200: Its might shook the southern borders, and all directions trembled in fear.

"Yes, Old Ancestor!"

Over a hundred elite Shen Family Cultivators responded in unison, their voices shaking the four fields.

They forcibly suppressed the fear in their hearts caused by the terrifying giant pit, and closely followed Shen Zongdao's figure, transforming into streaks of light that shot directly towards the wreckage of the tower ship, which resembled the corpse of an ancient giant beast.

The closer they got, the heavier the pressure emanating from the high-grade war Magic Treasure became, as if an invisible mountain was pressing down on everyone's Divine Soul.

When everyone truly stepped onto the wreckage, and a cold, hard sensation came from beneath their feet, even the circulation of their Spiritual Qi felt a momentary stagnation.

They looked around, and all they saw was twisted, broken dark purple metal.

From some of the broken edges, wisps of black smoke were still rising, emitting a pungent, burnt smell.

This colossal warship, once rampant and unopposed, was now nothing but shattered wreckage scattered across the ground.

"Old Ancestor! Look!"

A Family steward, skilled in Formations, stopped before a large, relatively intact purple metal plate.

His fingertips traced the complex and profound patterns on it, his voice changing with excitement.

"This is a complete drive Formation Plate! Although its spirituality is gone, the Formation patterns on it... Oh my goodness, this is at least a fourth-tier top-grade composite Formation!"

"Over here! This is the wreckage of the Magic Treasure warehouse! These fragments... are all Magic Treasure fragments of tier three or higher! This piece... this piece is at least the core Materials for a fourth-tier Magic Treasure!"

In another direction, a Cultivator responsible for Artifact Refining held a fist-sized, still glowing piece of metal, looking like he was going mad.

Immediately after, an even louder exclamation came!

"Spirit Stones! It's the Spirit Stone warehouse!"

Soon, someone discovered a huge warehouse in a ship cabin that had been violently torn open.

The warehouse walls were made of special Materials, isolating most of the explosion's impact.

Although the Spirit Stones in the central area had been pulverized, in the corners and edges of the warehouse, tens of thousands of fist-sized Spirit Stones, emitting dazzling brilliance, were still piled up perfectly intact!

The Spiritual Qi they emitted was so dense it had almost materialized into mist!

"Top-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Heavens, so many Top-Grade Spirit Stones!"

Everyone lost control, their breathing instantly becoming incredibly heavy.

A single Top-Grade Spirit Stone was enough for a Golden Core Cultivator to fight desperately over!

And now, there were tens of thousands of them!

"Don't move around recklessly!"

Shen Zongdao's stern shout, like a clap of thunder, exploded in everyone's ears, quelling all commotion.

"Everything, pack it all up and take it away!"

His gaze was as sharp as lightning, sweeping over every Family Clan Member.

"Not a single piece of iron, not a speck of dust, shall be left behind! Once we return to the Family, after inventory, rewards will be distributed based on merit!"

"Yes!"

With the Old Ancestor's command and promise, all Shen Family clansmen were full of vigor.

Like a surging flood, they conjured their Storage Magic Treasures, frantically dismantling and transporting this colossal war machine.

Meanwhile, Shen Zongdao and Shen Qifa Shen Qifa headed straight for the core area deep within the wreckage.

In a completely blown-open control room, they found the crystal that was now dim, lusterless, and covered in spiderweb-like cracks.

It floated quietly, and though shattered, it still exuded a terrifying pressure that made one's heart palpitate.

That was precisely the fifth-tier energy core — the ziwei heavenly crystal!

When Shen Qifa, with trembling hands, carefully picked up this ziwei heavenly crystal, this third-tier Alchemist, who had seen countless Heaven And Earth Treasures, was so overjoyed he nearly fainted on the spot.

"Fifth-tier... this is a true fifth-tier Heaven And Earth Treasure!"

"With this, the Grand Elder's battle armor... no! We even have a chance to personally refine a true fifth-tier Magic Treasure!"

...Just as the entire Shen Family was immersed in counting the spoils of war, ecstatic over this immense fortune.

News of the Qingzhou City battle had spread like a winged hurricane, sweeping across the entire Southern Border Cultivation World at an extremely rapid pace.

Baiyue Prefecture, Prefecture City.

Inside the Tingfeng Tower, the largest gathering place for Cultivators, it was now more boisterous than ever, filled with a clamor of voices and not an empty seat.

"Did you hear? Something big happened to the Shen Family of Qingzhou!"

A weary Loose Cultivator, who had just returned from Qingzhou, gulped down a large mouthful of strong liquor, then lowered his voice and spoke mysteriously to the others at his table.

"What big deal? What big deal could there be?"

A Cultivator dressed in luxurious robes next to him curled his lips in disdain.

"It's nothing more than being wiped out by the Ziyang Song Family! I've said it before, a mere Ninth-Rank Family dares to challenge a Third-Rank Noble Family from the Central Plains; it's like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, simply seeking death!"

"Hahaha!" Hearing this, the Loose Cultivator burst into a near-maniacal laugh, laughing so hard he swayed back and forth, tears almost coming out.

He slammed the table, his voice suddenly rising by eight octaves, with an absurd exhilaration that instantly captured everyone's attention.

"Wiped out? You're right, it was wiped out!"

"The Ziyang Song Family, completely annihilated!"

"Not a single one escaped!"

What?!

This sentence, like a bolt of Nine Heavens profound thunder, instantly silenced the entire noisy Tingfeng Tower.

You could hear a pin drop.

Everyone stared intently at the Loose Cultivator with looks that suggested he was a lunatic or an idiot.

"Fellow Daoist, you can eat recklessly, but you cannot speak recklessly!"

A Middle Golden Core Stage Cultivator who seemed quite knowledgeable slowly stood up, frowning, and said coldly.

"That's the Ziyang Song Family! The leader, it's said, was the Half-step Soul Transformation Old Ancestor Song Xuanyi, and he was even riding the fifth-tier heaven burning tower ship! You say they were completely annihilated? Do you take us for three-year-old children, or do you think everyone in this Tingfeng Tower is an ignorant fool who has never seen the world?"

"I'm lying to you?!"

The Loose Cultivator's face turned beet red, flustered. He suddenly stood on a chair, pointed towards Qingzhou, and roared with all his might.

"If I'm lying to you, I'm a grandson! I saw it with my own eyes! The Song Family's two Great Late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, thirty Golden Core Great Perfection Ziyang Battle Guards, all died!"

"That Half-step Soul Transformation Old Ancestor Song Xuanyi was even cleanly cut down by the Shen Family's Grand Elder with a single sword, just one sword! Both body and Soul were completely annihilated!"

"Now, that fifth-tier heaven burning tower ship is still stuck in the giant pit outside Qingzhou City, like a broken mountain! If you don't believe me, go see for yourselves!"

Boom!

This time, the utterly silent Tingfeng Tower exploded into an uproar!

"A Golden Core Cultivator, slaying a Half-step Soul Transformation with one sword?! And even annihilating their Soul?!"

"Crazy! This person must be crazy! What kind of Arabian Nights tale is this!"

"Impossible! This completely defies the iron laws of the Cultivation World! Challenging across Realms is already one in ten thousand, but slaying across a major Realm? And a Half-step Soul Transformation?!"

"But... he's describing it in such detail, and even telling us to go see it ourselves..."

Countless Cultivators could no longer sit still.

Doubt, curiosity, shock... all kinds of emotions intertwined, ultimately transforming into the same action.

"Let's go! Let's go see!"

"Whether it's true or false, one look will tell!"

Streaks of light shot up from the Tingfeng Tower, and then from the entire Prefecture City.

Countless Cultivators, like a swarm of locusts, transformed into streaks of light and frantically sped towards Qingzhou City.

When they personally saw the two gigantic pits, each over a hundred li in diameter, still exuding an aura of destruction and death.

When they personally saw the wreckage of the tower ship, like the corpse of a prehistoric giant beast, obliquely plunged into the earth, exuding endless desolation and a fierce, unyielding aura.

All voices of doubt were, in that instant, completely stifled by an invisible force.

In their place was bone-deep fear, and an inexpressible awe for some unknown, mighty power!

The news had been confirmed by ironclad facts!

For a time, the entire Southern Border Cultivation World fell completely silent.

Those Noble Families who had once coveted Qingzhou as a fat piece of meat were now scared Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering!

They held Family meetings overnight, packed their most precious treasures, and dispatched their highest-ranking Elders, who, with the most humble demeanor, traveled day and night towards Qingzhou.

Ostensibly, it was to congratulate the Shen Family on their great victory.

In reality, it was to kowtow and beg for forgiveness!

They were afraid! Truly afraid!

A monster capable of directly slaying a Half-step Soul Transformation with Golden Core cultivation, and annihilating a Third-Rank Noble Family's expeditionary force, had completely exceeded their understanding!

In front of such an existence, these so-called Southern Border magnates were no different from a flock of chickens and ducks waiting to be slaughtered!

The Shen Family, after this battle, though not yet officially conferred a rank by the Immortal Dynasty.

In the hearts of all Cultivators in the entire Southern Border, its actual status had already surpassed all Fourth-Rank Noble Families, becoming an uncrowned king that no one dared to provoke or even discuss!

And at this moment, in the newly built treasury, deep within the Shen Family mansion.

Shen Qifa Shen Qifa was holding a pile of Jade Slips found from Song Xuanyi's Storage Ring, crying like a three-hundred-pound child.

"Patriarch! Patriarch, quickly look!"

Tears streamed down his face, and with trembling hands, he handed a purple-gold Jade Slip to Shen Qiming, who was beside him.

"And this! The 'Ziyang Pill Canon' General Outline! It records the refining experiences and improvement methods for all Pill Formulas from tier one to tier five!"

"And this! "the exploitation of the works of nature", the Song Family's general outline for Artifact Refining! It even has the simplified refining blueprints for that heaven burning tower ship!"

"We're rich! Our Shen Family, this time, is truly rich!"

Shen Qifa hugged the pile of glittering Jade Slips, amidst mountains of Spirit Stones and Heaven And Earth Treasures, crying and laughing with excitement.

"With these things, plus the endless resources we've seized, our Shen Family's foundation will not just surge a hundredfold in a short time! A thousand years! No! This is the foundation of a ten-thousand-year great Family!"

Shen Qiming looked at the overflowing wealth in the treasury, and at Shen Qifa's almost frenzied joy, but his heart was filled with mixed emotions.

He slowly turned around, gazing at the tightly sealed secret chamber, guarded by layers of Formations, deep within the main mansion.

No matter how brilliant the light in the treasury, it couldn't illuminate the worry in his eyes.

All of this, this so-called foundation of a ten-thousand-year great Family, was bought with the life of his son, whose fate was still unknown inside.

There was no joy in his eyes.

Only endless bitterness and heartbreaking pain.

"Yuan Mo..."