Yang Yuan Stone Mine

"Cut the nonsense. A bet is a bet. Since you lost, you must honor it. Today is the day our Lin Family takes over Ironwood Manor."

Lin Zhentian swept out his hand, his attitude exceptionally forceful and domineering.

"Why is Patriarch Lin Zhentian in such a hurry? Our Lei Family never said we would refuse to hand over Ironwood Manor. We merely need a few more days, after all..."

As Lei Nuo tried his best to stall for time, he waved discreetly at Lei Ying, signaling him to quickly clean up the work in the back.

"Grandfather, attack now! They're stalling for time. The Lei Family is sending people to destroy the soil in Ironwood Manor."

A figure darted over from the distance. It was Lin Dong, who had secretly infiltrated Ironwood Manor to investigate and was now returning. Since the Lin Family had launched their operation early this time, the Lei Family had only just begun destroying the special Black Soil that nurtured the ironwood trees, and had yet to do so on a large scale.

"What? Destroying the soil? You're courting death! Charge! Kill every Lei Clan member in the manor! Leave none alive!"

The moment Lin Zhentian understood, he flew into a rage. The Lei Family intended to utterly destroy Ironwood Manor. In his fury, he immediately ordered the attack.

"Kill!"

With Patriarch Lin Zhentian leading the charge, the Lin Family Experts swiftly transformed into battle machines and rushed into Ironwood Manor.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

Upon learning that their scheme had been exposed and hearing Lin Zhentian's order to kill without mercy, Lei Nuo was scared out of his wits and hurriedly signaled for the Lei Family Experts to withdraw.

"Uncle Qin Ying, bring a few men with me to the innermost area. Stop them from destroying the soil."

Seeing Lin Xiao smash Ironwood Manor's gates apart with a single punch, Lin Dong immediately ordered one of the Lin Family's Earth Origin Stage guard commanders to accompany him.

"Yes, Young Master Lin Dong. You lot, come with me."

The fierce-looking man solemnly took the lead, selecting several Experts to follow Lin Dong as they swiftly penetrated deep into Ironwood Manor.

In the depths of Ironwood Manor, a vast area that should have been filled with ironwood trees had already been cleared. Quite a few servants dressed in Lei Family attire were pouring a foul-smelling medicinal liquid into the soil.

"Outrageous! Stop at once!"

A furious roar rang out. More than a dozen murderous figures came galloping over from afar on fast horses. Many servants who recognized the Lin Family members were terrified and fled in a panic.

"You Lin Family pups, who allowed you to enter?!"

The Lei Family guards who had yet to receive the order to retreat immediately surrounded them. Two figures at their head stood out in particular.

"Young Master Lin Dong, be careful. The Lei Family has two Earth Origin Stage Experts stationed here. We should..."

Seeing Lin Dong charge out ahead of everyone else, Qin Ying hurriedly called out.

"Bang! Bang!"

Before he could finish, two dull thuds sounded.

Lin Dong looked at the two corpses skewered on the saber in his hand, then turned back with a frown. "They could be called Experts?"

"We should, uh... probably not?"

Qin Ying's mouth opened helplessly before he finally replied uncertainly.

Two Earth Origin Stage experts of the same level as him had died just like that? Didn't that mean Young Master Lin Dong could kill Qin Ying as easily as slaughtering a dog?

The Lei Family guards who had been about to charge alongside their two leaders froze. Seeing their leaders die instantly, they immediately turned and fled, no longer caring about the enemy invasion.

"Kill them all! Leave none alive!"

Too lazy to give chase himself, Lin Dong issued the order.

"Yes, Young Master Lin Dong. Follow me, pursue them!"

A chill ran through Qin Ying's heart as he solemnly accepted the command and led his men after them.

An hour later, the Lin Family had completely taken over Ironwood Manor.

Inside a neatly arranged hall, Lin Zhentian sat imposingly in the seat of honor and asked in a deep voice, "How are the losses? Are they serious?"

"Not too bad, less than half a percent. Production can resume in a few days. We interrogated the Lei Family servants and learned that they had only begun today. The ironwood planting area is vast, and the trees are difficult to fell, so they simply did not have time to cause much damage."

Lin Ken, who was seated nearby, rose to speak.

"Good, well done. Organize our people to restore Ironwood Manor to its original state. This will be another major source of wealth for our Lin Family in the future."

Hearing that the losses were minor, Lin Zhentian's tightly drawn old face finally relaxed somewhat.

"Understood, Father. But we directly killed all the Lei Family Experts left here. Lei Nuo and Lei Ying, in particular, were both Sky Origin Stage experts. With their deaths, Lei Bao will surely be driven to desperate measures."

Lin Ken hesitated slightly. The Lin Family Clan Territory was currently weakly defended. If the Lei Family received the news and went mad enough to launch a direct assault on the Clan Territory, it would be dangerous.

"You needn't worry about that. We have wiped out all the Lei Family experts stationed here. They likely do not yet know that Ironwood Manor has fallen. I will return to the clan immediately to stand guard, while you and Third Brother remain here to defend Ironwood Manor."

"Hmph. If the Lei Family dares to make a move, I'll take this opportunity to wipe them out. After all, our Lin Family now has two Yuan Dan Stage experts."

Lin Zhentian waved his hand, clearly having planned this for quite some time.

"By the way, where did Dong'er go? He rendered great service just now."

Having finished discussing business, Lin Zhentian looked around the hall, yet failed to spot his precious grandson.

As for where Lin Dong had gone? Naturally, Lin Dong had gone to "coincidentally" discover the Yang Gang Qi in the soil deep within Ironwood Manor, and "coincidentally" discover the Yang Yuan Stone Mine.

"Grandfather, look what I found!"

The moment Lin Zhentian finished speaking, hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall. Lin Dong entered while holding a pale red stone.

The stone was round and pale red throughout, its surface slightly translucent like crystal. A faint warmth seeped out from within it, as though he were holding a ball of sunlight.

"Is this a Yang Yuan Stone?"

The well-informed Lin Zhentian and the others immediately recognized it, though they were not overly surprised. Although this was both a cultivation resource and a circulating currency, a single Yang Yuan Stone was of little use.

"Not a single Yang Yuan Stone, but an entire Yang Yuan Stone Mine. I discovered Yang Gang Qi in the soil within the dense forest deep in Ironwood Manor. After digging around, I found a vast Yang Yuan Stone Mine."

Lin Dong casually placed the freshly unearthed Yang Yuan Stone on the table.

Ironwood Manor covered an enormous area. Aside from the land used to grow ironwood trees, there was also a sprawling ordinary forest. The Lei Family had been blind to what was right beneath their noses, and no one had noticed the Yang Yuan Stone Mine.

As for the two Black Iron Demonic Panthers lurking deep within the forest, each equivalent to an early Sky Origin Stage expert, Lin Dong had long since casually killed them and tossed their corpses far away.

"What? A Yang Yuan Stone Mine? Where is it? Take us there, quickly!"

Lin Zhentian abruptly rose to his feet, looking at Lin Dong with great excitement.

It was a slightly sunken valley. In one corner of the valley was a large depression, clearly caused by a powerful expert blasting the ground with Origin Energy.

At that moment, Lin Zhentian and the others were flushed with excitement, their bodies trembling uncontrollably as they stared beneath that depression, as though they had seen some peerless treasure.