It's All My Money!

Long Sun Mountain, Inside the main hall of the main peak, Great Clan Elder He Weixian's face was as dark as water. He brought the dragon-headed cane in his hand down heavily against the floor, producing a dull thud.

Below him, the clan elders from every branch of the main line had already gathered. Several middle-aged cultivators holding important posts within the clan stood with their hands lowered, each wearing an uneasy expression.

The bell had rung seven times—never sounded unless something grave had happened. Everyone was deeply unsettled.

"Everyone..." He Weixian's voice was hoarse. His gaze swept across the assembly before finally settling on an old man to the left, whose face was deathly pale. "Second Branch Clan Elder He Weizhen has just reported that the clan's secret treasury... has been robbed!"

The words struck like thunder. The previously solemn hall instantly erupted into an uproar.

"What? The secret treasury was robbed?"

"How is that possible? The secret treasury is protected by layers upon layers of formations and guarded by dedicated personnel. Who could steal from it without a sound?"

"Could it be the guards themselves stole it?!"

Amid their shock, the crowd began talking over one another.

After all, guarding the clan's secret treasury was a lucrative post. Those who had coveted that position naturally had nothing kind to say.

"Quiet down first. Let's hear what He Weizhen has to say!"

Great Clan Elder He Weixian still carried some prestige. Though he had been suppressed by the clan chief for years, his lingering authority remained.

Moreover, the clan chief was currently absent from the clan, so no one dared openly challenge him.

He Weizhen was trembling all over by then. He drew a deep breath, as though he had made an enormous decision, and said in a shaking voice:

"Great Clan Elder, fellow clansmen, the secret treasury being robbed was indeed this old man's... this old man's dereliction of duty.

"But this was not the work of an outside thief. It was... it was the clan chief's elder brother by blood, He Yiyang!"

Boom!

That statement was even more shocking than the news before it.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Their eyes widened as if they had just heard some fantastical tale from the heavens.

"He Yiyang? The clan chief's elder brother?" Someone instinctively found it impossible to believe. "He is the clan chief's own elder brother, and he holds authority over external procurement. Why would he do such a thing?"

Others stared hard at He Weizhen, suspicion written across their faces.

As the Second Branch Clan Elder, He Weizhen was, by blood, the third granduncle of the current clan chief, He Sheng, and He Yiyang.

If not for that deep blood connection, he could never have obtained such a fat and profitable post as managing the secret treasury.

One family member accusing another—and accusing the clan chief's own elder brother, no less. The waters behind this ran far too deep.

Seeing that no one believed him, He Weizhen hurriedly presented his evidence:

"Yesterday, He Yiyang suddenly returned to the mountain. He alerted no one and quietly sought out this old man, saying he wished to show filial respect to me, his third granduncle.

"This old man drank with him, and afterward..."

At this point, He Weizhen's old face reddened. He quickly skipped over it and continued:

"This old man was careless for a moment and was plied with wine until I was dead drunk and unconscious.

"When I woke this morning, I discovered that the key to the secret treasury I carried on me had vanished without a trace!

"Terrified, I hurried over to inspect it. In the end... in the end, the doors of the secret treasury stood wide open, and it was empty inside. As for He Yiyang, he had long since vanished without a trace!"

"This..."

A clan elder who had spent all year tucked away in the mountains, ignorant of outside affairs, could not help asking:

"Why would Nephew Yiyang do such a thing? What could he possibly want? Has he gone mad?"

Great Clan Elder He Weixian merely said:

"As the clan chief's elder brother by blood, He Yiyang already held authority over external procurement.

"He lived extravagantly in ordinary times, spending without restraint, with a whole houseful of beauties.

"Perhaps he got himself into some trouble outside and was driven to take the risk. In any case, he is the clan chief's elder brother. He need not fear what the clan chief might do to him."

Everyone nodded after hearing this, feeling that the Great Clan Elder was right.

At once, a clan elder holding real authority arranged for people to go to Lower River Market and investigate the situation.

Naturally, everyone else turned their attention back to He Weizhen.

The Great Clan Elder understood at once. He viciously slammed his dragon-headed cane against the floor and barked:

"He Weizhen, tell us truthfully: exactly how many resources were lost from the secret treasury!"

Frightened by the shout, tears instantly welled up in He Weizhen's eyes. He wailed:

"This old man made a rough inventory. About four thousand mid-grade spirit stones were lost!

"A total of forty-six magical artifacts were lost, all treasured possessions of the clan!

As for the pills... the losses were even greater. We still haven't tallied the exact amount..."

Four thousand mid-grade spirit stones!

Forty-six magic artifacts!

And a vast quantity of pills...

Everyone present sucked in a sharp breath, staring at one another in dismay.

Four thousand mid-grade spirit stones were worth four hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones—enough to buy over twenty Foundation Establishment Pills!

He Weizhen beat his chest and stamped his feet as he wept.

"These were all resources the clan head had painstakingly saved up to purchase a 'Golden Core Pill'!

And now they're just gone! When the clan head returns, he definitely won't spare this old man—he'll have me sliced into a thousand pieces!"

Just as He Weizhen wailed as though he wished he were dead, while the clan elders sighed and lamented, a shadow lurking within the hall's darkness finally could not hold back any longer.

"You ought to be sliced into a thousand pieces right now!"

Whoosh!

A stream of water-blue light flashed before He Weizhen in an instant, its crushing pressure brimming with fury and forcing this Second Branch clan elder flat onto the floor.

The others nearby were instantly struck with alarm. They all backed away, their faces filled with fear and shock, for every one of them could sense the pressure of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Only First Elder He Weixian remained relatively composed. Looking at the old man who had suddenly appeared, he said, "May I ask who you are, Senior? Why have you trespassed into the ancestral inheritance grounds of our He Family?

"You should know that our He Family is also a Foundation Establishment clan, and our clan head is He Sheng, the foremost cultivator of the Silver Sand River!"

The old man who had appeared was naturally He Sheng. He had never imagined that the savings worth over a hundred million, lying in Long Sun Mountain, would simply fly away!

How could he possibly have the mind to answer? His eyes were fixed dead on He Weizhen.

How could he endure this?

He Sheng's heart was bleeding. He wished he could go down there right now and slice He Weizhen into a thousand pieces.

"My money! It's all my money!"

Fortunately, he still retained his reason. He knew that finding a way to recover those resources was more important now, and he could not help searching through his memories for a solution.

For a time, the scene seemed to freeze solid.

Seeing that He Sheng remained silent, First Elder He Weixian was about to say something else.

Just then, a heart-rending roar suddenly came from outside the hall.

"Bad news!

They're here! They've attacked!"

A steward stumbled into the hall.

At the sight, First Elder He Weixian barked, "You're panicking and speaking in a muddle—what kind of conduct is this?!

Catch your breath first, then tell us what happened."

But the steward did not dare pause. He hurriedly said, "First Elder, calamity is upon us!

"The Black Mountain Group from east of the river has brought men to attack us! They've come killing from Little Stone Mountain in the southeast!

"They kill any He Family member they see, and they're spreading word everywhere that the clan head..."

At this point, the steward choked with a sob, whether from grief or terror, before continuing, "They say the clan head is already dead—that he was slain outside Ten Thousand Stars Mountain by Golden Cloud Sect's False Core Supreme Elder."

Brother Piao's killer was Golden Cloud Sect's False Core Supreme Elder?

No!

Upon hearing news related to Brother Piao's death, He Sheng naturally snapped back to his senses at once.

"According to Brother Piao's memories, he did have a brief argument with Golden Cloud Sect's False Core Supreme Elder at Wan Chaonian's Foundation Establishment celebration.

"But that Supreme Elder was already several hundred years old—aged and decrepit, with little lifespan remaining.

"He was utterly unlike the powerful expert outside Ten Thousand Stars Mountain, who looked no older than fifteen or sixteen. More importantly, their auras were completely different.

"That False Core Supreme Elder's aura was like withered wood, while the sword-bearing youth's aura was keen and chilling as a blade. They were plainly two different people!

"How did the story become this?

"Was the rumor mistaken, or was someone deliberately spreading this false tale?"

In that instant, He Sheng sensed that something was wrong.

Meanwhile, the He Family members in the hall erupted into an uproar upon hearing the news.

Some stood dumbfounded, while others repeatedly insisted it was impossible. Yet there were also some self-proclaimed masterminds who slapped their palms as if they had solved the case, saying:

"I understand now. That beast He Yiyang must have learned in advance at Lower River Market that the family head had died. That's why he secretly swept up the contents of the secret treasury and ran off. That beast isn't even human!"

Thud, thud, thud...

Seeing the man curse with ever greater vigor, the First Elder He Weixian heavily struck his dragon-headed cane against the ground several times before barking, "Does any of this still matter?! Do you realize that if the family head truly is dead, then the He Family is facing a calamity that will bring down the sky? The fate of our deaths and the annihilation of our clan lies right before us!"

Smack...

Upon hearing this, a short, fat elder seemed as though he had been struck over the head by a cudgel and dropped heavily onto the floor.

"First Elder, what should we do?"

For a moment, everyone turned to the aged First Elder He Weixian. Faced with a calamity that could bring down the sky, they instinctively sought someone to serve as their pillar.

The First Elder sighed, walked over to the old man He Sheng was impersonating, and bowed. "May I ask whether Senior is an old acquaintance of the He Family?"

He Sheng came back to himself and sneered. "Oh, we're very old acquaintances indeed!"

The First Elder found the meaning behind He Sheng's words impossible to fathom, but he still braced himself and said, "Then might Senior be willing to help the He Family survive this present trial? The He Family is by no means ungrateful. Afterward, we will surely mobilize the strength of our entire clan to reward Senior generously."

Heh heh...

He Sheng gave a dry, insincere laugh. He truly felt that this He Family was utterly rotten!

"As far as I know, the Black Mountain Group east of the river is no more than a band of Qi Refinement Realm bandit cultivators. You can't even handle them, yet you expect an outsider like me to lend a hand? Have all of you in the He Family, relying on the power of your family head all these years, turned into a pack of useless wretches who can't even defend your own clan grounds?!"

Faced with the berating of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, everyone in the room trembled in fear and fell silent as cicadas in winter.

The hand with which First Elder He Weixian gripped his dragon-headed cane shook without stop. Clearly, resentment filled his heart, yet he still swallowed his anger and said, "Our He Family is still capable of dealing with the Black Mountain Group. What we fear is that the Black Mountain Group is merely a chess piece used by several other Foundation Establishment families to probe the He Family. That is why we ask for Senior's aid—to guard against those other Foundation Establishment families."

You're afraid... so I'm not?

I'm also afraid that the Black Mountain Group, and even those other Foundation Establishment families, are bait cast by the one behind the scenes to lure me into showing myself!

"We'll talk about what comes after later."

He Sheng brushed it off with a single sentence.

Such a large family, with even a second-tier protective formation, yet they could not deal with a pack of Qi Refinement Realm bandit cultivators?

If that were truly the case, then the He Family deserved to be wiped out!

He Sheng could not be bothered with the First Elder. He merely turned his gaze toward He Weizhen.