Next came the time to loot the spoils.
Although the Demon Sheep Sect had risen to prominence only recently, it had still amassed wealth that ordinary people could not imagine accumulating in a lifetime. The Soul Masters of the Soul Fighting Legion who had been deployed today were sure to return laden with spoils.
The Demon Sheep Sect's Treasure Vault should have been the most heavily guarded place in the sect. But with the Demon Sheep Sect destroyed, it was now like a shy maiden standing naked before a hungry wolf.
The Soul Masters of the Soul Fighting Legion all gazed at the Treasure Vault's doors with longing. They knew just how tempting the treasures of a leading mid-tier sect like the Demon Sheep Sect would be.
But as they looked at the group at the front, they knew that most of the treasures here would have nothing to do with them.
Fang Yuan led the group, followed by Gui Changhao, Chen Hong, Yang Jingxue, Ximen Rongcheng, Ma Zhibin, Long Wenkai, Zhong Kui, Xue Tianming, Cheng Nanxing, and Qu Yixiang: eleven Titled Douluo and Soul Douluo.
The Chen Clan had proposed this operation and contributed greatly, so Chen Xun, the Young Chief of the Chen Clan, was also included. No one else qualified-not even Chen Jingyao, the Battalion Captain of the First Battalion.
Fang Yuan walked up to the Treasure Vault's doors and slammed his fist into them. With a rumble, the doors shattered to pieces, and the faint golden light within spilled out.
The Demon Sheep Sect's Treasure Vault had been built inside the mountain. The vast cavern within spanned over a thousand square meters, piled with more than a dozen little hills of gold, silver, jewels, Ancient Books, and antiques.
But none of the eleven lingered on these things.
It was true that the gold and jewels here might be wealth that even a Soul Douluo could not amass in a lifetime, but it was a little meager for a sect.
Besides, they all knew that the Demon Sheep Sect's true treasures were not these gold and jewels.
Fang Yuan walked to a Stone Wall deep inside and struck it with his fist again. But countless ripples spread out, and a searing, dark demonic light shot toward him.
Caught off guard, even a Soul Douluo-level expert would have been badly wounded by that demonic light!
Unfortunately, it was useless. Fang Yuan summoned the Heaven Suppressing Mystic Stele in front of himself, and it could not hurt him in the slightest.
Then Fang Yuan pressed his palm against the Stone Wall. Countless dark lights danced across it. A moment later, with a crack, the wall split down the middle, revealing the Demon Sheep Sect's inner Treasure Vault.
The Stone Chamber was not very large. It held only four or five small racks, each bearing seven or eight boxes.
But nearly half the boxes were empty.
Fang Yuan opened a box beside him. A bone that emitted a faint glow lay quietly in its center.
A Soul Bone!
Even a Left Arm Soul Bone that was just over ten thousand years old was worth a fortune.
They had extracted five Soul Bones in all from the dead Soul Masters of the Demon Sheep Sect. Of those five, the Head Soul Bone from Wilbur Weiss was undoubtedly the most valuable.
When they opened every box, they found seven Soul Bones inside. Compared with the Dark Element and Spirit Soul Bones extracted from the Demon Sheep Sect's Soul Masters, these seven Soul Bones had more varied attributes, but most were of lower quality.
Still, the total of seven Soul Bones far exceeded everyone's expectations.
Everyone was breathing hard. With the five they had extracted, these twelve Soul Bones alone, even if their quality varied, had already made the operation to destroy the Demon Sheep Sect more than worth it.
What was more, the spoils from the Demon Sheep Sect went far beyond that. Besides several kinds of Strange Minerals and Medicinal Herbs, a few items in the remaining boxes especially caught their interest.
A mineral called Secret Magic Silver, a bottle of Dark Gold liquid, a dragon scale, a battered Jade Crown, and a suit of silver-white armor.
Fang Yuan's calm voice rang out. "We each take one item from here. How does that sound?"
The Demon Sheep Sect's treasures would tempt even a Titled Douluo.
According to the rules, all the spoils from the destruction of the Demon Sheep Sect had to be sent back to Soul Fighting City, where they would be distributed uniformly. No one was allowed to keep anything for themselves.
But there were always exceptions. The frontline combatants in every battle would skim a little from the spoils, more or less, and the higher-ups of Soul Fighting City had always turned a blind eye. It could be considered a reward for those who fought on the front lines.
If the water was too clear, there would be no fish!
Besides, everyone present was either a high-ranking official in Soul Fighting City or a representative of an Elder family.
Fang Yuan's proposal was undoubtedly very tempting to everyone.
Ximen Rongcheng nodded and said, "All right. Elder Fang, you choose first."
Fang Yuan did not refuse. He picked a wooden box containing a Soul Bone from among them and put it away.
The Soul Bone in the box was the most valuable of the seven in the Demon Sheep Sect's Treasure Vault: a Fire Type Left Arm Soul Bone, nearly fifty thousand years old.
Ma Zhibin and the others reluctantly looked away. They had their eyes on that Left Arm Soul Bone too.
Fang Yuan said, "Next, the two of you can choose."
Chen Hong was a Titled Douluo, while Yang Jingxue was a Quasi-Titled Douluo. Moreover, the one-item-each distribution was unfair to the two of them in the first place, so Fang Yuan gave Chen Hong and Yang Jingxue the second and third picks.
"Chen Xun, you choose first. I'll take your place in the order." By rights, Chen Xun should have been last.
"Uncle Hong!"
"Why are you fussing? Choose."
Chen Xun nodded and went to the bottle of Dark Gold blood. Even through the Glazed bottle, he could feel his own blood churning.
Chen Xun had a feeling that this strange blood would greatly benefit his body, so he took the bottle of Dark Gold Blood.
Seeing Chen Xun choose a bottle of blood from an unknown Soul Beast instead of a Soul Bone, Chen Hong and Cheng Nanxing were somewhat surprised.
Even though they knew that blood kept by the Demon Sheep Sect had to be extraordinary, they believed that Soul Bones were undoubtedly the most precious things on the continent.
Chen Xun had passed over six Soul Bones and chosen the Dark Gold blood from an unknown Soul Beast instead. They found that hard to understand.
Yang Jingxue chose a large piece of Secret Magic Silver. Secret Magic Silver was an extremely rare metal that could combine perfectly with Soul Power.
Though the presence of Martial Souls on the Douluo Continent meant that some divine weapons were no less valuable than a Soul Bone, a rare metal like Secret Magic Silver was still extremely precious.
The Yang Family had used special metals to forge a batch of arrows for its members, to fill the gaps between their Soul Skill arrows-for example, Yang Jingxue's Flower Burial Arrow.
Whether they used a Soul Skill or simply condensed arrows from Soul Power, the power was certainly extraordinary, but for members of the Yang Family, the cost was also high.
For example, if Yang Jingxue had kept using Soul Skills or Soul Power arrows during her fight with Jonah Weiss of the Demon Sheep Sect just now, her Soul Power would have been completely exhausted before the battle was even half over.
So Secret Magic Silver was very important to Yang Jingxue and others of the Yang Family.
Arrows forged from Secret Magic Silver were not only hard, but also highly compatible with Soul Power. They needed very little Soul Power to unleash power no less than that of Soul Skill arrows, and they could be recovered and reused.
Next was Gui Changhao. Actually, that blood just now would have suited him quite well, but since the younger one had already chosen it, so be it.
He chose a Right Leg Bone. It was a defensive Soul Bone with an Earth attribute, and it suited him very well.
Ximen Rongcheng did not choose a Soul Bone. Instead, he took the silver-white armor.
When his finger touched the cold armor, silver-white radiance gathered into a Steel Needle and pierced the pad of Ximen Rongcheng's finger. A drop of blood flew out and merged with the silver-white armor, and dazzling silver light shone brilliantly.
This was Ice Element armor. It could suppress his increasingly volatile Demon Blade Qi, and it protected his entire body. The silver armor was thin, and at a glance it looked light and agile, without hindering his movements at all.
Ma Zhibin chose a Fire Type Right Arm Bone more than twenty thousand years old. At a glance, it seemed to have a Detonation and burning effect.
Actually, the one Fang Yuan had chosen was the best fit for him. But Fang Yuan had already taken that Soul Bone, so Ma Zhibin could only settle for this one.
He already had a Right Arm Bone, but he could take this one home and trade it for another Soul Bone.
Long Wenkai chose the dragon scale. The Dragon Pattern Family had its own Secret Art for absorbing dragon-type treasures.
Next, Zhong Kui looked over the four remaining Soul Bones, unsure which to take. Suddenly, he seemed to hear something and picked a Water System Soul Bone that was also more than twenty thousand years old.
The next four made their choices in a more ordinary fashion. Cheng Nanxing chose a Dark Element Soul Bone that looked sinister and ghostly. Undoubtedly, it was an Agility Attack Type Right Leg Bone, more than thirty thousand years old.
Finally, Chen Hong put away the battered Jade Crown.
With the distribution complete, Fang Yuan also put away the remaining items. Some of them were no less valuable than what the others had chosen, but there was no doubt that the items best suited to them had already been taken.
As for the Soul Bones extracted earlier from the Demon Sheep Sect's corpses, no one mentioned them. Those were naturally their own spoils.
Chen Hong and Chen Xun each had a Head Soul Bone.
That was right: Chen Xun's was the six-hundred-thousand-year-old legacy Head Soul Bone of the Three-Eyed Demon Sheep, extracted from Wilbur Weiss.
And Jesus Weiss had a four-hundred-thousand-year-old Head Soul Bone from a Dark Blood Demon Wolf, which Chen Hong took.
Moreover, Guido Weiss, as the Sect Master, naturally had a Soul Bone, and Jonah Weiss, as the Demon Sheep Sect's greatest expert, would not be without one either.
So Ximen Rongcheng and Yang Jingxue each had one, and both were of good quality. That was why they had not chosen a Soul Bone right away.
"Men!"
The group walked out of the Demon Sheep Sect's Treasure Vault. Fang Yuan spoke up. "Take inventory of the Demon Sheep Sect's Treasure Vault. Before dawn, make sure everything and all the prisoners are taken away. Withdraw from Red Forest Mountain!"
Even though all the Top-Tier Powers on the continent knew Soul Fighting City was responsible, Soul Fighting City itself could not admit it. Soul Fighting City's strength was not weak, but quietly making a fortune was its guiding principle.
Before dawn, the group left the Demon Sheep Sect, laden with spoils.
By the time the Star Luo Empire's officials arrived at the Demon Sheep Sect, it had already been completely looted.
Countless Demon Sheep Sect Soul Masters and disciples lay exposed in the Wilderness. Everything valuable had been taken from their bodies, and many had already become food for the small and medium-sized Soul Beasts around Red Forest Mountain.
And so, the Demon Sheep Sect, one of the Seven Great Sects, vanished completely from the history of the Douluo Continent.
The Three-Eyed Demon Sheep, a Top-Tier Martial Soul, had nearly become extinct. The few surviving members of the Demon Sheep Sect who were abroad could no longer uphold the title of a Top-Tier Martial Soul, and they could not reveal who they were, for fear of being hunted down.
Its rise was vigorous, its fall sudden. Truly, "In the midst of turmoil and strife, it flourished for a time; when its splendor faded, it fell into eternal withering."