Supreme Sword Exalt

Meng Qian recounted everything that had happened to Meng Xing.

Meng Xing’s tone had already turned ice cold. “Zuo Yang? Fu Fatty? This is intolerable!”

Meng Qian grew more resentful the more she explained, “Brother, Fu Fatty must be Zuo Yang. Otherwise, why would he specifically target the two families? Second Brother, he...”

She began sobbing uncontrollably again.

Meng Xing’s expression had already turned deathly cold, a faint, almost imperceptible silver light flashing in his eyes. “Great! I will avenge us!”

He immediately turned to leave.

Meng Qian was stunned. “Brother, where are you going?”

“To take revenge! Since Zuo Yang killed Second Brother, it’s only proper to return the favor. I’ll go kill that Fengwu Court chief disciple and vent your anger!”

Meng Qian hesitated. “But Zuo Yang threatened us, saying—”

Meng Xing sneered contemptuously. “In my life, I have never feared any threat. Besides, he threatened the old ancestors not to act, but that doesn’t mean I can’t. Just wait—”

Suddenly, a piercing sound of something tearing through the air came from the distance. The next moment, Meng Qing instantly landed before the two.

The sight of Meng Xing momentarily stunned him, the stifling anger in his heart diminishing slightly. “When did you return?”

Meng Xing bowed in salute. “Greetings, Old Ancestor! I arrived not long ago.”

Meng Qing scrutinized him a few times. “Not bad. You’ve made some progress!”

Meng Qian mustered her courage to ask, “Old Ancestor, did you get the Heaven-tier technique?”

The forced smile on Meng Qing’s face vanished instantly. He flicked his sleeve, said no more, and disappeared from sight.

Meng Qian’s face paled. ”What happened? Could it be...”

Meng Xing frowned slightly. “What is it? What Heaven-tier technique?”

“It’s—” Before she could finish, she just happened to see Meng Chuan returning through the air from afar with a group of family elders. “Father?”

Upon seeing Meng Xing, Meng Chuan’s face lit up with joy, and he quickly descended. “Xing’er? Y-you’re back?”

Just then, Meng Xing sensed something was wrong. Not just Meng Chuan, but even the elders behind him showed weak, unstable auras, evidence of severe injuries. Moreover, he clearly remembered that they had nine elders, but now there were only six.

“Father, what happened?! What about that Heaven tier technique? What exactly happened?” he asked.

A trace of hatred flashed in Meng Chuan’s eyes. “This time—”

At that moment, a series of continuous, thunderous booms came from afar. Even from a great distance, everyone could feel the earth trembling violently.

An almost frantic roar followed. “WHO DARES?!?! Which bastard dares touch my secret realm?!”

The Purple Mist Fruits, gone! The Green Lotus Fruits, also gone!

***

Inside the secret realm, Meng Qing cursed aloud as he looked at the completely empty secret realm, no longer caring about his status. Everything was gone. There wasn’t a single stalk left!

As if being deceived and losing a third of the elite clansmen wasn’t enough, his family’s secret realm had been completely plundered. Under the successive blows, his injuries acted up again, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

When Meng Chuan and the others arrived, they saw this very scene.

“Old Ancestor, what’s wrong—”

They soon noticed the abnormality and were dumbfounded.

Why are the spirit herbs gone?

***

Inside a rather hidden, rarely-visited mountain cave, Yang Ying handed over two storage rings. “Here. I’ve split it equally as he said. Check them.”

Murong Yan waved a hand dismissively. “That’s not needed. I’ve never lacked such things. You two split them!”

She was telling the truth. As the most talented among the Murong family’s younger generation, she never had to worry about cultivation resources.

Yang Ying still insisted. “I don’t like owing others favors.”

Murong Yan snatched the storage rings and glanced inside casually. “Geez! You’re so fussy! Huh? There’s so many!”

Shen Xuan smiled. “Junior Sister, aside from that Green Lotus Fruit and the spirit herbs Brother Gu ate on the spot, the fruits of the Meng family’s centuries of work are all here. Even if the three of us split it equally, the value is enough to make most people jealous!”

This time, the value of the spirit herbs each of them received amounted to several tens of million. Even Shen Xuan, as a seat elder’s disciple, had never seen so much wealth before.

He sighed with emotion. “Indeed! Following Brother Gu leads to riches!”

Yang Ying added, “Leads to great riches!”

Murong Yan sneered. “Now you remember how good my brother is? When I first asked you to go, look how scared you all were. You have the nerve to say that?”

The two felt somewhat awkward. If they had known it would be this profitable, they would have never objected even if beaten to death.

Shen Xuan quickly changed the subject. “Ahem! Junior Brother Yang, you said that with Brother Gu eating so many spirit herbs. Just what realm can he break through to?”

The person they were talking about was sitting cross-legged deep within the cave, eyes closed. Even as they spoke, he was constantly refining the immense spirit qi that threatened to burst him apart. The aura around him was rising at an extremely rapid pace.

Murong Yan glanced at him. “What’s there to ask? He’s definitely reached the Spirit Profound realm!”

Yang Ying shook his head. “It’s not that simple. For an ordinary person, such a vast amount of spirit qi could probably push them into the fifth or sixth stage of the Spirit Profound realm. But with his Supreme Stage, it’s hard to say—”

Suddenly, his expression changed as he began trembling violently.

Shen Xuan’s expression turned serious. “Junior Brother Yang, what’s wrong?”

“I-It’s nothing!”

Yang Ying was drenched in sweat, his face deathly pale, as if enduring some unbearable pain.

Murong Yan looked puzzled. “Are you injured? You were fine just a moment ago.”

Yang Ying gritted his teeth and stood up. “I-I need to step away...”

He staggered away, disappearing from their sight moments later.

Shen Xuan said thoughtfully, “I always feel that there’s something off about Junior Brother Yang, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is!”

Murong Yan curled her lip. “Him? Poor social skills, an odd one!”

Shen Xuan sighed. “Don’t say that. You know the Yang family’s way of doing things. Junior Brother Yang probably became like this out of helplessness.”

Murong Yan agreed. “True! Yang Tong, that old thing! I’d really love to see his expression now!”

***

As for Yang Tong’s expression now, the word “ugly” could no longer be used to describe it.

Looking at the two corpses of elite clansmen lying on the ground, his face was almost twisted into a knot as he roared incessantly, “Useless trash! A bunch of useless trash!”

A clansman stepped forward trembling. “Old Ancestor, w-we knew nothing about what happened here!”

Yang Tong had given strict orders. Approaching the secret realm without permission, even for Yang family members, warranted severe punishment. Thus, they usually didn’t dare set foot in this valley. How could they know what had transpired?

Furious beyond measure, Yang Tong slapped that person into a mist of blood.

His face was contorted with ferocity. “All of you, go investigate! I don’t care what methods you use, you must find this person! I will tear him apart!”

Amid his rage, a trace of worry also arose in his heart. He no longer cared about the Soul-Nourishing Grass. If the secret hidden within the secret realm were exposed and spread, the Yang family would become the target of all. No one could save them by that point.

Yang Xiong gritted his teeth. “Old Ancestor, just now, news came from the Meng family that their secret realm was also robbed. Something is definitely up. Why did that technique appear so coincidentally, luring all of us to that relic site...”

Yang Tong glared at him grimly. “What? You think I’m stupid?”

He had long realized the technique, the relic site, the opportunity—everything was a setup, meant to lure them away so someone could target their secret realms!

Yang Xiong gnashed his teeth. “It must be Fu Fatty. I can’t think of anyone else who holds such a grudge against the two families!”

Having some understanding of what was in the secret realm, he was fully aware of the kind of fate the Yang family would face if the secret were exposed.

Thinking of this, he felt terrified. “Old Ancestor, why don’t we join forces with the Meng family and go to Fengwu Court—”

Yang Tong shot him a glance. “There’s no need for that! Drop your little schemes. Fu Fatty is not Zuo Yang!”

When leaving the relic site earlier, he and Meng Qing had stopped Elder Mu to inquire about Fu Fatty despite their frustration. However, Elder Mu kept his lips sealed. He only stated that Fu Fatty was not Zuo Yang and refused to reveal any other information.

Yang Xiong was stunned. “He’s not? Then who is he?”

Yang Tong laughed sinisterly. “You’re asking me? You’re truly useless. What are you standing around for? I don’t care if this matter was done by Fu Fatty or not. Join forces with the Meng family, mobilize all the family’s personnel. Even if you have to search every corner of the Northern Domain, get to the bottom of this! Otherwise, don’t even think about keeping your position as family head!”

Yang Xiong inwardly groaned. “Yes! Yes! I will go right away!”

A hint of madness flashed in Yang Tong’s eyes. “Wait! Summon Yang Lin back for me. I want to throw the entire Northern Domain into complete chaos!”