Clan Annihilation and the Spoils

Chen Yuan restrained the Source of Killing Intent and mobilized his inner strength to suppress the surging blood and qi within his body.

He then stood where he was, watching the Zhu brothers tear each other apart with great interest.

Although Zhu Chengan was severely injured, he was still a Qi Forging Realm martial artist.

Moreover, he was determined to die. He attacked without defending, and in an instant forced Zhu Chengze into a perilous situation.

As Zhu Chengze fought desperately to resist, he roared at Chen Yuan, "Kill him! Kill him now! You said you wouldn't kill me! You went back on your word!"

"I said I wouldn't kill you, but I never said I wouldn't let someone else kill you."

Chen Yuan looked at Zhu Chengze with a faint, mocking smile. "If you can kill Zhu Chengan, I'll naturally keep my promise and won't attack you again."

Zhu Chengze's face was filled with despair.

No matter how foolish he was, he knew that Chen Yuan had played him!

Zhu Chengan burst into mad laughter. "You schemed and calculated, betrayed the Zhu Family, and what did it get you? You still got played!"

Didn't you want to live? Dream on! Today, we'll all die together!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Chengan disregarded everything and burned his blood and qi as he charged at Zhu Chengze.

At the very moment his blood and qi were nearly exhausted, Zhu Chengan slammed a palm into Zhu Chengze's body.

The tyrannical palm force of the Black Fiend, Fire Cloud Palm erupted instantly, even piercing directly into his opponent's chest!

Zhu Chengze fell to the ground with unwillingness written all over his face. Zhu Chengan's blood and qi were completely exhausted as well, and the two corpses crashed to the ground together.

"Tsk, tsk. You two really were brothers at heart."

Chen Yuan shook his head lightly, making sarcastic remarks.

When he entered the Zhu Family's rear courtyard, it too was littered with corpses.

Zhu Chengze had likely used some excuse to gather them together before beginning the slaughter.

In this world, people never feared having too little; they only feared having less than others.

The Zhu Family's Five Tigers sounded impressive, but once disparities arose within the family, cracks naturally followed.

Chen Yuan made a round through the Zhu Family estate and easily found their treasure vault.

Though several large locks hung from its doors, none could withstand Chen Yuan's Azure Dragon Blooddrinker. With one slash, they were shattered to pieces.

There was plenty of treasure in the vault, but not much of it was truly valuable.

The Zhu Family's foundation was still too shallow. There were very few treasures related to martial arts within the vault; most were merely gold, silver, and jewels.

Judging by the look of it, they had likely been plundered after the Zhu Family destroyed small clans such as the Chu Family.

These things were of little use to Chen Yuan. They were not nearly as convenient to carry as banknotes.

Thus, Chen Yuan only took some gold bars and banknotes, leaving behind the bulky jewels that would be difficult to convert into cash.

After searching through the vault, Chen Yuan finally found the Heavenly Star Divine Casket in an inconspicuous corner.

It looked like an iron block three feet long and one foot wide, engraved with star charts and exquisitely crafted.

Yet though it was called a casket, there was not the slightest seam on it. Calling it an iron block would not have been wrong.

There were also many battered marks on the bottom of the casket, likely left behind by the Chu Family's attempts over the years to force it open.

However, this item was made of Cold Iron, which could only be mined from Frozen Earth Ore in the Far North. It provided excellent amplification and conduction for ice-attribute inner strength, while also being incomparably tough. It was an exceptional material for forging Mystic Weapons.

Judging by its texture, it was practically solid inside. Trying to chop it apart was basically impossible.

After finding a bundle and strapping the heavy Heavenly Star Divine Casket to his back, Chen Yuan carefully searched the vault again and unexpectedly found two more valuable items.

One was a small porcelain bottle containing pills, which the Zhu Family had carefully stored inside an exquisite sandalwood box.

Five tiny words were written beneath the bottle: Radiant Extreme Qi Condensation Pill. However, only one pill remained inside.

The quality of pills produced by Medicine King Valley was publicly acknowledged throughout the martial world, though other top factions also possessed their own pill formulas and alchemists who specialized in refining medicine.

This Radiant Extreme Qi Condensation Pill was specially made by the Radiant Extreme Sect for disciples who had already reached the Qi Forging Realm, allowing them to enhance their inner strength and true qi.

If a Blood-Shifting Realm martial artist consumed this pill, it could also increase their chances of breaking through to the Qi Forging Realm.

Zhu Chengzong had brought this medicine from the Radiant Extreme Sect. There had originally been five pills in the bottle, and Zhu Chaofeng had consumed four before finally stepping into the Qi Forging Realm.

Zhu Chaofeng had been reluctant to take the last pill, intending to save it for his fourth brother, Zhu Chengzu.

The eldest and second brothers had already entered the Qi Forging Realm, so consuming the Radiant Extreme Qi Condensation Pill would only have been icing on the cake.

If Zhu Chengzu consumed it when he became stuck at the bottleneck of breaking through to the Qi Forging Realm, his chances of success would be greater.

Yet the pill he had been reluctant to consume had now benefited Chen Yuan instead.

The other item was an exquisitely made black-and-gold invitation.

Chen Yuan opened it and found that it was an invitation to the upcoming Demon-Sealing Conference in Demon-Sealing Valley.

As he looked at the invitation, a thoughtful expression appeared in Chen Yuan's eyes.

Demon-Sealing Valley was not far from North Sea Market. South of North Sea Market lay Ningzhou, while Demon-Sealing Valley stood at the border between Youzhou and Ningzhou.

Demon-Sealing Valley was the name of a place, but it was also considered a faction in its own right.

It was said that a thousand years ago, an ancient demon had broken free from its seal where Demon-Sealing Valley now stood and ravaged the region.

At the time, there was an expert known as the Three Absolutes Venerable. His cultivation combined the Dao, Buddhist, and demonic paths, and he personally acted to suppress the demon.

However, that ancient demon was incredibly powerful. It could only be suppressed; there was no way to kill it completely.

Thus, the Three Absolutes Venerable transformed himself into a formation, intending to rely on the power of time to suppress and wear the demon away.

Yet as the years passed, the formation also suffered damage under the impact of demonic qi.

The Three Absolutes Venerable had his three disciples guard the area around Demon-Sealing Valley, reinforcing the formation once every ten years.

Those three disciples did not possess the Three Absolutes Venerable's talent and could not cultivate the Dao, Buddhist, and demonic paths together. Each inherited only one of his supreme arts.

More than a century passed, but the demon's power exceeded all expectations, and it still could not be completely destroyed.

Moreover, every ten years, the formation loosened slightly, allowing a trace of the demon's power to leak out.

Beneath Demon-Sealing Valley happened to lie an ancient battlefield, where countless living beings had been buried underground.

When the demon's power leaked out, the ancient battlefield underwent a mutation. Those buried corpses would transform into Corpse Monsters and assault the formation.

At first, the three disciples could still repair the formation and kill those Corpse Monsters.

But as the three disciples gradually grew old and their blood and qi declined, while their descendants became increasingly inferior to their ancestors, they began to struggle.

Left with no choice, the three disciples held the Demon-Sealing Conference and sought help from surrounding factions to suppress the Corpse Monsters while they reinforced the formation.

If the demon broke free, the surrounding factions would suffer as well. Therefore, upon receiving the invitations, the nearby factions all came to help.

After killing the Corpse Monsters, however, the surrounding factions discovered that these monsters would leave behind a spiritual pill containing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

As long as the demonic qi on the spiritual pills was purified with inner strength and true qi, one could directly refine the spiritual energy within and strengthen one's inner strength and physique.

As a result, the martial world factions that had originally come merely out of obligation became far more motivated.

After that Demon-Sealing Conference, the three disciples also died while reinforcing the formation. Their descendants remained behind to continue guarding Demon-Sealing Valley, becoming known as the Three Demon-Sealing Clans.

From then on, the Demon-Sealing Conference held once every ten years became a tradition.

Martial world factions from the surrounding regions and independent martial experts were all invited to help suppress outbreaks of demonic qi, while the Three Demon-Sealing Clans were responsible for reinforcing the formation.

The spiritual pills obtained from killing the Corpse Monsters belonged to those people, allowing both sides to get what they needed.

In the region around the border between Ningzhou and Youzhou, the Three Demon-Sealing Clans had an excellent reputation.

After all, their ancestors had sacrificed themselves to suppress the demon. They could be called heroes.

Though the Three Demon-Sealing Clans themselves counted as a faction, not a single clansman had ever left Demon-Sealing Valley or taken part in martial world disputes.

Furthermore, the Three Demon-Sealing Clans were still guarding Demon-Sealing Valley to suppress the demon, so it was no surprise that they enjoyed such a good reputation.

When Chen Yuan had previously asked Wen Rou about news from the martial world, she had mentioned that the Demon-Sealing Conference was about to be held. It seemed that the time was indeed drawing near.

Moreover, this Demon-Sealing Conference was on a large scale. Even an upstart faction at the Zhu Family's level had received an invitation.

Chen Yuan had not participated in the Demon-Sealing Conference in the original story, but he knew what would happen.

The Demon-Sealing Conference was not so simple, and neither were the Three Demon-Sealing Clans.

This Demon-Sealing Conference was rather dangerous, so Chen Yuan had not originally planned to go there.

He had killed members of the Murong Clan and seized the Seven Kill Stele, so he definitely could not remain in Youzhou.

Chen Yuan's original plan had been to go to Ningzhou and use a suitable point in the plot to join Ningzhou's Martial Suppression Hall.

Ningzhou was a major province, three times the size of Youzhou, but it was filled with all sorts of people and rather chaotic.

At the same time, Ningzhou possessed many opportunities and cultivation methods from the original story that could be seized.

The Martial Suppression Hall was Ningzhou's greatest faction, but its internal structure was even more complex. Various forces were intertwined there, making it highly suitable for Chen Yuan to conceal his identity.

Now that he had successfully obtained the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method," his combat strength would certainly soar as long as he could completely control the Blood Fiend Power of the Seven Kill Stele.

And now, by a fortunate coincidence, he had obtained an invitation. He could take the opportunity to visit the Demon-Sealing Conference along the way.

It was dangerous, but wealth was sought amid danger. The greater the risk, the greater the opportunity.

After putting away the invitation and confirming that there was nothing else valuable in the vault, Chen Yuan found a large chest, placed the heads of Zhu Chaofeng and his three sons inside, and headed straight down the mountain.

The people of Lone Mountain City had also heard the sounds of fighting and slaughter from the Zhu Family, but they did not dare to investigate until the next morning.

When they arrived, they saw that the gates of the Zhu Family estate stood wide open, with corpses lying within, each having died a miserable death.

The entire population of Lone Mountain City found it difficult to believe.

The Zhu Family, which had only recently dominated Lone Mountain City and stood at the height of its power, had been wiped out by a single person just like that?

Amid their fear, everyone also felt a measure of satisfaction.

The Zhu Family had acted ruthlessly and tyrannically. People had long been dissatisfied with them.

At the same time, everyone sighed inwardly. One truly could not be too ruthless in one's conduct, or extremes would reverse themselves. Sooner or later, retribution would come.

The Zhu Family had failed to understand the principle of leaving others a way out. They had taken everything too far, and that was why they had met such an end.