Spirit Field on the western side of the Restricted Grounds.

Two small Formations had been specially established there. Because they were at the mid Qi Gathering level, they had not been affected by the magnetic stone.

Yang Guanfeng searched Wang Lie's body, but unfortunately, the only thing this fellow had brought on this trip was a black magnetic stone; he carried nothing else of value.

Then, after putting some effort into processing-namely, crushing-Wang Lie's corpse, he buried the remains evenly beneath the Spirit Field.

Upon returning to the courtyard, he found Yang Lingqing waiting for him.

"Lingqing, is there a matter to discuss?"

"Yes, Ancestor."

As she spoke, she brought out Chen Yang and handed it over to Yang Guanfeng.

Yang Guanfeng revealed a look of praise. "You are meticulous, knowing to keep this treasure safe."

"Ancestor, actually, when Wang Lie entered, the warning Formation failed."

"Oh?"

Realization dawning upon him, Yang Guanfeng took out the magnetic stone he had just retrieved from Wang Lie.

He channeled a slight trace of Mana to activate it, and the Formation around the Restricted Grounds immediately began to fluctuate violently.

"So this is how this treasure is used. Not bad at all. He used this item to interfere with the Formation."

Yang Guanfeng then asked, "Without the Formation, how did you discover his intrusion?"

Yang Lingqing pointed at Chen Yang.

"I was in a state of shallow meditation at the time. It was the Qi-Gathering Stone that emitted a fluctuation and awakened me."

"What? You mean this Qi-Gathering Stone?"

Yang Guanfeng looked at Chen Yang in disbelief, his eyes filled with astonishment.

Lying quietly in his palm, Chen Yang thought to himself, That's right, Old Yang. I did it. Pretty impressive, huh?

Of course, Yang Guanfeng could not hear Chen Yang's inner voice. He merely felt puzzled.

This spiritual treasure had been discovered within a secret realm, and Elder Yu had personally identified it as a Qi-Gathering Stone. That judgment should be correct.

Could it be that the unique environment of the secret realm had endowed this stone with some other hidden function?

"Alright, I understand. You may return."

"Yes, Ancestor!"

Yang Guanfeng could not deduce the secret himself. He could only wait until tomorrow to visit Baishi Town and confirm it with Elder Yu.

Meanwhile, over at the Wang Family, Wang Xiong and Wang Weiyang stayed awake all night, waiting until dawn, but Wang Lie never returned.

Throughout the first half of the night, they remained extremely optimistic. They believed that once this matter was accomplished, they would smoothly swallow up the Yang Family's remaining merchant shops.

However, as they continued to wait, they began to feel that something was amiss. Anxiety slowly began to set in.

Now that the sun had fully risen, Wang Xiong's brows were tightly knit together in worry.

Wang Weiyang stood beside him. A certain possibility crossed his mind, but he did not dare speak it aloud.

The two of them waited for another day, yet still, no news came back.

By the third day, Wang Xiong finally stopped waiting. With a dark expression, he retreated to the Wang Family's secret chamber. Wang Weiyang followed after him, his eyes laced with panic.

They both knew that Wang Lie was never coming back.