Slander

The Array collapsed with a roar under the rising sun, accompanied by a huge cloud of dust.

The entire mountain peak was revealed.

All the members of the Chen Lineage who were with Chen Haobin couldn't help but show joy in their eyes.

"Wood Attribute and Earth Attribute cultivators should first use vines and spikes to block the path and prevent the Demon Beast from charging!"

"Prepare your flying sword formation! Join me in capturing and killing the Ye Family cultivators!"

Chen Haobin kept issuing commands, and all the members of the Chen Lineage took action one after another.

But the next moment, they were all stunned, for the mountain in front of them was completely deserted.

None of the imagined Spirit Beast or cultivators appeared.

"This is bad..." A bad thought crossed Chen Haobin's mind.

They were worried that conducting a reconnaissance mission in advance would alert the enemy, but it now appears that the Ye Family had already detected their presence and evacuated beforehand.

"Let's go in and take a look!" Chen Haobin said, though his voice began to tremble slightly.

When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, they found a huge mine with interconnected tunnels.

Every section of the wall was riddled with holes and pits, looking nothing like what a cultivator would have done.

Instead, it resembled an anthill, a sight that was truly shocking.

"Enter the mine!" They probed the cave with their Divine Sense, but found nothing; the mine was surrounded by waste rocks.

The surrounding spirit mines had long been completely mined out.

The remaining stones, although some still radiated Spiritual Qi, did not reach the level of Spirit Stones; at most, they were just stones with Spiritual Qi.

The interior of the mine was like a maze, with countless intersecting passages, and the group of the Chen Family cultivators split up to explore it.

When everyone returned to the cave entrance.

Everyone looked at Chen Haobin, remaining silent.

Chen Haobin also took a deep breath, his eyes turning extremely sinister.

He never expected that the Ye Family would deplete the mine in just six or seven years.

They hadn't seen this kind of over-exploited method of mining spirit ore for over a hundred years.

Otherwise, it would take a normal Lineage fifty or sixty years to mine.

In the Cultivation World, almost all spiritual veins are natural Spirit Gathering Formation. Cultivators cannot replicate these Spirit Gathering Formation at all. They gather Spiritual Qi and channel it into the stone to form Spirit Stone.

However, if large-scale mining damages the structure, it becomes a one-off deal, and the resources will be depleted within a few years.

Unless the Ye Family knew from the beginning that this place couldn't be defended!

However, according to the information they received, cultivators would enter and leave this mine every six months, taking away Spirit Stone.

Furthermore, although the Ye Family's finances are not good, they don't have many Ye Family, so they won't run out of money so quickly, unless...

Thinking of this, Chen Haobin's face became even more unpleasant. If the Ye Family were to gather Spirit Stone of the entire Lineage and go to Taichang Market to buy that Purple Palace Jade Liquid!

That makes perfect sense.

"Let's go, go back immediately!" Chen Haobin thought of this and immediately ordered them to return. He needed to report to the family head and the other Clan Elder.

The group arrived quickly and left quickly.

Unseen by them, a withered cicada, no bigger than a thumb, lay quietly on a tree trunk.

The next moment, it shifted its body, revealing a tiny Jade Slip used for recording information.

The withered cicada did not take flight, but remained lying prone.

The next moment, Chen Haobin flew back from the Chen Family group. After observing for a week, he tentatively inquired again.

When no one responded, he used his Law Artifact to cut down many trees.

They were unwilling to leave.

The cicada waited for another half day, until dusk, before finally falling from the tree trunk, carrying a small Jade Slip, and flying away into the distance.

Finally, it sank into the blackness of the mountains and disappeared...

The auction at Taihang Marketplace has now concluded.

Unsurprisingly, the six Foundation Establishment fetched an exorbitant price at auction this time.

The Purple Mansion Lineage, the Xu Family, and the Mo Family all unsurprisingly won two Foundation Establishment Pills each.

Of the remaining two, one was purchased by the Chen Family, and the other was bought by Rogue Cultivator at a high price.

On the contrary, the other three major Lineage did not receive a single item.

At this moment, Ye Xingliu was also looking at everyone else at the back of the auction hall.

Today is the day for distributing Spirit Stone, but the atmosphere in the hall is not good. Everyone is looking at each other, and they all suspect that Rogue Cultivator from the other Lineage bought the Foundation Establishment.

"I don't care whose Rogue Cultivator he is, our Ye Family definitely has designs on the Foundation Establishment!" Ye Xingliu bluntly.

His eyes were filled with murderous intent.

"My Chen Family doesn't have any either, don't glare at me, I suspect it's your Ye Family!" Chen Xuanzhou, the head of the Chen Family, was equally unceremonious.

Chu Xiyu, the head of the Chu Family, even stood up:

"Does my Chu Family need to act like this?"

On the contrary, the Li Family, Xu Family, and Mo Family families sitting nearby were leisurely drinking tea.

"The results are out. Take a look. This is your profit!" At this moment, Jiang Jinghe also walked in. He took out two Storage Bag and handed them to the Xu Family and the Mo Family first. Then he handed the four Storage Bag to the four Foundation Establishment Lineage.

Other auctions are naturally hosted by the various Lineage, but these Foundation Establishment auctions are all handled by the sects themselves.

The profits are divided into two types: one is the Spirit Stone earned from selling the treasures they consign, and the other is a 10% share of the auction for each item, plus the Spirit Stone required to enter the auction.

Both of these represent a considerable sum.

After all, many Rogue Cultivators will still attend the auction even if they can't buy a Foundation Establishment, just to see one.

Fortunately, if we happen to run into each other again in the future, I won't fail to recognize them.

Only three Spirit Stones are needed to enter the auction.

However, this time, the number of cultivators participating in the auction reached more than two thousand.

The profit from the auctioned items was 13,000 Spirit Stone, bringing the total profit to around 20,000 Spirit Stone. Ye Family received 2,000 Spirit Stone of that profit.

Other treasures were also auctioned off for five or six thousand Spirit Stone.

With the income from Spirit Stone, the expressions of the clan heads improved considerably.

Just then, a Spirit Talisman entered the eyes of the Chu Family patriarch.

The next moment, Chu Xiyu stood up, his face full of anger.

"Not a single one of them can leave today! If we don't get an explanation, my Chu Family will fight to the end!" Chu Xiyu took out a Jade Slip and slapped it towards the sky. The next moment, a huge spiritual screen appeared.

The images on the screen were charred black and fragmented.

"This is the most important Spirit Land of my Chu Family. Ordinary Rogue Cultivator certainly don't have that kind of strength!" Chu Xiyu was furious.

Even Jiang Jinghe's expression was extremely unpleasant at this moment, as the Chu Family's relationship with the Taiyi Sect was not weak.

The loss of the Spirit Valley is a major event.

"Don't underestimate the Li Family. My Li Family was robbed once by Bandit Cultivator. Even if we wanted revenge, we wouldn't seek it out on the Chu Family!" Li Muhe said.

Just then, another Jade Slip flew out and landed in front of Ye Xingliu.

"Li Muhe, come out here! We're going to fight to the death! All the Foundation Establishment of my Ye Family were on Soaring Cloud Peak that day. We already said there was no attack, and your ancestor has already questioned us about it!"

"I never expected that they would take advantage of the fact that all of our Ye Family's Foundation Establishment are here today to exact revenge!" Ye Xingliu roared in fury.

Another Jade Slip was produced.

A group of cultivators were seen heading menacingly towards one of the Ye Family's spirit mines!

The first-tier top-grade Array was completely destroyed by the Spirit Talisman, but the remaining scene was not shown.

But it was enough to foresee what happened next!

But Li Muhe still said those kinds of things.

"Misunderstanding! My Li Family has no need for those Spirit Stones!" Li Muhe hadn't expected that the Ye Family would actually be in trouble. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have said those angry words earlier.

But it's too late for him to regret it now.

I had no choice but to speak:

"My Li Family doesn't have any extra Foundation Establishment!"

"I swear on my Heart Demon, I didn't know, and I didn't!" Li Family said again when he saw that Ye Xingliu still didn't believe him.

Ye Xingliu and Chu Xiyu stopped looking at Li Muhe.

The Heart Demon swears that there will be no problem.

Therefore, the three of them could only look at Chen Xuanzhou.

As for the two Purple Mansion Lineage, they didn't consider them at all. After all, whether the Purple Mansion Lineage would even look down on them was another matter, but without evidence, it was impossible to even question them.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, you Heart Demon also swear an oath to your inner demons, otherwise come out with me and we'll settle this once and for all, even if it means death. Although the Ye Family isn't a powerful clan, we will never allow ourselves to be bullied like this!" Ye Xingliu angrily.

They took out their Law Artifact, and the atmosphere in the hall instantly became tense.

"Yes, Fellow Daoist Chen, you also swear an oath to your Heart Demon!" Chu Xiyu also spoke up.

He was seething with anger and took out a second-tier Law Artifact as well.

It suggests that a disagreement could easily escalate into war.

Chen Xuanzhou was speechless with frustration. His Chen Family had taken action against the Ye Family, but Chen Haobin couldn't even handle such a small matter!

Now they've been caught red-handed, after all, the Li Family is famous for alchemy, and the Chen Family is famous for talisman making.

Among the first and second tier Spirit Talisman, the most famous is the Formation-Breaking Talisman.

The materials used to make this Spirit Talisman are extremely rare; it must be carved from the hide of Demon Beast entire body can pass through the Array.

This kind of Demon Beast is extremely rare even in the Taihang Mountain Range.

The art of talisman crafting is also rarely mastered!

Most importantly, he truly couldn't swear an oath to his Heart Demon.

It's acceptable to swear an oath to the Chu Family, but not to the Ye Family. He can't possibly swear an oath only to the Chu Family and not to the Ye Family; that would be tantamount to declaring war.

"Hmph, what do you two mean? My Chen Family is upright and honest. If you have no evidence, stop slandering us!" Chen Xuanzhou didn't want to pay any attention.

There are plenty of Formation-Breaking Talisman available; even Rogue Cultivator can refine them or buy them.

They were all wearing Spirit-Isolating Robe, but there was no evidence whatsoever.

As for the oath sworn by his Heart Demon, he has the right to refuse!

"Evidence?" However, Chu Xiyu once again controlled the changes in the spiritual screen, and a charred robe appeared inside.

"These remaining robes were hidden by a cultivator from my Chu Family before his death, and they don't resemble the robes and attire of my Chu Family!"

"Fellow Daoist Chen, do you still want to argue?" Chu Xiyu's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

"This is slander!" Chen Xuanzhou spoke again.

"Oh, I didn't even say it was clothing from your Chen Family, and you're already accusing me of slander? Well, your Chen Family is just admitting it for no reason!"

"Today, you must give my Chu Family justice, or you won't be leaving here today!" Chu Xiyu said angrily.

"My Ye Family also demands justice!" Ye Xingliu declared firmly.

"Patriarch Chen Family, if this matter remains unresolved in Taihang Marketplace, it will be fine. But if it gets back up there, it will be a huge problem!" Jiang Jinghe said.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuanzhou's expression changed drastically; he naturally knew what Jiang Jinghe meant.

They also knew what Chu Xiyu and Ye Xingliu meant.

They all need Spirit Stone and treasures!