49: Chapter 49 Live Victims

Just a few breaths later, the sword light swept back again, piercing straight through the chest of the one wiping his saber.

The remaining three Ning Family hidden posts were soon completely wiped out by the sword light and crossbow bolts.

Five corpses lay across the ground, and from start to finish, not a single person had time to send out a distress signal.

The kiln returned to silence.

The Loose Cultivators responsible for cleaning the battlefield dragged the corpses to a corner, poured corpse-dissolving water over them, and then searched out and sealed all the transmission talismans in the kiln one by one.

The entire process was silent, like a heavy rainstorm in the night that left behind no trace.

All Spirit Stones, Magical Artifacts, and Jade Slips related to the Ning Family inside the kiln were sorted, gathered, and registered.

That same night, the same scene was simultaneously played out at the other seven hidden posts in Wanshan County.

In a dilapidated temple on a barren mountain, a Ning Family hidden post had a blade held to his neck in his sleep; before he could struggle, his cultivation was sealed, and he was stuffed into a bag along with his belongings.

In a rented room in the back alley of the market town, a hidden post was leaning over a table copying a booklet recording the distribution of the Wang Family's spirit fields when the back of his head suddenly went numb, and he collapsed sideways onto the table.

Even the grocery store opened right at the entrance of the county yamen had its inner room flooded with a wisp of intoxicating smoke in the dead of night.

By the time the hidden post awoke from his deep sleep, he was already in a mountain belly secret chamber of unknown location, facing a cold stone wall.

By dawn, all eight hidden posts and thirty-one Ning Family covert agents had been completely rounded up without a single one escaping.

Whether killed or captured, everyone was secretly imprisoned in a mountain belly secret chamber beneath Lotus Pier, and their transmission talismans and all supplies were sorted and organized into categories.

When Wang Yaozu pushed open the stone door of the secret chamber, twelve pairs of Ning Family eyes stared squarely at him, their gazes filled with unwillingness, shock, and anger.

Wang Yaozu did not look at them.

He merely threw the spirit field distribution map searched from the hidden posts onto the table, then turned around and walked out, saying a sentence to Wang Yaowu, who was guarding outside the door.

"Keep them alive and wait for Sixth Uncle. Since they want to play dirty, I'd like to see how many secrets the Ning Family can still hide after asking Sixth Uncle to extract these people's souls and refine their spirits."

Xiaoshan County, the Ning Family.

Ning Shengli waited anxiously for the entire night.

According to custom, the hidden posts should have a scheduled transmission every three days.

Last night was the transmission day, yet he waited from the Hai hour to the Chou hour, and from the Chou hour until dawn, but the transmission talismans of the eight hidden posts never lit up again.

Not even once.

He paced back and forth in the study for I don't know how many circles, and finally, just as dawn was about to break, he waited for Great Elder Ning Shengkui—that Grand Elder pushed the door open, covered in sweat, and his voice was even trembling: "Family Head, we've completely lost contact with all of them.

All the strongholds in Wanshan and Baishan counties, not a single one could be reached."

Ning Shengli's expression turned iron-blue in an instant, and then instantly turned pale.

Thirty-one Ning Family members and eight hidden posts managed for many years were uprooted overnight by someone, and not even a single person sent to report the news managed to escape.

"Who did this?"

His voice was as cold as if it had been fished out of an ice cellar.

"There were no clues left at the scene, and while the bodies were not found, our people tracked along the final traces of the transmission talismans and discovered that all the hidden posts were already empty.

This is definitely something Loose Cultivators could not accomplish; Loose Cultivators do not have this kind of efficiency, nor do they have this kind of neatness and promptness.

There are very few factions within Wanshan County capable of having this kind of strength, but…" Great Elder Ning Shengkui did not continue, but the answer was already self-evident.

Ning Shengli remained silent for a long time, then suddenly slammed a palm onto the table, shaking a teacup until it jumped up and smashed into pieces.

"The Wang Family!"

His teeth ground audibly, "There's no need to investigate; it is them. Besides the county yamen, the only ones in Wanshan County with the strength to uproot my eight hidden posts overnight are them.

Hu Shan is about to return to the Spirit Sword Sect; there's no need for him to make things difficult for my Ning Family at this juncture. It can only be the Wang Family—it can only be the Wang Family!"

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down: "What are the losses?"

Great Elder Ning Shengkui was silent for a moment, then braced himself to say: "Thirty-two people, among them six at the sixth layer of Qi Refining or above, eleven at the fourth to fifth layers of Qi Refining, and the rest... are Disciples of the third and fourth layers."

Ning Shengli trembled all over, suddenly turned around, propped his hands on the desk, and breathed heavily with his back facing Great Elder Ning Shengkui.

He had been the Family Head of the Ning Family for more than twenty years, and had never suffered such a huge loss.

That was close to a third of his family members, and an intelligence network he had spent years of painstaking effort to deploy across the Three Counties. Overnight, it was uprooted so cleanly that not even dregs were left.

What was even more fatal was that he had nowhere to return the blow; he had no evidence whatsoever to prove that the Wang Family did it.

Right at this moment, a brisk sound of footsteps came from outside the door, and the newcomer pushed the door open without even knocking.

Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong's affable, money-making round face wore a hint of teasing amusement. As soon as he entered the door, he swaggeringly sat down on a chair, crossed his legs, and his tone was full of oblivious smugness.

"Brother Ning, why have you quieted down today? Could it be that you're tired from playing with women? Could it be that those Loose Cultivators scared your people?"

He picked up the teapot on the table and poured himself a cup, completely unaware of the ice-like gloom on Ning Shengli's face.

"Let me tell you, my Yan Family chopped down two more Loose Cultivators today who were puffing up the Wang Family's momentum. The methods were neat and clean, guaranteed to make sure it can't be traced to your head.

Take a look at me, and then take a look at you—are you even capable at all? Why don't I teach you how to deal with those mud-legged Loose Cultivators?"

Ning Shengli slowly turned around, the gloom on his face almost condensing into substance.

Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong's hand holding the teacup paused in mid-air, finally realizing something was wrong, his smile freezing on his face: "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Ning Shengli remained silent for a long time, so long that Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong's hand holding the tea began to tremble slightly, before he suddenly let out a laugh.

That laughter was very soft, yet it made one's spine turn cold.

Outside the mountain gate of Lotus Pier, two Foundation Establishment Stage pressures descended without any warning.

Wang Yaozu and Wang Yaowu were sitting opposite each other discussing matters in the deliberation hall when that mountain-like and mountain-exceeding oppressive feeling plummeted from the sky.

A fine crack snapped open on the teacup in his hand, and the tea water dripped down along the gaps between his fingers.

Wang Yaowu abruptly stood up, his expression changing drastically: "Two Foundation Establishment Cultivators!"

On the plaza halfway up the mountain, the Loose Cultivators had long since boiled over with chaos.

Dozens of Loose Cultivators who were sitting cross-legged cultivating here were forced to the ground by the pressure; those with lower cultivation found even breathing difficult.

Old Daoist Chen lay prone on the ground, his withered and thin fingers digging desperately into the gaps of the bluestone slabs, struggling to raise his head as he saw two figures.

The person on the east stepped on a crimson Flying Sword, with a gloomy expression—it was precisely the Ning Family Head, Ning Shengli.

The person on the west rode a green-leaf-shaped Magical Artifact, short and plump, with an affable, money-making smile on his face—yet it was Head of the Yan Family Yan Bosong.

Behind the two of them followed dozens of Qi Refining Cultivators from the Ning and Yan families, reeking of Killing Intent and coming with ill intent.

"Wang Chongyang!"

Ning Shengli's voice exploded in the sky above the mountain gate like muffled thunder: "Get out here!"

Before his voice had faded, a grey shadow floated over gracefully from the direction of the back mountain's bamboo building.

Wang Chongyang was still in that same grey cloth Daoist robe, and still held that most ordinary iron sword.

When he landed before the mountain gate, he did not stir up a shred of dust, his withered and thin figure appearing somewhat frail before the two Foundation Establishment pressures.