26: Chapter 26 Robbery

When Demolition Office Director led the triumphant players of Blazing Fire Hall back to the ancestral hall, leading Chen An's magnificent spirit horse, the frenzied atmosphere of North Mountain Hollow reached its peak.

The loot was piled like a small mountain in the open space in front of the ancestral hall; shimmering magical artifacts, stacks of talismans, and several heavy storage bags were all stimulating the nerves of every player.

"Blazing Fire Hall is awesome!!"

"Director is mighty! This move basically paralyzed the Chen Family, right?"

"Hahaha, just wait and see, the old geezer from the Chen Family probably has a green face by now!"

On the player forum, a highlighted, pinned post was refreshing at a rate of over a hundred replies per second.

"Livestreaming a Waylay! Blazing Fire Hall teaches you how to start from zero and achieve financial freedom in one day!"

In the post, various combat screenshots, short videos, and loot display images blew everyone's minds.

Especially the screenshot of Demolition Office Director hugging a bundle of explosion talismans and roaring "Die for me!" while charging at Chen An, which was Photoshopped into various memes and instantly went viral across the entire server.

The Hall Destruction Leaderboard on the ancestral hall's stone tablet was also updated accordingly.

First Place: [Unexpected Force Hall], 9527 points.

Second Place: [Blazing Fire Hall], 8848 points.

Major Achievement: Successfully ambushed the Chen Family caravan at Green Dragon Pass, wiped out the guards, seized massive amounts of supplies, and dealt a heavy blow to their economic lifeline.

Although the points were slightly inferior, Blazing Fire Hall's gains were tangible; the sheer impact of that violent aesthetic and the screen filled with loot made countless players' blood boil.

"Damn it, they've hogged all the spotlight!"

In a corner, a player with the ID "Infrastructure Maniac" was squatting on the ground, poking ants with a twig and muttering discontentedly.

Behind him were the brothers of Iron Wall Hall, all looking gloomy.

Iron Wall Hall, as the name suggests, focuses on defense and counter-attacks, and the hall is mostly composed of tactical enthusiasts and top students from civil engineering departments.

In the previous defensive battle, the traps and fortifications they designed shone brightly.

But now, the game's trend has shifted to active attacks and sabotage, leaving this group, who specializes in digging holes and building walls, with no place to put their skills to use.

"Brother Maniac, we have to pull off a job too! If we don't, all the contribution points will be exchanged by those two halls!"

"Yeah, I've been drooling over that [Black Iron Heavy Sword] for a long time. If we don't act soon, we won't even have our underwear left!"

Infrastructure Maniac irritably threw away the twig and brushed the dirt off his hands: "Do it? How do we do it? We are builders, not saboteurs! The professions don't match!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a crisp female voice rang out behind him.

"Who says the professions don't match? Sometimes, the most brilliant destruction stems precisely from the most profound construction."

Infrastructure Maniac turned around to see a female player with the ID "Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet" looking at him with a smile.

She was wearing a neat set of leather armor, a masterpiece by "Skillful Hands Mending," but she held no weapons, only a small notebook and a charcoal pencil, looking harmless.

But none of the players present dared to underestimate her.

She was the universally recognized intelligence queen of the server, best at cozying up to NPCs, and could always unearth shocking secrets from seemingly useless small talk.

Unexpected Force Hall's ability to precisely find the defensive loopholes in the herb garden was inseparable from the intelligence she provided.

"Little Trumpet? What good stuff did you get this time?" Infrastructure Maniac's eyes lit up.

Little Trumpet smiled mysteriously and shook the notebook in her hand: "I just got some interesting stuff from that old farmer we rescued from the foot of the mountain. Do you know why the Qingxi Chen Family can grow so many spiritual plants and their clan members' cultivation speed far exceeds that of ordinary rogue cultivators?"

"Spirit stone vein?" someone guessed.

"That's only one part of it." Little Trumpet shook her finger, "More importantly, it's their 'Dragon Vein Spring'."

She paused, enjoying the curious gazes of the crowd, before continuing: "There is an underground water vein beneath Qingxi Town, rich in spiritual energy. A century ago, the Chen Family ancestors used great magical power to cut off a tributary, diverting the spring water to irrigate the clan's most important three hundred acres of spirit fields, and as the source of daily drinking water for the entire clan. It can be said that the spring is their true foundation."

Infrastructure Maniac's breathing suddenly hitched. He seemed to have sensed something, and a terrifying light burst from his eyes: "Where is the location? How is the defense?"

"As for the location..." Little Trumpet handed over the notebook, on which was drawn a rough but clear map with key nodes, "It's in a hidden valley behind the Chen Family compound. There are three Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivators guarding it year-round, plus a warning formation. Charging in head-on is no different from suicide."

The surrounding players heard this, and the hope that had just ignited was doused with a bucket of cold water.

Three Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivators, plus a formation; this is even harder to chew than Chen An's caravan!

However, Infrastructure Maniac stared at the map, and the expression on his face gradually changed from grave to a morbid fanaticism.

He extended his finger and drew a heavy cross over the mark representing the "Dragon Vein Spring."

"Charging head-on is for brutes; we need to use our brains."

He raised his head, looking around at the brothers of Iron Wall Hall; his voice was not loud, but it carried a convincing power.

"Brothers, do you remember the 'Water Diversion and Backflow' plan we researched to defend against bandits?"

Everyone was stunned, then suddenly realized!

"Boss, you mean..."

"That's right!" Infrastructure Maniac grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, his smile full of madness, "Don't they like playing with water? Then we'll play a big one with them!"

"I want to... turn their dragon vein into a sewer!"

... Three days later, in the dead of night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

The back mountain of the Chen Family compound, Dragon Spring Valley.

At the valley entrance, three Chen Family Cultivators sat cross-legged, guarding the entrance in a triangular formation, making it impregnable.

Their divine senses were like three fine nets, covering a range of several hundred meters around them, and any movement could not escape their perception.

Since the incidents with the herb garden and the caravan, the Clan Head had issued a death order, and the defense level of all important areas had been raised to the highest level.

Especially this Dragon Vein Spring, which concerned the clan's lifeblood, it was the top priority.

"Hmph, a bunch of mad dogs who only know how to engage in petty, underhanded tricks; do they dare to come to our Chen Family's forbidden land?" one cultivator snorted coldly, his words full of disdain.

"Don't be careless; the style of those people cannot be judged by common sense." Another person was more cautious.

None of them noticed that deep in the soil, dozens of meters beneath their feet, a massive project had been quietly underway for two days and two nights.

"Three meters to the left, dig deeper! Yes! That bluestone, pry it open for me!"

"Team Two, attention, the patrol team above is about to change shifts, everyone remain silent for three minutes!"

"Report, Boss! Channel A3 has been cleared, successfully bypassing the formation cornerstone!"

In an underground network composed of countless tunnels, Infrastructure Maniac was wearing a miner's helmet embedded with a night-luminescent stone, issuing orders into a simple speaking tube.

Behind him, hundreds of Iron Wall Hall players were digging frantically with the most primitive pickaxes and shovels, like a group of the most diligent worker ants.

Their plan was bold to the extreme—to dig directly from underground to the area right below the Dragon Vein Spring!

Such an unbelievable amount of engineering was a fantasy for any faction in this world, but for players who possessed infinite stamina and could resurrect and run back to their corpses after death, it was nothing more than grinding for a few days and nights.

"Little Trumpet, how is the coordinate confirmation going?" Infrastructure Maniac wiped the sweat and mud from his face.

"Don't worry," Little Trumpet's voice came through the speaking tube, "I've mixed in with the Chen Family's firewood-chopping servants and have already thoroughly figured out the terrain around the spring eye. Your current position is only five meters of rock layer away from right below the spring eye!"

"Good!" Infrastructure Maniac was greatly energized, "Everyone, prepare for the final operation!"

He carefully took out dozens of black earthen jars from his storage bag.

These jars were filled with all the filthy things the players could get their hands on—swamp poison mud, monster feces, rotten corpse water... and even "Demon Vine" seeds that "I Love Exploiting Loopholes" brought back from the ruins of the herb garden.

This was the crystallization of player wisdom; one jar was enough to turn the spirit spring into a dead spring.

"After chiseling through the rock layer, pour all these 'treasures' in, not leaving a single jar behind!"

"Then, detonate the explosives and completely collapse this place! I want them to have no way to save it even if they want to!"

"Yes!" A chorus of suppressed and excited roars echoed in the tunnel.

At the valley entrance, the three Chen Family Cultivators suddenly opened their eyes at the same time.

"What's going on? The spiritual energy underground seems to be fluctuating?"

"It seems like... the earth vein is shaking?"

They looked at each other, and both saw a trace of unease in the other's eyes.

However, before they could even get up to investigate!

"Boom—!!!" A dull sound, extreme to the point of seeming to come from the Nine Nether Underworld, suddenly erupted from behind them, from the depths of the valley!

The entire earth trembled violently because of it!

The three men's expressions changed wildly; they stood up abruptly and turned into three streaks of light, rushing into the valley.

When they saw the scene before them, their eyes were about to split with rage!

The crystal-clear Dragon Vein Spring, shrouded in spiritual energy, was now madly gushing out a dark green, viscous liquid that emitted an extreme stench from the center of the spring eye!

The liquid was like a living creature; wherever it passed, whether it was spirit grass or rock, it was all corroded with a hissing sound, turning into pools of black water.

Several black seeds germinated rapidly in the spring water, growing into hideous vines that dug deep into the ground, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy from the spring water, accelerating the speed of contamination by several times!

"No—!!!" The leading cultivator let out a miserable scream that didn't sound human.

Without thinking, he wanted to mobilize his magical power, attempting to suppress this terrifying contamination.

However, just at this moment!

"Rumble—" A second, even more violent explosion came from the depths of the earth!

This time, it was no longer a dull sound.

The entire ground where the Dragon Vein Spring was located, along with the surrounding mountain walls, collapsed with a roar in an instant!

A huge sinkhole with a diameter of over thirty meters appeared out of thin air!

The contaminated spirit spring, along with the three desperate Chen Family Cultivators, was completely buried by countless amounts of earth and rock!

Chen Family Council Hall.

Chen Xiao was in full military attire, his hand on the hilt of his sword, preparing to deliver the final pre-battle mobilization.

Inside and outside the hall, hundreds of elite Chen Family Cultivators stood solemnly, their killing intent soaring to the heavens.

Just at this moment, a "Town Fortune Spirit Jade" hanging in the center of the hall, representing the clan's fortune, suddenly let out a mournful cry, and with a "crack," a deep, bone-visible fissure split open on its surface!

"Pfft!" Chen Xiao was struck as if by lightning, violently spitting out a mouthful of heart's blood, his face instantly turning as pale as paper.

He stared fixedly at the cracked spirit jade, feeling the breath of deathly silence from the direction of the back mountain where the spiritual vein had been severed, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Not because of anger. It was fear.

It was that most primitive fear, the fear of facing the unknown, of facing something that could not be understood.

Destroying his herb garden was like cutting off his arm.

Waylaying his trade route was like drinking his blood.

And now, severing his dragon vein... This was digging out his heart! Digging up his ancestral grave!

"Pfft—" Another mouthful of blood sprayed out, and the sanity in Chen Xiao's eyes was completely replaced by a madness that burned everything.

He did not say another word. He just slowly drew the long sword from his waist, the blade pointing towards the direction of North Mountain Hollow.

That cold, deathly silent voice rang in the ears of every Chen clan member.

"Pass on my... order."

"All troops... attack!"