Destroyed Land

Lin Xiao let out a mighty roar and charged toward Ironwood Manor at the forefront, with dozens of riders immediately following close behind, plumes of yellow dust rising into the air. Before long, the group had reached the gates of Ironwood Manor.

"Halt right there! This is Lei Family territory; no unauthorized personnel are allowed inside!" Several cold glints appeared atop the tall walls, and one man shouted down from his vantage point.

"Lei Family territory? Hmph, from today onward, this will be Lin Family territory!" Lin Xiao sneered disdainfully, his voice amplified by Yuan Power as it rang out across the scene.

"Lin Xiao, what's the rush? Things have to be done step by step." Two figures leisurely stepped onto the wall, one of them grinning cheekily. "You need to go to the relevant department first, find the right people, and go through the handover procedures before you come back~"

"Lei Qiu, Lei Yi?"

Seeing the two on the wall, Lin Ken and Lin Xiao raised their brows slightly. Both were core members of the Lei Family, with strength at the early Heavenly Origin Stage. It seemed the Lei Family had been prepared for this.

"You two, our Lei Family has always kept our word. There's no need for you to be so impatient. Why don't you head back first and wait another five days? After five days, our Lei Family will surely hand Ironwood Manor over to you. How about that?"

"Lei Yi, if I remember correctly, you said the same thing a month ago!" Lin Ken barely held back his anger, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Seeing this, Lin Changqiang quietly slipped over to Lin Dong's side and began to "spoil" things: "Lin Dong, they're not planning to destroy all the ironwood before we take over the manor, are they?"

Lin Dong had already been suspicious, and upon hearing this, his pupils contracted. "Very likely! Uncle Yan, Changqiang, follow me! Let's see if we can find another way to sneak into Ironwood Manor."

With that, he drove Xiao Yan straight into the nearby woods, and Lin Changqiang followed without hesitation.

"Young master!" Yan Shuangying was taken aback and moved to stop them, but just as he was about to object, he suddenly remembered that the two youths before him were no helpless children—they were both skilled fighters at the Earthly Yuan Stage.

After a moment's hesitation, he waved his hand and led the other two to follow.

The five of them swiftly weaved through the forest, steadily moving away from the main gate. Before long, they found a stretch of wall with no guards and leaped into Ironwood Manor.

Inside the manor, everything was eerily quiet. Recalling the location of the ironwood they had observed from the slope, the group immediately sprinted off.

When the five finally reached the area where the ironwood should have been, a single glance was enough to make Lin Dong and the others breathe heavily with rage, fury rising in their chests.

Even Lin Changqiang, who had been prepared, clenched his fists tightly and silently swapped his Scholarship Gem and Boots of Swiftness for two Thunderclap Blades.

"I've never seen anyone so shameless!" Yan Shuangying gritted his teeth in anger. "They want to hand us a ruined manor!"

Before their eyes, the area that should have been covered in a dense forest of ironwood was now almost completely bare, leaving only countless black stumps! The stumps bore messy axe marks, clearly made in haste.

But what truly made their faces turn ashen wasn't just the felled ironwood—it was the figures not far away, pouring basins of foul-smelling liquid onto the ground!

The Lei Family wasn't just taking all the ironwood; they were also destroying the soil so that nothing could ever be planted there again!

"Besides those laborers pouring the liquid, the thirteen men standing around should be the Lei Family guards."

Yan Shuangying frowned, sensing trouble.

"Of the two leading them, I recognize one. His name is Payne. He used to be a bandit, but somehow ended up as a Lei Family guard. His strength is on par with mine—early Earthly Yuan Stage. The other one is likely the same!"

"Uncle Yan, fire the signal flare right now and notify my father!" Lin Dong didn't hesitate for a second, speaking decisively.

"Young master, are you sure? Once we fire the signal, we'll be discovered immediately!" Yan Shuangying was alarmed. Five against thirteen? How could they dare!

"Uncle Yan, have you forgotten? I could easily defeat Lei Li, who was at the early Earthly Yuan Stage, a month ago," Lin Changqiang said with a light laugh. He didn't even consider the early Earthly Yuan Stage a threat, let alone the late stage. "Fire the signal. I've got this."

"Ahem, getting old has made my memory slip." Yan Shuangying's face reddened as he realized who should really be worried.

With that, he took a signal flare from his chest and lit it. A red beam shot into the sky and exploded.

"Who's there?!"

The moment the flare went off, the Lei Family guards nearby reacted instantly. The gloomy-faced man leading them spun around, his gaze locking fiercely onto the bushes where the group was hiding. With a wave of his hand, the other twelve figures immediately closed in.

"Roar!"

A fierce tiger's roar suddenly erupted, followed by a fiery figure bursting forth.

"Fire Python Tiger! It's a Fire Python Tiger!"

The Lei Family guards recognized Xiao Yan at a glance, and terror seized them; they wished they could flee on the spot.

"Don't panic! This Fire Python Tiger is far from adulthood!" The man Yan Shuangying had called Payne was startled at first but quickly recovered. "Old Eight, let's take it down together. The rest of you, go drag out the ones hiding behind! I want to see who dares to cause trouble in Ironwood Manor!"

Old Eight and Payne exchanged a glance and lunged at Xiao Yan in unison. But at that moment, two figures shot out from the bushes, blocking their path. Iron fists, wrapped in dense Yuan Power, slammed toward Old Eight and Payne!

The sudden attack caught Payne and Old Eight off guard, and they hurriedly channeled their Yuan Power.

"Boom!"

The four figures collided in pairs, and the shockwave blasted outward, scattering the rubble around them. Then, to everyone's astonishment, the two figures who had burst forth stood unmoving, while Payne and his companion stumbled back several steps!

"Even beating a dog means checking its owner, let alone a tiger." Lin Changqiang's tone was calm, exuding the demeanor of a true expert. He was about to blast the enemy to ashes with a Fireball Technique, but then changed his mind and swapped his two Thunderclap Blades for two Cloth Armors.

"Lin Dong, I'll take Payne. You handle Old Eight!"

"Move!" Seeing Lin Changqiang and Lin Dong intercept the two Earthly Yuan Stage enemies, Yan Shuangying roared and charged at the remaining guards with his two companions. He was confident in bullying some Body Tempering Stage fighters.

Beside them, Xiao Yan swiveled his head, glancing at the Lei Family guards and then at the laborers in the woods. His eyes lit up.

He let out a majestic roar and charged straight at the laborers, who immediately dropped their buckets of liquid and fled in panic, clutching their heads.