The Iron Barrel Cracks

The night grew deeper.

The Zhao family mansion was brightly lit, but the atmosphere was far from the tense standoff at the Wang family's.

After the Zhao family patriarch returned, he immediately summoned the family's high-ranking members to discuss the details of the defense deployment at Sky Eagle Cliff.

Although the guards within the mansion had also strengthened their vigilance, their attention was more focused on the outside, guarding against the elusive Chen Family Remnant.

No one could have imagined that the danger would come from within.

A figure dressed in the uniform of a Li family guard was using the convenience of his identity to leisurely move through the courtyards of the Zhao family mansion.

It was Chen Chen, disguised.

The Li family waist token on his belt was his best pass. The Zhao family guards he encountered along the way, though they cast curious glances, only conducted routine questioning after seeing the token before letting him go.

After all, the three families had just formed an alliance, and it was perfectly normal for people to be sent between them to deliver messages.

Chen Chen's target was not the Zhao family's higher-ups, nor their treasury.

What he was looking for was one of the Zhao family's most important and most vulnerable lifelines.

—The Pill Room!

Among the three great families of Qingyang City, the Wang family was known for its military might, the Li family for its commerce, and the Zhao family, because they had an alchemist capable of refining Grade 1 pills!

Although this alchemist was merely a guest elder hired by the Zhao family, over sixty percent of the Zhao family's annual income depended on the pills he refined.

The Pill Room was the Zhao family's highest priority.

With his powerful divine sense and the information "interrogated" from the Li family guard's mind, Chen Chen quickly pinpointed the location of the Pill Room.

It was a heavily guarded, independent courtyard located deep within the mansion.

Outside the courtyard stood four elite guards at the Fifth Level of Body Tempering. Inside, there was the Grade 1 alchemist and his two disciples, both at the Fourth Level of Body Tempering.

Forcing his way in would be akin to suicide.

Chen Chen did not approach directly but instead circled around to the back of the small courtyard, behind a rock garden.

He took out a few more items from his embrace.

Powdered sulfur and saltpeter, and several hollowed-out bamboo tubes filled with kerosene.

These were "little toys" he had asked Uncle Fu to prepare in advance.

He mixed the sulfur and saltpeter, wrapped them in oiled paper to create several simple incendiary packets, and then tied them together with the kerosene-filled bamboo tubes.

After completing this, he circulated the Nine Nether Soul Refining Art. His powerful divine soul strength, like an invisible hand, lifted these "gifts," silently crossing the courtyard wall and landing precisely on the roof of the Pill Room, the windowsill, and near the woodshed where medicinal herbs were stored.

These were positions he had calculated beforehand, blind spots that were most likely to ignite and least likely to be discovered.

Having finished setting up, he did not ignite them immediately.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the perfect moment.

Meanwhile, outside the gates of the Zhao family mansion.

A flurry of urgent commotion broke the silence of the night.

"This is bad! Someone's dead!"

"It's a Li family guard! Murdered and dumped at the street corner!"

A patrol of Zhao family guards discovered the body Chen Chen had deliberately left behind and immediately raised the alarm.

Soon, the Zhao family patriarch, who had just concluded his meeting, rushed out with his men, his face ashen.

When he saw the corpse and the shocking saber mark on it, belonging to the Wang family's Blood Fiend Saber Technique, his pupils contracted sharply!

"Wang! Wei!"

The Zhao family patriarch squeezed out these two words from between his gritted teeth.

The Zhao elders behind him also changed their expressions.

"Patriarch! What does the Wang family mean by this? We just formed an alliance with them, and now they're stabbing us in the back?"

"Hmph! I think they want to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys! Using the death of one of our guards to warn us and make us obedient!"

"They've gone too far! Do they really think our Zhao family is a pushover!"

The Zhao family members were filled with righteous indignation.

Just then, a group of Li family guards also arrived upon hearing the news.

When the Li family's guard captain saw the tragic state of his brethren, he too became furious!

"Patriarch Zhao! What's going on here? How did one of my Li family members die at your Zhao family's doorstep!"

For a moment, the area in front of the Zhao family mansion became a tense standoff, the atmosphere reaching an extreme.

The Zhao family patriarch had no words to explain. He couldn't possibly say it was the Wang family's doing, as that would only make the Li family suspect him of instigating trouble.

And this was precisely the outcome Chen Chen wanted to see.

The seeds of suspicion, once sown, would sprout and grow wildly.

Just as everyone's attention was drawn to the commotion at the main entrance.

Behind the rock garden, a flash of killing intent flickered in Chen Chen's eyes.

He flicked his finger.

A small stone, whistling through the air, accurately struck an oil-filled bamboo tube he had placed on the woodshed of the alchemy room.

"Bang!"

The bamboo tube shattered, and the oil spilled out.

The spark from the collision of the stone and the bamboo tube instantly ignited the tinder soaked in oil!

"Boom--!"

A ball of fire shot up into the sky!

The flames, like a giant python with eyes, quickly spread along the fuse Chen Chen had laid out beforehand!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One oil-filled bamboo tube after another was detonated in succession!

The alchemy room, which stored a large amount of flammable medicinal materials, instantly turned into a sea of fire!

"Fire! The alchemy room is on fire!"

A shrill scream came from the depths of the mansion.

The first-rank alchemist rushed out of his room, disheveled, and stared at the raging inferno before him, completely stunned.

"My herbs! My alchemy furnace!"

He let out a wail and was about to rush into the flames without hesitation.

"Teacher, it's dangerous!" Two disciples held him back tightly.

The guards in the mansion finally reacted, grabbing water buckets and rushing towards the alchemy room in a chaotic mess.

The entire Zhao Family mansion was in complete disarray.

At the main entrance, the Zhao Family Patriarch, who was confronting the Li Family, turned deathly pale at the commotion behind him.

He turned his head sharply and saw the towering flames. His vision went black, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"The... the alchemy room!"

That was the foundation of his Zhao Family!

Meanwhile, Chen Chen, taking advantage of the chaos, had already taken off his Li Family guard uniform, changed back into his night-walking attire, and like a nimble swallow, scaled the walls of the Zhao Family mansion, disappearing into the boundless night.

He didn't return directly to Uncle Fu's courtyard.

Instead, he went to a property owned by the Wang Family in the city—the back alley of the "Four Seas Money House."

He quietly placed a bag of rare medicinal herbs he had "casually" picked up from the Zhao Family's alchemy room, along with a money bag bearing the Li Family's mark, which he had taken from a Li Family guard, into the garbage pile behind the money house's back door.

After doing all this, he completely concealed his presence.

Tonight, he had given the three major families a "grand gift."

The Wang Family killed people from the Li Family.

The Li Family stole herbs from the Zhao Family.

And the Zhao Family's alchemy room was burned to the ground by a mysterious fire.

He had thoroughly stirred this pot.

He eagerly anticipated what kind of spectacular drama these three families would put on after dawn.

And he, in turn, could sit back and watch the tigers fight, peacefully counting his gains.

[Name: Chen Chen]
[Realm: Body Tempering Ninth Stage (Peak)]
[Cultivation Technique: Asura God Transformation Art (First Level), Nine Nether Soul Refining Art (Beginner)]
[Martial Skill: Seven Shadows Step (Mastered)]
[Cultivation Points: 300]

Killing Wang Hu and the three guards had earned him another 300 points.

"System, can these 300 cultivation points allow me to break through to the Qi Condensation Realm?" Chen Chen asked in his mind.

[To break through to the Qi Condensation Realm, one needs to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to condense a Qi vortex. This process cannot be directly completed with cultivation points alone. However, cultivation points can be used to purchase pills or techniques that aid in breakthrough, and can provide energy protection during the breakthrough, greatly increasing the success rate.]
[Detected that the host possesses the pill 'Qi Condensation Pill'. 500 cultivation points can be consumed to activate 'Perfect Breakthrough' mode, with a 100% success rate and a flawless foundation.]

"Five hundred points..." Chen Chen frowned.

He was still two hundred points short.

It seemed he needed to kill a few more people before leaving Qingyang City.

His gaze turned cold once more.