At that moment, his Spiritual Sense was fully unleashed. The entire layout of Black Reef Island appeared in his mind as clearly as lines on his palm.
"Qingxue, take some people and seal off the Herb Garden and Pill Chamber. Don't let anyone destroy the spirit herbs."
"Tieshan, take some people to the mines and bring all the overseers under control."
"The rest of you, come with me to the Treasure Vault!"
As Zhang Chen raced forward, he calmly issued his orders.
His goal was clear—if they could seize the Treasure Vault and the family's core businesses, then no matter how extraordinary the Wang Family's abilities were, they would never rise again.
Before long, the group had fought their way to the heavy Black Iron Gate of the Wang Family Treasury.
Two bodies lay at the entrance. They were clearly Wang Family disciples who had tried to loot the vault during the chaos.
But their own clansmen had caught up and killed them, sparking an internal brawl.
Zhang Chen didn't even spare them a glance. He immediately summoned the Heaven Shaking Seal.
BOOM!
The great seal came crashing down. The Black Iron Gate, which even a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator would have struggled to break through, was crushed out of shape and collapsed with a thunderous crash.
The moment the gate fell, the treasure light spilling from within nearly dazzled everyone.
Hundreds of shelves stood in neat rows, piled high with all sorts of ores, Magic Artifacts, and pills.
On several shelves at the very back sat dozens of Jade Boxes, all with their seals intact.
They were clearly the Wang Family's true treasures.
"Good heavens..."
The Zhang Family disciples following behind Zhang Chen could hardly keep from drooling.
They had never seen so many treasures in their entire lives.
"Don't just stand there!"
Zhang Chen swept his sleeve and strode inside first. "Pack up the Spirit Stones and those Jade Boxes first. We can move everything else afterward."
"Yes, Young Master!"
The crowd cheered and immediately began their looting spree.
Soon, box after box of Spirit Stones was opened. Their dazzling light nearly turned the dim underground hall into broad daylight.
The eyes of the Zhang Family clansmen gleamed.
They swiftly sorted the wealth and packed it into specially made Storage Bags.
Zhang Chen paid no attention to the common valuables.
He walked straight to a row of antique display shelves at the very back of the Treasure Vault. There wasn't much on them, mostly Jade Slips and ancient books with their seals intact.
His gaze fell on a seemingly ordinary bronze candlestick.
His Spiritual Sense swept over it. At the point where the candlestick's base met the stone platform, there were traces of Spiritual Power flowing so faintly that only someone with Spiritual Sense far beyond the ordinary, and a cultivation technique exceptionally sensitive to Spiritual Energy, could have noticed them.
"Interesting."
Zhang Chen reached out and gripped the candlestick. He slowly turned it three times to the right, then once back to the left.
Ka-ka-ka—
A dull mechanical rumble sounded.
The heavy display shelves slowly slid apart, revealing what appeared to be a smooth stone wall.
Then the center of the wall sank inward, and a black hidden compartment covered in Talismans sprang open.
The commotion immediately caught the attention of Old Ancestor Zhang Tianzheng and Family Head Zhang Yunshan, who had just arrived.
"Chen'er, what is this?"
Zhang Yunshan hurried over. Seeing the cold aura spilling from the compartment, he knitted his brows.
Zhang Chen said nothing. He flicked his hand, sending out a strand of Spiritual Power. The sealing Talismans caught fire and turned to drifting ash.
The compartment sprang open. There was no earth-shattering treasure inside.
Only a Black Iron Box wrapped in some unknown beast hide.
The box wasn't locked. Zhang Chen took it out and opened it on a nearby stone table.
Inside lay a thick stack of letters and several account books.
Zhang Chen casually picked up a letter and unfolded it.
After just a few glances, a look of realization appeared in his eyes.
"This Wang Family truly deserves to die."
He handed the letter to his father beside him.
Then he flipped through the account books himself.
The books were densely filled with records of the past year's transactions.
"Fifth month of Year Yuanhe 3: supplied thirty boys and thirty girls as Attendants in exchange for two bottles of 'Blood Burning Demonic Pill.'"
"Seventh month of Year Yuanhe 3: ambushed and killed seven passing Rogue Cultivators, took their Essence Blood and Soul, and handed them over to the Yin Luo Sect Envoy..."
"Ninth month of Year Yuanhe 3: found a female cultivator born during Extreme Yin Time, an excellent furnace cauldron; in exchange, obtained a promise that an elder of the Yin Luo Sect would intervene once..."
Every line reeked of blood, enough to turn one's stomach.
This wasn't an account book at all. It was the Book of Life and Death from Yama's Hall.
Zhang Yunshan finished reading the letter in his hands.
The hand gripping the paper trembled slightly.
"Beasts! Worse than beasts!"
Even the usually composed Zhang Yunshan couldn't hold back his curses. "To get those worthless demonic pills, they actually created the illusion of a plague in Mortal Towns, when in truth they were gathering Resentment Qi and Living Souls!"
"There must be tens of thousands of Wronged Souls beneath Black Reef Island!"
Zhang Tianzheng came over and took the evidence.
He read quickly, but as he went on, the air around this Nascent Soul Old Ancestor grew colder by the second.
"What a Wang Family. What a Yin Luo Sect."
"This old man thought they were merely overbearing in their ways. I never imagined they'd already become Demonic Path Lackeys. They collude with Demon Cultivators and slaughter Mortals and fellow cultivators. If a family like this is allowed to continue existing, then the heavens are truly blind!"
"Keep all of this safe!"
Zhang Tianzheng took a deep breath, suppressing the fury in his heart. "This is not only evidence of the Wang Family's crimes, but also the legal grounds for our extermination of them."
Before you continue