170: A deadly trap descends from the sky; a scheme without end.

On this day, the entire Qingzhou City was in an uproar.

Streets and alleys were festooned with lights and colored banners, and countless red silks hung from the eaves of the towers and pavilions. The festive atmosphere almost dyed the sky red.

The Old Ancestor of the Shen Family, Shen Zongdao, successfully achieved Core Formation!

For the Shen Family, which had just established itself in Qingzhou and whose Foundation was unstable, this was nothing short of a powerful boost!

This meant that the Shen Family now possessed a second Golden Core True Person!

From then on, the Shen Family would no longer be a Family supported solely by Grand Elder Shen Yuanmo.

The Shen Family Main Residence hosted a grand banquet, offering a flowing stream of spiritual wine and fine delicacies to entertain the various forces of Qingzhou who came to offer congratulations.

Patriarch Chen and the Patriarch of the Zhang Family were busy running around, their faces beaming with smiles brighter than if their own sons had achieved Core Formation.

They knew that the stronger the Shen Family became, the more stable the position of their two families would be as the earliest vassals to pledge allegiance.

Inside the deliberation hall, the atmosphere was extremely lively.

“Hahaha, Old Ancestor, I toast you! May your Immortal Dao flourish and your lifespan be as long as the Nine Heavens!” Patriarch Shen Qiming, who had just advanced to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, was radiant as he raised his wine cup high.

Shen Zongdao wore a brand-new golden brocade robe, and he looked as if he had become fifty years younger.

He felt the golden pill spinning smoothly in his Dantian, and sensed the profound feeling of merging with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. His heart was filled with an unprecedented sense of heroism.

He had lived for nearly two hundred years and had thought that Foundation Establishment was hopeless in this life, believing he would eventually turn into a pile of yellow earth.

Yet, he never expected that at the last moment of his life, he would not only be rescued by Yuan Mo but also obtain a supreme Cultivation Technique that pointed directly to the Dao, instantly breaking through the chasm that had plagued him his entire life!

“Good! Good! Good!” Shen Zongdao drank three cups in a row and laughed heartily: “We owe all of this to Yuan Mo! If not for Yuan Mo, how could my Shen Family achieve such prosperity today!”

Everyone’s gaze instinctively gathered on the main seat.

Shen Yuanmo merely smiled, quietly observing everything.

Seeing the joy on his Family’s faces and the flourishing vitality and hope in the eyes of his clansmen, he felt a long-lost warmth in his heart.

This was everything he had fought for.

However, amidst this clamor and festivity, Shen Yuanmo’s hand, holding the wine cup, paused slightly in mid-air.

His massive Divine Sense, comparable to the Nascent Soul Mid-stage, had already covered the entire Qingzhou City like an invisible tide.

Just now, he keenly captured a hint of extremely faint and extremely hidden sense of prying.

That feeling was not like the Divine Sense probing of an ordinary Cultivator; it was more like an invisible nether breeze, silently merging into the Void Realm.

If his Divine Soul power hadn't been tempered countless times by the Nine Revolutions Spirit Refining Art, making him extremely sensitive to spatial fluctuations, he probably wouldn't have noticed it at all.

Someone was spying!

Moreover, it was a top expert in this Dao!

Shen Yuanmo’s eyes instantly deepened, but the smile on his face remained unchanged.

He continued to chat and laugh with everyone, acting as if nothing had happened.

But his heart sank at this moment.

What must come, eventually came... A thousand miles away from Qingzhou City, within the clouds above the Nine Heavens.

A peculiar Magic Treasure, shaped like a withered leaf and thin as a cicada's wing, was quietly suspended, perfectly integrated with the surrounding cloud Qi.

Inside the Magic Treasure, three figures were coldly staring at the brightly lit city below.

Leading them was an elderly man wearing a purple-gold robe, with a lean face and three strands of long beard.

As his eyes opened and closed, spiritual light flowed. The terrifying pressure of his Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivation was perfectly contained within his body, not leaking out even a single trace.

He was Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan, one of the three great Reverends of the Ziyang Song Family, whose status was second only to the Patriarch and several Grand Elders at the Great Perfection of Nascent Soul Stage!

Standing beside him, one on the left and one on the right, were two middle-aged Cultivators.

The one on the left was a burly man with a fierce face, bare-chested, with a ferocious purple tiger tattooed on his bronze skin.

Just by standing there, he exuded an incomparably violent and ominous Qi.

He was Song Kuang, Nascent Soul Mid-stage, and was the Battle Maniac of the Song Family specializing in frontal assault. With his Purple Flame Mountain Splitting Axe, he had slain countless Cultivators of the same Rank.

The one on the right was a slender man with an ordinary appearance, an insidious man who would be hard to find if thrown into a crowd.

He seemed entirely shrouded in shadow, his aura faint and indistinct, like a non-existent phantom.

He was Song Ying, also Nascent Soul Mid-stage, but he was the sharpest Assassin of the Song Family.

Those who died by his hand didn't even know how they died until their last breath.

“Venerable Elder, those ants down there are celebrating the birth of the Family’s second Golden Core,” Song Kuang grinned widely, his voice rough, his eyes full of disdain and cruelty.

“In my opinion, why go through so much trouble? I’ll just strike down with an axe, split open their broken Formation, and then charge in and slaughter the so-called Shen Family, leaving no one alive!”

“Foolish!” Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan glanced at him coldly, his voice devoid of emotion.

Song Kuang shrunk his neck and immediately dared not say more. Although he was maniacal, he held genuine reverence for Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan.

“Do you think I haven’t read the intelligence collected by the Family?” Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan’s gaze returned to Qingzhou City, a hint of solemnity flashing in his eyes.

“That brat named Shen Yuanmo is absolutely not simple. The city-protecting Grand Formation he set up could even withstand the Great Perfection of Nascent Soul Stage pressure from Southern Frontier Inspector for a moment. Its power definitely reaches the Peak Fourth-Order category.”

“Furthermore, this brat is deeply cunning and meticulous in his actions. Since he dared to make that secret pact public, he must have calculated that we would come for revenge. If you charge down now so brazenly, you will fall right into the trap he set!”

Song Ying’s insidious face also showed a hint of agreement, and he spoke in a hoarse voice.

“Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan is absolutely correct. A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit. We are here not only to destroy the Shen Family but also to leave no future trouble. Our actions must be foolproof.”

Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan nodded in satisfaction; he appreciated Song Ying’s caution.

“A frontal assault is the worst possible strategy.” A cold, calculating smile curved at the corner of Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan’s mouth.

“The strongest fortress is always easiest to breach from the inside.”

He slowly spread open his palm, and a peculiar talisman, black as ink and seemingly condensed from the purest fire and shadow, appeared in his palm.

As soon as the talisman appeared, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop by several degrees, emitting fluctuations that were cold, eerie, and filled with the aura of destruction and corrosion.

“This is... the nether fire dao beacon?” Song Kuang and Song Ying’s pupils contracted upon seeing this.

This was a disposable fourth-order High Grade treasure that the Song Family had refined only after expending countless rare Materials and inviting a top Artifact Refining Grandmaster from Zhongzhou!

Its sole function was to erode and disrupt Spiritual Veins!

Once placed on a Spiritual Vein node, the moment it detonated, it could cause the Formation relying on the Spiritual Vein to fall into complete chaos and paralysis!

This item was so precious that the entire Song Family possessed only three of them!

We didn't expect Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan to bring this item out!

“Song Ying.” Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan’s gaze fell upon the insidious man.

“This subordinate is present.”

“The city is currently in the midst of grand celebrations, and people’s hearts are restless; this must be the time when defenses are most lax.” Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan handed over the nether fire dao beacon.

“Your mission is to sneak in, avoid the eyes and ears of everyone, and precisely place this item on the Xun Position node of their city-protecting Spiritual Vein.”

“According to my deduction, that spot is the Qi Eye of the entire fourth-order spirit vein, and also the weakest link in that city-protecting Grand Formation. Once this item is successfully placed, when we launch a frontal assault from the outside and trigger the Grand Formation’s energy operation, I will detonate it. Under a pincer attack, his turtle shell will instantly crumble!”

“By then, the entire Qingzhou City will be an undefended slaughterhouse! We can carve them up as we please!”

Song Ying took the cold nether fire dao beacon, a confident smile appearing on his face, and said in a hoarse voice.

“Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan, please rest assured. A mere remote Prefecture City in Southern Frontier, even with a fourth-order Formation, cannot stop me. Before Midnight tonight, I will perfectly place this item in the designated location!”

With that, he cupped his hands toward Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan and Song Kuang, and his entire being silently merged into the shadows behind him like melting ink, vanishing completely... Shen Family Main Residence.

Shen Yuanmo was still exchanging toasts with his Family, the gentle smile on his face unchanged.

But his Divine Sense had already been pushed to its limit.

The sense of prying had disappeared.

But the alarm bell in Shen Yuanmo's heart rang even louder!

Disappearance does not mean departure.

More likely, they have already infiltrated!

Without revealing anything, an extremely secretive Divine Thought quietly entered the mind of his father, Shen Qiming, who was currently competing in drinking with Patriarch Chen.

“Father, use the excuse of inspecting the city's defenses, and immediately take a team of Family guards to the South City Gate area. Remember, only conduct inspections, do not cause a stir, and raise the alert Rank in that area to the highest level.”

Shen Qiming's hand holding the wine cup abruptly paused, and the drunkenness on his face instantly cleared halfway.

He glanced at his son in the main seat. Seeing his usual expression, Shen Qiming’s heart was nevertheless churning with turbulent waves.

Yuan Mo would never act without reason!

Something has happened!

Without any hesitation, he put down his wine cup, cupped his fist towards Patriarch Chen, and smiled: "Patriarch Chen, please make yourself at home. I need to check the city's defenses, lest some petty scoundrels disturb the Old Ancestor's enjoyment."

With that, carrying a hint of "drunkenness," he strode out of the hall.

At the same time, Shen Yuanmo's mind stirred.

The massive energy of the Great Five Elements Cycle Array, which enveloped the entire Qingzhou City, began to move in an extremely subtle manner.

Like an undercurrent surging beneath the ground, it silently and slowly converged toward the south of the city.

An invisible net had quietly been cast.

He wanted to see just who this divine being was that had come!

However, just as Shen Yuanmo’s Divine Sense was highly concentrated on the direction of the south of the city.

A nearly imperceptible shadow, clinging to the shadows of the North City Wall, sped like a phantom toward the center of the city—the Shen Family Main Residence, where the Spiritual Qi was most concentrated.

Song Ying had not gone to the South Gate at all!

The moment he infiltrated, he keenly sensed an extremely subtle, abnormal stagnation in the flow of Spiritual Qi in the southern area of the city.

He immediately determined that he might have been exposed!

But his high skill matched his daring; instead of retreating, he turned the tables and used the opponent's strategy against them!

He separated a wisp of Divine Thought, so weak it was almost negligible, attached it to a nocturnal moth, and sent it flying toward the South Gate direction, intentionally creating a false Spiritual Qi fluctuation to attract the opponent's attention.

Meanwhile, his true body, taking advantage of the split second when the opponent's Divine Sense was distracted, chose the completely opposite direction and rushed straight toward the true target—the Spiritual Vein Core!

A moment later.

Song Ying’s figure appeared behind the Shen Family Main Residence, beneath a seemingly ordinary rockery.

His eyes flickered with a faint green light, seemingly able to see through thick earth and stone, directly observing the ceaselessly surging fourth-order spirit vein deep underground!

“Found it... the Xun Position node!”

A cruel, cold smile appeared on his face, and he slammed the nether fire dao beacon in his hand toward the ground using a special technique!

The beacon made no sound; it passed silently through the thick rock layers like a stone dropped into water, accurately striking the Spiritual Vein node buried hundreds of feet deep underground!

Success!

Joy flashed in Song Ying’s heart. Without the slightest hesitation, he transformed into a phantom shadow again and silently retreated along the original path.

Above the clouds.

When Song Ying's figure reappeared, a satisfied smile emerged on Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan's face.

“Well done.”

“I am fortunate not to have failed the mission,” Song Ying replied hoarsely.

Venerable Elder of the Ziyang Song Clan looked down at Qingzhou City, which was still full of festivity and completely unaware of the impending catastrophe, and a hint of cat-and-mouse cruelty flashed in his eyes.

“Good. Now, let them enjoy this final revelry for a little longer.”

“We will strike at Midnight.”